Feb01
February 1st, 2016 // numero sei
Greetings from Mistretta my family and friends.
I hope this email is finding you all healthy and happy. I've heard
that you guys continue to get pounded with snow, while over here it
seems as if the spring had already begun. We had ourselves a good week
out here. This week was a week of learning for me. I feel like I
learned a lot over these past seven days, in many different aspects of
both the mission and life in general. I'm grateful for the learning
opportunities that have been given to me this past week. I pray that
I'll be able to put this things into practice throughout my remaining
time here in Italia, as well as continuing to apply the lessons that
I've learned throughout the rest of my life. I hope you all know that
I love you, and that I am truly grateful for the love, the support,
the strength and the prayers that you send my way. I know that I would
not be able to continue to push forward out here without the love I'm
receiving from back home and as well as from the other side of the
veil. I thank you. I love you.
As I said earlier, we had ourselves a good week and I'm excited to
share with you some of the happenings from this past week. I've been
teaching Anziano Da Ponte how to toss the Football around and he is
picking it up quick. He is a stud and I'm grateful for everything that
he does for me. Tuesday we headed down to Palermo for our last
District Meeting before transfer calls. District Meeting is always
spiritually powerful and a good time because we get to see all of the
other Elders that make up our District. After our District Meeting we
went on Exchanges with our Zone Leaders. Anziano Da Ponte stayed down
in Palermo, while Anziano Joseph Palazzo and I returned back up to the
mountainous Mistretta. Anziano Palazzo is from Texas and will be
heading home in about 6 weeks. He played football at one of the best
high schools in the nation and is thinking about walking on at BYU at
outside linebacker. He loves boating, hunting, sports and just about
everything else that I love... It was a good exchange and surely there
was never a dull moment. Anziano Palazzo is truly one of the greatest
missionaries in our mission. He honestly speaks better Italian than
most Italians speak Italian, but you would never hear that from him.
He is humble, hardworking and just an absolute stud. Tuesday evening
we did some street contacting as well as some house finding. We didn't
see a success there, but we did have some solid conversations with
some nice families. We closed out the evening with a solid Family Home
Evening with the Portera Family. Our topic for the night was
Obedience, and it went really well. There was a strong spirit there
and we all enjoyed one another's company.
Wednesday morning Anziano Palazzo and I planned to go and visit Maria
Grazia. Maria Grazia is an investigator, but we decided to give her
some space for a couple weeks. We planned to teach the Restoration,
but in a way a little more creative than we would usually teach the
lesson. We decided to make our way through the lesson with the help of
some inspired questions. We brought Nino along with us, because Nino
and Maria Grazia have known each other for years and years and years.
Maria Grazia is one of the sweetest ladies that I have ever met, and
shows us nothing but pure respect. Her father passed away around a
year ago, and at this moment she is taking care of her mother. We
showed up and began our lesson right away. The lesson plan went really
well, better than I thought to be honest. The spirit was building,
building and building. We got to Joseph Smith and the spirit was
BOOOOMING in her living room. I could tell that she was acting a
little bit different, and her body language was a tad but different
than what it had been in our previous lessons. Throughout this lesson
she was completely engaged and focused. In my head I was preparing to
throw the baptismal invite, and Anziano Palazzo was thinking the same
thing. We asked Nino to bring his testimony to the table of the
Prophet Joseph Smith. At the close of his testimony, he kind of took
it upon himself to end the lesson there. He closed the lesson with his
testimony, and asked for Maria Grazia to choose who would say the
prayer. I grabbed Anziano Palazzos leg underneath the table, and in my
head I was screaming...."NINO.....I LOVE YOU, BUT PLEWSE SHUT YOUR
MOUTH...." For any of you past missionaries that have been in this
same situation, you kind if know how hard it is to interrupt a members
during a lesson and maintain a good teaching environment... So we let
Nino close the powerful lesson abruptly, and we left. Both Anziano
Palazzo and I were pretty lost for words after the lesson because that
was the last thing that we were expecting to happen. Turns out, Nino
really had to use the bathroom. Immediately after the lesson, Nino
asked us if we could head to his house for a minute. We got to his
house and he went right into the bathroom. Anziano Palazzo and I died
from laughing so hard, as quietly as we possibly could. We didn't want
to hurt his feelings, but it was one of the funniest moments of my
mission. I mean "a mans got to do, what mans got to do" whether that
means jerking the emergency break during the middle of a powerful
lesson or not. Anziano Palazzo and I then caught a train heading back
into Palermo to switch back to our regular companions. It was a
successful exchange. That's for sure.
In Italy it is legal to put advertisements on car windshields or in
people's mailboxes, so Anziano Da Ponte and I have been thinking on
making a little card (about the size of a postcard) and putting a
small, but powerful message about the Restoration on one side, and our
telephone number on the back, Wednesday and Thursday we took a little
bit of time preparing our card. We are going to put a slip of paper in
every mailbox, on every windshield and nearly anywhere else that we
can find. We've heard of missionaries doing this in the past, and we
want to give it a shot. We are hoping for the best and praying to see
some good things come from our efforts there.
Thursday we spent a little bit of time with Dr Enzo. We watched the
restoration video together and had a little discussion about the
Prophet Joseph Smith and The Godhead. I'm not going to lie, the
Restoration video is kind of cheesy in certain areas, but you cannot
deny the powerful spirit that it brings. We weren't over there very
long, but now we feel that Dr Enzo has a little bit better idea about
who the Prophet Joseph Smith is and his sacred and divine role in The
Restoration. Dr Enzo said and I quote, in response to a question..."It
seems that everything depends on if Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God
or not.. If He was, the Book of Mormon is the word of God along with
the bible and your church is true. If He wasn't, the Book of Mormon is
not the word of God and your church is not true." I just replied,
"Exactly." The next lesson (which will be this evening) we will be
teaching the Godhead. I am excited for the lesson this evening and to
see what will happen. Praying for the best. Thursday evening, we met
with the Incapace family. The Incapace family lives close to Nino and
they are friends. The parents, Andrea and Antonella, and the kids,
Pina and Benedetto. They have known the missionaries for a long time
but have never taken the lessons before. We decided that it was time
for them to listen to what we have to offer. The mom tries to bash on
our church, Joseph Smith and the things we believe but it is
completely out of ignorance. I kind of called her out on that a little
bit and got her to listen for a minute or two instead of just trying
to argue with everything we say. They are so called "devote"
Catholics, even though they haven't attended any sort of mass or
worship service related to Catholic Church in years... She exclaims,
"I'm content with my religion." I'm not sure about you guys, but I
have a hard time believing those words when someone hasn't even
attended a certain so called church in years, but some how it is
continuing to satisfy your spiritual appetite... Doesn't make sense to
me. We simply invited them to listen to what we have to offer. We
promised that we could teach them something that they didn't know
before, and we promised them that because of that knowledge, their
lives could potentially be blessed forever. The mom rudely exclaimed,
"You guys couldn't teach me anything." I giggled asked a simple
question that kind of startled her, because she had no idea what the
answer would be. The thing that bugs me already with the Incapace
family is the lack of respect that they show us missionaries and our
members... We will break through that garbage and I can promise you
that. Again we invited them to listen, and for the first time that
evening they showed a slice of humility and accepted. We plan on
teaching them a very powerful and bold Restoration lesson with
powerful testimony on the Prophet Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon.
I'm eager to see what will happen when the Spirit feels their living
room in our next visit.
Saturday Morning we tagged along with the Senior Couple and Nino and
cleaned the church in preparation for our Sunday Meetings. We have
helped clean the church close to every Saturday morning since we
arrived here in Mistretta and I have grown a new appreciation for the
sacredness of the Church Building and just how important it is to have
things organized, clean and ready to go for Sunday. I'm grateful for
the chance we have each week to take care of the little things, in
order to allow the beautiful things to occur without any distraction
on the Sabbath.Saturday evening we went on member splits with Pippo
and Nino. I teamed up with Pippo and Anziano Da Ponte took off with
Nino. Pippo and I visited this little old lady, and I feel horrible
because I cannot remember her name but I will forever remember our
visit for multiple reasons. As Pippo and I were walking over to her
home, he told me her story and the things that she has went through in
her life. She is an older lady, probably in her early 70's and lives
all alone. Her husband has since passed on and she was blessed with
one son and one daughter. Years back, her son was involved in an
accident with some gasoline and ended up passing away due to his
injuries. His passing has deeply hurt this poor mother, and that
crater that opened itself in her heart that day is just as open and
plainly now, as it was all those years ago. As soon as Pippo and I got
inside, she began to cry and she cried several times throughout our
short visit. Pippo is loved here in Mistrtta and is easily the most
respected and trusted person in Mistretta. I've never met one person
that doesn't respect or love Pippo Portera. He has a major impact on
people. This little older lady is a Catholic through and through.
Pictures of the Saints and Crosses cover the walls of her home, but
all those picture and crosses cannot and will not fill that whole in
her heart and soul. It hurt me, to sit in a chair and watch this cute
little lady suffer, cry and struggle with this pain after all these
years. I told my story a little bit and we bonded immediately. I was
able to tell her that we will see our loved ones again, and when we do
we won't have to worry about these pains, worries, doubts and fears
anymore. Instead, when I see my mom and she sees her son again, their
will only be tears of joy and pure joy. I want to return to her home
and teach her the Plan of Salvation, because I know that will give her
the answers to the questions that she has about what happened to her
son, where he is now, and what he is doing. The Plan of Salvation will
help to sow up that broken heart of hers and bring some much needed
peace to her soul. I will never forget that little old lady and just
seeing her severe pain and heartache that she is still enduring
through. On a lighter note, she gave me a chocolate and boy was I in
for a surprise there. The wrapper looked really nice and classy, so I
was excited to scarf it down because I knew it would be delicious. I
opened it up and tossed it into my mouth. When my teeth clamped down,
a liquid that had a little fire to it came rushing out of the now
crushed outer chocolatey layer. This liquid, was pure Vodka. Here in
Italy, they make some chocolates that are filled with alcohol. When I
tossed the chocolate in my mouth, she began to break down and cry. I
was thinking, "Should I ask her if I can spit it out because I don't
drink, but run the high risk of offending her.....Or do I swallow it
down and knowingly break the Word of Wisdom." My mouth was on fire, as
I was holding the Vodka in my closed mouth. My brain began to rush
because from the conversation she was having with Pippo at that time,
I knew that it would soon be my turn to speak and by that time...the
chocolate that I had tossed in my mouth 30 seconds earlier should have
been making its way down into my stomach, vodka included. The problem
was that she was 3 feet from me, facing right towards me and in
tears... I couldn't do anything. I was trapped. I looked on her table,
hoping to find a napkin or paper towel or something and nothing was
there. I thought, "There has to be something in my backpack..." And so
as casually as I possibly could, began looking through my backpack
desperately trying to find something I could spit the candy loaded
with vodka into. To my luck, and this is a miracle from on high, I
found a few tissues in my backpack. By this time, my mouth was melting
due to the alcohol being inside for a minute or so. I put the tissues
together, and acted to blow my nose. Meanwhile I was acting to blow my
nose, and she was bawling....I somehow managed to get the chocolate
and alcohol into the tissues without her noticing. I played it off
like a champion, even though my mouth felt like I just gargled
gasoline. As soon as I finished emptying my mouth of the chocolate
laced with fire water, the conversation immediately got passed onto
me. It was a miracle from on high and something I will never forget.
All in all, it was a visit I will never forget for a number of
different reasons.
Sunday, yesterday, was great. We both gave talks in church. I spoke on
the Godhead and Anziano Da Ponte spoke on the role of the Holy Ghost
in conversion. I feel like our talks went well. Also, we gave a
training to our members on Gifts and Talents and how we can use our
Gifts and Talents to build up the Kingdom of God, after all that is
why we were blessed with our gifts and talents...for not only our
personal benefit and wellbeing, but as well as and probably mores for
others benefit and their wellbeing. The Portera family had us over for
lunch and we had a good lunch break with them full of good laughs and
stories. We ended up not heading down to Sorella Battista's home for
our Sacrament Meeting there because she was not feeling well, so
instead we decided to visit the Incapace family once again with Nino.
It was interesting. It was interesting to see how much they respect us
and how they treat us before the lesson starts, and then to see how
they treat us once we begin the lesson. It is like night and day. They
are a family that speaks nothing but dialect, which is almost
impossible to understand if you are not a native. Anziano Da Ponte
doesn't even understand it and he is Italian for Petes sake. They love
to make fun of me because I don't completely understand what they are
saying, but I just smile and hold the urge to rip them to shreds
inside. Their son, Benedetto, loves to mess around and test our
patients. He is 14 years old and just says things that done need to be
said, meanwhile his mom and sister just laugh....adding more and more
fuel on his little fire. It is tough to bring the spirit into that
home because everything we say, they just contend with...but one thing
that they cannot contend with is our testimonies. As President James
E. Faust once said, "Our testimony is the strongest arrow in our
quiver." I am grateful for my testimony and for the confirmations that
I have received from on High about the divine truthfulness of the Book
of Mormon, the prophet Joseph Smith and Priesthood Authority. Those
confirmations are things that no man on this earth can give me or take
them from me. Those confirmations came from on High. There is an Elder
Neal A. Maxwell quote that says..."Some insist upon studying the
church only through the eyes of its defectors, like interviewing Judas
to understand Jesus." I pray that the Incapace can lower their pride
levels a touch and raise their levels of respect not for us, but for
the message that we will bring.
We received transfer calls Saturday. Here are the Results:
Anziano Da Ponte will be heading up to the Napoli Zone and I will
remain here in Mistretta. Anziano Da Ponte will be moving to senior
companion and I won't find out who my companion is until he arrives at
the train station in Palermo. I'm excited to be staying in Mistretta,
but sad to be parting ways with Anziano Da Ponte. He is a stud and
will surely be missed.
That about wraps us up for this week down here in Sicily. All is well.
Again, I thank you for everything. For the love, for the support and
prayers. I can't say it enough. I hope that all of you have a great,
safe week back home. I hope everyone is and stays healthy. Please be
safe and take care of yourselves. Also, I would like to wish Abbi Jean
a Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday yesterday!! I love you guys!! Have a
great week.
Much love from Italia,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
Daniel 12:13
I hope this email is finding you all healthy and happy. I've heard
that you guys continue to get pounded with snow, while over here it
seems as if the spring had already begun. We had ourselves a good week
out here. This week was a week of learning for me. I feel like I
learned a lot over these past seven days, in many different aspects of
both the mission and life in general. I'm grateful for the learning
opportunities that have been given to me this past week. I pray that
I'll be able to put this things into practice throughout my remaining
time here in Italia, as well as continuing to apply the lessons that
I've learned throughout the rest of my life. I hope you all know that
I love you, and that I am truly grateful for the love, the support,
the strength and the prayers that you send my way. I know that I would
not be able to continue to push forward out here without the love I'm
receiving from back home and as well as from the other side of the
veil. I thank you. I love you.
As I said earlier, we had ourselves a good week and I'm excited to
share with you some of the happenings from this past week. I've been
teaching Anziano Da Ponte how to toss the Football around and he is
picking it up quick. He is a stud and I'm grateful for everything that
he does for me. Tuesday we headed down to Palermo for our last
District Meeting before transfer calls. District Meeting is always
spiritually powerful and a good time because we get to see all of the
other Elders that make up our District. After our District Meeting we
went on Exchanges with our Zone Leaders. Anziano Da Ponte stayed down
in Palermo, while Anziano Joseph Palazzo and I returned back up to the
mountainous Mistretta. Anziano Palazzo is from Texas and will be
heading home in about 6 weeks. He played football at one of the best
high schools in the nation and is thinking about walking on at BYU at
outside linebacker. He loves boating, hunting, sports and just about
everything else that I love... It was a good exchange and surely there
was never a dull moment. Anziano Palazzo is truly one of the greatest
missionaries in our mission. He honestly speaks better Italian than
most Italians speak Italian, but you would never hear that from him.
He is humble, hardworking and just an absolute stud. Tuesday evening
we did some street contacting as well as some house finding. We didn't
see a success there, but we did have some solid conversations with
some nice families. We closed out the evening with a solid Family Home
Evening with the Portera Family. Our topic for the night was
Obedience, and it went really well. There was a strong spirit there
and we all enjoyed one another's company.
Wednesday morning Anziano Palazzo and I planned to go and visit Maria
Grazia. Maria Grazia is an investigator, but we decided to give her
some space for a couple weeks. We planned to teach the Restoration,
but in a way a little more creative than we would usually teach the
lesson. We decided to make our way through the lesson with the help of
some inspired questions. We brought Nino along with us, because Nino
and Maria Grazia have known each other for years and years and years.
Maria Grazia is one of the sweetest ladies that I have ever met, and
shows us nothing but pure respect. Her father passed away around a
year ago, and at this moment she is taking care of her mother. We
showed up and began our lesson right away. The lesson plan went really
well, better than I thought to be honest. The spirit was building,
building and building. We got to Joseph Smith and the spirit was
BOOOOMING in her living room. I could tell that she was acting a
little bit different, and her body language was a tad but different
than what it had been in our previous lessons. Throughout this lesson
she was completely engaged and focused. In my head I was preparing to
throw the baptismal invite, and Anziano Palazzo was thinking the same
thing. We asked Nino to bring his testimony to the table of the
Prophet Joseph Smith. At the close of his testimony, he kind of took
it upon himself to end the lesson there. He closed the lesson with his
testimony, and asked for Maria Grazia to choose who would say the
prayer. I grabbed Anziano Palazzos leg underneath the table, and in my
head I was screaming...."NINO.....I LOVE YOU, BUT PLEWSE SHUT YOUR
MOUTH...." For any of you past missionaries that have been in this
same situation, you kind if know how hard it is to interrupt a members
during a lesson and maintain a good teaching environment... So we let
Nino close the powerful lesson abruptly, and we left. Both Anziano
Palazzo and I were pretty lost for words after the lesson because that
was the last thing that we were expecting to happen. Turns out, Nino
really had to use the bathroom. Immediately after the lesson, Nino
asked us if we could head to his house for a minute. We got to his
house and he went right into the bathroom. Anziano Palazzo and I died
from laughing so hard, as quietly as we possibly could. We didn't want
to hurt his feelings, but it was one of the funniest moments of my
mission. I mean "a mans got to do, what mans got to do" whether that
means jerking the emergency break during the middle of a powerful
lesson or not. Anziano Palazzo and I then caught a train heading back
into Palermo to switch back to our regular companions. It was a
successful exchange. That's for sure.
In Italy it is legal to put advertisements on car windshields or in
people's mailboxes, so Anziano Da Ponte and I have been thinking on
making a little card (about the size of a postcard) and putting a
small, but powerful message about the Restoration on one side, and our
telephone number on the back, Wednesday and Thursday we took a little
bit of time preparing our card. We are going to put a slip of paper in
every mailbox, on every windshield and nearly anywhere else that we
can find. We've heard of missionaries doing this in the past, and we
want to give it a shot. We are hoping for the best and praying to see
some good things come from our efforts there.
Thursday we spent a little bit of time with Dr Enzo. We watched the
restoration video together and had a little discussion about the
Prophet Joseph Smith and The Godhead. I'm not going to lie, the
Restoration video is kind of cheesy in certain areas, but you cannot
deny the powerful spirit that it brings. We weren't over there very
long, but now we feel that Dr Enzo has a little bit better idea about
who the Prophet Joseph Smith is and his sacred and divine role in The
Restoration. Dr Enzo said and I quote, in response to a question..."It
seems that everything depends on if Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God
or not.. If He was, the Book of Mormon is the word of God along with
the bible and your church is true. If He wasn't, the Book of Mormon is
not the word of God and your church is not true." I just replied,
"Exactly." The next lesson (which will be this evening) we will be
teaching the Godhead. I am excited for the lesson this evening and to
see what will happen. Praying for the best. Thursday evening, we met
with the Incapace family. The Incapace family lives close to Nino and
they are friends. The parents, Andrea and Antonella, and the kids,
Pina and Benedetto. They have known the missionaries for a long time
but have never taken the lessons before. We decided that it was time
for them to listen to what we have to offer. The mom tries to bash on
our church, Joseph Smith and the things we believe but it is
completely out of ignorance. I kind of called her out on that a little
bit and got her to listen for a minute or two instead of just trying
to argue with everything we say. They are so called "devote"
Catholics, even though they haven't attended any sort of mass or
worship service related to Catholic Church in years... She exclaims,
"I'm content with my religion." I'm not sure about you guys, but I
have a hard time believing those words when someone hasn't even
attended a certain so called church in years, but some how it is
continuing to satisfy your spiritual appetite... Doesn't make sense to
me. We simply invited them to listen to what we have to offer. We
promised that we could teach them something that they didn't know
before, and we promised them that because of that knowledge, their
lives could potentially be blessed forever. The mom rudely exclaimed,
"You guys couldn't teach me anything." I giggled asked a simple
question that kind of startled her, because she had no idea what the
answer would be. The thing that bugs me already with the Incapace
family is the lack of respect that they show us missionaries and our
members... We will break through that garbage and I can promise you
that. Again we invited them to listen, and for the first time that
evening they showed a slice of humility and accepted. We plan on
teaching them a very powerful and bold Restoration lesson with
powerful testimony on the Prophet Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon.
I'm eager to see what will happen when the Spirit feels their living
room in our next visit.
Saturday Morning we tagged along with the Senior Couple and Nino and
cleaned the church in preparation for our Sunday Meetings. We have
helped clean the church close to every Saturday morning since we
arrived here in Mistretta and I have grown a new appreciation for the
sacredness of the Church Building and just how important it is to have
things organized, clean and ready to go for Sunday. I'm grateful for
the chance we have each week to take care of the little things, in
order to allow the beautiful things to occur without any distraction
on the Sabbath.Saturday evening we went on member splits with Pippo
and Nino. I teamed up with Pippo and Anziano Da Ponte took off with
Nino. Pippo and I visited this little old lady, and I feel horrible
because I cannot remember her name but I will forever remember our
visit for multiple reasons. As Pippo and I were walking over to her
home, he told me her story and the things that she has went through in
her life. She is an older lady, probably in her early 70's and lives
all alone. Her husband has since passed on and she was blessed with
one son and one daughter. Years back, her son was involved in an
accident with some gasoline and ended up passing away due to his
injuries. His passing has deeply hurt this poor mother, and that
crater that opened itself in her heart that day is just as open and
plainly now, as it was all those years ago. As soon as Pippo and I got
inside, she began to cry and she cried several times throughout our
short visit. Pippo is loved here in Mistrtta and is easily the most
respected and trusted person in Mistretta. I've never met one person
that doesn't respect or love Pippo Portera. He has a major impact on
people. This little older lady is a Catholic through and through.
Pictures of the Saints and Crosses cover the walls of her home, but
all those picture and crosses cannot and will not fill that whole in
her heart and soul. It hurt me, to sit in a chair and watch this cute
little lady suffer, cry and struggle with this pain after all these
years. I told my story a little bit and we bonded immediately. I was
able to tell her that we will see our loved ones again, and when we do
we won't have to worry about these pains, worries, doubts and fears
anymore. Instead, when I see my mom and she sees her son again, their
will only be tears of joy and pure joy. I want to return to her home
and teach her the Plan of Salvation, because I know that will give her
the answers to the questions that she has about what happened to her
son, where he is now, and what he is doing. The Plan of Salvation will
help to sow up that broken heart of hers and bring some much needed
peace to her soul. I will never forget that little old lady and just
seeing her severe pain and heartache that she is still enduring
through. On a lighter note, she gave me a chocolate and boy was I in
for a surprise there. The wrapper looked really nice and classy, so I
was excited to scarf it down because I knew it would be delicious. I
opened it up and tossed it into my mouth. When my teeth clamped down,
a liquid that had a little fire to it came rushing out of the now
crushed outer chocolatey layer. This liquid, was pure Vodka. Here in
Italy, they make some chocolates that are filled with alcohol. When I
tossed the chocolate in my mouth, she began to break down and cry. I
was thinking, "Should I ask her if I can spit it out because I don't
drink, but run the high risk of offending her.....Or do I swallow it
down and knowingly break the Word of Wisdom." My mouth was on fire, as
I was holding the Vodka in my closed mouth. My brain began to rush
because from the conversation she was having with Pippo at that time,
I knew that it would soon be my turn to speak and by that time...the
chocolate that I had tossed in my mouth 30 seconds earlier should have
been making its way down into my stomach, vodka included. The problem
was that she was 3 feet from me, facing right towards me and in
tears... I couldn't do anything. I was trapped. I looked on her table,
hoping to find a napkin or paper towel or something and nothing was
there. I thought, "There has to be something in my backpack..." And so
as casually as I possibly could, began looking through my backpack
desperately trying to find something I could spit the candy loaded
with vodka into. To my luck, and this is a miracle from on high, I
found a few tissues in my backpack. By this time, my mouth was melting
due to the alcohol being inside for a minute or so. I put the tissues
together, and acted to blow my nose. Meanwhile I was acting to blow my
nose, and she was bawling....I somehow managed to get the chocolate
and alcohol into the tissues without her noticing. I played it off
like a champion, even though my mouth felt like I just gargled
gasoline. As soon as I finished emptying my mouth of the chocolate
laced with fire water, the conversation immediately got passed onto
me. It was a miracle from on high and something I will never forget.
All in all, it was a visit I will never forget for a number of
different reasons.
Sunday, yesterday, was great. We both gave talks in church. I spoke on
the Godhead and Anziano Da Ponte spoke on the role of the Holy Ghost
in conversion. I feel like our talks went well. Also, we gave a
training to our members on Gifts and Talents and how we can use our
Gifts and Talents to build up the Kingdom of God, after all that is
why we were blessed with our gifts and talents...for not only our
personal benefit and wellbeing, but as well as and probably mores for
others benefit and their wellbeing. The Portera family had us over for
lunch and we had a good lunch break with them full of good laughs and
stories. We ended up not heading down to Sorella Battista's home for
our Sacrament Meeting there because she was not feeling well, so
instead we decided to visit the Incapace family once again with Nino.
It was interesting. It was interesting to see how much they respect us
and how they treat us before the lesson starts, and then to see how
they treat us once we begin the lesson. It is like night and day. They
are a family that speaks nothing but dialect, which is almost
impossible to understand if you are not a native. Anziano Da Ponte
doesn't even understand it and he is Italian for Petes sake. They love
to make fun of me because I don't completely understand what they are
saying, but I just smile and hold the urge to rip them to shreds
inside. Their son, Benedetto, loves to mess around and test our
patients. He is 14 years old and just says things that done need to be
said, meanwhile his mom and sister just laugh....adding more and more
fuel on his little fire. It is tough to bring the spirit into that
home because everything we say, they just contend with...but one thing
that they cannot contend with is our testimonies. As President James
E. Faust once said, "Our testimony is the strongest arrow in our
quiver." I am grateful for my testimony and for the confirmations that
I have received from on High about the divine truthfulness of the Book
of Mormon, the prophet Joseph Smith and Priesthood Authority. Those
confirmations are things that no man on this earth can give me or take
them from me. Those confirmations came from on High. There is an Elder
Neal A. Maxwell quote that says..."Some insist upon studying the
church only through the eyes of its defectors, like interviewing Judas
to understand Jesus." I pray that the Incapace can lower their pride
levels a touch and raise their levels of respect not for us, but for
the message that we will bring.
We received transfer calls Saturday. Here are the Results:
Anziano Da Ponte will be heading up to the Napoli Zone and I will
remain here in Mistretta. Anziano Da Ponte will be moving to senior
companion and I won't find out who my companion is until he arrives at
the train station in Palermo. I'm excited to be staying in Mistretta,
but sad to be parting ways with Anziano Da Ponte. He is a stud and
will surely be missed.
That about wraps us up for this week down here in Sicily. All is well.
Again, I thank you for everything. For the love, for the support and
prayers. I can't say it enough. I hope that all of you have a great,
safe week back home. I hope everyone is and stays healthy. Please be
safe and take care of yourselves. Also, I would like to wish Abbi Jean
a Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday yesterday!! I love you guys!! Have a
great week.
Much love from Italia,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
Daniel 12:13
Sign says... "Victims of the Mafia".
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