Soz about last week. I was trying to send a big group email but I'm still figuring out how to use this iPad. Apparently I can't just send an email to all my contacts with this unless I select them one by one. My bad.
Anyways! Some really awesome stuff happened this last week. Monday was my first p day, so of course it had to rain.
Anziani Hansen e Cowden, Pescara, Italia
Honestly though I didn't mind it all. First off, we got our studies done and then went to get
shopping done for the week. Here we just call it spesa. Kept it below €17 ($19.22 U.S. Dollars) too!😎 then we went up to Giulianova to play volleyball with some investigators from Venezuela, and their friends.
"First pday in Giulianova, playing volleyball with the Venezuelan simps.
Simpatizzante is how you say investigator in Italian, just FYI"
It was a 40 minute train ride or so to get there, so it's a little ways away. We get up there though and we walk to the beach (about a mile and a half)
More pics from Giulianova
and start playing. By this point though it's really windy so it's already hard to play. And then it starts raining! It was cold and also kind of miserable for a few minutes until I took a second and thought about it. For one, I'm in Italy - a country I've always wanted to go to. Two, I'm with friends and people who want to know the gospel. And honestly, the rain was (almost) enjoyable. HOW HAPPY IS THAT.
My entire experience thus far in the mission has been a lot of learning how to see the Lord and his hand in my life. One of my teachers in the MTC got to the habit of writing a little miracle each day - even if it was just warm weather or finally being able to sleep. Small things. That's what it's all about! The more I've done that, happier I've become. Knowledge, yo.
My masterpiece breakfast!
Anyways the rain ended up getting the better of us so we went to a little cafe to sit and eat/talk for awhile. We left around 4:50 ish so we could get back for FHE with the Maccione family at 6:30. Thought it wouldn't be raining back in Pescara. I was wrong. In fact it was raining harder. But it did give me a reason to throw on my raincoat!
But I tried.
And WOW it was cool. No I didn't say it perfectly and yes I had to stop every few seconds and ask my companion how to say a specific word, but at the end of it the spirit was really strong and I knew it was something they needed to hear. That's really what missionary work is about. Reaching out, despite your imperfections, and trying to share what small message you feel prompted to share. When we do that, the Lord increases our ability to do his will, and we are more perceptive to the spirit as well! It's awesome how the Lord works.
One of the Anziani making lunch!
Tuesday was also a good day. I don't think I've explained how the day works here, so I'll explain it really quickly. The days typically go like this: we get up at 6:30 (or earlier if we're wanting to go running), have breakfast, exercise, shower, and start personal studies at 8. That goes until 9 when we start comp study. From 10 to 1 is time
for appointments, contacting, or whatever else we have planned. At 1 we're back at the house for lunch, and lunch hour goes until 2. At 2 we have language study. At 3 we're supposed to have dinner hour, but
no one ever eats dinner then because we just ate lunch, so it typically becomes additional study. At 4, for these next few weeks, I'll be working with my comp on the program for new missionaries in the field, and we do that until 5. From 5 to 9, we're back to scheduled activities and proselyting.
Anyways, Tuesday was a pretty average day. We went around in the morning trying to contact some less actives and also see if we could pick up some potentials we've been working with, but no one answered their door. Came back for lunch and studies, then had a super solid lesson with Muqing. She really wants to understand this gospel, but she also has doubts that she's having a hard time letting go. After that lesson we had English course which is always fun. Just sat around and talked with them, pretty much. They're such fun, loving, kind people. We have a group of about 30 ish people that come every time, so it's always loads of fun.
Wednesday we got up at 5:30 so we could be ready by 6:30 to catch a bus leaving for Rome at 7. We went to Rome because it was zone conference!
Going to zone conference!
It was fun to get to meet new people and also to see President and Sorella Waddoups again.
Rome East Zone
Photo source: http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/2016/05/rome-east-zone-conference-may-2016.html
And also because it was my first zone conference, I got to get up and give my testimony in Italian, along with Sorella Jarnagin.
Photo source: http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/2016/05/rome-east-zone-conference-may-2016.html
Photo source: http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/2016/05/rome-east-zone-conference-may-2016.html
They call it a birth testimony, because it's your first testimony in the mission to the zone. They also had a
few death testimonies, which is your last zone conference testimony. The other two elders staying in the house with me and elder Cowden are both leaving at the end of this transfer, so they both bore testimonies. Anyways, overall, zone conference was awesome.
Missionaries from Italy Rome Mission's East Zone, singing the Mission Hymn
Mission hymn lyrics
I wasn't expecting to get a whole lot out of it, but I got answers to questions I didn't even know I had. I also had a super cool experience with President Waddoups, too. We were doing role plays and he invited me up
to be his companion for a demonstration.
Photo source: http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/2016/05/rome-east-zone-conference-may-2016.html
Photo source: http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/2016/05/rome-east-zone-conference-may-2016.html
Photo source: http://romeitalymission.blogspot.com/2016/05/rome-east-zone-conference-may-2016.html
We were working on the restoration, so he gives all of it up to the point of the first vision, which I give. When I get to the part about Heavenly Father saying "this is my beloved Son", I had to take a moment. My testimony
and faith have definitely been tested while I've been here, and it's difficult. But those words reminded me of why I'm here, of who my testimony is of. "Questo è il mio Figlio diletto. Ascoltalo!" ("This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!")
Regardless of whatever else happens, no matter how many people say no, no matter how hard it is to share this gospel, I know my Savior lives and that He restored His gospel. Remembering that made all the difference.
Thursday was awesome! We went up to Teramo to see some less actives. Turns out that only one of them was home, but we went in and had an awesome lesson with him. He's had doubts and questions lately that
have made it hard for him to want to read the Book of Mormon, so we shared our message (in English, because he served a mission in Connecticut) and testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. In the end, he committed to keep trying to read and to continue praying. After the lesson he made us some awesome pasta!
Once we get back to Pescara, we go and pick up Cristian Maccione. He's 15 and his parents wanted him to come with us for a little while to see what it's like to be a missionary. So we bring him with us to our
appointment with Muqing. Our lesson that night was awesome! We talked about the Godhead and the individual roles they each have in the plan of salvation. At the end, we both bore testimony of Christ and his importance in this plan. THAT is when the spirit was strongest - when we testified of Christ and his divine role as our Savior. That's another one of the things I've learned out here. Testify of Christ. Leave no doubt in their minds that he is at the head of this church, and that we have faith in him. They talked to us about this in the MTC, actually. They said "if we asked your investigators what they were learning, would they say they were learning of Christ?" When we
make Christ the center of everything we do, this work becomes so much easier.
Friday was a good day. Weekly planning is on Friday which takes up our 10-1 time. After that we went to the church and had a super good lesson with John Paul, who's a recent convert. His prayers are awesome! He always starts out by saying "Our most gracious God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords..." Haha it's awesome! We also got some DANG good pizza that night. Gotta love the food here👌🏼
Carbonara I made for lunch. #masterchef
Saturday was tranquillo. Correlation with the ward mission leader was cancelled last minute, so we spent our morning out passing by a referral, some potentials and some less actives. Only one of the less actives answered. His name is Marco, and we've been trying to meet with him for the past two weeks. He was home this time and let us in, so it was awesome. He was baptized 16 years ago when he first came to Italy (he's from Ecuador) but he's since stopped going to church. The rest of his family are members, and he told us about how he really looks up to his older brother because he served a mission and is an active member. Life is difficult, but he feels like he needs to start getting his act back together! We're looking forward to working with him. We had lunch and studies afterwards and then went to the church for stake conference via satellite. Priesthood was from 4-6 and the
other session was from 6-8. I didn't understand much by the way of words, but I tried my hardest to listen to the spirit, and I actually got a lot of awesome things out of it! And although I didn't understand everything, I was able to get the gist of what they were saying. We also set up rides to the church at 5:30 the next morning which was awesome, because if we didn't we would've had to walk to the church at 4:30, meaning we would've gotten up at 3:30 ish. Hallelujah.
Anyways we get up 4:30 on Sunday to be ready by 5:30 so we can be at the church by 6 to take the bus the ward rented to get to Rome by 10 for stake conference. We meet in a hotel and all the missionaries from the zone were there! So it was good to see them all again. And as with the night before, I didn't understand much, but I got a lot out of it. It was good to see the Waddoups at their last stake conference in Rome, too. We get back around 4 ish, do studies, and then Anz Cowden Skyped his family. Head home. Daily planning. Day=done.
And that's my week! All in all, it's still difficult adjusting to missionary life, but I know I'll get the hang of it. The language is coming along well, and each day I feel more confident than the day before. I'm really loving the mission.
May the glory ever be to God!
Anz Hansen
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