About Me

The adventures of Christian Toronto, a full-time missionary serving in the Rome Italy Mission (Dec 2016-Dec 2018). Christian grew up in Minnesota, then moved to Colorado right before his senior year in high school. He is the third of seven children. He was attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah prior to his missionary call. Christian's older brother Simeon completed his mission in Rome, Italy a day before Christian left for his so they literally swapped places. We call them our Roman soldiers for Christ. In his free time, Christian loves basketball, tennis, american history and politics, and music.

Friday, June 1, 2018

The Big White Giant

Carissimi,

This week's highlights are brought to you by the Peanut Gallery; Making Anziano Toronto's mission a comedy, and more often a comedy of errors, since day 1!

Anziano Toronto, "Il Grande" -
I thought I was in with the hair cutter below our house as he gave me a tie after cutting my hair this week, but apparently he's a savage... As Anziani Vance and Hernandez went in for haircuts a day or two after, he looked at them, saw the tag, white shirts, and ties, and said, "Voi siete con il Grande Bianco Gigante, no?" Yes, he called me the Big White Giant friends... I'll take it as a compliment, except for the white part, I've been working on my tan pretty hard, so that one hurt a bit๐Ÿ™ƒ

Miraculous Mario:
As we prepared to teach English course this week, we were pleasantly surprised as a Mother and her young son, whom we had stopped on the street walked in the door. That was a miracle in and of itself folks, we take them where we can get them! The class went pretty well, and after, as we always do, we shared a small spiritual thought with the students. Anziano Ferrara and I began sharing the story of Christ and Peter walking on water, making various connections as we went. We testified of how if we look to Christ, no matter the storm, we'll be able to accomplish miracles, and that when we fall short, when our faith doesn't quite measure up, His hand is extended immediately to our rescue, we need simply call on him and have faith to be saved. As we made all these spiritual connections, the young son, who's name is Mario, raised his hand, and when called upon said, "You know, I once did a miracle too, in the pool I walked on water!" Of course all the students busted out laughing, and so did we! He just kept grinning with the few baby teeth left to him, and acted as if walking on water was an every day occurrence. I paused to think how many of the Lord's miracles pass unnoticed, and how great a work he is accomplishing in our lives! May we all have the faith of little Mario, to literally, and figuratively walk on water!

Ital-American Memorial Day:
The culmination of a multiple months planning occurred as the Napoli Branch and Pozzuoli Ward gathered together Saturday afternoon to celebrate the American Holiday. We had a BBQ cookout, complete with hamburgers and hotdogs, and yet managed to keep things Italian by following it up with some pasta and risotto. After the food and a spiritual thought, we got schooled by the youth and ysa's in Calcio, your's truly doing little to earn his signing bonus, letting in a goal that Abraham probably could've stopped, and having a highlight reel that only featured members of the other team leaving him in the dust with their fancy footwork. I redeemed myself only slightly on the basketball court, and the tennis court, but I could only take the heat for so long. As Anziano Vance put it, "I saw a pillar of light, now I'm burned..." All things considered, it was a great activity, and the sunburn is slowly going away. We loved seeing members, both American and Italian bond over grilled meat and pasta!

Miracle Max -> Baptized and Confirmed Miracle Max
Saturday Night, after the Carney Park activity, Anziano Ferrara rushed to our apartment to change and get ready, cause we had Maxwell who was getting ready to follow the example of Jesus Christ at 7:00. We showered, (ouch! very, very burned), and hustled to the church to begin filling the font. We got everything in order, and Maxwell arrived just in time to put on his white clothes and start the baptism! It was an incredible service. Austin, who had brought him to church spoke on Baptism, and Sunday, a new convert of about 6 months spoke on the Holy Ghost. Both did a great job, I'm so proud of these brothers! The baptism went without a hitch, Maxwell bent his knees, I managed to get the words right, and he went all the way under the first time so I'd call it a success on all counts! After changing, he shared his testimony of how his life had been changed in the short time he has known the church, and of his gratitude to God for giving him the chance to hit the reset button here in Italy. He was confirmed the next day by our Branch President, and is one happy, new member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This stalwart convert built his rock on the Book of Mormon, and he has already begun helping others to do the same. What an example! WE LOVE MAXWELL!

We'll give you a break from the piano metaphors this week, but don't think you're out of the woods yet. There's plenty of key lessons we can still learn from Anziano Toronto's woefully inadequate attempts to play song after song.

All my love,

Anziano Toronto II ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

Maxwell is in the middle in the bright white shirt!



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