La vita missionario - Week 79

This week has been long, and short at the same time. We were full with our days, but lots of travel was included. This week I have only spent two days in my serving city Gorizia.

Friday we spent in Mestre for a zone conference. We focused on the importance of intense studying, and speaking our language more. Sometimes when we start our studies, especially our language studies, we zone out. We don't make it effective. If we don't put the effort into our studies, we are just wasting time. We won't get the results as often as we want, and we will not want to study. When we study, practice, and evaluate during our studies, we can hash out the mistakes more frequently.

Conferenza della zona

Saturday we helped a family in our branch move 2 tons of wood from their yard to their storage unit. My arms still feel a little sore. After we went to the Saturday evening session of stake conference in
Mestre. We met Elder Adler of the seventy. He was talking to us, and we didn't even realize who he was until after he walked to the podium to speak. He said some very profound things though. He used a driving analogy for the gospel. There can be noise to our left, and noise to our right, but we can still drive the car. In the world there will be plenty of "noise" or distractions all around us, but we can always choose to "drive", or focus on the savior as Elder Adler put it.

Sunday we went back to Mestre again for the Sunday session of stake conference. It was really nice because I got to see all the members of the Vicenza branch and military ward.

Monday I went to Udine to do an exchange with one of the missionaries in the district. To be honest it was one of the most unique days I've had in my mission. We had no appointments the whole day so we were on the streets looking for people to talk to. We ended up running with one guy to teach him, we met some guy in a local park, after it got pitch black, and then we say a lady on the first floor (which is the 2nd for America) looking out the window, and said hi to her, and started teaching her from the street. We had decided that whatever opportunities came our way, we would make the most of it, and that we did.

So for an update on the people we got to see this week. P. is doing well. He's still reading the Book of Mormon, he just has problems being free on Sunday. G. is doing well. He struggles with the idea of life after death, but is willing to pray about it. M. is doing well, we focused on the importance of having spiritual conversion daily.

On Tuesday we had this awesome opportunity to give two elementary school classes a tour of the church. We had about 40 ten year olds show up to the church in the morning with parents and teachers. We gave a presentation of how he church was established, watched a church video presentation, gave them a tour of the building, and answered questions they had. These kids were soo smart. I was honestly shocked at how intelligent their questions were. At the end we were able to give each one of them a Book of Mormon and some information about the church. We hope we can see some of them again.

Handing out 40 copies

Just one thing I want to leave on was a question that one of the kids asked me. He asked how we feel when we start to talk about God and Jesus Christ. That question kind of struck me. I realized that
sometimes I forget how how I feel when I talk about them. As a missionary I talk about them everyday, and as this kid asked me this question I recognized the feeling that I get when I talk about them. I feel a strange calmness and peace that always soothes me. Then I realized sometimes in order to feel the spirit, we need to have the desire to receive a feeling. We need to try and feel something. And when we do feel it, we need to write that feeling down. We need to recognize the feelings we get when we receive them. It helps us when we start forgetting the conversion we had in the first place.

I know that Heavenly Father gives us spiritual witnesses and that we can have them over and over again, if we let it get inside of us. I know he loves us!

Una bella domanda

I treni.... - Week 78

Hey everyone. I hope you all had a good week. This week has still been wet, we scarcely get a day without water pouring down on us.

So this week has been busy. Thursday we went and did more work for the Codarin family. I love working in the fields with them. It's a different type of work than I'm used to, but missionary work means service, and I enjoy this service. We are really close with D., the father who is not a member. He acts like a member, but for some reason is not baptized. We have been trying to figure out what is keeping him from this step, but we know the spirit is working hard on him.

P. is doing ok, he's been busing traveling, but still is reading from the Book of Mormon. G. is doing good, we watched the Mormon message about leaving behind old dirt that has been transformed into something better. (I think I translated that right. In Italiano il titolo è Redenti) we all make mistakes, but the atonement helps clean us, and we are able to "recycle" these things to make a pure field, a pure body. 

We had to go down to Mestre this week to do an exchange with the zone leaders. We also have to travel two more times this week, and it takes 3 hours in train to get there. So we have been on trains for 8 hrs so far this week, and have another 12-16 to go... But we are able to sit and talk with people more freely. We met this one lady named S.. I won't lie, she might have had a couple of loose bolts and screws in her. She's from Ukraine, and we spent two hours with her on the train. We taught her many of the lessons, and then somehow at the end of our train ride, she had given us jewelry, taken our pictures, given us postcards with her address in Udine, and Ukraine, and had answered so many strange questions about religion... But hey at least it's a strange story I won't forget.

Our exchange with the zone leaders was nice. It was pouring rain, but we were able to talk to a lot of people. A lot of people in Mestre are stranieri or tourists who visit Venezia (which once again we didn't go see......) but we were able to get the zone leaders a couple of potential people to teach. 

Due to traveling and being in Mestre, we haven't been able to see a lot of people, but the days have felt useful and full. This week my mind has been focused a lot on the commandments. When we think about the 10 commandments, we believe them to be logical, which they are. So that being said, it is easy to follow them. But then we look at the word of wisdom, some people have trouble finding the logic in not drinking coffee or tea. We can go all scientific and dive into the details of whether or not coffee and tea are technically bad, but that still causes debates. When I think about the commandments, I have to blot out the logic of why a commandment is given. I do believe that there will be given revelation as to why coffee and tea are not good in the future, but the scientific reason should not be my reason to follow the word of wisdom. When Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac, was that really a logical commandment? When the lord commanded Joshua and his people to walk around the walls of Jericho multiple times in order to capture the city logical? They honestly are not. But what we learn is, by our faith in keeping any commandment, we will be blessed, and I believe we sometimes need illogical commandments to test our faith. we can understand the blessings of the commandments, after the obedience to the commandment. It is not bad to ask the physical or logical reason why we follow a commandment, but it is more important that we follow the commandments, because of our faith in the almighty.

I have a testimony of this gospel, and of the following of the commandments. They never lead us astray!

Cinnamon Rolls

Dov'è andato il sole? - Week 77

Hey everyone. This week has certainly been a wet one. The amount of time it has rained this week definitely exceeded the amount where we could walk outside with an umbrella.

This week has been a good one none the less. It was "carnevale" week so every kid was dressed up in a costume of some sort going to a party. That being said, our branch had a carnevale activity as well. It was a blast, there were about 20 kids just running around in costumes playing games and having fun, and for us it was fun to talk with everyone and see the lighter side of the branch. There were several nonmembers that came, and it was a nice event.

Thursday we were able to give some service to a part member family that lives in Fossalon, the Codarin family. They have a bunch of farm land, and they are getting close to their rush season. With the wetness we have been getting we needed to wear special work clothes and rain/mud boots, because we were working with radicchi, pulling them out of the ground, and prepping them. It was a blast.

Just getting dirty doing farm work

After church on Sunday we were able to go with a couple families in our branch to Cividale, an old city a little north of Gorizia. It is a city that has history all the way back to Caesar the roman emperor. It was really nice, and There was a free museum with Viking items that were found in Cividale graves. We hope to go back and see even more when it isn't raining as much.

Cividale

Casa medievale

I ossi del cavallo

P. is doing well. We are reading the Book of Mormon with him, to help him keep pushing forward. He often has a commitment that isn't of his choice on Sunday so we are slowly working to help him find a way to be able to come to church more often. But overall, he is doing awesome.

M. is doing well too. We read a talk by Neil L. Anderson, titled "If it is True, What Else Matters?" It brought a good spirit, and an important lesson. When we know something is right or true we don't have any excuse to not follow it. Gordon B Hinkley said it best, "When [an individual] is motivated by great and powerful convictions of truth, then he disciplines himself, not because of demands made by the Church but because of the knowledge within his heart"

One rainy day (out of the 5 rainy days...) we were doing some casa (door finding). It was pouring rain on us, and many people were being less than friendly to our questions. After a long time we got let into a house. We met a nice lady named S.. She might be considered the old cat lady, but she was younger and really nice. We had a great conversation with her, and she invited us to come back. She was like "it's raining, you boys shouldn't be outside" and that was how we got in haha.

Anyways this week my mind has really been focused on having daily conversion. When we do missionary work, or anything to better ourselves it is for our good. We sometimes, however, tend to just look into the past at our experiences and think that they are good enough. President Monson said (with my personal emphasis in parentheses), "Our missionary experiences (or any experience for growth) have to be current. It is not enough to sit back and ponder former experiences. To be fulfilled, you have to continue to naturally and normally share the gospel  (or act to grow)". It can be applied to farm work. We can look back on a great harvest we had one year, but it will never be enough to keep us going forever, we need to plow the field daily, insuring that we will continue to have the necessary things for life. I know hat we all can have daily experiences, some being as little as a compliment to another person, or some being bigger. But as we do this we will always end up being more satisfied with ourselves.

I know that this gospel brings joy to everyone who seek to follow their Heavenly Father! Have a great week!

Making pizza #italy

Cinghiale?! - Week 76

Hey everyone! Once again another week is over in the Italian adventure. It currently is raining, and by the looks of it, I might be wet for the next week or so... This week I feel especially old, because all the sister missionaries in my group finished their missions... It is weird to think that they are gone, but I'm glad I have 5 months to go.

This week was really nice. We were able to meet with C. and P. and they took us out to a family owned restaurant that has been a Gorizia original for many years. We've been friendshipping them for a while and we're finally able to get a night with them where they were not working in their shop they own. We had a great discussion about the restoration and P. just was so happy and just is so open to here more. We really like them and know our branch members would just love them too. A cool thing that happened on the way back was near the beginning hills of the alps there are some wild boars that come and destroy farms, etc. but the only like to show up in the dark. Anyways, we were driving with them in their car and saw a huge boar make a dash for the hills. It was huge!! My comp and I kind of want to go boar hunting now haha.

P. is making good progress, we have been trekking along and this week we really focused on reading the Book of Mormon. It is our personal shield for the day. It gives us aid when we are week. He really liked that, especially because he is far away from any family. He invited us to play soccer with him and some other older Italians, and it was a blast. I'm still feeling a little sore in my calves from it. 

M. is doing good, he really is trying to follow our invites, and we have been focusing on the love for our Heavenly Father being our motive to change. There should be no other greater reason to follow the gospel or keep his commandments. 

Z. is a stud. We focused on missionary work this week with him, and he just loves to sing. He used to be a choir director back in his home many years ago. So we talked about how he can use that talent to help others. He loves the lyrics that come from music and can use it as testimony of his faith to others.

This week I have really been focusing on a story that President Hinkley taught over 30 years ago.  "Then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley spoke of meeting a young naval officer from Asia. The officer had not been a Christian, but during training in the United States, he had learned about the Church and was baptized. He was now preparing to return to his native land. President Hinckley asked the officer: “Your people are not Christians. What will happen when you return home a Christian, and, more particularly, a Mormon Christian?” The officer’s face clouded, and he replied: “My family will be disappointed. … As for my future and my career, all opportunity may be foreclosed against me.” President Hinckley asked, “Are you willing to pay so great a price for the gospel?”With his dark eyes moistened by tears, he answered with a question: “It’s true, isn’t it?” President Hinckley responded, “Yes, it is true.” To which the officer replied, “Then what else matters?"

Just like how Elder Lee (who is serving in Peru right now! #doingworkdownthere) was talking about truth, and how when we act on truth they gain knowledge, the same story applies here. When we know something to be true, we don't need to worry about anything else. We have a greater knowledge of our purpose, that others can choose to listen to or not. I am likewise bringing the truth I have to the people of Italia and I continue to receive help true application of this truth. I know I am here and that I have received a knowledge of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Have a great week everyone!