JUNE 25, 2014

Buongiorno a tutti!

    So, transfers are this week!.......I'm staying in Rimini!  I am excited!  There are so many awesome investigators getting ready to be baptized in July...we have some serious work to do here, and I am excited to work hard!

   This week has been SO good!  Not that the work has changed super dramatically, but things just seem...brighter!  I just feel so happy, all the time! :) Which is strange...because I have never been so tired! ...so let's say I'm happy starting about an hour after I wake up...that's a little more honest. I love being a missionary!

   The summer is officially here!! Hurray for the hottest and most humid place on the planet!!  We walk outside this morning, and I just think to myself..."are we still on earth!?" So. Hot.   But it actually rained today...for like 5 seconds.  but we enjoyed it while it lasted!

    We are still planning an awesome Tree of Life activity so the members can invite their friends!...it's going to be awesome!  We did a "test-run" set up in the church, it is pretty scary walking with your eyes closed!  Plus we are going to have Fratello Saliaj (the second counselor in the bishopric...from Albania) be the guy shouting things from the "great and spacious building" at those walking.  He was there when we did the practice....nothing like a crazy Albanian guy to make the activity a blast!  He is so funny!  "So, you're just going to stand right up here and shout discouraging things at those walking by the iron rod...but be nice, because there will be investigators there...but feel free to shout lots of things."   "What kinds of things!?  ...You're short!  You walk funny!  You!..why don't you come to church!? *begins taking his shoe off to throw*"  ..........hmm...

    I had a really awesome insight the other day while I was reading 1 Nephi chapter 10 for personal study.  Verses 17-22 say this "17 And it came to pass after I, Nephi, having heard all the words of my father, concerning the things which he saw in a vision, and also the things which he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost, which power he received by faith on the Son of God—and the Son of God was the Messiah who should come—I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men. 18 For he is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him. 19 For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round. 20 Therefore remember, O man, for all thy doings thou shalt be brought into judgment. 21 Wherefore, if ye have sought to do wickedly in the days of your probation, then ye are found unclean before the judgment-seat of God; and no unclean thing can dwell with God; wherefore, ye must be cast off forever. 22 And the Holy Ghost giveth authority that I should speak these things, and deny them not".  Those few verses, that I have read probably over a dozen times, hit me really hard that day.  The things that i put in bold are a few of the phrases that I especially liked.  It is amazing to me how the Lord gives knowledge and power so freely, as long as we qualify for it.  As a missionary, it is my duty and expectation to teach by this same power, the power of the Holy Ghost, and I loved theses verses because they reassure me that even though I am weak and so imperfect, if I diligently seek the Lord's help and guidance, He will help me, and I will be able to be an instrument in His hands to help make the world a better place.

   Miracle:  Well, for starters we FINALLY met with Cristian again!  He broke his arm last Sunday, and so he can't work for a while, and so after two weeks of straight cancellations we were finally able to meet!  It was a great lesson and we plan to return on Thursday with Fratello Canuti, who we take to 90% of the lessons with him.  He has been a great help, and Cristian is a really sincere man. He has finished reading all the way through Alma in the Book of Mormon!  He has a really strong testimony and desire to be baptized, but it is just a matter of helping him gain the willpower and internal strength to overcome smoking and other difficult habits he is struggling with.
  But the miracle for me this week was definitely the zone conference that we had.  We had been having a rough couple of weeks with cancellations and investigators dropping us, and we just were a little down on ourselves; working hard but not exactly having the best attitude about it.  The zone conference about consecration was just what I needed.  I have been trying these past few weeks to really consecrate myself, and give up my own will to what the Lord wants for me, and that conference was exactly the spiritual boost I needed.  I loved every second of it!  I am now back on track to working my absolute hardest to consecrate this time, especially when it's hard, and I know that the Lord will continue to bless us with people to teach and help, and with miracles.
   Everything is still going really well here in Rimini.  I know that this is where the Lord needs me, and so I will serve to the best of my ability to be able to do all that He expects of me.  There are people here searching for the truth, I just know it! 

   I just love Italy!  We were talking in consiglio with the ward about an activity we could do, and we mentioned a date, and the bishop was like "anyone foresee problems with that date?"  and someone was like "well, italy is playing in the world cup that day...so noone is going to be there." and the bishop was instantly just like " Oh! The world cup is on that night!? yeah, we better switch that, not even the members will show up!  I just love the Italian culture!

    I love you all tons and am thankful for your prayers and support and love!  I love you all and wish you a wonderful week! I would write more but there is a mosquito that has been flying right past my face back and forth in front of me for the past 5 minutes...and I just found out that it bit me right on the elbow....so its time to take care of some business.  Talk to you next week!

Love,

    Anziano Wilson

JUNE 18, 2014

Buona something!
   Greetings and salutations!  I don't have a whole lot to say this week, so I will probably end up just rambling on and on in some kind of run-on sentence with a whole bunch of words and phrases (and parenthetical asides...if that's a thing?) but at the end of the sentence not really even say anything of great importance.  ...but hey! My typing is getting a lot better!  I'm gonna be prepared for writing all the papers in college when I get home!  But anyways...
   So this week has been pretty alright.   Don't get me wrong, I love being a missionary, but this week was a little tough.  It just feels like all of our investigators are falling off the face of the map! And when we go out to talk to people on the street they just yell at us saying we are crazy or think we are JW's and basically run the other way. I don't get what it is! It must just be a Rimini thing, because the same thing is happening with the sisters... you know what, I bet it's the World Cup! EVERYONE is watching the World Cup!  There are TVs set up in the middle of centro and like everyone when the games are on.  Italians and their soccer...  
   But!  We are working hard and we know that this is just a "miracle fence" ( I wish I could draw what that is...) but basically it is a line that goes down and down until it hits the lowest point, and then it shoots up with a miracle and goes way up, and then unfortunately sometimes repeats!  But I know that there are great things in store for this place, and we are on our way to a miracle!
  This month of June for Europe (maybe in the US too...?) is the month of invitation, where the First Presidency has asked all of Europe's members to search and pray especially hard to find someone or be able to invite one of their friends to come with them to sacrament meeting!  We have been working hard with the ward, and have an AWESOME activity planned for the 24th....despite having less than a week's notice, it is going to be awesome.  Let's just say there will be blindfolds, lots of food, and... LOTS of FOOD!  ...we are planning a food cook-off (with us missionaries taking one for the team and being the judges)...since Rimini has 5 professional cooks in the ward, it should be pretty good!
   Cristian. Oh Cristian.  He found work, which is a great thing, but he has just become so "weefy" and cancels appointments with us like every time for the past 2 weeks.  But we won't give up on him, he is so close!  And he has read all the way through Alma in the Book of Mormon!  That's farther than I've gotten in Italian already!
   Miracle:  Despite all the hard stuff, we had a really wonderful miracle this week: We finally established contact again with Morris! Finally! We hadn't been able to speak with him or see him for about a month or so, due to several reasons,  but we finally were able to meet with him, establish his concerns and ours, and we are now beginning to work through it again and he is on his way to baptism in July! We still have a few things to clear up with him and make sure are totally clear, but we played the whole "Anziano Mata'u is new here and much more experienced than I am in these things"  card, and had him conduct a little one-on-one interview with him....that seemed to really help him a lot realize why the authority in this church is so important.. and he came to church!  So we were really excited about that! We'll see how things go with that.
  So yeah, we have had a bit of a tough week with maybe not a whole lot of success...but there have to be down weeks for there to be up weeks! :)  We are still working hard and trying to get more progressing investigators so we can involve the amazing members we have here!  Our plans for the month of invitation are to ask all of our investigators (that we can meet) to invite another person to come to church; and we are planning an awesome activity for the 24th so the members can invite their friends!
  I hope everything is still going well at home, I am really loving it here even when it's hard. The hard times really don't matter to me at all...because I know I'm trying my best and that the Lord didn't send His missionaries to Italy to fail.  Someone has been touched, and I am thankful for all the time I have left here to try to make a difference!
  I know that the work of the Lord will go forth to all the corners of the earth, all in His time, and I am so thankful to be a part of it.  There are precious children of God here that need what we have, and I am thankful for the chance we have to try to make the world a better and happier place!
   I love you all a ton, and am so thankful for your support and prayers and the great people you are!  I pray for you all each night!
   Love,
         Anziano Wilson

JUNE 11, 2014

Buongiorno famiglia!!
   This week has been pretty amazing!  It is SOOOO HOT. And so humid. 
At this point we are just constantly sweating, all the time, it is the worst. My companion says I'll get used to it...yeah, still waiting for that.  (the employee that works at this internet point just hooked up a huge fan to the wall right next to me...so this is what heaven feels like...) :)
    But as far as the work goes, it is going GREAT!!  We still have been having a little trouble working with our investigators to get them to start coming to church and progressing, but we have been seeing so many miracles!  The ward here just got their first bishop EVER!! Vescovo Zufolini!  He is such a great guy, I am so excited for that.  The ward has great things in store, I can feel it!
   Cristian is still doing relatively well.  He found work!  Which is a huge blessing for him and his family (and really, really hard to do here in Italy with this crisis going on), but it also means we can't meet with him as often.  But he has already read all the way through Alma in the Book of Mormon!  He is having some wonderful experiences with  that.
   Stanley is doing Super well as well! He is such a tender-hearted guy!  Sincerely searching and just wants to know everything about the gospel. We recently taught him about what the 10 commandments are and why the are so important. He loved it!
   Last sunday there was a historic conference especially for Europe, held and transmitted from Swirtzerland: Elder Andersen and President Uchtdorf spoke to us about their experiences living in Europe and about sharing the gospel.  They spoke about the special culture here, and how it is such a blessing to be here, even if the people are a little more closed to many of the principles in the gospel.  I remember vividly something that President Uchtdorf said: "My dear friends, just hold on a little longer.  There are great blessings in store for this special land.  All in the time of the Lord."  (or at least something like that.)  I loved that comment.
   He also spoke about when he was taking a taxi on his way to his hotel after arriving, and how he had had an opportunity to share the gospel with the taxi driver.  During the conversation the driver asked something about why the family is so important to the church, and why there are such extensive family history programs in the church.  President Uchtdorf's reply was classic.  "Well, we don't have a whole lot of time right now, and I'm not so good at explaining things anyway, but why  don't I give your information to some of our missionaries.  They are better at explaining these things anyway, and can tell you exactly why it is so important."  I thought that was funny...a member of the First Presidency saying that.  But a perfect example of how everyday referrals to the missionaries can work.  Can you imagine being a missionary and getting a referral from President Uchtdorf!?  I bet the missionaries there were pretty excited!
   So we had a bunch of extra cookie dough from when we made cookies for a district meeting, so we made a cookie pizza the other day! A big cookie, the size of a pizza. So that was exciting.  I asked my companion if we should try eating it with tomato sauce...but he declined (he was secretly excited about the idea, let's be honest.)
   Also I bought a basketball!!  We found one (finally!) in a Chinese store, and so that is going to be sweet, as soon as we find a court...
   My bike brakes have recently begun to screech like a banshee every time I brake...so loud....so with that coupled with the big laminated sign we made and attached to the bike that says "La Chiesa di Gesù Cristo dei Santi degli ultimi giorni   Mormon.org"...everyone in Italy knows when the Mormons are coming.
        Miracle:This week we had a wonderful miracle!!  One of the families in our ward, the Canuti family, invited two of their friends over for a family-home-evening, and invited us to come over as well!  It was a wonderful experience; one of the people who came over for the activity was baptized when he was 19, and still has a solid testimony of the Gospel, but hasn't been active in the church for many years (he is 44 now).  He and his girlfriend, who had no knowledge of all of the church, or anything about it, came over to eat dinner with us and after we shared the message of the Restoration.  The spirit was so strong as we testified of the Savior, and especially when the man, Roberto, bore his testimony of when he was baptized and the spirit he felt.  At the end of the message Fratello Canuti offered the woman a Book of Mormon to read, and she accepted it!  She said "oh thank you!  Now I have something to read while I'm at the beach!"  ...Whatever gets her to read I guess.  She is really a special person, with an honest and searching soul, and we could notice in her eyes the real interest she had in the message we were sharing, especially after her boyfriend's testimony.  We are expecting and praying for great things with them!  What a blessing it is to be a missionary!
   I am really tired these days, but I truly have felt the extra strength that comes from the Lord as we do our best to keep going 100% even and especially when it's tough.  It is one of the greatest things about being a missionary.  I just love being a missionary so much. It's the best thing!
   Thank you all so much for your prayers and support, I love you all!!  Have a wonderful week!
-Anziano Wilson

JUNE 4, 2014

Buongiorno a tutti!!! :)  Man, the mission is just the greatest thing ever!  This week has been pretty difficult, not going to lie, but I have just been learning and growing so much.  It is really hard sometimes when people are searching for faith and answers and just aren't willing at all to change or put in effort to try to find the answers, saying simply "When we get to the other side we will all find out..."  Yeah!  We will!  And that's why we are here; to help you know what we need to do before we get there and it's too late! ...  it's just so sad! :/
    But anyways, on to more positive subjects!  We had a pretty excited experience last week trying to get our new house fans home 
(it is getting SO hot! and my companion and I had a nice conversation that went a little like this: 
"Do we have fans?"  
"No, why?" 
"What!?! Have you been here for the summer yet?"  "
I was here in September...it was pretty hot.  Does it get hotter than that?"
"...we're going to get fans. we are going right now to get fans.")
....with only bikes....like 5 miles away...uphill in a blizzard both ways!  Just kidding, but the fans were HUGE and we had only one tiny basket on my companion's bike...but an eagle scout is thrifty, so we thought up a genius plan.  We used a pen to make holes in the big cardboard box, and slipped our bike chain through the holes, and then just chained the big box to me! Great idea, right? It was a pretty exciting ride!  Especially when we were stopped in the parking lot by a Sri Lankan guy who was like "Elders!!  I know who you are!  I used to go to your church in my country...why are you attached to a fan?..." haha.  It was a good time though.
  Besides that the work is going pretty okay.  We have so many investigators...but NOONE WILL ANSWER THEIR PHONE!!! Man, I feel like we are the only humans in italy who use phones....and also who don't smoke...but that's another story.  Even our super elect, never-failing investigators have just dropped off the face of the map.  So, we have been out on the streets doing a lot of preaching, and just not seeing a whole lot of success.  But I know the Lord has a big plan for all of it, and that he has gone before us to prepare the way.  So onward we go!  Onward and upward! 
   Miracle:  We had an amazing miracle this past week.  One of the members of our ward, Sunny, recently found out that there would be a rich tourist family moving into his house for the summer, and because they were paying more for the house than Sunny and his roommates, the landlord basically just kicked them out; giving them 10 days notice to find a new place to stay.  As soon as we found out, we let the Elder's Quorum President know, and he worked wonders, calling so many people and doing so much to find Sunny an apartment...but to no avail.   Things didn't seem to be working out at all, and with this stress of not finding a house, coupled with no sleep and two 10-hour night shifts in a row, poor Sunny was so depressed and really having a hard time, pleading for some kind of help, and answer. Sunny was kicked out with all of his stuff on the Saturday morning, and things were not looking good at all.   Luckily it was fast Sunday this past Sunday, and both us Anziani and the sisters included in our purpose of our fast, that Sunny would be able to find a place to stay.  We continued with regular missionary activities that Saturday, met with Sunny, and kept a prayer in our hearts all day.  
    Finally, at about 8:30 Saturday night, Fratello Canuti called us to inform us that, miraculously, someone had just then moved out of an old apartment where Sunny used to stay, and there was an available room there, for exactly the amount of money that Sunny was able to provide.  Sunny is now moved into his new apartment, and we were able to go over there to read some scriptures together He was so very grateful for the help that this valiant Elder's Quorum President so willingly provided.  The new apartment that Sunny is living in now is 10 times better than his old apartment as well!  What a miracle!
   Everything here is going really well, I am loving being a missionary so much. It is so hard, but you just truly have the experiences of a lifetime--experiences that have and will shape who I am and how I confront difficulty for the rest of my life.  Plus I learned how to solve a Rubix cube!....so that's another thing.
   I am so thankful for all of your prayers and support for me and for our investigators.  I pray for you all every night, and am so thankful for the wonderful family and friends I have been privileged to meet in my life.  Heavenly Father has been so good to me.  I love you all!
-Anziano Wilson

MAY 28, 2014

Buongiorno!!! :)
    So the work here is going GREAT!  Besides the fact that we can't seem to get a hold of ANY of our 30 investigators to set up lessons!! But, that's just how the work of a missionary in Italy goes sometimes...I still am loving it!
   Let's see....it's getting really hot.  Really, hot.  So that's a good time.  We just got permission from the office to go buy a bunch of fans for the apartment...because Italians don't have air conditioning....they think it will make you deathly ill...
    We had a wonderful activity last night at the church; the son of the 1st counselor in the stake presidency is leaving for her mission to temple square within the next week or so, and so we had a nice farewell party for her....and of course we invited our investigators! I love Italian parties...they are nuts.  Screaming and shouting and tons of food.  But super fun!
   There were two new investigators that came to the party and really enjoyed it; Giorgio and his son Carlino...(?).  They are from Colombia....and speak spanish!!  I love it when people speak spanish to me; it is getting to the point where I have established enough of the base of Italian that it doesn't throw me off anymore to speak/try to remember the Spanish I learned in highschool (which is limited)...so they enjoyed laughing at me trying to speak with them in broken Spanish/Italian mix.   We have kind of a joke here among the missionaries that to speak spanish all you have to do is speak Italian but add an 's' at the end of every word.  Buongiornos amicos!  haha.  But that's really not true at all.  But sometimes it works!...and they at least understand what you are trying to say...mostly.  Anyway they enjoyed the party! And we set up an appointment to meet with them and talk about the gospel on Thursday!  They are so nice and I am really excited for that!  They were brought to church by a young man in the ward, Emmanuele, and he will be there as well!
  I had a wondeful scambio (companion exchange) with our district leader, Anziano Chamberlain, this week.  He is a hoot.  The dryest sense of  humor, but oh, it was a blast!  He is a great missionary!  I learned a lot about using different finding techniques with him, and we both had a really good experience getting 4 cancelled appointments but regardless finding and teaching 6 people lessons on Monday!
           Miracle:  This week has been a little tough in terms of finding chances to meet with our progressing investigators...for some reason ALL of them were busy!  So we ended up with a lot of cancelled appointments, and so a lot of finding work.  But we have had some wonderful experiences! We experienced a really cool miracle on Thursday.  We met this man sitting on some random steps in the middle of centro, and started a conversation and ended up sitting down and explaining the entire Restoration to this guy...during which he was really engaged and listening and asking questions!  The spirit was super strong right after we quoted the First Vision using Joseph Smith's words (as it usually is), and as we recognized and explained to him that what he was feeling comes from God; from the Holy Ghost, who testifies of truth, tears came to his and our eyes.  We asked him to pray to ask God if what he had just heard was true.  He said a wonderful prayer, after which he explained to us that he has been having a lot of difficulties recently and that he had forgotten to pray for a long time...but that he was glad he was reminded.
   He said that he would rather not give us his phone number, but that we would "see each other around" (we all know what that means...)  But he is super nice, and i hope that the Lord will touch his heart and that he will decide to call our phone number that we left with him.  Regardless, it was a really special experience for me, one in which we felt the Spirit of the Lord very strongly!
   All else is going relatively well.  We are working to establish contact with our investigators...we have a lot of them; it is just fixing lessons that seems to be the struggle right now.  But the Lord is here preparing the way for us, and as long as we do our best, He will help us find a way!
     Thank you all so much for your support and prayers for me and our investigators. We are still working with Cristian to stop smoking...that is proving to be really difficult.  But, he has read like 400 pages in the Book of Mormon so far..."this book is like magic for me!  Whenever I feel anxious or sad I read it...and then I have peace!"  The poor guy is the only one in his family of 4 who wants to quit smoking.  So he still needs your prayers!
   I love you all and wish you a fantastic week!  Adiòs amigos!
-Anziano Wilson