Fancy cars

Helllooooo everybody

Hope your guys' week was as good as mine was! Real talk though, this week flew by so fast haha. Honestly feel like just two days ago was Monday, but here we are again! Today for p day we're going to be bowling for one of the Anziano's birthdays! Haven't been bowling in such a long time haha. I'll update you with who won next week👍🏼

"There's just something about the super tight alleyway thing that's characteristic of Italy that I love" 

Anyways, there's a lot of cool stuff that happened this past week. We've been working a lot on establishing relationships with people here, and it's been going really well. But let me just intervene for a second and mention how lucky you guys are at home! Sharing the gospel is so much nicer of an experience. Out here as a missionary, you feel really stressed with the amount of time you're given. It's hardly enough to build and maintain solid relationships, and when you share the gospel, it often comes off as just some random person trying to convince someone else that they ought to change churches. Obviously, as missionaries, we try to avoid and do everything we can to not come off like that, but it still happens often. As a member though, you're not pressured in any of those areas. You don't have to invite people right away. You're not pushed for time. You can just share the gospel in small and simple ways. We do that as missionaries as well, but MAN is it so much easier to do that as a member. People don't assume you're doing it solely for the purpose of trying to convert them😂 it actually reminds me of a quote that I want to share really quickly! It was elder Holland who said "Asking every member to be a missionary is not nearly as crucial as asking every member to be a member!"

Just something to think about😊

It's been a nice experience though being able to really get to know these people and just focus on loving them. It does mean we've been slacking a bit in picking up new investigators, but I feel like it'll be worth it as we've created real friendships with these people.

We also went to the catacombs here in Palermo this week! Hundreds and hundreds of skeletons and imma admit that I was a little creeped out haha. Here's a picture I took right before being chastened for not having read the "no pictures" sign.

My b I won't do it next time.

Other oddities from the week include
- Tripping for the first time in a long time while walking up a flight of stairs and getting a ginormous bruise on my thigh🙃
- Talking to a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses this week!...inside our members house🤔 hahaha we showed up to get one of the members sons to come with us to a food festival (didn't even end up coming), and while waiting for him, we talked with a different member until the JW's came knocking haha. It was only a little awkward. It got really uncomfortable though when they assumed we didn't speak Italian and began whispering to each other loud enough for us to hear that it was awkward for them as well😂
- EATING ARROSTICINI AGAIN!

Let me explain. In the region of Abruzzo (within the which Pescara (my first city) is located) they eat these things called arrosticini. They take tiny bits of lamb and put them on skewers and after cooking them, they brush them using rosemary sprigs dipped in olive oil and put on a little bit of salt. They're so good! The only downside is that they're not super filling and literally have to eat 100 of them to be full hahaha. I paid €2,50 for three skewers, but it was totally worth it.

- Speaking of arrosticini, we had the festival! It was super cool. For a couple days, they blocked off the Main Street and just filled it up with all these little tents of different cultural foods. They had English food (fish and chips, obviously), American food (hot dogs and hamburgers😂), Brazilian food, Hungarian food, Thai food, Pakistani food, and a lot of food from different regions in Italy. It was so cool!

- Attending a catholic choir concert where a friend was performing! It sounded really cool and the experience was one I won't forget. I mean, sure we only got there and caught the last few songs, but it was awesome!

- Talking with more Jehovah's witnesses who were infinitely cooler than the other ones we met haha. They also spoke English, and we talked the entire tram ride about the English premier league and soccer haha. Man I love just being friendly and talking with people! Best way to share the gospel you know☺

- Making and eating like, 6 pounds of fried rice.

We decided this week that we'd each just buy our own food to eat instead of cooking lunches together, and I thought "yeah I'll just buy a ton of ingredients and make loads of fried rice and eat that for most of my lunches and dinners.

I'm so sick of eating friend rice now hahahaha.

I think that covers the majority of the noteworthy stuff that happened this week haha...except for zone conference!

"The zone!"

"Me and my MTC comp at zone conference!"

I really really loved this zone conference. We focused all on the Book of Mormon and setting goals in the mindset of the talk "Good, Better, Best" by Elder Oaks

given a few years back. Here are some of the thoughts that came to mind as we discussed these things:

- We are our own investigators! I can't remember exactly what it was that made me think this, but I imagined how much I study and care about investigators and how hard I try to help them nurture their testimonies, and then thought about how I also need to be doing that for myself. It was an interesting thought. Am I nurturing myself spiritually to the point that I'm able to continue to progress and strengthen my testimony?

- We don't teach Mormon doctrine. We teach Christ's doctrine. That's an important distinction that I love about this church. We don't claim it to be the "Mormon" church. This is Christ's church. And what's so cool about our message is that it's all about Christ. He is the cornerstone of this church. He's the center of everything we do and say and it's awesome that I get to teach about that! It's also interesting inviting people to learn more about it. As they study and pray, they come to know for themselves that this is Christ's church and this is his doctrine. Love it!

- There was another super cool thing that was said by one of the apostles. I can't remember which, but it was in a mission president training seminar video that we watched where someone mentioned that behavioral change without Christ as the focal point isn't repentance. It's more than just a behavioral adjustment, it's a literal change of heart. I love how in the scriptures the heart is often portrayed as the total sum of our desires and wants. And that's what Christ can change! I don't understand how, but I have faith that Christ can change even those desires of the natural man that we have.

- We also talked about how as missionaries in Italy, we all get to the point where we say "eh. It's just another thousand year old building" or "eh. It's just another castle." We talked about the true beauty of Italy and how just because its old to us doesn't mean it's not beautiful. We then related that to the Book of Mormon and how we often forget its beauty and importance. We talked about how it answers specific questions and how we ought to use it as our main source for teaching, and I realized that I don't know it nearly well enough. So we all accepted the invite of asking ourselves a question each day before we began studies that we'd find an answer to, and it's been really cool thus far. I invite you to do the same!

I'm loving the mission life. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. This upcoming week we're going to be doing lots of finding, so expect to hear some miracles next week😉

"Just one of the hundreds of mentioned 'fancy cars' from the title. Never seen a car so nice😳" 

Have a good week y'all✌🏼

VVB e buona settimana☺

May the glory ever be to God

Anziano Hansen

Best way to celebrate Easter? Baptism!

(Forward note -- I actually had all this written out on Monday and tried to send it but we were all around the city so that never happened cause the city wifi is not so great, so here it is now. Soz. Buon Tuesday tutti☺)

Mornin peeps

So! This past week was pretty good. It went by suuuuper fast and I'm honestly not entirely sure how it's already Monday again but that kinda stuff just happens, so here we are again! The most exciting news is definitely that there was a baptism this week!

"From the baptism"

I talked a little bit about him last Monday and mentioned that he'd be baptized, and everything went smoothly this week. It was such a cool experience to see all of it done during Easter as well. I honestly can't think of a better time for someone to be baptized and confirmed as a member of the church than on Easter. I was able to officiate the confirmation as well, so that was a first and also a really cool experience for me. Having the priesthood on the earth once again is a great blessing that I'm only now coming to understand -- and that in just the smallest degree. God is good!

"Just some random place in the city that I thought was really pretty"

We also kinda had another tiny trio this week because Anziano Haws (if you guys remember, he's one of the other anziani in the house with me and my companion) needed to go get his permesso (it's basically a residency permit saying he's legal) from Rome, so we were with Anziano De Feo for one day as well. During the scambio (the exchange) I was able to learn a lot actually about myself and what I can improve. I think it's really interesting how quick we are to forget God and forget our testimonies. When I read in the Book of Mormon about how quickly the nephites were to turn from righteousness to wickedness I always think "man they're pretty dumb. I'd never do that!" But the same thing happens to each of us in different ways, and it's the mindset of "no it'll never happen to me" that gets us. For me, it's that one week I'm super pumped about missionary work and I work hard and am diligent and then the next week, I'm completely out of it. That's what the scambio helped me
realize. It reminded me that I can be better, that God needs more from me, and that I needed to recommit myself to the Lord. And it was cool, because after recognizing that, the next time we left the house I just started striking up conversations with people on the tram. No, there wasn't anyone who accepted a baptismal date right then haha. But it was nice to just be friends and talk about why I'm here. I think that's one of the best ways to share the gospel - just being a friend. Eventually the time will come when they'll remember what I said or they'll meet other missionaries, and it's at that point that's they'll be ready. I don't need to worry so much about being the change but just doing my part in pointing them towards Christ. If I do that with all the love my wimpy heart can muster, whether they accept the gospel now or later won't matter to me. If I've loved them and shared the
gospel, I'm happy☺

We also had an inspired district meeting

"The district!!...without the anziani from mistretta, that is."

this week in which we talked about the importance of the Holy Ghost. Time and time again, I'm baffled by how important the spirit is in missionary work. During the meeting, Sorella Garrett, one of the senior couples missionaries, mentioned how when the spirit guided us, he never forces us. She then made the relation to how when we pray, we can't pray to take away someone's agency. We shouldn't be praying for those around us to do something specific or to feel a certain way. Beyond going against their moral agency, it could also be going against the will of God. We can pray for them to be sensitive, sure, but the rest is up to us. How much more willing would God be to help us if we'd pray and ask to be able to be instruments in his hands and do his will? I thought it was a cool thought.

Again, happy Easter! Hope it was fantastic for all of you and that you all had time to ponder about the Savior's sacrifice for us. I was actually asked to give a talk this past week in sacrament meeting about what it means to be a follower of Christ, and even though I only had two days notice to prepare the talk, I had some thoughts come to mind that I wanted to share with you.

Christ, in the New Testament, invited fishermen to be his disciples by uttering the simple phrase "follow me". Of those disciples, it was said that they "straightway left their nets" or "immediately left the boat" to follow him. I really like the analogy used a few years ago in general conference where one of the apostles compared the nets to anything that's preventing us from being entirely engaged in following Christ. I then thought about what my nets are. What's preventing me from following Christ? It can be anything! And more than just recognizing what it is that's holding us back, we need to do what it takes to let those things go. We don't need to understand perfectly, and we don't need to have perfect faith. We just need to act on the tiny faith we do have and let go immediately. If we do, we can make the Savior's sacrifice for us more meaningful, more worthwhile in our personal lives. Let's not allow his love for us to go to waste! On a large scale, his sacrifice will never be considered a waste, but it's up to is to make it worth something in our own lives. Just as we can't take away the moral agency of others, he can't take away ours.

"From zone soccer last week"

I think though that the best promise is that when leaving our nets becomes hard, when the road to following Christ goes where we don't feel we can go, we can remember that he never asked us to do it alone. It's more than just following the Savior, it's walking with him. Because he is our resurrected Savior, we can do that everyday☀️



This upcoming week, we'll have zone conference! That's going to be exciting, so look forward to hearing about that next week.

"We were trying to get the person to take the photo so you could see the rest of the street in the background but they just COULDNT DO IT and I was angry but this photo turned out okay"

Buona settimana tutti☺✌🏼

May the glory ever be to God

"I mean they did get this one but I don't like it as much cause I'm not smiling"

Anziano Hansen

Happy Easter!

Hey people

We've had a pretty good week!

Gelato <3

Lots of finding and lots of teaching. Our two investigators are progressing well, and one is actually prepared for his baptism this upcoming week! It's really exciting, and he's got a really cool story. He came to church a few months ago (between 8-10) and then stopped because he wanted to look around and visit the other churches. During that period, he got the feeling that he should come back to our church because he just couldn't feel comfortable in other churches. He knew that there was only one church that had the truth, and it's Christ's. It's his church, and we've been blessed enough to have already found it. And now it's our privilege to share that knowledge with the rest of the world!

Other things from this week include a return to the trio life for two days! I don't think I've explained it to you guys yet, but I'm in a four man house now. The other two anziani are Anziano Haws, from Utah; and Anziano De Feo, from Canada. The latter is also the district leader. Anyways Anziano De Feo needed to go to Rome this week to take the ACT so he got on a plane and we stayed here with Anziano Haws! Hahaha it was so much fun and reminded me of the trio I was in for my last transfer in Pescara. Good times. We also had DDM and for the..training? I don't know what you call it in English, but we call it an addestramento. Anyways, for that part, we held a council and talked about our favorite missionary scriptures and how we can apply them to our own missionary work as well. The majority of the scriptures that were shared talked a lot about our dependence on god and the fact that this isn't our work, but his. It was humbling and v cool to see how each of us has that knowledge and was willing to not be amazing missionaries and glorify ourselves, but to be amazing instruments in the hands of God. I love this district!

"There was a tunnel that we had to walk under to get to a bus stop and I went down to check it out"

"It was so gross...it was like a 7 lane highway...it was long and dark and creepy and dirty and soooo stinky"

"Anziano Campbell! He was in my first district during my third and fourth transfers in Pescara. Hommmmmieee"

I've also come to be really grateful for my personal struggles and challenges on the mission - this last week especially. I've been feeling kind of confused about why I'm here and there's things I face here that make it hard to feel like this is where I'm supposed to be, but I've found so much comfort in the fact that God has a plan for me, and he's working miracles through these trials. Slowly, I'm becoming more like the person that he needs me to be. And not just for the now, but for all the years to come. I have a firm belief that my time in the mission - meaning all the easy times and all the hard times, too - will only make the rest of my life that much sweeter. So why complain? Why be angry that we don't understand the will of a loving God? Why be stressed if we know he has a plan that will lead to our eternal happiness? 

And on that note, I had a really cool experience this week! During elder Ballard's talk during general conference this past week,

he used a phrase that reminded me of Steven Covey's book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People".

Elder Ballard said "Goal setting is essentially beginning with the end in mind." Beginning with the end in mind. If I'm remembering correctly, there's an entire chapter dedicated to this topic in his book, and I read it a few weeks before I came on my mission while down in southern Utah on a camping trip with my dad. In the opening pages of the chapter, Covey invites us to think for a little bit about our funeral. Yeah. It sounds a little weird, but just listen. He invites us to think about it and then to write down what we would want our spouse, a child, a coworker, and our ecclesiastical leader to say about us (at least I'm pretty sure those were the people he mentioned...hopefully you're getting the idea). We can then use those responses as guides throughout our life, always reminding us of the people that we'd like to be. Cool, eh? So as I was thinking about that this week, I had a cool experience! In preach my gospel

chapter 8,

there's a personal activity in the "Ideas for Study and Application" found at the end of the chapter.

It asks missionaries to do kind of the same thing, but with regards to missionary work. It poses three questions, asking us on the final day of our mission what we want to have accomplished, who we want to have become, and what differences we want others to notice in us. As I went through that this week and pondered on where I've come from, where I am, and where I'm going, I realized that with regards to who I know I need to become and what I need to do, I'm doing better than I often give myself credit for. It echoed the words of an MTC branch president who once encouraged each of the missionaries in my zone, saying "you're doing better than you think you are". It was a really cool experience, and if you have the time, I hope you'll stop to think about it as well. If you don't have time, make time! It's important!

"This week I just took a ton of pictures of pretty stuffs here in Palermo"

"Pretty stuff"

And beyond that, this week is Easter! What a great time to reflect on the life and gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I won't steal too much more of your guys' time, but I know the Savior lives. I've never felt closer to him than on my mission, and I'm inexplicably proud, grateful, and humbled for the opportunity he's given me to be his representative for these two years, and for the rest of my life as well.

Have a wonderful Easter week everyone☀️✌🏼

"Me and the comp"

"Me and the comp again at an African barber shop"

"Eating African food with African members"

May the glory ever be to God

Anziano Hansen