Hey!......So yeah, Verona is freezing!!!haha. I'm hanging in there though so don't worry at all! We've been super busy the last couple days with Zone Vision, planning and meetings that we haven't had tons of time to do missionary work. We also went to Modena on Monday to attend the district meeting there, and do a scambio with them. It was very fun getting to see the city in winter. The trees were completely empty as well as the streets. Welcome to winter Anziano Neff! Anziano Owens and I went and taught one of their investigators and along the way we saw the new converts Felix and Seth so that was cool. It was sad to hear that many of the African new converts in Modena haven't been attending church regularly. As much as they understand the gospel of Christ they really just don't understand it. It's frustrating at times but we can't force people to be obedient. On a more positive side Antonio is going strong and is just awesome(at least the missionaries told me this).
We are gearing up to visit all the other district leaders throughout the transfer as well. We will be visiting Reggio Emilia, Bolzano, and Bergamo. Our zone is the biggest Zone in the mission with five districts. We just finished our Vision for the zone and it is focused on the things that Elder Causse told us the other week. Our focus is on being a true disciple of Jesus Christ. It entails a lot of things but we feel it will really help our zone grow. Tomorrow we have a consiglio (Council) with president and the other zone leaders to present it to them and be trained a bit on how to help our zones.
Well right now our work is so so. We have one date right now whose name is Fernando. He is from Sri Lanka and is christian. We haven't taught him a ton, but he came to church last Sunday and really liked it. In our last lesson we discovered that he believes the Book of Mormon to be true. After having prayed about it he felt prompted to read it. He says he hasn't had many experiences with the spirit but we helped him realized how this prompting was it. He's about 20 years old and is super cool. We are really focusing on getting one baptism this transfer. Seeing how we are traveling all over the zone we think that one is a good goal for us.
My companion anziano Mèszàros is a stud. He is probably one of the best Italian speakers in the mission. Right now we are living in four. ME and my companion along with Anziano Webb and Ramjoué. Webb actually is a year younger than me and went to Olympus. We know each other really well because we had seminary for like 3 semesters in a row. His sister is actually married to Scott Neff...what a coincidence. Ramjoué is from Riverton. They are all awesome and we will have a lot of fun...obedient fun. The last couple days have been fun yet at the same time has made me realize how much better I need to be.
I spent a lot of time comparing myself with my companion and other missionaries in terms of teaching and language skills. I struggled a lot with confidence the first few days here. I kept thinking how inadequate I am as a missionary and wondering agh....there are better missionaries that could do better than me as a zone leader. BUTTT I finally got over my own worries and self pride(I guess you could say). I need to just be humble and grateful for the skills I've been blessed with. I also realized I need to just work harder on those skills which I lack. So now I'm good. I know I'm here for a reason and we are gonna kick butt. I am really going to love this calling and having this great opportunity to help grow our Zone to be true disciples of Christ.!!!
So how are the Jazz doing?....
Grazie for the emails and have a GREAT WEEK.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Verona
Nestled along the banks of the Adige River, Verona has long been a desirable city. The Romans favored its location, colonizing it in 89 B.C. Even today the Roman heart of the city is easy to find. The Arena is still at its center, and there are bronze maps literally embedded in the side-walks that show that old city within modern Verona.
Later on, Verona became the site of the free-for-all turf wars that characterized much of Italian (and European) history. These tug-of-war power struggles led to a series of rivalries culminating in the late 1200s with the ascendancy of the della Scalas (also known as the Scaligeri) who added a love of art to their pursuit of power. Their names, after the founding father's Bartolomeo della Scala, had a canine theme. Cangrande I (Big Dog) was the patron of Dante (of Dante's Inferno fame).
Not a family to sit idly, under Cangrande's watch Verona captured several smaller cities. The dynasty was continued by the heirs, Mastino II (the Mastiff) and Cansignorio (Lord Dog). Eventually, fearing the end of their reign, the Castelvecchio was built, perhaps a monument to the family's might and power. The buildings today are among Verona's priceless architectural heritage.
Eventually Verona decided to join the tiny empire of Venice, although that relationship was not without strife. From that point, rulers came and rulers went, including both Napoleon and Austria, until finally Verona become one of the Kingdom of Italy in the mid 1800s.
From http://www.offbeattravel.com/verona.html
The most famous love story in the English language, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona. Whether Romeo or Juliet ever existed, Veronese entrepreneurs have dreamed up Capulet and Montague sites to snare tourists. The so-called Juliet's House, has no proven connection to any family named Capulet (locals claim that in the 19th century it was a bordello), but this small, sparely furnished home, with its stone balcony and tidy courtyard, fits the image—you can just imagine Romeo saying, "But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" The right breast on a bronze statue of Juliet is brightly polished from visitors giving it a traditional good-luck rub, and a blizzard of hopeful love letters are posted outside.
Later on, Verona became the site of the free-for-all turf wars that characterized much of Italian (and European) history. These tug-of-war power struggles led to a series of rivalries culminating in the late 1200s with the ascendancy of the della Scalas (also known as the Scaligeri) who added a love of art to their pursuit of power. Their names, after the founding father's Bartolomeo della Scala, had a canine theme. Cangrande I (Big Dog) was the patron of Dante (of Dante's Inferno fame).
Not a family to sit idly, under Cangrande's watch Verona captured several smaller cities. The dynasty was continued by the heirs, Mastino II (the Mastiff) and Cansignorio (Lord Dog). Eventually, fearing the end of their reign, the Castelvecchio was built, perhaps a monument to the family's might and power. The buildings today are among Verona's priceless architectural heritage.
Eventually Verona decided to join the tiny empire of Venice, although that relationship was not without strife. From that point, rulers came and rulers went, including both Napoleon and Austria, until finally Verona become one of the Kingdom of Italy in the mid 1800s.
From http://www.offbeattravel.com/verona.html
The most famous love story in the English language, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona. Whether Romeo or Juliet ever existed, Veronese entrepreneurs have dreamed up Capulet and Montague sites to snare tourists. The so-called Juliet's House, has no proven connection to any family named Capulet (locals claim that in the 19th century it was a bordello), but this small, sparely furnished home, with its stone balcony and tidy courtyard, fits the image—you can just imagine Romeo saying, "But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" The right breast on a bronze statue of Juliet is brightly polished from visitors giving it a traditional good-luck rub, and a blizzard of hopeful love letters are posted outside.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
"The Work Here Has Really Exploded" but "I'm Going to ... Verona"
Hello hello!
It sounds like all of you are doing really great! As I read mom's e-mail about Sawyer I could only help but think "Poor Sawyer". He's a trooper. Well, it's been a really interesting this past week.
Anziani Neff and Scheurn at the Trexler's Taco Night (the Trexlers take great care of the missionaries in Pisa -- Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas, American food from the PX, teaching help, etc. )
The work is going really great and we are so excited for the people we have found. During a scambio last week in which I went to Livorno, Anziano Scheurn and Wilkens found an Italian couple. They are both probably about between 35 and 40 years old and are amazing! Elder Scheurn and I saw them on Saturday and had a really powerful lesson with them. The wife, Giusi(short for Giuseppina) doesn't really believe in God so much but she's is very open and humble. Her husband does believe in God and he too is very open with us and sincere with the things he says. We were able to teach them about the Restoration and they really like it. Like I said, we learned that Giusi doesn't really believe in God. She said she kind of lost her belief as she grew up even though her mom would go to church.
Well as we got to the end of the lesson we were talking about praying to know the truth. I felt impressed to ask her if she'd ever prayed, and she said yes a long time ago. I sort of pried into that and I asked how it made her feel. She responded by saying it brought her comfort. From that we sort of transitioned to how baptism is something that allows us to feel that comfort every day. We talked about how the Holy Ghost makes that possible. You could see the excitement and peace the lesson really brought and we owe it to the Spirit.
Yesterday when we called them we followed up to see if they'd read the Book of Mormon chapter we left them. They said they had and that they had also prayed about it!!! Before I could give them something else to read they said they wanted to read it again to understand it better. They also told us that on Friday that would not be able to see us because Gregorio(husband) has to work. They already knew about the baptism on Saturday though so they asked "Well could we see you on Saturday at your church?" Of course we said yes and so now they are coming to the baptism, too! Companion exchanges are just a breeding ground for miracles.
Well now we have this amazing family. There is also the Mendoza family that is coming along slowly but surely and then there is Mirta. Mirta just found work as a nurse for an old lady and is struggling to find time to see us. She is so elect but we gotta get around this work problem. She is coming to church on Sunday so that is good. Then there is still this other family we found a few weeks ago and we are finally able to see them. We passed by last night for our appointment but she said her husband wasn't home!! Agh....We rescheduled for Friday when the husband is home. They are both super nice and have two awesome kids. Well Davide is on track for his baptism this Saturday having passed his interview! How amazing is that! The work here has really exploded. Catherine(the Chinese girl) just got back from China and we are working towards setting a baptismal date with her. The work over the last week has sky rocketed!
It sucks that my companion is being transferred to Bolzano in the upper northeastern part of Italy. He's going from warm to freezing cold just like that. I'm going from Pisa to Verona just like that......yeah. Monday we found out that we are being whitewashed. We are both being taken out. Are you surprised? Because I still am. I trust President Wolfgramm though with all my heart. Even if our work is going better than most of the other companionships. The good news is that Anziano Hardy is coming to take our spot. He will be training, too. When President told me it would be him coming to replace us my heart was immediately at ease(he's a stud). So yeah, I will be going to be Zone Leader with Anziano Mesarosh(can't remember how to spell it but he's American/Canadian). So basically the least expected thing happened(at least according to me). I'm pretty nervous just because there are a lot of missionaries to look after. Again it comes back to the trust though I have in President Wolfgramm. I didn't think I had the necessary skills to do it, but obviously he thinks I do so I will just have to discover it and use it to help our Zone.
We have been scampering all week to get everything perfect for Anziano Hardy and his greenie. He's walking into best case scenario though so I'm not too worried about it. We've been having to say goodbye to everyone while trying to teach all these awesome families and other investigators. I am super sad about leaving Chen though. I didn't get a proper good bye with Lin because I thought for sure I would be staying. Agh.....it kind sucks but oh well it's not about me. I was going to be baptizing David, but our Ward Mission Leader will most likely do it now.
I will keep an eye out for those presents.....21 holy smokes.....not cool guys not cool...... Oh yeah Anziano Barnes will be Assistant this transfer so that's kind of cool. Well....I'm terribly sorry again about pictures but I'm ill-prepared again. I blame it on having to be transferred tomorrow morning. We have been all over the place.
I love you guys so much and i hope you enjoyed the success story. My love for this work is growing every day and my desire to do it is growing right along side it. I get frustrated when I don't give my all and actually it just annoys the CRAP out of me. It annoys me even more when I wasted little seconds on my cleaning habits. At first I though that being a good cleaner was a good gift, haha and it probably is, but I need to loosen up a bit and let things go. Verona should be fun and I will get to stretch myself a lot.
You guys are great! Thanks for the thoughts and love you put into your emails. It means a lot!
Ciao.
It sounds like all of you are doing really great! As I read mom's e-mail about Sawyer I could only help but think "Poor Sawyer". He's a trooper. Well, it's been a really interesting this past week.
Anziani Neff and Scheurn at the Trexler's Taco Night (the Trexlers take great care of the missionaries in Pisa -- Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas, American food from the PX, teaching help, etc. )
The work is going really great and we are so excited for the people we have found. During a scambio last week in which I went to Livorno, Anziano Scheurn and Wilkens found an Italian couple. They are both probably about between 35 and 40 years old and are amazing! Elder Scheurn and I saw them on Saturday and had a really powerful lesson with them. The wife, Giusi(short for Giuseppina) doesn't really believe in God so much but she's is very open and humble. Her husband does believe in God and he too is very open with us and sincere with the things he says. We were able to teach them about the Restoration and they really like it. Like I said, we learned that Giusi doesn't really believe in God. She said she kind of lost her belief as she grew up even though her mom would go to church.
Well as we got to the end of the lesson we were talking about praying to know the truth. I felt impressed to ask her if she'd ever prayed, and she said yes a long time ago. I sort of pried into that and I asked how it made her feel. She responded by saying it brought her comfort. From that we sort of transitioned to how baptism is something that allows us to feel that comfort every day. We talked about how the Holy Ghost makes that possible. You could see the excitement and peace the lesson really brought and we owe it to the Spirit.
Yesterday when we called them we followed up to see if they'd read the Book of Mormon chapter we left them. They said they had and that they had also prayed about it!!! Before I could give them something else to read they said they wanted to read it again to understand it better. They also told us that on Friday that would not be able to see us because Gregorio(husband) has to work. They already knew about the baptism on Saturday though so they asked "Well could we see you on Saturday at your church?" Of course we said yes and so now they are coming to the baptism, too! Companion exchanges are just a breeding ground for miracles.
Well now we have this amazing family. There is also the Mendoza family that is coming along slowly but surely and then there is Mirta. Mirta just found work as a nurse for an old lady and is struggling to find time to see us. She is so elect but we gotta get around this work problem. She is coming to church on Sunday so that is good. Then there is still this other family we found a few weeks ago and we are finally able to see them. We passed by last night for our appointment but she said her husband wasn't home!! Agh....We rescheduled for Friday when the husband is home. They are both super nice and have two awesome kids. Well Davide is on track for his baptism this Saturday having passed his interview! How amazing is that! The work here has really exploded. Catherine(the Chinese girl) just got back from China and we are working towards setting a baptismal date with her. The work over the last week has sky rocketed!
It sucks that my companion is being transferred to Bolzano in the upper northeastern part of Italy. He's going from warm to freezing cold just like that. I'm going from Pisa to Verona just like that......yeah. Monday we found out that we are being whitewashed. We are both being taken out. Are you surprised? Because I still am. I trust President Wolfgramm though with all my heart. Even if our work is going better than most of the other companionships. The good news is that Anziano Hardy is coming to take our spot. He will be training, too. When President told me it would be him coming to replace us my heart was immediately at ease(he's a stud). So yeah, I will be going to be Zone Leader with Anziano Mesarosh(can't remember how to spell it but he's American/Canadian). So basically the least expected thing happened(at least according to me). I'm pretty nervous just because there are a lot of missionaries to look after. Again it comes back to the trust though I have in President Wolfgramm. I didn't think I had the necessary skills to do it, but obviously he thinks I do so I will just have to discover it and use it to help our Zone.
We have been scampering all week to get everything perfect for Anziano Hardy and his greenie. He's walking into best case scenario though so I'm not too worried about it. We've been having to say goodbye to everyone while trying to teach all these awesome families and other investigators. I am super sad about leaving Chen though. I didn't get a proper good bye with Lin because I thought for sure I would be staying. Agh.....it kind sucks but oh well it's not about me. I was going to be baptizing David, but our Ward Mission Leader will most likely do it now.
I will keep an eye out for those presents.....21 holy smokes.....not cool guys not cool...... Oh yeah Anziano Barnes will be Assistant this transfer so that's kind of cool. Well....I'm terribly sorry again about pictures but I'm ill-prepared again. I blame it on having to be transferred tomorrow morning. We have been all over the place.
I love you guys so much and i hope you enjoyed the success story. My love for this work is growing every day and my desire to do it is growing right along side it. I get frustrated when I don't give my all and actually it just annoys the CRAP out of me. It annoys me even more when I wasted little seconds on my cleaning habits. At first I though that being a good cleaner was a good gift, haha and it probably is, but I need to loosen up a bit and let things go. Verona should be fun and I will get to stretch myself a lot.
You guys are great! Thanks for the thoughts and love you put into your emails. It means a lot!
Ciao.
Monday, January 23, 2012
"The Lord Is So Evident in Our Work Right Now"
I know you've been wanting pictures really badly lately. You're going to hate me again this week because I am in Firenze and I don't have the cord for my camera to send you pics. I wanted to last week but I was in La Spezia and all the computers froze and we ran out of time...wah wah. I didn't email yesterday because we were all in Verona for a conference. We had a wonderful opportunity to listen to Elder Causse of the Seventy. He's from France and I think he's in the presidency of the European Area. Anyway, he gave us a lot of great tips, knowledge and things we can do better at. One of the biggest was just inviting people to baptism in the first lesson. We've talked about it before, but he really just hit home on it and blew us out of the water.
Well Davide will be getting baptized next week instead of Saturday. We are a little behind on teaching with him so we felt it'd be best to wait another week so we didn't have to rush things. He's just quit drinking coffee but I don't think it was too hard for him. He's a stud and is really coming to be close with some of the members here. We are thinking that Anziano Scheurn probably won't be here for the baptism seeing how this is his 5th transfer here. Yesterday as we talked with Presidente Wolfgramm he said "Oh hey, Anziano Scheurn! So how long you been in Pisa now, about a year?". It's safe to say things will be changing a bit. We will get the transfer calls probably on Monday.
We said goodbye to Lin last Monday because he went back to China. Luckily he's only going for about a month but Anziano Scheurn won't see him for a long time. It got me thinking about how I will miss Chen a ton! He's like my little brother...seriously. He is such an awesome kid. The Young Women did a program during sacrament meeting on Sunday. Well Sunday night when we were teaching Chen and Lin I joked with Chen saying, "So Chen, during the program I saw you staring at Alishe(daughter of the young men's leader)" He responds by saying "No, I wasn't, I was staring at Francesca" haha (daughter of the 1st counselor). It surprised us all and we all laughed a bit. He's just a funny kid. Right now he's living by himself because his roomates all went back to China for a month. We are having to check up on him often just to make sure he's doing OK.
Well we taught the Mendoza family last week finally. We had an awesome lesson in which Andrew Trexler came and helped. By the end of the lesson Charlie(husband) was saying how he determined to really know more and to start coming to church. He didn't accept the baptismal invite because he wants to take it slowly, but he wants to learn more. On Sunday he came to church with his 6 years old kid and it was awesome! He even volunteered after church to take the Peruvian member Yolanda to the station. We will see them tonight!
We were able to see Yolanda last week and she's incredible. I was just amazed with how kind and humble she was. She was just full of joy when she saw us at her house. She had come late so we were waiting outside and she was just so excited. Last Sunday she came for the second time. Like I said, she hadn't known where the church was so it'd been like six months since she's come to church. We are excited to try and get here brothers and sisters involved in the church too(she's about 40ish?)
Mirta the woman from Santo Domingo also came to church on Sunday! She sat with Yolanda in Relief Society then an elderly lady, Sorella Massoni during the other two hours. After church we taught her and discovered that she's searching for the true church. She was baptized in the Evangelical church but she didn't feel right in it. We taught to her needs and really testified of the truth of our message, and how she, too, could know the truth. It was AWESOME! She said she would come to church again next week!
We are being blessed so much right now and seeing so many miracles. The Lord is so evident in our work right now. We are excited and just ready to help these people. We have really learned the last week or two how much better we can do and be. Our biggest focus is just teaching by the spirit. As we do the work will just keep rising and we will see more miracles.
Thanks for the awesome updates about everyone! It's going to be weird coming back and not recognizing anyone. I'm kinda stressing out a bit because I'm turning 21 next week...crazy huh? Nah I'm not stressed, but it's weird. I'm just so excited about the work and we are just going to keep going forward.
Go Alex Smith! That's cool the Jazz are kicking butt. The clips that Aunt Carol sent me made it seem like they just suck.
Anyways....I will honestly try getting you the pictures very soon. I just filled up on of my memory cards and the other one is already like 25% full so there are plenty of pictures. I just need to send them. Soon! it will be Soon!
Love you all...Vi do un bachio
Well Davide will be getting baptized next week instead of Saturday. We are a little behind on teaching with him so we felt it'd be best to wait another week so we didn't have to rush things. He's just quit drinking coffee but I don't think it was too hard for him. He's a stud and is really coming to be close with some of the members here. We are thinking that Anziano Scheurn probably won't be here for the baptism seeing how this is his 5th transfer here. Yesterday as we talked with Presidente Wolfgramm he said "Oh hey, Anziano Scheurn! So how long you been in Pisa now, about a year?". It's safe to say things will be changing a bit. We will get the transfer calls probably on Monday.
We said goodbye to Lin last Monday because he went back to China. Luckily he's only going for about a month but Anziano Scheurn won't see him for a long time. It got me thinking about how I will miss Chen a ton! He's like my little brother...seriously. He is such an awesome kid. The Young Women did a program during sacrament meeting on Sunday. Well Sunday night when we were teaching Chen and Lin I joked with Chen saying, "So Chen, during the program I saw you staring at Alishe(daughter of the young men's leader)" He responds by saying "No, I wasn't, I was staring at Francesca" haha (daughter of the 1st counselor). It surprised us all and we all laughed a bit. He's just a funny kid. Right now he's living by himself because his roomates all went back to China for a month. We are having to check up on him often just to make sure he's doing OK.
Well we taught the Mendoza family last week finally. We had an awesome lesson in which Andrew Trexler came and helped. By the end of the lesson Charlie(husband) was saying how he determined to really know more and to start coming to church. He didn't accept the baptismal invite because he wants to take it slowly, but he wants to learn more. On Sunday he came to church with his 6 years old kid and it was awesome! He even volunteered after church to take the Peruvian member Yolanda to the station. We will see them tonight!
We were able to see Yolanda last week and she's incredible. I was just amazed with how kind and humble she was. She was just full of joy when she saw us at her house. She had come late so we were waiting outside and she was just so excited. Last Sunday she came for the second time. Like I said, she hadn't known where the church was so it'd been like six months since she's come to church. We are excited to try and get here brothers and sisters involved in the church too(she's about 40ish?)
Mirta the woman from Santo Domingo also came to church on Sunday! She sat with Yolanda in Relief Society then an elderly lady, Sorella Massoni during the other two hours. After church we taught her and discovered that she's searching for the true church. She was baptized in the Evangelical church but she didn't feel right in it. We taught to her needs and really testified of the truth of our message, and how she, too, could know the truth. It was AWESOME! She said she would come to church again next week!
We are being blessed so much right now and seeing so many miracles. The Lord is so evident in our work right now. We are excited and just ready to help these people. We have really learned the last week or two how much better we can do and be. Our biggest focus is just teaching by the spirit. As we do the work will just keep rising and we will see more miracles.
Thanks for the awesome updates about everyone! It's going to be weird coming back and not recognizing anyone. I'm kinda stressing out a bit because I'm turning 21 next week...crazy huh? Nah I'm not stressed, but it's weird. I'm just so excited about the work and we are just going to keep going forward.
Go Alex Smith! That's cool the Jazz are kicking butt. The clips that Aunt Carol sent me made it seem like they just suck.
Anyways....I will honestly try getting you the pictures very soon. I just filled up on of my memory cards and the other one is already like 25% full so there are plenty of pictures. I just need to send them. Soon! it will be Soon!
Love you all...Vi do un bachio
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