August 31, 2015

August 31, 2015

Good Morning!

How was the Box Elder County Fair and Rodeo? I hope everyone had a good week this past week. If I am not mistaken, it is the first day of school today. I hope that everyone has a good first day and first week of school as well. I love you all and hope you all are doing great. I hope everyone is healthy and happy. This past week was a wild one here in Italy, but a good one. 

Last Sunday, we had a visiting U.S. Special Operations Soldier show up for church. He was alone and visiting the Naples area. He showed us some sweet video on his phone of him and his friends jumping out of airplanes that were about 12,000 feet off of the ground. This guy was the biggest stud I have ever met. He was from Oakley, Idaho and knew of good ole Tremonton. He asked the four missionaries here in Napoli if we would like to go to the base for a little while on P-Day... We all smirked as we looked at each and very thankfully said "Yes". He took us out to the base so we could fill our shelves with food from the promised land, America. I loaded myself up on Doritos, Nutty Bars and the essential Mountain Dew. A little taste of home goes a long, long ways. On the way home from the base I started to feel pretty sick. To make a long story short, that night my companion was up all night throwing up and I couldn't have any light in the room because my head was pounding so hard. Monday night was a long night for both me and Anziano Lasarte. Tuesday morning we woke up and felt much better. 

We did Gesso ( where we draw on the sheet with chalk ) a few times this past week and they all went really well. We were able to get some cell phone numbers from some awesome people and handed out loads of Pass-A-Long Cards. I would like to talk about something in particular that happened during one of these Gesso's. Our topic was Eternal Families again. I stopped one family and they seemed incredible. I explained to them how important being an eternal family is to me and I told them that I was there to share this blessing with them. The husband and wife were excited to hear this news, because they were pushing a stroller with a new born baby boy inside... I handed them a Mormon.org card and asked if we could switch phone numbers so we could set up an appointment some other day. Meanwhile, he looked on the pass a long card and saw that it says... I'm a Mormon. He looked up at me and said, "You are a Mormon?" I replied, "Yes." He then said, as he was handing me back the pass a long card..."I don't believe anything that you have to tell me. Go home. You are wasting your time here." As he said that and handed me the card back, I just stared at him with a blank look on my face. His wife began to laugh at me and then he proceeded to laugh at me as well. I tried to stop them again and let them know what they were walking away from, but they wouldn't stop. That one was hard and it wasn't because they turned my down or laughed at me, it was hard because they potentially just altered they eternal destiny with one decision. I was trying to give them one of the greatest blessings, if not the greatest blessing that we can obtain...Living forever with the ones we love most. Nothing to me personally sounds better than that. I prayed hard for that family that night. I prayed that they would be granted another opportunity to hear the gospel in a future day and that their hearts would be soft enough to listen. 

Here is a little English Course Update. After we did the English Course publicity out class has almost doubled in size, which means our opportunities to turn people from not only students, but also investigators has also doubled. We have a lot of new faces and to honest a lot more potential in the people that have started coming to English Course. I am excited to see what this coming week will bring and hopefully we will be able to snag a few students and teach them a little bit about us Mormons. 

We have been getting really creative with our finding here in Napoli the past few weeks. Here at the giant train station in Napoli, there is a Piano that anyone can play. Anziano Flynn, just came into Napoli a few weeks ago, is basically Mozart on the piano. He is a phenom. We decided to have him tickle the ivories at the train station while we hand out Pass-A-Long Cards to the people that are staring as they walk by. We got a tons of phone numbers and so many people were taking videos and snapping pictures of us missionaries walking around, talking to people, and jamming on the piano. It was awesome. I even ran into some people from Utah and their son played football at Snow College ( More on that in the pictures I sent home ). 

Another creative thing we have been doing is asking people to do a quick History Survey about America. There are 10 questions and they start out really simple, but by the end it ties into the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. The last two questions are..."would you like to know more about The Book of Mormon?" and "Would you like a free copy of the Book of Mormon?" Below all of the question there is a spade to right your name and number. It works. It is like stealing candy from a baby. So many people have opened up so much more and so much faster because of this 10 Question Survey. We have 5 upcoming appointments this week with people who want to know more about The Book of Mormon and the story of Jesus Christ appearing to the people of America after His resurrection. 

We got a new little investigatory family this last week. I met them while we were doing the Eternal Family Gesso. Alessandro and his wife Louis and their two little kids. We had a lesson with them on Eternal Families and they want to know more. So that is exciting. Also, SALVATORE our PIZZA GUY came to church yesterday. I was so pumped when he walked into the chapel yesterday before Sacrament Meeting. During sacrament meeting there 3 powerful testimonies about the Temple and how sacred the temple is, because our branch just returned home from their annual temple trip to Switzerland. Afterwards Salvatore had some really good questions about the temple and has us look up the Rome Temple on his phone so he could see it. Salvatore is really coming along...I love that guy. 

This week as many of you know marked 15 years since Momma Mandee's accident. That day has always been one of the harder days of the year, if not the hardest but this year it was a little bit different. On the night of the 25th I prayed to be able to remember some of the memories that Momma Mandee and I have together. On the morning of the 26th during study time I decided to pull out the pictures that I have of Me and Momma Mandee because I was having a hard time keeping the accident off of my mind. I went and sat on the couch and began to look through each individual picture that I have. I remembered sitting in the SkyWay Clubhouse watching the cartoon Dragon Tales and her sitting on the couch watching it with me. I remembered one of my birthday parties that I had at Peter Piper's Pizza. I remembered her pulling on my ears, and that surely made me smile. I remembered her laugh, her smile, her hugs and her love. I remembered her kissing me on the forehead as she buckled me into my car seat one last time. I remembered many things that morning as I was looking through the pictures, but one thing I did not need to remember is her love. That is something that I have felt every single day and will continue to feel until we are able to see each other again. That will truly be a priceless day... August 26th always makes me a little more grateful for our life here upon the earth. It always makes me a little more grateful for the memories that I do have and the things that I am able to remember. It makes me sad, but also happy at the same time. I love Momma Mandee and I miss her more than words can possibly explain but I know that we all will see her again. August 26th, 2000 wasn't a goodbye for good, but yet a "I will see you soon." 

I love you all very much. I am so grateful for you all and for your love, support and prayers. Families are Forever and I am truly so very grateful for that knowledge. It makes the hurt of losing someone you love not so painful. Families are Forever. I know this is true and I know that the blessings of the temple are eternal. Have an amazing first week of school everyone and know that you are in my prayers. I love you all!

Much love from Italia,

Anziano JarDee Nessen

 

 

 

'Twas the 24th day of August

'Twas the 24th day of August

Buongiorno Tutti.

I love you all. This past week I said Goodbye to Anziano Just and said Hello to Anziano Lasarte. Anziano Just is a great missionary and I was very fortunate to serve with him for a short 6 weeks. He will do great things in Rome. Anziano Lasarte is awesome. He originally comes from Argentina, but bas lived here in northern Italy for the last 13 or 14 years. He is also a very good missionary. This is his last transfer and so he goes home in a few weeks. I can already tell that we are going to have a great transfer together. I am excited to work with him. Anziano Just and I had some really good things happen during our transfer together, now Anziano Lasarte and I are planning to capitalize on the good things that have happened.

This past week we did not have the opportunity to meet with very many investigators, in fact we weren't able to meet with any of them. They are all gone on vacation. So this past week we did finding ( also known as tracting ) and we sure did a lot of it. We met some good people and some nice families that we will be contacting soon to set up appointments. Hopefully this week our investigators will return back to Napoli so we can continue to meet with them. This whole month of August thing here in Italy really blows my mind.

The people that come to our English Course are the best. Last Wednesday one of our students, named Mario, invited us over to his house to eat a Pizza because Anziano Just was leaving the next day. Mario is catholic and was baptized in The Jordan River ( where Christ was baptized) and Mario knows the bible really well. Mario has been coming to our church for the past few weeks. We have never invited him personally, but a few weeks ago page just started showing up. He has been coming to English course for years and years ( he speaks English fluently) but he has never came to church before. The other missionaries are planning on making him an investigator this week. Mario is a stud and I sure love the guy. I will send a picture home next week with Mario and Me.

Another cool English Course story is about a Mom and Daughter from the Ukraine. A few weeks ago we stopped them in the street and invited them to English course ( most of our investigators actually come from English course ) and she was very excited to come. The mom has lived here for a few years and speaks Italian really well. The daughter arrived in Italy only a few months ago, and she does not really speak Italian yet. The daughter is learning English and Italian right now and the mom is learning English and German. I do not know much about this Mother and Daughter yet, but I am planning on getting to know them both better throughout the next little while. They came to English Course last Tuesday and Thursday. On Thursday Anziano Lasarte and I did the spiritual thought to close English Course. We decided to do it on prayer. Anziano Lasarte and I both testified that we had seen blessings in our lives because of the power of prayer. Right after I testified that I had seen blessings a student raised his hand and asked me if I could share one of these experiences. I said of course. At first I was a little startled because usually the students don't ask us questions like that, but the first thought that came to my mind was Momma Mandee passing away. I told them the story of her accident and what happened that day. I told them that the prayers of my father were answered because we were lucky enough to have another wonderful lady to call mom. I testified that since the accident some days have been hard and that there will be hard days in the future, but that I know everything will be okay because I will always have the opportunity to pray. Now you are probably wondering why I was talking about the Mom from the Ukraine... Here is why. During the beginning of our spiritual thought, the mom was not translating what we were saying into Ukraine for her daughter, but when I started to tell my story....she translated word for word. Immediately after we were finished, the mom said she wants to know more. Anziano Lasarte and I will begin teaching them this week.

Friday Night the other two missionaries that are serving in Napoli and Anziano Lasarte and I decided to join up and do a "Gesso" together. A gesso is when we take a sheet out in the street, draw on it and talk with people on the street. It is a tracting tool to talk to hundreds and hundreds of different people in a short amount of time. We decided to boost up our English Course and so that became our topic for the night. We handed out hundreds of English Course Pass-A-Long cards and even a Book of Mormon or two. We talked to hundreds of people and tried to talk to thousands. We set up shop just after 5 and finished at about 8:45. We decided to do it on the busiest walking street in all of Napoli. Via Toledo is always crowded with people and especially on a Friday evening. At around 7 o'clock a giant parade of Evangelists came parading down Via Toledo ( the street we were on ). They were playing loud music and carrying large signs that said "Gesù Ti Ama" ( Jesus loves you ) and "Dio è amore" ( God is love ). These evangelists walked right over top of our sheet and stopped the parade right after everyone in there group had passed by our little set up (They had around 30 people). They stopped the music and their leader grabbed a microphone and began preaching. He said many different things but some of the things he said and did shocked me. He looked and pointed directly at us, with hundreds of people watching and screamed "The Mormons come from the Devil." As he yelled this tons of people were shouting "Hallelujah!" He then said, looking directly at us..."Go to hell!!!.....In the name of Jesus Christ I cast you all out!!!!" It was easily the most blasphemous thing I have ever seen. I just laughed at the guy the entire time, the entire time. Luckily, I pulled my iPad out and caught everything on video. After the blasphemous parade marched farther down the road, we went back to work. Napoli is insane and I am starting to get to the point where nothing surprises me anymore.

3 Nephi 14:13-14

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in thereat;

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

I love those scriptures and I thought they went along perfectly with what happened last Friday night. "Narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few be there that find it." That guy that "Banished" us to hell in front of all of those people, he has his reward. That reward may be a few more seats filled in his congregation, but those few seats filled will do nothing for him in the life that is yet to come.

Last night, Sunday Night, we did another Gesso. This time we decided to do it on Eternal Families. We talked to many people, handed out loads of Mormon.org cards, and even walked away with 7 cell phone numbers from younger people that have little families. It was the best Gesso that I have ever done, and we did not end up getting thrust to Hell by some old crazy Evangelist preacher. We plan on contacting those people in the next day or two and setting up some appointments. When I was able to speak with someone that was willing to listen, I was able share why being a Forever Family is so important to me. I would say that in this life things happen unexpectedly and they happen without a moments notice, but if we make sacred covenants with our Father and Heaven and do the things that we are required, we can spend forever with the ones we love most. What a wonderful gift and extraordinary opportunity from our Heavenly Father.

Some Random Things that happened this past week:
1-Nee Convert Pizza Night was good. We read Alma 36 together and had a good time. We ran into Mario, the english course student,  on our way to Pizza Night and asked him what he was doing. He said nothing and so we invited him to come with us. He said yes! Mario tagged along and participated the whole time. It was awesome!

2-I changed a flat tire Friday night before we went and did our Gesso. The poor Italian guy looked like he had never done such a thing and was struggling. So while I was changing his tire, Anziano Lasarte was teaching him The Restoration. It was awesome! It felt good to get some dirt on my hands and actually use my hands for the first time in awhile. We switched phone numbers and we will be calling him in a few days. Service opens people up much easier. I am grateful to the Lord for giving us that opportunity to perform a small act of service.

 

This week I would like to share a little bit about something that was said to me when I was just 8 years old and it is something that I have never forgotten. I remember one summer day I was at my Grandpa Martin's house and later on that day I was playing in the City League Pitching Machine All-Star Game. As we were getting ready to leave Grandpa Martin said to me..."Jardman...don't you ever quit." I was only eight years old, but I have never forgotten that advice. I can remember many instances throughout my life where it would have been easier to quit, it would have been easier to throw in the towel and walk away....but during these times of trial, these times of difficulty, I would think of my Grandpa Martin's wise advice... "Jardman...don't you ever quit." This life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, I think we all know that. This life will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently as long as you let it. This life isn't about how hard you can hit, this life is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. My challenge this week is to keep moving forward. Never give up. Trust in the Lord. Take my Grandpa Martins advice... "Jardman...don't you ever quit." There is power in having enough courage to move forward and press on through times of darkness, doubt and fear. 

I love you all so much. Thank you for everything. Enjoy the fair everyone and be safe. 

Much love from Napoli,

Anziano JarDee Nessen

August 17th, 2015

August 17th, 2015

Good Morning Everyone!!

I love you all and hope you all are doing well crazy to think that the
summer is coming to end. The summer always seems to go bye way to
fast. The weather here in Napoli has been really nice. It was pretty
warm during the week, but cooled off on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
It actually rained yesterday, which was a surprise because it usually
doesn't rain here in the summer. Rain is always a good thing. This
past week went bye so fast. The weeks continue to move faster and
faster.

To start off, I would like to tell you all what happens here in Italy
during the month of August. Missionary work during the month of August
in nearly impossible in Italy. This is the month where practically the
entire country shuts down and everyone goes on vacation. Everyone from
Florence and Venice come down to Napoli, while everyone from Napoli
heads down to Southern Italy. Now when I say everyone, I mean
absolutely everyone heads out on vacation. Nobody could meet with us
this past week and we seriously called so many people trying to get
something. We tried nearly everyone in our less-active member book, we
tried our area book, we tried calling English course
students.....Nobody could meet with us after Tuesday. So Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday and Sunday were long days of nothing but street
finding. In August all of the stores close ( except for the grocery
stores and they are only open for 4 hours at the max ), all of the
people head out of the town where they live, and on August 15th we
aren't even allowed to leave the house ( because it gets so crazy and
out of control outside ). When I first got here we had a solid 100
members in church for the first 3 weeks, yesterday we had 17 members
including four missionaries. Everyone is out of Naples. Everyone. Kind
of tough to get a lot of good missionary work done during the month of
August, but we tried our best this past week and saw some good things.
Hopefully this week will be better because everyone is starting to
return from their vacations and what not.

Before the big vacation spree hit we were able to see Salvatore ( The
Pizzeria Guy ) and Francesco ( The Martial Arts Guy ) and his wife. We
were able to finish The Plan of Salvation with Salvatore. We like to
break that lesson into two parts because it is a lot of information to
take in for one sitting. We finished it up and the lesson went really
well. He expressed how he loved hearing that his family can be
together forever. I love teaching the Plan of Salvation. Francesco (
The Martial Arts Guy ) and his wife are going through a really hard
time. His wife is having a ton of problems with work and they are
really struggling as of late. We were going to start the Plan of
Salvation but both Anziano Just and I felt like we should talk about
trials. We talked about trials that we have had in our lives and
talked about why we have difficulties in this life. It was a strong
lesson and they seemed to feel a little bit better afterwards. I love
these people.

The Assistants to the President came down to do Exchanges with our
Zone Leaders. They came down for 2 days and the second day they wanted
to do an Exchange with us. I went with Anziano Puff ( you say is like
Poof ). He is from Northern Italy and finishes his mission in 6 weeks.
He is 25 years old and used to be a model. He is the biggest, funniest
and cockiest person I have ever met. I love him haha! We got about 15
numbers in a two hour span and met tons of good people. It was the
funnest but also the most productive exchange I have been on.
Hopefully in the next few weeks we will be able to meet some of the
people we talked with and get ourselves some new investigators.

We received transfer calls this past Saturday. Anziano Just is
heading up to Rome and I am staying in Napoli. I am getting an Italian
companion who is in his last transfer. His name is Anziano Lasarte. I
am excited to get an Italian companion, it is my goal to speak nothing
but Italian for our 6 weeks together. To bad that Anziano Just is
heading up to Rome. I really like Anziano Just and he is one awesome
missionary. Rome is lucky to be getting him. Our transfer together
went bye really fast.

That is about it for this last week for me. Things are going really
well. I am excited for the opportunity to serve with an Italian
companion but I am grateful for the chance I had to serve with Elder
Just. I hope that he was able to learn something from me, because I
learned many many things from him. I love you all so much and am so
grateful for all of you back home. I am grateful for your prayers,
love and support. I hope you all have a great week and be safe. This
week I have thought about many different things to share...I have
thought about prayer and fasting, I have thought about faith, I have
thought about working hard....I have thought about lots of things to
share a little message about. I want to share a little bit about one
of my scriptures.

Mormon 9:27 "Doubt not, but be believing.....and come unto the Lord with all your heart"

This life brings many different opportunities to have doubt, to be
fearful. Doubt means a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction. I
come across these situations every day. I see them in my own personal
life. I see them in the lives of our ward members. I especially see
these difficulties in the lives of our investigators. We all have
these times of doubt and these things seem to come more often than we
think. The one thing we must always remember is that if we trust the
Big Man in the Upstairs and turn everything over to Him....Everything
will work out. Everything. It is not always easy to trust God
completely, but we must learn to do it in order to get to where we
want to get. We cannot get through this life on our own. We may think
we know what is best for ourselves but the honest truth is God knows
much more than we do. As humans, and mortals, we look at things as of
this very moment and we sometimes have a hard time looking forward at
the future. Our Heavenly Father works in way that is eternal. He looks
at the grand scheme of everything. He is the only one who knows our
full potential. He is the only one that can help us reach our absolute
full potential. The only way He can help us, is if we are humble
enough to let Him into our lives and allow Him to be our guide. In
order to get to where we need to be, we need to give ourselves
completely over to Him. We have to be willing to change. We have to be
willing to sacrifice a little bit in order to become who He needs us
to be. Sometimes these things or changes might bring some doubt, or
even a little bit of fear....but let us remember that we are
absolutely never alone in this mortal journey. We have an Almighty
Being that is always there for us and will never leave us unaided or
unguided. We must seek Him and seek Him in everything. Let us always
have pure hope in what is to come and be consistently believing in our
infinitely loving Heavenly Father. I know that when we trust Him and
accept His will, we will never be lead astray. God is no respect of
persons, but He sure loves the humble. My challenge this week is to
completely trust in God. I challenge you all that the next time a big
decision is placed before you, that you humbly seek out The Lord and
talk it over with Him. He will always lead you on the right path and
that path leads directly home to Him. That is where we all want to be.

Doubt Not, but Be Believing... I love you all so much. Have a good week.

Be Humble, Be Fearless.
Peace be the Journey,
Anziano JarDee Nessen

Ps.....I will send out Pivtures and Videos tomorrow morning when I
have wifi. We had to work this morning so this P-Day has been kind of
crazy. I love you guys!! Have a good week. I will talk to you all
soon.

8 Months

8 Months

8 Months Today! I hope you all are doing well and I hope you all had a
good week. I hope the weather is nice back home and I hope you all are
continuing to have a good summer. I can't believe that it is already
August. Time is sure flying bye. I love you all.

Last Monday, Elder Just and I were able to get on one of the U.S.
Bases over here in Italy. They have an American food court, an
American grocery store, and everyone there is respectful. Three things
I haven't seen or experienced in awhile. In the food court they had an
actual Subway. I almost fell over when I saw the yellow and white
sign. So of course I got myself a nice foot long and so did Elder
Just. Afterwards we raided the grocery story grabbing every single
thing in sight really. We can out of there will 4 bags of chips, 24
cans of Mountain Dew, every type of Oreo that you can think of, and
last but not least....Pop Tarts. It was Heaven inside of the base. We
will definitely be making another trip to the base very soon. One of
the most therapeutic days I've had in awhile. Nothing is more relaxing
than a nice can of Mountain Dew in one hand and a hand full of Doritos
in the other. God Bless America.

We had some good lessons this week with one of our investigators. We
met with Salvatore, the guy that owns the pizzeria, twice this week
and had two good lesson. Since Elder Just and I are so young in the
mission we have really tried to focus on getting a member to come with
us for most of our lessons. We were able to get a member for every one
of our lessons this week, and so that was a huge help. The first
lesson with Salvatore we re-taught the end of the Restoration ( The
Joseph Smith Story and The Book of Mormon ) and it went well. He
agreed to being reading and praying to find his answer. A few days
later we met again and taught him the Plan of Salvation. I was very
excited for this lesson because Salvatore is a young guy and has a
little two year old boy. I was able to share my story about how my mom
past away when I was just a little guy, but also how one day I will be
able to see her again, and more importantly if I do what is right, I
will get to spend forever with her. The concept of forever families
really seemed to hit home with Salvatore. We are hoping to get a
baptismal date with him tomorrow. He is a really good guy and is
really respectful to us missionaries. Our Martial Arts lesson with
Francesco fell through this week, which was a huge hit. Him and his
wife kind of snubbed us. I am not sure if they did it on purpose, or
if they forgot about our lesson...but when we knocked on their door,
nobody was home. We called their cell phone and nobody picked up. They
didn't come to English course on Tuesday or Thursday, so as of right
now I am not sure what to think. They did send us a text after we
waited on their doorstep for about 20 minutes and it said "Excuse us
but we aren't home tonight." It bothered me a bit that they just
texted, instead of answering their phone and just telling us.....but I
love them and we are going to do our best with them this coming
Wednesday. They are good people and would make good strong members,
they just have to be willing and humble enough to change. They have
received their answer, they know what is right....Now they just have
to turn everything over to Christ and have faith in Him.

Our New Convert / Less Active Pizza Night went great again. This week
we decided to watch The Lamb of God and talk about our Savior. I sat
in the back and as the moving went along, I could see tears running
down both of our New Converts faces. It was powerful. Very powerful at
that. Afterwards we kicked the lights on and just had a good open
discussion about our Savior and just how much He truly loves us. Our
Savior loves us more than we can comprehend. I heard once that our
names are engraved in the scars on His hands, wrists and feet where
the nails were driven. Once we are willing enough to give everything
to our Savior and just trust Him with all of our heart, might, mind
and strength...He never lets us go. He always keeps us near. Because
Jesus walked such a long and dreadful path completely and utterly
alone, we do not have too. He knows our trials, our weaknesses, our
fears, our doubts, our pains, our afflictions... But He never leaves
us unaided in those times of difficulty. Rain or Shine, Smooth or
Rough...The one perfect constant in our lives is the Love that Jesus
Christ offers us.

Yesterday, we went over to an Americans house for Sunday dinner. It
was awesome. The man, Sam is his name, is a member...but his wife is
not. They are middle aged people and Sam is truly incredible. He had a
stroke a little while back and lost all control of the left side of
his body. He is the most positive and happy man I have ever met.
Yesterday we talked with them about Trials and overcoming them. I was
able to tell Moms story another time and bare my testimony on the
amazing blessings that come from the temple. One of my favorite
scriptures about trials is Romans 8:18 and that says...."18 For I
reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Trials come
not to harm or to destroy, but to build and prepare. I know that I
would not be who I am today without the trials that I have gone
through. The comforting thing to know is that I was never alone in
those times of difficulty.

We just got back from our P-Day trip today. We went to Caserta and
rode bikes through this super pretty garden. I will send some pictures
home shortly. Felt good to get back on a bike, my legs were burning a
little bit.....but it made me feel like I was cruising the streets of
Howell Valley again.

That was our week in a Nutshell. Things are going really well with
Anziano Just and I. He is a good guy and is doing really well. I am
lucky to be companions with him. In the areas where I am weak, He is
strong. In the areas where I am strong, He is stronger. I am grateful
for him and his willingness to work. Transfer calls are this coming
Saturday and I am praying that we stay together for another transfer.
We have some big, special things happening here in Napoli in the next
few months. I can feel it. All is well here. We are healthy, happy and
often times really sweaty, but we are doing well. Life is great.
Mission life is great. This is a beautiful world full of good people.
I am grateful for all of you. For your support, prayers and love. Next
week I will be sure to have a spiritual thought. I hope you all have
an awesome week and take real good care. I love you all so much.
Thanks again for everything.

Peace be the Journey,
Anziano JarDee Nessen

August 3rd, 2015

August 3rd, 2015

Good Morning Everyone! I hope you all had a great week. I am grateful
for all of your prayers, all of the love, and all of the support. I
thank you all for everything. This past week, nothing to crazy
happened. On Tuesday we had Zone Conference. On Wednesday we had our
Martial Arts lesson with Francesco. Thursday, Friday did Saturday Anziano Just and I got kind of sick. Our entire zone got sick after
Zone Conference. I am not sure if it was the food that we got fed, or
what... but our whole zone got a little bug.

Last Monday we played a little basketball with our zone leaders. It
felt good to get outside on a ten foot hoop and exercise a little bit.
We played a little two on two and had a good time. After the
basketball game we had our interviews with our Mission President. I
love our mission president. He is a stud. After everybody was finished
with their interviews, we went out and did a group finding activity.
What we did was pretty fun. We decided to draw the Plan of Salvation
on a sheet with some chalk and lay it out on the sidewalk for people
to see. As people walk bye, the sheet catches their eye and almost
every single person stops to take a look. We had about 10 elders out
talking about the Plan of Salvation and teaching many different people
about the Plan of Happiness. We met some really incredible people and
some people even went home with a copy of the Book of Mormon. I love
the chalk and sheet finding activity. It is a good one.

On Tuesday, we had our Zone Conference. It was a good conference.
There were some good trainings given and we were taught some very
simply, but powerful promises. Zone Conferences are always a good time
and we always walk away with something new to use in our missionary
work.

Wednesday night, we had our weekly Martial Arts lesson with Francesco.
I love Francesco. He is a stud. He taught us how to block all
different types of punches, and also some good combo's. I really like
MMA now. I have even started to give it a little thought on maybe
going into it a little bit deeper after the mission. This week, there
was Francesco and one of His friends. His friend took Anziano Just and
Francesco worked with Me for an hour or so. Let me remind you, He was
the European Kick Boxing Champ for 5 straight years. We worked on many
different things and many different techniques. Safe to say, that he
worked me over for that hour....but we both had a good time.
Afterwards his wife came home and we were planning on teaching them
the Plan of Salvation. While we were getting ready to start the Plan
of Salvation lesson, I had this feeling that we shouldn't teach them
that just yet....So we didn't. We ended up showing them a short clip
about Jesus Christ and talking about the atonement. It went well and
Francesco even said the closing prayer for us. It was awesome!

On Thursday morning, Anziano Just and I woke up feeling pretty sick.
We both had major headaches, body aches and overall we just didn't
feel very well. We did what we could, but we didn't have an
appointments scheduled for that morning. Friday and Saturday we still
had this bug with us. We were getting calls from other missionaries in
our Zone asking if we felt sick as well. Something had to have got
spread at Zone Conference.....But we are feeling much better now and
things are back to normal.

Our English Course here in Naples is good. We have about 10 consistent
students and they are speak pretty good English. On Thursday we had a
couple new faces which is good. We are starting to see some potential
in our English Course. We have a professor that comes every Tuesday and Thursday and he has never shown any interest in our church or
beliefs before...But he actually showed up for church yesterday
without being personally invited. He is hilarious and speaks English
pretty much perfectly....Him and I have grown to be pretty good
friends in this past few weeks. He always sits by me during English
course and is always telling me that I look like John Travolta from
Grease ( though I am not completely sure of that is a compliment or
not ). I love English Course.

Friday night Anziano Just went out and did some football finding on
the boardwalk. It was kind of cooler Friday Night, so not to many
people were down on the Boardwalk...But we did meet some nice couples
who were interested in English Course. Hopefully tomorrow night we
will have a few new people show up to learn some English. It is always
nice to get out and play a little catch every once in awhile. Does the
soul good. Saturday Night, we had our weekly Pizza Night with our New
Converts. We decided to re-teach them the Restoration and show them
the short Restoration film. There is always a powerful spirit present
when we talk about the restoration, and especially when we tell the
Joseph Smith story. It was fun to teach it once again to the new
converts because this time they can pitch in and bare their own
personal testimony about The Prophet Joseph Smith and The Restoration.
New Convert Pizza Night is always fun!

Last week I totally forgot to mention that it has already been one
year from when I received my mission call. I received it on July 23rd,
2014 and opened it down at Hansen Park at approximately 7:20 p.m. I
remember wearing my green button up shirt, with Hans Madsen's jeans
on. Opening my mission call was probably one of the most spiritual
experiences of my entire life. I remember being surrounded by family
and friends as we all were nervously waiting to see where I would be
spending two years away from home. I still remember being shocked when
I read off Italy, Rome. I remember my cousin Bailee picking exactly
what mission I would be heading too. I still remember giving everyone
hugs and taking loads of pictures. I will never forget the feeling I
had that night. It was one of the greatest nights of my life and I
will never forget it. It is truly crazy to think that I received my
mission call over one year ago... I hope you are all able to remember
a little bit from that night and remember the powerful spirit that was
with us at Hansen Park that warm summer night. Goodness
Gracious....Time Flies.

That about wraps up this week. Nothing to crazy, just another good
week out here in Italy. I hope you all have a good week. I love you
all. Grateful to have such a big and amazing family. You are all in my
prayers and I hope everyone is doing well. I will talk to you all
soon.

Peace be the Journey,
Anziano JarDee Nessen