January 25th, 2016 // #4 of 2016

January 25th, 2016 // #4 of 2016

Buon Giorno Family and Friends!!
Here we are and another week has absolutely zipped on past. The days
seem to be turning into hours and the weeks seem like days. It feels
like yesterday I was sitting here in the church typing up my weekly
email, when in all actuality it was a full week ago. All is well up
here in Mistretta. 90% of the snow has since melted unfortunately, but
the weather has managed to stay pretty chilly. This week, we kind of
had a slow one and I'll expound more on that later on this weekly
update. This coming Saturday we will receive Transfer Calls. I'm
pretty excited//nervous to hear what is going to be happening. Anziano
Da Ponte and I have been together for a solid three transfers, and so
we are about 99.9% positive that one of us will be leaving Mistretta.
Personally, I wouldn't mind staying or leaving. I wouldn't mind
staying for another transfer or two, but I also wouldn't mind heading
out and serving in a new area. We will see what happens! Also, this
last week on Thursday the 21st, I hit my year mark here in Italy. It
seems like yesterday I was walking the streets of Crotone with Anziano
Kiser ( my trainer ). Before I jump into this weekly update, I would
like to wish a very Happy, Happy 16th Birthday to the greatest little
brother in the world...Happy Birthday Tyke! Congrats on that sweet
Ford truck. She's good looking. I hope it was a good one buddy!

Last Monday, we got invited over to a members home for lunch. Vito,
old man Nino's older brother, invited us over for lunch. Now let me
tell you a little bit about Vito. Vito was baptized a few months
before Nino, 40 plus years ago up in Northern Italy and has been
faithful and true ever since. He, like Nino, was once an incredible
cook up in Northern Italy. After Nino and Vito finished working up
North, they both moved back home to Mistretta. Vito has a little farm
just off of the hill, and he spends most of his time down there. He is
a genius when it comes to plants. He really is. Anyways, he is a great
guy and invited us over for a little bit. We got over there, sat down
and the food was ready to go. The first dish was a nice plate of
pasta, classic Italian lunch. Now what followed up the first dish was
a bit of a surprise. The second dish was some kind of mystery meat and
potatoes. I asked him what kind of meat this was and he didn't really
give me a clear response. I figured that it was better to not ask
again and just eat it. I must add that it was pretty good. After I had
eaten a good chunk of this meat, I decided to flip it over and see
what the other side looked like. Well I flipped it on over only to
find skin and some nice dark black hairs covering the whole piece of
meat that was moments before hidden to me and my eyes. In the bites
leading up to the discovery, I had the thought that a hair was in my
mouth...but I didn't think much of it. I immediately came to the
realization that it wasn't just a thought, there really was hair in my
mouth and a lot of it. It took everything in my power for me to not
start gagging and dry heaving. I remembered the story of my cousin
Bobcat, when he was down in Argentina and he ate some delicious
pickled rat. I thought to myself if Bobcat can put down some pickled
rat like a man, than I can power through the rest of this hair covered
mystery meat. I tilted my head back a little bit and pounded the last
chunk of meat that still found itself on my plate. Not sure how I did
it, but I would like to say Thank You to Bobcat for being a Man down
in Argentina!

Tuesday Morning means one thing, that is District Meeting down in
Palermo. We received a training on The Teaching Method of Jesus Christ
that Elder Bednar gave in a conference dedicated to New Mission
Presidents. It was pretty powerful and I honestly took a lot from it.
It gave me a few new ideas on how I can do a better job of preparing
my investigators for future lessons, as well as how I can better use
the materials that the church has provided for us. All in all, it was
a successful district meeting and I came away being very well fed
spiritually. We returned back to Mistretta and paid Dr. Enzo a little
visit. We talked for a little while, checked up on how he is doing and
gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet to read//study so he would be
more prepared spiritually for our next discussion. He agreed to
read//study the material and invited us to come back Thursday morning.
Unfortunately, we still have no one attending English course. After we
waited at the church for someone to show up, we headed over to Nino's
because we hadn't seen him in a few days. We read a talk together, and
Nino had a pretty good idea come to mind. Once upon a time ( of a few
years back ) Nino put on a free cooking class at our church twice a
week, and there were close to 30 people attending it religiously. He
decided that because we are having a hard time getting people to come
to English course, he is going to try and start up his own little
cooking class as another opportunity for us to find new investigators.
He is pretty excited to shake off the cobwebs and get this cooking
class going once again.

Wednesday there was a giant celebration here in Mistretta starting 8
o'clock in the morning that the Catholic Church put on. In every city
here in Italy, they each have their own "Saints" who they worship and
all that good jazz. Well for our luck,Wednesday was the Celebration
day for Mistretta's Saint, who is Saint Sebastian. To me, it's really
strange. It would be to the equivalent of Howell building a shrine and
worshipping the first Bishop of the church out there. The sad thing
is, that these so called "Saints" take the place of our Savior. Here
homes are filled with pictures of "Saints", but it is rare to find a
home with a picture of Jesus Christ. It is disheartening to see people
here nowadays, looking completely past the Savior of Mankind and
worship another human being as if he were a God. It's sad. You don't
read anything about Saint Sebastian in the scriptures and I could
drive twenty minutes away into another town and they would have no
idea who this Saint Sebastian even is, but yet the people here build
shrines, pray to Saint Sebastian, and fill their walls with pictures
of him....instead of the very Son of God Himself. I'm not sure what
Saint Sebastian did all those years ago, but I know that whatever he
did....He was thinking of Christ while he was doing it. He did what he
did to glorify his Savior and for his God. Now, that same Father in
Heaven and that same Prince of peace are overlooked over an ordinary
righteous act that was performed by a mortal. Mistretta is a deeply
rooted Catholic city, and so as you can imagine that nobody really
wanted to see us, let alone meet with us.Wednesday there was a
highlight though. There was a worldwide broadcast for missionaries
everyone that different Apostles and General Authorities put on. It
was powerful and once again, I was very well fed in a spiritual sense.
Elder Bednar gave a training. Elder Oaks spoke. And many more. It was
wonderful. It's always a pleasure to hear our Apostles and General
Authorities speak. Meanwhile we were watching our broadcast, we could
hear roars from crowds of people and fireworks lighting up the night
time sky.

Thursday Morning we grabbed Anziano Wardle and headed over to Dr.
Enzo's house for our appointment. As we invited, he studied//read the
pamphlet to prepare himself for our lesson. Now, instead of us just
teaching and talking the entire time, we had a good little discussion.
I mean we still covered the doctrine thoroughly and clearly, but it
was nice to have our investigator have a little idea beforehand. It
went well. We asked Anziano Wardle what the plan of salvation means to
him individually and as well for his family. He bore a powerful
testimony on how much it means to him that families can be and have
the potential to be eternal. I followed his testimony up with my own
testimony of why my family is the most important thing in my life and
how we can all be together for eternity. Anziano Da Ponte followed up
with his testimony. We could tell that Dr. Enzo was really touched by
the fact that families can be together forever. Our lesson went really
well, and the Spirit was booming when we all bore our testimonies.
Thursday we also saw Maria, Nino' Sister who is not a member. With
Maria we read the talk "Yielding our Hearts to God" from this last
General Conference. That talk is so powerful if you read through it or
listen to it with a sincere heart and with a real desire to better
yourself. Sadly, Maria wasn't really giving us the time of day and
didn't really care to listen to the powerful message that lies within
this beautiful talk. I'm not sure if she was still coming off of a
Saint Sebastian high or what, but she surely could have cared less
that we were there sitting at her kitchen table. In closing I bore my
testimony that we the only way we can return home and live with our
Father in Heaven is through the divine enabling power of the Atonement
of Jesus Christ. I let her know very kind, but very boldly, that He is
the only one who could and who can lift us back to our Heavenly home
and without us truly "yielding" our heart to Him....He cannot lift us
back to that Heavenly Home of never ending happiness, peace and joy.
She half-heartedly thanked us for the visit and I was pretty
disappointed....but we tried our best to bring her a message that we
thought could help. We did that. I thought that sometimes I would
really love to use some peoples moral agency for them...but I
understood that sometimes, probably more times than not, our Father in
Heaven would like use my moral agency for me as well.

Friday we held our Branch Council meeting. We talked about starting up
Nino's Cooking Class and it brought a good conversation on how each
member has their own speciality and craft. Everyone got pretty excited
about the fact, that it wouldn't be hard to absolutely pack the church
with people that are wanting to attend these free classes//courses
that we are putting on. So we have that in the works and we are all
pretty excited to see what will happen. Saturday we had the chance to
visit with Eleonora, an inactive, for a little bit for the first time
in over a month. Her little son, Manu, was pretty excited to see me
and he made sure that I was always watching what he was doing. It was
good to see hear and visit with her for a little bit. We also visited
with Dr. Enzo for a little bit and gave him some material to study so
he will be prepared for our next lesson. We invited him to church, but
unfortunately he did not make it. Down at the Sacrament at Sorella
Battista's home, we had a man show up. A man by the name of Giuseppe.
Giuseppe has been an investigator for years, but the contact with him
was lost after he moved to Milan. Well, now he is back and wants to
meet with us again. He is a younger fella. He's clean, smart and got a
good head on his shoulders. All of the members already know him by
name, and he is seriously loved and praised by the members here. We
are hoping for the best there and we are planning to see him a little
more this week.

The week and weekend was pretty, well really slow for us. We just
couldn't seem to get the ball rolling this week, no matter how hard we
tried. We planned, we prepared ourselves, we prayed, we did everything
that I could think of....but we couldn't seem to get going. That's
alright though. Sometimes we do all that we can and the ball still
seems to go the other way. We just have to keep moving forward, and
not get discouraged. This life is full of ups and downs, but through
the highest of highs and the lowest of lows...we have much reason to
rejoice and be thankful for a Father in Heaven and a Savior who will
never give up on us, no matter how mistake-prone we may be. I came
across some scriptures yesterday in church and I would like to share
them. They are found in Mosiah 16:6-9. Here they are:

6 And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to
come as though they had already come, there could have been no
redemption.
7 And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands
of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should
have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.
8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory,
and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
9 He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is
endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is
endless, that there can be no more death.

This week I have thought a lot about our Savior Jesus Christ and just
how divine His thirty three years upon the earth were. I've attempted
to think about all of the blessings that we have received, the
blessings we receive daily and the blessings that we will receive
because of Him. As these scriptures say, if He hasn't of come....there
would be no redemption, the grave would surely have the victory, death
truly would sting and there would be no resurrection. Basically
without Jesus Christ and His infinite and eternal Atoning sacrifice,
this life would be for nothing. But like it says in verse 8...."there
is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting
of death is swallowed up in Christ." I testify that He is the Savior
and Redeemer of the a World. He is my friend. I know that He knows me,
individually. Just as He knows each of you. He knows our fears,
doubts, worries, weaknesses....but He also knows our true potential,
our strengths and the intentions of our hearts. His love is greater
than we can possibly comprehend. It is a love that is absolutely
perfect. It is a love that is unfailing and unending. If only we could
know how much He truly loves us. I testify that with Him, we cannot
fail. He has overcome this world with our blemish, this very world in
which we are living in. He is the Christ and He lives. Those are the
two most beautiful words in the English language, "He Lives." Because
of that simple, but truly divine phrase....We will all live again as
glorious and perfected beings. We will not have to worry about the
struggles, pains and heartaches that we try our best to overcome.
Because of Jesus Christ, we have hope. we have peace. He is truly
Great. He lived great and He died great. As President Hinckley once
said, "To His dominion there will be no end. ...He will reign forever
as the King of kings and The Lord of lords." I testify that that same
King of kings and Lord or lords will always love us with a perfect
love. He will never let us down. He will never let us fall. His hand
is truly "outstretched still". It is my earnest hope and pray that we
will all remember Him throughout our daily lives and activities,
because without Him giving His life....our lives would be without
purpose. My invite is this week is to take out a piece of paper and
write all of the blessings that you can think of that you have
received, that you are receiving, or that you will one day receive
because of our loving Savior Jesus Christ. A grateful heart, is a full
heart.

I'm grateful for each of you and for truly the unreal amount of love
and support that I receive from back home. I am blessed. I thank each
of you. I am praying for each of you. I hope that all is well and
everyone is staying healthy. Please let me know if I can do anything
for any of you back home. We've made it a year over here in Italia.
I'm grateful for the life altering experiences I've seen, been apart
of and experienced first hand. I'm grateful for the priceless
opportunity that I have to be where I am, doing what I am doing. This
past year has definitely been the hardest year of my life, but it has
also been filled with indescribable joy and incomprehensible love. I'm
grateful for the trials that I've been through, the trials I'm
experiencing now and the trials that await me ahead... There is always
something to learn. I'll quit rambling on this week. Family and
Friends I love you all so much. Have an amazing week and please be
safe.

Much love from Mistretta,

Anziano JarDee Nessen
Italy Rome Mission
Exodus 14:14

---I didn't take any new pictures this week. So here are some throw
backs from my first year in Italia❤️🇮🇹

Sorella Battista pulled out these table clothes on Friday and it reminded me of Grandma Nan and her always cross-stitching like this!

Here are some pictures that I took this past week of Nino's glasses and him studying.
POWERFUL!

January 18th, 2016 // #3 of 2016

January 18th, 2016 // #3 of 2016

Good Morning Family and Friends.
I hope this email is finding everyone healthy and happy this morning.
I hope everyone had a great week this last week, and I hope that
everyone will have a fantastic week this week as well.  I don't know
about you all but it feels as if yesterday was Christmas. January is
zooming on by for me up here in the mountains. We had a pretty good
week up here in Mistretta. The weather fell through the floor Saturday
during the night and we had about 3.5 inches of snow Sunday Morning.
These poor Italians don't really know what to do with snow. You can't
find a snow shovel anywhere in Mistretta, their snow boots are pretty
weird looking, they don't have scrapers for their car windshields in
the morning and they don't have a snow plow for the roads. Poor
Italians, but that I don't understand is how a city that gets snow
every year can still year after year not prepare themselves a little
bit for what is coming. It just makes me laugh. You can also see that
no young fella up here has every tossed a baseball or football around
with their old man. Abbi has a better cannon on herself than 95% of
the Italian young men that I've seen. Anziano Da Ponte and I have had
a little fun in the snow and plan on building a snowman when we get a
minute. Everything is cold, frozen and covered in snow up here in
Mistretta, but all is well. We are healthy, happy and our missionary
work is going well. All is well. Let's get the weekly report rolling.

Monday we had our P-Day. We didn't do a whole lot. We took care of the
necessary things to prepare us for the week and wrote emails home to
our family and friends. After our P-Day was finished we planned to
meet with one of the families that we contacted a few weeks ago. We
should up on the door step of the one house and the father answered
the door. We said, "Hello." He simply replied, "Tomorrow at 7?" We
agreed and we're pumped because he seemed really sincere when he asked
us to come back the following day. So after that plan fell through, we
headed over to s large building and started doing home house tracting.
We quickly found out that every Monday evening the Catholic Church
here in Mistretta airs the Mass on television. Nearly every single
door we knocked on had the Mass on their tv... As you can imagine it
was slightly difficult to enter into those houses. We meet some kind
people, but we didn't have a lot of luck. We knocked the big building
and made our way over to Nino's house to help him out. He asked us if
we could study with him for a little bit. Of course we agreed.
Studying with Nino is always a good night to close out the night. He
is always so grateful and whenever we are with Nino...I seem to learn
something from simply observing or listening to him. He is truly an
inspiration to me. Throughout my life I have taken daily scripture
study for granted, so many times I shamefully admit. Here is one thing
that Nino has taught me, not using his mouth or his words but with his
actions.... One morning we stopped in for a little visit only to find
Nino struggling to read from his Book of Mormon. Nino's right eye is
completely gone, with that eye he see's nothing. His left eye
functions, but very minimally. When we walked in that morning, he had
a special pair of glasses on that he made himself when he first found
out that he was losing his vision. He took the right lens completely
out, and somehow managed to super glue an eye piece that diamond
jewelers use over top of the left lens so he would be able to read
something. Now these glasses put a major strain on his one half
functioning eye, but yet he still continues to read the scriptures
every single day. When we show up most days his left eye is bloodshot
because of his homemade reading glasses. That man is heaven sent... He
is an inspiration to me. For the rest of my life, whenever I feel like
not reading the scriptures because I am to tired or just to lazy....I
will think back to my good pal Nino Purpari. I love the guy.

Tuesday we had our weekly district meeting down in Palermo. The
Wardles, the senior couple here in Mistretta, had to travel to Rome
all last week to Rome because they received a new car. They are always
our wheels to and from places our of Mistretta. We woke up bright and
early Tuesdsy morning so we could catch the bus we needed. We road the
bus down the mountain, and caught the train that was heading to
Palermo. District Meeting was good. We received a training from a
Sister that will be heading home in a few weeks. She talked about
Charity and the importance of loving the people. We can all use a
little help in the Charity category sometimes, so that training was a
good one. We when we got back to Mistretta, we stopped by Dr. Enzo for
a minute to talk we him. We set up our next appointment and he thanked
us for saying hello. Still, no one is attending our English Course.
That means one of a few  things. Number 1 - Everyone in Mistretta
speaks English perfectly and they don't need it. OR Number 2 - Nobody
cares about learning English ( one of the most powerful languages in
the world ) for Free. We are going to continue to put some publicity
up around the city and hopefully somebody will show up in these
upcoming weeks. Afterwards, I mentioned earlier the one family that
asked us to return the following day at 7. So we headed back over to
the apartment and I just happened to look in the second story window
only to see the same Father we talked to the day before. We rang the
doorbell and no answer. We rang the door bell yet again, and no
answer. Even though we could hear people whispering inside and
shuffling around. Finally after a few minutes a little girl answered
the door and told us that her parents were not home. I asked when we
could return when the parents were home. She told me next week at 7.
So he thinks that he snuffed us, but little does he know that we will
be showing up tomorrow night at 7 pm with big ole smiles. I was pretty
frustrated, but then just had to laugh. Hopefully he will climb off of
his high horse and let us in tomorrow night. We are praying for good
things there.

Wednesday Morning is when we planned to have a lesson with Dr. Enzo.
We had everything set and ready to go. We had a member prepared, our
lesson planned and we were ready. About 30 minutes before our lesson
that we were so excited for, everything fell right through the floor
and we lost the lesson. It's always a good start to the day, when
everything falls through the floor right from the beginning. We just
had to laugh and roll with our back up plans. Nino scheduled an
appointment for us with two ladies that he used to work with in the
kitchen at the hospital. They were kind ladies. Kind of different and
they had some very strange viewpoints on things, but they were kind.
We brought them a lesson about hope. They thanked us for coming, but
when we tried to schedule a return appointment, they acted like I was
trying to pull their teeth out with a pair of pliers. So I don't think
we will be returning over there anytime soon, but they were kind.
Afterwards, we decided to go and visit Lydia Bartalota ( the sister to
Antonio. Their mother passed away in the beginning of December if that
helps you remember ). She was required to take care of her mother
24/7, 365 days a week for a solid 3 years...and during that time she
has become a little hostile towards the church, even though members
have constantly gave her a hand and the missionaries have stopped by
often for a spiritual message. Anyways, she has not been to church
since the passing of her mother and we wanted to see if there was
anything that we could do to help. From the very first step that we
took walking into that house, we could tell that there was absolutely
no spirit there. It just seemed dark and gloomy. From the beginning
she was very hostile with us, and I mean very hostile. Nino was there
along with us, but he let us do the major part of the talking. We were
very patient, kind and loving with her....even though she decided to
treat us like we were children and that we didn't know anything. She
has had problems in the past with different members in Sicily and she
hasn't seem to be able to just let it go. It came to the point in the
lesson that Anziano Da Ponte sat back in his chair, looked at me and
said in English...."Break her boxes" or in other words "Let her have
it." I just bore testimony on the Atonement and that Jesus Christ
knows perfectly what she was going through and I told her that she
needs to let this go, because holding onto these problems is doing no
good for anyone. Nino bore his testimony. Anziano Da Ponte bore his
testimony. The spirit was booming and she began to cry pretty hard.
The Holy Ghost basically flipped that house, that attitude and her
past upside down. It was pretty neat to take part of it. We said a
closing prayer, and left as friends. We said to her on the way out,
"see you at church on Sunday."

Thursday Morning, we finally got over to Dr. Enzo's to teach him the
first half of the Plan of Salvation. We brought Nino along with us.
Nino and Dr. Enzo have known each other for years and years, but
haven't seen each other for a long time. It was neat to hear them chat
back and forth about the good ole days before we started in with our
lesson. They laughed and told us a few stories from way back when. Our
lesson went really well. Dr. Enzo was really receptive and the spirit
was definitely there with us. Nino bore a pretty powerful testimony at
the end of the lesson on how the Plan of Salvation has affected his
life, ever since he asked accepted the gospel 40 years ago. It put the
cherry on top. Nino we really excited to hear that we are working with
Dr. Enzo. He said, "If you guys get him, I think it would be a real
hit to this city..." He was pumped, and as were we. That evening we
headed back over to Nino's house and pack some wood down for the next
few days. Afterwards we planned to have one of our investigators meet
us there for a little visit. Carmen is her name and we have met with
her, just it had been a good while because of the holidays and all of
the parties and celebrations. We didn't have a lot of time, but we
were able to be with her for a little while and have a little lesson
on the importance of daily scripture study. She committed to read the
scriptures daily and especially the Book of Mormon. She is a super
nice lady and a good person, she just needs to apply herself a little
bit. After the small lesson with Carmen, we rushed over to the church
for English course. Once again, no one showed up. We decided to call
Antonio Bartalota, so we could talk to him about the lesson we had
with his sister. He thanked us for bringing the spirit and opening her
eyes a little bit to the reality that was in front of her. He did say
something that got under my skin and has stuck with me ever since. He
looked me right in the eyes and said, "Anziani ( Elders ) you guys
lack some experience..." Personally, I thought that was a pretty
ignorant comment to make because he doesn't really have a clue what
experience we do or do not have....but I as well do not want to be
ignorant and say that we know it all. It was good practice for me to
hold my tongue. That night with his sister, The Lord was speaking
through us. It wasn't us saying whatever we could to hurt her feelings
or make her feel ashamed, the Lord was surely speaking through the
both of us. After he left, we hiked over to Nino's and I was pretty
hot inside, meaning I was a little fired up at some of the comments
that were directed at us out of ignorance....but Nino helped me
realize that it doesn't matter. So many people in this world want a
God that is comfortable, that gives the people whatever they feel like
they deserve, or that will change a rule here and there to make us
more popular looking in the eyes of the world. That is most definitely
not how it goes. Our Lord is definitely not a comfortable one, and I
can testify that He will never conform to the wants and wishes of "the
world". Too many people sit on the fence, as was said in an email I
received this morning, and it can no longer be like that. We must
decide where we stand. Do we want to be comfortable and roll with the
crowd, or do we want to choose to rise above this dark and dreary
world that we live in. I can tell you that I know what side is going
to win in the end. The script has already been written. Now, we must
choose if we want to win, or if we want to lose. It's the little
things that matter and it's the little things that will keep up afloat
through the deep waters of sin, temptation and trial. The little
things such as family prayer, daily scripture study, tithing, fasting.
These little things will keep us afloat in this world that seems to be
drifting farther and farther away from The Savior of All Mankind,
"because it is too hard" or "not the cool thing to do". I pray that we
can all remember to do these little precious things each day, to keep
us close to the One who has overcome this world, the only One who has
ever overcome this world.

Friday Morning, we began an exchange with our District Leader. We
decided that I would be heading down to Bagheria, a small town just
outside of Palermo, with the DL and that Anziano Da Ponte would remain
in Mistretta with the companion of our DL. Our DL is named Anziano
Andersen and his father is Elder Andersen of the 70. As you can
imagine, Anziano Andersen is a good missionary. During our Scambio we
didn't necessarily have any grand miracles or anything of the kind,
but what we did do was work our tails off together. We were
practically jogging in between appointments and places that we needed
to be. We got a lot done that first evening together, even though what
we did will not show up on the numbers that get sent to our Mission
President each week. It's not about that. It's about working, and
working hard. Anziano Andersen is a sports guy and so we get along
just fine. A lot of people thought we were brothers. He is a good kid
and I learned a lot from him. Saturday Morning he scheduled an
appointment with me to head back to the family that I met just before
Christmas when we went in our first exchanges. I was really excited to
see them again, as they were excited to see me again. We had a really
nice lunch together and they dropped me off at the train station we
could catch the train back to Mistretta. When we returned to
Mistretta, Anziano Wardle, Anziano Da Ponte and I went to visit Dr.
Enzo. On Friday morning he went to a hospital near Messina to have
some tests taken on his lungs. So Saturday evening we stopped in to
see how they went. Everything went well and he is healing up fine. It
was surely an answer to our prayers and we were pretty excited, as was
he. We weren't there for long, only a few minutes...but he used to be
very cautious towards us missionaries and now it is not like that.
Those walls of defense that he placed up long ago, are starting to
weaken. It's a beautiful thing to see the Spirit of the Lord work on
somebody little by little each day. After our little visit there, Nino
invited us all over for a really nice Pizza Night. He is always so
happy to have us over and nothing makes him happier than a living room
full of people eating at his kitchen table. He was smiling from ear to
ear all night and we were as well. We all had a good time, and for
some reason he continued to thank us for coming...even though he did
everything. He is one of the best hearted people that I have ever met.
I want to stuff the ole feller in my suit case and bring him home with
me.

As I said in the beginning, we got lots of snow Saturday during the
night and because of the harsh conditions....Church was cancelled.
Anziano Da Ponte and I were invited over to the Portera Family's home
for lunch and we stayed with them for a little while to keep out of
the cold and nasty wind. Around 6 we decided to head around to all the
homes of the members ( with our branch presidents permission ) and
bless the sacrament for our members. We bundled up all nice and warm
with our suits, gloves, coats, beanies and I even wore two scarves. We
were well prepared. We made our way around the town, stopping first
with Vito ( Nino's older brother ) and then on down to the Portera
Family's home, then back over to Nino's and we finished up at the
Wardles apartment at around 9:30. I was immensely touched by the way
these faithful members of Mistretta prepared their dining room tables
for the sacred ordinance of the sacrament. Each member had his own
different idea, but they each wanted it as close as they could get it
to the real thing. Some used napkins as the white cloth, with others
used nicely hand made white cloths. The one that touched me the most
was Nino. He cleared off his kitchen table with his normal red and
clean table cloth and headed upstairs to fetch a white one. He came
down the stairs with a white sheet, that had a few stains and
butterflies trimmed the edges of cloth...I had a thought come to mind
that it was perfectly acceptable to the Lord. Of course it wasn't all
white and beautiful as are the ones we use for sacrament, but it was
the absolute best that our little 65 year old, mostly blind member
could do to turn his dining room table into the sacrament table. I was
fighting back the tears as I stood to break the bread and saw the
tablecloth in rather rough condition and seeing a butterfly or two
poke out from the edge of the cloth. Once again, on my head...I knew
it was acceptable unto the Lord because Nino was providing the best
that he had. It gave me a new outlook on just how important and divine
the sacrament truly is. I once heard a quote and it said something
along the lines of..."If we could fully comprehend the complete
importance of the Sacrament, we would crawl on our hands and knees
every Sunday morning to partake of it." It was a wonderful opportunity
we had last night to bundle up and trek through the snow to our
members homes. Something I will never, ever forget.

There is my weekly email this week my family and friends. I'm sorry
that I have been slacking on the little thought duty. I promise that
next week I will have a little something, something prepared for us
all. I would like to thank each of you for the love, support and
kindness that you send my way. I thank you for the prayers offered on
my behalf, as well as on the behalf of Elder Just. I can testify that
the power of prayer is real and it is truly powerful. I have felt a
few distinct times during my mission your prayers literally pushing me
forward. I thank you for it all. You have a great week and take real
good care. We are going to find a snow shovel and shovel some walks
around Mistretta. I'll talk to you all next week, until then...I love
you! I love you! I love you!

Anziano JarDee Nessen
Italy Rome Mission
D&C 104:82

View from the balcony of the Bagheria Anziano!

Beautiful!

See it snow's here! Brrrrrr.

I just love Nino!