This week has been really great! Awesome in fact! Some what challenging but none the less a wonderful week in the service of the Lord!
I am loving being the senior companion but I am really starting to see how much I need to learn! It's been a blast though!
Some of the things that I take care of now are:
I am in charge of the work and how it goes, setting appropriate goals to help the work move, making sure everything in the companionship is going well etc....!
One of the best things I learned from my other senior companions was to really sit back and listen to the junior companion! I can learn so much from Anz. Marx! He is awesome!! He really is a great missionary! We have had a lot of fun together already! This is going to be an awesome transfer! That would be really cool if he got stationed in oki him being in the air force an all! In fact he took Japanese and speaks quite a bit still, that and his dad served his mission in Japan (Tokyo North!) Just like my dad served it Japan! yay for Japan!!
Anz. Marx has a lot of really good ideas to help the work move along here in Brindisi! He is really fired up about the work and ready to go! I love it! I am very excited to work with him! It has been great being senior companion this week but I really have learned a lot!
Since it was the first time for Anz. Marx to meet Roy and Bonnie they cooked us a big BIG meal! It was really good! Bonnie being born and raised in Texas made us some really good fried chicken! man it was tasty! Then we had a good lesson with them and as always had a good time! They are fantastic! I love them! Roy has been going to the hospital lately because they discovered a tumor behind his ear! They say it's ok though because it is on the surface instead of being on the inside but still he needs to get it removed. He is going to go pick up his yacht from France in March so he may get it removed then....we'll see! Hopefully he will be ok! He is a great guy! In fact he has invented a method for freeing people from rubble (after seeing the destruction in Haiti) that should be very successful!
We had a lesson with Sina! She is so awesome! She made us her special dessert called bloob bloob bloob! She calls it that because when it makes that sound its done lol! It’s really tasty! It’s just a cream kind of thing! We talked about the Book of Mormon with her and are doing our best to strengthen her testimony of it! The powerful thing about the Book of Mormon that I fear we often forget is it really is the key stone of our religion and when we have a testimony of it we know that everything thing else in the church is true! That book has such power! We need to be reading it every day to strengthen us and help us continue forward! Man I love the Book of Mormon!
Saturday we went out into our housing area to do some more work out there! It is a really golden area! We had some fun talking with some great people! Most of the time when we ring someone's citofono (its like the outside gate doorbell to get to the door doorbell) they just open the gate so we go in and knock on the doors. When they answer we do a basic approach and the usually say "oh we already have a bible" or "we already believe in Christ" and start to put up a wall. SO what I like to do is talk about what they believe! I say "yeah the bible is really important because it brings a wonderful literal testimony of Christ!" they agree and then I continue "in fact we have another testament of Christ and what He did in America" etc.. I really like to do that because it works! I love doing house! It is probably on of my favorite methods!
Sunday was great day! I loved it! It was Anz. Marx' first Sunday here and he really liked it too! The members really delivered this week!! The talks were just extra great and the members really felt the Spirit! Then after church we went and ate dinner with the Palma family! It was really good! S.lla Palma is a really good cook! We had some pasta (of course!) and then some really good meat and then fruit and then cake! That is usually how all the courses go when you eat with Italians! It's awesome!
Later that night we had a lesson with our new member Richard! He is doing great! He found work...but he has to work on Sunday! We are praying for him to be able to find a different situation! It is just so hard for them to find work! I hope he can! He really misses church and really wants to come back! The members really miss him too!
He mentioned doing “mostra” out in centro and had some great lessons that way too.
He was called to be the Branch Archivist and is putting his computer skills to good use!
They printed a list of the entire branch and called everyone to see who would want to meet with them.
They are working on some advertising for their English course.
They got locked in at the Church and locked out at their apartment all in the same day but were able to get out of both situations successfully. Lol
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Jan 20 new calling and new companion
I am doing just great!! And I have had a super week! So many miracles so many blessings! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!
That is pretty awesome that the mission home sent you an email about my call to senior companion! I’m nervous but I will do my best to do what the Lord wants me to do!
So yes I did get a new companion. His name is Anziano Marx! He is awesome! He is a great guy! I’m sure we will get along really well!! We are a pretty young companionship though. He is in his 4th transfer and I am in my 6th, it will be awesome though!!! I am really excited! Nervous but excited!
Anz. Marx is from Portland Oregon, he studied for a year at the air force academy and wants to be a pilot. he loves running, in fact he ran the Seattle marathon and placed first for his age group, plus he ran for air force! He's good! He is a great guy! I really like him!
Yeah Peter's situation is really gnarly huh!? They really can make him be a part of their church if they want just by firing him and making him live out on the streets again with no work. Well there is a camp here but most of the Africans don't like it there they say it's not the best place in the world to live so they prefer to have a house. It's just a convoluted mess. BUT we did get to see him on the street the other day for the first time since he didn't show up at the baptism. He ran up to me and gave me a HUGE hug! It was so great to see him again! We are hoping that we can meet this family soon and let them know we are good people and maybe even teach them too! The Lord will provide! It's all good! "Tutto Posto!"
With the investigator that had the bad experience at church we actually got to see and talk to her the other day! We went over so Anz. Wood could say good-bye to her. She told us that that day she had actually had a problem with her family and so she was just upset about that. So she is totally fine and wants to keep meeting with us! Thankfully!
Wednesday after we went and did email, we actually had a really good lesson with the guy that works here at the internet point! He told is that he wasn't really believing of really anything, and told us that he had posed a question to his priest that his priest couldn't answer and from that day he hadn't been to church. We answered the question for him (it was: How did Adam and Eve multiply and replenish the earth with only cane and able as children? he had never read the bible really, which is classic here for most people. We just showed him where it talks about the other children of Adam and eve.) He was really down with the answer and said that he had never felt the way he felt before! We talked with him for a bit and then went on our way. I had hoped he would be here today but he must have been called into his other job, and just his wife is at the store today.
Sunday was probably one of the most memorable Sundays I have had here in the mission! Bonnie came to church! As well as an investigator from Poland! It was awesome! The culminating part of the whole thing was that after church we were talking with bonnie and she told us that she had been away from church for so long she had sort of forgotten it but that day we showed up at her door was the day she decided to come back. She told us thank you, and when we asked her for what she said "For saving my eternal Soul!" WOW!!!!!! What an experience! I am so humbled that the Lord was able to work through me to literally find His lost sheep and bring her back to His fold! He really does know each and every single one of us and will do everything He can to help us! It was such an incredible Miracle! God lives! I KNOW IT! I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a missionary! It is the greatest thing ever!! What a great day!!
I am excited to be senior comp now and do my best to help my companion! The Lord will help me and it will be all good! I love it here!!
The Stake Presidency has a goal for Brindisi to be a ward in two years, he thinks they can do it sooner and the PMG class will help the members get ready for that.
He was not expecting the transfer call since he had only been with Anz Wood for one transfer. Anz Wood is now in Cosenza as a Zone leader and he stayed there and is now the Senior Companion. He said he has learned a lot from Anz Wood and will hopefully be able to learn a lot from Anz Marx as well.
That is pretty awesome that the mission home sent you an email about my call to senior companion! I’m nervous but I will do my best to do what the Lord wants me to do!
So yes I did get a new companion. His name is Anziano Marx! He is awesome! He is a great guy! I’m sure we will get along really well!! We are a pretty young companionship though. He is in his 4th transfer and I am in my 6th, it will be awesome though!!! I am really excited! Nervous but excited!
Anz. Marx is from Portland Oregon, he studied for a year at the air force academy and wants to be a pilot. he loves running, in fact he ran the Seattle marathon and placed first for his age group, plus he ran for air force! He's good! He is a great guy! I really like him!
Yeah Peter's situation is really gnarly huh!? They really can make him be a part of their church if they want just by firing him and making him live out on the streets again with no work. Well there is a camp here but most of the Africans don't like it there they say it's not the best place in the world to live so they prefer to have a house. It's just a convoluted mess. BUT we did get to see him on the street the other day for the first time since he didn't show up at the baptism. He ran up to me and gave me a HUGE hug! It was so great to see him again! We are hoping that we can meet this family soon and let them know we are good people and maybe even teach them too! The Lord will provide! It's all good! "Tutto Posto!"
With the investigator that had the bad experience at church we actually got to see and talk to her the other day! We went over so Anz. Wood could say good-bye to her. She told us that that day she had actually had a problem with her family and so she was just upset about that. So she is totally fine and wants to keep meeting with us! Thankfully!
Wednesday after we went and did email, we actually had a really good lesson with the guy that works here at the internet point! He told is that he wasn't really believing of really anything, and told us that he had posed a question to his priest that his priest couldn't answer and from that day he hadn't been to church. We answered the question for him (it was: How did Adam and Eve multiply and replenish the earth with only cane and able as children? he had never read the bible really, which is classic here for most people. We just showed him where it talks about the other children of Adam and eve.) He was really down with the answer and said that he had never felt the way he felt before! We talked with him for a bit and then went on our way. I had hoped he would be here today but he must have been called into his other job, and just his wife is at the store today.
Sunday was probably one of the most memorable Sundays I have had here in the mission! Bonnie came to church! As well as an investigator from Poland! It was awesome! The culminating part of the whole thing was that after church we were talking with bonnie and she told us that she had been away from church for so long she had sort of forgotten it but that day we showed up at her door was the day she decided to come back. She told us thank you, and when we asked her for what she said "For saving my eternal Soul!" WOW!!!!!! What an experience! I am so humbled that the Lord was able to work through me to literally find His lost sheep and bring her back to His fold! He really does know each and every single one of us and will do everything He can to help us! It was such an incredible Miracle! God lives! I KNOW IT! I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a missionary! It is the greatest thing ever!! What a great day!!
I am excited to be senior comp now and do my best to help my companion! The Lord will help me and it will be all good! I love it here!!
The Stake Presidency has a goal for Brindisi to be a ward in two years, he thinks they can do it sooner and the PMG class will help the members get ready for that.
He was not expecting the transfer call since he had only been with Anz Wood for one transfer. Anz Wood is now in Cosenza as a Zone leader and he stayed there and is now the Senior Companion. He said he has learned a lot from Anz Wood and will hopefully be able to learn a lot from Anz Marx as well.
Jan 16 a letter from the Mission Home
CHIESA DI
GESÙ CRISTO
DEI SANTI
DEGLI ULTIMI GIORNI
MISSIONE ITALIANA DI CATANIA
P.zza E. Vittorini, 7 (Parco Inglese)
95030 Sant’ Agata Li Battiati (CT)
Tel. uff. 095/411009 – 411054
Fax uff. 095/411244
15 January 2010
Dear Brother and Sister Nielsen,
We are happy to report that Anziano Nielsen has been made a senior companion. This is an important calling and comes because of his proselyting and teaching skills and his diligence in studying and learning the Italian language. His familiarity and study of Preach My Gospel is an important component in his knowledge and understanding of the missionary lessons and doctrines of the church. We are pleased with his overall growth and development as a faithful servant of the Lord.
It will be important for your son to rely on the Spirit for inspiration on how to conduct the work in his area. As senior companion, he will be responsible for the missionary work of his companionship. We are confident of his abilities as he has shown leadership and enthusiasm for growth.
We know you are proud of your son. He is a wonderful young man and we are thankful to have him here in the Italy Catania Mission. Thank you for preparing him to be called to this great work. We know the Lord will bless him and also bless you as a result of his missionary labors.
Sincerely,
James A. Toronto
President, Italy Catania Mission
GESÙ CRISTO
DEI SANTI
DEGLI ULTIMI GIORNI
MISSIONE ITALIANA DI CATANIA
P.zza E. Vittorini, 7 (Parco Inglese)
95030 Sant’ Agata Li Battiati (CT)
Tel. uff. 095/411009 – 411054
Fax uff. 095/411244
15 January 2010
Dear Brother and Sister Nielsen,
We are happy to report that Anziano Nielsen has been made a senior companion. This is an important calling and comes because of his proselyting and teaching skills and his diligence in studying and learning the Italian language. His familiarity and study of Preach My Gospel is an important component in his knowledge and understanding of the missionary lessons and doctrines of the church. We are pleased with his overall growth and development as a faithful servant of the Lord.
It will be important for your son to rely on the Spirit for inspiration on how to conduct the work in his area. As senior companion, he will be responsible for the missionary work of his companionship. We are confident of his abilities as he has shown leadership and enthusiasm for growth.
We know you are proud of your son. He is a wonderful young man and we are thankful to have him here in the Italy Catania Mission. Thank you for preparing him to be called to this great work. We know the Lord will bless him and also bless you as a result of his missionary labors.
Sincerely,
James A. Toronto
President, Italy Catania Mission
Jan 13 "a roller coaster ride"
(FYI: everything in italics is Anz Nielsen talking, otherwise its me, sorry if that's hard to follow when I jump back and forth between the two!)
Well this week has been really boring, sad, and depressing....NOT!!! ha ha!! It is has been FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOO!!!!!!!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! Did I getcha? Probably not because you probably saw out of your perif. all the exclamation points and bold letters! But hey it was funny anyway yeah? lol! :)
With peter we figured out what the deal is! It's not his family back at home. it's the Italian family that he lives with and works for that say if he wants the job he has to be a part of their church! We actually haven't heard from him for about...well since the day of the baptism! But yesterday in Lecce we got a call from him!!!! Our prayers were answered and hopefully we can meet with him soon!!! I don’t know what happened with the family's father. Hopefully we can help them out!
We were thinking a few weeks ago about a good way to get the members pumped for missionary work! And to get them ready to help us teach so we decided to do a Brindisi member MTC!! We have some classes all ready to go and will start soon! We are really excited about it! It should be really good! And it should get the members all excited! The Lord will help them and us get ready to help spread "the Good News!"
In their English course they played Pictionary and taboo. He said he loves teaching and maybe that is what he will end up doing for a career “Vediamo” (we’ll see).
He loves to ride the trains and says it’s a great time to just sit and ponder and watch the countryside go by, its fun!
They did splits in Lecce and he said “The highlight of the split was not only hanging out with Anz. Hansen who came into the MTC after me, (and that we may be related to) but we went and taught this sweet less active member! It was great! We taught about prayer! In the closing prayer she thanks the Lord for sending "me" to teach her about prayer! It was really cool!”
He finally got a recipe from Sister Palma but now he needs to translate it, I didn’t think about that!
They had an investigator come to Church then told them not to come back for awhile, that was hard for them but he said: “There is a purpose in everything so we will see what the Lord has in store! It will be ok! Life is great!”
He shared an experience he had while on splits with Anz Peterson (from Eagle Idaho and one of Anz Nielsen’s favorites) “this girl came up to us and asked us if we spoke English. It turns out she is from California, played soccer for the University of Hawaii and is now living here in Italy for six months and needed to find the church! It was pretty cool that the Lord had Anz. Peterson and I walk right where she happened to be that day! it was great!”
He coined the phrase “weekly run down” then it evolved into “weekly fun down”. This week he closed his email this way: “Well that is the weekly fun down!! It has been another roller coaster ride! I love it! Being a missionary is so great! It is fantastic!! The best thing ever!!”
Well this week has been really boring, sad, and depressing....NOT!!! ha ha!! It is has been FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOO!!!!!!!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! Did I getcha? Probably not because you probably saw out of your perif. all the exclamation points and bold letters! But hey it was funny anyway yeah? lol! :)
With peter we figured out what the deal is! It's not his family back at home. it's the Italian family that he lives with and works for that say if he wants the job he has to be a part of their church! We actually haven't heard from him for about...well since the day of the baptism! But yesterday in Lecce we got a call from him!!!! Our prayers were answered and hopefully we can meet with him soon!!! I don’t know what happened with the family's father. Hopefully we can help them out!
We were thinking a few weeks ago about a good way to get the members pumped for missionary work! And to get them ready to help us teach so we decided to do a Brindisi member MTC!! We have some classes all ready to go and will start soon! We are really excited about it! It should be really good! And it should get the members all excited! The Lord will help them and us get ready to help spread "the Good News!"
In their English course they played Pictionary and taboo. He said he loves teaching and maybe that is what he will end up doing for a career “Vediamo” (we’ll see).
He loves to ride the trains and says it’s a great time to just sit and ponder and watch the countryside go by, its fun!
They did splits in Lecce and he said “The highlight of the split was not only hanging out with Anz. Hansen who came into the MTC after me, (and that we may be related to) but we went and taught this sweet less active member! It was great! We taught about prayer! In the closing prayer she thanks the Lord for sending "me" to teach her about prayer! It was really cool!”
He finally got a recipe from Sister Palma but now he needs to translate it, I didn’t think about that!
They had an investigator come to Church then told them not to come back for awhile, that was hard for them but he said: “There is a purpose in everything so we will see what the Lord has in store! It will be ok! Life is great!”
He shared an experience he had while on splits with Anz Peterson (from Eagle Idaho and one of Anz Nielsen’s favorites) “this girl came up to us and asked us if we spoke English. It turns out she is from California, played soccer for the University of Hawaii and is now living here in Italy for six months and needed to find the church! It was pretty cool that the Lord had Anz. Peterson and I walk right where she happened to be that day! it was great!”
He coined the phrase “weekly run down” then it evolved into “weekly fun down”. This week he closed his email this way: “Well that is the weekly fun down!! It has been another roller coaster ride! I love it! Being a missionary is so great! It is fantastic!! The best thing ever!!”
Jan 7 obstacles and miracles!
New Year’s is called capodanno! it means literally head of the year. He said fireworks were going off everywhere, they couldn’t sleep so they were out on the deck and saw explosions everywhere. The next morning everything was closed and people were with their families so it was a deep cleaning day for them. He said there was leftover mold on the bathroom walls that he finally got off with all the cleaning they did that day. They had a traditional New Year’s lunch with a family of lamb and tortellini in turkey broth.
There may be a delay on Peter’s baptism… “He told us that he talked with his parents about his baptism and they were a little worried about it since he is in a foreign country, which I can understand. He is 20 so he doesn’t need permission to be baptized but he doesn’t want to disappoint his parents which I can also understand” They told him that he needed to ask the Lord if he should be baptized and he said he would. They agreed to call him on Saturday to find out the answer.
They had a new investigator not show up for an appointment but are hopeful they can get in touch with him soon and they had to move Sina’s baptismal date back but he said “that is ok, we want her to be really ready before she enters the water! We are praying hard for her! She will be baptized, it's just a matter of leaving it in the Lord's hands and letting him decide the date that would be the best for her! Everything will work out well!”
Peter and Kwame’s scheduled baptism day arrives…
Saturday morning! The day of the Baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a great day!! It was awesome!! Ok so we spent the whole day at the church filling up the font! We tapped the water from the bathroom sink and just sat and studied scrips and helped Fratello Frascaro with his computer stuff, had some really good conversations betwixt out selves! it was great! We also went and got some really great sandwiches! (Panini) At four we called peter but his phone was off! We prayed and called again but his phone was still off and it wouldn't work! We actually never got a hold of him. He never came. We did find out that the family he works for and lives with's father died and he was with them, so we figure that is what happened. He still will be baptized, in the Lord's time. So the other part of the story is with Kwame! He called us telling us he was sick and didn’t want to do it!! We told him to come to church early and we would give him a blessing! We told him to come at six and we would talk and then watch Finding Faith in Christ to strengthen his testimony until time for the baptism at 7:30. So we went outside to wait for him and around 6:30 he goes walking past! We chased him down and asked him where he was going! He told us he would be back, don’t worry....we worried! After about an hour he showed up again and didn’t want to do it. He was nervous, and he didn’t feel well so he wanted to push it back. We gave him a blessing and in the end he decided to do it! I was able to baptize him! It was a great experience! It took three times though because he has a bum leg that kept floating up. But in the end he was baptized! After the baptism he told us he felt no illness at all!!!!!
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!! IT REALLY IS!!!
It WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOL!!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It rocked! It was fantastic! We had the Anziani from Lecce come and the Sorelle from Taranto sang a song that was really good! it was a great service and Kwame was just GLOWING!! he kept telling us how happy he was!! The Lord immediately poured out blessings on him!
I LOVE IT!!! IT WAS SUCH A MIRACLE!!!!
We put our faith in the Lord and He helped us out BIG TIME!!
IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY JOY IS FULL!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THEN Sunday!!! man that was great too!!! Kwame showed up in the white shirt and tie we had given him as a baptismal present! He was looking great!! Richard a new member as of 4 weeks (the one who introduced us to Kwame and peter) passed the sacrament. Then Kwame received the Holy Ghost! it was great! Kwame was just beaming! It rocked!!! I LOVED IT!!!
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is Ostuni where we went to find the referral!
Well that has been it pretty much this week! It has been incredible and full of miracles! I love being a missionary!
There may be a delay on Peter’s baptism… “He told us that he talked with his parents about his baptism and they were a little worried about it since he is in a foreign country, which I can understand. He is 20 so he doesn’t need permission to be baptized but he doesn’t want to disappoint his parents which I can also understand” They told him that he needed to ask the Lord if he should be baptized and he said he would. They agreed to call him on Saturday to find out the answer.
They had a new investigator not show up for an appointment but are hopeful they can get in touch with him soon and they had to move Sina’s baptismal date back but he said “that is ok, we want her to be really ready before she enters the water! We are praying hard for her! She will be baptized, it's just a matter of leaving it in the Lord's hands and letting him decide the date that would be the best for her! Everything will work out well!”
Peter and Kwame’s scheduled baptism day arrives…
Saturday morning! The day of the Baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a great day!! It was awesome!! Ok so we spent the whole day at the church filling up the font! We tapped the water from the bathroom sink and just sat and studied scrips and helped Fratello Frascaro with his computer stuff, had some really good conversations betwixt out selves! it was great! We also went and got some really great sandwiches! (Panini) At four we called peter but his phone was off! We prayed and called again but his phone was still off and it wouldn't work! We actually never got a hold of him. He never came. We did find out that the family he works for and lives with's father died and he was with them, so we figure that is what happened. He still will be baptized, in the Lord's time. So the other part of the story is with Kwame! He called us telling us he was sick and didn’t want to do it!! We told him to come to church early and we would give him a blessing! We told him to come at six and we would talk and then watch Finding Faith in Christ to strengthen his testimony until time for the baptism at 7:30. So we went outside to wait for him and around 6:30 he goes walking past! We chased him down and asked him where he was going! He told us he would be back, don’t worry....we worried! After about an hour he showed up again and didn’t want to do it. He was nervous, and he didn’t feel well so he wanted to push it back. We gave him a blessing and in the end he decided to do it! I was able to baptize him! It was a great experience! It took three times though because he has a bum leg that kept floating up. But in the end he was baptized! After the baptism he told us he felt no illness at all!!!!!
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!! IT REALLY IS!!!
It WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOL!!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It rocked! It was fantastic! We had the Anziani from Lecce come and the Sorelle from Taranto sang a song that was really good! it was a great service and Kwame was just GLOWING!! he kept telling us how happy he was!! The Lord immediately poured out blessings on him!
I LOVE IT!!! IT WAS SUCH A MIRACLE!!!!
We put our faith in the Lord and He helped us out BIG TIME!!
IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY JOY IS FULL!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THEN Sunday!!! man that was great too!!! Kwame showed up in the white shirt and tie we had given him as a baptismal present! He was looking great!! Richard a new member as of 4 weeks (the one who introduced us to Kwame and peter) passed the sacrament. Then Kwame received the Holy Ghost! it was great! Kwame was just beaming! It rocked!!! I LOVED IT!!!
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then on Tuesday another mission miracle…
ok Tuesday! The day the angels guided our path ten miles into the wilderness to find the lost sheep!! We had received last week from church headquarters aka the MTC referral center (really rare here) that there was a couple named Roy and Bonnie that wanted the "joy to the world" DVD. Tuesday we finally found the time to go out there since they live in a little city in our pros. zone but still about a 20 minute train ride. The city is called Ostuni, or aka the white city! it is this really old city up on this hill! it is really beautiful! The thing is, the referral we got had no address, just a street, not even a house number! But we knew we had to do it, and could do it with the Lord! So we set off walking towards the city from the train station, that took about an hour, then we walked though the city asking here and there for directions. but really what we were doing was following the Spirit, literally. We walked in a direction until we felt we should turn! Then we would ask someone where this street was. they kept telling us that is was a long long way walking, about 6 or 7 kilometers. But still we felt this drive to keep going! We had no idea where we were going. We ended up getting directions from this guy to just keep walking straight after this round about. So we did. In total we walked about 10 kilometers on this tiny dirt/paved rode in the middle of no where. Just countryside. Yet inside we knew that we were going the right direction. We never turned back. we just kept going and going. It was beautiful! but desolate. We did meet this really cool German guy that had studied English with missionaries in Germany 15 years ago! He was great! He had a Book of Mormon that he had actually read that morning before he saw us in his remote area of the earth as he called it! he was great! So after him we kept walking and walking. Finally we saw a sign that told us we were on the correct street!! We were so excited we took a picture by it! lol! And then after a while more we saw this house with a doorbell so we rang it...nothing....nothing....and then....nothing. But Anz. wood looked behind us and saw an England license plate and we both KNEW that it was the house. We ran over there and saw several other cars with England license plates. The house was being built so we didn’t know if there would be anyone there so we just yelled HELLO! This guy came to the door and we asked him "are you Roy?" he said "yes I am" then we said "we are the Mormons!" His wife came running out and said "you found me! you found me!" " come in!" so we went in and told them the story! literally angels guided us right to this house! We were in a city we had never been in before, didn’t know, and had no idea where we were, yet something told us to go, and where to go! it was incredible! Roy is from Wales and Bonnie is from Texas! She cooked us some really great food! then we watched “Joy to the World”! Bonnie not knowing where the church was and having lived in their countryside home for three years was some what less active, and after the movie was just crying! She is coming to church on Sunday! It was so cool to see how the Lord works to bring back the 1 to the ninety and nine! It was really cool! I have no doubt angels literally guided us there! it was so cool!! Roy gave us a ride home luckily and we are going back soon! The cool thing is too is the referral we got was from her son. He had called the MTC with her address ordering the DVD so we could go see her! and it worked! God LOVES HIS CHILDREN and will do EVERYTHING to get them back! It was such a miracle!! Such a miracle! A literal mission story! It was awesome!!!! It was the best day ever!! They are so cool!!! Man it was so great!!!
This is Ostuni where we went to find the referral!Well that has been it pretty much this week! It has been incredible and full of miracles! I love being a missionary!
Dec 30 First Christmas in the Mission Field!
He explained “splits” are something they do once a transfer, so the leaders can see how their work is going, he said its fun!
They met with Sina again and a member Fratello (brother) Frascaro (Frah-Skah-row) had had some great experiences recently with his Book of Mormon reading that helped her out perfectly! Sina is an older lady that he says is really funny and sweet and a great lady!
They had a little Christmas party with their English course students and watched "Joy to the World" and he said that went really well.
On Christmas Eve they helped Fratello Frascaro harvest olives at his campagna, he said: “That was really cool! We felt like the people in the Nativity movie! It was great! And fun talking and hanging out with F.llo Frascaro! he jokes around so much! He always tells us that he is too strong to do anything because he would just destroy it! He is an older man, about 70! And he is awesome!”
They are planning for Anz Nielsen to baptize Peter on Saturday and his companion Anz Wood will baptize Kwame that day too!!
They threw a Christmas Eve party for their African friends and it was great, they got snacks and drinks and watched "The Testaments". He said: “They enjoyed it so much! They are here without families or anything for the holidays so we really wanted them to have a family party with us! And we think they really liked it! It was a blast! The were commenting on the movie the whole time and Richard told us that there are places in Africa still where they dress and act like the people in the movie! Crazy huh! We all really enjoyed it! It was great!”
After that they went to Midnight Mass, he said that was interesting, good though, lots of traditions, and the Bishop gave a good talk but then started talking about praying to Mary. He had told us during our phone call that his MP wanted them to attend a Midnight Mass to better understand this faith.
On Christmas Day they played the Christmas CDs we’d sent, opened their gifts (hooray they arrived it in time!) and then made the phone calls to their families. He said this about the phone call: “the PHONE CALL!!!!!!! THE BEST PART!!! Oh man it was so great talking to you!!! I loved it!!! Man oh man it was the greatest ever!!! I loved hearing your voice and having the phone work so perfectly, asking questions and not waiting a week for the answer lol! Oh man it was so AWESOME!!!!!!!!! I loved it!!!”
After that they tried to cook a turkey but their gas had run out. In Italy they have what is called a bombola (a gas tank attached to the oven/stove) and theirs was completely empty. Luckily they also have a microwave and he said it all came out fine but took forever!
This was his first Christmas in the mission field and he said “I was really missing you guys but the phone call and the presents and just being on a mission it was still a great day!”
Sunday they had dinner at the Branch President’s house and (I’m always asking him to get the recipes for me) he said: “I asked for the recipe but she just kept saying no no its not that good! I told her...yes it is! how do you make it "come si fa?" but she wouldn’t give me it lol! I even said that my mom would kill me if I didn’t! "mia mama mi uciderà !" oh well next time!
He shared these two experiences and closed with his usual positive outlook for the new year…
"Monday we had a great great great experience with an investigator and her son! Germana and Davide they are called! We went and taught them about prophets and she ended up telling US about the need for them on the earth! Then we watched The Restoration film with them and it wouldn’t work and it wouldn’t work, I was praying so hard, and they both said " the devil must not want us to watch this." but my prayers were answered and it worked and after when you looked at them you could see why the devil didn’t want them to see it...they, especially Germana was just crying and so full of the Spirit it was incredible!! And after she told us that she was full of a warmth a fever that she had never felt before! it was so awesome! THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!
Then after that we had another great lesson with Sina! She had Christmas gifts for us too! It was a nice pair of socks which was really really nice of her to do because she doesn’t have that much money! It was awesome!!!
Well that has been my holiday week so far! I don’t know if we will do anything special for new years but it will be special in that it will be a new year! I am excited for that! It will be awesome!"
They met with Sina again and a member Fratello (brother) Frascaro (Frah-Skah-row) had had some great experiences recently with his Book of Mormon reading that helped her out perfectly! Sina is an older lady that he says is really funny and sweet and a great lady!
They had a little Christmas party with their English course students and watched "Joy to the World" and he said that went really well.
On Christmas Eve they helped Fratello Frascaro harvest olives at his campagna, he said: “That was really cool! We felt like the people in the Nativity movie! It was great! And fun talking and hanging out with F.llo Frascaro! he jokes around so much! He always tells us that he is too strong to do anything because he would just destroy it! He is an older man, about 70! And he is awesome!”
They are planning for Anz Nielsen to baptize Peter on Saturday and his companion Anz Wood will baptize Kwame that day too!!
They threw a Christmas Eve party for their African friends and it was great, they got snacks and drinks and watched "The Testaments". He said: “They enjoyed it so much! They are here without families or anything for the holidays so we really wanted them to have a family party with us! And we think they really liked it! It was a blast! The were commenting on the movie the whole time and Richard told us that there are places in Africa still where they dress and act like the people in the movie! Crazy huh! We all really enjoyed it! It was great!”
After that they went to Midnight Mass, he said that was interesting, good though, lots of traditions, and the Bishop gave a good talk but then started talking about praying to Mary. He had told us during our phone call that his MP wanted them to attend a Midnight Mass to better understand this faith.
On Christmas Day they played the Christmas CDs we’d sent, opened their gifts (hooray they arrived it in time!) and then made the phone calls to their families. He said this about the phone call: “the PHONE CALL!!!!!!! THE BEST PART!!! Oh man it was so great talking to you!!! I loved it!!! Man oh man it was the greatest ever!!! I loved hearing your voice and having the phone work so perfectly, asking questions and not waiting a week for the answer lol! Oh man it was so AWESOME!!!!!!!!! I loved it!!!”
After that they tried to cook a turkey but their gas had run out. In Italy they have what is called a bombola (a gas tank attached to the oven/stove) and theirs was completely empty. Luckily they also have a microwave and he said it all came out fine but took forever!
This was his first Christmas in the mission field and he said “I was really missing you guys but the phone call and the presents and just being on a mission it was still a great day!”
Sunday they had dinner at the Branch President’s house and (I’m always asking him to get the recipes for me) he said: “I asked for the recipe but she just kept saying no no its not that good! I told her...yes it is! how do you make it "come si fa?" but she wouldn’t give me it lol! I even said that my mom would kill me if I didn’t! "mia mama mi uciderà !" oh well next time!
He shared these two experiences and closed with his usual positive outlook for the new year…
"Monday we had a great great great experience with an investigator and her son! Germana and Davide they are called! We went and taught them about prophets and she ended up telling US about the need for them on the earth! Then we watched The Restoration film with them and it wouldn’t work and it wouldn’t work, I was praying so hard, and they both said " the devil must not want us to watch this." but my prayers were answered and it worked and after when you looked at them you could see why the devil didn’t want them to see it...they, especially Germana was just crying and so full of the Spirit it was incredible!! And after she told us that she was full of a warmth a fever that she had never felt before! it was so awesome! THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!
Then after that we had another great lesson with Sina! She had Christmas gifts for us too! It was a nice pair of socks which was really really nice of her to do because she doesn’t have that much money! It was awesome!!!
Well that has been my holiday week so far! I don’t know if we will do anything special for new years but it will be special in that it will be a new year! I am excited for that! It will be awesome!"
The Nativity Story (movie)
Just a note about the nativity movie Anz Nielsen said they watched at his conference…
He said it was a really really good version and that we should watch it too and we were actually able to find it at the base library and we really liked it!
He said it was a really really good version and that we should watch it too and we were actually able to find it at the base library and we really liked it!
In a later email Anz Nielsen said:
“The city in the movie nativity that you watched that they used for Bethlehem is actually in my mission and about 15 miles from me! Its called Materra! We are actually going to go there the next p-day we have available!! Cool huh?! So you can know the next time you see it (it's the one that was on a hill) that i have been there!”
Here’s a link with more info if you’re interested - The Nativity Story
“The city in the movie nativity that you watched that they used for Bethlehem is actually in my mission and about 15 miles from me! Its called Materra! We are actually going to go there the next p-day we have available!! Cool huh?! So you can know the next time you see it (it's the one that was on a hill) that i have been there!”
Here’s a link with more info if you’re interested - The Nativity Story
Dec 23 Christmas party and conference
He said it has been really cold and rainy there for the past month but that’s good because it makes it feel more Christmassy!
They had a Christmas party with the branch that was really fun. He had to leave early to catch the bus to Catania for the Christmas Conference at the mission home. He rode the bus from 11pm to 6am the next morning to get there. All the missionaries he served with in the MTC were invited to this conference and they were all so happy to see each other again! He said it was great to have the whole (MTC) district back together again!
The Mission President’s wife S.lla Toronto made a pasta and salad lunch for them and he said she made sure they had the salad, not just the pasta! Lol
After the zone conference portion they had sports time which he said was really fun and the coolest part was President Toronto (his Mission President) who used to play for BYU, played basketball with them. Anz. Nielsen thought that was really cool and fun!
Then they had a delicious homemade American Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberries, rolls and pumpkin pie! Then they sang Christmas carols together, watched a Christmas movie: “The Nativity Story” and heard testimonies from missionaries going home after that transfer.
The next morning they had waffles and S.lla Toronto shared the story of the 4th Wiseman. He said the mission home was all decorated with Christmas and it was awesome. There were about 20 Elders and Sisters and he said it was such a great conference!
After returning to their area they had an unexpected lesson when a good friend from their English course invited them over for lunch and they read from Luke 2 talked about the reason for the season and the family said they really liked having the Spirit in their home.
He said “This time of the year is such a great time for missionary work! I love it! THE CHURCH IS TRUE! Jesus LIVES! I am so happy to be here as a missionary spreading His gospel! It rocks!!”
They had a Christmas party with the branch that was really fun. He had to leave early to catch the bus to Catania for the Christmas Conference at the mission home. He rode the bus from 11pm to 6am the next morning to get there. All the missionaries he served with in the MTC were invited to this conference and they were all so happy to see each other again! He said it was great to have the whole (MTC) district back together again!
The Mission President’s wife S.lla Toronto made a pasta and salad lunch for them and he said she made sure they had the salad, not just the pasta! Lol
After the zone conference portion they had sports time which he said was really fun and the coolest part was President Toronto (his Mission President) who used to play for BYU, played basketball with them. Anz. Nielsen thought that was really cool and fun!
Then they had a delicious homemade American Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberries, rolls and pumpkin pie! Then they sang Christmas carols together, watched a Christmas movie: “The Nativity Story” and heard testimonies from missionaries going home after that transfer.
The next morning they had waffles and S.lla Toronto shared the story of the 4th Wiseman. He said the mission home was all decorated with Christmas and it was awesome. There were about 20 Elders and Sisters and he said it was such a great conference!
After returning to their area they had an unexpected lesson when a good friend from their English course invited them over for lunch and they read from Luke 2 talked about the reason for the season and the family said they really liked having the Spirit in their home.
He said “This time of the year is such a great time for missionary work! I love it! THE CHURCH IS TRUE! Jesus LIVES! I am so happy to be here as a missionary spreading His gospel! It rocks!!”
Dec 17 Three baptismal dates set!!!
Anz Nielsen let us know in this week’s email that he would be calling us the following Wednesday night to make sure everything worked and to set up the time for the official Christmas Day phone call!
This turned out to be a very tricky situation since the exact time that he needed to call us was when we were going to be at the Naha airport to pick Ryler up because he was coming to spend Christmas with us!
We were also very worried about even having a house phone in time, our shipment had not arrived and we had put our internet phone system in that shipment (it was supposed to be here in Oki before our arrival but ended up two months late!). So not only did we not have the cheap internet system available but we didn’t even have an actual phone to use and we were in the process of moving into an off base home that did not have a phone system installed yet!
Thankfully we did have new cell phones but the service area on those is really limited and the connection is not always good so it was questionable if we’d even be able get service for a call while at the airport.
I had a couple of friends lined up to be “on call” who were willing to let us use their telephones so that Anz Parker could call us at one of their homes if needed. I was also prepared to just go buy a new telephone if our shipment didn’t arrive in time (we were still expecting it any day).
As it turned out we saw more “mission miracles” and the call that Wednesday night came through just as we entered the airport and we were able to talk to one son then pick up the other one right after! That was VERY exciting to hear Anz Nielsen’s voice especially after not hearing it for 6 months!!
The local phone system was installed in time and Jay borrowed a phone from his work and we were blessed with a really good connection and had a WONDERFUL phone call in the comfort of our own home! Ryler was able to be there with us and it was such a blessing for our little family of four to have that special time “together” on Christmas Day!
Ok back to this week’s email…
He had asked us to send his missionary coat and other warm clothing (he didn’t take these to save room) and he was glad to get those since it is getting colder there now.
He said they have 3 baptismal dates set for Peter, Kwame and Sina, he was really excited about this and wrote: THE WORK IS MOVING!!!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We both felt to ask all of them this last week and they all said that they would! We are really excited!!!!! man I love it! I love being a missionary!!! it is so great!! I love it!!!!! Man it is AWESOME!!!!!! All of the people are so great too!!!
He said “I have officially tried horse meat (Brindisi is famous for it) and it is pretty good lol! Weird I know! Also Brindisi is what you say for a toast (with glasses and drinks etc.) like "cheers"
He said the branch in Brindisi is about the same size as his last area and he loves that.
Then he had to cut it short because the internet place was closing (they don’t always honor the posted hours so this happens a lot)
This turned out to be a very tricky situation since the exact time that he needed to call us was when we were going to be at the Naha airport to pick Ryler up because he was coming to spend Christmas with us!
We were also very worried about even having a house phone in time, our shipment had not arrived and we had put our internet phone system in that shipment (it was supposed to be here in Oki before our arrival but ended up two months late!). So not only did we not have the cheap internet system available but we didn’t even have an actual phone to use and we were in the process of moving into an off base home that did not have a phone system installed yet!
Thankfully we did have new cell phones but the service area on those is really limited and the connection is not always good so it was questionable if we’d even be able get service for a call while at the airport.
I had a couple of friends lined up to be “on call” who were willing to let us use their telephones so that Anz Parker could call us at one of their homes if needed. I was also prepared to just go buy a new telephone if our shipment didn’t arrive in time (we were still expecting it any day).
As it turned out we saw more “mission miracles” and the call that Wednesday night came through just as we entered the airport and we were able to talk to one son then pick up the other one right after! That was VERY exciting to hear Anz Nielsen’s voice especially after not hearing it for 6 months!!
The local phone system was installed in time and Jay borrowed a phone from his work and we were blessed with a really good connection and had a WONDERFUL phone call in the comfort of our own home! Ryler was able to be there with us and it was such a blessing for our little family of four to have that special time “together” on Christmas Day!
Ok back to this week’s email…
He had asked us to send his missionary coat and other warm clothing (he didn’t take these to save room) and he was glad to get those since it is getting colder there now.
He said they have 3 baptismal dates set for Peter, Kwame and Sina, he was really excited about this and wrote: THE WORK IS MOVING!!!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We both felt to ask all of them this last week and they all said that they would! We are really excited!!!!! man I love it! I love being a missionary!!! it is so great!! I love it!!!!! Man it is AWESOME!!!!!! All of the people are so great too!!!
He said “I have officially tried horse meat (Brindisi is famous for it) and it is pretty good lol! Weird I know! Also Brindisi is what you say for a toast (with glasses and drinks etc.) like "cheers"
He said the branch in Brindisi is about the same size as his last area and he loves that.
Then he had to cut it short because the internet place was closing (they don’t always honor the posted hours so this happens a lot)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Dec 10 - legalized and transferred!
He wrote “that is so cool that you got to see all the families we knew before!! (in Oki) That rocks! Tell them all hi for me!”
They did service at the mensa, a soup kitchen that the Catholic Church runs where they work with a nun.
After many trips to another city and lots of paperwork and LOTS of waiting Anz Nielsen was finally able to pick up his “permesso di sogiorno” which means that he is officially a legal immigrant living in Italy and he has “a cool little card to prove it!”
A typical meal – first course lasagna, second course chicken and veggies!
They do their email inside a castle and they have a friend from their English course that works at the castle.
Update on the toenail saga (remember all the ingrown toenail surgeries in the MTC?) he said his toes are fantastic and the new nail is growing in now like the doc said it would eventually do and its going great.
He explained about the Church in Crotone - Crotone is a branch. There are about six to eight members. its about a ten minute walk from home. Not bad! We ALWAYS walk lol! Priesthood starts at 9 and sacrament starts at 10 to 10:45, then we do a missionary spiritual thought!
He said they walk A LOT! “We calculated that so far i have walked about 2000 miles! WOAH huh! We spend the whole day walking! I LOVE IT though! A LOT! The (Missionary Mall) shoes are...well....one pair is shot lol! i am using the other now, but this other has thin soles so i don't know how long they will hold up lol! Its all good though! Super comfortable and plenty of room for the toes!
Here’s the photos he sent us of his worn out pair (after about 8 months) and I’m happy to report that Missionary Mall honored their guarantee and sent a replacement pair!
Anz N was transferred for the first time in the field! To the city of Brindisi. It is still on mainland, also on the coast, but instead of being in the toe in the Calabria, he is now in the heel in what’s called the Puglia. He said its great and he loves it there already!
His new companion is Anz. Wood from Birmingham England, he is “AWESOME and has a cool accent too!"
He was able to see the last remaining column of the Temple of Hera from 800 B.C. at Capo Colonna!
He met a Polish investigator who was playing guitar on the street for money. They sat down with him on the sidewalk and had a great talk about the Book of Mormon. Then he played some Polish music for them and for those of you who don’t know, Anz Nielsen plays the guitar too so he really enjoyed that!
They did service at the mensa, a soup kitchen that the Catholic Church runs where they work with a nun.
After many trips to another city and lots of paperwork and LOTS of waiting Anz Nielsen was finally able to pick up his “permesso di sogiorno” which means that he is officially a legal immigrant living in Italy and he has “a cool little card to prove it!”
A typical meal – first course lasagna, second course chicken and veggies!
They do their email inside a castle and they have a friend from their English course that works at the castle.
Update on the toenail saga (remember all the ingrown toenail surgeries in the MTC?) he said his toes are fantastic and the new nail is growing in now like the doc said it would eventually do and its going great.
He explained about the Church in Crotone - Crotone is a branch. There are about six to eight members. its about a ten minute walk from home. Not bad! We ALWAYS walk lol! Priesthood starts at 9 and sacrament starts at 10 to 10:45, then we do a missionary spiritual thought!
He said they walk A LOT! “We calculated that so far i have walked about 2000 miles! WOAH huh! We spend the whole day walking! I LOVE IT though! A LOT! The (Missionary Mall) shoes are...well....one pair is shot lol! i am using the other now, but this other has thin soles so i don't know how long they will hold up lol! Its all good though! Super comfortable and plenty of room for the toes!
Here’s the photos he sent us of his worn out pair (after about 8 months) and I’m happy to report that Missionary Mall honored their guarantee and sent a replacement pair!
Anz N was transferred for the first time in the field! To the city of Brindisi. It is still on mainland, also on the coast, but instead of being in the toe in the Calabria, he is now in the heel in what’s called the Puglia. He said its great and he loves it there already!
His new companion is Anz. Wood from Birmingham England, he is “AWESOME and has a cool accent too!"
He was able to see the last remaining column of the Temple of Hera from 800 B.C. at Capo Colonna!
He met a Polish investigator who was playing guitar on the street for money. They sat down with him on the sidewalk and had a great talk about the Book of Mormon. Then he played some Polish music for them and for those of you who don’t know, Anz Nielsen plays the guitar too so he really enjoyed that!
Nov 26 - 1st Thanksgiving in the field and a sprained ankle!
ATMS there are called “bancomats”
The supermarket where they shop is called “Pam”
There are way more apartments than houses, the apartment buildings (kinda like Kinser Towers) are called Palazzi
For their Thanksgiving dinner his comp got a package with gravy and stuffing and they found some instant mashed potatoes and Anz. Nielsen had a cookie mix that I sent from Sam’s Club but the turkey they had ordered didn’t come in time so they bought a chicken instead and slow cooked it for about 3 hours and felt “pretty proud of ourselves cooking our Thanksgiving dinner by ourselves! Lol”
They were able to download all the hymns from the Church website so they can sing with those in their Sunday meetings, he said it has been a real treat to sing with music! A typical Sunday – he taught the Priesthood lesson and gave a talk and blessed with Giovanni (for the last time before he left for his mission!).
Tuni (that was scheduled to be baptized) received his “documents” and is “legal” now but they sent him to Rome! He told the Elders on the phone he was leaving that night. Luckily they were able to meet him at the train station and take pix and say goodbye. Anz Nielsen said “the Anziani (Elders) in Rome have now received the greatest referral ever! He said the greatest thing in his life right now is to be baptized. So that is awesome!! It was really sad to see him go though!”
They were hurrying to catch a train and Anz. Nielsen slipped on the stairs and fell and thought he had broken his leg! They called a member friend who took him to an Italian hospital where he had an xray and found out it was just a sprain. The following week he wrote:
“Yeah i went to the Italian hospital here in Crotone! It was crazy! Not scary, just weird being in an Italian hospital! There were statues of Catholic Saints and the Pope everywhere, as well as crosses above every door! We were able to communicate perfectly! (HUGE blessing!) I was a little affrighted lol! The update for the ankle is i am pretty much 100% now! HUGE blessing again! I walked with a brace for a while but now i am without brace and walking fine! I shouldn't have to follow up with a doctor! Pres was concerned but calm as a cucumber (how calm can cucumbers be?)! lol! Everything is hunky-dory now!!! you know the cool thing about my ankle is the doctor told me it would be about six weeks before i could walk perfectly again, but after ONE week i am totally good to go! I even went running yesterday! SUCH A MIRACLE!!”
An investigator they taught gave them peanut butter, pancake mix and American syrup and they were REALLY happy about that! He said the family had “got this food from family that live in America but they didn’t like it that much! Hooray for us!”
The supermarket where they shop is called “Pam”
There are way more apartments than houses, the apartment buildings (kinda like Kinser Towers) are called Palazzi
For their Thanksgiving dinner his comp got a package with gravy and stuffing and they found some instant mashed potatoes and Anz. Nielsen had a cookie mix that I sent from Sam’s Club but the turkey they had ordered didn’t come in time so they bought a chicken instead and slow cooked it for about 3 hours and felt “pretty proud of ourselves cooking our Thanksgiving dinner by ourselves! Lol”
They were able to download all the hymns from the Church website so they can sing with those in their Sunday meetings, he said it has been a real treat to sing with music! A typical Sunday – he taught the Priesthood lesson and gave a talk and blessed with Giovanni (for the last time before he left for his mission!).
Tuni (that was scheduled to be baptized) received his “documents” and is “legal” now but they sent him to Rome! He told the Elders on the phone he was leaving that night. Luckily they were able to meet him at the train station and take pix and say goodbye. Anz Nielsen said “the Anziani (Elders) in Rome have now received the greatest referral ever! He said the greatest thing in his life right now is to be baptized. So that is awesome!! It was really sad to see him go though!”
They were hurrying to catch a train and Anz. Nielsen slipped on the stairs and fell and thought he had broken his leg! They called a member friend who took him to an Italian hospital where he had an xray and found out it was just a sprain. The following week he wrote:
“Yeah i went to the Italian hospital here in Crotone! It was crazy! Not scary, just weird being in an Italian hospital! There were statues of Catholic Saints and the Pope everywhere, as well as crosses above every door! We were able to communicate perfectly! (HUGE blessing!) I was a little affrighted lol! The update for the ankle is i am pretty much 100% now! HUGE blessing again! I walked with a brace for a while but now i am without brace and walking fine! I shouldn't have to follow up with a doctor! Pres was concerned but calm as a cucumber (how calm can cucumbers be?)! lol! Everything is hunky-dory now!!! you know the cool thing about my ankle is the doctor told me it would be about six weeks before i could walk perfectly again, but after ONE week i am totally good to go! I even went running yesterday! SUCH A MIRACLE!!”
An investigator they taught gave them peanut butter, pancake mix and American syrup and they were REALLY happy about that! He said the family had “got this food from family that live in America but they didn’t like it that much! Hooray for us!”
A new beginning
Sorry for the long lapse, thanks for coming back to see what’s new!
In Japan they have these “daruma” dolls at New Year’s. At the start of an endeavor, like our New Year’s resolutions, one eye is painted and a wish is made for good luck and the other eye is painted when the goal is reached. This year the goal I chose with my daruma is to keep Anziano Nielsen’s mission blog up to date! In my effort to accomplish this I had to make 2 changes… first I’m just going to post the highlights from where I left off to catch up to the present, and second I’m going to post just the highlights for each week thereafter (versus almost the whole letter). I really hope that this helps and that you can all share the joy of his missionary journey more often!
In Japan they have these “daruma” dolls at New Year’s. At the start of an endeavor, like our New Year’s resolutions, one eye is painted and a wish is made for good luck and the other eye is painted when the goal is reached. This year the goal I chose with my daruma is to keep Anziano Nielsen’s mission blog up to date! In my effort to accomplish this I had to make 2 changes… first I’m just going to post the highlights from where I left off to catch up to the present, and second I’m going to post just the highlights for each week thereafter (versus almost the whole letter). I really hope that this helps and that you can all share the joy of his missionary journey more often!
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