Jul09
4.30.2015
Buon Giorno Tutti.
Hello Everyone. Sorry for the weird change of P-Days from Monday to Thursday. That was different for sure. Mothers Day is coming up which is good. I will announce my final plan for the Skype home this coming Monday. So then all of you will be informed on what the plan is for everyone. I am very excited to see everyone and talk with everyone. It is going to be a wonderful day. This past week and a half was a good one. It seemed to go by pretty fast, which I am grateful for.
Last Monday night we were able to play soccer with some of the young men from our branch here in Crotone. Everyone here is pretty good at soccer because that is all there is to do. I feel like a baby gazelle out there to be honest, but soccer is slowly starting to grow onto me. We had 3 or 4 young men from the branch, the young men's president and some of our good friends. It was a good time. One of the kids in our branch is named Davide Sarcone. He will honestly be a professional soccer player one day. He is a phenom. I had to get a picture with him and I will be sending it home this week. He is incredible. I like to play sports with kids from the branch and investigators because it shows that we are young kids too.....not just young kids that walk around in white shirts and ties everyday. To me it is easier to become closer and easier to befriend someone when you are doing something fun. So this, to me, was a very productive activity. Over here they have hundreds and hundreds of little turf fields just used for soccer. There are complexes of them everywhere. So we get to play in nice facilities and with cool people. You really can't ask for anything much better than that.
Last week was a difficult one for missionary work. There was a national holiday and nobody wanted to meet with us. Then on the days that we did have appointments set up.....everyone cancelled on us. Sometimes it is a bummer when people cancel.....but we just have to continue to be patient I guess. The Lord will fully bring them forward when He is ready....Everything happens in His own due time. I just need to be more patient, but sometimes it is hard to be patient when you really want to see people progress. Haha but everything is good. Things should pick back up very soon.
There is a little 9 year old girl in our branch that has seizures all of the time. Last week she was hospitalized because they keep getting worse and happening more often. This is so sad to see because she is such a cute, friendly little girl. It is hard to see the people that you care about have struggles. We went and gave her a priesthood blessing at the hospital and I haven't heard too much about her and the seizures since. When we walked into the room where she.... She was just sitting up in bed, and she had the biggest smile on her face. She is adorable and I seriously hope that she gets better soon. I also pray that they can find out officially what the problem is and hopefully they will be able to get it fixed. Her name is Daniella. Before we gave her the blessing, there was another little family in the same room with their daughter too. Their daughter has just been diagnosed with diabetes. The dad kept telling us that they need help and aren't sure what to do. We gave him our number and told him that if things get worse....That He can call us if he needs any help. He was pretty hesitant about us and that we were "Mormons".....but after we gave Daniella a blessing.....and He was in the same room watching and feeling the spirit....something seemed to change in him. He ended up calling yesterday and wants to talk a little bit more about us "Mormons." I love being out here and seeing how The Lord puts people in our path. Sometimes The Lord works in mysterious ways, but I sure love being able to see His hand in all things. It gives me so much comfort and joy knowing that He has a perfect plan for each and every one of us no matter who we are or where we are. He just wants us to simply be happy.
Like you know....We were lucky enough to be able to fly to Rome on Monday afternoon. The flight was good and we got there safe. We ended up staying in a hotel that night with about 150 other missionaries. It was great to see most of my friends from the MTC and also the other missionaries that I have met so far out here these past few months. I was able to see Anziano Kiser ( My trainer ) and we both freaked out when we saw each other. He came and jumped into my arms. I have missed Anziano Kiser a whole bunch, but it was great too see him. I also was able to talk to Elder Mica ( from the BYU basketball team ). He is amazing and we are pretty good friends. I hope that someday we will be able to serve together. He is the man. Rome was great. The only downside was that it was raining so hard up there the entire time. So we didn't get to do any of the fun things that we got to the first time. Although we did get to go and grab a Hamburger one night. All in All....It was a good trip.
We were supposed to fly back to Crotone yesterday at 1 in the afternoon.....But we got stuck in traffic for 3 hours and missed our flight. It was tough because we literally moved 2 kilometers in 3 and a half hours.......Got to love it!! So then they took us straight to the bus stop and we hopped on a bus heading for Crotone. The bus left at about 4 in the afternoon and we didn't get home until close to 1 in the morning. Travel in our mission is insane sometimes. Haha but I just had to laugh. Being a missionary is such a wild ride and I love it.
We had a conference with Elder David A. Bednar on Tuesday. Wow. He is absolutely incredible. As soon as he entered into the room.....You could just feel his presence. He just stood at the pulpit and we asked him questions....He then would expound on our questions and enlighten us. Seriously it was incredible. There is just something about being in the presence of one of the General Authorities that puts you to ease. They just make you feel loved. They are truly the mouthpieces of The Lord. I would share more about the conference and what he said......but I am going to save it for when I Skype home next week. I was able to shake his hand two times and tell him "Thank You." We made eye contact both times and I am not going to lie.....Having an Apostle of The Lord look you right in the eyes and have him take a peek at your soul is pretty intimidating..... but he just smiled back and said....."No, Thank You." The one thing that I love so much about Elder Bednar is simply how humble he is. He turned every compliment and every thank you directed at him.....and He would take those compliments and thank you's and point them to The Savior. He is truly humble and it was truly humbling to be in his presence. Again, I will discuss more about him and the conference when I Skype home.
That pretty much wraps up this past week and a half for me. This past week I have been thinking a lot about Conversion and Progression. So that is what I would like to talk about today.
Conversion and Progression. Progression, to me, means the will to improve each and every day. All that The Savior asks is that we are a little bit better today, than we were yesterday. He asks that we will be a little bit better tomorrow than we were today. Progression is constantly moving. We can either be progressing forward towards our eternal reward, or we can be progressing in the wrong direction. I like to think of it as a ship that has set sail. The ship is always sailing whether it is with the wind or against the wind....The Ship continues to sail. The same goes for progression. We are either sailing towards our Savior, or we are slowing drifting away from Him. We have to constantly strive to better ourselves. We have to know where we are weak and where we are strong. The only people that are in real danger of losing their testimonies are the ones that think that they are completely converted or think "I have it made." Personally I think that we are never completely converted while here on the earth. We will never reach perfection here on the earth, so this leads me to believe that no one is or can be completely converted. Everyone on this earth can and will lose their testimony if they do not constantly continue to strengthen it. We are all at risk. Spiritual Progression is essential for Spiritual Survival. Knowing that The Church of Jesus Christ is true is testimony, but continually striving to Live the gospel is conversion. We must Progress....Or we will be left behind. The Church continues to move forward, whether we are aboard or we are watching from the sidelines.....It will move forward with us....Or it will move forward without us. God is continually hastening the work....the only question is.....Are we going to be able to keep up?
My challenge this week is to simply try to be a little better each and every day. God doesn't ask us to change completely overnight....just a small amount each and every day is enough. None of us are safe from the evil in this world. We must progress or be left behind. Even President Gordon B. Hinckley ( When he was the prophet ) said...."I hope to be a better man." Let us follow after the council of President Hinckley and constantly strive to be a little better tomorrow, than we were today. We can do it. We can do all things through Christ, who continually strengthens each one of us.
I love you all with all of my heart. I am so blessed to call all of you my friends and my family. I am so blessed with such an amazing support group. I am lucky to have all of you at home. Thank you for your prayers, love and support. I couldn't do it without all of the love from back home. I hope and pray that everyone will have a good safe week. Everyone.....I love you. Thank You. Simply Thank You.
I love you all.
until next time.
Elder JarDee Nessen
0 comments: