Well hello there everyone!
I have officially started the
mission in Italy. My first area is the Vicenza A mission. It is a little city
in the North east half of Italy. My companion is Anziano S. He is a
cowboy/army dude. He is sooo country, but he is pretty chill. He has been out
for about 14 months so he knows a lot of stuff. Fun fact, he was companions
with Anziano M. right before me, so when we met, he already knew who I was.
The area is pretty nice. Tons of graffiti but that is everywhere in Italy. We
have a US military base in our area too. The other set of missionaries do more
work there but we have an English ward of 200 that we go to every Sunday. We
also have an Italian Branch of about 50 active people. The area has been tough
lately. Anziano S. told me that he and Anziano M. have been having a
hard time finding people to teach. The members of the Italian branch are nice
people but they don’t help the missionaries out a lot. We have been doing
anything we can to try and find someone to teach. We make phone calls all day,
go into the center of the city and hand out pass along cards, and are currently
trying to find ways to serve the community, because we don’t have a lot of
investigators. We teach a lot of African refugees though, a lot only speak in English
too. I have taught 4 people in Italian so far. Being out on the streets is nice
because I still here Italian no matter where I am. And my companion is doing
his best to help me learn. It will definitely be a while until I am fluent, but
such is life. There are a lot of Jehovah Witnesses here so it also makes
helping people hard, because they think we are the J.W. and they don’t like
them.
Our apartment is pretty dang big.
When Anziano M. came into the area (1 transfer before I got here) we pink
washed the sister missionaries and took over their area and apartment. It’s
nice and roomy. The food isn’t that bad either. Have had a lot of pasta, beans,
rice, oatmeal, etc. It’s not that terrible though.
We have been fasting to find
investigators, but we are definitely at rock bottom in this city. But we have
nothing to lose and we think we can turn this area around, so we’re fighting. It’s
hard, but hopefully we can do something good. When I was talking to people on
the streets they would look at me and either just walk away or try and clarify
what I was saying. It’s pretty sad but funny at the same time.
Hopefully we can turn this city
around. I know through hard work it can be done. There is some reason I was
sent here for my first area, so I’m trying to do my best. Just taking each day
and writing down something you are grateful for every morning and night makes a
huge difference.
Have fun in the States or wherever
you are!!!
Anziano Chase
Bryant's first companion, Anziano S.
Bryant's apartment
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