Zero To Hero, Just Like That

Ciao tutti,

Siamo ateo.
Ma Come Mai voi non credete in Gesu Cristo.

Church was once again really great this week. I am translating a fair bit of the time so I got to really pay attention. Godstime and Marcus came to church.. Jonathan and Salvatore as well. I am really going to miss the people here in vercelli. There is a girl Eliza that is going to temple square for her mission. She lives in santhia near vercelli. She talked about how she will be making sacrifices but not really for the next year and a half. Anything that's worth anything takes a sort of sacrifice. Or it doesn't really have any worth.

We had another scambio on Sunday. We got back to Novara (with Anziano Taylor) ate some grilled cheeses and studied Italian. We then went out and taught little Angelo. After that we went finding. We tried to talk to maybe 6 people and 4 out of them we had a lesson with.. Novara/vercelli are magical in that way.. I hope it's sort of that way in Vicenza. Btw I am moving to Vicenza near padova tomorrow. There is an American army base there. To be honest I am extremely excited to leave. I can do lots of missionary work and get a new start.. I will miss the people here though. The next morning our train was an hour late so we talked to a few people.. Train finding is the best.. I really love the Book of Mormon so it's something easy I can talk about.. And the

restoration is how we have the Book of Mormon so it all works out. I got complimented by a man when I was testifying about the bom has helped my life.. And he said that he could tell. One of the nicest compliments. We then went to Milan for a doc appointment. Anziano Galli is better. I hope he steps up this next transfer.

Ali our new convert didn't get his documents. He was extremely sad about that. He said documents are the most important thing.. He is going to get a lawyer and keep trying.

Unselfishness is a tricky fun thing.

I have been trying to be a lot more obedient lately. You can't really break the commandments. In the end they just break you. There is a reason for all of them.. And I feel a lot better right now. You can receive quick pleasure by breaking a commandment and pay for it later with interest .. Or you can be patient pay for it first.. And then receive the promised blessings and be molded the way you should. It's important not to forget obedience junk.

On Sunday in the third hour they asked me if I had any final words.. I was taken a bit by surprise thought for a second.. I didn't have anything super pressing to say.. So I said no. I got to be quicker on my feet for those things. One thing I want to do better at is expressing gratitude.

Ma cosa dici?

Anziano Gridley

Austin saying "Five Golden Rings", Missionaries shopping in Torino, and Novaro Apartment.

Only He Can Save Your Soul

Dear family and friends,

When Jesus says yes nobody can say no.

During church this week I got to teach a cute youth class the second hour with brother candy. There were three youth with us. I got to teach about missionary work.. How they can do missionary work now as youth. I really liked the lesson because I got to teach kind of as if I was teaching me ten years ago what I know now.
I talked about..
Why we have missionary work..
Why we have the gospel..
How we can be strong in the gospel
Do we have a testimony..
I invited them to do better than me..
I gave each of them a pass along card and invited them to give it to one friend and explain a little bit about it.. Small missionary work adds up.

We had a Pride humility lesson in the third hour of church.. I really liked the lesson.. It was more of just for us and less of something else.. Some things I thought help us know how we are doing in being humble or we have more pride is..
Keep the commandments..
Changing our will for God..
Suffer all things we are asked..
If we don't suffer the pain for a moment.. All of the rest gets evilly tainted.
Humility put someone else before myself.. For me I'm pretty chill and somethings don't make no never mind to me.. But sometimes someone else can lose there bananas at some of these things.. For me I can feel I am extra humble when I take interest in something or help with something because it matters to someone else and hence becomes important to me.

You know Sunday during church was the best I felt all week.


It has been really nice seeing how much charity and love I have gained for our investigators.. I really care about them..

There was a talk given Sunday that talked about how peter was fine on the waters while he as looking unto Jesus but when he looked at the waves he started to sink.. He then invited us to look to Jesus and live.

Hold to the iron rod and you can not fall.

We are going to Torino today for p day.. Anziano Galli can walk a lot better now... We had zone training last week.. I got to talk to a Nigerian woman that has been in Italy for a few years.. She taught me some pigeon and I talked to her about our church..

Isabella, Godstime, and Salvatore are doing well... We are working on helping them be baptized.. Hopefully in October for all of them.. We hope for good things.. Our English class has been getting a lot bigger.. Which is nice.. We have been meeting with some people from English class outside of English class to teach them more English.. And Also to talk more about the gospel.. They are not super interested in the gospel part.. But piano piano.

He lives.. I know that he lives.. He died and then he rose again.. Rose Again.. He lives.

Peace be unto thy soul,
Anziano Gridley

Say it Like You Mean It.

Dear Family and Friends,

Il Tempo Passa In Fretta.

We have had some good success this week. We found out that Marcus is less interested in the gospel and the Godstime is still interested. Godstime asks us quite a few questions.. one of his questions was about reincarnation. Which I guess some africans believe in. We told him it wasnt a Christian belief.. etc. It rained a lot on Sunday so only, of our investigators, Salvatore came to church. Which was a bit dissapointing. Moral of the story.. Africans really hate rain. We met with two other African men that I met a while ago on scambios.. once Anziano Galli can start walking more we should start to find quite a few more people.

Three new people have been coming to english class. They are all pretty young. I have been teaching them english.. which mostly just involves us having an hour conversation.. because they have taken english in school etc.. they just dont know how to speak or understand english as much as they need to. It is pretty fun. One of the highlights of the week.

We talked to Salvatore again about his baptism. He does not feel ready.. But he is... so we just had a conversation as missionaries and him.. and as friends. No use beating around the bush.. when baptism is screaming at your face. Hopefully he will feel ready soon and will be baptized. Lots of time has been put into helping him so hopefully it will pan out. He is a really sweet guy.

We went to Milan two times this last week to see doctors. I enjoyed the train rides.. I got to talk to quite a few people and got to practice learning Italian.

I challenge you to try to gain better self control this week. If you can control yourself.. and if you know what you want and what you should want. You are basically set. Challenging myself as well. 

Thank you for the emails. Congratz mom on qualifying. If I make it through this life correctly it will definitely be thanks to Mom and a few other select people. 

Time Passes Quickly.

Anziano Gridley

Look Mom, No Legs!

Buon di tutti,

Hope is what your after.. I can't take it and turn it into rain.

This week has been pretty crazy. And I don't mean that I beat another missionary in a hot dog eating contest and won some pretty awesome shoes kind of crazy, though this did happen. (It gets really hard to swallow after a while without water, so the fact I beat him by a hot dog was impressive because every bite hurt).

On Saturday Anziano Galli was on our balcony the Novara missionaries were at our apartment for the night for church the next day. Anziano Taylor closed the door on Anziano Galli. There are two doors, so Anziano Galli thought that Anziano Taylor was going to shut the other door as well leaving him outside... He wasn't going to do that.. Anziano Galli hurried to the other door and tried to push it open.. He pushed on the glass of this big door.. Just on the glass. The glass broke. He then slipped onto the glass. And fell. I was sitting down waiting to brush my teeth because I thought Anziano Galli was going to take a shower. My first thought was Anziano Galli.. You broke the glass ya dumb. He then had two huge gashes in his legs.. And the next ten seconds were a bit of a blur. I was just sitting down I had not signed up for that and was pretty surprised. Anziano Galli had made a two second mistake. We got towels and tried to keep pressure on the cuts.. And Anziano Taylor got an ambulance to come. Anziano Galli is really tough.. He was really brave. They took him to the vercelli hospital.. Which isn't that good of a hospital so they took him to Milan on Sunday and he had his operation and has been here in vercelli again on Monday. President poured his frustration a bit I think into our apartment so I have been making things perfect here as he is mostly bed bound. I wasn't sicked out as Anziano Galli lost 23% of his blood.. So either I can handle that stuff or I was just surprised and wasn't thinking about that stuff. A paramedic lady was having a lot of trouble staying calm with the blood. She picked the wrong job haha.

The missionary work has slowed down this week because of this accident though.. We did have one lesson down stairs with Marcus Godstime and Paulo. It went really well. Paulo is our ward mission leader and he is fabulous. Anziano Galli will be fine. I was a bit shaken the next day but I am fine now.

Usually I feel better when I follow a mission rule or a commandment.. Then when I am not... I have made quite a few mistakes out here but I am hoping I have figured it out and will be improved by it all.. I'll feel better with time and change.

Anziano Galli and I are getting along better now.. We hadn't been getting along crazy crazy well before the accident.. And I apologized to him about that while we were waiting for an ambulance.. It is true.. Crazy experiences or just experiences bring people closer together. I have gotten a lot better at Italian recently. I have been trying to help Anziano Galli as I would hope.. Kyler Sparrow's companion would help him out if an accident happened. Or mom or something.. We are all connected. Another missionary did a hamburger challenge.. And this missionary had a condition where he was not supposed to eat a lot of meat.. And he tore his esophagus.. And was coughing up blood and almost died.. Anziano Galli's story is only slightly better. God has been very merciful to me.. The Holy Ghost has been very strong.

I got a haircut the other day.. My hair was too long. I tried to have Marcus give me a haircut.. (He is a barber).. But a fourth of the way through the clippers I had brought quit working.. Dang it. I had to go to a barber place and have it fixed... Anziano Galli got a huge kick out of it.. I found it less funny.

We had a conference with a member of the seventy in Milan a week ago. I really liked it. I got inspired by a lot of things, and hopefully I will be helped long term wise from this conference. A story he told was of this amazing missionary where he was a branch president in England. (Hard place for baptisms). He made the goal with the missionaries to double the size of the branch (30 people more) by the end of the year. The missionaries a week later asked him to pray about a name of street.. That they would go to that street the next day for all of the day.. And that a baptism would follow. The president prayed with his wife and got a sure answer.. These elders did find a baptism the next day. By the end of the year the branch had been doubled.

He told it much better than I did.. But it was a great conference.. He mentioned how two of the twelve died from ceaselessly working and how they are all working so hard to try to help people.. And how we should try to do better. He also told us to stop worrying.

You've been pushing on a pull door.

The invincible maid missionary power ranger,
Anziano Gridley

Ps: We have been inside for three days due to he can't walk.. So this is being sent a little later than normal.

Listen to your Mother, and to God

Dear family and friends,

Joseph's mother she was quite my favorite wife.

I am staying here in vercelli with Anziano Galli for another transfer.. Anziano Smoot is off to Rimini.. Anziano Taylor is training.

A few weeks ago we met a man named Marcus.. He is from Nigeria.. We met him and then we went to our church so he could see it. We then taught him the restoration.. He left his bike outside during the lesson. Mid way through the the lesson he tells us he wants to lock his bike.. So we all go outside.. And his bike has been stolen. He was a good sport about it.. He said something like.. It looks like we have some thieves in Vercelli. At the end of the lesson Anziano Galli gave him his old bike. So for about three weeks we have had only one bike.. When this is a biking city and could use another. But all the shops (for bikes) have been closed for Ferragosto. So we have been patient.

I keep telling Anziano Galli as a joke.. That I can only do two transfers with him.. Only two. I am only kind of kidding.:)

We lost Marcus as he did not have a phone and he missed an appointment we had made with him due to rain. So I would ask Africans if they knew Marcus.. We didn't find Marcus.. But it was a pretty good ice breaker for talking to new people. Marcus found us about a week and half later. I was so happy when he came in the church while we were teaching Isabella. We are still teaching him now with one of his friends named Godstime. We made bap calendars with them and are hoping for good things.

Anziano Smoot and I had a scambio a week and a half ago. It was very good. We met lots of new people.. And we did a lot of good. (The evening thing was special).

There was a huge storm here in vercelli. I locked one of the doors to our apartment and put all my weight on the door because it kept opening.. And then it opened again and water came rushing into our apartment. Anziano Galli video taped it laughing his head off as I was trying to fix the door again.

We went out to eat at this American burger place here in vercelli with the English class students (Anziano Gallis treat).. Alex and Mathew are really funny.

A new girl has been coming to English class. At the end of teaching her (I have been teaching her alone because she is more basic..) I have been teaching her about the gospel.. She is not super religious but she is really nice,, she brought me bread last class.

We ate with candy and his family.. His wife made really good pizza. She is an American. We also ate with Isabella's husband, mother in law, and her. It went really good. Her mother in law is a great chef.. And she came the next day to church for the first time in 3 years.

God gives lots of tender mercies to let us know he loves us. How we show we love him is by living good lives and following his commandments.

I never really loved another all my life.

I hail you,
Anziano Gridley

Vercelli is more than a Garden of Eden

Dear family,

I am doing good.. I enjoyed your letters this past week. Some of the aunts did some recipes which was nice. I decided That I am going to be writing emails less often.. That I hope you'll forgive me for that, but there is a need. I am not sure when that will change I will let you know. I love you all I miss you a lot. I have been feeding some of our poor investigators lunch when we teach them so they have something to eat. This is a really nice thing. It takes more money for me to do that.. So if you could put more money on my card so I can keep doing that.. That would be great. Also Ali needs help with his bike.. So I would like to help him with that. I am doing fine... I will catch yall up later on what is happening.

Love,
Anziano Gridley

The Alps are screaming my name

Basic principles..
Know what you want.. And then do what you have to do get it. Any woman
can fall for any man. You just need the right broom.

I got this pretty cool but funny green camo coat jacket in
Alessandria... It is sort of nice.. And sort of not. Anziano Galli
really doesn't like it.. He tells me I won't get married with that
jacket.. And then offers me stuff to throw it away. It reminds me of a
coat I had as a kid.. A big puffy camo coat...

For lunch I fed Ali some peanut butter and jelly sandwitches.. They
don't have peanut butter here in Italy (I am guessing in Europe). He
said his mom used to make him peanut butter and jelly sandwitches all
the time.. I guess Africa is more advanced than Europe in that they
have peanut butter.

Anziano Galli is crazy.

After shopping for things here in Italy.. I don't recommend the place
we went to for buying my missionary stuff.. You can get nicer things
for cheaper.. Especially here in Italy.. I got some shoes half off for
about 60€ that are about as nice as the shoes we got at home for a lot
more.. Anyways for the next 5 sons.. I don't recommend those kind of
stores.

We have an investigator tell us about how he feels that he has not
repented about some things in his past.. That they are just sort of
there in the background... Which I sort of found personally completely
unnecessary. That from the bible and Book of Mormon we learn how
important it is to repent now.. Even if it is a bit hard. If we are
breaking a commandment.. The answer is to change ourselves and what we
are doing.. Not to excuse ourselves in whatever way we want and come
up with excuses. It is unnecessary to have old sin on us.. If we are
willing to change etc.

I like talking to strangers because a lot of the time.. They don't
talk to you at all etc.. I could tell them

I was going to do something
great for them and they would not care in the slightest.. But every
once just a while you run into someone who listens and talks to you
and you connect with and have a good conversation.. It isn't all the
time but it is nice when it happens.

This morning we are hiking some mountains near here.. A lady showed me
pictures last week.. It was pretty beautiful. I am excited.

Casle monferato is about 11 miles from vercelli.. Which is kind of
funny because I have been to casale about 10 times earlier in my
mission.

I don't know if these shoes are really me.
Listen to me right now. You bought the shoes. You look great in the
shoes. That's the kind of you I'm talking about right now.

Anziano Gridley