Randon Acts of Kindness

A few days ago I received a voicemail from a mother who had been vacationing in Pisa on a Wednesday and had spotted "the missionaries" riding their bikes through the center of town.  She waved them over and talked to them for a few minutes but they told her that they were on their way to teach an English class at the church and would be done at a certain time if they wanted to come back and talk again.  So she and her family went to visit the church and spent a nice amount of time talking with the missionaries.  One of them was Anziano Mendel.  She said that he looked good, that he seemed happy and that he had a great spirit about him.  She must have asked him for my phone number which she called while I was at an appointment so I wasn't able to speak to her myself.  But I was thrilled that she would take the initiative and ask Trevor for my number so that she could share this story from one "mother to another".

Thank you for your act of kindness.

June 23, 2011

Hey dad, thanks for your letter and advice. That experience I had with my friend was a definite testimony builder for me and for him I think. This week has been a wild one. With high highs and low lows. We have been fed a ton lately which is awesome but I'm worried the 7 years of plenty are near an end and the famine will soon sink in.... Who knows. Transfer calls come on Tuesday. I'm really worried about those. I'm not looking forward to my first transfer. Not at all. I love the people here in Pisa, There are so many members here that are just awesome it's gonna be hard to leave.

 

This last week, the 16th of June was Luminara, A holiday in Pisa and it was awesome. Every building along the river was lit up and they had a huge firework show. It's every 16th of June. You have to see it!

 

Yesterday for P day we went with Livorno district to Firenze, It was a lot of fun. But when I got back. I noticed that my bike, which was locked up, was missing the back wheel! Someone tried to break through our lock, couldn't so they decided to steal my back wheel, just mine too. Not my companion's. How lame is that. I had to carry my bike on my shoulder all the way back to my apartment from the station, close to 2 miles I would say. That was such a beast.

 

This week is junior comp, senior comp switch week, so I'm senior comp right now. So Giove has me start and lead all the lessons we have been teaching. We had an amazing lesson with a less active family about faith the other night using Alma 32. I tried to talk about how we can develop faith that will be able to overcome the trials and difficulties that are sure to come in this life. It was really a powerful lesson and the spirit was there so strong. I really feel like I'm getting the hang of this language and usually don't have a problem expressing the things I want to say. The member actually told me after the lesson how well I speak for only being out 3 months. So I'm feeling good right now.

Thanks always for your hard work and sacrifice for me. Love you

 

Anziano Mendel 

June 21, 2011

We see a ton of Amercan tourists here. We get stopped by them all the time. We kind of avoid the piazza dei Miracoli for that reason. But it's awesome to see them in church. Did that Family tell you about my talk..... Hah I found out about 5 min before I gave it that I was to speak that day. I was really nervous because I had nothing prepared. It's the American families who were there who liked it cause they had no idea what I was saying. Haha so yeah, I tried. I used 1 Peter 3:15 and tried to talk about how the best thing members can do for missionary work is to be an example. "an example of the believers". I talked about misisonary work not being so much the things we say or the things we do but more of who we are. "We become what we want to be by being what we want to become each day" Elder Richard G Scott. I really like that quote.

So Aaron is out on the mission now huh... That mom lunch thing is getting pretty big. I love Aaron and am sure he will be a good missionary. Who is left still home besides Ryan! That really is rough that he has to wait so long. I'll be back for 8 months before he gets home... dang...

I heard from Dani about the great experiences she is having at EFY, thats so cool.

So I still haven't received that thing you said you sent me awhile back... With the Riley pictures.... When did you send it? how did you send it? And Mom I really need some CDs like Lots of them.  If you dont want to send me normal soft music at least send me some soundtrack stuff... Just like famous intrumental music. Without lyrics... I need it....

I really am curious to see what will happen to me and the rest of my district next transfer. I hope I stay. Really its quite possible that My whole district will stay the same after this transfer.

Time really is flying by fast. June is almost over. My 2nd transfer is almost over. Its crazy to think back and see how fast things have gone.

Well, Love you mom. Thanks for everything. Good luck with the cake i wish I could be there to eat the cake shavings.

Aziano Mendel

Visit from the Beckstrands

Well, I am happy to announce that Trevor looks great and seems to be doing well!  He met us at the Tower of Pisa today with a member named E******* (originally from Africa).  We chatted for awhile, we gave him your bag (and we brought peanut butter) and he was cute and had brought us some cookies (which were delicious).  They were nearby at a ward party for the national holiday today.  He lives just 5 minutes away from the Tower and led us towards his home to get gelato.  We got gelato with him, chatted for a few minutes and then said goodbye.  I asked him how things were going and he said good.  I'm sure you already know about his baptism last week.  He seemed in good spirits.  He said he mainly eats pasta that they cook for dinner and was excited to get the mixes you sent.  Here are some pictures.  I gave him a mom hug and wished him well.  It was nice to see him!

Trina

May 21, 2011

Dear Family,

I hope everything is going good back home.  The last week has been interesting for me.  I finished my first transfer here in the mission.  Hah 15 to go.  Well as you know Anz. Schultz went home and I'm honestly kinda depressed about it. I miss him a lot but that's how a mission is I guess.  My new comp is Anz. Giove. He is a really hard worker.  I hope for good things together.  I feel like I'm getting better at the language though.  Understanding and speaking better. We're only speaking to each other in Italian so I guess I can't feel bad when there's nothing to say.  We'll learn the language together by SYL'ing all the time (speaking your language). The MTC group that was under me got to the country a few days ago.  Unfortunately the trainee that came to my district here is one who I didn't get to know very well and he looks so young.  Kinda funny.  My district is completely new now.

I wonder how district meetings will be.  It's still La Spezia, Pisa and Livorno.  We take a train to Livorno every Monday for district meetings.  Except this Monday.  The Firenze zone (me) and also the Bologna Zone have Zone Conference then so I should see some old friends from my MTC District there.  It's going to be a nightmare getting there though.  We have to be at the Church in Modena by 11:30, so to do that and to do that cheaply we have to take a regional train to Firenze that leaves at 6:54 am, then take an Intercity to Modena from Firenze and then a bus to the chapel.  Then we have Zone Conference and have to repeat the whole thing all over again to be back to Pisa.  It will be a long day.

The days are starting to get nice and toasty.  If the summer is anything like the last summer in Italy I'll be in for one for sure.  It was so hot last summer here.  I wonder if Pisa is similar to Rome in that way.

This last Tuesday, the night before me and Anz. Schultz left for Firenze we had dinner at a member's house.  It was so good.  I even got the recipe.  But they had this fruit for dessert that was so good.  It was called Nespole.  I'd never even heard of or seen fruit like it.  It kinda looked like apricots but it wasn't.  It was cool to try something so new.

Well, I love you all so much.  I'm happy to be here even when its hard and discouraging.  I know the lessons it's teaching me.  D******** is getting baptized this Sunday and I'm giving a talk at the service.  Its on Faith and Repentance, the first two principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It should hopefully turn out good.  Tons of love, Ciao Ciao See you soon.

Anziano Mendel

May 4, 2011 from Pisa

Dear Family,

Hey ya’ll, another week has passed here in Italy, I honestly can say that the weeks do in fact go fast, even when the days go slow.  This week has been a real busy one for me.  Because my companion is the district leader, I’m kinda forced to travel a lot.  I’ve been on 3 scambio’s this week, one to La Spezia, I had one here in Pisa and then I was in Firenze Monday of this week.  In fact I’m going back to Firenze for P-day this week.  I’m on the train right now.  It’s about an hour train ride from Pisa to Firenze.  I’m really excited to go and see the centro. (Pronounced “chentro”). So La Spezia was good.  I love the city, such a beautiful place, however, the missionary apartment in La Spezia is disgusting and I had to sleep in it.  That’s my least favorite thing about scambis is sleeping in other apartments.  Our Pisa apartment is so nice.  We, or I should say, my comp keeps our flat very clean.  I learned a lot from Anziano Frustaci while I was there so that’s good.  Being on scambio in Firenze was better.  Their apartment was really nice.  And Anziano Bullock is an amazing missionary.  He is also dying this transfer.  He was just great to learn from. What I really like about Anziano Bullock is that he is not an in your face self righteous missionary.  Anz. Bullock just does it for himself and for God and I really could tell.  I just like to be in my city of Pisa though.  Pisa Pride!

Trevor at Cinque Terre

So good news this week, D***********, our baptismal date came to church for the first time.  Which was really cool for the both of us.  He said it was completely different than he expected, but he enjoyed it.  The next day we had a lesson about the Word of Wisdom and it also went great.  This was what I was really worried about cause he smokes a lot.  So I didn’t know how it would go over, if he would be able to quit.  We told him about how we don’t smoke and he said, Great, I’m already quitting.  He said he used to smoke 60 cigarettes a day! Now he’s down to 15.  We have another lesson with him later tonight. I hope he has been progressing.  Other than D******** we don’t really have any other progressive investigators.  M******, a sweet lil lady kind of dropped us this week.  She said she received an answer after prayer and reading the BoM and we thought, “Great” .Then she went on to tell us how her family is catholic and she has been studying Buddhism and feels attracted to that.  So...we asked to set up another appointment and then she told us she was going to Berlin for a month to live with her daughter and that we could come back then.  So...that’s kind of wrapped up.

So we’ve been working also with this less active named  F************.  He’s really shy and uncomfortable but super nice.  He bought us pizza last night, which is, of course, always nice.  We teach him a lot about prayer and the BoM.  He’s just kinda a bum, 26 years old with no job and never leaves his momma’s house.  I don’t know what I can do to help him there though.  Any ideas?

So my first transfer is almost over.  I really don’t want Schultz to leave.  I wish he’d stay another transfer.  I hope my next comp is good.  Time will tell. I’m pretty much guaranteed to stay in Pisa for this next transfer, probably at least two more.  Sounds good to me.  I wouldn’t mind staying in Tuscany for the rest of my mission.

So I’ve kinda figured out I’m sick of making all the same things so could you send me some simple quick recipes that I could make here in Italy?  That’d be great.  I make pasta and pizza wraps a lot and I need something new.  Hope that’s not too much trouble.

So I have two more talks that I read this past week that are both just absolutely amazing.  Both given by Elder Jeffrey Holland.  “Safety for the Soul”.  It talks about the Book of Mormon and what a powerful testimony he gives.  And then “Place No More For the Enemy of my Soul”, talks about real love and lust and how different they are.  Awesome as well.

Okay it’s Wednesday night now.  You would not believe what D***********told us today in our lesson.  We were teaching him about the 10 commandments, fasting and following the prophet.  It all went good and then we got to the commandment about honoring our fathers and mothers.  He kinda cracked a joke saying this “doesn’t really apply to me”.  We asked how come and he told us when he was born he was put directly into a Catholic convent.  Straight from birth.  He told us he has never met his father and the first time he met his mother he was 18.  Crazy stuff huh! Count my many blessings.

Well, I don’t know what else to say other then I’m fine here.  Don’t worry ever.  I’ll be good.  You taught me well.

Love you all so much,

Anziano Mendel

April 27, 2011 From Pisa

Trevor's District Celebrating their Departure from the MTC

Hey Fam,

Things are going good for me here in Italy right now.  I'm at the Immigration office in Pisa and it's a total nightmare.  Hah.  We thought the DMV was bad, freaking stampede to get in the building and get a number.  People were like animals and then constant fights between people about who will go first.  Its ridiculous.  It's like people forget they're human and act like beasts when they get in these situations.

I hope you had an awesome Easter back in utah.  My Easter was pretty good.  We got invited to a member's house which was awesome and we feasted.  The pasta was amazing of course but unfortunately Italians don't know how to do BBQ and that's what we did.  They made us ribs but they didn't put anything on them....just put them right on the grill and then ate 'em.  The whole time I was asking myself "Where's the BBQ sauce?" They didn't have it though...Super sad but it was fun.  They wanted to play Risk with us after, so not only have I never played Risk, I was learning it in Italian! So that was interesting.  We were playing in teams of two.  I was paired with their 16 years old son and we totally won.  Our objective was to destroy red which happened to be my companion and another member named E*******. He's so funny.  He's a little Black dude from Senegal.  He was such a poor loser it was hilarious.

A lot of the youth in our branch are really into football, like American football. But they are all so bad, first time they gave it to me to throw I had my comp go long for the pass.  All the Italian kids laughed like I couldn't throw it that far, then when I put it in Schultz's chest their mouths were on the floor. It felt good cause usually I'm so down on myself because I can't understand what they are saying, the language is still tough.  I feel like I'm learning though, so that's good.  The day after Pasqua (Easter), Pasquetta seemed to be more of a holiday then Sunday.  It was so peaceful in Pisa, it felt like Venice cause there were no cars on the roads.  Just families out and about at the market.  We started to do Casa (tracking) that night too and we got the cops called on us, so we had to go home.

I have some good news though, we set a Baptism date with D******** last week, May the 14th.  I hope he makes it!  He smokes a ton though, that's what I'm really scared about other than that he's totally solid.  It's crazy the first time we met him, he was so closed off.  I thought he was a zombie and then 3 weeks later, he has a baptismal date and he even teared up when we taught him about the Plan of Salvation.  Such an awesome experience for the both of us.

I'm really excited for my next week.  I'll be in La Spezia again tomorrow on Scambio and then Monday I'll be in Firenze (Florence) for Scambio.  I'm not quite sure if I even like Scambis but the cities are both awesome.  Oh can you get me some addresses of people so I can write them?  I thought I would just be emailing but I can't so I need some, like family and friends, you know who.

I've been reading some conference talks this last week and have really been enjoying it.  Do you remember Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's last talk before he died?  Entitled "Come what May, and Love It", Oh my gosh, absolutely amazing.  I just love that one so much.  Also, "A Matter of a Few Degrees" by President Deiter F. Uchtdorf.  And "Lift Where you Stand" Just Great.  Go read them.

So about the train thing, I don't really know.  I just know the idea and no details. My comp doesn't know either.  So I guess don't worry about it.  I just thought It'd be nice to have for when/if we come back to Italy.

The first 2 weeks here, honestly I was really homesick.  It's weird how I wasn't homesick in the MTC, but I was out here.  It wasn't bad or anything, I was just thinking about home and you all too much but I think I'm doing better now. Still tough.  Here in Pisa, we have a real solid, but small group of members but a ton of less active that seem to have been neglected so that's what we work on a lot and there's lots of finding work to be done.  It's real hard to get in doors though.  A. Schultz says it's better in other cities though. Pisa is just tough with it being 100% Italians and a ton of old people and then also college students because there is a university here and oh and sorry I forgot my camera when I went to Cinque Terre, believe me I was more down then you.  Not only that, I had to drag a duffle bag around the whole place because I was scambi'ing.  Heavy too.  I'll try to get the pictures.  But I'm pretty much for sure going to still be in Pisa for the next transfer, probably two more at least.  So my new comp will want to go so I'll be there again.  And I'll bring the camera then.

So is it weird having a daughter graduated from college with a full time legit job?  Seems weird for me to even think about it.  She'll be loaded with money by the time I get back right?  I mean what are her expenses like?  Nothing besides her car.  Totally sweet.  Every thing will be so different when I get back.  Any sweet movies come out?  Someone is keeping a list for me right? Better hope so....

Well I'll wrap up with my testimony of this work and this glory.  I'm so glad to be here in Italy serving the people here.  I love my Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ.  I know that because he took my sins and sufferings from me that I can get through any challenges here on a mission.  I'm thankful for families and truly know families are part of God's plan for us to come to earth to learn, grow and be tested together.  In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Vi voglio Bene, Ciao, Ciao, Ciao

Anziano Mendel