Buona sera a tutti! :)
Well, another week is in the books! It is just such a great blessing to be a missionary! I know I say that every week, but it's the first thing that comes to mind when I think about what I want to say to you all. We are working hard, and have found a lot of great success.
It has been freezing cold these past few days...whew! No, it actually hasn't been that cold. Well, everyone else is cold but for some reason I can still go out in a short sleeved shirt and a coat...as opposed to also a sweater and scarf and thermals and earmuffs...I think that I might be a superhuman. I mean, I always kind of guessed that I was, I just never put it to the test... Just don't tell my mission president, because then I'll have to relocate again...and that's just a hassle for the government and everyone involved! haha just kidding! :)
But our investigators are doing great! We are still working with Ivan and Claudio to help them to stop smoking (mamma mia you would not believe how many people smoke here...and how much!). But they are doing really well. The Lord truly gives strength to those who sincerely ask for it and work for it. I know that in my mission I have seen this strength so many times." Every morning I hear the alarm and am just like "Oh goodness, it has GOT to be 4:30!" ha. but then we flip on the lights and just get up, and somehow the tiredness leaves. It is so wonderful. Thank you all so much for your prayers in my behalf.
Let's see...I need to write down things more. Well, we have seen some great miracles, and also I wanted to share with you all a great miracle of last week also!
This week miracle: We had a wonderful miracle this week. It was about 7 o clock on a Monday night, and we had been trying to fix some appointments, but all the calls had fell through. It was raining hard, we had just finished about an hour and a half of door to door with noone letting us in, and we didn't have our umbrellas, so we were really kind of down, unsure what to do. We both had an extra bus ticket and so we decided to try out a new finding technique-riding the bus for as long as we could and talking to everyone who got on. It turned out to be a really successful night, we got a lot of numbers from promising potentials, and even taught a man the entire Restoration right there on the bus. His name is Allejandro, and came here to Italy from Mexico (first Mexican I've met here) to teach guitar at the university. He was eating two slices of pizza when he got on the bus, and so, being hungry, we decided to talk to him (haha just kidding), but we had a really great conversation with him, learned that he had met with the Elders in Mexico over 5 years ago, recieved a Book of Mormon, and had played basketball with them a few times. But then he never heard from them again for some reason. He had fond memories of the missionaries, and was so nice to us. (He even gave me a HUGE full slice of his pizza to eat! That's a mission first!) We got his number and we are excited to contact him and set up an appointment to meet again! One thing that I have learned out here in the mission field is it is so important to be ready to bear your testimony at any time, because the Lord puts the elect in our paths when we least expect it.
Last weeks miracle: We had the chance to spend a few hours in San Remo and Imperia last week, and so we stopped by a new convert named Uche. My companion and I taught Uche my entire first transfer, and he was baptized a week or so after we left for Lecco. But he has just such a burning testimony of the gospel now, and he is living in an apartment, listening to church music, reading and praying, and even going to driving school so he can qualify for a job offer! It is so amazing to me the progress of this valiant son of God. From a man found on the street begging, to a man starting a new life, and really making a way for himself. He talked to us about how he is so happy to have found the church, that it has been the only way after so many attempts to help him stop smoking, and make huge changes in his life. He said "I thought to myself, if this church can help me be a better person that I have always been trying to be, then it must be true." And he proudly tells all his friends that he is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What a blessing it is to be a missionary!
Everything is going really well here in Udine. We are working hard and just having a great time serving the Lord. Anziano Ramey has helped me a lot with the language, and with how to study effectively, and how to work hard! I am very happy to be serving here. Thank you all so much for your strength and prayers and help. I love you all!
-Anziano Wilson
Friday, January 31, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
JANUARY 22, 2014
Buon giorno tutti!! Wow!! This has been a pretty crazy past couple days! So I don't have a whole lot of time to email but I'll write fast! But it's been an overall amazing week!
To make a loooooong story short, we are in San Remo right now! :) We are emailing in the church...it is really cool to be around all these people that I knew long ago, but to finally be able to speak with them and understand what they are saying!! haha. It is great! But we had to come here alllll the way from Udine to pick up my Permesso di Sojourno, (10 hour train ride). But we split it up half way so we could work Tuesday morning and took the long trains so we would have time to talk to more people (and because it is like half the price, let's be honest). But pretty much everything that could go wrong has, and it turns out we have to spend a night here with the Anziani instead of being able to head back to Milan (where all our clothes and stuff is), because when I started my permesso they messed up on my fingerprints and didn't tell me, so I have to go re-check and do them again at the Imperia questura (police station). We tried doing that this morning after we met with the people here, but turns out that the questura is only open from 9:00 to 12:00 and then closed....so that's Italy for ya. haha. Noone likes or wants to work. It's a pain sometimes, but I still love it! :)
So I could go on about all the things that went wrong on the way here, like that they charged us an extra 50 euro because the machine ticket thing was all broken, and so we had to buy tickets on the train for triple price, or that there was a landslide on the train tracks so we had to get off like 5 stops early and track down a bus to get us here, and got here over an hour late....but I would never go on about that kind of stuff :)
The work is going fabulous anyway! We are working hard and just having a blast! My companion is such champion, we have been really motivating ourselves a lot! For example we decided that even though we have to take 3 days this week away from the work in Udine, we are going to work just as hard as usual, and try to get phone numbers of people to refer to the Anziani in the areas where we are traveling to. We already have found a few really great people and given there numbers to the other missionaries. It is such a blessing to be a missionary!
Miracle: We had a ''challenge'' from the mission president this past week to get 5 lessons with a member present in Udine (which has been averaging 2 or 3 for about 6 months). So we have really been working hard with the members, strengthening them and getting them motivated about missionary work. To make a really long story short there as well (sorry I have to keep doing that), we were doing such a great job (well, by that I mean the Lord was blessing us so much), and had 3 member present lessons by Thursday. And so we were feeling great, but then like 4 or 5 lessons just completely fell through. We had the members bring us to people's houses who then cancelled, we had a guy call us up and invite us over to talk, only then to find out that instead of being interested in the gospel, he wanted us to help him find an apartment, and just so many little discouraging things took place. so it was like 8:00 on Sunday, and we were walking home with a member, after being cancelled on for yet another appointment. At this point we were just a little disheartened, and had done a few pass-bys also, which didn't come through. And so we decided to say a prayer and just ask the Lord what we should do. WE ended the prayer and turned the corner to walk back towards the station. There we met with a wonderful man named Ike, who had just moved back to Udine after 6 months out of the city. He had known the missionaries before, taken lessons, and had a Book of Mormon already. We talked with him right there for about ten minutes, and taught him about the Restoration, which he was so happy for. Right as soon as we ended our closing prayer with him, two African men walked past us. I went up even before we had said goodbye to Ike and asked them if they believed in Jesus Christ. We learned that one had actually attended our church in Switzerland, and had just come here and was looking for the church here! He had a friend there who was also interested, and so we taught them too the Restoration! 2 member present lessons, at the very end of the week. just when we were about to go home. To make it to 5 :) Our district of 5 companionships had 27 total. Up from a total of 8 lessons with a member present last week. The Lord is truly in this work. He loves us, hears our prayers, and wants to bless us. As we put our trust in Him, I know that he will strengthen us and make us far better than we ever could become by ourselves. I have tons more to write, but we are out of time. Boy it has been a crazy day!
I love you all so much, thank you for all you have done for me, and for your prayers.
Love,
Anziano Wilson
To make a loooooong story short, we are in San Remo right now! :) We are emailing in the church...it is really cool to be around all these people that I knew long ago, but to finally be able to speak with them and understand what they are saying!! haha. It is great! But we had to come here alllll the way from Udine to pick up my Permesso di Sojourno, (10 hour train ride). But we split it up half way so we could work Tuesday morning and took the long trains so we would have time to talk to more people (and because it is like half the price, let's be honest). But pretty much everything that could go wrong has, and it turns out we have to spend a night here with the Anziani instead of being able to head back to Milan (where all our clothes and stuff is), because when I started my permesso they messed up on my fingerprints and didn't tell me, so I have to go re-check and do them again at the Imperia questura (police station). We tried doing that this morning after we met with the people here, but turns out that the questura is only open from 9:00 to 12:00 and then closed....so that's Italy for ya. haha. Noone likes or wants to work. It's a pain sometimes, but I still love it! :)
So I could go on about all the things that went wrong on the way here, like that they charged us an extra 50 euro because the machine ticket thing was all broken, and so we had to buy tickets on the train for triple price, or that there was a landslide on the train tracks so we had to get off like 5 stops early and track down a bus to get us here, and got here over an hour late....but I would never go on about that kind of stuff :)
The work is going fabulous anyway! We are working hard and just having a blast! My companion is such champion, we have been really motivating ourselves a lot! For example we decided that even though we have to take 3 days this week away from the work in Udine, we are going to work just as hard as usual, and try to get phone numbers of people to refer to the Anziani in the areas where we are traveling to. We already have found a few really great people and given there numbers to the other missionaries. It is such a blessing to be a missionary!
Miracle: We had a ''challenge'' from the mission president this past week to get 5 lessons with a member present in Udine (which has been averaging 2 or 3 for about 6 months). So we have really been working hard with the members, strengthening them and getting them motivated about missionary work. To make a really long story short there as well (sorry I have to keep doing that), we were doing such a great job (well, by that I mean the Lord was blessing us so much), and had 3 member present lessons by Thursday. And so we were feeling great, but then like 4 or 5 lessons just completely fell through. We had the members bring us to people's houses who then cancelled, we had a guy call us up and invite us over to talk, only then to find out that instead of being interested in the gospel, he wanted us to help him find an apartment, and just so many little discouraging things took place. so it was like 8:00 on Sunday, and we were walking home with a member, after being cancelled on for yet another appointment. At this point we were just a little disheartened, and had done a few pass-bys also, which didn't come through. And so we decided to say a prayer and just ask the Lord what we should do. WE ended the prayer and turned the corner to walk back towards the station. There we met with a wonderful man named Ike, who had just moved back to Udine after 6 months out of the city. He had known the missionaries before, taken lessons, and had a Book of Mormon already. We talked with him right there for about ten minutes, and taught him about the Restoration, which he was so happy for. Right as soon as we ended our closing prayer with him, two African men walked past us. I went up even before we had said goodbye to Ike and asked them if they believed in Jesus Christ. We learned that one had actually attended our church in Switzerland, and had just come here and was looking for the church here! He had a friend there who was also interested, and so we taught them too the Restoration! 2 member present lessons, at the very end of the week. just when we were about to go home. To make it to 5 :) Our district of 5 companionships had 27 total. Up from a total of 8 lessons with a member present last week. The Lord is truly in this work. He loves us, hears our prayers, and wants to bless us. As we put our trust in Him, I know that he will strengthen us and make us far better than we ever could become by ourselves. I have tons more to write, but we are out of time. Boy it has been a crazy day!
I love you all so much, thank you for all you have done for me, and for your prayers.
Love,
Anziano Wilson
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
JANUARY 15, 2014
Buonissimo Giornissimo! haha, that doesn't make sense at all, but I am just in a great mood today! (Well, how can you not be when you are serving the Lord all the time!) :) But I am having just the greatest experience here in Udine so far. It has been less than a week and (despite the setback of me forgetting my bag with all my scriptures and everything in Lecco...shocker there right? I forget so many things.) we have just seen so many miracles and wonderful things happen.
The branch here is great! They seem so nice! The branch president is super great, and we actually have an ex-missionary in the ward, who just got back a few months ago from his mission, where he had to return 9 months early because of problems with his back. But he is super awesome, and willing to help us however he can with the work. It is basically like having another missionary around with us for the lessons. We taught a lesson the other day to a SUPER catholic lady (even more than usual) with him, and it was such a help because he actually was converted just a few years ago, and used to be Roman Catholic himself. There is wisdom in the words of President Monson when he said to try to find a member who was converted from the very same religion as that of the person you are teaching. It was a great experience.
Udine is really great, besides the fact that the missionary who lived here before me left me a broken bike. So we have had to take the bus around the past couple days while we wait for it to be fixed at the place. It is super annoying and costly, but oh well, what can ya do. We have actually had some really great experiences contacting on the bus though! (Something that i didn't even know was effective until now!)
My new companion, Anziano Ramey, is a total champion. He was training a new missionary for the last six weeks, and almost always the trainer and the trainee stay together for another six, but for some "odd" reason, his companion got transferred and I took his place. My companion thought it was a little strange when it happened, but I know that the Lord meant for me to come here, because he know where I would learn and grow the most. The power of prayer is so wonderful.
Anziano Ramey is super diligent and obedient and just motivates me to do my very best and work hard every day. He is the living embodiment of "talk to EVERYONE". If we have five minutes while we are waiting for a bus or a train or something, we are out on the sidewalk talking to people! It is the greatest thing ever! I love working hard in anything that I do, especially missionary work, and I am just having a blast.
The other missionaries we are living with are also super great! Finally I am not the only one awake by 6:30...or even 7:00! All four of us are! It is a lot easier to stay awake when the lights are on in the morning. :) It is so great to be around obedient and hard-working missionaries-it inspires me to work even harder every day :)
I am sad though to leave all the investigators and new converts that we had in Lecco, but I know that they are doing well, and we have found some really wonderful people to teach here in Udine.
Ivan is a 45 year old man who has been taking the missionary lessons for years. He almost always has come to church, and knows the doctrine well, but he just has a little trouble with quitting smoking. We are working hard with him to encourage him and prepare him for baptism. He needs your prayers.
We are teaching another lady, Franca, who is just the nicest old lady you will ever meet. She works at the bus station, and everytime we go to buy tickets she has a little treat for us, like a chocolate or something, and we talk to her a little about how things are going. They have only taught her a few times, but we are working and praying hard to prepare her to be baptized in Februray.
We have a few other investigators that I have yet to meet, but we have a lot of potentials too that we are working with. It is just so great to be a missionary!
Udine is also cold (thank goodness!) , but really, I much prefer the cold to it being hot. But it is kind of a cool little...well big, city.
Well, I think that's about it. I really should write things down more. But...oh! i almost forgot our miracle!
Miracle: Our miracle this week consisted of two seperate miracles, which occurred to both me and my companion, but while we were scambio-ing (doing companionship exchanges) with the zone leaders. Each of us experienced a wonderful miracle. Anziano Ramey and Hackamack were here in Udine, and I traveled to Pordenone with Anziano Olsen. (by the way, the Pordenone churhc building is AMAZING! They have an Air Force base like 20 minutes away, and so they have both an Italian ward and a big american ward! And you know what that means?? They had both a drinking fountain AND an INDOOR basketball court! The only ones in Italy I'm pretty sure. haha. I still didn't get to play on it, but it was cool just to see it...felt like home a little bit :) While there, we were out on the street contacting, talking to as many people as we could, when we ran into(almost literally) an African man, and engaged a conversation. He explained to us that he had seen and breifly spoken to the sister missionaries in that area a little while ago, and that he had received a copy of the Book of Mormon a few years back from another set of missionaries. We talked to him for a few more minutes about his faith in Jesus Christ, and what He meant to him, and he expressed sincere gratitude for what we had shared, and readily gave us his address and phone number, and we set up an appointment to come by his house tomorrow.
Anziano Ramey and Hackamak had a similar experience. They too were out contacting, and a man got off the bus near them, and so they started a conversation with him. The conversation went really well, and they ended up setting up an appointment with him, also for tomorrow. One of the things that struck me the most as Anziano Ramey was recounting the story to me was something that Feriit (the man they met) told to them. He shared with them that he had been athiest for a few years, because he couldn't seem to find an answer to what religion was right, and he asked himself in his mind why it was so difficult to find the truth, and why he had to be searching honestly for so long. And he said that right as he thought that thought, Anziano Ramey said "Ciao!". It was a touching miracle to me, that the Lord has a plan for each of His children, and they are truly out there, seraching for the truth. We just have to bring it to them.
We have been having a really great week! I know that we will experience miracles this transfer as we work our very hardest and give out whole hearts to the Lord. I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your prayers for me, and for the examples you have been and all you do for me!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
The branch here is great! They seem so nice! The branch president is super great, and we actually have an ex-missionary in the ward, who just got back a few months ago from his mission, where he had to return 9 months early because of problems with his back. But he is super awesome, and willing to help us however he can with the work. It is basically like having another missionary around with us for the lessons. We taught a lesson the other day to a SUPER catholic lady (even more than usual) with him, and it was such a help because he actually was converted just a few years ago, and used to be Roman Catholic himself. There is wisdom in the words of President Monson when he said to try to find a member who was converted from the very same religion as that of the person you are teaching. It was a great experience.
Udine is really great, besides the fact that the missionary who lived here before me left me a broken bike. So we have had to take the bus around the past couple days while we wait for it to be fixed at the place. It is super annoying and costly, but oh well, what can ya do. We have actually had some really great experiences contacting on the bus though! (Something that i didn't even know was effective until now!)
My new companion, Anziano Ramey, is a total champion. He was training a new missionary for the last six weeks, and almost always the trainer and the trainee stay together for another six, but for some "odd" reason, his companion got transferred and I took his place. My companion thought it was a little strange when it happened, but I know that the Lord meant for me to come here, because he know where I would learn and grow the most. The power of prayer is so wonderful.
Anziano Ramey is super diligent and obedient and just motivates me to do my very best and work hard every day. He is the living embodiment of "talk to EVERYONE". If we have five minutes while we are waiting for a bus or a train or something, we are out on the sidewalk talking to people! It is the greatest thing ever! I love working hard in anything that I do, especially missionary work, and I am just having a blast.
The other missionaries we are living with are also super great! Finally I am not the only one awake by 6:30...or even 7:00! All four of us are! It is a lot easier to stay awake when the lights are on in the morning. :) It is so great to be around obedient and hard-working missionaries-it inspires me to work even harder every day :)
I am sad though to leave all the investigators and new converts that we had in Lecco, but I know that they are doing well, and we have found some really wonderful people to teach here in Udine.
Ivan is a 45 year old man who has been taking the missionary lessons for years. He almost always has come to church, and knows the doctrine well, but he just has a little trouble with quitting smoking. We are working hard with him to encourage him and prepare him for baptism. He needs your prayers.
We are teaching another lady, Franca, who is just the nicest old lady you will ever meet. She works at the bus station, and everytime we go to buy tickets she has a little treat for us, like a chocolate or something, and we talk to her a little about how things are going. They have only taught her a few times, but we are working and praying hard to prepare her to be baptized in Februray.
We have a few other investigators that I have yet to meet, but we have a lot of potentials too that we are working with. It is just so great to be a missionary!
Udine is also cold (thank goodness!) , but really, I much prefer the cold to it being hot. But it is kind of a cool little...well big, city.
Well, I think that's about it. I really should write things down more. But...oh! i almost forgot our miracle!
Miracle: Our miracle this week consisted of two seperate miracles, which occurred to both me and my companion, but while we were scambio-ing (doing companionship exchanges) with the zone leaders. Each of us experienced a wonderful miracle. Anziano Ramey and Hackamack were here in Udine, and I traveled to Pordenone with Anziano Olsen. (by the way, the Pordenone churhc building is AMAZING! They have an Air Force base like 20 minutes away, and so they have both an Italian ward and a big american ward! And you know what that means?? They had both a drinking fountain AND an INDOOR basketball court! The only ones in Italy I'm pretty sure. haha. I still didn't get to play on it, but it was cool just to see it...felt like home a little bit :) While there, we were out on the street contacting, talking to as many people as we could, when we ran into(almost literally) an African man, and engaged a conversation. He explained to us that he had seen and breifly spoken to the sister missionaries in that area a little while ago, and that he had received a copy of the Book of Mormon a few years back from another set of missionaries. We talked to him for a few more minutes about his faith in Jesus Christ, and what He meant to him, and he expressed sincere gratitude for what we had shared, and readily gave us his address and phone number, and we set up an appointment to come by his house tomorrow.
Anziano Ramey and Hackamak had a similar experience. They too were out contacting, and a man got off the bus near them, and so they started a conversation with him. The conversation went really well, and they ended up setting up an appointment with him, also for tomorrow. One of the things that struck me the most as Anziano Ramey was recounting the story to me was something that Feriit (the man they met) told to them. He shared with them that he had been athiest for a few years, because he couldn't seem to find an answer to what religion was right, and he asked himself in his mind why it was so difficult to find the truth, and why he had to be searching honestly for so long. And he said that right as he thought that thought, Anziano Ramey said "Ciao!". It was a touching miracle to me, that the Lord has a plan for each of His children, and they are truly out there, seraching for the truth. We just have to bring it to them.
We have been having a really great week! I know that we will experience miracles this transfer as we work our very hardest and give out whole hearts to the Lord. I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your prayers for me, and for the examples you have been and all you do for me!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
JANUARY 8, 2014
Buon giorno everyone! :)
This week has been just so wonderful! The most excited news that I have that I just can't save for the middle or end of the email is that I am moving out to a new city! I will be going to Udine and my new companion will be Anziano Ramey. I have heard some great things about him! (Well, in my opinion!) Haha, one of the missionaries here said gloomy "oh man, get ready to get after it. Anziano Ramey works ya hard." I am SO excited! I have been praying hard for a companion exactly like that--who goes out and just does work! So I am excited to work hard in the cause of the Lord :)
I haven't heard much about Udine, I'm sure you guys can look it up, other than that it is a relatively small branch, and that we have bikes. But I am just really excited! It will be pretty tough to leave all the wonderful investigators and new converts and members here in Lecco, but I know that if I am being transferred, then the Lord needs me in Udine. I will go and do all that He asks me to do.
This past week has been so great. We have been teaching like crazy and just getting everything ready for the next missionary that will come to take my place with Anziano Lopez. One of our investigators was in the hospital this past week, and so we made a few visits to share a message with him, and during one of them he said "well, it's kind of boring here, do you guys have anything that I can read?" My companion and I just smiled and I pulled out a Book of Mormon, and like 7 pamphlets about different gospel principles. He was happy to have something to read :)
The roommate the man in the hospital (Martin) had the same type of illness that Martin did, but a lot more advanced...Martin told us that he only had 40 days to live. That was a sobering thought...made me really value and be thankful for the good health that the Lord has blessed me with, and realize the importance of every single day. We are so blessed to wake up every day and know that we have a full day ahead of us to live!
It finally snowed!...not. Haha, it sprinkled the kind of snow that melts as soon as it hits the ground for like an hour, and then it just rained for the rest of the time. :P I feel like I'm in the Amazon it rains so much here. But what can ya do! (What would you-u-u do. For a Klo-on-dike....bar.) hahaha.
Wow! So we had Martha's baptism on this past Sunday! (I will write more about that in a second). But first I have a greatt story of getting everything ready for it! Basically anything that could go wrong went wrong! haha. So we planned on having the baptism at 5:30 that evening, and so we left Lecco right after church to head to the Muggiò building, (because we don't have a baptismal font in Lecco). So we got to Muggiò at about 2:00, and to make a long story short, neither us nor the Lecco Anziani knew/remembered where the church building was, and the Zone leaders gave us the wrong address, so we walked around the city asking people where "Via Della Reconstruzione" was, (which apparently is a pretty obscure street, because noone knew where it was). 2 hours and 10 miles of walking later, we finally got to the building...which was locked! And it turns out that the 2 pairs of Anziani in Muggiò were both out of the city! So we had to wait for another 20 minutes for a member to come unlock the building. It was about 4:30 at this point, and it takes 2 hours to fill up the font. So we rushed in, cranked the water up, and starting filling pots full of water from the kitchen to bring to dump into the font as well. But it turns out that the faucet in the font took all the warm water from the entire building! :P haha. So we starting using the stoves to warm up huge pots of water, and then dump them in the font! We still ended up having to postpone the baptism for about 45 minutes because of a bunch of other "technical difficulties". It was a good time! haha but no, if it were easy that it wouldn't be as great as a memory! "It's all part of the experience, Russ." haha. But it was definitely worth all the trouble and work that we had to go through last Sunday, the baptism was so very wonderful. Which leads me to our miracle this week!
Miracle: This week we had a wonderful miracle. We were blessed to be able to attend Martha's baptism!! And adding even more to the joy of that was that Samuel, her husband and a new convert baptized in June, was able to her baptize her! We were unsure whether or not he was actually going to do it, because the Tuesday before the baptism he had expressed to us some concerns about not being ready, and some trials that he was going through at that time. But through the power of prayer and the help of the Holy Ghost, he had a wonderful feeling of peace come over him the Saturday before the baptism, and he came to church the next day and expressed to us his willingness to baptize his wife. It was such a wonderful experience to see them standing in the font together, and the expressions of joy that they had on their faces after the ordinance was completed. In Martha's testimony at the baptismal service she told everyone how happy and thankful she was that Samuel was able to do it, and she expressed her happiness that she has begun anew, and has truly found a family here in the church. The Lord truly touches hearts, and the gospel, has made such an impact in her life. Her countenance is so much more light, and their home radiates with the love that abounds in families who work together to serve God. We are excited for her to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost next Sunday in sacarament meeting.
Everything else is going very well, I am really excited to go to Udine and work hard. I know there is much work to do in the army of the Lord! I hope that all is going well with all of you; you are always in my prayers!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
This week has been just so wonderful! The most excited news that I have that I just can't save for the middle or end of the email is that I am moving out to a new city! I will be going to Udine and my new companion will be Anziano Ramey. I have heard some great things about him! (Well, in my opinion!) Haha, one of the missionaries here said gloomy "oh man, get ready to get after it. Anziano Ramey works ya hard." I am SO excited! I have been praying hard for a companion exactly like that--who goes out and just does work! So I am excited to work hard in the cause of the Lord :)
I haven't heard much about Udine, I'm sure you guys can look it up, other than that it is a relatively small branch, and that we have bikes. But I am just really excited! It will be pretty tough to leave all the wonderful investigators and new converts and members here in Lecco, but I know that if I am being transferred, then the Lord needs me in Udine. I will go and do all that He asks me to do.
This past week has been so great. We have been teaching like crazy and just getting everything ready for the next missionary that will come to take my place with Anziano Lopez. One of our investigators was in the hospital this past week, and so we made a few visits to share a message with him, and during one of them he said "well, it's kind of boring here, do you guys have anything that I can read?" My companion and I just smiled and I pulled out a Book of Mormon, and like 7 pamphlets about different gospel principles. He was happy to have something to read :)
The roommate the man in the hospital (Martin) had the same type of illness that Martin did, but a lot more advanced...Martin told us that he only had 40 days to live. That was a sobering thought...made me really value and be thankful for the good health that the Lord has blessed me with, and realize the importance of every single day. We are so blessed to wake up every day and know that we have a full day ahead of us to live!
It finally snowed!...not. Haha, it sprinkled the kind of snow that melts as soon as it hits the ground for like an hour, and then it just rained for the rest of the time. :P I feel like I'm in the Amazon it rains so much here. But what can ya do! (What would you-u-u do. For a Klo-on-dike....bar.) hahaha.
Wow! So we had Martha's baptism on this past Sunday! (I will write more about that in a second). But first I have a greatt story of getting everything ready for it! Basically anything that could go wrong went wrong! haha. So we planned on having the baptism at 5:30 that evening, and so we left Lecco right after church to head to the Muggiò building, (because we don't have a baptismal font in Lecco). So we got to Muggiò at about 2:00, and to make a long story short, neither us nor the Lecco Anziani knew/remembered where the church building was, and the Zone leaders gave us the wrong address, so we walked around the city asking people where "Via Della Reconstruzione" was, (which apparently is a pretty obscure street, because noone knew where it was). 2 hours and 10 miles of walking later, we finally got to the building...which was locked! And it turns out that the 2 pairs of Anziani in Muggiò were both out of the city! So we had to wait for another 20 minutes for a member to come unlock the building. It was about 4:30 at this point, and it takes 2 hours to fill up the font. So we rushed in, cranked the water up, and starting filling pots full of water from the kitchen to bring to dump into the font as well. But it turns out that the faucet in the font took all the warm water from the entire building! :P haha. So we starting using the stoves to warm up huge pots of water, and then dump them in the font! We still ended up having to postpone the baptism for about 45 minutes because of a bunch of other "technical difficulties". It was a good time! haha but no, if it were easy that it wouldn't be as great as a memory! "It's all part of the experience, Russ." haha. But it was definitely worth all the trouble and work that we had to go through last Sunday, the baptism was so very wonderful. Which leads me to our miracle this week!
Miracle: This week we had a wonderful miracle. We were blessed to be able to attend Martha's baptism!! And adding even more to the joy of that was that Samuel, her husband and a new convert baptized in June, was able to her baptize her! We were unsure whether or not he was actually going to do it, because the Tuesday before the baptism he had expressed to us some concerns about not being ready, and some trials that he was going through at that time. But through the power of prayer and the help of the Holy Ghost, he had a wonderful feeling of peace come over him the Saturday before the baptism, and he came to church the next day and expressed to us his willingness to baptize his wife. It was such a wonderful experience to see them standing in the font together, and the expressions of joy that they had on their faces after the ordinance was completed. In Martha's testimony at the baptismal service she told everyone how happy and thankful she was that Samuel was able to do it, and she expressed her happiness that she has begun anew, and has truly found a family here in the church. The Lord truly touches hearts, and the gospel, has made such an impact in her life. Her countenance is so much more light, and their home radiates with the love that abounds in families who work together to serve God. We are excited for her to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost next Sunday in sacarament meeting.
Everything else is going very well, I am really excited to go to Udine and work hard. I know there is much work to do in the army of the Lord! I hope that all is going well with all of you; you are always in my prayers!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
JANUARY 1, 2014
HAPPY NEW YEARRRR!!!!! :) Wow, I can't believe that it is already
2014...that's weird! But it has been a great first day of the year! The
highlight of the day was probably when we went with a member to go play
BASKETBALL!!!!! Man! 4 months without playing ball takes a little toll on
a man...I may or may not be a tad rusty (But don't worry B, I can still
take you ;) ) haha!
Everything is going really well, we are still working with Martha to
get everything ready for her baptism on Sunday. The Mission President came
to visit Lecco this past Sunday, and spoke in sacarament meeting. He then
interviewed Martha right after the block. He came up to us after the
interview and said "Elders, very well done, she needs to be baptized!" So
we are really excited about that. She has already been baptized twice in 2
other churches, and that was a little bit of an obstacle for her and us to
work through, but she has such a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon.
Everything in this church depends on the veracity of the Book of Mormon.
Her testimony of that and Joseph Smith has pulled her through every single
trial that she has been having, and she has such faith. Remember her in
your prayers that all will be well with her in this wonderful time in her
life :)
The Michael family is doing well also! The husband is still really
having a hard time, we met with him today for an hour and a half and
discussed all that is going on in his life. He has had a really tough
life, but his faith is helping him to hang in there. They still need your
prayers very much.
The husband shared a wonderful experience of his with us today. He
was baptized this past June, and he spoke with us about when the other
missionaries were teaching him the Word of Wisdom. He said that the whole
time up until then when they would be meeting, he would smoke a cigarette
before and after, and he had been smoking for over 9 years. But as soon as
they gave him the Word of Wisdom pamphlet, and he read it, he said that
every time he had an urge to smoke, or was about to lay the money on the
table to buy some, "something would go through me, and I would think to
myself 'why are you doing this? Go spend your money on something else!' "
And he said that the Spirit of the Lord would move through him and take
away his urge to smoke. And two weeks before his baptism he just decided
to stop, and did. It was such a testimony-builder to me that 1 Nephi 3:7
is true, that the Lord will ALWAYS provide a way for his servants to
accomplish that which he commands them to do.
The new year was soooo crazy here in Italy. It was SO loud, with
fireworks (and we're pretty sure gun shots) going off everywhere, and
everyone screaming and throwing things out windows, and just everything.
We were in the church having our New Years ward party, and we did
something that I really actually thought was pretty cool. About 10 minutes
before the new year, we sang a hymn and a prayer and took a little time to
just ponder about the past year, and then look forward to all that was in
store for us the next year. It was special for me to think back at all the
things that I have experienced this past year. From college to summer to
work to missionary life, I have been through a lot of different "stages" I
guess we could call it. A lot of different mind-sets and ways of life.
But there has been one thing that has been the same the entire time.
Every time I had a trial or a struggle or a question, I always would get
on my knees and ask for advice from my loving Father in Heaven. And he
would always provide some sort of comfort or help, or friend, always in an
unexpected way, to pull me through and help me push forward in faith. That
got me thinking...it's like that not only with investigators also, but with
all of us. The Lord gives us a little here and a little there; just enough
to help us push forward a little more, and aswers our prayers in His time,
and in His way. And I just am so thankful for the help that He always gave
me, and continues to give me, and the He gives to all of you. We are very
blessed to have the gospel.
Oh, and by the way, for my new years resolution I chose to work on
patience. Because we all know I'm gonna need it! Companions. haha. But I
am so thankful to be a missionary!
We had a wonderful miracle this week. We have been meeting with two
young investigators, Marvin and Osvaldo, roommates and students here in
Lecco at the university. One of them is the son of one of the
investigators we met a month or so ago, and she referred him to us to teach
and fellowship. The first part of the miracle is that both of them came to
church this last Sunday, and expressed to us that they had a really
wonderful experience. We met with them the next day, and watched the
Testaments with them. At the end of the film, the spirit was so strong,
tears came to my eyes as I pondered about the love that our Savior truly
has for us. And I looked over, and Marvin's eyes were also wet with tears.
I felt the spirit manifest to me that he knew that this was true, and I
knew he had felt it too. As we discussed the film, we bore testimony of
our Savior, that he came to the world to save us, to be the example for us,
and to show us how to love and serve one another. Both of them said that
they found the film very "interesante", and I know that it touched him; as
it touched us as well. The Lord is so wonderful, and the spirit truly
bears testimony of the truth.
Well, I hope that everything is going well with you all, I love you
so very much! Everything here is just great!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
2014...that's weird! But it has been a great first day of the year! The
highlight of the day was probably when we went with a member to go play
BASKETBALL!!!!! Man! 4 months without playing ball takes a little toll on
a man...I may or may not be a tad rusty (But don't worry B, I can still
take you ;) ) haha!
Everything is going really well, we are still working with Martha to
get everything ready for her baptism on Sunday. The Mission President came
to visit Lecco this past Sunday, and spoke in sacarament meeting. He then
interviewed Martha right after the block. He came up to us after the
interview and said "Elders, very well done, she needs to be baptized!" So
we are really excited about that. She has already been baptized twice in 2
other churches, and that was a little bit of an obstacle for her and us to
work through, but she has such a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon.
Everything in this church depends on the veracity of the Book of Mormon.
Her testimony of that and Joseph Smith has pulled her through every single
trial that she has been having, and she has such faith. Remember her in
your prayers that all will be well with her in this wonderful time in her
life :)
The Michael family is doing well also! The husband is still really
having a hard time, we met with him today for an hour and a half and
discussed all that is going on in his life. He has had a really tough
life, but his faith is helping him to hang in there. They still need your
prayers very much.
The husband shared a wonderful experience of his with us today. He
was baptized this past June, and he spoke with us about when the other
missionaries were teaching him the Word of Wisdom. He said that the whole
time up until then when they would be meeting, he would smoke a cigarette
before and after, and he had been smoking for over 9 years. But as soon as
they gave him the Word of Wisdom pamphlet, and he read it, he said that
every time he had an urge to smoke, or was about to lay the money on the
table to buy some, "something would go through me, and I would think to
myself 'why are you doing this? Go spend your money on something else!' "
And he said that the Spirit of the Lord would move through him and take
away his urge to smoke. And two weeks before his baptism he just decided
to stop, and did. It was such a testimony-builder to me that 1 Nephi 3:7
is true, that the Lord will ALWAYS provide a way for his servants to
accomplish that which he commands them to do.
The new year was soooo crazy here in Italy. It was SO loud, with
fireworks (and we're pretty sure gun shots) going off everywhere, and
everyone screaming and throwing things out windows, and just everything.
We were in the church having our New Years ward party, and we did
something that I really actually thought was pretty cool. About 10 minutes
before the new year, we sang a hymn and a prayer and took a little time to
just ponder about the past year, and then look forward to all that was in
store for us the next year. It was special for me to think back at all the
things that I have experienced this past year. From college to summer to
work to missionary life, I have been through a lot of different "stages" I
guess we could call it. A lot of different mind-sets and ways of life.
But there has been one thing that has been the same the entire time.
Every time I had a trial or a struggle or a question, I always would get
on my knees and ask for advice from my loving Father in Heaven. And he
would always provide some sort of comfort or help, or friend, always in an
unexpected way, to pull me through and help me push forward in faith. That
got me thinking...it's like that not only with investigators also, but with
all of us. The Lord gives us a little here and a little there; just enough
to help us push forward a little more, and aswers our prayers in His time,
and in His way. And I just am so thankful for the help that He always gave
me, and continues to give me, and the He gives to all of you. We are very
blessed to have the gospel.
Oh, and by the way, for my new years resolution I chose to work on
patience. Because we all know I'm gonna need it! Companions. haha. But I
am so thankful to be a missionary!
We had a wonderful miracle this week. We have been meeting with two
young investigators, Marvin and Osvaldo, roommates and students here in
Lecco at the university. One of them is the son of one of the
investigators we met a month or so ago, and she referred him to us to teach
and fellowship. The first part of the miracle is that both of them came to
church this last Sunday, and expressed to us that they had a really
wonderful experience. We met with them the next day, and watched the
Testaments with them. At the end of the film, the spirit was so strong,
tears came to my eyes as I pondered about the love that our Savior truly
has for us. And I looked over, and Marvin's eyes were also wet with tears.
I felt the spirit manifest to me that he knew that this was true, and I
knew he had felt it too. As we discussed the film, we bore testimony of
our Savior, that he came to the world to save us, to be the example for us,
and to show us how to love and serve one another. Both of them said that
they found the film very "interesante", and I know that it touched him; as
it touched us as well. The Lord is so wonderful, and the spirit truly
bears testimony of the truth.
Well, I hope that everything is going well with you all, I love you
so very much! Everything here is just great!
Love,
Anziano Wilson
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