OCTOBER 30, 2013

Buon giorno tutti! Today it's a beauuutttiifffuulll RAINY day!  Haha we are in the Church basically in the middle of a hurricane.  It rains SO much here apparently right before winter, so we are in for a treat! Haha I took a video of us walking in the middle of it all, we got sooo drenched!  haha it was to the point where the water was basically going through the umbrellas.  Haha it's a good time.  I actually love the rain, so it's okay for me. But our poor pamphlets are soaked.  But anywayyssss... so the work here is going great!  We have made soooo many calls, (like over 100) to potential investigators, and have set up some great appointments.  We are really excited to be here, it's a city with a lot of need for missionaries, and a lot of people willing to learn.  We are doing a lot of Street contacting (well, when it's not raining) which has been going well!  The days pretty much roll together we are so busy, haha. 

   I read a wonderful quote the other day from Elder David A. Bednar (I have found so many great talks these past few weeks!).  He said something to the effect of "We will see more success in our prayers if we pray not for our circumstances to change, but instead for the capacity to overcome the circumstances we are presently in."  He talked about Nephi, when he was bound with rope by his wicked brothers.  When Nephi prayed to be loosed he didn't pray for God to unloosen the bands, or to change his circumstances in any way (which is what I would have prayed for I'm sure), but instead he said " ...give me strength, yea even that I may burst these bands with which I am bound..."  Wow.  Can you imagine the faith that he must have had? He knew that God could give him the strength to change his own circumstances, even to burst the ropes that held him.  That was a profound lesson that I learned...that we are going to have hard times.  We just will.  But that instead of pleading with God to change our circumstances, we should plead with him to give  us the strength to confront and overcome the challenges that we are facing.  I thought that was great :)

    Wow, this computer is set to Italian, so basically all my words are underlined in red for misspelling...so forgive me if I don't spell stuff right, no spellcheck. haha.

    So anyways..what else is new...oh!  I read another quote in...I can't remember where,...awkward...haha oh well!  But it was Thomas S. Monson who said "...Young men, I hope you appreciate the sacrifices your parents make for you to be able to come on a mission...Their labors will sustain you, their faith encourage you, and their prayers will uphold you.  A mission is  a family affair."  So I just wanted to thank you all for your support.  I know that you have made many sacrifices for me to come out here. and I have felt the strength of your prayers. I love you all!

        So, our miracle! This past week we had a wonderful miracle with one of our investigators.  We found her while doing strada (which in itself was a wonderful miracle also!) and set up an appointment with her.  Our lesson About the restoration was wonderful; the spirit was so powerful as we bore our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and our Savior, Jesus Christ (which we later found out she had never known about), which in fact is our miracle.  A few hours after our wonderful lesson we received a text message from her saying "grazie per conoscere me Gesù" which we took to mean "thank you for helping me to know about Jesus."  Our hearts were touched as we thought back to during the lesson in the Church when she was staring at the big picture of Jesus coming out of his tomb with wonder in her eyes.  There are wonderful people here in Italy who are kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it.  I can't imagine what life would be like without knowing the we have a Savior who died for us, and now lives for us, who can help us through every single trial, every single hardship, because he has been there before.  What a privilege it is to be a representative of Him, and declare His reality to those who simply have never been given the opportunity.

  Well family and friends, I love you all and thank you for all you do for me.  I am so thankful to have been blessed with such wonderful people in my life to give me strength in the tough times.  Being a missionary is such a blessing, I wake up every day so thankful (and also exhausted...but still thankful! haha) for the opportunity I have to declare the truth all day long.  I love testifiying of our Savior, and as a missionary we truly can feel a special part of the love that He and our Heavenly Father have for those we teach.  We are all one big family, brothers and sisters, and we are all here to help each other find the light. What a special time we live in! :)

Oh! also, I was reading my setting apart blessing that I recieved before I left (thanks Aunt Raelyn, Tiffany, and Nicole for taking notes for me!) and part of it said "Ask you family for help in calling down blessings upon those you teach..."  And so I wanted to ask you all a favor!  So, we are teaching a wonderful family right now, the Michael (yes that's the last name) family.  The husband is a member but the wife is not....yet :)  They are both such wonderful people, their testimonies touch my heart.  But the husband just recently lost his job.  He has expresed to us his unbreakable faith that those who put their trust in God ill be blessed and provided for.  He walks (because his bike is broken and he has no money to fix it) 10 miles every day looking for work and dropping off his resume, but times are just really hard here in Italy.  They are such wonderful people and the husband deserves to be able to provide for his family.  With tears in his eyes he expressed how difficult it is as a father, as a man, to not be able to provide for his family. So I just wanted you all to say a special prayer for them, that they may be blessed with means to pay for thier apartment and food, and find work.  That would be wonderful. Thank you all so much!

All my love,

                   Anziano Wilson

OCTOBER 23, 2013

Buon giorno famiglia!! Everything is going great here in Lecco, we are
starting off pretty much "blind" because we don't know the area or any
members, but we are working hard, and it we are excited to do the Lords
work, even if it is difficult sometimes.
     So you will all be interested to know that I am writing this email
from one of those "demo" computers in the computer store lol.  It's called
Media World, and Anziano Francum (him and his companion Anz Guzzle are our
new roommates in Lecco) told us that he does it all the time, because there
is only one little computer at the church, haha.  So this is quite the fun
time...I'm using the latest version of the Macbook or whatever it's
called...fancy schmancy!  For P day today we had a little excursion to
Bergamo, and it poured rain on us all day, so we are soaked haha.  "It's
all part of the experience Russ" ;)
     But anyways, so about the work!  We have been doing a ton of finding
work, fixing up our bikes (yes! we get bikes!), and definitely praying for
inspiration on what to do and where to go. There are 4 if us missionaries
in Lecco. It's quite the change from San Remo, but I don't mind it that
much.  I'm not a huge fan of change in general, but I'm gonna get used to
it one way or another, haha :)
    I read a few really inspiring quotes the other day from old general
conference talks that I wanted to share.  One was from President Monson,
who said something to the effect of "Tax your talent...and the Lord will
make you equal to your challenges..."  That really hit me pretty hard. Tax
your talent.  I have had a lot of chances to ponder about this glorious
work and the gifts and talents that the Lord has given me, and how I can
best use them to bless the lives of others.  I have been given so much; we
all have.  To be a part of this glorious gospel is such a blessing, and
with that blessing comes 2 things.  A responsibility to share and serve
others, and trials.  God tries those that He wants to grow.  We had an
investigator ask us the other day: "But why is it that the people who try
to follow God and do the right things always have such a hard life?..."
 That question got me thinking about it myself...it's one of those
"questions of the soul" questions, that really comes from the heart.  As I
was pondering about the answer, I came to this conclusion: that those who
manifest to God that they are willing to follow HIm, He must try, and
chasten, so that they can grow. Because He loves us, and knows that we can
overcome these things.  So in a way...trials are kind of a "compliment" if
you will, from God.  Saying "Well done my son (daughter), here, have this
trial and grow even more." Elder...D Todd Christopherson I think it was
said something like "those who God loves, He chastens...". I really have
seen that in my life, and in my mission.  The "elect" souls, who always
desire to do the right things, always have trials and troubles that don't
seem fair.  But   the wonderful thing about trials is that they always make
us grow.  How thankful I am for the trials that the Lord puts into my life,
to test me and help me to grow.
     It's also interesting to me that President Monson said "..and the Lord
will make you equal to your challenges. Equal.  We will be able to overcome
our challenges, but it won't be just given to us. One of the wonderful
things about this gospel is that it requires work.  How thankful I am for
the people in my life who have shown me how to work, and have been examples
to me of diligence.
   My short time as a missionary has been so wonderful, I have really
learned to "search" the scriptures and words of the prophets and apostles
here on the earth, rather than simply "read" them.  I have been so humbled,
and I am thankful for the Lord putting these things in my life.  We all can
be a little more humble. I truly am just so blessed, and thankful for all
of you.  Your prayers in my behalf are felt, and I know with all my heart
that the Lord is strengthening me every single day.  This time goes by SO
fast, I want to make the best of every minute of it. "Don't count the days,
make the days count". Thanks Uncle R'Dale (so sorry if I misspelled
that...blame it on the Italian...haha) :)
   So we had a wonderful miracle here in Lecco yesterday.  Like I said
before, we are basically starting from scratch, and don't have hardly
anyone to teach yet, so we have been doing a lot of strada (street
contacting).  And yesterday, after about 20 "No me interessa" "Ciao"
"Grazie" and "no, no, no"s, we finally found someone receptive to our
message!  We set up an appointment with her for Friday, and she is super
excited to speak with us!  And so, we felt pretty awesome about that.  So
we kept on walking and talking, and the next 3 people were the same way!
 We spoke with each of them for 10 or 15 minutes, exchanged numbers, and we
are going to call them to set up more appointments!  It makes me so happy
to go out and talk to people. Just talk about Jesus, and the blessing that
His gospel is in our lives. It's such a privilege to wear this badge. The
Lord truly does put people in our path; we find the most willing souls in
the most unsuspecting...if that's the word? haha oh no! My English is
fading! haha. unsuspecting places.  It is such a marvelous thing to me.
 The Lord's hand is in this work.
        Well, I love  you all so much, and hope everything is going well in
good ol' 'merica.  I pray for you all every night!
Love,
        Anziano Wilson

OCTOBER 16, 2013

Buona sera famiglia!!
    This week has really been great! It is so wonderful out here! The work
is really going well, I am so excited to be a part of it!  Our
investigators are doing really well. So some exciting news: I'm getting
transferred! (yay!...?) haha. Out here in the mission field apparently they
call it a ''Pink-wash'' , when the Anziani move out of the city (there were
4 of us), and the Sorrelle (sisters) move in and take their place.  Haha my
companion was hilarious.  ''Pink-wash!? Man, are you serious!  I had
nightmares about these day!'' hahaha.  I don't understand what the big deal
is, but apparently no one wants to get ''pink-washed''. Lol.  So anyways,
my companion and I will be going to Lecco! I don't know much about it, but
apparently it is FREEZING there. And luckily we will be arriving in the
winter time, so I will be sure and pack my sunscreen and tanning oil and
everything for that. No, but seriously, thanks Mom for the coat :)  haha.
         But I am actually really excited to go to a new city, despite how
hard it is to leave this city and members and investigators that I have
grown to love.  Especially since we were doing so well here!  We had so
many great plans, and a ton of progressing investigators. For example, we
had a baptism for a man on the 12th of October scheduled, and all planned
out and everything.  He was doing great great, but after a lot of prayer
and thought, my companion and I decided to postpone it for the 26th, just
to make sure he was ready for this crucial step. WE didn't exactly know
why, but only that the Lord wanted us to wait. So yeah, it is pretty hard
to leave after we have been working with him for 6 weeks to prepare for
this. He even asked me to baptize him, which I was pretty excited for.  But
hey, that's life.  Besides, as long as that wonderful, worthy man gets
baptized, it doesn't matter who does it :) I'm excited and will go wherever
the Lord wants me to go!
          On a lighter note, there was a pretty crazy rally car...race?
This week.  Haha I'm not totally sure what it was because obviously we
didn't go, but all week there have been these crazy suped-up rally cars
with numbers on their back windows flooring it around the city making a ton
of noise; it has been pretty intense.  Also, I saw a Ferrari, a Maserati,
AND  a Lamborghini this week, and all 3 times I didn't have time to take a
picture of it before they drove away! Bummer, huh?  But yeah, there are so
many nice cars around here lately, it is basically like real life Need for
Speed. But we definitely give them a run for their money walking, we are
getting quick!  Haha.
        Well, that's about all that's new, I guess I'll leave you with the
miracle I saw this week!
Miracle:  We had a wonderful miracle this week.  As we were out doing
strada a few days ago, we found a couple sitting on a bench and started a
conversation.  We talked for a while, and the husband seemed interested,
but the wife didn't seem to be.  We talked and bore testimony of principles
for a few minutes while the wife stood a few feet away, listening, and then
asked for a return appointment, which they politely declined. So we left
them a card with our number on it.  The next day, we were out walking and
ran into the wife again on the street and started talking.  We were
surprised (but delighted) to hear that she had looked up a lot of
information about our church, and was interested to learn more! So we gave
her a restoration pamphlet and set up a formal appointment with her this
last Monday.  That lesson went very well; she had so many questions (which
was great!) that we were happy to answer, and we bore powerful testimony
about the truthfulness of this gospel and the Book of Mormon.  We invited
her to say the closing prayer to which she answered ''Do I have to?'' But
after we assured her that it was simple and that God truly wanted to hear
from her, she offered one of the most beautiful prayers I have heard.  As
she closed the prayer tears were in her eyes, and she said ''I haven't felt
this way in a long time...''  What a humbling experience that was for me, I
sincerely hope that all goes well with her this next transfer, and am sure
the Sorrelle will take great care of her.  It is such a blessing to be out
in the mission field, to see so many of these miracles.  I am humbled every
day to be out here.
            I know I sound like a broken record, but it is just such a
blessing to be a missionary!  Every day is so hard, every day I am so busy
and so exhausted, but every day I see miracles.  This truly is the Lord's
work, and as one called by Him through a prophet to declare the truth to
the people of Italy, I humbly testify that ''no unhallowed hand can stay
the work of the Lord'' ; that He is always wary of the progression of His
kingdom here on earth. He will help us, and He will never leave us alone.
 Never. I am so imperfect, I have been truly humbled this week in so many
ways, but it is such a blessing to me to know that the Lord looks past our
weakness, and helps us to develop strengths.  The Lord will not leave us
alone, and He will not rest until His work is finished, for truly, ''He
that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep'' -Psalms 121:4 How
blessed I am; how blessed we all are, to have the glorious gift of the
gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.
         I love you all and wish the best in all you do!  You're in my
prayers!
Love,
        Anziano Wilson

OCTOBER 9, 2013

      Wow! This week has been really great (like always of course!), I just
love being a missionary so much.  We had some struggles this week with a
few things, but that is just typical of missionary work; if it weren't
hard, it wouldn't be worth it! :)  I always remember this quote when I am
feeling down by...oh no! I can't remember! haha.  but it says something
like ''If you feel down, pray. And if you don't feel like praying, pray
until you feel like praying...'' What a comfort prayer has been in my life,
and especially in these difficult times of the mission.  It is such a
blessing that we can kneel down and speak with an all-loving, all-knowing
and all-powerful Father in Heaven. And the best part...he always listens.
 Always.  Not a single prayer will ever go unanswered, that is a divine
truth.  Last P-day I watched a mormon message called ''Early Father,
Heavenly Father''.  Wow. I would encourage you all to watch it; it
especially inspired me in terms of what fatherhood really means. At the end
there is a quote that says something to the effect of ''Of all the titles
in the universe that we could call God, He has asked us to address him, as
Father.''  Isn't that amazing! :) And we all have a Father, who loves us
more than we can imagine.  What a comfort that is! :)
         Man, the weeks just fly by here in the field; where did September
go?  Times flies when you're having fun!  It truly is so great to be able
to work 24/7 for the Lord, and not have to worry about anything other than
bringing people closer to Christ.
        This week has been...interesting, because as part of the training
for new missionaries, the 5th week of the 1st transfer the new missionary
has the phone and keys and is the senior companion.  So I have been
answering phone calls from a bunch of rapid-talking Italians, and the
Branch President, and calling our member families, and...yeah!  It's a good
time.  Needless to say, I've been saying a lot of ''Ripetere per favore?''
haha.  But it's good, stretching makes you grow! :)
So, our miracle this week! :)
       This week we decided to focus our finding efforts more heavily on
the area book, to see if we could find people who are willing to hear our
message. One of the people we called was very excited to have been called,
and we set up an appointment to meet with her for a few days after.  We had
a wonderful lesson about the Restoration, and she said that her and
possibly her three children would be happy to hear the discussions, and we
set up another appointment with her tomorrow! The Lord's way of
organization is just so amazing to me! There truly are people out there
searching for this message.
             Oh my goodness, I almost forgot!  So General Conference...WOW!
 Right?  How great was that!  A ton of it was about missionary work, about
how now is the time for members and missionaries to work together in
harmony, because this is a new time, when the Lord will hasten his work
like never before.  I remember one of the talks by Elder...Nielson...I
believe, (the one who was quarterback at BYU a while ago) but he said
something like ''This period of time will be comparable to all of the other
of the greatest events in church history, including the first vision,
etc...''  Wow.  Doesn't that just make you marvel.  As I think about it I
just want to fall to my knees and thank my Heavenly Father for sending me
to earth at this time, so I can take part in this glorious ''harvest of
souls'', when countless numbers of our Heavenly Father's precious
children--our brothers and sisters-- will be brought to the fold of Jesus
Christ Himself, and will have to opportunity to feel the unfathomable love
and mercy and peace that comes from His wondrous gospel.  Truly, how
blessed I am...how blessed we all are.  We can all take part in this
wonderful period of time, of missionary work, and of preparation for the
glorious Second Coming of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.
       I love you all so much, thank you so much for your prayers and love.
 You are all in my prayers, and I hope all is well!
     Love,
              Anziano Wilson

OCTOBER 2, 2013

Buon giorno famiglia e amichi!!   

         This week was really great!  I am so excited about this work...even though it really is WORK!  Haha, I've never fallen asleep so fast in my life as I have been every night this past week!  It's like 5 seconds after my head hits the pillow!  Haha, but it's great, I love doing this work, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

          So, about this week! 

        Let's see, we are still doing a lot of strada and working with members to find referrals, so we can find people to teach, but we have really been having a lot of success; there are truly people here ready to hear the gospel!  We have been working a lot lately with less active members, and in trying to re-motivate them and rekindle the faith and the joy that they had the day of their baptism. But there are just some strange things around here, like everywhere I suppose. We had one investigator who was convinced that the Prince and Obama are working together in some kind of end of the world conspiracy, and that we were going to have a 3 day famine to signify the beginning of the end and moment...so that was...interesting.  It was all we could do to tie it back into the gospel haha, but it ended up being a really great lesson!  

           I am starting to really be able to understand Italian!  Finally!  Haha, because when I got here it was pretty intense...definitely not the language I learned at the MTC! haha.  But I can understand about 70% of what is going on now, so enough to be able to kind of know what is happening.  I still can't speak amazingly well...outside of lessons that is. It truly is amazing...the Lord has a work for us to do as missionaries, and He truly helps us to do it if we humble ourselves and realize that we really just can't do it alone. During the lessons I find that I have words that I didn't know I knew! ''The worth of souls is great in the sight of God''! But anyways, the language will come, little by little. I am really improving, and I am so thankful for your guys' prayers in my behalf.  Luckily I will be able to watch conference in English this week...which by the way I am SO excited about!  I am so excited to hear what the Lord has to tell us, through the living prophet and apostles!

         So another...fun?...thing that happened this week, was that all the trainers had an interview with the Mission President last week, and so both my trainer and Anziano Kendrick's trainer had to go to Milan, which is like a 4 hour train ride away, for this interview.  So Anziano Walden had this ''great idea'' that the two trainers would just go, and we would do a ''scambia'', or companion switch. Great idea! haha...  So we were two ''greenies'', who could hardly speak, out doing strada trying to talk with people while we had NO idea what they were saying...Italians speak so fast! and on top of that my trainer gave me OUR cell phone, which rings off the hook all day.  Every time I got a call my stomach would drop and I'd be just be like ''great...!  Pronto!  ^they talk^ Oh, il mio collega e in Milano oggi, possiamo chiamare lei di nuovo domani'' which is ''oh, my companion is in Milan today, we can call you again tomorrow...'' haha :) Needless to say...it was a great time!  Anziano Kendrick was in my district at the MTC, so actually we had a really good time even though it was TOUGH!  We just laughed about it all, and made the best out of it!  And actually, we ended up finding this guy who was going on a ''spiritual journey'' for 8 years, and was really interested, and we taught him like a 25 minute lesson and prayed with him right there on the sidewalk!  It was great! :)

    Oh! Also, our branch activity last Friday was a HUGE success!  We had a branch talent night and asked the branch members to invite their nonmember friends so they could come have a fun time and get acquainted with the church in a non-threatening way.  It turned out to be a great time!  We had tons of people sign up to share a talent, from karaoke to gymnastics, there were tons of great activities. We even arranged for a ''professional'' zumba instructor to come give a free zumba class with the people!  That was hilarious!  I had a Russian investigator sitting next to me and as they were dancing he turns to me and is like ''yeah...I wouldn't be caught dead doing that in Russia.  I am a man. That is for girls''  haha it was so funny.  He is hilarious; classic Russian.  Oh, and for about half the night he thought that that was our church!  I guess I didn't explain very well that this was just an activity! haha so i explained it to him, and then invited him to church on Sunday, and during the dancing he was like ''So this isn't like your church?'' and I was like ''no no no, our church is a LOT different that this!'' And he was like ''okay.  I'll be there on Sunday.''  hahaha! Oh man, it was a great time.  The crowning event of the night had to be when the branch president karaoked (is that a verb?...it is now! haha) ''Hye Joon'' I think? From the beetles. And the entire crowd sang the ''na na na...'' part, just so loud and proud...It was the greatest thing ever. It is just the best hearing Italians sing English, because they don't know what the words mean, so their emphasis and stuff is just a little...off.  But I love it! The other Anziani and I were just laughing our heads off thinking ''There is no way this would be happening in America'' haha! There was also a ton of great food that the members made!  It was a great time, and we had a lot of potential investigators there!  But the real miracle was that 5 of those potential investigators showed up to church the following Sunday!  We were so excited, and are working our best to set up appointments and follow up with members to see if we can teach them!  I can truly see why the prophet asked us to plan/have a branch activity this transfer.

Everything else is going great! Mission life is hard, there's no doubt about that, but I truly have felt the Lord's strength and hand in my life, especially these past few weeks.  This is His work, and we simply couldn't do it without His divine help.  I am so thankful to be a missionary, even when it's hard!  I love you all so much, and hope everything is going well at home!  Don't worry America, I'll be home in no time! ;)

Love,

    Anziano Wilson