Anziano JarDee Nessen Italy Rome Mission : October 5, 2015

October 5, 2015

Good Morning Everyone!!

Well here we are in October already and before we know it, I will be hitting my year mark. Time goes so fast. I am starting my 7th transfer in Italy today ( not including the transfer that I did at the Provo MTC ). This week I will be sending a whole bunch of pictures. I hope everyone is doing well back home. I hope that everyone is healthy and happy. I love you all. I am grateful for each of you.

First off I would like to talk a little bit about one sweet grandma of mine that returned to her heavenly home a few weeks ago. Grandma Frank was one incredible lady. She was kind. She was nice. She was loving. She was happy. I remember her always having a little baggy of gummy-bears for all of us grandkids and her always talking to me about how my sports were going. She was always caring about others and thinking of others long before she would worry about herself. She lived a beautiful life of 101 years and effected everyone that she came into contact with; that effect always being positive. She will surely be missed, but she has passed onto the next phase of The Plan of Happiness. Now she is with grandpa again. I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to know Grandma Frank and especially to be able to call her grandma. I will certainly miss her hugs and those gummy-bears....but we will all see her again. The Plan of Salvation is truly so beautiful. Death is not the end, it is simply part of the plan.

This past week was a crazy one with my companion heading home and me preparing to leave Napoli. We had about 3 billion things to do and about 42 seconds to do them all. It was one of the wildest, most stressful, hardest, funnest, most exciting, and fastest weeks of my mission. Monday Morning we dropped Anziano Lazarte off at the train station and sent him off to Rome. After Anziano Lazarte headed out, I stayed with the Zone Leaders here in Napoli until I left for Sicily Thursday morning. I took them to all of Anziano Lazarte's and I's investigators, so we would not loose anyone that we have been working with. We had a TON of lessons and got a TON of work done. We had a good three days together. The Zone Leaders ( Anziano Nomellini and Anziano Flynn ) and I are like brothers. They are good guys and great missionaries. I am grateful for them and look up to them a lot. They will take good care of Napoli. I have decided that Napoli will be the first place I return to when I come back to Italy to visit.

As I said earlier, I took the Zone Leaders around to all of my investigators so we would not lose anyone that we have been working with. I was fortunate enough to have a final lesson which each of my investigators and pass them on over to the Zone Leaders. The lessons went great and we taught surprising well for being in a Trio. Trio's are always awkward out here in the mission field. It is kind of like when you have two friends over at your house at the same time, someone always gets left out...but with us it didn't feel that way. I learned something during these lessons that I hadn't leaned yet out here in the mission field...That being a missionary that is leaving an area has a big opportunity to bare powerful testimony to the people that he or she loves. It is kind of our last chance, before leaving the area, to tell our investigators the things that we know to be true. I realized that most of these people, I will never see again in this life here upon the earth, and so I needed to leave them something powerful. My last lessons in Napoli I decided to not hold anything back. Sometimes as missionaries we hold back saying certain things because we do not want to offend these people we are teaching. This past week I learned that if we love these people, that we could never be too bold when baring testimony, because in the end we are trying to give them something that will bring them more happiness, peace and joy both in this life and the life that is yet to come. It was good to see all of my investigators in Napoli one last time. I was able to print off some pictures, write on the back of them and give them to all of the people that had an impact on me.

Last Tuesday Night, I had my last English course in Napoli. I became very close with most of the students who attended our English Course. People like Zio ( Uncle in Italian. His name is Alfredo, but we call him Uncle), Mario, Sergio, Rashmir, Carmella, Sabrina, Francesco and Anna, and more. These people became my family over here. We called all of the students Sunday evening and let them know that Tuesday would be my last time at English Course because I was getting transferred. Ever since last Saturday, when I received my transfer call, I was wondering what I could share as a spiritual thought at my last English course. Finally, about 5 minutes before it was time to do the spiritual thought, I decided to do my spiritual thought on the Book of Mormon. After all, that is the one thing that can bring more happiness and joy than we can possibly imagine if we allow it to do so. I bore testimony on how the Book of Mormon had changed my life and how it can change anyone's life who is willing to give it an honest shot. Right after I closed my spiritual thought I took the time to thank everyone for everything that they had done for me. In that moment it kind of hit me that I will most likely never see some of these people that had become lifelong friends again, and so I started to get teary eyed. Well to make a long story short, by the end of me saying my "Thank You"...All of those people I listed above were in tears along with me. When I closed my thought everyone stood up and started clapping. It was pretty strange to me, and I wasn't sure how to react...but it felt good, I'm not going to lie. Afterwards Zio and Mario both came to me and told me that whenever I return to Napoli that their homes are open to me and my family. Zio told me in secret that I was his favorite missionary of all time as tears were streaming down his cheeks. I love all of those students who attend English Course in Napoli. One day I earnestly hope and pray that I will be able to return and see these wonderful people yet again. It was a night that I will never forget.

Wednesday night came along which meant my last Fight Night with Francesco. Before heading over to his house I went and bought him a 10 inch Bruce Lee statue to place by all of his trophies. We got over there at 6:30 and started right away with the martial arts. At around 7:15 Anna came home from work. While the Zone Leaders were working with Francesco, Anna and I were sitting on a bench in his gym talking. In Francesco's gym, he has a ton of little birds. A lot like the bird from Dumb and Dumber. Every time I have ever gone over to their house I have always sat, watched and admired just how cool these birds really are. As Anna and I were talking she asked me if I could have pets on the mission. I replied with a no. She said that was to bad because they were going to give me the biggest and prettiest bird that they had. I would have taken that thing in a heartbeat if I could. We finished the martial arts lesson and started our spiritual thought. At the beginning Francesco told us that he had found a scripture that he loves. He found 2nd Nephi 25:29 which says....

"29 And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out."

I saw something in his eye and in his countenance that night that seemed to be a little but different. A week earlier he was telling us that he only believes in things that he can see, and this last week he eagerly showed us this wonderful scripture that talks about believing. The spirit in his living room was strong and we hadn't even said the opening prayer yet. We got started and began talking more about the Book of Mormon and the importance of this book. He agreed to continue to read and pray about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, but also with a sincere heart having real intent. We set another Bap. Date with him for the 14th of November. As we were closing the Zone Leaders bore their testimonies first, so I could finish up my last lesson with Francesco and Anna. I bore testimony with every fiber in my being about The Book of Mormon, Forever Families and Jesus Christ. Francesco and Anna began to get teary eyed and I did as well. I closed the lesson and they asked me to say the closing prayer. I believe that was the first time in a long time that I listened for what things to say, instead of saying the things that I wanted to say. We stood up to leave and I brought out the picture that I printed off and the little Bruce Lee statue and handed these things over to them. I gave them one last hug and walked out of their house one last time. Francesco and Anna never had kids. I am unsure if she was unable to bare children or what the case may be, but I feel that I kind of became their son in the 12 weeks that I was in Napoli. It hurt to walk away and say goodbye, but we will meet each other again, whether in this life or the next. They are incredible and I will continue to pray for them just as if they were still my investigators today. Francesco and Anna will be baptized one day. I know they will. It was my pleasure to be able to teach them and spend time with them.

Thursday morning came and my train left Napoli at 9:50 am. We got to the station at about 9:35 and I went over to purchase my ticket. I bought my ticket, turned around to where my suitcases were and to my surprise Francesco was standing right there beside my suitcases. I asked him..."What are you doing here?" He replied... "Nessen how could I not have come." We walked down to my train cart and walked a little bit slower than we usually do. He helped me load up my bags and gave me one last hug goodbye. The whistle blew and my train pulled out of the Napoli Station. I walked to my sit with a smile on my face and gratitude in my heart for the opportunity I had to serve the people of Napoli. This life if full of Goodbyes, but the truly remarkable thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ is that no Goodbye lasts forever.

My train landed in Palermo, a big city in Sicily, and right as my first train arrived at its destination, there were other missionaries grabbing my bags and helping me onto another train. I arrived in Palermo at 7:02 and the next train I got on left at 7:05. We were literally running across the tracks with my bags on our shoulders to get me on my second train in time. On the second train I met up with my new companion. Anziano Stefano Da Ponte. He is an Italian and is one transfer younger than me in the mission. He is a good guy and really kind. We will get along just fine and have fun together. We got to Mistretta at 9:30 pm and we were both pretty worn down from the long day of travel. Fortunately we have a Senior Couple here in Mistretta as well. They helped us find our apartment and had a good snack for us to eat. The Wardles. Elder and Sister Wardle. They are amazing. They come from the Salt Lake area and he served his mission here in Italy close to 50 years ago. Elder Wardle sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and has an amazing voice. Sister Wardle is an amazing cook and piano player. They are incredible. Senior Couples are the best.

Mistretta is beautiful. I love being up in the mountains. I will send more about Mistretta next week with pictures. We have a brand new apartment here, so that's nice. There used to be a car here in Mistretta, but it got taken out when they first shut down the area to missionary work. Mistretta is great. I am going to love it here.

I hope everyone had an opportunity to catch something from General Conference. It was pretty neat to see 3 new apostles called. There were many powerful talks including Elder Holland on Mothers, President Eyring on The Holy Ghost, President Nelson on The Women of The Church, A few from the 70 did an amazing job as well...But the one that I want to focus on is President Monson's talk from The Sunday Morning session. Near the end of his talk he was leaning over the pulpit and breathing harder and harder. It took every ounce of energy he had to give that talk. He could barely speak by the end, but he gave one of the most powerful talks of all time. He is truly a Man. He is our Prophet today. I pray that each of us can be a little bit more like President Monson. A little kinder. A little nicer. A little happier. A little stronger. Seeing him continue to fight just to give his talk gives me strength. If you have not seen his talk from The Sunday Morning Session, I would invite you to take 15 minutes and watch it.

This week I want to be shorter since this email has been a novel and a half, but I would like to talk about things that give us strength. Some of the things that give me strength are: #1 - The knowledge that Families can be Together Forever. #2 - The picture of Tyke that I use as my bookmark in my scriptures. #3 - Watching our Prophet fight and endure to the end of his conference talk even though he had to lean against the podium to do so. My invite this week into identity a small number of things that give us strength, that give us hope, that build us up, that give us the strength to push forward...So the next time we have a rough day or receive a trial of our faith, we will each have a few things that will give us strength to continue to fight and press forward. Let us always remember that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us perfectly. Let us always lean on Him and His Son in all things.

I love you all. Thank you all for everything. I hope you all have a great, safe week.

Peace be the Journey,

Anziano JarDee Nessen

.."Doubt not, but be believing"..