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