Week 13

We didn't receive a letter this week other than individual ones.  I think it was an error...

The best pizza in the world..again!

lol my haircut that they kinda messed up so i had to fix it so i didnt look like a 17 year old italian bad boy

sick name!

Zone Soccer

Week 14.5, Good Week

everyone, sorry i didnt email monday, our p day was postponed til today! and another quick one haha

so, it was a pretty normal week, except i need to tell you two major things. one, about the bednar conference, and two, about our investigator named Guiseppe. I'll start with Giuseppe, since this story goes back to 2 sundays ago. the reason i didnt tell you yet is because i didnt wanna jinx anything, but this dude is legit. ok so it starts off with me and my comp walking into sacrament meeting about 10 minutes before church starts. we see this stranger sitting down near the back; neither of us have seen him before. so, naturally, we strike up a convo and get to know him. well, it turns out this guy had been studying to be a catholic priest from about 2003-2013 or so, but then some missionaries found him. long story short, they got a lesson with him. and during this lesson they testified of the book of mormon and its significance in the truthfulness of our church. this sparked curiosity in Giuseppe, and he actually read and prayed the following night. he said that as he prayed, he felt a hand lightly touching his head, so he looked up, but no one was there. he continued to pray, and as he asked about the book, he felt that same comforting hand brush the back of his head, like a father would do. he immediately took this as his answer. he left the catholic church and began taking lessons with the missionaries. after pretty much all the lessons were taught to him, his mother died. this destroyed him. and because of this, he stopped meeting with the missionaries, and kinda fell off the face of the earth. well, about 2 years later almost, he felt something missing in his life. he then remembered the comforting hand that brushed the back of his head years ago, and decided to come to church...that's when we first met him. now, after teaching him about 5 times in the last 13 days, he is more than ready for baptism, and will be baptized on May 9th. he is the most ready i have ever seen. he has an unshakable testimony of the most important principles of the Gospel, and he knows the Bible more than anyone I can think of. this guy is the definition of prepared. he is amazing. this was and is a great experience for me, because of the rareity of it, and the reality of it. God really does know his children, all of them. and sometimes as a missionary, we have really good lessons, but then get really discouraged because nothing happens after, and we may never even get a 2nd lesson.  after a while, you start to tell yourself it's something you're doing wrong, and you blame yourself and become discouraged. i'm starting to learn that that's not what we should do. the Lord has His timing, and His plan for everyone, and it is a perfect plan. sometimes people just arent ready yet, and we cant control that. all we can do is put our best effort forward and never stop doing so. i think of how the missionaries must have felt almost 2 years ago with Giuseppe. they had amazing lessons, and he even developed a testimony of the book of mormon, but just stopped. they must have been super discouraged, and may have even blamed themselves for it. but I can testify that they didnt do anything wrong, and that it wasnt Giuseppe's time. I know that now is his time, and the Lord has prepared him more than we know. I have no clue what I did to deserve this experience on my mission, especially so early on, but it's beautiful to see the Lord work in mysterious ways. I love this.

Another highlight was the bednar conference. now, i could go on for hours and hours about it, so i'll just keep it brief-ish. the entire Italy Rome mission had the privilege of hearing from an Apostle of the Lord, David A. Bednar, and it was unforgettable. he didnt even give a talk, in fact, it was more of a Q&A session. to hear this man's testimony and his answers to such profound questions was unreal. almost as unreal as the fact that i shook his hand and talked with him face to face. this man is amazing, more amazing that you can see from watching him on conference. since i dont have a ton of time, i'll just share something that really stuck out to me. someone asked "how do you know when you're truly converted?" his answer was remarkable but simple. he replied by saying, "if you ever think you are converted, you're in trouble." he explained that once we think we are converted, we not only stop progressing, but we digress. he likened it to another situation. he said that some of us may think "oh i could never fall away from the church, i'll never lose my testimony" and he said that with that mindset, that is how it happens. if we dont think we are susceptible to falling, then we will let our guard down. and if we let our guard down, thats how Satan gets you. he said that we must constantly be seeking to progress, and never think we arent susceptible to even the worst situations, because we are. he said that progression does not come all at one, but over time through consistency and diligence. 

I had some very spiritual but personal experiences this week. I've really grown to love this work even more, and i love my life as a missionary. i love it!!!!! i miss you all a ton, but i love you all enough to sacrifice these 2 years for a better cause, and i know you guys will be blessed for it. love you guys so much.

-carter

classic pose of the dude is all over caserta

horse in the middle of the rode, italy probs :-)

Week 12.... I Believe

sheesh, another quick week.

it was a good one. despite my super close buddies getting transferred out of our area and apartment, it was fun. on saturday, my birthday, these guys made it one to remember. first off, they went and bought fake ray ban glasses to casually make fun of the ones i had bought...it was hilarious haha. they made some amazing food and dolce, and we finished it off with some Napoletanna pizza for dinner...my favorite :) i feel bad because we ended up staying up til like 11:30 talking and laughing about random stuff, so we were pretty tired the next day. but hey, it was my birthday..

anyway, we had some interesting experiences this last week, some were bad, some were good. I think i'm going to just ignore the bad ones and talk about a good one or two. so, one lesson we had with this 21 year old couple on wednesday went great. their names are Guido and Flori. it was our first lesson with them. they are soo sick, they speak good english too. they are both studying to be doctors, and Guido is a professional Sailor...so sick! anyway, we talked about our message and such, but we asked them why they wanted to meet with us and what they wanted to get out of our lessons. she said, "well, you're so happy, i can tell. and you're especially happy when you talk about your church. so i guess i want to know why you guys are so happy all the time...if that makes sense" lets just say from there, the lesson went swimmingly haha. they asked so many great questions and the spirit was definitely there testifying of the truth. we met some pretty cool people while finding and have high hopes, as usual. oh, almost forgot, we got a baptismal date for Guido and Flori! it's on pace for may 23rd!

man, I truly do love it out here. it's honestly pretty tough and tiring to be a full time missionary, but it is totally worth it. just seeing the happiness our message brings makes it all worth it. It's a huge learning experience for me out here, and it would take me forever to tell you everything i have learned so far. generally speaking, one of the biggest things i have grown to learn, is that God knows and loves all of us individually. He created us, He knows us perfectly. He knows exactly how we feel in every situation, and He will always be there for us. however, he does require that we ask for help when we need it. i have learned many times, that He does in fact hear our prayers, and He will answer them, as long as we are listening with real intent. dont give up no matter how hard it gets, because He is always there, especially when we think He isnt. I have perfect knowledge of this, and it brings me peace knowing so.

I love you all so much.

anziano blaise

Week 11, General Conference and Pasqua/Pasquetta ..

well...hello everyone,

let me first start off by saying how awesome these past few days have been. so much has happened this last week, I think i only have time to talk about the past couple days.

as you all know, general conference was this weekend, which is basically christmas here in the mission haha, its so sick. we went to the church to watch it since we dont have a tv. and since we're 8 hours ahead of Utah, we had to watch it at odd times kinda. but it was so sweet.

on saturday night, we watched the saturday morning session of conference, and it was sweet. tons of focus on families and marriage and the whole eternal aspect, which truly is amazing to think about. we bought a bunch of snacks to bring to the church to snack on during our GEN CONF MARATHON lol. the next day on sunday, we got to the church around 9am to watch the saturday afternoon session, and our 75 year old romanian friend Gheorge Bob showed up to join us. after that, he had to go home to make food. then, we watched priesthood session, twice. one time in italian and another time in english (long story). then we snacked for a bit before we started the sunday morning session at 6pm our time. and upon starting it, a member named Vincenzo comes in to join. Not sure if i have talked about him previously, but he is quite the character. he's mentally unstable, and talks at very high volume and nonstop. so, during conference, he would often talk, usually to himself, and took a total of 200 selfies at least, with the computer screen in the background. all in all it was an interesting experience.

despite the disturbances, i really took a lot from this conference. it helped me to come to the realization of many things such as the importance of family, and the atonement. the atonement is a broad subject, but one thing i felt was repeated, luckily, was the fact that we must MOVE ON from our mistakes. Heavenly Father cares about who we are, not what we WERE. He sent His only begotten son to this earth, so that the burden of sin may be lightened so much, even completely off our shoulders. through His atonement, we can not only become clean and happy again, but we can forget our mistakes and, like God, remember them no more. it truly is the best gift, along with eternal families of course.

monday was sweet. other than deep cleaning in the apartment, it was Pasquetta, which literally means little Easter, in Italy. and it is a huge holiday. so, we went to this Italian family in our ward the Bruno's house. we had a 6 hour pranzo, then went back. it was so much fun. everyone was just laughing and having a great time the whole 6 hours. we had 6 courses of food followed by some amazing desserts, yes more than one dessert. the Italians are so loving and I love it. as soon as the found out I was american they just always called me "Anziano Americano!" and they thought it was so cool that i spoke english (even though italian is way cooler)

anyway, once we got back from this feast, we had about 30 minutes of proseltying time. i was bummed we had to do it, but it was whatever, so we said our prayers and went out. let me tell you, we saw a total of 3 people the entire time, stopped all of them, and only one was willing to talk with us. i felt prompted to ask if he believed in God, he said no and that he was agnostic. long story short, 10 minutes later, we have each other's phone numbers and an appointment to meet with this 16 year old named Gabrielle this week to explain how to know if God exists and how to enjoy the happiness that this brings into our lives. if anything, it was just a reminder to never give up. even if it seems like nothing will get done and its pointless to go out and proselyte, its not. the Lord works in mysterious ways, and obviously knew we would go out finding, and put this guy in our path for a reason. i look forward to find out what this reason is, and to encounter many more miracles similar to this one throughout my mission. i'm so blessed to be out here in Italy, and I wouldnt trade it for the world. i love you all so much, and think and pray for you every day. God bless

love, 

anziano blaise

here's part of napoli and mt. vesuvius

got some glasses, lol not prescription

so yeah, that thing im eating is gelato..i dont wanna even explain how good it was cuz you will all cry from jealousy ;)

Week 10 , Alma 26:27

well guys, this week was awesome, overall.

It is honestly crazy how fast time flies out here, and all i hear is that it will keep going by faster every transfer. It was a busy week, but mostly for the better. some highlights:

Had my first Pranzo with an investigator and his fam! this guy is awesome and so is his family. his name is Massimo, and he is a dentist. he is probably in his late 40's if I were to guess, and he has 3 kids. the oldest, Marco, is 20 and super cool. they have an 18 year old daughter who is cool too but i forgot her name. and they have a 9 year old named Alessandro who is super legit at soccer, of course. and the wife is sooo nice and an amazing cook. Mamma Mia...that food was "in gamba" which basically means "on point" in english. it was funny because they offered us wine while we were waiting for food to be done, and so we ended up talking about the word of wisdom and why we dont drink wine. and they honestly respected us a ton, it was cool. they had so many questions about our church, and we answered all of them throughout pranzo. they also told us they wanted to take us somewhere some P day because they said that we're fun to hang out with I guess...so yeah these people are soo sick. and Massimo is pretty dark, so I think he's Sicilian, which is awesome. and then, after pranzo, we taught a long lesson about the restoration of the church. it went pretty well. they had great questions and are eager to learn more. they committed to read the book of mormon and to pray to know if it is true. and we explained to them how that, if the book is true, that it means that this church is in fact the RESTORED church of Jesus Christ here on the Earth. and the best part was, they didnt speak much slang or dialect, so i understood about 95% of what they said! it was so refreshing to here actual italian haha.

Another brief story. another investigator, Larissa, we met with on saturday morning. the lesson went super well. she's 20 years old and atheist. however, she is very open for discussion and is open to new ideas and beliefs. so, we ended up talking about the book of mormon, the restoration, and the plan of salvation as well (my favorite lesson). she is super cool, honestly. and she speaks pretty decent english. anyway, after the KILLER lesson, she also committed to read from the book of mormon, but she wasnt sure about praying. its something we will have to work with her on, but its tough seeing as she doesnt even know if God exists. so, I told her she should pray, just simply to ask God if He exists, and she said she would. so we will see how that went when we meet next. but the best part is she came to church yesterday! we sat with her and explained to her what was going on and she asked a lot of questions, which was good. and she had to leave right at 10 in order to get to work, so she missed the last 10 minutes of sacrament meeting, oh well. but we texted her last night asking how she HONESTLY liked it, and she said she loved it! she likes how it doesnt feel like a church really, she said it feels more like a family with common beliefs. I loved her answer. I love families and I love this Gospel because of the family-oriented core.

Guys, aside from all the amazing times this week, it was tough. we got cancelled on several times, got rejected, had a couple weird and rough lessons, but theres always light at the end of the tunnel. I was pretty discouraged on wednesday because of the lack of success we were having overall after all of our efforts. then, I actually remembered a scripture I read while back in the MTC. it is in Alma 26:27. it says, "now when our hearts were depressed and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said, "Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites(Italians), and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

This really struck me. I decided that I wasnt going to give up and throw in the towel. I immediately said a quick prayer in the other room, asking for help and guidance. immediately after, i felt like calling 3 potential investigators that werent answering us the whole week. surprisingly enough, they all answered their phones. 2 of them were Larissa and Massimo, who we met with and had AMAZING lessons and have great expectations and hopes for them. another was Rodriguez, who we set an indefinite appointment with him this week!

If anyone can learn anything from this, its that the scriptures  can help us today. they may have been written thousands of years ago, but they reveal truths, that are still true today. and more importantly, promises from God. I decided to call upon one of those promises, and it worked. I know God is there, and that He hears our prayers, and answers them IF we have faith that He will. I know He loves us all more than we can comprehend. I am so grateful to be under His watchful eye and to do His work every day. I love it out here. great experiences every day. dont give up guys, no matter what it may be. God is there, especially when we think He isnt. Pray always. Obey the commandments. Have Faith. Repent daily. Love one another. all of these things will bring nothing but peace and pure joy into your life. I love you all so much and pray for you all every day and night. Miss you guys.

God be with you til we meet again,

Anziano Blaise

Week 9 Caserta,Italy

I lost track of what week this is. all i know, is that the weeks go by exponentially faster haha. this week was nothing crazy, but quite busy. my comp and I had many appointments and lots of finding to do. we visited some less active members and new converts, as well as our progressing investigator: Fiorenza.

Good news is, she is planning on getting baptized April 11th! such a great day to be baptized...lol. also, these awesome 18 year olds named Dennis and Daniel, new converts, are working with us a lot. theyre both Albanian, but speak perfect italian and very good english. we give each other tips with the languages. we plan on going on splits with them this week to give them more prep for their missions in the future, as well as help us cover more ground. they are awesome guys, and we hope to use their fellowshipping to our advantage. they plan on bringing some buddies to english course this week, so we will see where this goes. also, two main potential investigators, Rodriguez (from Dominican Republic) and this guy Massimo (from Sicily) are looking pretty awesome. we hope to meet this week, and challenge them to baptism. and hopefully, baptize their families as well. we are seeing progress slowly but steadily out here in Caserta. it's tough because there arent many people out here, but anything is possible.

My italian is making baby steps each and every day, and I couldnt be more grateful. my comp is forcing me to be in charge of the phone this week...yikes. its really hard to understand italians on the phone, so wish me luck! we also casually got some more "Nap"/Nappoletanna pizza twice this week. man this stuff is incredible. we also had mission conference on friday in rome and it was sweeeet. learned a lot actually. 

in essence, i learned to never give up, and never bail out on an opportunity, whether i think it will work or not. just because you get rejected doesnt mean you did anything wrong! some people just arent ready to hear the Gospel quite yet, and thats ok. however, on the street this week, i stopped some pretty sketchy looking people, which we usually dont, but some of them turned out to be pretty awesome, so i definitely will not miss out on stopping anyone from now on. we set up a couple appointments and a couple people want some Books of Mormon, but other than that, this week has kinda just been a fun and uneventful one haha.

I learn every day things I need to improve on. but I also learn we cant get down on ourselves for our faults and weaknesses. one of my favorite scriptures, Ether 12:27, tells us how God gives us weaknesses solely for our own GROWTH. now i know that sounds crazy, but as we discover our weaknesses, humble ourselves because of them, and turn to the Lord completely for help; He actually promises us that He will make these weaknesses become STRENGTHS...thats amazing. Im still learning this concept, but I cant wait to take use of this in my life.

I truly love this work, and I love everything this brings into my life and the change it has on others' lives. Love you all. Until next week

Love

Anz. Blaise

ps. from Tami... Carter lost his camera charger so there aren't any pics from him this week.  I took this off of the mission blog from Friday! Thank goodness Sister Waddoups is on top of it and takes pictures.  I'm ordering him a new charger asap, I have to see pictures weekly... (:

Mission Conference Rome East/Napoli/Sardegna March 20th (Carter is on far left back!)

Week 8 Italy

well guys, just like that, another week has passed-

this week has been slightly weird but pretty solid. I could go on forever about what happened, but I dont have that long. essentially, we got stood up about 5 times this week for appointments, and 3-4 of them were investigators...ugh. but that's just a part of the mission I guess! I'm starting to quickly learn that there is endless amounts of rejection out here in the mission field, especially in the south of Italy...hahaha it's so awesome here though.

I dont know how or why this happens, but I often forget I'm out here. like I'll just be walking down the street talking to people in italian, and then step back and realize what I'm doing- I'm in the prettiest country on earth with the coolest people ever and the only "job" I have right now is to talk about this amazing church with people. I guess you can say I'm pretty lucky/blessed. 

this week I ate some more pizza that is insanely good, and has some mozzarella di bufala. it's essentially mozzarella cheese made with buffalo milk, and it is AMAZING.

on the other hand, we finally got a baptismal date with this woman named Fiorenza (assuming she can keep away from the cigarettes). I'm so excited. It's so awesome watching people turn their life around and make a change for the better. I can see the difference like night and day from when we first taught this woman, to now. she's fatigued from quitting smoking cold turkey, but she says she somehow feels happier, more at peace, and closer to God. this isn't just a blessing of not smoking, but it's also a blessing we can all get from striving to strengthen our relationship with Him. it's so easy too! all we must do is pray every day, and often. ask for help with our problems. actively seek to help others. live in harmony with God's plan and commandments. and most importantly, always strive to become like Jesus Christ, and develop Christlike attributes. this is what I'm trying to do, and I can see such a difference in my life. I can honestly say, at this exact moment as I type, that I am BY FAR the happiest I have ever been...and I know that it is no coincidence that this is at the same time that I spend all my time spreading this wonderful Gospel. this Gospel blesses lives, it changes lives; not just the people you share it with, but yourself as well, as you share it. I find that every time I open my mouth to share it, whether I get rejected or not, I feel my own testimony strengthen actually. I'm beyond blessed to be out here, and to be out here with the coolest missionaries of Italy. We are constantly having a good time and it's so fun to be a missionary. as I learn to not let the "failures" get to me, I learn that we cant help it if people accept this Gospel or not in this life. all we can do is give them the opportunity to hear it, and if we do that, then we are doing our job.

I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes, as well as for the shortness of my letters; for I am still getting used to these wacky italian keyboards and what not haha. quick summary of a cool story- my comp and our district leader went out to take care of something that the president needed to be done, so we went on a scambia (exchange), and so it was me and Anziano Scott. I love this guy, but he and I know about the same amount of Italian, and understand about the same amount. so let's just say I was a little nervous to talk to people on the street for the next few hours...but we did it. it was weird, we had like 6 good convos and actually got a guy to commit to coming to church and meeting with us. not sure which companionship will take this guy (assuming he follows through) but it was just cool to experience how much God can help His missionaries, when we truly need it.

I love you all and promise I will try to include more and more as the weeks go on. I just want to make sure I email all of my peeps :)

Love you all,

Anziano Blaise

ps....we are a 20 minute train ride from the town of napoli, but we are in the napoli zone.

our town is called caserta and its like the brentwood of italy. it is quiet but cool, i like it a lot.

my comps name is Graham Maxwell Pingree and he is about 1 month older than me and 7 inches taller than me

Our apartment

Yummy salami and cheese

My companion Elder Pingree eating the BEST pizza!