Dec15
December 15, 2015
10 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!
Good Morning family and friends this Tuesday morning. I hope everyone
is doing well and enjoying this absolutely beautiful time of year. I
received some pictures from back home and it looks like there is no
shortage of snow this year. We haven't got any snow up here in
Mistretta, but the temperature continues to drop. Yesterday morning it
was 4 degrees Celsius ( roughly 40-41 Fahrenheit ) and that seemed
pretty cold. 4 degrees Celsius is pretty chilly for Italy and here in
Mistretta it will only get colder. Anziano Da Ponte and I were given a
CD from Nino that has 101 American Christmas Songs and whenever we are
in the apartment, we have Christmas Music blasting. Since this is my
only Christmas here in Italy, I'm trying my best to soak it all in. I
hope everything is healthy and happy back home. Everything is going
great for us out here. We are both happy and healthy. All is well and
I love you all!
Last Monday, we went over to see Antonio Bartalota because it was his
birthday. He turned the big 51! The Wardles and Us pitched in and got
him a little present and birthday card. He was so grateful, he is
always so grateful. I love that guy! We weren't able to stay to long
because he already had plans that evening, but we were able to catch
him for a bit and like I said before, he was grateful for that. We
sang him happy birthday in Italian, and he asked us to sing it in
English. There were nothing but smiles that night. Both Him and His
sister seem to be doing a little bit better with the loss of their
mother. You can easily see that a huge weight has been lifted from
their shoulders, but there is still a little pain in their eyes. The
night of Antonio's birthday, was the first time in over three years
they left the house together and go out with their friends, because
now someone doesn't always have to stay with their mom. They are doing
great and I love those people!
Tuesday, I went on exchanged with Anziano Cleveland who is serving in
Bagheria. Bagheria is a small town just outside of Palermo. Anziano
Cleveland is from Huntsville Alabama and is in his second transfer. I
asked if he knew Gentry or Bri, but unfortunately he doesn't. I stayed
in Bagheria with Anziano Cleveland, while Anziano Da Ponte and our
District Leader headed back up to Mistretta. Anziano Cleveland is a
good kid and a great missionary. We had thee greatest meal appointment
that I have had in my mission. We met with the Bascone family and they
took very good care of us. The father picked us up from the apartment
and drove us out to their house. From the get go he was very kind,
funny and genuine. We got to their home, and there we met the rest of
the family. The father is about 60 years old and his wife is about the
same age. They have two boys, one who is 30, married and has to little
kids and one who is 25 and not married. Again, from the get go they
were genuine, kind, hilarious, and respectful. They welcomed us in,
sat us down and they immediately started bombarding me questions.
Questions of every type. If I had a girlfriend? What I'm going to do
after the mission? Why I came out on my mission? All sorts of stuff.
They asked me questions for, no joke, over an hour. We all kind of got
to know each other really well in that questioning session, and we had
a really good relationship right from the start. I was able to bond
with them really quick and it just made the night that much better. We
began to get into more gospel related topics of course, and the night
continued to get better. We talked about the difference between The
Pope and our Prophet. We talked about the scriptures and the power of
prayer. We talked about how families can be together forever, because
of the priesthood keys that were restored to the earth. It was
honestly one of the best, if not the best night, of my mission. This
family was seriously so funny. They would all make jokes with each
other and give each other a hard time, but you could just see the love
that each of them had for one another. They fed us a really nice
dinner and they seriously just kept cramming food into our stomachs.
We finished with our spiritual thought on the new Christmas video that
the church has produced, and I was able to tell my story and why I was
sitting in their living room that night. I explained them that there
is chance that I would never step foot in their home again and so I
wanted to tell them why I was there. As I said before, they were so
respectful. For the first time in Italy, I wasn't interrupted during a
conversation. Haha. The Bascone family is heaven sent, and I found out
from our District Leader that they attended church this past Sunday
for the first time. They reminded me so much of my family, and that's
why I believe it felt so much like home. I haven't stopped talking
about that night and just how great it really was. God bless the
Bascone family!
Thursday was December 10th, 2015 and I have officially hit my year
mark. I never really thought that it would happen. Haha. I thought
that the world would have ended or I would have died... Somehow, and
only with Heavenly Assistance and the prayers of so many of you back
home, I've made it a year. I would like to say thank you to everyone
for everything that you have done for me especially during this past
year. I thank you for the letter, the packages, the prayers and for
putting my name in the temple. During the good times, and more so
during the times of difficulty, I can feel those prayers and that love
pushing me forward. I'm grateful for the learning experiences that
I've had this past this, and for the opportunity I've had to grow
closer to my Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son. It surely hasn't
all been easy, but I can honestly say that this mission has been the
greatest decision that I've ever made and I'm grateful that I still
have one more year to learn, to grow and to work. Happy One Year Down
Everyone!! Anziano Da Ponte bought me a nice rotisserie chicken and
some potatoes, I bought us a nice Flinstones party drink from our
local grocery store and we had a good ole time!
Thursday we had English course but no one showed up yet again, so we
decided to put up and decorate the ward Christmas Tree. I'll send home
some videos that we took of our so called masterpiece. Afterwards us
and this Wardles headed over to see Antonio and Lydia again. We had
dinner with them and had a good time. Antonio told us his conversion
story and it was pretty powerful. I was translating it into English
for Sorella Wardle, and it was really powerful. Lydia, just kind of
played on her phone the entire time, but you could tell that Antonio
really appreciated us coming over. He is such a good guy! He came to
church in Sunday, but I will talk more about that a little bit later.
Friday evening we drove down to AcquaDolce, a little town that is not
up in Mistretta but in our boundaries, to visit Sorella Battista.
Sorella Battista is the little older lady, who's dad just passed away
and she has the handicapped daughter. Sorella Battista is my hero and
honestly one of the strongest people that I have ever met. She fixed
us a really nice dinner, and we had a really great Family Home Evening
with her. We talked about this Christmas time of year and the
importance of remembering the real reason why we celebrate Christmas.
We wrapped up the night with our traditional game of Uno. She is
always so grateful to have us and she always takes such good care of
us all.
Saturday Morning, we went out again and picked some olives for a lady
who is completely inactive. Her name is Eleonora. She is a member, but
no one else in her family has been baptized yet. They have a little
farm just outside of Mistretta and asked us for some help picking
olives. We have been trying to build a relationship with her, because
number one she is a good person, number two she has a wonderful family
and number three she has never really healed from the loss of her mom.
I feel like we, and especially my experiences, are suited to help this
family out. We've really been trying to build our relationship, but
they always seem to have an excuse or something else going on. I
figured that going down and working with them for 8 hours would be the
best time to build a relationship. We had an awesome time with them.
We got a lot of work done and had ourselves a lot of good laughs as
well. She has a little 6 year old son named Manu and this kid has
always been drawn to me. While we were picking olives, he was right
next to me the entire time. He never left my side. By the end of the
day, he even asked if we could have a sleepover. They fed us a huge
lunch as well. Goodness, at first they gave us a little bowl of pasta
and I was happy with that. Well then her husband stood up and began
cooking steak, after steak, after steak. I told him that I was plenty
full after the first one, but he just kept piling those bad boys on my
plate. I thought my stomach was going to explode...but they were so
good. Haha. This family is seriously awesome. The husband is one of he
funniest people that I have ever met. He had me laughing all day long.
Eleonora is great. We had a really great day with them. I love
service, and especially when it allows me to take Nessen Farms Global
once again.
Saturday evening, Nino called us and told us to come over for a pizza
night with him. We got over there, went to his little storage house
that is right next to his normal home, and I chopped some wood for him
for a good thirty minutes. It felt so good to swing something heavy.
Nino just laughs when I chop would because I swing so hard sometimes.
After we chopped a little bit, we carried it done to his house for his
wood burning stove. We got out pizzas and as we were returning home,
we ran into one of Nino's nephews named Renzo. Renzo was baptized up
in Northern Italy, but hasn't really been active since he came down to
Sicily. Nino bought him a pizza as well and we had another little
family home evening all together. Renzo talked about his desire to
change, and how he wants to start getting back into the gospel groove,
as I like to call it. We gave him another copy of the Book of Mormon
and he told us that he would see us in church the following day. Low
and behold, Renzo showed up to church on Sunday ten minutes early, and
he was sharply dressed. He is s good guy and I hope that we are going
to be able to help him get back to where he used to be. We all decided
that on Wednesday evenings from now on, we will all gather at Nino's
house and study the Book of Mormon together for an hour or so. Good
things are on the horizon there.
On Friday, Anziano Wardle asked Anziano Da Ponte and I to speak in
church on Sunday. I was asked to speak on Living with the Spirit of
Christmas throughout the entire year and Anziano Da Ponte was asked to
speak on The True Spirit of Christmas. Nino was even asked to sing a
solo. Anziano Da Ponte spoke first and did a great job. He was
followed by Nino and his special musical number. He sang to songs
from the children's hymn book and he couldn't even finish the last
line of the second song because he was so emotional. I closed the
meeting with my talk and I feel like it went pretty well. I got kind
of emotional as I was telling the story of an experience I had two
years ago right around Christmas time that changed my life. When I
began to get emotional I kind of put my head down and when I raised it
back up, everyone else was getting teary eyed as well. That experience
that I had two years ago will be my spiritual thought spat the end of
is email today. Afterwards Antonio Bartalota came up to me, with tears
in his eyes and said, "Thank You, Thank You for sharing that
experience. I love you Anziano Nessen." It's those kind of moments out
her in the mission field that make all of the rough days and "no's"
worth it. Sunday was a good day.
Yesterday we had our Zone Conference down in Palermo. Zone Conferences
are always a good time because they are always powerful spiritually
and I get to see all of my good buds from the Zone. Anziano Mika told
me to say "Hello!" and "Merry Christmas!" Our Zone Leaders gave a
really powerful training on "Where will you make your stand?" They
showed something that I have never thought of before, but it is so
true. If you look at the word Disciple, it has the same beginning root
as the word Discipline. Disci. They said, you can not be a disciple of
Jesus Christ, if you are not disciplined. Their training was probably
the best training that I've heard. President and Sister Waddoups had
us reenact the Nativity. Anziano Mika had to hold the star and for
some strange reason, I was the Donkey. Haha. President laughed as he
announced my part and so did everyone else. They gave me that part,
because they knew I wouldn't be offended or anything like that. It was
a good time and it was really good to meet the new missionaries that
just came into our zone. They brought down the mail from Rome and
goodness gracious did I have a load to bring home. I had 4 bigger
boxes and letters and all sorts of good stuff. I was so pumped. When
we got home, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to wait until Christmas
to open them, or open them immediately, so I did the only logical
thing to do, and I opened them immediately. There was all sorts of
good stuff in there. Santa Cowboy Hats, a sweet Pen, Candy, Poptarts,
Notes, A Popcorn Popper, A hand made Christmas tree, Ties, and pretty
much whatever else you could possibly think of. I had a difficult time
keeping my emotions in check as I was opening the boxes up and reading
the notes from family members. It had me thinking just how blessed I
am in every phase of my life. I have been blessed with the most
loving, thoughtful, creative, energetic, supportive snd genuine family
that has ever been sent to this earth. I've been blessed with so many
people that sacrifice so much time and money for me. I am so blessed
and I am truly so grateful for each and everyone of you. There is
nothing that I want more than to spend forever with my whole and
entire family. There is nothing that sounds more beautiful and more
rewarding than spending eternity with the ones that I love most. It
will be priceless. I will do anything and everything in my power to
ensure that we are all together after this short mortal journey is
said and done. I want to be together forever with my family, because I
know that I've been blessed with nothing but the best.
To close up this novel this week, I would like to share the experience
I talked about earlier in this email that I had 2 years ago and truly
it changed my life.
A few years back, I was at the Walmart down in Brigham City with my
Nana Melanie's side of the family and we were on the hunt for the
ugliest Christmas sweaters that we could possibly find. It was a
Saturday morning and we had just finished eating at Burt's Cafe right
by the temple. We were near the front of the store when we heard a
number of sirens from both police cars and fire trucks coming from
just outside the building. The sirens continued to get louder and
louder and as the volume of the sirens began to climb, our curiosity
level did just the same. After a minute or two, a herd of small
children began entering into the doors that we were closest to, and
each of them had a Police Officer in hand. It was the day of the
annual "Shop with a Cop". For those of you that do not know what the
"Shop with a Cop" does, it is a charity that raises money throughout
the year for little children that aren't going to receive anything for
Christmas because of their family's financial situations. Each Cop
gets to choose a family, and take one of their young kids shopping at
Walmart for presents on a Saturday morning before Christmas. Each
child has a certain budget and they can get whatever they want with
that budget. I will never forget their little innocent faces as they
were walking through the entrance. Their little eyes were huge, their
little smiles were bigger and they were just so humble and grateful.
Some of their clothes were a little worn down, some had some shoes
that were a few sizes to big, or a coat that was a hair to small...but
you could see that they were so excited just to be inside of Walmart
with a little bit of money in their pocket. 99% of the time, these
little 6 to 10 year old kids use the budget that they receive not to
but things for themselves, but to buy presents for their parents and
their siblings. This day is for them, but yet they still put the
happiness of their family members way before they satisfy their own
Christmas list wishes. This day is for them, it is their special day,
yet they are the ones that want to give someone they love and care
about something special. Those little perfect kids taught me a lesson
that morning and not one of them said a word to me. They taught me
that it wasn't about the ugly sweaters we were ready to purchase or
the presents I would be receiving. That morning they taught me the
true meaning of Christmas, that is to give, to give and give some
more. I had to walk out of sight from my family and everyone else in
the store and I broke down. That day changed my life. I was able to
sit back for just a moment, maybe 2 minutes max, and observe just how
much love little children have for their families. I was able to
observe these little kids who didn't have hardly anything, perform the
most beautiful of all Christmas Miracles.
Family and Friends, I love you all so much. I am so grateful for each
and everyone of you. I am grateful for the love I am constantly
receiving. I am one lucky fella. I hope you all have a wonderful week
and I hope you are all ready for the Skype Call on the 25th. T-Minus
10 days and counting. I'm pretty excited to see everyone. Y'all have a
good week and take real good care. I love you all.
Love,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
Picking olives!
Good Morning family and friends this Tuesday morning. I hope everyone
is doing well and enjoying this absolutely beautiful time of year. I
received some pictures from back home and it looks like there is no
shortage of snow this year. We haven't got any snow up here in
Mistretta, but the temperature continues to drop. Yesterday morning it
was 4 degrees Celsius ( roughly 40-41 Fahrenheit ) and that seemed
pretty cold. 4 degrees Celsius is pretty chilly for Italy and here in
Mistretta it will only get colder. Anziano Da Ponte and I were given a
CD from Nino that has 101 American Christmas Songs and whenever we are
in the apartment, we have Christmas Music blasting. Since this is my
only Christmas here in Italy, I'm trying my best to soak it all in. I
hope everything is healthy and happy back home. Everything is going
great for us out here. We are both happy and healthy. All is well and
I love you all!
Last Monday, we went over to see Antonio Bartalota because it was his
birthday. He turned the big 51! The Wardles and Us pitched in and got
him a little present and birthday card. He was so grateful, he is
always so grateful. I love that guy! We weren't able to stay to long
because he already had plans that evening, but we were able to catch
him for a bit and like I said before, he was grateful for that. We
sang him happy birthday in Italian, and he asked us to sing it in
English. There were nothing but smiles that night. Both Him and His
sister seem to be doing a little bit better with the loss of their
mother. You can easily see that a huge weight has been lifted from
their shoulders, but there is still a little pain in their eyes. The
night of Antonio's birthday, was the first time in over three years
they left the house together and go out with their friends, because
now someone doesn't always have to stay with their mom. They are doing
great and I love those people!
Tuesday, I went on exchanged with Anziano Cleveland who is serving in
Bagheria. Bagheria is a small town just outside of Palermo. Anziano
Cleveland is from Huntsville Alabama and is in his second transfer. I
asked if he knew Gentry or Bri, but unfortunately he doesn't. I stayed
in Bagheria with Anziano Cleveland, while Anziano Da Ponte and our
District Leader headed back up to Mistretta. Anziano Cleveland is a
good kid and a great missionary. We had thee greatest meal appointment
that I have had in my mission. We met with the Bascone family and they
took very good care of us. The father picked us up from the apartment
and drove us out to their house. From the get go he was very kind,
funny and genuine. We got to their home, and there we met the rest of
the family. The father is about 60 years old and his wife is about the
same age. They have two boys, one who is 30, married and has to little
kids and one who is 25 and not married. Again, from the get go they
were genuine, kind, hilarious, and respectful. They welcomed us in,
sat us down and they immediately started bombarding me questions.
Questions of every type. If I had a girlfriend? What I'm going to do
after the mission? Why I came out on my mission? All sorts of stuff.
They asked me questions for, no joke, over an hour. We all kind of got
to know each other really well in that questioning session, and we had
a really good relationship right from the start. I was able to bond
with them really quick and it just made the night that much better. We
began to get into more gospel related topics of course, and the night
continued to get better. We talked about the difference between The
Pope and our Prophet. We talked about the scriptures and the power of
prayer. We talked about how families can be together forever, because
of the priesthood keys that were restored to the earth. It was
honestly one of the best, if not the best night, of my mission. This
family was seriously so funny. They would all make jokes with each
other and give each other a hard time, but you could just see the love
that each of them had for one another. They fed us a really nice
dinner and they seriously just kept cramming food into our stomachs.
We finished with our spiritual thought on the new Christmas video that
the church has produced, and I was able to tell my story and why I was
sitting in their living room that night. I explained them that there
is chance that I would never step foot in their home again and so I
wanted to tell them why I was there. As I said before, they were so
respectful. For the first time in Italy, I wasn't interrupted during a
conversation. Haha. The Bascone family is heaven sent, and I found out
from our District Leader that they attended church this past Sunday
for the first time. They reminded me so much of my family, and that's
why I believe it felt so much like home. I haven't stopped talking
about that night and just how great it really was. God bless the
Bascone family!
Thursday was December 10th, 2015 and I have officially hit my year
mark. I never really thought that it would happen. Haha. I thought
that the world would have ended or I would have died... Somehow, and
only with Heavenly Assistance and the prayers of so many of you back
home, I've made it a year. I would like to say thank you to everyone
for everything that you have done for me especially during this past
year. I thank you for the letter, the packages, the prayers and for
putting my name in the temple. During the good times, and more so
during the times of difficulty, I can feel those prayers and that love
pushing me forward. I'm grateful for the learning experiences that
I've had this past this, and for the opportunity I've had to grow
closer to my Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son. It surely hasn't
all been easy, but I can honestly say that this mission has been the
greatest decision that I've ever made and I'm grateful that I still
have one more year to learn, to grow and to work. Happy One Year Down
Everyone!! Anziano Da Ponte bought me a nice rotisserie chicken and
some potatoes, I bought us a nice Flinstones party drink from our
local grocery store and we had a good ole time!
Thursday we had English course but no one showed up yet again, so we
decided to put up and decorate the ward Christmas Tree. I'll send home
some videos that we took of our so called masterpiece. Afterwards us
and this Wardles headed over to see Antonio and Lydia again. We had
dinner with them and had a good time. Antonio told us his conversion
story and it was pretty powerful. I was translating it into English
for Sorella Wardle, and it was really powerful. Lydia, just kind of
played on her phone the entire time, but you could tell that Antonio
really appreciated us coming over. He is such a good guy! He came to
church in Sunday, but I will talk more about that a little bit later.
Friday evening we drove down to AcquaDolce, a little town that is not
up in Mistretta but in our boundaries, to visit Sorella Battista.
Sorella Battista is the little older lady, who's dad just passed away
and she has the handicapped daughter. Sorella Battista is my hero and
honestly one of the strongest people that I have ever met. She fixed
us a really nice dinner, and we had a really great Family Home Evening
with her. We talked about this Christmas time of year and the
importance of remembering the real reason why we celebrate Christmas.
We wrapped up the night with our traditional game of Uno. She is
always so grateful to have us and she always takes such good care of
us all.
Saturday Morning, we went out again and picked some olives for a lady
who is completely inactive. Her name is Eleonora. She is a member, but
no one else in her family has been baptized yet. They have a little
farm just outside of Mistretta and asked us for some help picking
olives. We have been trying to build a relationship with her, because
number one she is a good person, number two she has a wonderful family
and number three she has never really healed from the loss of her mom.
I feel like we, and especially my experiences, are suited to help this
family out. We've really been trying to build our relationship, but
they always seem to have an excuse or something else going on. I
figured that going down and working with them for 8 hours would be the
best time to build a relationship. We had an awesome time with them.
We got a lot of work done and had ourselves a lot of good laughs as
well. She has a little 6 year old son named Manu and this kid has
always been drawn to me. While we were picking olives, he was right
next to me the entire time. He never left my side. By the end of the
day, he even asked if we could have a sleepover. They fed us a huge
lunch as well. Goodness, at first they gave us a little bowl of pasta
and I was happy with that. Well then her husband stood up and began
cooking steak, after steak, after steak. I told him that I was plenty
full after the first one, but he just kept piling those bad boys on my
plate. I thought my stomach was going to explode...but they were so
good. Haha. This family is seriously awesome. The husband is one of he
funniest people that I have ever met. He had me laughing all day long.
Eleonora is great. We had a really great day with them. I love
service, and especially when it allows me to take Nessen Farms Global
once again.
Saturday evening, Nino called us and told us to come over for a pizza
night with him. We got over there, went to his little storage house
that is right next to his normal home, and I chopped some wood for him
for a good thirty minutes. It felt so good to swing something heavy.
Nino just laughs when I chop would because I swing so hard sometimes.
After we chopped a little bit, we carried it done to his house for his
wood burning stove. We got out pizzas and as we were returning home,
we ran into one of Nino's nephews named Renzo. Renzo was baptized up
in Northern Italy, but hasn't really been active since he came down to
Sicily. Nino bought him a pizza as well and we had another little
family home evening all together. Renzo talked about his desire to
change, and how he wants to start getting back into the gospel groove,
as I like to call it. We gave him another copy of the Book of Mormon
and he told us that he would see us in church the following day. Low
and behold, Renzo showed up to church on Sunday ten minutes early, and
he was sharply dressed. He is s good guy and I hope that we are going
to be able to help him get back to where he used to be. We all decided
that on Wednesday evenings from now on, we will all gather at Nino's
house and study the Book of Mormon together for an hour or so. Good
things are on the horizon there.
On Friday, Anziano Wardle asked Anziano Da Ponte and I to speak in
church on Sunday. I was asked to speak on Living with the Spirit of
Christmas throughout the entire year and Anziano Da Ponte was asked to
speak on The True Spirit of Christmas. Nino was even asked to sing a
solo. Anziano Da Ponte spoke first and did a great job. He was
followed by Nino and his special musical number. He sang to songs
from the children's hymn book and he couldn't even finish the last
line of the second song because he was so emotional. I closed the
meeting with my talk and I feel like it went pretty well. I got kind
of emotional as I was telling the story of an experience I had two
years ago right around Christmas time that changed my life. When I
began to get emotional I kind of put my head down and when I raised it
back up, everyone else was getting teary eyed as well. That experience
that I had two years ago will be my spiritual thought spat the end of
is email today. Afterwards Antonio Bartalota came up to me, with tears
in his eyes and said, "Thank You, Thank You for sharing that
experience. I love you Anziano Nessen." It's those kind of moments out
her in the mission field that make all of the rough days and "no's"
worth it. Sunday was a good day.
Yesterday we had our Zone Conference down in Palermo. Zone Conferences
are always a good time because they are always powerful spiritually
and I get to see all of my good buds from the Zone. Anziano Mika told
me to say "Hello!" and "Merry Christmas!" Our Zone Leaders gave a
really powerful training on "Where will you make your stand?" They
showed something that I have never thought of before, but it is so
true. If you look at the word Disciple, it has the same beginning root
as the word Discipline. Disci. They said, you can not be a disciple of
Jesus Christ, if you are not disciplined. Their training was probably
the best training that I've heard. President and Sister Waddoups had
us reenact the Nativity. Anziano Mika had to hold the star and for
some strange reason, I was the Donkey. Haha. President laughed as he
announced my part and so did everyone else. They gave me that part,
because they knew I wouldn't be offended or anything like that. It was
a good time and it was really good to meet the new missionaries that
just came into our zone. They brought down the mail from Rome and
goodness gracious did I have a load to bring home. I had 4 bigger
boxes and letters and all sorts of good stuff. I was so pumped. When
we got home, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to wait until Christmas
to open them, or open them immediately, so I did the only logical
thing to do, and I opened them immediately. There was all sorts of
good stuff in there. Santa Cowboy Hats, a sweet Pen, Candy, Poptarts,
Notes, A Popcorn Popper, A hand made Christmas tree, Ties, and pretty
much whatever else you could possibly think of. I had a difficult time
keeping my emotions in check as I was opening the boxes up and reading
the notes from family members. It had me thinking just how blessed I
am in every phase of my life. I have been blessed with the most
loving, thoughtful, creative, energetic, supportive snd genuine family
that has ever been sent to this earth. I've been blessed with so many
people that sacrifice so much time and money for me. I am so blessed
and I am truly so grateful for each and everyone of you. There is
nothing that I want more than to spend forever with my whole and
entire family. There is nothing that sounds more beautiful and more
rewarding than spending eternity with the ones that I love most. It
will be priceless. I will do anything and everything in my power to
ensure that we are all together after this short mortal journey is
said and done. I want to be together forever with my family, because I
know that I've been blessed with nothing but the best.
To close up this novel this week, I would like to share the experience
I talked about earlier in this email that I had 2 years ago and truly
it changed my life.
A few years back, I was at the Walmart down in Brigham City with my
Nana Melanie's side of the family and we were on the hunt for the
ugliest Christmas sweaters that we could possibly find. It was a
Saturday morning and we had just finished eating at Burt's Cafe right
by the temple. We were near the front of the store when we heard a
number of sirens from both police cars and fire trucks coming from
just outside the building. The sirens continued to get louder and
louder and as the volume of the sirens began to climb, our curiosity
level did just the same. After a minute or two, a herd of small
children began entering into the doors that we were closest to, and
each of them had a Police Officer in hand. It was the day of the
annual "Shop with a Cop". For those of you that do not know what the
"Shop with a Cop" does, it is a charity that raises money throughout
the year for little children that aren't going to receive anything for
Christmas because of their family's financial situations. Each Cop
gets to choose a family, and take one of their young kids shopping at
Walmart for presents on a Saturday morning before Christmas. Each
child has a certain budget and they can get whatever they want with
that budget. I will never forget their little innocent faces as they
were walking through the entrance. Their little eyes were huge, their
little smiles were bigger and they were just so humble and grateful.
Some of their clothes were a little worn down, some had some shoes
that were a few sizes to big, or a coat that was a hair to small...but
you could see that they were so excited just to be inside of Walmart
with a little bit of money in their pocket. 99% of the time, these
little 6 to 10 year old kids use the budget that they receive not to
but things for themselves, but to buy presents for their parents and
their siblings. This day is for them, but yet they still put the
happiness of their family members way before they satisfy their own
Christmas list wishes. This day is for them, it is their special day,
yet they are the ones that want to give someone they love and care
about something special. Those little perfect kids taught me a lesson
that morning and not one of them said a word to me. They taught me
that it wasn't about the ugly sweaters we were ready to purchase or
the presents I would be receiving. That morning they taught me the
true meaning of Christmas, that is to give, to give and give some
more. I had to walk out of sight from my family and everyone else in
the store and I broke down. That day changed my life. I was able to
sit back for just a moment, maybe 2 minutes max, and observe just how
much love little children have for their families. I was able to
observe these little kids who didn't have hardly anything, perform the
most beautiful of all Christmas Miracles.
Family and Friends, I love you all so much. I am so grateful for each
and everyone of you. I am grateful for the love I am constantly
receiving. I am one lucky fella. I hope you all have a wonderful week
and I hope you are all ready for the Skype Call on the 25th. T-Minus
10 days and counting. I'm pretty excited to see everyone. Y'all have a
good week and take real good care. I love you all.
Love,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
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| Here there are no roofs and so Santa Claus cannot slide down the chimney. Here he has to climb on the balconies to get inside the house. So here, for decorations, they put Santa Claus's hanging from the railing of their balconies. I had to laugh. Haha |
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| I found this in the road while we were walking. Thought it was pretty neat! |
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| Here is my new best friend, Manu. He is 6 years old and knows how to say all the colors in English. He doesn't have a girlfriend yet and he still believes in Santa Claus. I love this kid. He is sitting by all the sacks of olives we picked last Saturday. He says.... "Hello! |
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| Meet the Bascone family. These people are the coolest! |
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