Crazy

Sorry guys!!

It's been a while since I've written. And tbh I'm not about to write a lot right now. But so many amazing things have happened to me the last month, I'd feel ungrateful if I didn't share some experiences with you all.

Being here in Rome as a missionary is a once in a lifetime opportunity...for real. I see and do things I'd never thought possible. And being in such a historical place, I see lots of history repeat itself. Mainly prophecies coming true.

We just had transfers on Thursday and a huge leadership conference for all the zone leaders and sister training leaders in Rome!! So yeah we had to deal with that as well as transfers and there were over 100 total moves done. We had to wake up at 4:45 and get to the main train station by 6:20am for the first departure of greenies. Needless to say it was a long day since we didn't even step foot back in our apartment until 9:45 that night. However, it was all worth it cuz we had a huge miracle come out of it.

As we were getting off the last metro hauling some suitcases to our apartment, some random guy came up to us as we were waiting to cross the street. But starts speaking English. He wasn't American though, he was from India. The first thing he said was, "sorry to bother, but I felt like I should ask you something...you guys teach English for free, right?" And then the convo took off from there. After a bit, we told him why we're really here—to talk about Christ and invite others to come unto Him. Honestly you could tell that's the real reason he stopped us; not for English course. But he didn't admit it, probably because he didn't know exactly why he stopped us. Anyway, we exchanged numbers and said we should meet up sometime.

This guy is so sick, he's 22 and speaks like perfect English. He is here studying for his masters in mechanical engineering and was raised in the Hindu religion, and knows it well, but doesn't really believe in it. He believes there are many good things about it, but he said that there are so many religions and churches out there that he finds it really hard to pick which one is the one, aka God's "church." Let alone say that it's the Hindu religion. Anyway, we met up Sunday early evening and honestly it was one of the greatest lessons ever. He had so many questions and was so interested and is thinking he wants to convert to Christianity, but doesn't know enough about it to decide. It's weird teaching someone with zero Christian background, but it's refreshing, and I love it. Anyway, after having discussed for over an hour, we decided it was time to wrap it up until next time, so we closed with a prayer (like always). After I prayed, he stood there bewildered/perplexed. He said, "I don't understand why, or what it is, but when you prayed right there I just felt good and at peace. And the whole time being here in the church and talking about these things just brings me peace and makes me happy. I don't know what it is but I wanna find out." Needless to say, we're gonna help him out with that 😉 we brought him a Book of Mormon in Hindi but he said English is better for reading so we're bringing him one in English when we see him Thursday. He's a miracle and he has been prepared by God to receive His gospel. So excited for this.

Speaking of non-Christians, we have another person we teach, and she's 100% full-blood Egyptian, but her parents moved to Italy before her birth. But she does speak fluent Arabic so that's dope...and Russian, and English...but we teach her in Italian because that's her best language and more comfortable for us to teach in Italian lol. Anyway, she's Muslim, which isn't a Christian religion, but she's different. She doesn't agree with all the Muslim doctrine. In fact, she thinks that Jesus Christ may be the Son of God, and that He is our way to salvation. Therefore, she's meeting with us to learn more. The sister missionaries taught her in the past, but nothing was happening. The sisters got emergency transferred out half way through last transfer and we were without sisters for 2+ weeks haha so we slid right on in and picked her up for ourselves :)) best decision ever. We found out she honestly wasn't taught critical points of the gospel in a thorough enough manner. So we addressed these things and patched up some huge holes, and now she's making more progress than ever before. She's literally a miracle and a half, and probably the sweetest girl I've ever met in this country. She's genuine and has amazing morals and values. She's ready. We can't wait for this!!!

Another miracle was this 50 year old Rita from Romania. She's lived in Italy since she was 25 and so she speaks perfect Italian. She's a single lady that is literally the sweetest, just like our Egyptian friend 🙂 after teaching her once, we knew right off the bat she had been prepared by God to meet us. She's searched and searched all her life for he truth. She's been a part of 4 different churches and has found parts of God in every one, but some more than others, and has never felt that God has been completely in a single church. However, she hasn't given up and believes there's gotta be somewhere out there that has it all. Where God is 100% there.

as a young teenager, she read the entire Book of Mormon a friend gave her, and loved it so much and thought it was greatest book ever. But she thinks she was too young back then to make an honest judgement on something like that. But here she is, she found us again, and she's reading it again, and she wants to know if it's all true or not. If this is the biggest scam ever, or if it's the greatest and most important truth the world could ever know. She's very contemplative and rational and isn't impulsive in her decisions, so it may take some time. But she's been prepared and I know she'll accept this all one day. So amazing.

I've seen so many other miracles I wanna share with you all, but I don't have time. Just know that these things are real, I'm not making up stories to entertain you. Miracles happen, and God makes sure of that. This is His gospel and His only gospel; therefore He will not let it cease to grow. I know the message I share every day is true, and I wouldn't be out here if it wasn't. It makes me a little sad to know I finish this and go home in December, but makes me happy at the same time because that just means I'll be able to share this with everyone back home that doesn't know it yet. I've learned countless and priceless things out here—plain and precious truths, and my life has literally been saved because of it. This Gospel saves lives. I love every minute I have to be able to share this with people. And once I've proved to God I'm ready to open my mouth and share it, He has given me people to share it with. It's good news guys, it really is. And if it seems like it isn't, then try to understand it more, because if you do understand, you'll know it's nothing but great.

Well sorry for the abrupt ending but I gotta go! Gotta send this off before 6 and we gotta go teach someone!

 Alla prossima,

Anziano Carter Blaise
Via Francesco Beggiato, 2
00169 Roma, RM
Italia

Inviato da iPad

Picture 6/20/16

5/9 Elders in my transfer group...man these guys are some serious studs

Beach volleyball and fireside for this week's P day

Back to Sicilia

Hey guys!

I'm currently typing this email out on my iPad while sitting in the Questura of Ragusa, Sicilia. Yeah, Ragusa was the last city I was assigned to before Roma, but I'm fortunate enough to be back for a short little visit 😉

In Italy, us foreigners have to obtain something called a Permesso di Soggiorno. It's not very fun. It's pretty much a green card. Anyway, it's a long drawn out process, and when I got a new missionary as my comp in March, he had to start his, and I had to renew mine. But since it's Sicily, they scheduled our fingerprint appointments for June 13th lol 3 months later. So, here I am with my boy Anziano Perfili in the good old Ragusa just grindin' for that permesso. I flew in from Rome to Catania on Sunday and landed at 12pm, but there was no bus to Ragusa until 3, so we waited for just about 3 hours for a bus to get to Ragusa. 

When we (me and Anziano Nielsen) arrived to Ragusa, my home slice Antonio Lo Monaco, our Ward Mission Leader in Ragusa, came and picked us up from the station :)) love that guy so much. And with us were some homies Lorena and Paola. Paola is a good friend of a member, Lorena, and is actually currently learning more about our church and what we're all about. So the plan was that we meet up at the church with my boys Anziano Perfili and Clasby and teach a lesson with Noemi and her mom. But things came up and duty called, so we only had 15 minutes together to say hi/bye and then we left to Comiso, a nearby city 25 mins away in car, and dropped off Lorena and her dope friend Paola, and I saluted her fam as well. Then we went with Lo Monaco to the hospital in Comiso, where Giuseppe currently finds himself. (Yes, Giuseppe is the guy who had a heart attack and a stroke within 3 weeks). When we arrived, he honestly was worse than ever, in every way. It was hard. We sat down and talked. I didn't really have much to say actually and a lot of time was just spent listening. We weren't even supposed to be there cuz it wasn't visiting hours, but he told them I came down from Rome and it's a special situation, they let us in. At the end of our conversation, I tried to think of what I could see to boost his morale and help him be happy again. The only thing I could think of was The Book of Mormon. I knew for sure that's what he needed. I asked him if he had the book with him in the hospital, and he said no. After telling him how much it would change his circumstances emotionally, spiritually, and even physically, he interrupted my testimony by calling his wife and asking her to bring him his Book of Mormon from the house as soon as she could. It was so awesome. Just reflecting on what this book has done for me, I couldn't help but recommend it for someone else who needs it. It gives me answers to questions I didn't even know I had, and makes me realize that there's a whole new level of happiness and knowledge just waiting out there for me or anyone else who wants it.

In Rome we haven't had the most "success" I guess. We've been teaching some cool people and trying our best to help them prepare to make some promises with God, but they just simply aren't ready. It kinda stinks cuz that's literally why we're out here in the first place, but maybe today just isn't their day.

I also had the opportunity to see some homies this week from America!! :) on Friday, I saw my boy Dalton and it was so sick!! Haven't seen him since I left (duh) and he's changed a bunch! He's super YOLKED now!! But he's taken, so ladies, don't even think about it. We had a good time catching up and walking around Rome and gettin some bomb gelato near the Trevi Fountain. Then on Saturday the Toelkes family met up with me and my comp for some din-din!! 😌 good stuff. It was soo nice to see such good friends from back home out here in Italy. Surprisingly, none of it made me trunky at all and I'm still not ready to go home in 6 months...which btw I'm not 100% sure yet but I might end up extending my mission a transfer and come home February...not sure yet. Anyway...

We're as busy as ever these days and got a lot to do this week. We fly back in to Rome tomorrow (Tuesday)at 7:40am and will start our miserably tired week packed full of stuff, including organizing our zone conference and preparing a training that we gotta do. Wish me luck :')

We also had a scare today (Monday) in Ragusa. I did all my stuff to renew my permesso, we were just waiting on the final step, and then they all of the sudden tell me that I have to come back Wednesday or Friday to do it...hah. I was like nah fam I live in Rome and I gotta go back tomorrow. I got stuff to do, I ain't comin back for this!!! Long story short, the straight up homie, Lo Moncaco, calls some friends, says some things...and next thing you know they let me do it right before our bus ride back to Catania!! Oh and btw we had some bomb lunch at his house as well. Interesting "p-day."

Now we're currently on the bus to Catania where we will sleep tonight and then wake up around 4am for our flight tomorrow 😊😅

Well, that's all I got for this week. Talk to you all soon!

Anziano Carter Blaise

00169 Roma, RM

Italia

Inviato da iPad

Walking to an appointment in Rome

"Tbt when we got soaked in the rain"

Tbt squad

"Tbt cookin"

"Tbt..Thank you to everyone for this birthday wish!"

"A little study for our Columbian investigator"

"Tbt Giuseppe and Paola"

Dalton!!

My friends from America...The Toelkes 

Yummy dinner with the Toelkes

Gelato with the Toelkes

Gelato with the Toelkes

Letter from Mission President

30 May 2016


To the Family of Anziano Blaise,


We are pleased to inform you that your son has been called to serve as a Zone Leader in the Italy Rome Mission.  He will have the responsibility to preside over two or more districts in one of our zones here in the mission.  He will be responsible for his zone both spiritually and temporally.  He will teach them once a month in a combined district meeting and will help with the planning and training at Zone Conference.  He will go on exchanges with all of the missionaries in his zone  to help them with teaching or language skills.  He will also serve as a member of the Mission Leader Council which helps direct and plan initiatives for the entire mission.


Elder Blaise is an outstanding missionary.  We are looking forward to the opportunity of serving more closely with him.


With best regards,


Michael G. Waddoups


President


Italy Rome Mission

When in Rome.......

Hey everyone,

Well, sorry I haven't written anything in a while...I've been busy and preoccupied the past few weeks. But since my mom got a little upset (😉) I've found some time here and there today to get an email out. Honestly a lot has happened since the last email so I apologize but I won't be able to tell you guys everything that went down cuz it would take too long, nor will I have time to tell all the details, but it's ok, I'll try and give you guys the condensed version without leaving anything #key out :)

Alright so rewind back to Ragusa a couple weeks ago. We had a zone conference together in Catania, it was a Monday, and it was an awesome conference. I learned a lot. It was focused a lot on the Restoration and how we can flood Italy with the story of the Restoration. At the end we all received a Restoration pamphlet and President challenged each of us to give it out before the end of the day. Eventually, we left and took the 6pm bus back to Ragusa. As we were waiting for the bus, I met this 23 year old girl named Sabrina. We started talking and ended up sitting by each other on the bus. Since the trip is 2 hours, we had PLENTY of time to chat :) as you may assume, this ended up as being one of the most natural lessons I've ever taught, it was so sick. So pretty much I taught her the whole story of the Restoration and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and at the end as I was going to invite her to learn more from us and take a copy of the book, SHE asked ME if we could! And even better, she ended up being cousins with an active family in our ward of Ragusa. Unfortunately, she was only going to Ragusa to visit her fam because she lives and studies in Messina, another city in our zone about 3.5 hours north of Ragusa. So yeah we set up something with the missionaries there.

As we got off the bus I was feelin' good and life was just awesome. Then our ward mission leader comes to pick us up from the bus station and take us home, but he's like the most silent and down I've ever seen him. He ends up telling us that our investigator, Giuseppe (the one who had a heart attack a month or so back), had just had a sever stroke and couldn't moved his arm along with half his face...I couldn't believe what I was hearing. 

In short, the Lord was trying him, again. And communicating with him in ways only he could understand and according to the will of God. Just to cut to the chase, Giuseppe and his wife kissed for the first time in like years and actually are happy around each other and talk to each other. Pretty much their marriage is saved, and Giuseppe attributes all of it to his heart attack and stroke. As we taught him in our first meeting and promised him the Gospel would bless him and his family as a whole, he didn't believe it at all because he claimed they were too deep into it that they could never recover their relationship. Well, we still promised him, and as we continued with our meetings and he continued reading the Book of Mormon, his life changed.

Anyway, last week I got transferred, to Rome 3. It's called Rome 3 because Rome is so huge that our mission divides it into 6 areas for missionaries. So we got a part of Rome as well as some countryside nearby. Let's just say Rome is NOTHING like Sicily where I just was. So different haha. But I love it! Even if the food isn't as good :/ still beautiful tho! My new comp is a boss and he finishes his mission in October. We are stoked to kill it out here and our zone is stacked so we're gonna go hard all together!!

Leaving Ragusa was one of the hardest things ever, so I won't talk about that. But just know that Ragusa and the people there have a chunk of my heart. I love them so much. My ward mission leader and I had a good talk in the car waiting for my bus to Catania...we're gonna miss each other a lot. It was the first time I've seen him shed a tear.

Well guys, that's it for this week. Talk to you next week! :)

P.s.....SHOUT OUT TO MY BROTHER FROM DAY 1 MATT MOSER! HE IS GETTING MARRIED TO THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS ON AUGUST 20TH!!!!!! I am beyond happy for him. It sucks I won't be there, but I'll be ere in spirit. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Love this guy so much.

Saying goodbye in Ragusa 

Squad

On the ferry from Sicily to Italy

PELLONE NAPOLI PIZZA

The homies before me and Anziano Stanley took our train out

Samuel

We take the metro now that we are in Rome

Pasta al forno...better than it looks

The Manzini fam ...and Bishop

The Lo Monaco fam

View from the apartmente

Noemi

Gaia

Some English course students

Giovanni

Rome 3