The Torino 2 Titans

January 5, 2011 Email:

It seems like your lives are just busy these days. Dad, I gotta admit I was a little homesick when you wrote about ward ball starting up(not too bad though). I definitely miss the physical activaties of sports and what not...a lot. We have a basketball court near our house but it's cold outside and we aren't allowed to play competitively at all. I guess a bunch of missionaries got hurt from sports this summer so they changed the rule. We are allowed to shoot and that's about it. We are allowed to get our ping pong on though; there is a table across from our apartment in the old church that is now the young single adults center. Of course, we only do this on P-day.

I wasn't homesick at all when you talked about the fisherman's stew on New Years. While it is a fun event, the smell of fish and other fishy stuff is too strong. I always left the party smelling terrible, but I did enjoy the lobster.

That was pretty interesting about the Taggarts being in Italy. Knowing you Dad, I'm willing to bet that you sent him message on facebook saying something like, yeah I served my mission there. haha just kidding...but really you did, didn't you?. I wonder if their son, Connor is going to go on a mission. buh...

The work is going great with us, The Torino 2 Titans. Last week however it was looking kinda rough. We started off with a bunch of investigators but we've slowly had to drop a lot. A lot of them we have had to drop because they don't progress and cancel on us when we set up lessons. But....( I know I cant start a sentence with but)...we found a few this week. We found this really sweet Chinese guy named Biyao. We have already taught him 3 lessons and we've been able to create the basic belief in God and Jesus Christ. Most Asians we teach just know nothing about this. He has been sweet though and came to church last week. Yesterday we had a way sweet lesson that we just focused on Christ and we watched the movie, Finding Faith in Christ. He had some question but I really think he understood it(we watched it in Chinese, which obviously helps even though he can speak some English). He was a little freaked out at the beginning though. He asked us if we knew about Chinese government and their laws. We kinda already knew that they can't have religion in China but he proceeded to tell us that their government will kill people if they find out they are apart of certain religions. He said like in 1999 that some of his relatives were killed for being apart of a group that is a break off from Buddhism. Maybe you can research some specifics about religion in china and stuff and enligthen me???? He basically told us to not give any of his information to others. It was a bit awkward but you could see he really wanted to learn more from us. This discussion was before we watch the movie and talked about Christ. Sorry if that was confusing. Anyways..Biyao is a super sweet investigator and I really think our lessons with him have helped him to feel the spirit.

Obeng is probably our best progressing investigator. His baptism was set for the January 11 but he was sick last week and couldn't go to church. We will probably have to change it because he has to come to church 2 more times. He has been super awesome though and we meet with him twice a week. It has been a little rough because he can't read and doesn't always understand everything we said. We were able to teach his dad yesterday. Apparently, Obeng forgot about our lesson, but his dad was home. It will be really awesome if we can get his dad to read with Obeng because he can read and understand English a lot better.

I think one of the most surprising things about missionary work is how much we must use the spirit in our lessons. If the spirit isn't there in the lesson then it's almost pointless. The spirit is what is going to convert our investigators, not us as missionaries. I think the hardest thing is trying to communicate with people(for me anyways). I can kinda say what I want to say(in basic Italian) it's just sucky trying to understand people. I definitely rely a lot on my companion to help with that.

Well, this is my 5 week mark. Holy smokes as Andy would say. Our transfer is basically over. I think my companion is a little ready to leave the city, mainly because he has been here since the summer. There is a possibility that it could happen. I'm excited to see what will go down...I'm fine with whatever. I don't want to say my preference because I know that opposite will happen. Sorry if I didn't get to answer all the question.

Good luck with ward ball Dad. Mom keep tuckin' along(sorry to steal that phrase dad, but it is my name), and everyone else...I know its hard not having the favorite sibling around, but I'm needed here. haha


Ciao