Nov30
November 30th, 2015
Morning Family and Friends,
Greetings from Mistretta. All is well up here in the Mountains of
Sicily. The weather is surely cooling down and I am hoping to get some
snow on the ground before Christmas. We had a good ole week out here
full of new people, a great Thanksgiving dinner and even a trip to the
ER. Not going to lie, it was probably one of the wildest and most
random weeks of my mission so far, but one the best as well. I hope
you are all doing well back at home. I hope you all had a great
Thanksgiving full of Turkey Bowl Football, Good Laughs with the family
Family and tasty classic American food. I hope everyone is staying
healthy and staying safe. I love you all and am truly so grateful for
all that you do for me. It's crazy to think that one year ago from
today I stood up in sacrament meeting and gave my farewell talk. Time
flies.
Last Monday we had our Zone Soccer game with all of the Elders from
our Zone. Soccer is starting to grow on me. I'm not sure if it is
because that it is the only sport they have over here or if it's the
only competition I get out here, but it is growing on me. We had a
good time all together and nobody was injured. That night Anziano Da
Ponte and I stayed with the Elders from Palermo. We went on splits
Monday evening and did some street finding. We met a really neat young
couple on the road and I hope that they will be humble enough to start
taking the lessons.
Tuesday we held our District Meeting down in Palermo and had ourselves
a little district Thanksgiving dinner. The Wardles brought us some
grilled chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy, while every
companionship was responsible to bring something. It was great!
Afterwards we returned back to Mistretta and visited Antonio and
Lydia. Their mother is doing better now. We were able to have a good
chat with them and give them a good laugh or two. They are great
people, they just have a lot to deal with in trying to take care of
their mother.
Wednesday morning Nino asked us if we could help him get some things
ready for Thanksgiving. That morning we helped him prepare Pumpkin
Pie, a Honey Glazed Ham and cracked like 3 million walnuts for him.
Nino is such a good guy and one of the greatest cooks. The poor guy is
nearly completely blind, but still manages to do everything
independently. He is a hero of mine. He is always so happy to have us
around and we always happy to be able to spend a little bit of time
with him. Wednesday evening we headed back over to Nino's house to
help him study for his lesson on Sunday. We talked about the temple
and Nino got pretty emotional. I love that guy!
Thursday. Thanksgiving! What a crazy day! We had about 987 thousand
things to do and about 4.4 seconds to do them all. That morning, Nino
called us and asked if we could head on over again to help him out. We
helped him get some wood for his wood burning stove in his house,
studied together for a little bit and got eve thing ready for our
Thanksgiving Party that night. After we left his house to head home
for lunch, Nino was coming down his stairs and missed the last one. To
make a long story short, he hurt him left arm and scrapped up one if
his shins really bad. Poor fella. We got over there just before our
Thanksgiving Party started to help him load all of his food up in the
car and he had his arm in a homemade sling. He has a nice deep tissue
bruise on his arm and just a beat up shin. In a few days, he should be
back to the same ole Nino. Our Thanksgiving Party was a Hit. We had 7
in-actives present and 2 non-members, one of which is now our newest
investigator ( I will talk more about that later in this email ).
There was so much food there and lots of good company. We decided to
do large chickens rather than a giant turkey because the turkeys are
so expensive here but other than that, we had ourselves an American
Thanksgiving Dinner. It was great. Everyone had plenty to eat and
everyone seemed super happy. It will surely be a Thanksgiving that I
will never forget.
Friday, well that was when we had ourselves a little trip to the ER.
Here is that story.
The story goes back to last Monday when all of the Elders from our
zone got together for a soccer game for our P-Day Activity. Here in
Italy there are millions of smaller soccer fields, but instead of
being grass, they are turf fields. All of you know how fun those
little black beads that cover the turf fields can be. Well, I got one
stuck in eye last week and thought that I got it removed....I was
wrong. I woke up Tuesday morning and everything was fine. I felt no
discomfort, no pain or anything like that at all. I than woke up
Wednesday morning with the biggest eye infection that the world has
ever seen. I looked like Sloth from The Goonies. It was horrible. I
will send you all a few pictures just to prove how bad it was.
Anyways, Wednesday and Thursday we were so busy that we had absolutely
no time to go see the doctor. Try to imagine me trying to talk to
someone when I look like a Zombie. Every time I would go to say
something I could tell that the person that we were talking to was
just staring right at my eye and that they weren't paying any
attention to what I was saying. It was awful. Wednesday we had a
really busy day and Thursday we had ourselves a Branch Thanksgiving
Dinner for our members and whoever they chose to invite. During the
party, I still looked scary as ever. Just picture me trying to meet
new people and trying to build a relationship with someone new, when
my face looks like I just got punched in the head by The Hulk.
Everyone acted like everything was normal, but I know that everyone
was thinking, "Elder Nessen must have caught Ebola or something...".
Anyways, Friday Morning we took care of weekly planning and we decided
that I probably needed to go see a doctor and get this thing fixed. We
tried the first doctor, but he had already left early for the weekend.
Tried the second and last doctor in town and he had left early as well
for the weekend. We called the office and they told us that if there
were no other doctors in town, that I would have to go to the
emergency room. So off to the emergency room we went. As we were
walking in, there was a small group of 5 nurses standing outside of
the hospital with their scrubs on and they were all huffing and
puffing down on some cigarettes. Comforting. The hospitals down in
Sicily are absolutely disgusting. They are unsanitary, trashy and
honestly look like an insane asylum. They called me back into a room
and as they were doing so, they separated me and my companion. We told
them that we had to remain together always, but they said that he was
not allowed to come past the doors. There were two nurses in there
with me, and I am not sure why the second one decided to stay in the
room with me the entire time. The main nurse was probably 40 years old
and the second nurse was no older than 25. The 25 year old started
asking me all of these weird questions after she found out that I was
American. Now for those of you who have served and who are serving
right now you know what it is like to have a companion, somebody
constantly by your side 24/7. So when I got separated from my
companion it felt pretty strange. The nurses asked me all of these
questions, got all of my information and then the 40 year old nurse
left the room for about 10 minutes. Now it was me and this 25 year old
nurse, who wasn't ugly and was certainly flirting with me, all alone
in this ghetto hospital room....So you might be asking yourself, what
did I do? Well, I pulled out my Book of Mormon and started reading.
Hahaha! I knew that was my best defense for smacking her upside the
head if needed. After what seemed like an eternity, the 40 year old
nurse walked back into the room with some metal bowl type thing in one
hand. As she got closer I looked into the bowl to find a needle and a
few cotton balls. She said and I quote..."Will you please stand and
remove your pants?" I replied... "Umm excuse me?" She than looked at
me like I was an idiot and asked me to stand up. I stood up. She than
grabbed one of the belt loops on the back of my slacks and began
pulling down on one of them and said..."The shot needs to go in your
butt." I replied, "You're going to have to give me that shot in the
arm..." She replied with a strange smile on her face, "No, please
remove your pants." Just picture me, a 6'3" American boy with blonde
hair, dressed up as a missionary, standing up in a trashy Sicilian
hospital room undoing my belt as slow as possible trying to delay the
inevitable. As soon as I got my belt undone and unbuttoned my pants,
the 40 year old nurse than decided that she needed to help me get my
pants to where they needed to be, all while the 25 year old nurse who
was just flirting with me minutes before is sitting 2 feet behind me.
She gave me the shot, without a cool Toy Story bandaid I might add and
I've never buttoned up my pants and done my belt up so fast in my
entire life. I sat down and was SOOOO EMBARRASSED. That was the first
time I have ever received a shot in my bum and I earnestly pray that I
never have to do that again. They prescribed me some eye drops and
told me that I was good to go. I've never been more excited to see my
companion before in my entire life. I walked out into the waiting area
and he was in the middle of a gospel conversation with a couple that
was waiting outside in the waiting area as well. We wrapped up the
conversation and have ourselves 2 new potentials. What a start to
Friday morning. Now, my eye is great. I'm not sure if it was the shot
or some spell that the 25 year old nurse casted on me... I just know
that I am never stepping foot in an Italian or Sicilian hospital
again.
Friday evening, us and the Wardles headed out to Sorella Battista's
home for a Family Home Evening, that being the first one since her
father past away. We took dinner to hear this time. We had our
Thanksgiving leftovers and it was still just as good as it was the
night previous. Our spiritual thought was on the next phase of the
Plan of Salvation after this mortal life. It was powerful to talk
about what my momma is doing and what her father is doing on the other
side. It's comforting to know that death is not the end, that the
grave has no victory. It's beautiful to know that we will all see our
loved ones once again and if we do what is right, we will live with
them forever. Sorella Battista is the best. We topped off the evening
with out traditional Uno card game.
Saturday morning we deep cleaned the church house here because it
really needed it after our Thanksgiving Party. We got her all cleaned
up and ready for Sunday. Nino invited a nephew of his to come to our
Thanksgiving Party. He came and loved it. His name is Marco. Marco is
a 17 year old, respectful kid that lives here in Mistretta. Marco is
not our newest investigator that I mentioned previously, but he did
show some interest Saturday evening when he came over to Nino's house
to have a little visit with us. We plan on meeting with him again this
week and turning him into an investigator. After we had our little
meeting at Nino's house Saturday evening, Marco took off and Nino
asked if we could spend a little bit more time with him. We couldn't
tell him no, nor would we ever tell him no. I mean he just took a hard
fall and was still beaten up from it. He lives completely alone and we
are like his sons. We stuck around and Nino ended up ordering us all a
pizza to eat for dinner. Nino told us some hunting stories of his from
way back in the day and I could just tell how much it meant to him
that we were able to stay a little bit longer and be with him. I love
the guy! I want to put him in my suitcase and bring him home with me.
Saturday was a good day.
Sunday is my favorite day. There is nothing quite like the peaceful
feeling on a Sunday morning. We decided to leave the house a little
bit earlier and accompany Nino. His one arm is messed up and in a
sling, his other arm is occupied by his cane...So we figured that he
had no way to carry his briefcase without causing himself a lot of
pain. He was pretty surprised when we showed up on his front step
yesterday morning. Church was great. The other non-member that was at
our Thanksgiving Party came to church with the member that brought her
to our Thanksgiving Dinner. Her name is Julia and she is 28 years old.
During the last hour, we went into a room that wasn't being used in
the church and had ourselves a little lesson. We got to know her
religious background and all that good stuff. We were also able to
answer the questions that she had. The member who brought her bore
pretty powerful testimony and both of them got emotional. It was a
really powerful lesson and Anziano Da Ponte and I didn't have to say
much at all. Julia expressed that she really wanted herself a copy of
The Book of Mormon and was answered excitingly when we asked her if
she would like to know more. We plan on teaching her the restoration
this week and giving her that copy of the Book of Mormon that she
asked for. I'm pumped to start working with Julia and Marco this
coming week. We need Youth her in Mistretta and our prayers for the
youth who are prepared are being answered. The Lord is hastening His
work and it is such a blessing to be apart of His army. That wraps up
our week our here. A grand Thanksgiving Dinner, helping out Nino,
getting a shot in my bottom and finding us some youth....It was an
exciting week to say the least. I love it!
In this Thanksgiving season and especially throughout the month of
November I've had lots of time to think and ponder on many different
things that I am truly grateful for. I'm thankful to be where I am
right now in Mistretta and to be doing what I am doing. This mission
thing has most definitely has not been the easiest thing that I've
done, but it has most definitely been the greatest thing I've ever
done. I'm grateful for Italy and for this beautiful country. I'm
grateful for the people that I've came into contact with and for the
relationships that I've been able to make in such a short amount of
time. I'm grateful for past companions, investigators, english course
students, members and everyone else that has effected me in some way
or another. I'm eternally grateful for the priceless lessons that I
have learned over the past 11 months and for the opportunities I've
had to grow in ways that I couldn't have done in any other way. I'm
grateful for a loving Father in Heaven and for His son Jesus Christ.
I'm grateful for my incredible parents, my stud of a brother and my
two beautiful younger sisters. I'm grateful for my Grandparents,
Great-Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. I'm grateful for the
wonderful examples of love, of dedication, of sacrifice, of hard work,
of loyalty, of honesty and of charity that I've been surrounded by
since day one. I'm grateful to have such a great support system back
at home that would do anything for me. I'm grateful for the Plan of
Salvation and for the Power of the Priesthood. Im thankful for our
beloved Prophet, President Thomas S Monson. Im thankful for the
scriptures and the power that they hold. Im grateful for temple
covenants and the opportunity to communicate with our Heavenly Father
through prayer. I'm grateful for the trials that I've had and will
have. I'm thankful for the talents and abilities that I have been
blessed with. I'm grateful for Utah and this beautiful world that we
live in. Most of all, I am grateful and thankful for my family. Family
is everything to me and I believe that I have been blessed with the
greatest family on the earth. I hope each of you have had a few
moments during the month of November to think about the things that
you are grateful for and for the blessings that you have been given.
It is impossible to be angry, upset, jealous, or anything of that
nature when we are truly grateful. "Regardless of our circumstances,
each of us has much for which to be grateful if we will but pause and
contemplate our blessings."—President Thomas S. Monson.
D&C 78:17-19
17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have
not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own
hands and prepared for you;
18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer,
for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings
thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.
19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made
glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even
an hundred fold, yea, more.
One of my all time favorite hymns is number 219 "Because I Have Been
Given Much". Here is the first verse and it will lead into my invite
for the month of December.
"Because I have been given much, I too must give;
Because of thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live
I shall divide my gifts from thee
With ev’ry brother that I see
Who has the need of help from me"
November is a month for us to remember all that we have been given and
all that we have been blessed with. November is a month for us to be
full of gratitude and full of thankfulness. December is a month of
giving. Giving because in December we remember that our Father in
Heaven gifted us with the most precious of all gifts, that being His
beloved Son, Jesus Christ. December is a time for us to think about
others and a little bit less about ourselves. Family and Friends we
are now entering into "the most wonderful time of the year." As
November is coming to an end today, we have had ourselves a whole
month to fill ourselves, our families and our homes with thoughts and
prayers of gratitude for all that we have...Tomorrow is the first day
of December and December is a time for us to focus on the Savior of
the World, His birth, His life, His example, His teachings and most
importantly how He always went about doing good. He reached out to the
sick, the downtrodden, the weary, the poor, the young and the old. He
was constantly reaching out. He was the perfect example of love, of
caring and of giving. We know that He always lifted up the hands which
hung down, and strengthened those with feeble knees; (see Hebrews
12:12). Family and Friends we have each been given so much, and we too
must give. My invite today will bring powerful feelings of pure
Christ-like love and will truly bring everyone who participates the
true meaning of Christmas. My invite is to be someones Christmas
Miracle. There are so many people who are struggling financially, who
are without work and have no way to provide their families with
anything this Christmas. My invite is to humbly pray as a family for
another family that may be struggling during this Christmas season. My
invite is to ask Heavenly Father in that same prayer to bless you with
an idea or a plan to make this Christmas one to remember not only for
you and your family, but for that struggling family who was going to
go without anything under the tree on the morning of December 25th.
Christmas is an absolutely beautiful time of the year and it allows us
to think about giving, rather than receiving. I love it. Family and
Friends, this Christmas of 2015 let us "lift up the hands which hang
down, and strengthen those with feeble knees;" (see Hebrews 12:12).
Let us make this Christmas one to remember not only for the ones who
will be receiving a Christmas Miracle, but also for us in
participating in the true meaning of Christmas, Giving.
I love you all so much. I am so grateful for each and everyone of you.
I am grateful for your support, your love and your prayers. I'm
grateful for this Christmas season and for the feeling that is in the
air. I am grateful for a Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ who love us
deeper than we can comprehend and bless us in more ways than we can
possibly imagine. Have an amazing week back home. Drive Safe. Be Safe.
Stay Warm. Take Care. You are all in my prayers. Let's make December
2015 one for the books. We can do it. Let's get it done. "Because I
have been given much, I too must give..."
Peace be the Journey,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
Italy Rome Mission
D&C 103:36
Greetings from Mistretta. All is well up here in the Mountains of
Sicily. The weather is surely cooling down and I am hoping to get some
snow on the ground before Christmas. We had a good ole week out here
full of new people, a great Thanksgiving dinner and even a trip to the
ER. Not going to lie, it was probably one of the wildest and most
random weeks of my mission so far, but one the best as well. I hope
you are all doing well back at home. I hope you all had a great
Thanksgiving full of Turkey Bowl Football, Good Laughs with the family
Family and tasty classic American food. I hope everyone is staying
healthy and staying safe. I love you all and am truly so grateful for
all that you do for me. It's crazy to think that one year ago from
today I stood up in sacrament meeting and gave my farewell talk. Time
flies.
Last Monday we had our Zone Soccer game with all of the Elders from
our Zone. Soccer is starting to grow on me. I'm not sure if it is
because that it is the only sport they have over here or if it's the
only competition I get out here, but it is growing on me. We had a
good time all together and nobody was injured. That night Anziano Da
Ponte and I stayed with the Elders from Palermo. We went on splits
Monday evening and did some street finding. We met a really neat young
couple on the road and I hope that they will be humble enough to start
taking the lessons.
Tuesday we held our District Meeting down in Palermo and had ourselves
a little district Thanksgiving dinner. The Wardles brought us some
grilled chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy, while every
companionship was responsible to bring something. It was great!
Afterwards we returned back to Mistretta and visited Antonio and
Lydia. Their mother is doing better now. We were able to have a good
chat with them and give them a good laugh or two. They are great
people, they just have a lot to deal with in trying to take care of
their mother.
Wednesday morning Nino asked us if we could help him get some things
ready for Thanksgiving. That morning we helped him prepare Pumpkin
Pie, a Honey Glazed Ham and cracked like 3 million walnuts for him.
Nino is such a good guy and one of the greatest cooks. The poor guy is
nearly completely blind, but still manages to do everything
independently. He is a hero of mine. He is always so happy to have us
around and we always happy to be able to spend a little bit of time
with him. Wednesday evening we headed back over to Nino's house to
help him study for his lesson on Sunday. We talked about the temple
and Nino got pretty emotional. I love that guy!
Thursday. Thanksgiving! What a crazy day! We had about 987 thousand
things to do and about 4.4 seconds to do them all. That morning, Nino
called us and asked if we could head on over again to help him out. We
helped him get some wood for his wood burning stove in his house,
studied together for a little bit and got eve thing ready for our
Thanksgiving Party that night. After we left his house to head home
for lunch, Nino was coming down his stairs and missed the last one. To
make a long story short, he hurt him left arm and scrapped up one if
his shins really bad. Poor fella. We got over there just before our
Thanksgiving Party started to help him load all of his food up in the
car and he had his arm in a homemade sling. He has a nice deep tissue
bruise on his arm and just a beat up shin. In a few days, he should be
back to the same ole Nino. Our Thanksgiving Party was a Hit. We had 7
in-actives present and 2 non-members, one of which is now our newest
investigator ( I will talk more about that later in this email ).
There was so much food there and lots of good company. We decided to
do large chickens rather than a giant turkey because the turkeys are
so expensive here but other than that, we had ourselves an American
Thanksgiving Dinner. It was great. Everyone had plenty to eat and
everyone seemed super happy. It will surely be a Thanksgiving that I
will never forget.
Friday, well that was when we had ourselves a little trip to the ER.
Here is that story.
The story goes back to last Monday when all of the Elders from our
zone got together for a soccer game for our P-Day Activity. Here in
Italy there are millions of smaller soccer fields, but instead of
being grass, they are turf fields. All of you know how fun those
little black beads that cover the turf fields can be. Well, I got one
stuck in eye last week and thought that I got it removed....I was
wrong. I woke up Tuesday morning and everything was fine. I felt no
discomfort, no pain or anything like that at all. I than woke up
Wednesday morning with the biggest eye infection that the world has
ever seen. I looked like Sloth from The Goonies. It was horrible. I
will send you all a few pictures just to prove how bad it was.
Anyways, Wednesday and Thursday we were so busy that we had absolutely
no time to go see the doctor. Try to imagine me trying to talk to
someone when I look like a Zombie. Every time I would go to say
something I could tell that the person that we were talking to was
just staring right at my eye and that they weren't paying any
attention to what I was saying. It was awful. Wednesday we had a
really busy day and Thursday we had ourselves a Branch Thanksgiving
Dinner for our members and whoever they chose to invite. During the
party, I still looked scary as ever. Just picture me trying to meet
new people and trying to build a relationship with someone new, when
my face looks like I just got punched in the head by The Hulk.
Everyone acted like everything was normal, but I know that everyone
was thinking, "Elder Nessen must have caught Ebola or something...".
Anyways, Friday Morning we took care of weekly planning and we decided
that I probably needed to go see a doctor and get this thing fixed. We
tried the first doctor, but he had already left early for the weekend.
Tried the second and last doctor in town and he had left early as well
for the weekend. We called the office and they told us that if there
were no other doctors in town, that I would have to go to the
emergency room. So off to the emergency room we went. As we were
walking in, there was a small group of 5 nurses standing outside of
the hospital with their scrubs on and they were all huffing and
puffing down on some cigarettes. Comforting. The hospitals down in
Sicily are absolutely disgusting. They are unsanitary, trashy and
honestly look like an insane asylum. They called me back into a room
and as they were doing so, they separated me and my companion. We told
them that we had to remain together always, but they said that he was
not allowed to come past the doors. There were two nurses in there
with me, and I am not sure why the second one decided to stay in the
room with me the entire time. The main nurse was probably 40 years old
and the second nurse was no older than 25. The 25 year old started
asking me all of these weird questions after she found out that I was
American. Now for those of you who have served and who are serving
right now you know what it is like to have a companion, somebody
constantly by your side 24/7. So when I got separated from my
companion it felt pretty strange. The nurses asked me all of these
questions, got all of my information and then the 40 year old nurse
left the room for about 10 minutes. Now it was me and this 25 year old
nurse, who wasn't ugly and was certainly flirting with me, all alone
in this ghetto hospital room....So you might be asking yourself, what
did I do? Well, I pulled out my Book of Mormon and started reading.
Hahaha! I knew that was my best defense for smacking her upside the
head if needed. After what seemed like an eternity, the 40 year old
nurse walked back into the room with some metal bowl type thing in one
hand. As she got closer I looked into the bowl to find a needle and a
few cotton balls. She said and I quote..."Will you please stand and
remove your pants?" I replied... "Umm excuse me?" She than looked at
me like I was an idiot and asked me to stand up. I stood up. She than
grabbed one of the belt loops on the back of my slacks and began
pulling down on one of them and said..."The shot needs to go in your
butt." I replied, "You're going to have to give me that shot in the
arm..." She replied with a strange smile on her face, "No, please
remove your pants." Just picture me, a 6'3" American boy with blonde
hair, dressed up as a missionary, standing up in a trashy Sicilian
hospital room undoing my belt as slow as possible trying to delay the
inevitable. As soon as I got my belt undone and unbuttoned my pants,
the 40 year old nurse than decided that she needed to help me get my
pants to where they needed to be, all while the 25 year old nurse who
was just flirting with me minutes before is sitting 2 feet behind me.
She gave me the shot, without a cool Toy Story bandaid I might add and
I've never buttoned up my pants and done my belt up so fast in my
entire life. I sat down and was SOOOO EMBARRASSED. That was the first
time I have ever received a shot in my bum and I earnestly pray that I
never have to do that again. They prescribed me some eye drops and
told me that I was good to go. I've never been more excited to see my
companion before in my entire life. I walked out into the waiting area
and he was in the middle of a gospel conversation with a couple that
was waiting outside in the waiting area as well. We wrapped up the
conversation and have ourselves 2 new potentials. What a start to
Friday morning. Now, my eye is great. I'm not sure if it was the shot
or some spell that the 25 year old nurse casted on me... I just know
that I am never stepping foot in an Italian or Sicilian hospital
again.
Friday evening, us and the Wardles headed out to Sorella Battista's
home for a Family Home Evening, that being the first one since her
father past away. We took dinner to hear this time. We had our
Thanksgiving leftovers and it was still just as good as it was the
night previous. Our spiritual thought was on the next phase of the
Plan of Salvation after this mortal life. It was powerful to talk
about what my momma is doing and what her father is doing on the other
side. It's comforting to know that death is not the end, that the
grave has no victory. It's beautiful to know that we will all see our
loved ones once again and if we do what is right, we will live with
them forever. Sorella Battista is the best. We topped off the evening
with out traditional Uno card game.
Saturday morning we deep cleaned the church house here because it
really needed it after our Thanksgiving Party. We got her all cleaned
up and ready for Sunday. Nino invited a nephew of his to come to our
Thanksgiving Party. He came and loved it. His name is Marco. Marco is
a 17 year old, respectful kid that lives here in Mistretta. Marco is
not our newest investigator that I mentioned previously, but he did
show some interest Saturday evening when he came over to Nino's house
to have a little visit with us. We plan on meeting with him again this
week and turning him into an investigator. After we had our little
meeting at Nino's house Saturday evening, Marco took off and Nino
asked if we could spend a little bit more time with him. We couldn't
tell him no, nor would we ever tell him no. I mean he just took a hard
fall and was still beaten up from it. He lives completely alone and we
are like his sons. We stuck around and Nino ended up ordering us all a
pizza to eat for dinner. Nino told us some hunting stories of his from
way back in the day and I could just tell how much it meant to him
that we were able to stay a little bit longer and be with him. I love
the guy! I want to put him in my suitcase and bring him home with me.
Saturday was a good day.
Sunday is my favorite day. There is nothing quite like the peaceful
feeling on a Sunday morning. We decided to leave the house a little
bit earlier and accompany Nino. His one arm is messed up and in a
sling, his other arm is occupied by his cane...So we figured that he
had no way to carry his briefcase without causing himself a lot of
pain. He was pretty surprised when we showed up on his front step
yesterday morning. Church was great. The other non-member that was at
our Thanksgiving Party came to church with the member that brought her
to our Thanksgiving Dinner. Her name is Julia and she is 28 years old.
During the last hour, we went into a room that wasn't being used in
the church and had ourselves a little lesson. We got to know her
religious background and all that good stuff. We were also able to
answer the questions that she had. The member who brought her bore
pretty powerful testimony and both of them got emotional. It was a
really powerful lesson and Anziano Da Ponte and I didn't have to say
much at all. Julia expressed that she really wanted herself a copy of
The Book of Mormon and was answered excitingly when we asked her if
she would like to know more. We plan on teaching her the restoration
this week and giving her that copy of the Book of Mormon that she
asked for. I'm pumped to start working with Julia and Marco this
coming week. We need Youth her in Mistretta and our prayers for the
youth who are prepared are being answered. The Lord is hastening His
work and it is such a blessing to be apart of His army. That wraps up
our week our here. A grand Thanksgiving Dinner, helping out Nino,
getting a shot in my bottom and finding us some youth....It was an
exciting week to say the least. I love it!
In this Thanksgiving season and especially throughout the month of
November I've had lots of time to think and ponder on many different
things that I am truly grateful for. I'm thankful to be where I am
right now in Mistretta and to be doing what I am doing. This mission
thing has most definitely has not been the easiest thing that I've
done, but it has most definitely been the greatest thing I've ever
done. I'm grateful for Italy and for this beautiful country. I'm
grateful for the people that I've came into contact with and for the
relationships that I've been able to make in such a short amount of
time. I'm grateful for past companions, investigators, english course
students, members and everyone else that has effected me in some way
or another. I'm eternally grateful for the priceless lessons that I
have learned over the past 11 months and for the opportunities I've
had to grow in ways that I couldn't have done in any other way. I'm
grateful for a loving Father in Heaven and for His son Jesus Christ.
I'm grateful for my incredible parents, my stud of a brother and my
two beautiful younger sisters. I'm grateful for my Grandparents,
Great-Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. I'm grateful for the
wonderful examples of love, of dedication, of sacrifice, of hard work,
of loyalty, of honesty and of charity that I've been surrounded by
since day one. I'm grateful to have such a great support system back
at home that would do anything for me. I'm grateful for the Plan of
Salvation and for the Power of the Priesthood. Im thankful for our
beloved Prophet, President Thomas S Monson. Im thankful for the
scriptures and the power that they hold. Im grateful for temple
covenants and the opportunity to communicate with our Heavenly Father
through prayer. I'm grateful for the trials that I've had and will
have. I'm thankful for the talents and abilities that I have been
blessed with. I'm grateful for Utah and this beautiful world that we
live in. Most of all, I am grateful and thankful for my family. Family
is everything to me and I believe that I have been blessed with the
greatest family on the earth. I hope each of you have had a few
moments during the month of November to think about the things that
you are grateful for and for the blessings that you have been given.
It is impossible to be angry, upset, jealous, or anything of that
nature when we are truly grateful. "Regardless of our circumstances,
each of us has much for which to be grateful if we will but pause and
contemplate our blessings."—President Thomas S. Monson.
D&C 78:17-19
17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have
not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own
hands and prepared for you;
18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer,
for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings
thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.
19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made
glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even
an hundred fold, yea, more.
One of my all time favorite hymns is number 219 "Because I Have Been
Given Much". Here is the first verse and it will lead into my invite
for the month of December.
"Because I have been given much, I too must give;
Because of thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live
I shall divide my gifts from thee
With ev’ry brother that I see
Who has the need of help from me"
November is a month for us to remember all that we have been given and
all that we have been blessed with. November is a month for us to be
full of gratitude and full of thankfulness. December is a month of
giving. Giving because in December we remember that our Father in
Heaven gifted us with the most precious of all gifts, that being His
beloved Son, Jesus Christ. December is a time for us to think about
others and a little bit less about ourselves. Family and Friends we
are now entering into "the most wonderful time of the year." As
November is coming to an end today, we have had ourselves a whole
month to fill ourselves, our families and our homes with thoughts and
prayers of gratitude for all that we have...Tomorrow is the first day
of December and December is a time for us to focus on the Savior of
the World, His birth, His life, His example, His teachings and most
importantly how He always went about doing good. He reached out to the
sick, the downtrodden, the weary, the poor, the young and the old. He
was constantly reaching out. He was the perfect example of love, of
caring and of giving. We know that He always lifted up the hands which
hung down, and strengthened those with feeble knees; (see Hebrews
12:12). Family and Friends we have each been given so much, and we too
must give. My invite today will bring powerful feelings of pure
Christ-like love and will truly bring everyone who participates the
true meaning of Christmas. My invite is to be someones Christmas
Miracle. There are so many people who are struggling financially, who
are without work and have no way to provide their families with
anything this Christmas. My invite is to humbly pray as a family for
another family that may be struggling during this Christmas season. My
invite is to ask Heavenly Father in that same prayer to bless you with
an idea or a plan to make this Christmas one to remember not only for
you and your family, but for that struggling family who was going to
go without anything under the tree on the morning of December 25th.
Christmas is an absolutely beautiful time of the year and it allows us
to think about giving, rather than receiving. I love it. Family and
Friends, this Christmas of 2015 let us "lift up the hands which hang
down, and strengthen those with feeble knees;" (see Hebrews 12:12).
Let us make this Christmas one to remember not only for the ones who
will be receiving a Christmas Miracle, but also for us in
participating in the true meaning of Christmas, Giving.
I love you all so much. I am so grateful for each and everyone of you.
I am grateful for your support, your love and your prayers. I'm
grateful for this Christmas season and for the feeling that is in the
air. I am grateful for a Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ who love us
deeper than we can comprehend and bless us in more ways than we can
possibly imagine. Have an amazing week back home. Drive Safe. Be Safe.
Stay Warm. Take Care. You are all in my prayers. Let's make December
2015 one for the books. We can do it. Let's get it done. "Because I
have been given much, I too must give..."
Peace be the Journey,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
Italy Rome Mission
D&C 103:36
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| My neck looks like a Giraffe in these pictures. Zone Soccer is always a good time, but this time I brought my trusty friend Wilson (my football) and tossed the pigskin around a little bit. |
Cracking some walnuts with Nino on Wednesday.
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| Hope you enjoyed this beautifulness. It is all healed up now, thank goodness! D&C 103:36 |
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| We decided to do bigger chickens instead of turkey because the turkeys here are so expensive! Everything tasted really good. Well it was either that, or I just haven't had American cooking in close to a year ha ha! |
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| The pumpkin pie that Nino made is in the middle! He did a pretty good job for being a little old blonde Italian man! I sure love that guy! |
Mistretta is beautiful. We are literally up in the clouds up here.
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