Jul09
Hello Everyone
Buon Giorno Tutti.
Hello Everyone. I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend back home. I hope that everyone was able to spend some quality time with family members. Family is what this life is all about. It is the weekends when I think about home the most. I always find myself wondering what mischief Abbi is getting herself into, what snack that Maci is cooking, or what Tyke is doing with his friends. Being away from home has really opened my eyes to the small things that I love about each and every one of you. So far, I have become much more grateful for the things back at home that I am without here in Italy. I am grateful for this and for our Father in Heaven for blessing me with this wonderful opportunity to step away from the everyday things of home life, and walk into a completely new world where I am able to learn and to grow in ways that I never would have if I would have simply stayed home. It is the small things that make up the big things. In high school my coaches would always preach about..."The Little Things." There is not a truer statement. It is all about the little things. Just like with what I shared last Thursday. We progress little by little, step by step. I love you all. With my companion......I have really tried to focus on the small things that he does right, rather than just dwell on what he struggles with. This has really helped me to feel more love towards him and I have noticed me being a lot more patient. The Little Things.
Well not to much has happened out here since Thursday. We have a new investigator. His name is Slade. He is a Bangladesh guy. He is a street vendor here in Crotone. He sales all sorts of things such as: fake Ray Bans ( fake sunglasses ), fake leather wallets, fake Rolex watches, sweet gold chains, some boondoggle bracelets, and even walkie-talkies. He is definitely an interesting fella, but he is super kind and wants to hear more about our church. We were walking down Lungo-Mare ( The Boardwalk right off of the Mediterranean Sea ) and he stopped me by saying..."Ciao Amico!!" or "Hello Friend!!" He did all of the gospel talking, and we just tried to answer his questions the best that we could. He was pretty interested which is cool. I love his name....Slade. Doesn't get any better than that. When he said Slade....My first thought was that he was one of the guy's off of Dodgeball. I thought that he was a member of the GloBo Gym Purple Cobra's. "Blade. Laser. Blazer." Haha....but on a more serious note....He is a good guy and we will be teaching him tomorrow night.
We still have our little Italian families that are on the path of baptism. Slowly but surely they are coming along which is good. We are super blessed to be teaching two families right now. Crotone has a lot of potential....Satan is really working hard here. We just have to keep them progressing and keep them moving forward.
The missionary work is good here in the magical land of Crotone.
It is a good place. I love it here.
This upcoming week we have a few things planned that are going to be pretty fun I think. Tonight we are going to have a Family Home Evening with a family from our branch here in Crotone. I am pretty excited for that! Wednesday we are going to go over to our investigators house and make some sweet Chocolate Chip Cookies! On Friday we are going to go and play basketball with the basketball team! On Tuesday and Thursday we are going to Teach English Course. We have a good week planned out this week. I am very excited for this week........
Now about this SKYPE Business....I am planning on SKYPING home this Saturday Morning. I would like to do it Sunday....but the times do not match up good with everything. So I will be SKYPING home Saturday Morning At 8 AM. I will be Skyping from Crotone at about 4 in the Afternoon, so it will be about 8 AM back in Tremonton. I hope this is alright with everyone and I hope that everyone will be able to make it. I will be SKYPING to my Grandma Bubbles house ( My next door neighbor ). We will be using her computer and her home. Please don't Show Up Before 7:50, but please do not be late.....I will be skyping home Exactly at 8 AM.
Please Remember about Skype.....I don't have much time and I do not want to waste it. If you have a question that you want to ask write it down and bring it with you.....Then when I ask for any questions.....Go ahead and ask it. I am very excited for this. It will be an amazing experience for you and for me. I cannot wait.
Thank You All. I love you all so very much. I cannot wait to see everyone and chat with everyone for a little bit. What a Blessing this is going to be.
This week I wish to share a little bit about the importance of Truly Coming to know Our Savior.
Know Christ, Know Happiness.
No Christ, No Happiness.
Now in English....When you say these two phrases out loud, they sound the exact same....but when you write them down....they receive a whole new meaning. Now before you move on...Stop and really think about those 4 Bolded and Underlined words above.
When we come to truly know and understand The Savior, we come to know pure, and everlasting happiness. We come to know that through His infinite atonement that we can be truly Happy forever. We know that this One Man "whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose." ( 1 Nephi 10:8 ) died for us.....we come to know that He loves more than we comprehend. When we come to understand that in the garden "He went a little further, and fell on his face..." ( Matthew 26:39 ) for each one of us....we truly come to know that The Savior was willing to do absolutely anything for us and He continues to be willing to do anything that we could ask Him to do now. He understands every single pain that we have ever gone through or will go through. He knows the pain that we go through when we fail, when we come up short, when we are made fun of, when we are struggling and nothing seems to be going right. As a Missionary of The Lord Jesus Christ I testify that He knows this pain. He knows every single pain that each of us have experienced because He, already, has went through that for us. He went through these pains so when they would arise in our lives....We would have someone to turn to and we would have someone that truly knows how we feel. His love is greater than we dare dream to imagine. In order for us to truly be happy.....We must come to know of our Savior and what He has done. We must understand Why He performed The Atonement and all of the priceless blessings that come from that Atoning Sacrifice. When we come to know All that The King of Kings has done, we can rest easy. We can be happy...For we know that The Debt has already been paid in full with His Sinless Blood. We must do our part, but in the area's where we may fall short or all of the parts may not be complete.....Jesus Christ, The Savior of The World, makes us whole. I testify that Jesus Christ lives. That He is the only begotten of The Father. I testify that He broke the bands of death on that First Easter Morning. I know that He Suffered for every Sin that we would ever commit and every pain that we have felt or ever will feel. I know that His palms, wrists and heals are scared from the nails that pierced His Sacred Skin. I know that He went up on the cross, and while He was laying there and they were driving railroad ties through His Holy Flesh......That He was thinking of every single one of us. He performed The Suffering, The Cross and The Resurrection not for Himself. He performed it for you and for me. He lives. I know He lives. I testify to you that He is there, whether you feel worthy to go to Him or not. His love is unfailing. He knows the pain that we feel, because He has already felt it. Jesus is The Christ. His Grace is sufficient.
Now do you see that when we come to know of The Savior, and just how much He truly loves.....We can be Happy. This Gospel brings Pure and Everlasting Happiness. Everything, and I mean Everything.....Is made Possible through The Atoning Sacrifice of The Prince of Peace.
My Challenge this week is to truly seek out and to come to a deeper knowledge of all that The Savior did. We can't really say that we know Him, if we don't really know what He did for us. Let us discover all that He did, and let that bring us Happiness. We Must Know Christ, in order to Know Happiness. Without Christ... There would be NO Happiness. Again....We are made whole through the spilled blood of He who was perfect.
I love you all. I am grateful for all of you and your love. Thank You for that. Thank you for everything. Have an Amazing Week Everyone! This weekend is going to be pretty amazing. I am excited!! Take care, Be safe, and Love everyone. This life is all about Love. Remember Saturday Morning at 8! Don't be late....or you may miss the surprise! I love you all!
much love from Italy everyone.
Elder JarDee Nessen
Know Christ, Know Happiness.
No Christ, No Happiness.
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