Aug 5 Email

Ok so first, sorry it took so long this week to reply, we are in Gela again trying to finish everything for Anz. Lewis....I will tell you more about that later! :)

Second....I LOVE THE PICTURES!!!! The sign is so funny!!!

[after reading what he wrote about business hours in Italy I sent him this…]

Ok so for my week...

Last week after email Anz. Lewis and I went for a "romp" as we call it, in the dirt hills (aka mountains) so that was fun! We really enjoyed it! Also we found some awesome views of Crotone and took some awesome pictures!! Those however will be on the next camera card at the end of August! :)

Thursday we did splits (My first one!) so that was awesome! I really enjoyed it! I went with Anz. Benson while Anz. Shaw (the DL) went with Anz. Lewis! We had a blast!!

Friday we were back together. We did street. House. Lunch. Street. House lol! I’m not going to lie the work here is hard, but never the less I LOVE IT!!! About every 30th person will listen to use...for about 30 seconds......every 200th will let us teach a lesson......and every 2000th will want a lesson! Ok ok that was exaggerated but it is pretty difficult lol! But yeah I really really love it!! The people here are still very nice, just not interested.

Saturday we did splits again. I went with Anz. Shaw this time! It was really fun!!...for me...lol he was really really tired!

Sunday was great, we had about 10 people there this time! Still none of our investigators...but we are working on that! :)

Then Monday we headed down to Gela again! Woo hoo!! 13 hrs of travel this time! I especially love when we are on the ferry and we can go up top and be out in the air and smell the sea and see the blue blue water!! It’s so clear by the way! I guess because it’s a sea that is protected. You can see in shallow water perfectly about 60 feet, and out in the deep stuff you can see (if you throw a shiny coin like we did) for a good 150 feet! It is so beautiful!!! I love ITALY!!!!!!!!!!

So we are here in Gela...right now. I am sitting in a cafe in Gela typing this email to you. This is your first official email from Sicily lol!!

Ok so we are here for Anz. Lewis' permesso right? Well we found out from the other Anziano that live here (who we are staying with) that you need much more that we thought. Ok so we arrived Monday night around 10:30. Tuesday morning we took care of getting all the stuff that he has to have for this. Tuesday afternoon they were closed so we took half of our pday and went and did some shopping for the trip home as well as taking care of a few other things. Here is the kicker...we were completely ready to go but the internet line went down!! ha ha ha ha!! We will have to come back in a few weeks and do it again! lol!! It’s funny now! But then we were a little frustrated! :) Its all good though! Its fun for me to see Anz. Sponseller and talk with him! :) Oh man this is an interesting situation! Oh well we have to get it taken care of! :)

So after that we went back to the house and had some lunch. Then we had found this place that makes t-shirts for cheap so we drew some funny designs and went and got them printed up! After that we went to a branch party with the other Anziani! That was fun! I really enjoyed it!! It’s been a good trip but the thing is in all honesty it was a pretty big waste of time. We need to be in our city working with our new investigators etc...

Speaking of that we found two new people doing street that are interested! We are yet to find out how really interested they are, but still it is very exciting!!!

We had a great lesson with Rafael! It went really well! The Spirit was so strong! The killer is we won’t be able to baptize him, or really teach him anymore. he wants to go back to Syria and with all Muslims we teach they have to never return because they will, not can, but will be killed if the change their religion so we will still teach him and be his friend but we’re not sure what is going to happen, because he may not go back....we don’t know....the thing is that no effort is wasted. I have no doubt that if it comes to the point that his ability to accept this gospel is on "the other side" he will! He is so awesome! We will see what happens though! :) It’s all good!!

This work is so awesome! Albeit it is hard, it is so awesome!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!! it is so awesome to know the things we do!

My new power approach is this:

First in Italian....

Boun Giorno, siamo americani, e abbiamo venuto qua per con divedere I nostro messgio, questo messagio è molto importante per lei. I nostro messagio è questo: Noi crediamo che Dio ha chiamato un nuovo profeta per questi giorni, e grazie a lui possiamo sapere essamente quello che Dio voule per noi in questa vita. Per Espempio Grazie a nuove rivelatione etc.......

Now in English.....

Good morning, we are Americans; we have come here to share our message with you! This message is very important for you! Our message is this: We believe that God has called a new prophet for these days and thanks to him we know exactly what God wants for us in this life! For example, thanks to new revelation etc.....

It is so cool having what we have and knowing what we know! We NEED to share it with EVERYONE!! It is so great being a missionary and having the ability to do that all the time! 24/7!! I love it!!! I LOVE THIS WORK!!!

Know that I am happy, healthy and well!!! I am so excited to be here!!

Have a great week!!!!!

Love,

Anziano Nielsen!!!

Jul 29 Email

I loved hearing about Ryler's homecoming!! I so wish I could have been there!!! I mean REALLY REALLY wish!! But I am where I am supposed to be!!! I KNOW it!! I love being a missionary!!!!! :)

I do have to admit it has been pretty hard knowing that he is home know and I wasn’t there for the homecoming! Please let him know how much I LOVE and MISS him too!!! And please know how much I LOVE and MISS YOU!!!!!! SO MUCH!!! But also know I LOVE being a missionary!!!

Holy cow you are in NAUVOO!!! WOOO HOOO!!!! I love Nauvoo!!!! Oh man, good luck with all the transportation stuff!!! Have such a blast!!!! Take tons of pics for me ok!?!

I FINALLY GOT THE PACKAGE!!!! WAHOOO!!!!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOV ELOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOV ELOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!!! Thank you so much!!!! Oh man it was just what I needed!!!! Thank you SOOOOOOO much!!!

The extra beds are used all the time for splits and things, plus they are desks for us lol! We spend a lot of time in that room since there is an AC in there! lol! :)

For the Maxi movie we used the church computer and edited the film we took on my camera! lol! It was a hit! Pres. said he really liked it after! lol! :)

For the power naps we just set an alarm (me on my watch, LOVE IT!!) and also others on our cell phones, so yes we do have cell phones! :)

Purple is EVERYWHERE!!! lol!! Everyone wears it! lol! :)

I am going to send pics again, sorry for the sizing but enjoy them none the less! lol!!

Nevertheless we will progress!!

Sorry again about the weirdness of last week's email and all, Italians are admittedly lazy, and basically just run their businesses how they want too. In other words when they are tired they will close up even if it’s not time to close yet. That is what happened last time! I didn’t even get to finish everything last time lol! It’s all good though! I should have the time today!!

Can you believe that I have already been here for a whole transfer and I have almost been on my mission for almost 4 months!?!?! Time flies when you are having fun!!!

Ok I sent a tape\camera card the other day, so that should be home when you get there! Also I will be sending tomorrow or the next day a specific letter for you! So you can look for that too!! I hope it gets to Nauvoo in time!

Ok this week has been great!!

After email last week we had a lesson with S.lla Olga! The cool thing was that I taught the whole thing! It was really cool!! It went really well! Another testimony builder that the gift of tongues is real! Later that night we had a lesson with S.lla Grande as well, Anz. Lewis taught that one.

We also had another great lesson with our investigator Monica!! We watched the video "The Restoration"! After she said that it was a beautiful movie! We challenged her to read the Book of Mormon after and she said she would start right away! It was really exciting! We are going to have a follow up with her tomorrow!!

Also our Sim. (Simpatizzanti, aka investigator, I will call them sim. from now on lol!) Rafael (from Syria) is finally back in Crotone! So we are going to have a lesson with him soon too!!!

Also I Finally GOT MY PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!!!! The reason it took so long is they mislabeled it at the mission home and took it to the wrong city! But at maxi conference I got it! OH MAN I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOV ELOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!! THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not tell you how much it means to me!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!! SO MUCH!!!!! I also got the pants package too! It’s good to have them back!!! I had to sew the hem back on my other pair because it ripped, but I actually did a good job if I do say so myself! lol!

On Friday Pres. Toronto came and did interviews! It was so great to see him again and to talk with him one on one! I really needed it!! He even said a special prayer for me that I would be ok with Ry coming home and that I would be comforted and that you all would be blessed as well! It was really helpful! I love him!!!! He is so awesome!!

Sunday was different in that all of the priesthood at church was the Anziano! Everyone else was gone! We had about 5 members attend as well! It was a great meeting though!!

Monday was a usual day, with house\street and then district meeting!

Tuesday was my first scambi (splits) with in the district! It was a blast!! Anz. Benson and I went together for the day while the DL and my comp went together. We had a great time together!!!!!

Today (p-day) I think I am going to have to say was the best p-day that I have had so far!!!!!!!! Our investigator Roberto has a cabin up in the mountains and he invited us up for the day! It was SOOO fun!!! He is a really cool guy! We all had a lot of fun together!! Also the Italian mountains are BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!! They are so gorgeous!!! We stopped at this lake up there, oh man it was so awesome!! So pretty! I took a few pics to show you! We also stopped and picked wild strawberries that I have to say were the best strawberries I have ever tasted!!!! Then Roberto treated us to lunch at this place that makes special pork sandwiches that were delicious!! We listened to John Denver the whole way up! lol! It was funny listening to him and driving through the mountains in Italy!! Roberto in his broken English was singing along!! It was great!! "wvoky mantain high, wvoky mantain high!" lol!! It was a blast! It was great being up in the mountains! Pine trees are very prevalent here and it smelled SO GOOD!! It was such a fun day!!! I really enjoyed it!!!

Lessons are going great! We are working hard! We are doing all we can! I LOVE IT!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!! It’s so cool!! :)

Have a super fun time in Nauvoo ok!? Know that I am happy, healthy and well!!!!

Sorry the picture thing isn’t working this week! I will send some next week hopefully!! :) LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Love,

Anz. Nielsen!

July 22 Email

Sorry the photos were so huge and so limited last week, I don't really have a way to size them down here. Sorry! And sorry there were so few, the place we usually do email was closed so we had to go to this other really expensive place and it was taking awhile to send so I didn’t want to stay for too long. lol! Sorry! I am going to try to send more this week; we'll see how that goes! [there were no pix attached to his email so I guess that didn’t go well]

I actually am almost done with the tape and camera card for this and last month so I should be sending that home soon, sorry again it’s taken so long to get it done! I think I am going to ask Ry what and how he did all that! lol!

The lesson on the pier was totally awesome!! It went great as well!!

Yeah Anz. Lewis is awesome!! I actually did tell you what his favorites were in the very first email I sent from Italy...at least I think I did lol! If not here they are again...he loves beef jerky, Fritos, and he loves pancakes (they don’t sell pancake mix here in Italy) and oatmeal! lol! Remember Ry’s comp that just wanted bean dip lol!!

Missionary work is SO AWESOME!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

I still can believe that [Ry] will be home in TWO DAYS!!!!!!!!!!! That is so CRAZY!!!!!!!!!! Wow Ry will be home! And he's going to Nauvoo!!!!! And he will be rooming with JASON!?!?!?!?! SWEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!! That is so awesome!!! Oh man I can't believe it!!!!! Thanks too for having me "be" there lol! It has been rough and still sort of is, but at the same time I am so happy for him!!!!

Here’s a photo of what he’s referring to about having him “be” there for Elder Ry’s return…

Will you make sure to take a picture for me!?

This is totally where I need to be!!! I LOVE IT!!

Gelato sounds like a fun date! We found this little gelato place here called bloob that is delicious and cheap! We go there on our free day!

The Gela trip was totally a lesson in patience haha! But it was still awesome though! Because....are you ready.....I DISCOVERED AQUARIUS!!!!!!!!!! It's not exact but its good enough for me!!!!! And it is only small little bottles! But it's awesome!

For those of you who don’t know about Aquarius, here’s a photo of Parker in Oki with it, this became quite a favorite for the guys and Elder Ryler even sent some home for his bro in packet form!

We will probably attempt next transfer, if I am still here that is! I most likely [will] be here, but ya never know!

NUTELLA ROCKS! lol! Glad dad is enjoying!

[click "Nutella" for more about what this is and here's a pix]

Yeah oh poop is the new phrase lol!!

Man the frustrating thing here is that no and I mean NO business stays open according to their hours, they all just do what they want lol!! It's nice and laid back but it can be frustrating when you need to do things!

President was going to do interviews with us on Sunday, but he had to cancel. He will however be here Saturday, or maybe Friday I can’t remember lol!

Yup four of us together! The bedroom is just one room! We have six beds in a row and sleep every other. (the extra beds are for visiting people.) It’s really fun! We all get along great! We have a blast! Anz. Benson is from Roosevelt Utah, and Anz. Shaw is from Sandy Utah! We are all a bunch of Utahans lol! Except for Anz. Lewis! [he’s from AZ]

The native Aussie talk was great! Wow Whitby is in Australia!?!?! That is awesome! I didn't know that!

Wow and Travis is home!?! That’s crazy!!

Monica is great! [an investigator he mentioned in last week’s email)]

Yeah permanent simpatizzanti are pretty common here! Lol! (simpatizzanti are investigators!)

My spelling is lacking really bad here now lol! I can only remember the spelling of things in Italian lol! There is virtually NO English here lol! Every once and while we will see some Engrish so that's fun! [Engrish is the term for Japanese translations of English that are close but not quite, and sometimes pretty funny, I asked if there was something like that in Italy and this was his response, now we just need to coin a new word for it! Suggestions anyone??]

We are very excited about Ruperto!

Our Gela Trip would be a fun movie lol!!

I did get a picture of the lady that cooked for us! She reminds me a lot of Grandma Hansen, sort of in looks but in mannerisms too! So that was fun for me!

Old Italian ladies LOVE to feed us! ha ha! But all we have to say is "basta per me, grazie lo stesso!" (enough for me, but thanks all the same!)

Power naps are very helpful I’ve discovered!

Man oh man Salvatore really liked his gift lol!! It was so fun watching him!! He gave us good cake too!!

Italian Pizza is different in that they brick oven cook all of it, toppings are different, I don't know if it's actually that different it's more of it's good in its own way! Oh man Little Caesars!! That sounds good too!! I loved all the fun runs we had with that!

The new ties are as follows
One for Crotone (had the colors of the soccer team here)
One for the companionship tie (nice red color)
And one new for the color of the year (yes they do have that here lol!) (It’s purple!)
I still love my [other] ties!!

We had Maxi Monday and Tuesday! It is a conference with all of main land Italy (of course in this mission) so all of Puglia and all of Calabria (I am in Calabria). For the presentation we do skits basically, they were all SOOOOO funny! Not like scout camp skits, really well done skits! Ours was actually a movie we made here. It went great!!

For my work out, I go for a jog, then lift (they have a weight set here in Crotone) it's been going great! I actually really like running! I actually lost more weight! I am at the very last notch on my belt and it is pretty loose, worry ye not though belts are really really cheap here, like 40 cents cheap lol! And they are good leather too!! I love it here!!

The sweating is just part of life now, its here its there it’s everywhere lol! We have a fan and an AC, and Crotone is a pretty windy city. That is actually what the little strip of cloth with button holes in it from the MTC package is, it’s a tie stay. We make that out of old shirts. You slip that through the thing on the back of the tie and button it to your shirt and there you have it one stationary tie! lol! They are very handy here!

For my week not much has happened different (other than maxi conf.) since I emailed so late last week.

So Sunday was great! We had a great sacrament meeting and priesthood meeting! (we only have two, and actually priesthood is first, to make it easier for the small amount of members because with Sunday school everyone would have to teach all the time so it was shortened) After that the missionaries give a spiritual thought, and I did it this week. It was on Ch. 6 of PMG. I prayed SOOO hard for the gift of tongues! And it worked!! I was able to teach the branch! Total testimony to me!

On Monday...

Dag nabbit! He's closing again!

Sorry I won’t be able to come back later tonight! This will have to be it for this week!! I will tell you about maxi next week I guess! Just know that it was great and I loved it! Spiritually uplifting!!

Have a great week! Good luck picking up Ry!!! Wow!! Have fun!!

Love,

Anz. Nielsen!!!

July 18 Email and pix!

Anziano Nielsen (R) with his comp. Anziano Lewis (L)

That picture of me on the wood thing by the beach is just on the allungo mare I don’t think it has a specific name other than Crotone. The sand is really that dark! It's gorgeous! The tie is actually what we call a heredity tie, my "dad" Anz. Lewis got it from his trainer and so on! it goes back to 2000! Cool huh! And if I ever train my "son" will get it!

1 of 2 emails this week, 1st one came in at 4:32 AM our time…

Yeah the castle was a BLAST!!!!

The pier rocks! We actually taught a lesson out on it in the evening with the coastal lights reflecting on the water! It was awesome!!

I LOVE ANZ. LEWIS!!!

Housing is a blast too!!

4th of July was soooooo fun! Especially since I got to be the grill masta lol! I felt like daddy as I cooked the food for everyone!! :)

I think we got a snapshot of me playing the guitar but no video yet! On pdays we are allowed to go play it since it is always at the church! I love it!! Its really fun lol! hee hee Italian fans!!

Ha ha I have my green card lol! Or here they call it Permesso! Sort of lol! It is partly done! I am legal but still will have to (when they call) go get finger printed and then I can get this neat little card that makes it official! I have a receipt for now! I will have to go through again next year...yay..not lol!! With Anz. Lewis he moved before it could get taken care of and they lost his paper work so we had to just start over!

CAN YOU BELIEVE [Elder Ryler] WILL BE HOME NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!????!!!!??? HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Give him a big hug for me ok! THANK YOU!!! HOLY WOW HE WILL BE HOME!!!!!! I STILL CANT BELIEVE IT!!!
Its been a little rough but all good!! I am where I need to be and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!

Sadly we didn’t make it to the ceramics city. :( oh well maybe next time lol! :)

Yeah Sunday is a busy busy day!

Rafael will be back next month!

GELATO IS AMAZING!! And you can tell those people we got if from [in Syracuse] they did a great job!!

Croc biz iz (lol) sort of like cocoa puffs! :)

Nutella is an Italian product!!

OH poop! The guy is closing up! I will TOTALLY WITH NO DOUBT finish after lunch!!

LOVE LOVE LOV ELOVE LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Talk to you after lunch!! :)

2 of 2 this one came in at 9:33 AM our time…

OK I am going to continue where I left off last time.

I love that the temple can be such an answer to what we need exactly when we need it!!

I don’t know if I told you but when I went to the temple for the last time at the MTC I was having a struggle and in the prayer they mentioned word for word my struggle and blessed me to be helped! Totally proves that the Lord is watching out for us!!

I LOVE THE TEMPLE TOO!!!!

I LOVE THE STICKERS ON THE CAR!!! HOLY COW THEY ARE SO COOL!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!

(pix of the stickers on our car that he's referring to)

Elder Ryler sent this sticker from Oki for his MM's bday

a MM's gotta show she loves her missionaries!

No I haven’t gotten the [greenie survival] package yet, but Pres. and Sister Toronto are coming to do interviews tomorrow with us and they hopefully will have it for me! Man I have been looking SO forward to getting it! I hope I'm still green by the time it gets here! lol!!

Ok for this week, it has been really fun lol!!

Monday we had the ZL's come and do splits with the DL Anz. Shaw (our district is a district of four, and we all live together, hence the reason I got to hang out with the ZL's) they also did a little teaching lesson with us on how to do good member lessons! It was a blast!! One of them, Anz. Connell is from Australia and has the THICKEST accent ever lol!! It was fun talking with him!!

After that Anz. Lewis and I had an appointment with Monica, she is our new investigator!!! She is from Argentina, but speaks Italian very well! We ended up teaching her the first lesson and after we were done she was like, "wow we really need a prophet!" so we challenged her to pray and read 3 Nephi 11 and she said she would!! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!! So we are excited to see how that turns out!

After that we had a lesson with Ruperto! He is about 68 and really cool!! To me he looks total mafia [and] he is really really nice!! (side note the mafia actually LOVES the missionaries!!) we were talking about how we need to have faith and we used Alma 32:21 and he asked us what book we got that from, so we told him the BOM and he was like...I want to read that book!! WOOO HOOO!!!!!! SO of course we gave him one and challenged him to read the title page and Alma 32 and pray about it and he said he would!!!! We are finding so many people to teach I LOVE IT!!! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!

After that at around 8:45 Anz. Lewis and I began our journey to Gela! We took the night train because it is WAY cheaper! So we rode the train to the port for hours with to train switches, then we got on the ferry on the train, they are big big ferries! On the ferry it was about 3 am to give you an idea of how long the train ride was! Ok so the trains have compartments or boxes just like you see in movies, they have to sets of seats facing each other, there are three seats on each side, these seats pull together to form a bed so you can sleep. But the thing is you have to have only three in a box to make that work! Sadly for the 10 hr train ride there was a couple in our box already asleep! Anz Lewis and I were across from each other so we couldn’t lay down. It was all good though! I was just really tired when we got to Gela. After the train got off the ferry we went from Messina to Catania, then Catania to Gela. We left Crotone at 8:40 pm and got to Gela the next morning at 9:30 after traveling through the night. It was a really fun adventure!!

So when we got to Gela we went to the street market to look for ties (there is a vendor there that sells hand made ties for 1 euro) but sadly we could not find him lol! It’s all good though we got some delicious cheese and grapes and peaches oh man were they good! And it only cost 2 euro for the lot!! It was a sweet deal! Totally worth it!

So after that went to an old friend’s house of Anz. Lewis' (since he served in Gela before here) and got the key to the missionaries’ house in Gela (since they were in Catania for a maxi conference for a couple days) He is a member of the church and his name is Salvatore, he is 46 he lives with his mom who is really nice! So we got the key from them and went to the missionary house and took a quick power nap, because Salvatore's mom offered to feed us!!

OH MAN IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!! We had this delicious pasta, followed by some of the tastiest pork I have ever had!! I got the marinara recipe from her so I will send that next week! IT WAS SO GOOD LOL!! My first real home cooked Italian meal!!

After that we went back to the house and did some study and cleaned a little for the other missionaries and waited till they came home.

The cool thing is that Anz. Sponseller from the MTC is in Gela so I got to see him again!! That was really fun!! [Elder Sponseller was in Elder Nielsen's district in the MTC]

The next morning we jumped on a train to Caltanissetta where the quest'ura is. But here is the kicker, the other Anziano that gave us the info gave it wrong! We didn’t have to go to the questura we had to go somewhere else where Anz. Lewis had an appointment and that’s the only way to get in! SO we didn’t get anything done at all lol! Oh well we talked with a lot of cool people!

Also while we were there it was Salvatore’s birthday party, so we went to that! We got him a soccer ball radio for his car, he liked it a lot! He was walking around holding it on his head laughing lol! We had some great cake too!

After that we met a missionary that used to serve here that is visiting and he treated us to some awesome pizza!

The next morning we jumped on a bus, since the train was canceled, to Catania, and I got to see most of Sicily which was awesome! In Catania I got some gelato and we went to the market there and found a couple ties!

After that we jumped on another train for 10 hours to Messina, crossed on the ferry, and then went to a little town called Paolo. It was neat little place!!

From there we went to Crotone! But we didn’t get there until around 11:30 that night! So we were really tired! lol!! But man it was a fun trip! Disappointing because we didn’t accomplish what we needed to but it's all good!! We actually will have to do this again soon lol!!

This coming Monday and Tuesday we are having our Maxi conference in Taranto so we will get to do some more traveling by train! I am very excited because it means I get mail!!

Also President is coming on Sunday for interview with us! I am excited to see him again!!

Well that has been my week so far! We are going to go make lunch (its my turn) after this and then do our lunch stuff, i.e. work on our presentation for maxi and then later tonight we have a few teaching appointments! So that will be great!!!

It has been an AWESOME week here in Italy!!!! I LOVE IT!! I love this work and I love this gospel! Its totally true!! I LOVE IT!!!

Have a great Clearfield week! And have fun picking up Ry from the airport!!!

Love,

Anziano Nielsen! (a.k.a. Parker! lol!!)

July 1st Email

HI!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm IN ITALY!!!! And it's so hot ha ha!! I am sweating bullets right now and I’m sitting in an air conditioned place lol!! But it's all good I love it!!

Typing on an Italian keyboard is so weird! ha ha! The keys are all different because they have all the accents in their language [and] there are a ton of keys with accents i.e. àòèçé°ù§ [and]that's only a couple lol!!

Ok so I will start from when I last e-mailed.

After we finished we stayed in the [missionary] couple’s house for a little bit and had some brownies that she baked for us. Anziano Harris said he must really love missionaries if he was letting us have his brownies lol!! They are really nice! They are in our zone (albeit they are really far away) so we will see them and Anz. McDaniel at the next zone conference which should be coming up soon. That is also when I will get any mail or packages that have been sent since they are sent to the mission home they give you the mail any time they see you, so that would be at conferences or other times. We actually might have to go down to Palermo to take care of some permesso stuff for Anz. Lewis so we should be able to get any mail then, if not then at ZC for sure!! So that's how that works, I could give you the address of our apartment but that's risky in the sense that I could get transferred and the missionaries could loose it. So that's how that works! :)

Ok for the area, it's beautiful!!!

So my first area is SO awesome!!! It's a pretty small city but it's right on the coast. We can only go down there in the evening because well it's Europe and it's a beach so yeah, but after 5 EVERYONE leaves the beach and people just walk up and down what’s called the allungo mare (or sea street) so we set up what's called mostra and talk with EVERYONE!! In fact tonight we are going to go and do more!! Its really fun talking with all the Italian people, few want to listen to us but they are all so nice!!

Also some interesting facts, the man who invented the Pythagorean Theorem (sp?) lived in Crotone. Also Narcissus, the Roman story of the guy that was so in love with himself he was turned into a flower! ha ha! This city has a lot of history!! In the center of the town is what's called centro (pronounced ch-en-tro) that is ANCIENT!! It’s where the d'uomo is (the city's main Catholic church) which is actually really cool!! For our service we work at a homeless shelter place with this nun, she is so awesome lol!! She is really nice! I LOVE IT HERE!!!

Right now we have four set in stone investigators. Walter, who is actually a pretty famous musician, he had a record go gold in France! :) Also this Muslim guy we found that just eats the gospel up!! His name is Rafael he is so great!! We found an Arabic Book of Mormon in our apartment and gave that to him! He was so excited to read it!! We [had] a great lesson about the plan of salvation!! It was awesome! He’s our really good friend!! Then a family that we are teaching! And one other guy named Francesco, but he bedoned us (which means he dumped us, or didn't show up for a lesson) so we went and got gelato! lol! Hopefully we can [still] meet with him. Also these two young men who are REALLY REALLY interested in the gospel!! So I’m excited to see how all that works out!!

No baptismal dates as of yet, but we'll change that!! I can't remember if I told you or not but we got a baptism in the MTC from the TRC (a legit one!) He is an Italian man that our teacher knew here in Italy that we taught and he got baptized and we had the opportunity to go to it before we left for Italy!!

Our branch here is really small, about 15 people attend but there are about 30 [less active] that we need to work with, our ward mission leader is one of them so he is our first goal right now!:)

The climate is exactly like Oki it's really warm and humid! In fact right now it is so HOT!!! lol!! Speaking of that Happy first of July!! The terrain is really really hilly!! lol!! It's fun to walk around all these hills and talk with the Italian people!! There is also this street that is closed off to cars (which drive so CRAZY!!!) called again centro where we do mostra too! It's a really cool cobble stone street; in fact most all streets here are cobble stone!!

Ok here are some fun things about where I live!

Our apartment is SOOO nice!! We have TWO bathrooms!!! SWEET!!! There are four elders here in Crotone and they are all awesome!! Anz. Shaw [is the DL (there are only four in our district)], Anz. Benson, me, and Anz. Lewis. OH man it's so nice!! It's on top of this huge hill that overlooks the whole city and you can see out to sea, oh man it's great!!

The cooking works just like we thought in that one elder takes lunch one day and for brekky and din din you’re on your own! Also for lunch we are not allowed to be out working, because it's against the culture to interrupt lunch. So from 1:30 to 4:00 we are in our apartment eating then studying the language, also President encourages us to take naps so we are able to work as hard as we can after lunch! So we work from 10:30 to 1:30 and then from 4:00 until 10:00 (these are just summer hours, it changes all the time I’ve heard!)

Today after this we are going to the Crotone castle to check it out....oh there go the d'uomo bells it's time for service lol!! IT'S SOOOOOO COOL HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe I’m in Italy!!!!

Oh man they are about to close up shop since it's close to lunch time so I have to go now! SORRY!! We will try and finish later today, if not I will talk to you next week!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!

Know I am happy, and healthy and loving life and my mission!!!

Love,

Anziano Nielsen!!

Nauvoo Pageant here we come!

Elder Ryler and I will be leaving for Nauvoo on Monday! Yes, just two days after he arrives in Utah I'll whisk him off to Nauvoo but for a very good cause, we'll be volunteers at the pageant assisting in the missionary work there!

We'll be set apart as "members of the Nauvoo Pageant and as special representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the duration of the pageant." So this may be the perfect "bridge" for Elder Ry from full time missionary service to pageant missionary service to everyday member missionary life!

Elder Ryler will serve on the work crew and I'll be helping in the costuming dept. I'm so excited for Elder Ryler to see Nauvoo for the first time and experience the "Spirit of Nauvoo" the way Elder Parker and I did when we were volunteers for the pageant in 2007!

For more info about the pageant please visit these websites:
Click here for the Church's official website pages about the pageant
Click here for the official website of the Illinois Nauvoo Mission of the Church

When we return from Nauvoo I'll catch you up on everything Elder Parker's been up to!

Apology

Dear followers of this blog,

I have been neglecting this blog in favor of getting everything ready for Elder Ry's homecoming! Elder Parker is doing great though and loving Italy and missionary life! Just as soon as possible I'll catch up with a bunch of posts, thanks for your patience!

MM