Oct12
10 Months Down
Buongiorno a tutti. I love you all.
How y'all doing? I hope and pray everyone is doing well. I hope that
school is going well for everyone. I hope work is treating everyone
right. I hope you are all happy and healthy. Let me know if I can do
something for someone specific. I know that I over 8,000 miles away
and cannot do much physically...but spiritually I can help out. I can
always include more people in my prayers. If there is someone in mind,
please let me know. We hit the double digits on Saturday. I can't
believe I've already been out 10 months, sometimes it seems like I've
been gone forever but most of the time it feels as if I just barely
left. 10 months down!! Unfortunately, this week there is not much to
report...So here we go!
Mistretta. Mistretta is a good little town. It reminds me a lot of
Howell Valley to be honest. Tractors (which aren't even in comparison
to the tractors in Howell Valley but they will do for now) drive up
and down the roads. I've seen a few people on horseback. There are
herds of sheep, farms all around, and friendly people. In fact, the
other day we were walking through town and I got a smell of animal
feed. I stopped dead in my tracts and took a few deep breaths. As we
got closer I looked into a building and saw a grinder surrounded by
mounds of corn, soybeans, oats and wheat. Probably the best thing I've
smelt in over 10 months. The people here are friendly. As we are
walking down the road and the cars are passing by, I like to wave.
Here the people wave back. It is a good little place and I really
enjoy it up here in the mountains. Things are safe here. It is
peaceful, calm and quiet. The weather is much cooler up here in the
mountains. We have been receiving a lot of moisture and they say that
we will continue to receive. I found out this week that the elevation
of Mistretta sits around 3,500 feet. They say we will have snow come
December, so it sounds like I will be having a white Christmas.
Mistretta is a good little place.
This past week we knocked some doors, well a bunch of doors at that.
Out of the hundreds of people we came into contact with, one older
gentleman let us in immediately. He welcomed us in, sat us down and
started to talk with us like we had been friends for years. His name
is Dr. Enzo. We talked a little bit and we got to know each other a
little better. He is very kind and we plan on returning back to his
house in the near future to teach him a little bit about who we are.
He has a family and a few kids who are still living at home. Hopefully
something good will come from that. Dr. Enzo was the only one that let
us through his doorway, but we handed out loads of Pass-A-Long Cards.
We have to leave them with something. It does nothing if you walk away
empty handed. At least with a Pass-A-Long Card can look up our website
or give us a call on our cell phone. Knocking Doors is actually pretty
fun. Knocking Doors "is like a box of chocolates, you never know what
you're going to get" (Forest Gump). We received some pretty humorous
rejections this past week and I would like to share a few.
#1 - *Door Opens....."Hello. We are the missionaries of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...." *door slams shut.
#2 - Have you every seen this book before? ( As we are holding the
Book of Mormon up) The Response - "Sorry. I can't read."
We heard nearly everything in the book, but we will keep trying. We
know that people are ready and waiting for us to show up on their
door, we just have to find them. We have been hanging English Course
Posters all over the city. Mistretta is a small little place and we
have officially hung an English Course Poster in every restaurant,
coffee shop, shop in general, everything. You name it, it has one of
our English Course Posters hanging up in it. We have really worked to
"Re-Boot" our English course this past week, hopefully some students
will show up this week.
The Members here are pretty incredible. There may only be 10 of them,
but they are some of the strongest 10 I have ever met. Our first four
days here, we were fed four times. They loaded us up with food. They
were so excited to have missionaries back here. It was pretty nice to
be honest. Yesterday Anziano Da Ponte and I gave talks in Sacrament
Meeting. Our topic was on Missionary Work. Anziano Da Ponte spoke on a
talk from President Hinckley and I spoke on Warning our Neighbor as it
says in D&C 88:81. I felt our talks went really well. The members were
excited after sacrament and many of them told us about people that
they have been working with. We are really going to try and work with
the members this transfer. The best formula in missionary work is when
the members and missionaries work together.
Here in Mistretta we do two services on Sunday. We have the normal
three hour block on Sunday morning up here in Mistretta but we also do
a sacrament meeting at a members house in the evening. We have a nice
building here in Mistretta. It is small, but it is very tidy. For the
evening sacrament session we hold it, like I said, in a members home.
The reason we hold a second sacrament is because there are a few
members who live about 45 minutes from Mistretta and are very poor, so
they are unable to make the trip every Sunday. The members down there
are small in number, but just like the rest of the members in
Mistretta, they are strong. It was the first time that I have had a
real sacrament meeting in someone's living room. It was different, but
I liked it.
That about wraps up our week out here. I apologize for this email and
how boring it truly is. Next week I will update you all on a few of
our members here and also the senior couple. This week I would like to
talk about one of my favorite scriptures. That being D&C 18:10.
10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
For me, it is humbling to think that compared to God, man is nothing;
yet we are everything to God. He will always love us. That love will
never fade away. I know that God loves us and I know that He always
will.
Everyone....I love you all. I hope everyone has an amazing week back
home. Be safe and take care. 10 months down! Il talk to you soon!
Love,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
How y'all doing? I hope and pray everyone is doing well. I hope that
school is going well for everyone. I hope work is treating everyone
right. I hope you are all happy and healthy. Let me know if I can do
something for someone specific. I know that I over 8,000 miles away
and cannot do much physically...but spiritually I can help out. I can
always include more people in my prayers. If there is someone in mind,
please let me know. We hit the double digits on Saturday. I can't
believe I've already been out 10 months, sometimes it seems like I've
been gone forever but most of the time it feels as if I just barely
left. 10 months down!! Unfortunately, this week there is not much to
report...So here we go!
Mistretta. Mistretta is a good little town. It reminds me a lot of
Howell Valley to be honest. Tractors (which aren't even in comparison
to the tractors in Howell Valley but they will do for now) drive up
and down the roads. I've seen a few people on horseback. There are
herds of sheep, farms all around, and friendly people. In fact, the
other day we were walking through town and I got a smell of animal
feed. I stopped dead in my tracts and took a few deep breaths. As we
got closer I looked into a building and saw a grinder surrounded by
mounds of corn, soybeans, oats and wheat. Probably the best thing I've
smelt in over 10 months. The people here are friendly. As we are
walking down the road and the cars are passing by, I like to wave.
Here the people wave back. It is a good little place and I really
enjoy it up here in the mountains. Things are safe here. It is
peaceful, calm and quiet. The weather is much cooler up here in the
mountains. We have been receiving a lot of moisture and they say that
we will continue to receive. I found out this week that the elevation
of Mistretta sits around 3,500 feet. They say we will have snow come
December, so it sounds like I will be having a white Christmas.
Mistretta is a good little place.
This past week we knocked some doors, well a bunch of doors at that.
Out of the hundreds of people we came into contact with, one older
gentleman let us in immediately. He welcomed us in, sat us down and
started to talk with us like we had been friends for years. His name
is Dr. Enzo. We talked a little bit and we got to know each other a
little better. He is very kind and we plan on returning back to his
house in the near future to teach him a little bit about who we are.
He has a family and a few kids who are still living at home. Hopefully
something good will come from that. Dr. Enzo was the only one that let
us through his doorway, but we handed out loads of Pass-A-Long Cards.
We have to leave them with something. It does nothing if you walk away
empty handed. At least with a Pass-A-Long Card can look up our website
or give us a call on our cell phone. Knocking Doors is actually pretty
fun. Knocking Doors "is like a box of chocolates, you never know what
you're going to get" (Forest Gump). We received some pretty humorous
rejections this past week and I would like to share a few.
#1 - *Door Opens....."Hello. We are the missionaries of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...." *door slams shut.
#2 - Have you every seen this book before? ( As we are holding the
Book of Mormon up) The Response - "Sorry. I can't read."
We heard nearly everything in the book, but we will keep trying. We
know that people are ready and waiting for us to show up on their
door, we just have to find them. We have been hanging English Course
Posters all over the city. Mistretta is a small little place and we
have officially hung an English Course Poster in every restaurant,
coffee shop, shop in general, everything. You name it, it has one of
our English Course Posters hanging up in it. We have really worked to
"Re-Boot" our English course this past week, hopefully some students
will show up this week.
The Members here are pretty incredible. There may only be 10 of them,
but they are some of the strongest 10 I have ever met. Our first four
days here, we were fed four times. They loaded us up with food. They
were so excited to have missionaries back here. It was pretty nice to
be honest. Yesterday Anziano Da Ponte and I gave talks in Sacrament
Meeting. Our topic was on Missionary Work. Anziano Da Ponte spoke on a
talk from President Hinckley and I spoke on Warning our Neighbor as it
says in D&C 88:81. I felt our talks went really well. The members were
excited after sacrament and many of them told us about people that
they have been working with. We are really going to try and work with
the members this transfer. The best formula in missionary work is when
the members and missionaries work together.
Here in Mistretta we do two services on Sunday. We have the normal
three hour block on Sunday morning up here in Mistretta but we also do
a sacrament meeting at a members house in the evening. We have a nice
building here in Mistretta. It is small, but it is very tidy. For the
evening sacrament session we hold it, like I said, in a members home.
The reason we hold a second sacrament is because there are a few
members who live about 45 minutes from Mistretta and are very poor, so
they are unable to make the trip every Sunday. The members down there
are small in number, but just like the rest of the members in
Mistretta, they are strong. It was the first time that I have had a
real sacrament meeting in someone's living room. It was different, but
I liked it.
That about wraps up our week out here. I apologize for this email and
how boring it truly is. Next week I will update you all on a few of
our members here and also the senior couple. This week I would like to
talk about one of my favorite scriptures. That being D&C 18:10.
10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
For me, it is humbling to think that compared to God, man is nothing;
yet we are everything to God. He will always love us. That love will
never fade away. I know that God loves us and I know that He always
will.
Everyone....I love you all. I hope everyone has an amazing week back
home. Be safe and take care. 10 months down! Il talk to you soon!
Love,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
Meet Sorella Battista and Anziano Da Ponte.
The wonderful town of Mistretta, Sicily.
This is the left side.
Here is the right!
0 comments: