Updates from Italy

On 10/23/2013 3:15 AM, John Cook wrote:

Can I first start by saying how much I already really like this city! It has been such a blast. I have been sick almost the whole time (Don't worry, just a little cold. It came on me slowly in Bologna and got me full force when I got here complete with an almost completely gone voice), but I am on the upswing feeling so much better. By Tomorrow or the next day my body will have taken care of everything and I should be back to full health.

Well so far I have been at the chapel in Trieste (that actually for once in my mission looks like the chapels back home) literally every day since I got here. It is super nice. The members here are AMAZING! I am blown away by them. We are in an actual ward. A big one too. I still have to learn everyone's names and all but I already love them. Almost everyo9ne speaks English there and love to speak it with us.

You guys wouldn't believe my crazy week! I will tell you anyway...

So Thursday morning after studies, all of the Bologna missionaries went to the station. We got Anziano Thompson on a train to Trento and then waited with some other missionaries for a train that would take us to Mestre where we would be meeting our companions and going to our respective new areas. I was traveling until about 6 pm. Basically, I did some unpacking and got some groceries and then we went to institute (another thing that I had been missing super duper bad). The institute lesson was Amazing! It made me think of Sister Coppin and all of the really enjoyable lessons that we had in the Olympia YSA institute. (Sister Coppin, If you are reading this, THANKS!!)

On Friday we taught these two friends Adam a member from New York and Antonio, an investigator from Spain. They are super cool, but also super busy. Adam is a photographer and a teacher. One of the more cerebral and kind of hipstery people that I have met in a while. He would have fit in perfectly in Olympia. Antonio is a student. After them, we taught a recent convert of about 6 months named Nicole. She is super solid. We see her almost every day because she comes to pretty much every single activity that our ward does. She also apparently knows some Chinese. (When I typed that word, I imagined hearing the Italian word, Cinese cheen-EHZ-eh)

On Saturday, we taught another new convert, Maurizio (Tobijah) who used to be a Jehovah's Witness. (More on Jehovah's Witnesses later....) He is super cool certainly a character. He asked me where I was from and I said Olympia and then he asked me my favorite radio station and so I told him that I liked 103.7, the Mountain or 89.3 KAOS. He then proceeded to get on his computer on a program that he had and looked up those stations. (This program plays the radio from literally every station in the world) That was way fun.

That morning, we were doing contacting in a park and we ran into two groups one after another of Jehovah's Witness missionaries (I don't know what they are supposed to be called) one of them set up a return appointment with us and the other one talked to us for like an hour about their doctrine. Which I feel is really really weird. Heaven is not our reward, only 144,000 have the assignment or duty to return to live with God, everyone else stays on Earth if God remembers them and wants to recreate their body and Spirit (that dies when we die) and God won't "remember" you if you don't acknowledge that his name is Jehovah (which it totally isn't). So that Whole ordeal was interesting.

The companionship that set up a return appointment with us met us on Sunday at a Cafè in town and barraged us with their doctrine about the dead not existing anymore. They talked really fast and one was really hard to understand. They then invitited us to their little Kingdom Hall because one of them was going to give a talk, our appaoinment after had fallen through, so we accepted for the experience and also to learn more about what it is that they teach so that we could be better equipped to teach true doctrine. It was a very strange experience for me and we got a very mixed response from their congregation. Some came up and greeted us and Others examined us and upon seeing our name tags began to glare at us really intensely. It was clear that we were extremely out of place but we stayed out of politeness for this man's talk and left as soon as he gave us the option. They gave us each copies of their book "What does the Bible Really Teach?" in English and Some Watchtower magazines. They tried to set up another appointment, but we said that we would call them later when we knew what our schedule was going to be like. Which is polite for "No, I actually don't want anything to do with this ever again." As we left it was really rainy and almost the end of the day, so we went in to make some calls and organize our day.

We had a lesson on Monday with a 10 year old boy who is going to be getting baptized coming up this next month. His mom is a member and his Dad isn't. Since it was Monday after the lesson, they asked us to stay and play a game with them to celebrate their Family Home Evening, It was a game called "Non Margare Carlo" apparently there is an English equivalent called "Don't Eat Pete" basically they lay out a bunch of M&M's and somebody has to close their eyes while everyone else decides which of the M&M's is Carlo/Pete. When they have decided which one it is, the person who is closing his eyes starts eating all the M&M's until he gets Pete and when he does, his turn is up. We then had FHE at the Church where we talked about Friendship and played another game which involves everyone having a number and basically you have to say other people's number to switch the turn. It's like rhythmic hot potato. It involves hand motions and we sort of looked weird doing it and at the moment when we looked the most ridiculous, the pizza delivery guy came in and saw us looking super dumb doing a weird dance and chanting numbers. It was funny because the look on his face was priceless.

 There was also a Sister there that Lives in Slovenia. and comes to Church in Italy because it is closer than the Church in Slovenia. She understands Italian but doesn't speak it super well. She is the sweetest thing! Apparently everyone here understands Slovenian, but doesn't speak it, So it is like a Star Wars type of situation. Like this

"How are you today?"

"!"£$%&/()=)(/$%&/()(/%&/()=?=)(***°°*é"

"Yes it is a beautiful day today. I also had a picnic with my family"

I asked her how to day some things in Slovenian and she ended up writing all over a few pages of my planner in Slovenian. That's okay. It's not the first or last time that something like that would happen.

Yesterday, we taught Nicole and also English class.

Today, we just did the normal P-day stuff. We will be going to find a microwave sometime soon because our old one is broken. Tonight we also have New Testament class that we will teach together. We are going to Pordenone for zone conference Tomorrow. That will be fun.

Trieste is an Amazing city! I am having a blast here! I love you all and I want you to know that this work is the most Fulfilling work ever, It is the work of the Lord and it is changing my life. I am in a good place. In fact, more than that, I feel the Spirit confirming to me that it is the right place for me to be.

I hope you all have had an Amazing week. I can't wait to hear from you!

October 30, 2013: Well we have had an Amazing week! I am having a good time here and I kind of know where I am going now! We had a lot happen this week.

On Thursday, we were in Pordenone for Zone Meeting which was really fun! It is Always fun to get acquainted to a new Zone. There were plenty of new faces and also old familiar faces.. I had a ball. We talked about a ton of ways that we can be better in our missionary work and ways that we can look for the blessings of the Lord in our lives. We met with the Bishop and his wife and they cave us dinner which was good. The families in the Trieste ward are so special. They are so strong and united and it so so cool to see that glow also in their families.

We went over to a New convert family's house on Friday night. They also fed us. It was good. Triestini know how to eat! It is funny because Italy's regional competitionalism comes out. They Always say things like "Anziano Cook, you think it's good eating in Emilia-Romagna (The state that both Piacenza and Bologna are in) wait until you get a good old taste of Fruili-Venezia-Giulia (The state where I am now)" even if I haven't said anything about what I think about the food in Emilia-Romagna. They are a fun family. They have a Young son who is learning to run and spent the Whole time running around the house.

On Saturday, we helped Maurizio/Tobijah unpack his boxes from his recent move. We then talked about Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk, "You can do it now." We then met a potential investigator named Daniela. She is a character for sure. Her house is covered floor to ceiling in nick-nacks, All surprisingly organized. It was fun. She accepted a return appointment and became our new investigator. We then met an investigator who has an interesting background in that her family comes from all over the world and her cultural background reflects all of them. She was born in the states and spoke English, but she got in a crash and suffered a brain injury that somehow put English on the back burner and assigned Spanish as the primary Language. She speaks to us in Italian or heavily accented English. She is a nice lady. She wants to be baptized and we are going to work with her for that goal. We also met with Nicole that nihgt, and passed by Antonio and Adam.

Sunday of course had Church and then we met with a member Family and shared a spiritual thought about missionary work. It turn out that this family is already doing so much to spread the Gospel and share their testimony. We then had a n impromptu lesson with two guys from our phone while we were making our calls. It was sort of funny to hear from the other room while Anziano Poole was making calls "Are you free later on this week...Oh, right now...yes actually, we are free too." Afterward we had dinner with a less active family and that was good too.

On Monday, I was in Gorizia for Scambio. It was fun. We taught their investigator who is preparing himself for Baptism. It was a long lesson because the investigator and the Bishop talked a lot together, but it was fun. After that we were doing finding work and ran into a less active member who said "I was just headed to Slovenia, come with me. We can do a spiritual thought." So, we went with him to Slovenia (which is mission sanctioned because Gorizia is Half in Italy and Half in Slovenia). I can officially say that I have been in two countries at once. The member gave us this Slovenian Soda call COCKTA, which is super good. It tastes like Dr. Pepper, Root Beer, Cream Soda, and CocaCola. Seriously. it is weird but really good.

Yesterday we taught Daniele, a boy who is getting ready to get baptized. That was fun, we then taught Nicole about temples and then we had English class which consisted of Nicole.

Today, we are going to Grotto Gigante which means giant cave. It is the World's largest open to the public cave according to Guinness World Records. That will be all sorts of fun.

I love you all. I hope you are well. I hope to hear from you soon.

Ciao Tutti!

November 7, 2013:

This has been a pretty low key week. There is a lot to talk about though and we have been still working hard. Trieste is still as nice as ever.

On Thursday, We Basically had lessons with New converts. Matteo and Jessika who were just recently baptized and have a 1 year old son. It was a good lesson, but the baby was teething and cranky. We also has a lesson with Nicole.

One of the kids in the Ward got baptized and the family invited all of their non member friends and family. We made ourselves busy striking up conversations and handing out pass along cards. It was a really good service, the ward made sure that it was very spiritual. We saw Daniela (the lady with all of the nick-nacks) she was pretty excited and she sort of taught herself the plan of salvation she is reading the book of Mormon not only from the beginning but also in all of the places, that we have been assigning.

On Saturday, we had a lesson with Antonio and Adam. That was an extremely spiritual lesson. They definitely opened up to us and we were able to understand their needs better so that we can teach them better. Earlier that morning we taught Maurizio who had a few questions about some things he read in the Book of Mormon, but he ended up answering them for himself.

On Sunday, we had church. It was a beautiful fast and testimony meeting. I LOVE THE TRIESTE WARD! I don't know if I could say that enough they are so united and strong and faithful. I am so very blessed to be here with them. Sunday was filled with finding work but somebody did let us into their house and we taught them the Restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon.

On Monday we had A lesson with Nicole and the Family that just had their son baptized. We have been using Mormon messages a lot in our lessons with Nicole because I have been feeling like she needed something more than what we had been doing. She has been responding well to them. We had Family Home evening after the lesson with Nicole which was fun because Sorella Hirsch is good at coming up with good games. This week we did basically a bunch of Mad Libs together it went like this. Every Person writes an answer to the following prompts but when they finish one answer, they fold the paper over and pass in to their right and they repeat like this until all of the questions have answers and then they read all of the stories that come from it. It got a few good chuckles from everyone around.

Lui (a man in the room)

Lei (a woman in the room)

Dove sono (where are they)

Che cosa fanno (What are they doing?)

Dice Lui (He says)

Dice Lei (She says)
Dice o fa la gente (The people around say or do...)

Tuesday, we spent the first half of our day on the Train to Verona and then we spent the other half of it Exploring Verona and having a really fun P-day there. Verona is one of the best places that I have been to on my mission. It totally has that perfect satisfying Italy feeling. I don't know how else to say that. I would suggest that anyone who goes to Italy see Verona. As we were walking back to the Verona apartment that night, we saw President and Sister Tiexiera (The leaders of the next day's conference and the President and Wife of the Europe Area) They greeted us warmly and chattered with us for a while. President Tiexiera before we left said "get ready for tomorrow because I will help your mission go from 1 or 2 new investigators a week to 10." That sure got us listening. We left excitedly more eager for the conference, the following day. We returned to the Verona 1 apartment were we slept on the floor. We were in eight there. The 4 who are in Verona and then 2 Triestini and 2 Goriziani

The Conference yesterday was fantastic! We learned about how to use our time maximally, to pray more effectively, and to network with our investigators. It was really good to be taught and in the presence of mission friends and leaders. I saw Anziano Horrocks and my "grandson" who is Canadian :) We got home late that night because we had a long train ride. But during a brief layover in Venezia Mestre, a Member from Utah went and bought us some sandwiches for dinner. They were good.

Well all is well is slow yet steady Trieste. I am happy and healthy and feeling great.

I love you all and I will hopefully hear from you soon.

November 14, 2013:

What a great week we have been having. We are making slow but sure progress here in Trieste. I am loving it. It has been very refreshing. Lately some of the big things that I am learning about are miracles, faith, obedience, repentance, trials and eternity. I am growing closer to the Saviour and I am working to become a better missionary. I am in good health and safety.

On Friday, We went and saw Daniela and Also Antonio and Adam. Daniela's lesson was really good. She introduced us to her husband and her son. We invited her to be baptized, and she said that she would want to think about it. We also invited her to Sapori di casa mia (the ward event that will be taking place on Friday for which I will cook a very delicious soup) With Antonio, we had a quick lesson about faith and the Holy Ghost.

On Saturday, we went to a tiny town called Repen that it close enough to Slovenia for all of the signs to be in Italian and Slovenian and to be able to hear Slovenian in the Background. There we did service for a non profit that teaches people about farm work and uses it as a mode of rehabilitation both for disabled people and for people who need a bit of adjustment with their attitudes. There was a baptism in Gorizia that we attended and we had interview with President Dibb. The baptism was extremely Spiritual. It had fun. It was good to remember 3 years ago when I made the same choice.

On Sunday I gave a talk in Church (President Dibb was there) the members loved it. President and Sorella Dibb both gave talks which were good. We had a huge Italian Sunday after Church lunch which was delicious. We saw Maria and her husband who also gave us some dolci to eat. It rained like crazy and they gave us umbrellas. We saw Maurizio that night too.

On Monday, we had district meeting and a scambio with Gorizia. I hosted Anziano Johnson. It is starting to get really windy in Trieste. There is something called the Bora which blows every winter in Trieste. It is very strong cold wind that they say come from Russia.

Yesterday, we had a day with all finding work planned, but the Lord totally blessed us by allowing to cross paths with Antonio who we had a quick lesson with and also a dinner appointment with the family of a returned missionary whose father is anon member, but has committed to read the scriptures with is wife every day. That was super cool!

Today we are going to have a relax pday.

I love you all!

November 21, 2013: This week has been really good. Sort of slow but good anyway.

On Wednesday, after Pday we did finding and ran into Antonio we went back with him to his house and taught him a lesson with Adam.

On Thursday, we Had ward council and a lesson with an Older man named Nino.

We had a super successful ward event called sapori di casa mia where everybody cooked, Our American food was a smash hit. Everybody loved it! It was good.

On Saturday, we had a run in with some Jehovah's witnesses a-gain... After that, We took Maurizio out for a missionary giro. He was totally frightened. He kept saying "You really walk around hearing people tell you no all day? This is so hard." I wonder if I have got a homing beacon on me or something. I see them everywhere and I Always accidentally contact them. It's craziness. Later that day we taught Antonio again. We brought the leftover of my soup that I made for the event. Enough for all four of us to have 3 bowls each and had a nice low key lesson. I have never been to a meal appointment before that day where I provided the food :)

On Sunday we had Church, an impromptu lesson in Piazza dell'Unità with a girl who looked just like my friend Faith. We then had dinner with the Carri family. They Always feed us super well!

On Monday we were in Pordenone. It took basically all day. On the way back home we helped some American tourists. They were super sweet.

Yesterday, all of our appointments fell through and it rained. We did finding work in a paesino nearby. Not super exciting.

Well that was basically my week. I love you guys!

Hope to hear from you soon.