Jan03
Happy New Year. 2016
Greetings from Mistretta.
Well here we are in the last week of 2015 and 2016 is on the doorstep.
It is wild for me to look back a year and see myself in the MTC. Time
is moving quick and I'm grateful that I still have another year to be
out here in Italy with these people. Last week was one of the funnest
weeks of my mission will of the activities, parties and all of the
other fun that is included with Christmas season. It was good to spend
a little bit of time with you all on Christmas Day and interact just a
bit. It was surely a Christmss that I'll never forget and skyping home
put the Cherry on top. I hope you all had a Merry, Merry Christmas. I
hope you were all able to make a little time to include the Savior of
the World in that special day and this special time of year. I would
like to take this time to thank you all for all of the love, support,
strength and prayers that each of you sent my way throughout 2015.
There have definitely been more times than not, that I've felt that
love, those prayers and that support pushing me forward. It is
powerful and I would like to sincerely thank each and everyone of you.
I do not deserve such support, but just know that I am grateful. I
love each of you. Remember that. Well here is my report this week.
Last Monday, we planed to re-visit our two potential families and turn
them into investigators. Well our high hopes and dreams got shot down
pretty fast as we knocked on the first door and no one was home. We
knocked on the second door and the husband wasn't home. We had
powerful first lessons planned and felt good about them, but not
everything always goes as planned. We headed over to Nino's house to
study the scriptures with him and get him some firewood for the week.
We filled a pretty big bag full of chopped wood and it had to of
weighed close to 150 pounds. I carried that bad boy up the stairs,
down the hill a bit and got it safe and sound in Nino's house. Safe to
say my back was a bit sore for a day or two afterwards. Nino just
laughed and now calls me "The Incredible Hulk".
Tuesday morning we ventured back over to Nino's house to study his
church lesson that he was asked to teach yesterday. We helped him get
all prepared and ready to go. We heard the little fruit guy driving in
his little truck, yelling into his little microphone and driving
through the little mazes of the buildings near the home of Nino. Nino
was running on empty in the fruit business and as soon as he heard the
ruckus, he was out the front door to get himself some fruit. I have a
video of Nino tracking the fella down and hopefully I will get it sent
home today. While we were assisting Nino during his fruit shopping, I
managed to find a small land mine of dog poop and didn't find out
about it until I had already tracked it into Nino's house. I
immediately got the mop and bucket out and took care of that disaster.
It stunk so bad and I felt even worse for dragging it into Nino's
house. He told me not to worry about it and just giggled at me venting
because of the dog owners being to lazy to pick up their dogs
leftovers. Haha. Tuesday afternoon we had a Restoration lesson with a
lady named Carmen in Nino's house. The lesson went well and the spirit
was there. We had to really break down the principles that we taught.
It was liking trying to teach Abbi the Restoration. "The lights on
are, but no one is home." I love you Abbi. After the lesson with
Carmen and Nino we headed over to the Bartalota's house for a Pizza
Night. It was kind of a special one because there we met a sister
missionary who served in Mistretta a few years ago and her husband.
They were really nice people and seemed to be living the dream coming
back to visit Italy. They actually knew our cousin Brooks and told me
to tell him hello from The Barlow Family. Antonio and Lydia were very
kind and had us all over for a pizza night. There I gave them one of
the little figurines that were sent to me for Christmas and also a
Christmas candle. They were so grateful for the gifts and Antonio
nearly cried. He is really having a hard time right now. I feel so bad
for the poor guy and this week we are going to just have a lesson with
him just boost up his spirits for a little bit. Keep him in your
prayers please.
Wednesday morning came around and we headed down to Palermo for our
District Meeting that was Christmas Themed. It was really nice and we
had a really nice lunch all together afterwards. Anziano Vrska and I
were playing Ping Pong in the church and I went to pull a Roger
Federer and hit the ping pong ball in between my legs as I was chasing
it down.....well I got ahold of the ball and actually ended up scoring
a point, but I ripped my suit pants in the process. I'm sure I would
have been placed on ESPN's Not Top 10, but luckily the rip wasn't
disastrous. Lucky, it wasn't visible to anyone else, but I did have a
pretty uncomfortable chilly breeze in an area of my body that had
never experienced such ventilation before. After District Meeting, we
combined with some of the other missionaries from our Zone and went
caroling at a Museum in Palermo. It was pretty fun and lots of people
stopped for a minute or two to tune in. We than got a real quick tour
of the museum for our well below par caroling. They turned an old
fortress with a beautiful church inside into this museum that we sang
at, and so we were allowed access into the church at a time when no
one else could enter. It was incredible. I'll send home one picture
and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy that. After the caroling we went back
and did some street contacting for a few hours. I handed out close to
two hundred English course pass-a-long cards and we showed a countless
number of people the new Christmas video that the church produced.
That night we stayed with the Palermo #2 Elders and the Sciacca Elders
and had a good night with them in the Palermo #2 Elders apartment.
Thursday, Christmas Eve, we had a Zone Caroling Activity. All of the
missionaries from our Zone, and even some members came along to help
out, sang Christmas Songs in front of some of the biggest and nicest
Opera Houses in all of Europe. The street out in front of these opera
houses is always crowded with people no matter what time of day it is.
They asked for 3 missionaries to stay out of the singing group so they
could stop and talk to people on the street. Anziano Mika and I
immediately shot our hand up in the air because it is so much better
interacting with people rather than singing for hours on end. I talked
with a bunch of people. Anziano Mika talked with a bunch of people. We
handed out a bazillion pass-a-long cards and I got a phone number and
I would like to tell you about that story right now. I stopped this
lady, she seemed to be about 25-28 years old. We talked for a bit and
she seemed to have some pretty serious questions about life and the
after life. We talked and I explained to her that the missionaries
that are serving in Palermo would love to teach you more about what is
to come after this life is said and done. We exchanged phone numbers
and she watched the new Christmas video and she took off back down the
road. I went to the Zone Leaders, who are stationed in Palermo, and
told them that I had just found their next baptism. Well, the Zone
Leaders called me back on Saturday night to inform me how their call
to set up an appointment with this young lady went. She said and I
quote, "I'm not interested. The only reason I gave him my number, is
because I thought he would be staying in Palermo." The He in that
sentence was referring to me. She wasn't interested in the gospel, she
was interested in me. She sure had me fooled. Haha. After we sang for
a few hours, it was time to get some lunch. We all headed over to this
Chinese Buffet and stuffed ourselves full of Fried Rice and all sorts
of good stuff. There we also gave away and received our Secret Santa
gifts. I received the awesome Christmas Sweater from one of our Zone
Leaders and I will be holding onto that bad boy for the rest of my
life. That gift is a keeper. I was pretty excited. After we all had
our fair share of the Chinese Buffet, we went Ice Skating as a Zone.
It was so much fun! The place wasn't the biggest, or the nicest but
for southern Italy it was pretty nice. We all looked like the biggest
good balls of all time, but we didn't care. We skated for a little bit
and Anziano Da Ponte and I caught a train to to head back to
Mistretta. It was a long day, but all in all a successful and eventful
Christmas Eve.
Christmas didn't really have the same feeling that it normally does
for me. All throughout the 24th and the morning of the 25th, it didn't
feel like Christmas. I was missing getting up at 5 am to shred open
gifts, eating pounds and pounds of marvelous food, and just being
around the ones I love most. It was a Christmas that I will never
forget. We started off our Christmas over at the Wardles apartment for
a nice little breakfast they prepared for us. There Anziano Da Ponte
Skyped his family and they all opened up their gifts together. They
got me a little speaker for my iPad, and that was very kind of them.
For lunch we headed over to the Portera's house for a feast of all
feasts. We literally ate for hours on end and just ate, and ate and
ate some more. The whole Portera family was there and there was enough
food to feed the army. We had to leave before they even brought the
sweets out because I was going to be late for my Skype call home. I
felt the skype call home went very well. I mean there were problems
with the connection every once in awhile, but it was priceless to
spend a little time with you all on Christmas Day. I'll never forget
it. After my skype call we headed back to the Portera's home. They
gave us our gifts and we gave them our gifts. I love the Portera's!
Surely it was a Christmas I'll never ever forget, and I cannot wait to
be celebrating the holidays with you all next Winter.
Saturday Morning there is a great big holiday here in Italy and so we
are not allowed to proselyte. We get permission to watch two PG movies
during the day, so we watched The Croods in the morning and A
Christmas Carol in the afternoon. Nino invited us over for a Christmas
lunch and so we spent a little time with him. He is such a good guy.
After we spent the afternoon with Nino, we went over to the Portera
house to watch A Christmas Carol with them. Movies are so much better
in English I do have to say. I drives me insane in the membrane when
I'm watching a movie and the movements of the mouth do not match up
with the sounds, but I was able to make it through alright. After the
movie we headed over to the church to teach a 30 year old fella who is
from Rome a free English course lesson. He was a super good guy and
spoke pretty well, he just wanted to freshen up his English a bit by
chatting with us for an hour. We topped off Saturday with a Family
Home Evening with the Senior Couple.
That about wraps my Christmas week up. I hope you all had a Merry
Christmas and I hope you all have a Happy, Happy New Year. I would
like to Thank You all for the love, support and prayers that you all
send my way. 2016 here we come. Y'all have a good, safe week and take
care of yourselves. You're in my prayers.
Love,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
Well here we are in the last week of 2015 and 2016 is on the doorstep.
It is wild for me to look back a year and see myself in the MTC. Time
is moving quick and I'm grateful that I still have another year to be
out here in Italy with these people. Last week was one of the funnest
weeks of my mission will of the activities, parties and all of the
other fun that is included with Christmas season. It was good to spend
a little bit of time with you all on Christmas Day and interact just a
bit. It was surely a Christmss that I'll never forget and skyping home
put the Cherry on top. I hope you all had a Merry, Merry Christmas. I
hope you were all able to make a little time to include the Savior of
the World in that special day and this special time of year. I would
like to take this time to thank you all for all of the love, support,
strength and prayers that each of you sent my way throughout 2015.
There have definitely been more times than not, that I've felt that
love, those prayers and that support pushing me forward. It is
powerful and I would like to sincerely thank each and everyone of you.
I do not deserve such support, but just know that I am grateful. I
love each of you. Remember that. Well here is my report this week.
Last Monday, we planed to re-visit our two potential families and turn
them into investigators. Well our high hopes and dreams got shot down
pretty fast as we knocked on the first door and no one was home. We
knocked on the second door and the husband wasn't home. We had
powerful first lessons planned and felt good about them, but not
everything always goes as planned. We headed over to Nino's house to
study the scriptures with him and get him some firewood for the week.
We filled a pretty big bag full of chopped wood and it had to of
weighed close to 150 pounds. I carried that bad boy up the stairs,
down the hill a bit and got it safe and sound in Nino's house. Safe to
say my back was a bit sore for a day or two afterwards. Nino just
laughed and now calls me "The Incredible Hulk".
Tuesday morning we ventured back over to Nino's house to study his
church lesson that he was asked to teach yesterday. We helped him get
all prepared and ready to go. We heard the little fruit guy driving in
his little truck, yelling into his little microphone and driving
through the little mazes of the buildings near the home of Nino. Nino
was running on empty in the fruit business and as soon as he heard the
ruckus, he was out the front door to get himself some fruit. I have a
video of Nino tracking the fella down and hopefully I will get it sent
home today. While we were assisting Nino during his fruit shopping, I
managed to find a small land mine of dog poop and didn't find out
about it until I had already tracked it into Nino's house. I
immediately got the mop and bucket out and took care of that disaster.
It stunk so bad and I felt even worse for dragging it into Nino's
house. He told me not to worry about it and just giggled at me venting
because of the dog owners being to lazy to pick up their dogs
leftovers. Haha. Tuesday afternoon we had a Restoration lesson with a
lady named Carmen in Nino's house. The lesson went well and the spirit
was there. We had to really break down the principles that we taught.
It was liking trying to teach Abbi the Restoration. "The lights on
are, but no one is home." I love you Abbi. After the lesson with
Carmen and Nino we headed over to the Bartalota's house for a Pizza
Night. It was kind of a special one because there we met a sister
missionary who served in Mistretta a few years ago and her husband.
They were really nice people and seemed to be living the dream coming
back to visit Italy. They actually knew our cousin Brooks and told me
to tell him hello from The Barlow Family. Antonio and Lydia were very
kind and had us all over for a pizza night. There I gave them one of
the little figurines that were sent to me for Christmas and also a
Christmas candle. They were so grateful for the gifts and Antonio
nearly cried. He is really having a hard time right now. I feel so bad
for the poor guy and this week we are going to just have a lesson with
him just boost up his spirits for a little bit. Keep him in your
prayers please.
Wednesday morning came around and we headed down to Palermo for our
District Meeting that was Christmas Themed. It was really nice and we
had a really nice lunch all together afterwards. Anziano Vrska and I
were playing Ping Pong in the church and I went to pull a Roger
Federer and hit the ping pong ball in between my legs as I was chasing
it down.....well I got ahold of the ball and actually ended up scoring
a point, but I ripped my suit pants in the process. I'm sure I would
have been placed on ESPN's Not Top 10, but luckily the rip wasn't
disastrous. Lucky, it wasn't visible to anyone else, but I did have a
pretty uncomfortable chilly breeze in an area of my body that had
never experienced such ventilation before. After District Meeting, we
combined with some of the other missionaries from our Zone and went
caroling at a Museum in Palermo. It was pretty fun and lots of people
stopped for a minute or two to tune in. We than got a real quick tour
of the museum for our well below par caroling. They turned an old
fortress with a beautiful church inside into this museum that we sang
at, and so we were allowed access into the church at a time when no
one else could enter. It was incredible. I'll send home one picture
and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy that. After the caroling we went back
and did some street contacting for a few hours. I handed out close to
two hundred English course pass-a-long cards and we showed a countless
number of people the new Christmas video that the church produced.
That night we stayed with the Palermo #2 Elders and the Sciacca Elders
and had a good night with them in the Palermo #2 Elders apartment.
Thursday, Christmas Eve, we had a Zone Caroling Activity. All of the
missionaries from our Zone, and even some members came along to help
out, sang Christmas Songs in front of some of the biggest and nicest
Opera Houses in all of Europe. The street out in front of these opera
houses is always crowded with people no matter what time of day it is.
They asked for 3 missionaries to stay out of the singing group so they
could stop and talk to people on the street. Anziano Mika and I
immediately shot our hand up in the air because it is so much better
interacting with people rather than singing for hours on end. I talked
with a bunch of people. Anziano Mika talked with a bunch of people. We
handed out a bazillion pass-a-long cards and I got a phone number and
I would like to tell you about that story right now. I stopped this
lady, she seemed to be about 25-28 years old. We talked for a bit and
she seemed to have some pretty serious questions about life and the
after life. We talked and I explained to her that the missionaries
that are serving in Palermo would love to teach you more about what is
to come after this life is said and done. We exchanged phone numbers
and she watched the new Christmas video and she took off back down the
road. I went to the Zone Leaders, who are stationed in Palermo, and
told them that I had just found their next baptism. Well, the Zone
Leaders called me back on Saturday night to inform me how their call
to set up an appointment with this young lady went. She said and I
quote, "I'm not interested. The only reason I gave him my number, is
because I thought he would be staying in Palermo." The He in that
sentence was referring to me. She wasn't interested in the gospel, she
was interested in me. She sure had me fooled. Haha. After we sang for
a few hours, it was time to get some lunch. We all headed over to this
Chinese Buffet and stuffed ourselves full of Fried Rice and all sorts
of good stuff. There we also gave away and received our Secret Santa
gifts. I received the awesome Christmas Sweater from one of our Zone
Leaders and I will be holding onto that bad boy for the rest of my
life. That gift is a keeper. I was pretty excited. After we all had
our fair share of the Chinese Buffet, we went Ice Skating as a Zone.
It was so much fun! The place wasn't the biggest, or the nicest but
for southern Italy it was pretty nice. We all looked like the biggest
good balls of all time, but we didn't care. We skated for a little bit
and Anziano Da Ponte and I caught a train to to head back to
Mistretta. It was a long day, but all in all a successful and eventful
Christmas Eve.
Christmas didn't really have the same feeling that it normally does
for me. All throughout the 24th and the morning of the 25th, it didn't
feel like Christmas. I was missing getting up at 5 am to shred open
gifts, eating pounds and pounds of marvelous food, and just being
around the ones I love most. It was a Christmas that I will never
forget. We started off our Christmas over at the Wardles apartment for
a nice little breakfast they prepared for us. There Anziano Da Ponte
Skyped his family and they all opened up their gifts together. They
got me a little speaker for my iPad, and that was very kind of them.
For lunch we headed over to the Portera's house for a feast of all
feasts. We literally ate for hours on end and just ate, and ate and
ate some more. The whole Portera family was there and there was enough
food to feed the army. We had to leave before they even brought the
sweets out because I was going to be late for my Skype call home. I
felt the skype call home went very well. I mean there were problems
with the connection every once in awhile, but it was priceless to
spend a little time with you all on Christmas Day. I'll never forget
it. After my skype call we headed back to the Portera's home. They
gave us our gifts and we gave them our gifts. I love the Portera's!
Surely it was a Christmas I'll never ever forget, and I cannot wait to
be celebrating the holidays with you all next Winter.
Saturday Morning there is a great big holiday here in Italy and so we
are not allowed to proselyte. We get permission to watch two PG movies
during the day, so we watched The Croods in the morning and A
Christmas Carol in the afternoon. Nino invited us over for a Christmas
lunch and so we spent a little time with him. He is such a good guy.
After we spent the afternoon with Nino, we went over to the Portera
house to watch A Christmas Carol with them. Movies are so much better
in English I do have to say. I drives me insane in the membrane when
I'm watching a movie and the movements of the mouth do not match up
with the sounds, but I was able to make it through alright. After the
movie we headed over to the church to teach a 30 year old fella who is
from Rome a free English course lesson. He was a super good guy and
spoke pretty well, he just wanted to freshen up his English a bit by
chatting with us for an hour. We topped off Saturday with a Family
Home Evening with the Senior Couple.
That about wraps my Christmas week up. I hope you all had a Merry
Christmas and I hope you all have a Happy, Happy New Year. I would
like to Thank You all for the love, support and prayers that you all
send my way. 2016 here we come. Y'all have a good, safe week and take
care of yourselves. You're in my prayers.
Love,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
 |
| Check out the inside of this Catholic Church. Mamma Mia it is HUGE. |
 |
| The inner part of the museum and their best shot at a Christmas tree. |
Caroling on Christmas Eve
 |
| One of the buildings we were singing in front of. Stunning really. |
 |
| Notice Anziano Mika and I always right next to each other. Haha. |
 |
| The Caroling Group!! |
 |
| This little fella drives all throughout the maze of homes here in Mistretta selling his fruit. |
 |
| Me and Nino's glasses. |
 |
| Antonio, Lydia and I last Tuesday. |
Salsa on the Ice
 |
| I couldn't help but throw down a little Salsa out on the ice while we were ice skating. |
 |
| This kid is a member from Palermo and just got his call to France. He leaves the 16th of Feb. He is a good kid. |
 |
Cowboy hat, skinny jeans and ugly Christmas sweater and all.
 |
| Took a pretty good spill. |
 |
| Chopping some wood and the lunch we had with Nino. |
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