Rendiamo grazie a dio - Week 58

Ciao tutti. Spero che tutti di voi state preparando di sentire le parole questa weekend. Non è spesso che abbiamo questa opportunità di vedere i incarichi di tre apostoli. Io so che riceveremo un spirit dolce se ascolteremo alle parole da loro.  (Translation: Hello everybody. I hope all of you are preparing to hear words this weekend. It is not often that we have this opportunity to see the positions of three apostles. I know that we will receive a spirit sweet if we listen to the words from them .)

New transfer calls came in this week and my companion Anziano M. will be leaving. For being a young missionary, I know he is going to do great things, as I learned so much from him. My new companion will be Anziano C. from Los Angeles, for which I'm pretty excited about. He has been on his mission only for 3 months but is a great missionary. Seeing him at our zone trainings, he is always a happy guy and we have already become friends just at these trainings, so I believe we will do some great work together.

The week was mostly set with goodbyes but it was still a productive week. The sisters in our area had a baptism for a girl of 11 years of age that we all had been helping out. We made sure we would get the whole ward involved in this baptism because we wanted to bring as many investigators as we could to see the baptism. The ward responded gladly and a couple of our investigators, including her dad who isn’t a member, got really emotional during the baptism. The spirit could not have been any more present than it was at that baptism. The Sunday confirmation was quite stressful, but ended up being perfect. Our mission president decided to attend our church for the confirmation and we got a lot of our investigators to commit to coming to church. As my companion and I were sitting down next to some members, we noticed church was about to begin, but the girl who was recently baptized, our investigators, and the rides for our investigators still weren't here. I then got a call from the girl’s mother saying their car wasn't working and they were stuck. So at the beginning of the meeting I had to sneak up to the stand to inform the bishopric that we needed to get them here. One of the bishopric members then raced off to pick them up. As time went by, we saw two of our investigators show up. But time was running out for sacrament meeting and the confirmation. I was praying super hard that they would show up.  Our mission president was in our ward, we had investigators in church, they just had to show up. As the last speaker was speaking, I noticed he was going a little longer than usual and out of the corner of my eye I saw the family with the bishopric member. She was confirmed just before the end of sacrament meeting. The rest of church went fantastic. Our mission president helped teach our investigators, and I just knew the lord has blessed us immensely.

T.G. (I finally asked him to write his name down for me because I could never understand it fully. I then realized it was literally "Thank God" #Perfect) is making tremendous progress. He knows what we are teaching him is true. He always wants to be around us so he can let the word of God sink into his heart every day. I truly know he is being prepared to be a great person.

C. is making great progress as well. We are focusing on "are we better today then we were yesterday?" as a guide towards the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to be an eternal progression; we can never stop bettering ourselves. Once we notice we can better ourselves, and ARE bettering ourselves we can notice the gospel working in our lives.

P. is doing great, he really enjoys young mens and asking questions. He really understands the need to be more like the savior Jesus Christ. If we follow his example we will know what we need to do to return to him. I truly think he is being a great example to his peers and will accept the gospel in his life.

I know this gospel is true. I am a witness of Christ. I have seen Him work in me for the salvation of others, and acts as a perfect example of our Heavenly Father. He has given us the way back, and suffered for our sins so we may return to our Father above. As we listen to conference this week I hope we all have questions in our hearts, and seek for inspiration. I promise the spirit will speak individually and teach us all the things WE need to hear.

Have a great week everyone

Anziano Chase

Perché egli vive

Il nostro padre celeste - Week 57

Hello everyone.

This week was just your typical week as a missionary.

Working hard and helping people come closer to Christ. This week went

a little slow with some of our investigators but we keep moving

forward.

Tangod is doing great, I've never taught anyone who has had so many

deep spiritual questions and desire. He really wants to know more

about our Heavenly Father. We had a great lesson with him and he said

he was filled with the spirit in church. He wants to continue his

progression so he can be baptized, and he keeps giving us perfect

questions for us to help him.

Christian is doing well. We taught him about the Ten Commandments and

we really focused on helping him feel the blessings of following God's

teachings. We can't receive blessings from God without doing something

to receive it. I use to think God blesses people just because he can,

but I realized that God is a just God, and in order to bless his

children he gives us promised blessings through commandments. As we

follow his commandments it enables him to bless us. Without this he

would not be able to be a fair/just God at the same time as a loving

God.

Yaw is doing well. We had a lesson on the restoration of the

priesthood. The restored priesthood authority gives us the enabling

power to perform sacred ordinances such as baptism. We taught him that

it isn't wrong that he had been baptized in a church. We taught him

that through the restored priesthood, he is able to receive the gift

of the Holy Ghost, and many blessings that can only be giving through

His(God's) priesthood. He understood it and said he would pray to know

if it is true.

I did a two day exchange in Varese this week and it was a little hard.

There are not many investigators in the city at the moment, so we knew

we were going to be looking for new people to teach. For hours and

hours we stopped people, preaching simple truths, but we're not

getting anyone who was interested. We finished the first day with no

one new that we could meet in the future. We taught a lot of people,

but ended without anyone wanting to know more. We thought maybe the

next day would go better. It ended up the same way. After leaving for

my city I felt like I didn't do enough to help the other elders get

new investigators, but as I was stopping people in my city I ended up

finding a couple of people who were interested in our message but

lived in Varese. I was able to give the other elders their numbers but

when they called the people were no longer interested. I felt like I

had failed. Then, as I was praying before bed that night, I felt a

revelation in my heart. I felt God testifying to me that I did all

that I needed to do. That I taught his children and tried my best to

help people know of him. Sometimes we only think we are doing well if

there are numbers to back up our efforts, but I realized it is the

effort behind our work that lets us know if we are succeeding. No, I

didn't find anyone new, but God didn't ask me to find them new people,

he asked me to bring his word to his children in Italy. And if I'm

doing that them I am successful. Some people will listen, some won't,

but the effort in our work makes all the difference.

I just want to leave with a thought on our Heavenly Father. He truly

knows us. Just as he knew my heart and intentions on my exchange, He

truly knows what we need to hear, do, or see. He is the master of all

things. Everything of God invites and enticiths to do good. He is what

we are trying to become. That is why we are here. And He is always

waiting to lend us a hand. He only gives us commandments and teachings

to bring us back to him. He loves us more than we can ever imagine,

and is waiting for us with open arms.

I know this gospel is true. The gospel has been restored on the earth,

and its teachings are meant for us, not yesterday, or the future, but

for right now. I know we can find true happiness through the teachings

of Jesus Christ. He lives.

Have a great week!

Anziano Chase

Perché egli vive🇮🇹🇮🇹🇺🇸🇺🇸

Busto Arsizio - Week 56

Hey everyone,

I'm really starting to run out of little openers to say, so I'll really just get straight to it this time. This week definitely had its up and downs. But in the end I'm always still happy with the week.

So this week the focus was on getting all our investigators to church. After going through all the ways to get people to church, through rides, directions, and even plans to walk with them (which from our
starting point would take an hour on foot) we felt we had done everything we needed to do. The person we were going to walk with ended up canceling, and every single investigator who had a ride also cancelled. Sitting in church, we felt just helpless wondering what more we could have done. Then I turn around to say hi to a member, and see one of our investigators sitting in a chair in the chapel. He came by himself on his bike because we had talked about church. I was a little shocked, because out of all the people we thought might come to church, he would be the least likely because he wasn't sure he could come and he was on bike. He ended up having a great experience, and I
learned that the Lord will always help us if we are doing all that we can. It may not be how we expect it to be at the end, but it is none the less still a blessing from the lord. I know everyone else will find their way to church in the end if we keep helping them, but I know now that the Lord is always going to help us in one way or another.

C. is doing really well. We taught him the word of wisdom and he wasn't really that phased. The tea thing confused him a little bit, but when we talked about, how sometimes we don't understand why God asks us to follow certain commandments, but it is an explicit demonstration of our faith in him. We don't always need to know why, but we do need to believe that it is to bless us.

M. had a little busy week, but we will be seeing him in the end of this week

C. is doing good, we read Alma 7 together and talked about God works within us. Nothing can change us in the gospel unless we allow it to get inside us. As missionaries we teach unto the people, and the spirit works in the people. We have to allow the savior and the spirit into our lives if we want to make any change. He really liked that and slowly is starting to feel more confident that the Lord is making changes in him everyday.

Y. is doing well too. He is becoming a lot more open with us, which to me is a sign that he truly trusts us and the gospel. When we were talking about the principles of the gospel he pointed out how nice it is to know that there is always a companion in the Holy Ghost, that we can feel secure and comforted in times of trial. He really is making a change in himself, and I see him as a much happier man already.

We met a new investigator named T.G. He came to Italy about 2 months ago and has been searching for a church to worship at. He met us and told us how he has been blessed with work because he made the promise to worship God on Sunday and never work Sunday. When we introduced him to the restoration of the gospel he became super excited and wants to come to church with us this following Sunday.

I've been focusing a lot these last couple days on the importance of having faith without extreme experiences, and even more in continuing in that same faith. I was thinking about Hyrum Smith, the brother of Joseph the prophet. Hyrum never saw angels like Joseph and Oliver Cowdery. Oliver was a great help to Joseph when things were going great, but when trials arose, he would murmur and fall away. Hyrum, he stayed faithful through it all. He never doubted the religion his brother restored, he followed the teachings of Christ, and he too sealed it with his blood alongside Joseph. We don't need a vision of God the father to know that he is real. We don't need to see the gold plates to know the Book of Mormon is true. We get that revelation through promptings of the Holy Ghost. And how blessed are we when we follow these teachings. The rewards in the heavens will be immeasurable. I know each and everyone of us can receive our own confirmation of the divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we will be blessed for our efforts as we endure to the end.

I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, I don't need him to come say it to me, because I already know it to be true, I know Thomas S Monson is a prophet called of God. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's church upon the earth today, and I know that God answers our prayers.

Have a great week everyone!

Anziano Chase

Perché egli vive🇮🇹🇮🇹🇺🇸🇺🇸

Le scritture sono per noi - Week 55

Hey everyone!

This week went by incredibly fast, I don't know where to
start. We met a lot of new people and it just is going good.

So we had the great privilege of having Elder Kearon of the quorum of
the seventy come and visit our mission. He is our new area president.
He gave a great teaching to us. I could talk about so many things he
said, but I will simplify my thoughts to about how we need to become
the message that we teach. We teach so many great principles, and the
best way for people to understand them is if they see it in us. He
also gave a lot of thanks to us about what we have already done.
Missionary work should be happy work, and that we cannot forget about
our new converts. He said "twice in white" and it is true. True
salvation can only come when we are baptized and go through the
temple. It's never a one and done thing in the gospel. Anyways it was
just a great conference. On to the work.

We received a referral from the Varese Anziani about a man named
Mercy. He was with a friend that was being taught in Varese and
wanted to know more. It just happened that he lived in our area. We
set an appointment with him, and as we went to meet him, he was there
and brought a friend named Joel, who also wanted to know more. We had a
great lesson with them and we are going to be seeing a lot more of
them.

We were walking through a park one afternoon, after church and we saw
fFank, one of our investigators that left for vacation in August. We
greeted him and started to talk about what we had wanted to teach
him before he left. He asked us to finish the lesson, and as we were
teaching his friend, Desmund, came. We had a spiritual lesson on the
plan of salvation.

One of our new investigators, Christian, came to church with us because
his friend, Terry, one of the members in Busto, kept telling him how
great church is. He came and during priesthood we decided to teach him
a lesson in another classroom. As we were teaching him, it was as if
everything he would reply in my questions went along with what I was
about to teach him. He had been so spiritually prepared before I
taught him. Terry bore a bold testimony, and when I asked him if he
believed these things to be true, he proudly said yes. Now we are
helping him progress so he can be baptized soon!

Prosper and Delfino were busy this week, but we were also, so we hope
to have a good lesson with them in the very near future.

For family home evening I had the privilege of teaching
everyone how to make American cookies. Boy were the people excited! We also
decided to use the cookies as a parable for a lesson about how
to make cookies, we need ingredients and a recipe. We need different
things to put together a testimony of faith. Once we put our
"ingredients" together we need to nurture them in the oven, allow it
to solidify, and then watch our cookie dough ball become that
delicious cookie.

I also had the privilege of giving some instruction to my district
this week. The desired subject asked by the assistants was to talk
about what we learned at the conference with Elder Kearon. So I took a
lot about he taught us to have faith in our work, and molded it into a
training that assists it. We always talk about how we need to find
more faith in what we do, and that is absolutely necessary, we can't
grow without it. But my focus in the training was to help us realize
the faith we already have. Sometimes we spend so much time wondering
why we don't have the same firm faith as others, that we disregard our
own testimonies. My two questions of focus were, "what has God already
done for you in your life?" And "what have we already done for God?"
Our testimonies are always growing, and the most common way they grow
is through experiences, what God has done for us, and in turn what we
did for him. When we notice what we have done for him in the past it
is able to assure of us the faith we have expressed. If we truly want
to build our faith, we have to build it off of the faith we already have.
So why not make an account of the everything that has made you who you
are today. I know each and everyone of us have stronger testimonies
than we give ourselves credit for, and when we stop and realize the
things that have already happened in our lives we can have the faith
to increase that faith we had.

I know this gospel is true, I know God loves us. He lives, and he
loves each and every one of us.

Anziano Chase

I was playing the piano and my companion decide to have some fun