Monday, January 26, 2015

Week 37 - Trapani, Sicily, Italy - Elder Tew

Well, I lost my planner this last week so this email is all off of memory.  Comunque, on Monday we ate quite a bit of food (nothing abnormal there.)  We began at the Valenti house with them and some parenti.  We had this onion pasta (sounds gross but the onion is cooked so much it becomes a sauce)  with giant meatballs.  It was pretty good.  I had a couple of plates of it.  They also had Spuma to drink in addition to the Coca which is an awesome drink they have here in Sicily.  It almost makes up for the lack of Mtn. Dew... haha I'm just kidding.  Then we had some fruit and dessert.  I can't remember if there was a secondo but the pasta was abbastanza.  Then we went to an investigating family's home to say goodbye.  By the way that's we did the last few days before Anz. Bermudes took off to Pozzuoli.  We had some hot chocolate.  Then we went to the Sanacuore's house for a cena with the grandparents there too.  We had this stew with meat, potatoes, and peas and then some other meat and maybe dessert.  On Tuesday we went to Palermo for district meeting and afterwards we had a mexican fiesta because we miss mexican food.  We had cafe rio style food so pork and stuff.  It was pretty good.  Then we had English course and afterwards went to another investigating family's house to say goodbye.  We ate something good but I can't remember what it was at the moment.  On Wednesday, Bermudes had to pack and we ran a few errands before he left.  We left for Palermo that night and met up with Palermo 2 and some other missionaries.  The next morning we arose early to walk across the city with a bunch of rolly luggage because we didn't see any buses.  It was only a 40 min walk.  cake. They left in trains and buses and by 7 all were gone.  We decided to celebrate by walking to Panini Bomba and eating some giant sandwiches stuffed with beef (hopefully), burgers, and sausage with tomatoes, lettuce, and fry sauce.  One wasn't enough so I got another and was rewarded with one loaded with french fries in addition to the meat.  The Italian customers were impressed I think (or entertained by 4 missionaries in suits chowing down on this food truck on the edge of the highway in the company of blue collar workers and farmers.)  We also got free chinotto which is a drink that tastes like cherry cough syrup.  I like Spuma more.  I was hoping they would have given us some cans of pepsi.  Later that day (after recovering from the panini during the pranzo break), we went to the train station to pick up the new comps.  I met Elder Tew and he is pretty cool.  He is from a town near Payson, Utah, likes soccer, and also did some flying as a pilot trainee.  He just completed 4 transfers (24 weeks)  in L'Aquila up north so we are both kind of young in the mission. Ce la caviamo.  The next morning we went back to Trapani and luckily it was raining.  We had a lesson that night.  The next day we planned and had a lesson in the afternoon.  On Sunday, we went to church and then ate at the Sanacuore's house for lunch.  We had spinach, ham, and mushroom pasta which was super good.  I had two portions of that and then some broccoli cus cus (like rice maybe).  Then we had some pork loin on the bone and some fruit and some dessert.  The dessert was this almond and cream pie with warm chocolate drizzled on top.  I had two pieces and the third piece was with Nutella on top.  I'll have you know I did politely refuse seconds each time but they were having to much fun.  Luckily, I had been fasting so it wasn't too difficult.  That night we had an awesome lesson.  Elder Tew and I taught really well in Italian together and despite forgetting the DVD we were going to watch it turned out well.  We had some pizza with them also.  Also, today, we will receive some free pasta for lunch so life is pretty good and temperatures are cool so I can't complain.  Talk to yall next week.  Ciao

Anziano Blazzard

Monday, January 19, 2015

Week 36 - Trapani, Sicily

Transfer calls came from Rome and I am staying in Trapani with Anziano Tew who is coming from L'Aquila.  Anziano Bermudes is going to Pozzuoli and will be training a new missionary there.  So to recap the week on Monday we did the regular grocery shopping, email, nap, and lesson in the evening time.  On Tuesday we went to DDM (duh district meeting) in Palermo taking the bus(which they call a Pullman).  After the meeting we ate these overstuffed sandwiches from a place called Panini Bomba (bomb sandwiches).  It was basically a bunch of mystery meat between two pieces of bakery bread.  It was delicious.

W took the bus back to Trapani to teach our English course and have a lesson afterwards.  On Wednesday, we worked in the morning to prepare for the baptism on Saturday.  Then we had a lesson with some new converts and less actives watching The Testaments http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258247/.  We used one guy's computer and had a good laugh over his desktop picture.  It was him on the beach with a caption "that's black, man?" He's pretty black so it was hilarious.  The next day we went to the streets and tried talking to people/ handing out mormon.org cards.  Then we taught some English course again (I have been teaching it by myself for 3 months because I'm the only native speaker so it will be nice to have another American when Anz. Tew comes).  The next day we had our weekly Weekly Planning Session  and then we taught a few lessons in the evening.  The second lesson we also were fed and it was pretty interesting.

We had a pasta with mussels still in the shell and then a kind of casserole thing with mushrooms, spinach, and ham. I like seafood so I was happy. Saturday morning we cleaned the church (because it was our turn) and prepared the baptismal font (like a big kiddie pool).  Then we had the baptism.  Ernest showed up a little late because he had to work that day in Marsala but it went smoothly from there besides me dropping my wet white tie on the ground (I gotta dry clean it now argh).  The next day we confirmed him a member and conferred upon him the Holy Ghost.  Then, we had lunch with the Cimino family which consisted of lasagna, potato tomato salad, lemon almond chicken, and some fruit.  After that we taught another lesson to a new convert.

Today, we are seeing a bunch of people before Anz. Bermudes takes off.  It starts with a pranzo appointment with the Valenti family so I need to mentally prepare for an insane amount of food.

Anziano Blazzard