Zone conference!

Goooood morning peeps😊 hope that all is well wherever you guys be finding yourselves this Monday morning!

Anziano Hansen sent this photo December 05, 2016, but I'm posting it now. :)

There were a lot of cool things I learned this week and a ton that happened and I'm afraid I won't be able to express it in the way I'd like to. Seems like that's my case nowadays haha. But in the words of God's Power (he's an African, and yes. That's his real name!) "The less you speak, the more you say", and I'd add "as long as you're testifying from your heart!" And why's that? Because when we speak from our hearts out of our own hard-won conviction, those words somehow become so much more meaningful -- regardless of how eloquent they may be or how many words we use to express ourselves.

With that in mind, here's the things I enjoyed most about this week!

During zone conference, we talked about miracles and about how 1) they still happen and 2) what we need to do to be worthy of them. Anziani Jacob and Brown, the zone leaders, are the ones who really covered these points. Anziano Brown began by sharing ether 12:12-17 

" 12 For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.

 13 Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth.

 14 Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost.

 15 Behold, it was the faith of Ammon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites.

 16 Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after.

 17 And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith."

with us. This has been one of my favorite scriptures for awhile now, but hearing it again reminded me of just how important faith is in our lives. Along with those, I'd like to throw on verse 18.

"And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God."

This reminds me of something I heard awhile ago. I don't remember who it was or exactly how it goes but it's something along the lines of: "faith is never in anything other than Christ." I really loved that, and the scriptures in these few verses (even on down until verse 22) clearly support this point. It's not by our strength that miracles are wrought. It's not by our obedience that miracles happen. It's not even because we believe in miracles that they happen. It's simply because we believe in Christ. That's where it all begins, and that's where it ends, too. He is the beginning and the end. Christ is literally "the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2)

"I was sad because there was no pizza man that day

...but I had to smile because no one likes frowny faces. 

Still trying to figure out how to smile good tho"

We also talked about what miracles really are. We mentioned how it's by small and simple things that great things are brought to pass, and that really struck me; not because it was a new scripture, but because I realized I've been looking for miracles that spark conversion in an instant. I've been looking for the perfect miracle investigator. But that's not how it works (not always, at least). What I learned is that there are miracles happening all around us everyday, and if we grasp hold of those and help them grow (instead of throwing them away thinking "nah this miracle isn't good enough") they'll become the miracle of conversion in the long run. I've made a conscious effort this week to look for miracles, and it's 1) helped me to be happier and more grateful and 2) be a better missionary.

"One more time...

...ah there we go"

"We took like, 8 different photos trying to get his shirt to stay tucked in lol"

"This is one of my favorite pieces of graffiti in the city"

Anziano Jacob then talked about obedience and how without that, even though we may have faith, the miracles won't happen. Why? Because we need to be worthy of them! There was a lot he said, but there's something even more important that I'd like to point out that applies to all of us (missionaries in terms of obedience, and all of us as children of God). I think it's best summed up by a quote from a talk president Pickerd shared with us. President Hinckley,

(Source: https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/manual/09797/portrait-gordon-b-hinckley-1995_84011_inl.jpg)

at the close of the October 2002 General Conference,

said "As we return to our homes and to our daily activities, each of us should be a better individual than we were when the conference opened." He continued by saying "I challenge every one of you who can hear me to rise to the divinity within you." That's the purpose of the church -- to make us better people. But we can't just go to church and expect that change to occur. We can't be half-hearted members and full participants in the joy that is this gospel. We need to be making conscious, daily effort to become better. Every time we go to church, every time we read the scriptures, every time we listen to general conference and whatever else you can think of, we should come away with something we can do better and the desire to make that change happen in our own lives.

Lastly from zone conference, we talked about the church's "light the world" campaign

and how we can really use that to our advantage. We then talked about Christ and how he is the source of all light. How? D&C 88:6-13 explains it.

" 6 He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;

 7 Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.

 8 As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made;

 9 As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made;

 10 And the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand.

 11 And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings;

 12 Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space—"

Of the mentioned verses, 13 is my favorite:

"The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things."

Or, in other words, Christ is the light of all things. Along with that and how we can be greater partakers of His light, there's 1 Thessalonians 5:5-11.

" 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

 11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."

I encourage you all to read it on your own!

I don't want to make this the longest email in the entire world, so I'm just going to share a few more thoughts with you.

I believe that happiness can change the lives of people around us. I've made a big push this week in that direction because 1) we're commanded to be happy (D&C 19:37

"37 And speak freely to all; yea, preach, exhort, declare the truth, even with a loud voice, with a sound of rejoicing, crying—Hosanna, hosanna, blessed be the name of the Lord God!"

and like, a million other scriptures) 2) it's our purpose on this earth to be happy  and lastly 3) because this is a gospel of joy -- if I don't show that how will anyone else ever know it? There's one last scripture I'd like to share from the same section in D&C, verse 39.

"Behold, canst thou read this (we could also say 'hear this' or 'see this') without rejoicing and lifting up thy heart for gladness?"

While being happy doesn't mean being crazy and always laughing hysterically and having a good time, it does mean finding joy in the small things. Most importantly, it means remembering Christ. Surely, when we think of Him, we can experience joy regardless of what our circumstances may be. So be happy!😊

"Focaccia is SO good..especially when it's free...

Btw those are tomatoes and not pepperoni pieces"

"English people are weird" ;)

"Sorry my pictures are sucky today...

But hey here's a pasta al forno I made that was pretty good...

Forno means oven. All it means is I put it in the oven afterwards lol"

This week we were able to commit our investigator to both read the Book of Mormon

(Source: https://media.ldscdn.org/images/media-library/member-missionary/sharing-book-mormon-1379950-gallery.jpg)

everyday and pray more about it too! We've also been working really hard at figuring out what the will of the Lord is for us in Brindisi. We know he sent us here for a reason, and we're trying our best to figure out what that is. We've met with a few members this week (who are a little less firm in their faith) as well, and we were able to have some really cool lessons in which they talked about how they wanted to begin sharing the gospel with their families and friends! That was so so happy for us. Other than that, we've been sharing the gospel with anyone who'll listen in the best way we know how. While we don't know everything, we definitely know enough to keep moving forward!

We're also really excited for an exchange we'll do this week with the zone leaders! That'll be really good for us and we're hoping and praying that they'll be able to help us get our work sorted out.

But more on that next week:)

tl;dr -- if you made it here, good on you😉

Buona settimana e buon finals week tutti😂

VVB!

Che la gloria sia sempre a Dio

Anziano Hansen

PICTURES!

Sorry, but the zone conference pictures will have to wait until next week😐

"a voi"

On being authentic

"We planted onions for a member yayy"

This past week I read an interesting talk from elder Cook in the October 2014 general conference entitled "Choose Wisely".

Highlight of "Choose Wisely" by Elder Quentin L. Cook

If you have time (and let's be honest, who doesn't?), I encourage you to read it.

The whole talk! :)

It helped me a lot with regards to figuring out what it is I really want to do and how I can align my DAILY LIFE with reaching those long-term goals. It's really important for me as a missionary to actually become who the Lord wants me to be and not just do missionary things. It's equally important for us all as members of his church to take a step back and measure our own conversion to the Lord. Are we actually Latter-day Saints? Or do we merely do Latter-day Saint things? How can we increase and deepen our conversion to the Lord and ensure our foundation is unshakeable?

Just some thoughts☺️

There was another part of the talk that stood out to me though, and it was a part about being more genuine in our digital communications (if you read the talk you'll see what part I'm mentioning(and that's totally not me trying to trick you into reading it btws)). It's so easy to just mention the good parts about life and about missionary work. We came to earth not only to be have joy like Nephi says (2 Nephi 2:25), but to prepare to meet God by being tried and tested (Alma 34:32). Why shy away from talking about one and not the other?

So! I'm going to try to be more authentic in my emails -- focusing on both the joys and sorrows in the everyday lives of missionaries.

Italy!

Italia Italia Italia!

"It's a church. Kinda hard to see in the dark, but you can see some of the most important saints portrayed as statues on the top"

"It's cool"

With that in mind, I can keep writing about the week.

This week, in all honesty, was wonderful. I have nothing to complain about. Did every single person we talk to on the street stop and listen to us? Nah. Did my shoes break? You could say that. Did we do everything we wanted to do? Not even close.

All in all, the week wasn't perfect. And while that's sometimes hard to accept (I know it's actually impossible to have perfect weeks but I have high expectations mkay), we'll learn what we can and strive to do better this next week.

"Anziano Young look"

"But now I'm not looking"

"Yay we did it"

"We ate gelato and looked at this"

I've been feeling pretty confused in the work lately though. I want so badly to fulfill my missionary purpose

(Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEDsKM_GtVuGDedC7gVrQAVEf5Y805ebaQcqRi0FOk0U_S4FuYoSZNOGgSKjqrxoQL-cehwYFc9YK5q8kByP4zTvEg0vP64mMBYjO3gnAn4Htmm3bSIETOSe8TjYcMFQ3327J_B1ZaK5I/s1600/purpose1.jpg)

and help others come unto Christ. I want to teach, speak, and follow the spirit well. I want to find the people who are prepared to accept the gospel. I want to have better studies and greater concentration. I want to be more outgoing, more loving, and more consecrated. When it comes down to it, I want to be more like my Savior. But in that pursuit, I feel somewhat lost. I want to be effective in using time, but I feel as though I don't know where or how to begin. Especially with it getting colder here (it seriously feels like it dropped 40 degrees this week in two days), the streets are becoming less and less crowded. Heck we went to centro on Saturday night and it's typically crowded, but there were only a few people. Yeah sure we can walk around for five hours everyday stopping people on the street, but that's not the most effective way to get work done. It's great fun, sure, but it's not helping us get to where we need to be.

It's a work and progress though, and we're not giving up. Until the time comes that we finally understand what it is we need to do to be as effective as possible, we'll keep walking these streets and talking to everyone we can.

We have an investigator who's really really cool and we love teaching her. She's a little hesitant when it comes to baptism, but what I love about our relationship is that we're really open to talking about our beliefs. We had two super solid lessons with her this week. While at times it's a little difficult to keep teaching people when they're not fully grasping it, I've felt such a great love for her this week that I know it's not my own. Being a conduit for the love of God is one of the coolest things there is, I think.

I learned a lot this week about Christ. I've been reading Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage

(Source: https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/magazine/liahonlp.nfo:o:72d.jpg)

and I have two things to say 1) I miss books (I love scriptures don't get me wrong but there's something about reading an actual book that just speaks to me) and 2) the closer we are to the Savior, the happier we are. Why? I think it's best and most simply stated by President Nelson,

(Source: https://www.lds.org/church/leader/russell-m-nelson?lang=eng)

who, in this past general conference, said the following: "When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation, which President Thomas S. Monson just taught us, and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening--or not happening--in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy...For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!"

Along with that I had a cool experience on Saturday. We were up at a members house in another city (it's about a 20 minute train ride to the station. From there they need to pick us up and drive another 15 minutes or so) and we got to a point where we weren't going to be able to make it back in time for an appointment we'd scheduled. It was really hard to not be anxious and frustrated because this was a really important meeting to us. We ended up needing to call him though, which we did, and everything was okay. I was still a little on edge though until I realized what I was doing. I was allowing the worries of the future prevent me from enjoying the present. And for what cause? I'd done everything I could to be there, but it wouldn't happen. And that's okay. So I let it go and I just allowed myself to enjoy the moment (which was actually really happy and special because she's an amazing member and made us a ton of food). As I let go of those worries, I was more able to completely enjoy the present and see the hand of God in all he was doing for me. Don't let your worries about the future distract you from the joys of the present! Yes, plan for the future. Prepare for the future. Counsel with God on what you should do, and do the best you can. But after that? Just enjoy the present. No stress😊

Later that night, as I was writing in my journal about this experience, I felt the spirit confirm to me that this was the lesson God had wanted me to learn that day. That made me wonder how often it is God is trying to teach us a lesson, and how often do we recognize it? I honestly feel that everyday, there's something He wants us to learn. If we will just humbly kneel down each morning and ask for His help in learning what it is He wants us to learn, I know He'll help us.

Other than that, we did a scambio this week with Lecce. I went with Anziano Mariucci to Lecce while the others stayed in brindisi. That was a lot of fun! We were also invited to a thanksgiving lunch with an American member next week😎 woot! Besides that, we're really just talking with everyone and meeting lots of awesome people...even though the majority of people we talk to only want to know our opinion on Trump winning the elections😂 ah well. I did eat pizza

"Era buona"

5 nights in a row though

"Saturday night pizza yayyy"

so there's that for you all. (<-----that's really authenticity right there just fyi) #wheninrome #actuallyinbrindisi

Vi voglio bene☀️

May the glory ever be to God

Anziano Hansen

Mi piace scrivere in italiano perché non mi capite

I'm at a loss when it comes to email subjects today. Soz.

Hello dear ones!

There are not very many things I want to say today. We just finished playing paintball and I'm more than a little sore haha. But I do have two thoughts I want to share with you all.

First off, I was having a pretty hard time this week feeling like I was a good teacher. We had a lesson where at the end, I had a really hard time feeling like I was a good teacher. So for this week I focused on the basics of teaching. I studied in preach my gospel and the scriptures and searched for how I could improve. It all came back to the basics of teaching. It doesn't need to be complex. You don't need to speak the language perfectly to have good lessons. Ask questions. Make it applicable to them. Bear testimony.

But I also found a really meaningful scripture to me in 2 Nephi 33. Verse four. It says

"And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal."

I am weak. I am not perfect. But when I try, God will magnify my effort. What I do in my weakness, as I do it in faith with the intent to build faith in Christ, he will make those words powerful.

"Sun sets here at 5 PM

But it's still pretty so it's okay"

Secondly, there was another scripture that got me this week. D&C 64:33.

"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."

Just because I'm doing the will of the Lord right now doesn't mean I'll always be able to see the results that I'd like. And that's okay. I promised the Lord that I'd go where he wanted me to go. The words of "I'll go where you want me to go"

come back to me in this moment. I sang them and thought "no he wouldn't actually send me to the stormy sea".

But what if he does? What if that's our lot? Will I still go?

"Most of the zone (missing the missionaries from Foggia)"

"The homies who owned the place"

And that's really been the big question for me this week.

A few other thoughts have been figuring out how I can show faith in every decision I make, and also how I can continue to experience true conversion to the Lord. More than anything I want to make these two years worth it. I want to go home and be able to apply all I've learned out here, because if I don't, these two years for me will have been a waste. Not for those around me that I've helped, but for me, there's no point if I don't become better because of it. So really trying to apply this gospel to me - BECOMING a missionary and not just doing missionary things - is a big thing I'm trying to work on. I think that's a key for all of us. Becoming a disciple of Christ; becoming a member of the church; becoming a (whatever your calling is); because it's so much more than just doing things that are the defining characteristics of such people. We must put these things in our hearts and allow that seed to grow.

Also. (Sorry last thought then I'll be done with this really terrible email)

I was sitting in fast and testimony meeting yesterday and read through the words. I love verse four.

4. He lives! All glory to his name!
He lives, my Savior, still the same.
Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:
"I know that my Redeemer lives!"

It's truly a joy to know that he lives. That's what makes all this worth it to me, really. My testimony of the Savior has grown, and for that reason alone, my mission for me will always be a success.

Here's a few photos from the week!

"This is a fritta.

It's essentially a deep fried pizza, and it's delicious."

"Where we played [paintball]"

VVB e ci sentiamo presto, eh?

May the glory ever be to God

Anziano Hansen

Happy Halloween 🎃 🎃

First off, if you've heard about the earthquakes and you're worried, you don't need to worry! All the missionaries in both the Milan and Rome missions are safe. We all good☺️

Zone Conference

That aside, good morning! And happy Halloween! Man. It was a year ago today that I got my mission call.

Feels like it was forever ago haha. Weird to think I am where I am now though. Before the mission, everything in life for me felt like that's what it was leading up to, and now I'm here! And that only makes me want to use my time better, because I know it won't last long.

Anyways, we had a super good week this week! I'll talk more about the actual week towards the end, but there was a big theme and a lot that I learned about myself this week that I'd like to write about first.

I am very independent...or at least I like to be. That's something I've always known about myself. I've never liked having to rely on others or being a burden to them because 1) I didn't want them to deal with my problems and 2) I didn't like relying on others because it made me feel weak. It showed that I actually wasn't able to make it on my own. This is still a trait I carry around out here sometimes. While being independent it nice and good in certain situations, there's also such a thing as being independent to a fault, and that's where it becomes a hindrance to our progression.

This past week though, I read through some of the letters I'd received before the mission from family and friends. I can't even begin to explain the joy, strength, love, and peace that they brought to me. From the inspiring words of my older sister to the happiness in the words of a new friend, I realized I'd been trying too hard for too long on my own. This all initiated a study that also ties in with a topic from zone conference this week. I took some to read and pray about the purpose of our dependency in this life on those around us and more importantly, on the Savior. Here's what I learned!

"Sometimes before we go to bed I dress up in normal clothes. Ees for fun."

God never meant for us to go it alone. We have weaknesses for a reason. All those around us have weaknesses for a reason. Their purpose is not so we can throw a pity party, but so that we can draw from each other's strengths. In exodus 4, God talks to Moses about how his brother Aaron will be a spokesman for him. God has given us the people around us so we can work more effectively together. There is always something we can do to help those around us, and there is always something to learn from them as well. The Lord also commands us in Luke 22 by saying

"But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."

Sometimes though, we are the one who stands in need of strengthening. And that's okay. So! I first just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done for me. You have all been a great support, and I've failed to express enough gratitude for that. I promise to try harder from here on out!

Ultimately, however, we must rely on the Lord. Helaman 5 has one of my favorite scriptures.

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." (Helaman 5:12)

His foundation is the only foundation that is everlasting. And it's not that we only turn to him when our strength runs out. We rely on him always. I know that's something I need to work on. I've tried for a long time to try to do this work without him because I feel like he's already done enough and I want to show him I can do good things. But every time I try, I seem to fall short. And there's a reason. We cannot get to heaven on bridges built by our own hands. We cannot reach his standards on our own. It has always been and will only ever be possible with Christ, and that's something to be happy about. Why? Because he loves us. It's okay to be independent to a point, but we must never allow our pride to get between us and the Savior. It's difficult admitting that I cannot do it on my own, but when I know when we embrace that truth, love and strength come pouring into our lives.

Also, like I said, we had zone conference! We went up Thursday and came back Friday afternoon. There were a lot of good things said, but my favorite was the thought that God has literally given angels charge concerning us. We talked about the scripture in D&C 84 where it talks about how we'll have angels on our right and on our left to bear us up. That is a literally promise. It reminded me of one of my favorite stories in the Bible, in 2 Kings chapter 6. There's a war going on and it's Israel vs. Syria so it's already a scary time. Elisha keeps telling the king of Israel what the king of Syria will do and it gets to the point where the king of Syria things he's got a spy or traitor amongst his servants. He finds out it's actually the prophet who's telling the king of Israel what's going on, and he sends an army - an entire ARMY - to get this guy. The encamp the city by night, and this happens:

"15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? (Btws this is us in our moments of panic and despair when we feel like hope is lost)

16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."

The big point for me here is that we can cover our eyes with the cloud of doubt and fear all we want, but when the day comes that we are ready to see, God will show us the heavenly hosts that have always surrounded us. Just know that in whatever moment or situation you may find yourself, as long as you're doing the right things, you're never alone. He's with you always. So don't fear to do good, but actually do good with the confidence that He's watching over you.

Yeahhhhh this is long so I'm just going to wrap up with a few quick happenings of the week.

"A really terrible picture of Rome I took from Villa Borghese when we were there for the Nelson conference. That bigger building in the distance is the Vatican"

"When you're taking longer exposure pictures

"you have to be really good at keeping your hands still

"but I'm really terrible at it"

We also went to Bari on Monday for p day and played zone soccer! Ah man I miss soccer so much😭 anziano Young and I also only spoke Italian this week, and it was so much fun! Italian is such a beautiful language. You all should learn it😉

we also had stake conference yesterday!

Again, it was in Bari. Yup. Went to Bari three times this week😂 Saturday was a really hard night for both me and anziano young, and we didn't seem to be having much success. It got to the point where we stopped trying to talk to people for a few minutes. We were near the church anyways, and that's where we were trying to go. A thought came to my mind again though to keep on trying. We tried talking to a family, and they actually stopped and talk to us for awhile! Yeah a crazy guy came and distracted us and the family ended up walking away, but we did have enough time to just explain that families are extremely important to us as members of the church. Keep trying even when you don't feel like you can! Also read a super good talk this morning called "Finding Joy in Life" from April 1996 by elder Scott.

If you have a few extra minutes, give it a read.

We were also walking home one night when we could hear someone watching Harry Potter in their home.

Man I love Halloween.

Don't forget that today can be something special, aye?

Vi voglio bene! Sempre e con tutto il mio cuore!

May the glory ever be to God

Anziano Hansen

Today can be something special

Title this week is thanks to elder Hallstrom who said that this week along with the additional words "but it's up to you."

MTC district reunion finalmente

(Mission Conference, Rome)

Anyways! This week has been really good. We had our mission conference in Rome (man I love being able to say "oh yeah I want to Rome this week btws" so nonchalantly like this) on Thursday and IT WAS SO GOOD. President Nelson

President Russel M. Nelson 

(Source: https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/leaders/russell-m-nelson-large.jpg)

came, as well as Elder Kearon,

Elder Patrick Kearon 

(Source: https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/leaders/patrick-kearon-large.jpg)

elder Hallstrom,

Elder Donald Hallstrom

(Source: https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/leaders/donald-l-hallstrom-large.jpg)

and each of their wives. I'm going to just be writing out a few thoughts from my favorite parts of their talks and then add a few other thoughts at the end.

- today can be something special. I really like this not just in the way that he used it, but in all aspects of the phrase. He used in the sense of "okay. You guys have this awesome opportunity to learn from this conference. We've prepared as much as we can and so have each of you. From this point on though, the rest is up to you. You need to take what you learn from this and actually do something with it." I was just paraphrasing, but I hope you guys get the gist of it. It's a true principle! General authorities and prophets and bishops and stake presidents (anyone, really) can give awesome talks. But what it comes down to is us. I also really like this phrase in the sense that we make each day what it is. Today can be something special, but only if you want it to be. Make each day a day worth remembering!

"Oh wow who's that good looker with the skinny blue tie gosh" ;) 

(Mission Conference, Rome)

-  Elder Kearon shared a story with us from the Old Testament about Nehemiah. After we talked about it, I went back and read through it over again. It's not that long of a book, but it's really good. My favorite part was in chapter 6 when he says "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?" He was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem at the time and people were trying to get him to come down. He refused. We too (not just as missionaries but as members of the church) are engaged in a great work. We shouldn't come down. Let's stay focused and keep our sights set on the Lord!

"Hey fam"

(Mission Conference, Rome)

- We can never say enough about Christ. Sister Hallstrom touched on this point. It reminded me of a question we were posed in the MTC. "If we asked your investigators what they were learning, would they say they were learning about Christ?" That's a question I believe can be applied to every single one of us. In our teachings, in our classes, in our discussions, what are we learning about? What are we teaching about? Just something to think on.

"Mcds with the homeboyyy"

(Mission Conference, Rome)

- We also had a super good conference yesterday and a member of the seventy spoke! He related a story of how he and his family moved to America awhile back and his wife, although she was in America, continued to try to make Italian dishes. She tried for weeks and weeks but it just wasn't possible and one day she actually broke down crying in the store because she was so frustrated. A family friend saw and asked if everything was okay and ended up giving her an American cook book when they'd found out what was wrong. With that cookbook, even though she had to leave behind so many of the things she loved, she was able to be happy again. It is the same for us. We all have traditions that we hold on to that may prevent us from making further progression in the gospel, but if we want to draw nearer to the Lord, we have to be willing to let those things go. If we want the gospel to work as best it can, we have to trust him and grab on to the gospel with both hands. We can't keep one hand on what we want and one hand on the gospel. As elder Holland said, "we can have what we want, or we can have something better." (Source:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/i-am-a-child-of-god?lang=eng)

"Trio pic one last time before Anziano Martin leaves (!!!)

(Mission Conference, Rome)

- One more small point and then I'll be done. Every opportunity that we're given, every time we go to church, every time we read the scriptures, every time we hear conference, we should be asking ourselves what we can do better. The point of the gospel is to make us better people. HOWEVER! It is never meant to tear us down. And I love that. We can also ask "what am I doing right?" God will always answer. Maybe not in the way we hope or would like, but he always answers.

"A really terrible picture of Napoli (Naples) from a distance"

"Pic from train back to brindisi Thursday night

"Also

"This termini station in Rome has 30 tracks

"Brindisi has like, 4

"It's huge"

Other things this week: district reunion! Man it was so good to be together with everyone from the MTC again! Saw a lot of good friends at the conference, and I couldn't be happier. We also had a new investigator this week! She's kind of a miracle, actually. I also increased my testimony this week on how extending the baptismal invitation isn't bad! We shouldn't be afraid to talk about it. If this gospel is true, then ours is the privilege and the opportunity to follow the example of Christ, and that's something beautiful. I've also found a lot more joy recently just as I've asked the question "am I doing the right thing?" No doubt the mission is hard, but I know for a fact that it's what the Lord needs me to be doing at this time. Also, as I've focused my sights on Christ and have really made him the focus of what I'm doing, the work has become so much more enjoyable. How blessed am I -- are WE -- to be able to serve our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Vi voglio bene, amici miei!

Buona settimana☀️

Che la gloria sia sempre a Dio

Anziano Hansen

"Scambio pizzaaa"