I Don't Have the Patience or the Time

Dear family and friends,

This was an alright week. We went to Kingsley's place yesterday morning at about 10:30 and woke him up. I had called him earlier in the week and he had said he didn't want to start something he could finish and he didn't think he could do all the things to become a member. I wanted to see him cause it's easier to talk and help someone face to face. So we talked to him yesterday and it went fine. His best is obviously good enough and so it's a matter of him wanting to do it and trying etc.

Happy and Christian got baptized on Saturday. It went super well. A lot of Italian members came and supported them. so that was great. I brought some clementines and gingerbread cookie things. And I was the only person who brought everything. Clementines have gotten me out of so many binds. Haha

Happy birthday, Grandma Low.:)

Jonas keep wrestling. Don't quit until after the season and then if you don't like it. You don't have to do it again. Now my you be. You are the man.

Congrats on going to region or/and state Jacob and Lucy. That's awesome.

Church was good I gave a talk in the American sacrament meeting. I also gave a talk at the baptism about the Holy Ghost. I talked about my experience and testimony as a missionary and tried to help the members with the how. In missionary work. I'll copy some notes so you get an idea.

The gift of the Holy Ghost.

There are a few things I have a testimony of. A strong testimony,. The Holy Ghost being one of those. I have felt its power in my life. It's not something thought of or imagined. It's very powerful. It has comforted me. Led and guided me. And is one of the sweetest joys I have felt. 

Jesus's words about the Holy Ghost:

31 ¶Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

Holy Ghost member of the godhead.

25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

We receive revelation by the Holy Ghost. He is the master teacher. You may learn something completely different in a lesson or while reading the scriptures. The goal as missionaries is for the Holy Ghost to be the teacher.

I have seen the difference with and without the Holy Ghost 

Pen activity

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The Holy Ghost has brought peace into my life. This church and this gospel has molded me into something much better. 

Pay attention and you will see the differences of the Holy Ghost in your life. Follow him and he will help you do the will of God.

Anziano Gridley. Syracuse Utah. Ping pong. Theater. Choir. French. I'm one of seven and I'm the oldest. I would sometimes tell mom that she should have stopped with one perfect child. No I have little brothers who are the nephis in the family haha. Meat and potatoes.

Think about why we do missionary work. Why we have the gospel and the church. Next family home evening. Ponder those questions. Because if we don't understand. There is no motivation. 

Be a great missionary. Step 1 I struggle with members.

These missionaries are persistent. They want to find someone to teach. I'm a do it myself kind of a guy. I try be someone Who doesn't ask anyone else to do something I'm not willing to do.I will do it myself.

The statistics. More investigators are found by missionaries. More baptisms happen for friends of members.

The best finding is done with members

Practice the lessons

Work with ringo and that family

Alma 1 And now, it came to pass that Alma, who had fled from the servants of king Noah, repented of his sins and iniquities, and went about privately among the people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi--

2 Yea, concerning that which was to come, and also concerning the resurrection of the dead, and the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power, and sufferings, and death of Christ, and his resurrection and ascension into heaven.

3 And as many as would hear his word he did teach. And he taught them privately, that it might not come to the knowledge of the king. And many did believe his words.

4 And it came to pass that as many as did believe him did go forth to a place which was called Mormon, having received its name from the king, being in the borders of the land having been infested, by times or at seasons, by wild beasts.

5 Now, there was in Mormon a fountain of pure water, and Alma resorted thither, there being near the water a thicket of small trees, where he did hide himself in the daytime from the searches of the king.

6 And it came to pass that as many as believed him went thither to hear his words.

If I'm friends with the person even if only for a minute. It makes a big difference in how I am treated etc. Hence I like trains buses. The stops for those. And parks. Your job. Is to become friends with people and share some truths. Bear testimony of it. And invite. Promise blessings. I often say to our African guys because it's true that you would be surprised how many people would be interested in our church etc. Because I will go ahead and ask them and they are. So have some courage and try with as many people as you can. In the end everyone needs the gospel.

Battle dawn. Civilization

Ping pong maximize your strengths minimize your weaknesses

You can do splits with the missionaries.

Talk to your friends about the gospel. Some of the best conversations.

Who do you know?

Would be in interested in and benefit from the gospel message

Has an illness in the family

Recently moved

 Recently had a baby

Recently changed jobs

Who you want to become friends with

Who needs your help

Talk to strangers. Make more friends.

Pray for the missionaries.

Pray and ask God how you can do missionary work.

Stay strong in the church yourself

Raise your children in the gospel.

Please be proactive. 

Please change something for the better starting today. Anziano Davis and I are here to help you. 

If you love Jesus Christ. You will do missionary work. This is a way we show our love for him. If we want to use our time wisely, We will do missionary work. For me I procrastinated. But then I found. Some of the sweetest joy of being a missionary. If you do not feel the desire to do missionary work I invite you to repent. Don't be like my family. Change something today. Shall we not go on in so great a cause.

Alma and his brethren. That Halloween party

1 And now it came to pass that as Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon southward, away to the land of Manti, behold, to his astonishment, he met with the sons of Mosiah journeying towards the land of Zarahemla.

2 Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. 

Promise blessings my testimony

We went to Bologna today and it was a complete success. I got two pair of shoes for free from a missionary going home soon. Anziano miles. One of the pairs is super nice. I got some things to give to my guys as well. And I got a few things at the end of the sales season here in Italy. We went to the American base with the Moores yesterday. And I guess brother Moore is super into fashion. I tried to pay attention and learn from him. But in the end. As Sum41 says: I don't have the patience or the time, What can I say. We had a good time though in Bologna. I got to meet some new people etc. This Saturday we will get news on if we stay or if we will leave Vicenza. I hope I will stay. It is really nice here. Things are going ok. I'm kind of excited for a bit of change as things need a spice to pick up.
Have a great week.

I hail you,
Anziano Gridley

For Those Of You Who Like Bread, Chocolate, and Cake. You are not alone.. I Also Like Pizza, Popsicles, Video Games, and Lots of Stuff.

Dear family and friend,

We met a man named Silver on the train on our way back from Schio. He is super cool. He lives in Thiene. He is from Togo. He speaks French. Really nice guy.. Super humble.. We have met with him twice and invited him to be baptized etc.. We have been trying to use French materials so he can understand better. He has been in Italy for one year and speaks some Italian.. But worse than us.. If that gives you an idea because we don't speak too well. He is super humble and awesome. He came to church last Sunday.. He walked from the station, being guided by his phone. Anziano Hubbard and I went out to find him and one other guy.. Because there were communication problems over the phone when I was talking to him. He is about 22 years old. Hopefully, he'll keep progressing and being awesome.

We met with again Thankgod. He came to the Halloween party and church the next day if you remember when we led our army to church on foot. We met with him two times after that.. And then he stopped answering his phone etc. but we ran into him again and we have met with him again. He has a very sad story of why he left Africa etc.. He is nineteen. Really young. And yeah he feels really alone. I hope we get to keep trying to help him.. As we are only trying to help him etc.

Tonight we are having a broadcast for all the missionaries. Our p day is over a bit early because of this. But it should be exciting to see what the broadcast is about etc.

We met with Yeboah last week. We met him on the road a while ago. He is super cool and is from Ghana. Men killed his father and older brother because they were Christian and wouldn't worship other gods. So he left to Italy. Hence, he is really awesome and we are hoping to help him to become more awesome etc.

Boyobo had a skateboard that had a curse word on it that he was going to throw away because he almost hurt himself trying it. Anziano Davis then saved that skateboards life and today rode it at a skatepark. I had a good time watching him etc..

Frank came to church on his new steed of a bike. He got it really cheap but it's a pretty sick bike. Hopefully, he will remain on this new leaf as he and Kingsley are our hopefully next baptisms after happy and Christian. Happy and Christian are as ready for Saturday as you can get Africans to be. Everything should go fine. Just keep praying.

I salute you,
Anziano Gridley

This Is Gonna Be The Best Day of My Life. Naw. Just Kidding.

Dear family and friends,

With these new developments, I really need a raise. Today I'm going to do something new for the first time at work. Try.

I finally got my Christmas package last week. I opened it right away. It was awesome. Thank you to the appropriate people. I think it got a little wet inside the package somehow (before I got it).. But nothing is ruined. Except the random pieces of really old paper mom wrote random notes on.. Those are distorted to Rohan and back. Thank you for the Alaska things. Those are awesome. Beef jerky:). It's a cool puzzle. But I'm a missionary. I have no time and I live out of a suitcase haha. Thank you for the letters and the kindness. The bookmark is super cool. It is slightly older looking due to water damage. But that just adds to the authenticity. Thanks for the money. Y'all are a good family.

Sunday was great. We had quite a few people in church. Kingsley came. Happy came with his sister, that brought two of her children. Christian came with his friend Onyeka. Yes, Onyeka is very hard to say. Especially if you just hear him say it, and haven't read it. He is super cool (so far). Africans, in general, are really good at sharing the gospel and inviting their friends to stuff. Isiah came. Who we met just briefly when we were with martins. His dad died last week. He was hoping church would help him feel better. He's pretty cool as well.

Kingsley is back on the map. We've met with him twice since last week. The first time we met he told us that he wanted to meet with us more. To come to church more. And to get baptized. He could tell that he was drifting a bit from God. And he didn't like it. So he's back on track and doing well.

Frank is doing really good. I think we overcame his other church barrier. Somehow with the last three lessons, we showed him we care about him a lot. And our church is probably more correct. So he's all on board coming to church and what not now which is good. This guy is mini grizzly stuffed animal loveable hugging guy. He's awesome. Last time we met with him sunny was able to come as well (Sunny, Frank, Harry, and Sylvester live in the same place). We were able to help sunny. He hasn't been to church for a while due to the cold. Sunny is really solid and awesome so it's awesome when he can help frank. They are supposed to read with each other every other night.

Dennis is still really legit and I think he will get baptized. But right now he needs some space. He's too dang attached to his Pentecostal church. His mom is no longer an excuse and he still hasn't come and we have made it very easy for him to come see if he will come. I wish he wouldn't do this. Because as our only guy from Ghana he is making a stereotype that Nigeria triumphs over Ghana. Hopefully, he will not let that stereotype win.

Kebba is really nice and legit for a Muslim. But I think he's in the Dennis boat. But as a Muslim.

Francesco is an English class student. He is actually one of our few success stories. We invite quite a few people to English class. (The idea is to invite sometimes to English class first. And then if they are nice or you can tell you can keep talking to them. Talk about the gospel). We talked to him and his friend. And Francesco has been coming to English class. We went to his house last week and hung out for a while. Getting to know him better. We then watched the restoration video and had a really good conversation afterward. It may take some time. But we hope for the best.

We were able to see robin again after the holidays. He is doing good. He read some of the Book of Mormon etc. we are trying to help him come to church as that is the one place he is not progressing. He is just a bit shy and lives in a different city. He's an awesome guy, though.

As a missionary, I really like how I am able to tell who the almighty usually helps put me in the right place at the right time. I saw this like 20 times this last week. Whether it's I run into a less active member I recognize from Trento. That's an odd thing. I meet someone super cool and legit. We mess up and have prepared the Wrong day for an interview Christian needs to do with president Dibb. And we get a call as we are teaching Christian, that it's today and not tomorrow. We are already with him so it's not a problem. It's pretty awesome.

Someone stole my bike lights. My rear red backlight. And my front white light. Anziano Davis's bike was right next to mine and they didn't steal his lights. Just mine (I don't wish on him his lights were also stolen, that's dumb). It makes riding a bit more fun. If I die. I die with honor.

Best friend book. I don't remember what I wanted to write about here. Beh. Christian and happy are preparing to be baptized next Saturday. If you'd like you can pray for them.

No. No. No. Noooooooooo.

You day fine,
Anziano Gridley

Here is Austin eating Couscous, and later, his companion getting romantic advice from local Italian "Paris" who makes cool things out of glass:

Say 'No' to New Years Resolutions

Dear family and friends,

I promise you'll enjoy the show.

Paris is really awesome. We ate some pasta with him at his house. He is a man with lots of energy that is very tired deep down. Jesus is there for those who are tired in this way. He talked a lot to us. About lots of different deep topics. He did most of the talking which isn't so good because we couldn't help him with things as we could have. I let Anziano Davis do most of the talking because I knew he could handle it. I also liked listening because sometimes he'd say something really profound. As well as Paris was talking a lot. It wasn't a waste of time. Hopefully, something sunk in.

Sylvester and Boyobo were baptized. It was a very special spiritual day (and the day after). Thank you for the prayers that were done in their behalf.

Christian became super legit so that's really exciting. He came with us to the baptism and to church. I think he mainly didn't like walking an hour to church. Now he just rides a bike with us to church. I'm super happy for him and the progress he is making. It's just a bit extra special because he's one of my originals, I've spent a lot of time with him, and I thought that something had happened to him. And now things are going fine.

Martins is back here in Vicenza. He went off to different places for a while. The bad news is he can no longer stay in his camp. He is technically homeless. Right now he is staying with some other friends at their camp. It's an interesting situation because is a solid member etc. He just made a mistake in going away without telling his camp. He will be taken care of. Things are just a little more tricky for him now. We spent most of New Years with him trying to help him figure things out. Also, he now has more time so he can study Italian more and be with us more. So maybe it's a good thing in disguise. I don't know.

I won the board game we played with the Mcbrides. I don't know what the sister missionaries were talking about. That game was a sick version of ticket to ride and settlers of Catan mixed together. Brother McBride came up to us in church and started commenting about how I shouldn't have won. Haha. You could tell it had been on his mind, at least, a little bit. Mission accomplished. It was a pretty fun time. They made this really good stew. Their kids are really fun. Brother Mcbride is pretty awesome. There is stew in my boot haha.

Victor gave us a call. He said he maybe wanted to come to church. So we set up an appointment to see him. He is ok. But I was hoping he'd be more interested in baptism etc. You can't win em all.

No, Mrs Clinton isn't getting even with Bill by having an affair,
this is a customary greeting in Italy.

We went and saw Godwin the other day. He doing really good. The Gans (young single people) went to Verona and spent time at a hotel doing activities for a couple of days.. I kind of wanted to go. They got to spend time in hot tubs, dancing etc. He, Ek, and Godspower had a great time. All three of them met girls which is good for them. Ek said hetouch cheeks and then turn your head and touch cheeks again. It's like a handshake Italian version. It's not an unusual thing at all etc. So Ek lost the man points he had had for just a moment.
kissed a girl (also using the expression he pecked her). Come to find out they all just bached them. Which is where you

Godwin's friend Victor was there.. He has known the missionaries for a while.. He is Godwin's good friend.. (We played soccer with him). Godwin told him about the fun conference. And Godwin said that victor had said he would like to come next time and be baptized. Which we took and ran with. Hopefully, we will continue to help him etc. You don't tell missionaries that you want to be baptized. Or any phrase of the kind. It's blood in the water for sharks. Not good. Victor has some things to figure out if he is going to get baptized and we just met with him once as missionaries so who knows. But Godwin is a great support system that could be the crutch necessary. (Anziano Brooks and Pyper wanted to start teaching Victor so this was good).

I need men who will perform the tasks that are assigned to them. I can't stand it. I won't stand it.

You day nice now,
Anziano Gridley