The Great Palermo Zone Marzo 2017

Man o man!  You know the luckiest missionaries are sent to Palermo.  And we are those lucky missionaries.

 Right now we are serving with all these wonderful youth.  I wish you could know them too. Maybe this post will help you a bit.

Every six weeks we all come together for uplift and instruction from President and Sorella Pickerd plus either our zone leaders (ZLs) or the assistants to the President (APs)

 

 Our zone is the largest zone in the mission with 28 missionaries: 1 couple (us), 4 sorelle, and 22 anziani.  The zone is divided into 3 districts.  Two of those districts split the city of Palermo in half with an additional city that is close by.  The third district is further away and spread over 3 other cities on the island of Sicily; Agrigento, Sciacca, and Caltanissetta.

Palermo District 1

This group of dedicated missionaries serve Palermo 1st ward and the Trapani branch.

First there are our Zone Leaders - Anziano Draghi and Anziano Bentley.

Look at those smiles, you can just tell they love serving a mission.  Anziano Draghi is very thoughtful and very conscientious with his words and deeds. Anziano Bentley is quieter but he is really aware of needs and just does what is required.

Then there is our district leader, Anziano Rusche and his greenie Anziano Gibson.

Anziano Rusche leads by example.  Anziano Gibson is very dedicated to serving and studying God's words.

 Sorella Acerson and Sorella Erickson are always smiling.  They have spent time meeting their neighbors and the people who work in their neighborhood.  They really want to teach the gospel.

This is Anziano Drenk's last transfer in the Palermo 1 District but Craig and I will still see him because he is just moving to the Palermo 2 District.  Anziano Drenk serves with quietness.  But he is very wise.  Anziano Anderson will be the new district leader starting on Sunday, he is full of fun and qwerks.

And the last 2 missionaries in the Palermo 1 district are our Trapani missionaries, Anziano Melling and his greenie, Anziano Stucki.

Anziano Melling has been serving with us in Palermo district 1 since August.  He always wants to do the right thing and he loves gelato. Anziano Stucki wants to learn all he can from his trainer and also just be a great missionary.


We had a great p-day (preparation/play day) with part of this group on the island of Favignana a couple of weeks ago. It was fun riding bikes all over the place.

Sending pictures home to mom

This week after our district meeting we had a BBQ pranzo together. Grilled hamburgers and french fries, it was so good.

Then there is Palermo District 2.  This is another set of great missionaries here too.

Palermo District 2

District 2's leader is Anziano Anderson, he is serving in the Palermo 3 branch with Anziano Adepoju.

These two are baptizing machines.  Anziano Anderson is always looking to help.  He tells how the atonement has changed his life.  Anziano Adepoju is the best missionary here for the branch.  He does not hesitate to talk to anyone.  It is so awesome.

Anziano Young has impressed me because he remembered my new grandson's name and asked about him.  He really is interested in people.  Anziano DeFeo is serving his second time in the Palermo Zone.  He is great at balloon art and Italian, he should be because he is a Canadian Italian.

Anziano Strong is getting stronger ever day.  He is the only missionary I can understand because he is still learning and speaking words slower and on my limited vocabulary level.  Anziano Ponce just finished his mission and he lost himself in the service of God.

Saying goodbye to Anziano Ponce

The Palermo 2 Sorelle serve both the Palermo 2 ward and the Palermo 3 branch.  They are excited because in the next couple of weeks will be moving into an apartment closer to their area of service.

We felt on top of the world walking around the Monreale Duome rooftops

Sorella Oehler serves quietly but with love, Sorella Carver is the Sister Training Leader and she is always seeing miracles and so helpful and loving.

Anziano Covalt and Anziano Wilkey serve in the small but cute city of Mistretta.  Mistretta feels very removed from Palermo but the saints there are the best.  You know these are strong valient missionaries because they are serving here. 

Potluck lunch on a beautiful sunny day after district meeting

They made us milkshakes!!!!! Oreo and Nutella - so good, so refreshing.

Sometimes we get a little silly

Pushups for brownies - spiritual thought at a ward party

Our smallest district is the Agrigento district.  There are 6 missionaries serving in this district.

Anziano Alexander is full of enthusiasm, the tallest man in the world, and loves sushi.  He also is very, very kind.  Anziano Dickey is very positive and learning about being a missionary from Anziano Alexander.  They are serving in Agrigento in an apartment with frequent water outages. But no complaints and they have their water storage.

Anziano Christensen is from Arizona and my nephew was his Priest Quorum Advisor, he also plays the piano beautifully.  Anziano Campbell is the district leader and trainer.  Anziano Campbell just is dedicated to doing his best and serving his mission with all his heart. They are serving in the Sciacca branch.

I don't have a picture of Anziano Wright or Anziano Jorgensen, both serving in Caltanisetta.  Anziano Wright is the talker of the two and Anziano Jorgensen is the observer.  Caltanisetta just has a group, a group is so few members of the church they aren't even a branch. Church is held in the apartment of the Anziani.  So these two are giving a talk every Sunday.  Wow.

The Palermo Zone is the best.  We are so lucky to serve here, we love it.