Anziano Orso Letter January 22, 2014

Felice Gennaio (Happy January) haha

how is everything?? today we took a train to a city called COMO, you should google it, its so pretty, one of the prettiest cities in the mission. there are a bunch of famous people who have houses here which is pretty cool. like the work is crazy here, my area is pretty big, so we take public transportation everywhere, subway, buses and trams. i have put new york a place i dont want to live when i get home. i couldnt live with the chaos everyday. haha. but its good for missionary work, its my favorite finding. because they're trapped and cant get off when i talk to them. one thing thats crazy here is a lot of people speak inglish, which makes sense, but its annoying because ill try to talk italian to them but then respond in inglish. i guess we're both trying to practice our languages haha. the ward here is really cool. full of south americans though....i should have probably paid more attention in spanish in high school. because everything thinks i can speak spanish because im from arizona.......-__- haha

thanks for all the support and everything. im doing pretty good on my goal. i made a goal to finish the bible by the time i hit my year mark. im in 2 sam. and i started reading in nov. i have about 5 more months haha.

ti voglio bene!! 

Anziano Orso Letter January 16, 2014

Happy January !

Nebbia, Discorso, e Miracoli!!

thursday was transfers so im now living in Naviglio Milano, which is not the prettiest haha, but there is a huge stream in the middle of the area which was designed by leonardo di vinci as a quicker way to get through the city, its basically a water free-way haha. so anyway im basically living in a city like new york. i have to take the metro (subway) and buses everywhere haha. but its a good place to do finding work and talk to people. i realized that im not a country boy, but im not a city boy either, i just like pheonix haha, arizona is the best place for me haha, even though its hot, i miss it. but not to much, im focused a lot on the work here, which is a good thing. now Milano during this time of the year is pretty depressing with the weather, i have been here for a week and i havent seen the sun haha, and at some times during the day there is thick fog....so its definitely different for me haha.

so on church on sunday i had to give a talk, which was my first time in the ward..... and my mission president was there, so i was really nervous, but i prayed the night before, in the morning. and i was really blessed with the knowledge and gift of tongues (being able to speak italian) it went awesome and everyone came up to me afterwards and told me how great it was. and because of my testimony and how i was a convert, we got many appointments to go over to their families and teach their friends and families. it was really awesome. it was the first time i ever gave a talk infront of the entire congregation. everyone in the ward here is really awesome. 

so our investigators in this area, there is a 22 yr old named Edwin, hes cool, im still getting to know him, hes chinese and we teach him in english. so its pretty easy. he has a bap. date for feb. 15! so we're helping him be ready for that day. next is two people named Oscar and nala, they're awesome too, they were found knocking on doors, and is interested in our church, and our message, but he has so many questions we can only get through little pieces of the messagio. and we have a member who is a less active, his name is francesco, hes really awesome! bravo, he was baptized at 17? and also served a mission. we're helping him come back to church, which i have strong faith he will! i pray for him everynight. i pray for all our investigators everynight. (and you guys too (: 

so we had the coolest miracolo last night!! so we got a referral from the mission office about a guy who lives in our area, and wanted to meet with missionaries from the church. so we went there last night, and it was awkward at first because he was tipsy, but we learned that this entire family is members, except him. and while we were there his wife came in (which we didnt know he has a wife) so she sat in and we taught them about the restoration. and learned he wanted to change his life. me and my companion shared awesome testimonies, the spirit was really strong. then he ended up calling his mom in peru and we learned it was his birthday. and she started crying when she learned we were there because she prayed for this as a gift for his birthday. it was amazing!!! so we're going back there friday!

im so thankful to be given this opportunity to be a blessing and answer to peoples prayers. i love being a missionary and i know this is the work of the lord. heavenly father has blessed me with an amazing family and friends. i am loving every single minute of my mission, even though somedays are hard, its helping me grow. i am blessed to be a servant in the lords work by helping them receive the restored gospel of jesus christ. and i know that the lord is always preparing his people. nel nome di Gesu' Cristo amen. ti volgio bene!! ciao!!

 

Anziano Orso Letter January 8, 2014

Ultimo settimana in Alessandri​a, e la fine del mio quattro trasferime​nto!!

this past week has been very busy, we had New Years, and zone conference, and one of my good friends here just left to go serve her  mission in spain madrid. and i found out that im going to be getting transferred again....they say usually this never happens, so im a rare case...but im excited because i will hit 3 cities before my year is up! anyway i learned that im getting transferred to Milano, and my companion is going to be Anz. Miller, is a Cool, guy who's 24yr, and is in two group above me. so im excited, ill be in a different zone so that means on my P-days i can now go to more things and see more things. 

one of the things the mission teaches you is to say goodbye, you go to many areas and become so attached to your ward or branch of amazing members, and you make so many friends, and then the Lord calls you to go to somewhere else. but i have made many friends, so after my mission luckily with facebook, i can keep in touch. 

so the teaching has been really slow these past weeks now.....because of the holidays everyone either cancelled, or bailed on us. so that was a disappointment. but we have still be able to talk to people on the street, even though they arent interested, we have good conversations and it leaves a good impression on the church! everyone thinks we are beautiful young men, but thats also because we're american too.....

so a funny story this week! in every building there is the breaker box. well in the churching one evening the kitchen was having issues, so we thought that it was tripped. so they tell me to go to the box and flip the switch for the kitchen, well i found it, and the second i flip it tripped the entire building, i basically killed the power in the entire church.... so it was pitch black with 15 young single adults and us missionaries. but there is an emergency box in the basement, so we go down there, and after 20 minutes we finally get the power on and the kitchen, so everything was all good. 15 minutes goes by and a member wants to heat up some food in the kitchen for their kid, she asked me to plug in the microwave, but it wasnt working, so she asks me to flip the switch behind the oven....ya, after i did that the power killed in the building again!!! i was like "im done helping! every time i help someone the power goes out!" haha it was really funny. so that was a funny story that happened to me this week. 

im going to miss alessandria a lot!! i have met so many awesome people here that have helped me grow as a person and just open my mind about life. im so blessed to be able to serve a mission here in italy and have the wonderful experience of culture, serving others and the Lord! i couldnt see myself in any other place right now. 

these are some photos with me and the members from the ward!! awesome People!! this is one of my favorite areas!!

Anziano Orso Letter January 1, 2014

Ciao Tutti !!

come state!!! these past few weeks have been insane and its hard to keep the week in order haha. but man december is always a filled week for everyone, Christmas (natale) new years (capodano) plus activities and everything else. work was crazy this week too!! a lot of things changed in the mission since i got here in the mission. new zones, new areas, mores missionaries. my mission has over 300 missionaries! thats insane.

christmas was awesome!! went to a families house and ate dinner, then skyped families, helped show me my reason why im out here! i also knew but its good getting that reassurance.

new years is crazy for everyone here!!! any chance italians can get to party they do it haha. which means its more work for us, but we had to be in the house by 5pm because people get intense when it gets dark haha. but the area that im in (alessandria) is full of a lot of teen that love soccer and basket! so we plan  a lot activities with the young adults and young men and women to help us, they bring friends and it helps us get cool with them, then they find out we're american and they get curious why we're here, its  a good finding tool for us here.

not sure whats going to happy but i may get transferred to a new city, we maybe getting sisters in this area, which means theyre going to kick my copia out haha. but its cool because i would have served in three cities within my first year on my mission, which is neat. because i have been in all three corners of the mission already!!! its excited to see italy!! 

the language is coming a lot better!!! i can have a conversation and understand what theyre saying, the only time i dont understand is when they say something that i havent learned yet, which is rare because i learned all the words that are used in normal conversation already.  i have seen many blessings already here with my language, because we run into english speakers every once and a while, and i have been able to help them!!! its cool!!

but i want to say this past year a lot has happened to me!! i decided to serve a mission, im 6 months in my mission and have see then change in my life, my family and the people i meet. i talked with my mission preseident and he told me, "the first 18 years of my life helped me get to this point right now, now use that knowledge and experience and serve the next 18 months of your mission as best and obedient as you can." thanks for everything!!! happy new year!!! merry christmas!! lets make 2014 the best we all can!!! ciao!! ti voglio bene!!

ps. the pic is me in Vincenza!! such an awesome and pretty place!!