Easter and Gen Gen General Conference

Easter and Gen Gen General Conference

Hello Everyone. Happy Easter! ( Buona Pasqua ) I hope you had a great past weekend filled with time well spent with family and general conference. This past week was a good one for me. A really good one at that. We had some good experiences, some really good food, spent some time with some amazing people and did just about everything there is to do on an Easter weekend....except have an Easter egg hunt which I will talk about a little bit later.

So this past week we had a pretty big miracle. Just over a month ago we met a man while doing finding. He seemed to be very interested in our English course and so we gave him a pass-a-long card and went our separate ways. Weeks went by and this man never showed up. Well, two weeks ago today he showed up and brought his entire family. He brought his wife and two little boys. They loved English course and complimented us on making it fun for everyone. They came back the following Thursday. Then they came this past Tuesday again, so me and my companion invited them to an activity we had last Wednesday. The husband had to work but the wife said that she would gladly come. Our activity was to watch Joseph Smith: The Prophet of The Restoration movie with members and nonmembers that we invited. Then after the movie we were all going to eat and spend time together. Sure enough the wife showed up with both of her boys and she even brought some amazing, and very expensive chocolate for us to have. After the movie she was very interested in Joseph Smith and about our church. My companion and I happily gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read if she would like. She said..."Mi fa piacere." Which means...It would be my pleasure. My companion and I were very excited at this. The next night at 7 English Class rolled back around and her whole family was back. After English Class she came up to us with the Book of Mormon and opened it up. When she opened it up, right from the beginning it was completely marked up. She read all of the testimonies and everything before 1st Nephi in just one night. She was very curious to find more. So we answered her questions the best we could and invited her to a session of General Conference. We weren't sure if she was going to show up.....but she did. She was actually 10 minutes early ( which is truly unreal for Italians ). She loved the session and invited us to come over this Saturday night to teach her the first lesson. So keep this family in your prayers throughout the week. They have been prepared and truly they act like Mormons already. They are good, kind and caring people. I hope and pray that we will be able to teach effectively and simply to her and her whole family this weekend. Safe to say that I am pretty nervous.....but have faith that all will go well. 

I had a great Easter this year. We received many different cakes and sweets from so many kind and caring people. On Sunday one of the sisters from our branch had us over for dinner! I don't think that I have ever eaten so much in my entire life. My stomach literally hurt, but the food was so good that it was worth it. In Italy they don't have Easter Egg Hunts. Now I am sure that most of you know this, but I was really let down. I remember thinking..."What kind of a place am I in....? Everyone has Easter Egg Hunts." I was let down.... I was really looking forward to dominating some kids in an Easter Egg Hunt..... Just joking. I wasn't really let down, just a little bit. 

On Saturday Night we got permission to go to a Catholic Midnight Mass in Crotone. That was a little bit different, but all-in-all it was a good experience. Italians think that they are very strong and active members of Catholicism if they attend a mass 2 times a year. That being Christmas and Easter. Safe to say that I am glad that I have the knowledge of the Restored Gospel. At the mass I noticed that they had some truth.....just not with the proper order and authority. I am glad that I was able to attend. It is something that I will never forget, that is for sure. 

Last night we got invited over to Vincenzo's house for dinner. Vincenzo is the guy in our ward who has some mental disabilities. I love Vincenzo. He is honestly one of the most caring and kind people. He is truly Christ-Like in every sense of the word. It is sad because he doesn't ever get many visitors, so he loves when the missionaries come and see him. He was so happy when we walked into his house. He was just beaming really. As soon as we walked in he invited us to sit down, pulled out a card game and started making popcorn. He had the biggest smile on his face thee entire time. We played cards for a little while and than he made us some of his famous spaghetti. It may have been missing an ingredient or two.....but I have never felt so loved by someone who isn't a family member or a close friend. He has only known me for a few weeks, but yet he took care of us like he has known us for years. I love that guy. I truly do. His example of love and selflessness is truly inspiring to me. I remember thinking that if one day I could love and care just half of how much Vincenzo loves and cares......that I would be doing alright in this world. He truly is amazing to me. He was sad when we had to leave, but he sent us out the door with a piece of bread in hand and the biggest hug that I have ever received. Vincenzo is simple....Christ-Like. 

How good was general conference. WOW. That is what I was thinking the entire time. It really blew me away. I was able to watch all of the sessions, including priesthood session, except the Sunday afternoon session. We plan to watch the Sunday afternoon session sometime this week with one of our new converts. In the mission I gained a whole new love for General Conference. I have always found an excuse to get around it or slept through some of it.....but this time I was truly pumped to tune in and watch it. I have never gotten so much out of conference. Lots of different things hit home. I loved it. Some of my favorites were: Elder Holland's in the Sunday morning session, President Uchtdorf's from the Sunday morning session, again President Uchtdorf from the Priesthood Session, Dale G. Renlund of the 70 from the Saturday afternoon session, Gerald Causse from the Sunday morning session, and President Eyring's talk from Priesthood Session. Over the next few weeks I am really going to try and study these talks. They stood out to me, because there was something in them that I needed to here and something that I need to improve on. If any of you had something that stuck out to you, I encourage you to take what was said and apply in your everyday life. I am not going to talk to much more about conference.....but I would highly recommend that if you did not see Elder Holland's and President Uchtdorf's talks from the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference.....Please, in some way get a hold of those talks. They were some of the best talks that I have ever heard. 

This week I want to bare my testimony on Easter and the importance of Easter. What a day Easter is. Easter Sunday, to me, is the most sacred day of the year. If it were not for what The Savior accomplished that Sunday morning over 2,000 years ago this life would be meaningless. Because He broke the bands of death, we too will all break free from the bands of death. We all will be resurrected. All of our spirits and our bodies will be united again, never to be separated. Because of what The Savior of the World did over 2,000 years ago.....I know that I will be able to be with the ones that I love forever. Because of Him I can be forgiven of my wrong doings and my transgressions. I pray that we may all deepen our knowledge of The Savior and what He truly did for each and every one of us. When we come to know The Savior in a familiar way, it becomes easier for us to become as He was. Though we will never be as He was, we can become like Him through studying out what He did for us. Then we truly appreciate His sinless life, His everlasting and infinite Atonement, and His Sunday Morning Resurrection. He is the light. He is the path. Through Him and what happened that 1st Easter Sunday.....We may all break the bands of death. "Salvation cannot be bought with the currency of obedience. It was bought with the blood of The Savior." He lives. I know He lives. One of my favorite quotes from conference was...."I know He lives. I know His voice." Gods loves us deeply, perfectly and everlastingly. I hope and pray that this week will continue to think about what The Savior accomplished for us over 2,000 years ago and the endless blessings that have come from that day. We would be nothing without Him. Keep Him in mind this week. I pray that we will Never Forget our Master....Our Master that paid the price for our soul and continues to grant us daily breath. 

I love you all. Have an amazing, but safe week. I hope you all had a great Easter and General Conference weekend. What an amazing time of the year it is. Spring is upon us and summer is approaching. I wish to Thank You All for all of the prayers of love and support. I truly am so blessed to have such an amazing, and inspiring family and support system. 

I love you. Be safe today. God loves you, and so does His Son. Above all never lose hope in them. There are always there. I promise that they are. 

love..

Anziano JarDee Nessen