Oh... you think youre funny

Dear Family and Friends,

Look what you did you little jerk. (I can still see Sam laughing his
head off at this movie).

This week is transfer week dun dun dun. No joke though.. it was pretty
intense friday evening and saturday morning.. as all of the Anziani
were waiting for the call of what would be happening to us.... and..
All of us were staying, but now Anziano Young is going back to
Berghimo. I am glad I am staying in Trento.. I like it here and this
next transfer should be good in the fact we will be able to see some
of the fruit of our labors. Anziano Santiago and I are getting along
quite a bit better now. As I have said he is quite the joker..
yesterday a new speaker came in to the Chinese store.. which I would
get because I had gotten a speaker that was slightly broken about 6
weeks ago and was getting a new one.. He told me we would wait till
Saturday till we would get this speaker. I would have been ok with
this.. but he kept bringing it up.. so I kind of wanted to go get it..
but we didn't.. we went home.. and the other Anziani had went and
gotten it and had put it on my bed.. He thinks he is extremely funny.
Good thing I got a sense of humor.

A few weeks ago an American couple that are older and are scientists
came to Trento for a lecture they were giving. They are members and
took us out to dinner... we then went to a Pakistan store to get some
food for the week... and then got gelato.. they were really really
nice.. I don't know if that type of a thing happens in other missions a
lot.. but it was a really nice special thing here.

Monday was a holiday in Bolzano... only in Bolzano.. so the ward in
Bolzano had a festa in the mountains by a lake that the Trento Anziani
were invited to. We played some soccer.. a bit of volleyball (we had
church clothes on.. so that was funny... it is extremely hard to jump
without proper clothing).. and ate a bit and got to spend time with
the Bolzano members. Playing soccer with Italians is kind of intense..
I love it. Anziano Evans and I stayed a bit longer so we could keep
playing soccer.. while Anziano Gailee went with Anziano Santiago to
teach Steven.. We met up with the other Anziani later.. we had
district meeting at a semi American restaurant called Roadhouse.. and
talked had district meeting.. It was a pretty good day. This has been
a very good transfer.

Africans really hate rain.. it is probably in general their number one
fear.. it has been raining a fair bit here in Trento this last week..
so we have not had as many lessons as we could have.. The work here is
really good though.. it may feel a bit slow at times.. not super
slow.. just a bit.. but everything is going good this next transfer
should be incredible.

A topic that I really like that is a bit interesting to me is the
quality of being grateful.. Being grateful all the time that is.. If
we are grateful all the time.. that means that generally no matter the
outside circumstances.. we should be grateful.. That outside
influences should not super influence how we in general act or treat
others.. That allowing someone else to get me worked up enough to do
something I normally would not do is a flawed not good thing and
should not be done if it can be helped.. For me at times I struggle
with getting worked up in the moment and doing this thing.. Hence,
sometimes I try to leave the situation and so I can tackle whatever
the problem is with a level head. God has asked us to be grateful.. I
don't believe it is for his benefit.. I believe it is for ours.. I have
a testimony that when we are grateful even when things are difficult
and we don't complain.. things will work out. I challenge you to be
grateful.. and as Mrs. Sowby would say.. suck it up Buttercup.

Keep the change you filthy animal.

With Love,
Anziano Gridley

Star crossed lovers in Verona

Dear Family and Friends,

I am sped.. is he gone and have nothing.. aye aye a scratch.. marry tis enough.

This week went really well. We had a zone training in Verona
where we got our iPads. For those of you who don't understand the
significance of Verona.. it is the city where Romeo and Juliet takes
place. It is a pretty big city.. it has lots of shops. I will try to
send a few pics when I can.

We had a lot of investigators at the beginning of this transfer.. we
have quite a few still but some are different. A lot of our
investigators lose interest for whatever reason.. completely
disappear.. etc. As President Monson says... Beginners are many..
Finishers are few. It is good to be willing to stick out something
even if it is a little bit hard or different.

The castle was really cool.. there was a lot of art things inside..
making it not just a sweet castle.. but an arty sweet castle..
priceless. Good King Wenceslas may have gone to the castle I went to
here in Trento.. so that is kind of cool. They really like the Madonna
here in Italy there were lots of art of her and Jesus... In Luke 11:27-28 
there is a scripture that Jesus says that shoots down the worship
of his mother... Anyways.

I am super excited to be able to use the Ipads.. The main reason I am
excited is because I can now read as many General Conference talks as
I want.. They have a special spirit about them that is hard to find in
the scriptures at times... I have a testimony of the scriptures.. but
I also have a testimony of the General Authorities because of these
talks.

Anziano Santiago has skills.. you know like.. moter cycle skills...
preaching the gospel... computer hacking skills... Girls only want boy
friends who have great skills. He is a really great guy. He also likes
things to be clean and not to smell.. which is understandable. He just
really likes it.

I read Alma 13.20 today.. and I really liked it.. Basically it says
that some people have read the scriptures and have gone far astray.
I believe it is not really the scriptures fault.. But if we read the
scriptures and maybe there is something we dont understand.. or maybe
there is a slight fault about a fact of something that is written..
someone may freak out.. This also may be the case about the gospel. I
dare to say.. you can not tear everything else down because of a tiny
mistake by men etc. You got to look at the big picture.. and not wrest
the scriptures or the gospel to your destruction... Do not excuse your
self in the least bit.. Also a of the time.. We as missionaries etc
have the answer to the questions people ask.. some of the time.. it is
something that we do not know etc.. but if we have a foundation of
simple truths etc.. We can build a strong testimony of the truth.
I know this gospel is true.. that Jesus Christ is the Savior and that
he lives. I know the Book of Mormon is true.. I know that there is God
and that he loves us.. and just because maybe the modern day indians
dont have Jewish DNA.. (Which Elder Bednar explained to us makes sense
if you know anything about DNA) does not change the other things that
I know are true.

The scriptures.. the gospel etc.. teach us not to be selfish.
Missionary work should not be selfish.. The world is not all about you
and when you reach out and help others as Jesus did.. we become a
little bit better. The idea of not being selfish is very intriguing to
me.. coming from someone that has been very selfish in the past.. and
still isnt perfect.. It is such an odd challenge.. and I still don't
understand it completely.. but I believe sometimes if we have faith
and we follow the rabbit hole down.. We will eventually find
Wonderland.. I have been satisfied with what I have found since I
starting going down this path.. I have a testimony of what has
happened since I started on this path and now.. and I have faith and
hope for the future. I invite you to change your path to what will
bring you more happiness long term. Things will change if you change
things.

Then I defy you stars.

With Love,
Anziano Gridley

Blitzkrieg to Bollzano and Back

Dear Family and Friends,

Life is too short not to feel comfortable with the ones you love.

Bolzano - Bozen (german)

As I talked about last letter we have been teaching a man named Steven who is pretty stubborn about what he believes. We have made big progress with him since we started to meet with him.. hopefully he will start to read the Book of Mormon and what not. We might have to drop him in a few lessons.. but I am grateful that we have been able to teach him. It kind of woke me up to how much I really like missionary work.. and talking about spiritual things. Kind of helped me have a wake up call.

We ate at a members house last night.. Scott and Kelly who are two red heads from the United States.. they are really nice and a good addition to the ward.

I went to Bolzano yesterday for a scambio with Anziano Evans. We taught four lessons while I was there which was really good. He is from Canada and is a really solid guy. He treated me to Gelato... I got dark chocolate and pear (flavors) it was really good. He is a really good example to me.. He should be finishing his mission in about four months. Bolzano is kind of like Trento.. but a lot more Germans live there.. The mountains are really pretty. It is kind of the one half German city for missionaries that is in the mission.. so that is kind of good.. Unfortunately I was not able to practice all of the German I have learned from WW2 movies and video games.

We played a little bit of ping pong in Bolzano. It is a good thing I retired a few years ago.

It was fun to talk to y'all. Thank you for the letters this last week. We should be getting Ipads.. 

I finally gave my talk last Sunday.. It went really well.. I got lots of compliments on it.. I sort of free styled it.. which was pretty impressive since I gave it in Italian. I used the scriptures a lot.. and just went off on different topics as I felt I should.

We are going to a Castle here in Trento later today. 

James 2

14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

I really like this scripture about faith.. it helps us see how faith is good and how it can be useless.. I hope that you can see my testimony more from my works than from what I say. I invite you to utilize your faith in a new endeavor that would be good.. Start a new work with your faith. Have a great week.

Welcome to Sam.. I am Utah.

With Love,

Anziano Gridley

So You Think You Can Dance

Dear Family and Friends,

Before we continue.. I feel there is something that I must tell you.... I'm a Democrat.

This week was really good we had lots of lessons with many people. I really like Trento.. it is a beautiful place and is really nice as a missionary. We went to lago riva garda today. It is this beautiful lake that is a little bit aways from Trento.

There is a store (euro spar (desktop)) twenty seconds from our house that is really nice.. they have a bakery and a butchery thing there.. Which is really nice.

We take buses a lot here in Trento.. we take a bus everywhere... Which is pretty different than Alessandria.. if you wanted to get anywhere in Alessandria you had to walk or take the bikes.. A little nicer here where let the busses do all the work.

Anziano Santiago is a really great guy.. if I were to try to describe him.. I would have you compare Jaden Abbot... who is a really cool great guy. He has a pretty good sense of humor.. he will often troll me with funny things that if I didnt have a sense of humor I could get kind of bugged at him for.. It is good to be kept on my toes haha.

We go to a city just a little bit away from here to visit three investigators often.. Kelly, Christopher, and Godstime. They should be getting baptized in the next while.. they are all Africans from Nigeria.. 

The English class here has a lot of people.. they have at least ten people come to two classes every week.. which compared to Alessandria of one class with four people once a week... is a huge improvement. 

(Spiritual thought) There is an investigator we met on a bench on a park.. we have met him twice.. his name is Steven.. he is this really intelligent deep thinker African Christian who has thought a lot about the gospel and what not.. every time we have met with him we end up talking about deep church concepts that are a bit complex and don't super super matter. Everytime we answer a topic correctly (because he does have a few interesting and a little skewed ideas) he wont really accept the new information that is truth as truth and will just move on to another complex useless topic and we begin the process again. What I kind of learned from this is... In the gospel and in life you need to stick to basics. Dont freak out and dig too deep into things. For instance.. If the Book of Mormon is true.. Joseph Smith is a prophet and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth.. very simple and easy to get.. You need to have a base of a building before it can get very high.. It is not meet for you to run.. before you can walk. 

I would invite you to find a basic thing this week and to strengthen the base to your building.. Whether it is spiritually or as a person.. 

He is a football player... not Martha silly Stewart.

With Love,

Anziano Gridley

Man Down Red Hawk Twelve

Editor's note:  Gotta love Austin and his cryptic subject lines!  Makes one feel pretty dumb.

Dear Family and Friends,

Are we there yet...

Today we are going to Alessandria for some of my document stuff... which means we are on trains for more than ten hours... Which should be pretty fun.. (I finished the New Testament this morning)... but I have only a bit of time to email today..

The conference was amazing. Elder Bednar is the most spiritual man I have ever met.. (He also used Intelligence things to explain Spiritual things).. He was really funny and charming during the conference.. and made it a conversation with the missionaries... No we do not have Ipads yet... The Holy Ghost was very strong during the conference.. Elder Bednar said the main thing he wanted us to get out of the conference.. is that we dont need an Apostle to come give a conference to recieve strong revelation through The Holy Ghost. I got lots of things out of the conference and I am going to try to apply as I can in my life.

My toe is doing good.. it doesnt hurt.. but is infected. I am trying to do what the doctor said and take care of it.. but it is a little hard to do as a missionary and with the end of this crazy month.

We are teaching lots of people and doing really good in Trento.. 

I ate for the first time this week kebab.. it is kind of this sandwich thing with some kind of meat.. lettuce.. tomatoes.. ranch... it is pretty dang good.. (not incredibly healthy.. which along with I am a poor wayfaring man of grief who can't afford little delights such as this is why it has taken me so long to try it)... They have tons and tons of Kebab places here.. 

I am going to cut this more short so I can send pics... I am doing good.. keeping the head up.

Happiness.... a tear drop away.

With Love, 

Anziano Gridley

Execute order 66

What am I fighting for.. there must be something more.. for all these words I type do you read anything.

I have arrived in the land of Misty Mountains. There are mountains completely surrounding (curses) Trento. It is reminds me a lot of Utah.. it is extremely beautiful.. I will send pics next week. We hiked a mountain today.. 7 killometers up 7 down.. it was pretty dang fun. I almost climbed up this super high tree to the top.. but then.. didnt. If I get home from my mission and I am 25 and single and what not.. I am totally going to do fun dangerous things darn it. Death is a natural part of life. The least we can do is have a sense of humor about it.

Anziano Santiago is pretty much the coolest guy ever. He played basketball and football before his mission.. he is the oldest of 8 children... he keeps his hair great.. he ran two businesses before his mission and worked.. and yeah.. he is super easy to get along with and we are having a great time. He is really good at talking to random strangers... it is really funny watching him try to start up a normal non awkward conversation... I want to try to get those talking skills to strangers. He is really into photography.. I don't feel I am super photogenic so I am a little less into it.. 

The work missionary wise here is booming hard hard core. Anziano Santiago kind of started the work up here from scratch (space transfers haha) and yeah.. He is in his 6th transfer... so about 3 more months than me. He speaks quite a bit better.. so that is good.. though I can get by generally. I thought Alessandria was starting to boom.. here it is on steroids.

Anziano Young, and Bingham live with us.. which is super fun except for the fact.. there is one bathroom. (You get the picture). Anziano Young is a skinny guy who liked league of legends before his mission... he also has swag though.. he basically is married to this one girl.. and has gained twenty pounds on his mission in muscle... He is in Anziano Santiagos group.. Anziano Bingham is super funny and great.. I started to talk to him a few days ago.. and he just started to tell me these funny girl stories.. he is really good at telling stories... It has been really great here.. one thing Anziano Delgado got me thinking about that I have applied and really like.. is asking the other missionaries more questions.. about anything... it has been really nice to make good friends here. 

On Monday, Elder Bednar will be in Milan for a conference with all the missionaries.. we will be getting Ipads.. and get to hear him... (Considering he may very well be a future prophet etc.. I am super excited).. But yeah we will have ipads here in Milan Italy so that is pretty fun...

Anziano Santiago pretty much is fluent in the way Africans speak english... how fa now.. you done chop... I great you brother... I'm fine I'm fine.. He is a bros.. Hopefully I can pick up on it.. because it makes you pretty much an automatic friend with a lot of Africans... Which is fun and good for missionary work. They and other people really know how to pray with soul.. which has been really nice to see... and hopefully I can have that rub off on me a bit.

 I am giving a talk on Sunday... I should probably pick a topic...

Spiritual thought... I have been reading the New Testament again recently... I really have liked this time.. all of pauls letters. Last time I read the New Testament.. I liked them less.. this time I have really liked them... He answers a lot of questions about the gospel of Jesus Christ and what not... For example... he makes the Godhead fairly easy to understand and makes it pretty clear what is up.. He is basically the Elder Holland of that time.. He singes your eye brows a bit with love. I would maybe invite y'all to read when you would like.. Ephesians... This book is especially powerful..

It is a good life.. Try to find happiness and to enjoy it now and be prepared to meet God.

I am at an internet point trying to email home.. all of my change I have spent on yall. If happy ever afters did exist.......

With Love

Anziano Gridley

You want to make da pizza

Dear Family and Friends,

Saying Swhat Swhat Sway.

Jonas... Happy Birthday a little bit ago=).. did you get any cool presents... You are pretty much officially a teenager... Congratulations. I hope you are doing good buddy.

I am getting transferred to a new city tomorrow. I am leaving Alessandria to go to Trento.. It is a little North West of Milan Italy. I hear that it is a city surrounded by mountains and is a bit cooler.. and is much more beautiful than Alessandria... I am pretty excited. My new collega is going to be Anziano Santiago.

I recently have gotten a battle wound of depth and volume of the book of Alma. I got an ingrown toe nail a few weeks ago.. It has been getting worse over time and hasn't gotten better yet. (Click here for the very graphic and disturbing photo.  Be warned it's fairly disturbing)  Walking a lot does not help.. but on the bright side.. I am not afraid to amputate.. (I probably won't)... and a doctor is checking it tomorrow... As Boromir though.. it would take three arrows to start to kill me... so it shouldn't be a problem.. but I might get surgery on it.. I don't know.

Anziano Delgado and I had a talk recently that really helped me out... it was really nice to see good changes after that night taking place over the next two days.. I have gotten along with Anziano Delgado really well.. He is a really great guy.. and I am grateful for the time I have had to work with him.

Thank you for the Birthday Package=). The calendar is golden.. and I appreciated the nuts.. beef jerky and other things. The forearm clencher tool thing I am going to be using a fair bit.. it is super cool thanks.

Thank yall=)..

Yesterday we went to Casale Monferrato... (A different city). In the recent past we had some pretty good

investigators there... Less so more recently... We were going to go so Andrea (pizza wizard) in a different city then go to Casale Menferato.. Anziano Delgado did not want to go to both cities.. especially when we did not have a huge lots recent success in Casale... which I understood.. but we hadn't gone in a while.. and I wanted to see if there was anything left in Casale for Anziano Delgado and his next collega.. (I was pretty stubborn with him)... Anyways.. we went.. and we eventually after a while were able to jump through some hoops and found an investigator who had lost his phone and we were not able to see for a while.. He is more prime than I knew.. is super cool.. and we set a bap date with him.. He is muslim.. but we made it clear what baptisim is.. and he is very willing to change.. He has read the book of Mormon a lot and has compared it to the Quoran.. and says he feels the Book of Mormon has more truth to it and really loves the Book of Mormon.. Alex (his name).. went to University for five years.. loves to learn.. he is reading some of the book of Mormon in English (which he speaks less well.. (he speaks 7 languages)).. while reading it also in Arabic.. he is super smart.. yet super humble.. I am excited for the work here when I leave.. Hopefully they have four baptisms next month.. or at least a few.

With that story I am just really grateful.. I believe I was guided by the spirit to go to Casale with my collega.. and refind him. It would have been very possible that he would have fallen through the cracks. I have felt the Holy Ghost.. and I know that it is a real thing. 

I am short on time.. Not my fault.. but what can you do...

I am thankful for what yall do for me.. and I hope you have a great April time=)

With Love, 

Anziano Gridley