Mother's Day phone call!

From my notes while we talked with Elder N. on Mother’s Day…

He bought a 5 Euro phone card and called us from the church

He has worn out his 2nd pair of shoes and his suits and shirts are too big for him now but the couple missionaries gave him a new suit

For workouts they do yoga on their roof, lift weights and jump rope

The family they have been teaching is getting baptized!!!!!!!!!! (the Mom and Dad)  During a recent cookout at their house, the Dad said to the Elders: “I’ve got a question for you, how can I get the Melchizedek Priesthood?” !! Elder N was SOOO excited to share this news with us during our phone call!

He also shared some British vocabulary…
Bonkers and smash = potatoes and sausage
Chips = French fries
Crisps = potato chips

He really likes fish now! Esp swordfish which is really cheap there

2 main industries in Malta are fishing and tourism

Because they’ll need to match up their transfer schedules when they combine with the Italy Rome mission, and there is a 3 week difference, he will be returning home 3 weeks earlier than anticipated!

He might get to go to Rome at some point like for a mission conference!

He found a place to get seaweed and was so happy he could make onigiri!

He loves the gospel, he loves the scriptures! He is learning so much about the Atonement, like how all is possible through the Atonement!; he started keeping track of how often the BoM mentions the Atonement and by 2nd Nephi it has been mentioned 102 times already!

His MP said he could also call and talk to Ry on Mother’s Day since Ry isn’t here with us and didn’t get to talk to him!

It is SO hot and humid there!

Message for family and friends…
Hey everyone,
I love you all! I hope everything is going good for you.
I miss you! but this is where I need to be!

Then he bore his testimony.

It was absolutely wonderful to hear his voice, his laughter, and his testimony!! I loved every single minute of it!!! The immediate reactions! The answers to questions! The details of the family’s baptism challenge!! The sharing of everything wonderful in all our lives!! All the love! And the awesome way he wrapped it up at the end! It was perfect and such a blessing for me on Mother’s Day!

Parker and Mom 1990s

Elder Parker and Mom 2009

May 5 emails and photo

Updates from this week’s emails… (yep, that’s plural!)

Two missionaries in the Italy Milan Mission were deported due to new laws in Italy so Elder N and his companion are taking an unexpected “permesso trip” for the arduous process required to remain in Italy legally. (permesso means "permission" or "permit to stay")

Their P-day was bumped up due to this trip but they got special permission to send a quick email to let us know so we could get our email letters sent in time. That was nice! =o)

They were able to visit a member who has been hospitalized for 22 weeks after having a stroke.

They get their groceries at the “Pavi” supermarket and with a membership there are excited about “earning points to eventually get a blender or even a microwave” for their house.

The wife in the family they are teaching had an experience with the Spirit that testified to her the Church is true!! Elder N. was so happy for her and said: “It was so great!” I think we forget too often how great the Spirit really feels! We need to seek after that! "Don’t be satisfied with your last spiritual experience!" I don’t remember who said that but I love it!”

This family came to Church again on Sunday and took tithing slips so they could pay it the next week and the Elders hadn’t even taught that yet! Elder N’s comment: “Man they are such a great family! I love it!!! HOW GOLDEN CAN YOU GET!?!?!?!?!?! They are awesome! We are going to challenge them to baptism for the 22nd of May! We are really excited about it!!”

They watched the international firework show in Valletta from their roof in Swatar where they had a perfect view!

They met a geologist working for Shell that had talked with missionaries in America and had member friends; they challenged him to read Alma 32 and to pray about it and he agreed and said why not!

He summarized the week this way…
“this week has been great!!! In fact incredibly awesome!!!!! I am really excited about everything that is going on right now! the work is going great!!! Missions are the COOLEST thing ever!!!!!!!!!!”

On a side note, he now signs off:
“Elder, Anzjan, Anziano Nielsen”
Here’s why:

“Elder” is used with the British and other English speakers in Malta

“Anzjan” is the Maltese word for Elder, which he is using more often as they perfect that language

“Anziano” is the Italian word for Elder which he still uses when they travel to Catania or run into people in Malta that speak Italian which is usually pretty enjoyable for everyone involved!

For convenience I pretty much refer to him as Elder N on this blog now but in my letters to him I joked that it was taking me too long to remember all those titles and their spellings so I might have to use the acronym of E.A.A.N. which looks like you could pronounce it as the name “Ian” so if you read about an “Elder Ian” that is probably why and now you’ll know who that is. =oP

Upcoming Mission Changes

We got an email with an attachment from the Italy Catania Mission, above is part of their letterhead and probably the last time we'll see it as you'll see from this excerpt...

"28 April 2010

Dear Missionaries and Family,

The time is approaching for the combining of the Italy Catania Mission and the Italy Rome Mission. We feel sadness with the closing of our mission but also fulfillment as we see much of the missionary work passed on to the branches, wards and stakes of Italy. It is rewarding to be a part of the gospel and see it spread throughout the world. On 30 June 2010 the Italy Catania Mission will close its doors and on 1 July 2010 we will join with the Italy Rome Mission. "

The Mission Home address will be changing but this will NOT affect Elder Nielsen's mailing address.  Please continue to use the Malta address shown in the column to the right for all letters and packages.

April 28 email and photos

Conference in Catania

(Elder N is standing near the center)

in the "mission van"

at the "Chinese Gardens"

Updates from this week's email...

Starting to do a lot more with the language (Maltese)!

Did some service cleaning in Mosta and got to wear those helping hands jerseys!

Discovered a gelateria ran by an Italian and said this person loved speaking Italian with them!

Enjoyed fajitas for the first time in a long time at the after Church meal with the couple missionaries and branch members.

Flew to Catania for a special Conference with missionaries from the whole of Sicily not just zones! Conference included skits, talents, British humor, team sports, an orange eating contest, singing, laughing, resting, spiritual meetings, photos, interviews and Italian food! He said he didn’t realize how much he missed Italian food and they sang a song in Maltese for everyone! His summary of the conference: “It was so awesome!! It was so fun to see everyone!!!! I loved it!!!! I got to see a ton of my friends in the mission as well and laugh, play sports and be spiritually up lifted!”

April 23 email and photo

They got to see the Pope, he was in Malta for a conference or something and they even got a photo!


To celebrate Elder Nielsen’s one year mark (entering the MTC on April 22, 2009) they went to Burger King!



They had rabbit stew at a member’s house and she said it is one of their favorites and she taught them how to make it. He said rabbit is a delicacy on Malta and it was delicious!


For service this week they weeded and cleaned up in the back of the Church building. He said this about doing yard work  “i had fun and was able to think about all the great memories (now) of doing yard work! ha ha! never thought you would hear that day did you!”


The family they are teaching is really making great progress! The Dad is reading the Book of Mormon, a chapter a day and the Elders were so happy when the whole family showed up for Church on Sunday!


With MP approval they went to see the play “The Importance of Being Earnest”.


They are now able to converse in Maltese!


And here’s another great excerpt from this week’s letter…
"Well as usual this week has been awesome!!!!! SUPER AWESOME!!!! man being here is so dang awesome! i love it! I love being a missionary! it is so cool!!! Malta is so sweet! there are so many great people here that are so ready to hear the gospel! I love it!"

April 15 email and pix

First they helped sand this boat

Then they got to help paint it!

Another delicious dinner with E and her Mom
They had stuffed eggplant and strawberries with cream

Elder Nielsen explained a little bit more about the phone call the couple missionaries made to Ryler for him…
I was feeling so bad that I didn’t have any chance yet to do anything for him and I was telling Sister B about that and she suggested that we call him since they can! I readily agreed! It was so fun!! I am SOOOO glad he enjoyed it so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m glad that you got to hear from them as well! That was just a fun day! I’m sure that Dad could hear me in the background since I was right there straining to hear you all in the back ground!

He said he and his comp. found an awesome Japanese food place called Wagamama’s and had yakisoba and some delicious gyoza!

They met an investigator at McDonald’s because this investigator loves McD’s! He joked:
Who knew that Ronald would be an effective missionary tool! lol!

He gave an update on their Maltese lessons:
Friday was great as well!! We did our planning in the morning and then headed out to Maltese lessons! They were great! We learned past tense! We are just trucking through this! It is incredible! The amount of time that we are taking compared to a usual language class and the amount we are remembering is incredible! I can’t believe how real the gift of tongues is! It was a fun class! Our teacher is so fun too! I love classes! It is a blast!

I’ll just share the rest of his letter now because its so awesome and so fun to read his enthusiasm!...

After that on the way home we got a call from the Beresfords at church that someone we had left a pamphlet with called and wanted to talk!.....wait a sec did I just say what I think I just said!? I did! And it's TRUE!!! SAHWEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was the greatest phone call ever! We set an appointment for as soon as possible (Saturday evening) and walked on could 9 for the rest of the evening!

Saturday was the greatest day ever! MAN IT ROCKED!!!!!!!!!!! We went and had the appointment with this family.....yes family....that had called and it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We walked around for a little bit looking for the house until we finally found it! We went up stairs and then began one of the greater lessons of my mission! YEAH it was THAT good! Not the teaching we did but how THEY were throughout! It was AWESOME!!! Let me tell you why! “C” (from Austria! Yes we asked about the Sound of Music) was there to greet us! He is an AWESOME guy!! He is trying hard to be a good father, which is one of the reasons he called us over! His wife “I” is half Korean/middle eastern and was born in Libya but moved and grew up in the Ivory Coast! They have a daughter from Japan, who is 14. Another daughter who is 6, another who is I think 2 and then one in the oven. They are a great family! SUCH A GREAT FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cool thing about the appointment was that instead of us really teaching a lesson they were interviewing us! It was so cool! Because they agreed with EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You see what happened was that while Elder Jones was on splits with the Assistants he left a pamphlet with them and C couldn’t stop thinking about it so he went and did some research! BUT he told us that he didn’t want to read things completely against it and completely for it so he found a really un-biased article called what to expect when you become a Mormon or something like that. And that is where most of his questions were from. So when we got there we sat down and they gave us cornbread and juice! They knew we were American! lol! The wild thing was this totally felt like a member appointment! There is a really great Spirit in their home! They are so awesome! Anyway so we sat down at the table and he pulled out this notebook full of questions that we answered! We ended up being there for a long time as well! Some of the great things that they told us were, just to name a few, "we saw that you don’t drink coffee so we are quitting just to see if we can do it!" Among questions about dress and other things “I” asked us she said "phew! It looks like I won’t have to change that much!" OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!! Then in the conversation and question answering we talked about church and how that Sunday was fast Sunday and we invited them and she yelled to the kids who were being loud "HEY GO TO BED WE ARE GOING TO CHURCH IN THE MORNING!" WOO HOO!!! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We talked about so many things and they were so cool with it all! They are all so relaxed! Oh another thing that she talked about was that she was afraid of how to raise her kids since she never had a mother around and she never learned how to do it! What a perfect question/statement! THE GOSPEL COVERS EVERYTHING!!!! I LOVE THE GOSPEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAN I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the greatest appointment I have ever had! And the first time I have taught a full family! MAN THAT WAS SO GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! C gave us a ride home and we small talked as we would with a member and then he said see you tomorrow!

Sunday was the next greatest day that ever existed on Malta since I have been here! MAN IT WAS SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!! Ok so first off the other Anziani had two investigators come to church which was awesome! Then Elder Jones and I were waiting to direct a couple that was here on vacation from South Jordan [this is the woman who had called us!] when who should pull up but the FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW EXCITED WE WERE!!!!!!!! The WHOLE family came all dressed up in their Sunday best! IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The funny thing was that the whole branch treated them like members because they all thought they WERE members! So it was the greatest fellowshipping ever!! It worked out so well! They had a great time and are really excited to meet again! We have an appointment tomorrow! They are all really excited to come back to church next week too! IT WAS THE GREATEST EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then after church and everything we were on the street doing some pros. and we ran into them and they asked us if we had ended our fast, we had and they said they were on their way to end theirs! THEY WERE FASTING!!!!!! WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW GOLDEN CAN YOU BE!?!?!?!?!??!?!? WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday was great too!! Tuesday was the usual meetings meetings meetings! It was great though! Because at the end we all sang happy birthday to my BRO BRO!!! And Sis. B talked with my Dad! SWEET! That was so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the evening we had a lesson with D that went really well! We met a man at her house that we were able to teach and it was awesome! MAN I LOVE TEACHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning we went and taught a lesson to R with the Beresfords! It went great! Again here a lady showed up and we taught her too! We are planting seeds everywhere! It has been so cool!!!! MAN WHAT A WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week has been the greatest ever!!! I LOVE IT!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

Love,

Anziano, Anzjan, Elder Nielsen

Another phone call from Malta!

The cloud of volcanic ash that grounded flights across Europe also affected flights out of Malta and we got a call from a member who was temporarily stranded there and had attended the branch where Elder Nielsen is serving!

Sister A and her husband had been to Malta on a Mediterranean cruise once before but only as a brief stop, she said they fell in love with it and decided to return to Malta to spend more time there and to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary!

She had seen all 4 of the Malta Elders at Church and gotten their home phone numbers so she could call each of their Moms, how awesome is that?! She is from Utah and has had 4 missionaries of her own, who served in Guatemala, Texas, Brazil and Paris France!

We had been a little concerned about the volcano and she assured us they felt very safe there, they couldn't see any ash in the air and that it hadn't come that far South.

She also told us the branch has about 80 members, the Branch President is Elder B of the couple missionaries serving there, the city of Valletta (the port they had seen before) is so beautiful and a lot of British people spend their vacation in Malta.

It was so great to get another call from Malta, to know all was well with our missionary and with the surrounding area and to talk with another Missionary Mom!

More about the volcano...

BBC news about the Volcanic ash cloud

Slide show production by Paul Kerley