I FOUND SOME INDIANS!!!

Hey Pops!

I guess I will just write you the email because I didn't get any letter from JC or Mom, so here we go:).

So to answer your question, no I did not get my death packet. I think they may have forgotten it in Rome, but I am pretty sure they will remind themselves here ina  little bit! At least I hope that they will:).

Evidence is still a total stud. He told us that he was going to make a big sacrifice every week to make it to church so that he could worship with us starting this week! We are going to go see him this week and just make sure that everything is ok:). I love that man! He is looking as good as ever:)! He has a young boy now with his wife:).

Before we met with Evidence, I talked with some Indians! They were SO happy when I told them about you! I should have a friend request from them on FB now. They said that they would like to see you and me when they go to America next year. tehy were from New Dheli and when I told them that Dada was from Gujraht (buh?) they told me, "So he is a business man right." They hit it right on the nose:). I kind of laughed at that because I didn't think that India had its places where people were good at different things! hahahah That is cool though:).

So this week was AMAZING grazie alla Conferenza Generale!!!!!!!!!! I loved those talks so mucha nd we had our new convert Gabriel with us there ALLLLLAALLALAAL DAY! Talk about faith! We tried to get other people there, but they weren't able to come! 

Unfortunately, a lot of our work has gone to other places for the moment, so we will see what we can get going with this next week! I really want to do good work here in Agrigento because for some reason or another, I think that this will be my last one here. I think President is going to transfer me! I don't want to be trasnfered, but it is the Lord's decision not mine!

So back to GC. I loved it a lot. I loved how Jerffery R. Holland was so humble in his discourse to the people! It was very nice to see! I love how he bears such strong testimony! I alo like how the apostles did the talks in their madrelingua so that was good too:). President Holland literally translated "Good job" into Spanish by saying "Buen hecho" se non mi sbaglio;)! I laughed really hard at that:). 

So ya. That was our week. nothing really amazing to talk about just yet. We will see what miracles God has in store for us this week!

I love you all!

Dallin

This week=AWESOME!!!!

Mom, quick question, when am I supposed to sign up for classes?

Ok Guys,

This last week= AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Ton happened this week and I am SO glad that it did!

I want to start off with telling you about probably the biggest miracle that I have seen in the mission so far! Mom, do you remember Evidence from Reggio Calabria? The Nigerian that needed to leave Agrigento and then feel off the face of the map...? Ya HE IS BACK!!!!!! We were waiting for a contact in the park this week and we receive a text from the missionaries in Reggio. The message said that there was an African who was taught around a year ago that had two baptismal dates but never went through with them because he left Reggio. Anziano Holbrook had the phone and so I asked him what the name of the African was (as my heart is beating REALLY hard). He reads the message over again and says that it isn't there. I take the phone and read the message myself and the man turns out to be....................... EVIDENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is now satying in a little paesino close to Agrigento!!!! We called him and I kind of played dumb with him. I asked him about the missionaries in the past and he remembered me. At the end of the conversation with him, I told him that he was talking with that same exact missionary that was in Reggio! He started to FREAK OUT! He was SOOOOO HAPPY! We have a meeting with him tomorrow morning and I am SUPER excited to see this guy again! Ithought I would never see him! This guys taught me SO much and I am so happy to see him again!

We then had a REALLY awesome lesson with an investigator that really opened his heart up to us and we helped him feel the Spirit and we told him that he can have that love with him always!!!!! He told us immediately after that he wants that love and happiness in his life and told us that he wants to be baptized so that he can be comforted in his life because he is by himself and REALLY misses his family and wants to know the best way to follow Jesus Christ! I am exicted for this guy because when him and I shook hands for the first time, I felt something different in hiim than anyone else that I have ever met here in Italia! It was such a good experience (at the beginning and then our last meeting). So, we are going to try and get him baptized here pretty soon at least we are going to try:).

Also this week, we needed to go back to Messina (across the stretto from Reggio) to get Anziano Holbrook's permesso di soggiorno and it was such a good experience! ALL of the memories from Reggio came right back! I miss that city and everything that I did there! I was there for a third of my mission! I miss ALL of my friends and "family" in ALL of my cities! This mission has been such a good experience and I have loved meeting new people, loving my neighbor, and making memories! This mission will be one of the biggest life-changing things that will ever happen to me and I am SO happy that I have this possibility to serve here. 

To answer your question mom, I think this will be my last trasnfer here. I think I am going to be transfered after this one. We will see in a month if I am going to leave or not? I am kind of indifferent at the moment. Things will happen as they happen!

Well guys, I love you all! Don't you EVER FORGET THAT GOD IS A GOD OF MIRACLES AND IT IS JUST US THAT DON?T HAVE OUR EYES OPEN ENOUGH TO SEE THEM!!!!!! I love you all so much!

New Companion - Anziano Holbrook

Ok Famiglia e Amici Miei!

How are all of you doing!? I miss you A LOT! I have been thinking a lot about you lately because I have come to the bruta realizzazione that I am going to finish this missione actually quite soon. I am in my 14th transfer, I am going to only do one more, I have a feeling that my mission presdient is going to move me after this transfer to another place in Italia and then after that, I come home! It is REALLY weird and I am going to miss this beautiful country. I cannot tell you guys how much I love this place and how many memories that I have made here. I am going to be STRACONTENTO to hear and see you guys again, but I also know that I am going to be a REALLY different person grazie alla missione! 

So this week wasn't too eventful. We did have transfers and it was pretty good. I have a new companion and yes we are now in four as missionaries here in Agrigento because we have been doing that much work here! My new companion's name is Anziano Holbrook. He is from Sacramento, California and he is in his 3rd transfer. I have a feeling that I am only going to do one transfer with him and then I am going to go somewhere else. The other guys in the house are Anziano Hatch (11th transfer) and Anziano Borden (verdino greeny).  I really hope that we can do some great work so that Agrigento can maybe one day be a great ward! We had the stake president with us yesterday and he really want Agrigento to be a ward also because it has been this small for over 15 years now and he wants to see some new stuff. He wants to see priesthood holders and all of the characteristics of a ward here in the next couple of years. he made me want to really get a move on things! I know that I am only one missionary, but with my companion, we make two. Then we add on the other companionship and that is four. We then add on the branch president and his wife (the strongest members in the branch and they have been members for around 3-4 years) and that is 6. We get the presidnetessa della società di soccorso onboard and we have at least another 3 or 4 together with her! We could chnage this palce quite quickly if we just really show Agrigento who we are as a people! We need to get more people involved! We have to get somethings going!!!! I say we do it!

It was kind of just a bland week. Nothing too major happened. We did figure out though that we have 9 baptismal dates in this district alone with different people and that is more than the rest of the entire zone combined!!!!! How cool is that!? I love that idea!!!! We are really changing this place guys! I am SUPER happy to see the difference that we are making! I love it a lot actually! 

Well, I hope to give you some more info next week! I love you ALL!

Dallin "Anziano" Layton

P.S. JC did some math for me. I have 78 days left until I get to see you guys again! That is 2 and 1/2 months!

Gabriel's baptism!!!

Buon Giorno a Tutti!

So this week was pretty fun. I made a lot of memories adn I actually am very excited to tell you guys all the went down!

We will start with Monday when I needed to scap off really quickly. We went to a place called La Scala dei Turchi. It was a really beautiful place and I took many good fotos and I sent them to my mom, so she should post them pretty soon. It was a great experience. We went with some friends and I am very happy for this time that we have had together to grow our relationships that we have with one another because we always need friends and family that like us right;). hahahah These friends are really cool and we want to aska  couple of them to start meeting with us because we feel like they have an interest in who we are as missionaries and as a religion. They are SUPER cool and I am very excited to have them here as our good friends!

Tuesday and Wednesday, I did a scambio with my old comp. Anziano McGuire in a city that is in the Agrigento district called Caltanissetta and it was actually a good scambio. We had three really solid lessons and we feel like Caltanissetta should be having its first members here in a couple of weeks (they aren't even a branch because they don't have any active members other than 1 who comes every week). We worked pretty hard and made some good work happen over there. It was good to be with that kid again. I miss working on the streets of Napoli with him sometimes. Napoli was a really hectic place. I do like Agrigento a lot. A TON of walking, but I like it:).

Thursday, we had a good fun filled day. We met with our cool Nigerian friends that are over in a paesino close to Agrigento called Favara and they were happy to see us:). We taught them il Piano di Salvezza. It was really cool. They all seemed to understand it pretty well and we only used scriptures from the Bible to explain all of it! I thin it is so cool how we use the Bible and the Book of Mormon so we don't ever need to be confused! It is much easier that way!

Friday was a good day because it was................................. GABRIEL'S BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It went really well. We got there about 45 minutes before it was supposed to start and Gabriel, Justice (who we are expecting will be baptized here in Ottobre), and Sampson were already outside of the church waiting for us! Gabriel was so excited to be baptized and he was so prepared to listen to what we had to say. He accepted all of the challenges that we gave him and he was REALLY happy the entire time! He had a smile on his face for every second of the baptism! It was so great to see this man enter into the waters of baptism just like his friend Dallington that brought him into the church! During Gabriel's testimony that he was bearing to us, he said, "When I first went into the water, I felt really cold (because the water was pretty cold for this time of the year), but then something satrted to make me feel warmer. When I was about to go under the water, I remembered how cold the water was and I thought about how cold it was going to be once I came back out. Instead, I felt REALLY warm while I was in the water and when I came out, I felt even warmer!" How great of words from a NEW man huh!? That is SO AMAZING! Gabriel! You are a great man and I am so happy that I had the opportunity to meet you!

During the entire baptism though, the thought of the transfer call was in my mind.

Saturday was when we got the call and I was expecting to leave....................................................... but I get to stay!!!! WHOA!!!! I am staying but I am receiving a new collegue! Cool huh!? His name is Anziano Holbrook and he will be going into his 3rd transfer. Also, there will be two more missionaries that will be added to Agrigento! How cool is that!? We have done such good work in the last 3 months that President has decided to put 2 more missionaries here to help us out! I know one of the missionaries (he is ok. Solo spero che non rompa!?) and he will be training a new missionary that will be coming in. We don't know who it is yet though? We will find out in 3 days though! SUPER WEIRD!!!!!

So ya! A lot of stuff has gone down this week! It has been a good one and it went by really fast! To answer a couple of your questions mom:

-Ya, I am feeling the call for home practically evey day that passes. I will tell you the truth. I love my mission adn I have really grown a lot especially in the patience category of it, but I am pretty ready to get back into the swing of things ya know? I love the mission and I am going to be working REALLY hard for the next around 3 months so that I can say that I have fought the good fight, btu I knwo that once I am done, Ia m going to be happy with the work that I have done and for all the people that now know the church a little bit more because of the missionary that I was! 

-I have thought about the fire department also mom only I know how hard it is to get in there. I mean even Uncle Danny couldn't get in and that was close to 5 years ago that he was trying for it I think right? It would be very hard for me to try at this point in time if I tried! I will look into it though. I would love to just help people in the future as a job:)! That would be SO fun!!!!!!

Well, I am off to do the P-Day stuff:)! I love you guys!

Staying in Agrigento???

Ok guys. I am really sorry, but this letter is not going to be REALLY full of information. I am going to let you knwo what went on and then head out because we have a really cool something to do that not many misisonaries get to see:). COOL COOL! So here we go!

This last week, we did a blitz (where a ton of missionaries get together and go crazy in just one city) in two cities. Both of them in our district down here, Caltanissetta and Sciacca. They both went well and I had a goal of getting both citites at least 10 contacts each, and I didn't get that goal, but we did find some quality people! We received 8 numbers in Calt. and 5 in Sciacca! That is still quite a few people that now know the gospel that didn't before! COOL HUH:)? I did a scambio and boy did I learn quite a few things:)! I love how you can learn things from people even if you are with them only for 3 hours at a time:).

I have to say soemthing before I go on! We receive the blasted transfer calls this week and I have never been nervous for a call since I needed to leave Reggio and that was a year ago practically! I really hope I stay but get a new comp. The one I have now is good, I am just stufo of him for other reasons. I want to stay adn get a new guy. I think that is what will happen? I think we will be getting two more missionaries here in Agrigento. At lest that is what I want to happen! I love AG and I hope that I can have a good conclusion to the mission with another guy:).

This brongs me to my next point, we have more work right now than we can handle by oursleves so we need a bit of help anyway! I really want to change this city for the better in every single way and have people remember the missioanries because my comp and I did the work and contacted them:). I want to finish teh course and fight the good fight.

Now I want to leave you guys with an impegno! Make sure to talk with the missionaries this week and get one of every kind of opuscolo that they can give you and read it. Make sure that you know what we teach as missionaries and how things go. It really helps us as missionaries when we have members that know what the Restoration adn how much of it we talk ab out it at the very beginning:)! Just for all you memebers out there who haven't served missions but want to be those good member missionaries and help the missionaries out:)!

I found out some cool info froma  book that I read this morning. Las vegas is one of the top most baptizing cities in the nation! Did you guys know that!? COOL HUH!?

I love you all! I have 3 months from today until I am on that plane!!!

Darlington's Baptism!!!

Ciao Belli Miei!

So, this week was really good and really busy! Anziano Bethke and I have a ton of work to do every single day and this week is going to work us even harder because we are going to do two Zone Blitzes (where quite a few sets of missionaries go to one particular city and just get a bunch of contacts) for two cities in my district down here in Agrigento. It is going to be one hectic week just like the last one! I am getting really tired only because we are working so hard and I really hope that President gets the feeling that I am feeling of another set of missionaries here in Agrigento! I think that would be great! That would hlp us do a lot more missionary work with members and also get a ton more contacts by ourselves! It would be a really good idea in my opinion:). 

So this past week, we had a great one! Very busy and very edifying.

Lunedì was good! Very busy like every day and it was also very good because Dallington passed his baptismal interview and was really excited to get baptized! We actually got him a white shirt so that he could where it to his baptism and he liked it a lot! We also had two lessons to do and almost got another investigator only that he didn't make the follow up appointment. We are planning on meeting with him this week to show him who we are a little bit more than jsut another religion. He spoke with missionaries in the passed but never talked with them about who we are! We are keeping our faith in him and we hope that he is reading the B of M that we left with him!

Martedì was also really good because we had our Zone Conference and that was good to listen to and see. The theme was based on working with members and why it is important to work with them and not just do all of the work by yourself! It really kind of opened my eyes a little bit, because I realized that I have barely involved or done ANY member work since being here in Italia! I have usually taught and done everything by myself together with my comp! If the investigators come to church, we introduce them to different members and make them feel welcomed obviously, but I never really do any work outside of that with members! I need to start doing that better so that they can feel involved and loved also!

Mercoledì I was doing a good ole scambio with Anziano Fullmer (brand new missionary) and he was really surprised about the finding methods that I used! He was so surprised and saw that the way that I did things was a lot different than the way that he and his trainer do things in Sciacca. He likes my way, has been putting what he learned into practice, and he told me last night that they have 2 new investigators from the things that I helped him put into practice:)! Cool huh:)? I am so excited that I can help other missionaries learn something especially at the beginning of their missions so that they can be better in the long run:).

Giovedì we were surprised by Dallington and Gabriel! They made us some AWESOME Nigerian food called Fufu! It is SO good! We actually ate it twice this week and both times it was absolutely delicious! I am pretty sure that they planned that little surprise for us because we are REALLY good friends with them:). We had a good little corso d'inglese also. We have some awesome friends that are starting to come and they wanted to go out and do GIRO PASTA! Giro pasta is practically all you can eat pasta but you don't know what types of pasta there will be. All you know is that you are going to be eating what the chef makes you. Well, we did that and boy was it good! We ate a ton adn I DID NOT feel good after that!;) I was in heaven though for a little bit.

Sabato was the baptism and everything seemed to go right. There were actually quite a few people on the beach, but they didn't disturb us at all! Infact, they were really quiet and I could not hear anyone say anything! It was just us out in the water and Dallington getting baptized. I performed the ordinance and when he came out of the water, he gave me a huge hug! He was smiling like a crazy man and it was just such a great experience for everyone! Everyone was so loving of him and now Gabriel knows what is expecting him! He was freaking out because he wanted to be baptized with Dallington! He CANNOT wait for his baptism and he wants to get baptized this week. We will wait for another week though;). We have his baptismal interview on Wednesday though:)! He is going to pass easily! He has a huge testimony!

Domenica Dallington was confirmed a member and he received the Holy Ghost! Holy moly how great an experience! Every time there is a baptism and confermation, I always feel the Spirit so strongly! I love how many sacrifices these young men are making to meet with us and learn about how they can follow Jesus Christ in the best way possible! 

I have gained such a huge testimony of this church and the gospel! I know that when we follow strictly the rules that Jesus Chrsit has established, we are going to have a much better life and feel a ton better about who we are! Keep on loving life guys because it is a really great thing! It really is a gift from God and many times we take it for granted! I love you all and I pray for you a lot EVERY DAY! 

Love,

Dallin 

Nigerian Friends

Ciao a Tutti,

So as my mom is probably posting this every single week that passes, you guys probably know better than me how much time remains for me here in the mission, but guys, I cannot tell you how much I am loving things right now! We received some pretty hard-core bidoni last week! It was pretty bad, but we got through it and did over 17 lessons with people that we can see again and have A LOT of potential! We are really excited!

So the biggest part of the week was on Sunday! We had a really good Sunday even though we only had 4 investigators in church, but I want to chare a bit of info about these investigators. ALL of them walked to get to church! We have an investigator that will be baptized on Saturday and he IS obvioulsy SUPER dedicated to the church because he walked over 40 minutes to get to the church on Sunday! This man was very prepared to hear the gospel and he loves seeing the missionaries. I remember the first day that we saw him both Anziano Tanner (a Caltanissetta) and I talked with him on the same day! He was a cool guy and I remember having a great feeling about him that day. He loves making us laugh and teaching us some Pigeon English (the way that Nigerians speak english) and trust me, he gets a huge kick out of that! We actually know what a few things like:

How are you?

-How fa naw?

Have you eaten?

-You don shop?

Don't worry about it!

-No shekin naw!

Can you give me anything?

Anythin fo yo guy?

It is really fun and it is a great way to make our Africans laugh a bunch! I love it. I really do:)!

Darlington's friend named Gabriel is an absolute stud and will be baptized in 2 weeks from this Saturday. This man is not the biggest guy, but his testimony is quite MASSIVE! He really does want to follow Jesus Christ and promising him a better life made it that much easier for him to come! He feels SUPER good when he comes to church and he actually has quite a few friends in church already. This man walked over 1 hour to get to church from where he lives! This man is committed! He knows what is important in this life and he is literally willing to do anything to make sure that the Lord is pleased with his efforts! He is GREAT guy and Always has a smile on even when he is having a hard time! He is a cool guy. I will take a picture with him on Saturday because I know that he will be at Darlington's baptism!

We then have Oneyaka who is always from Nigeria just a different state than these other guys. He is REALLY quiet but he understands everything which is kind of strange. We are really excited to have this guy because he participates when he is at church and the members are REALLY good to him even though he is that quiet! This guy walked half an hour to get to church and he shows his faith by meeting with us two times a week! 

All of these guysa re AMAZING and I really want to see if we can open an African/stranieri branch here at Agrigento! I think that would be a REALLY good idea!

So this week, I gave an addestramento this week to the district and I really liked it! It was on the Book of Mormon. How many of us have really studied the front/opening pages of this book that makes us so much different than the other religions? I really liked doing this all week. Reading, studying, cross referencing, etc... I now have the front few pages marked up with different colors, verses, lines, etc..... to indicate where in the Bible and the B of M we can see different things. I think this really made me look out for the importance a little bit more! I would also like to leave this invite for you guys! Make some references, read the front pages of the B of M again and I know that you guys will gain a new love for it. maybe you guys could even give the book out. Go talk witht he missionaries and ask them for a Book of Mormon, pray for the opportunity to give it out, and I know for a fact that the Lord will give you the opportunity because after all it is HIS work!

I love you all! I hope everything is going well and that you are all keeping out of trouble! Make sure to keep on smiling and looking on the bright side of things! 

Love,

Dallin