Feb08
February 8th, 2016 // #6 of 2016
Good Morning Everyone!!
Well here we are already two weeks into February and yet another week
has come and gone. I am grateful to have some more time here in
Mistretta with Nino, The Wardles, Sorella Battista and as well as the
Portera Family. These people are incredible, and make being away from
home much easier on us missionaries. They kind of take us in like
their own, and I'm grateful for them and for the beautiful city of
Mistretta. I'm blessed and thankful for the opportunity to serve
amongst these Italian people. I hope you all are doing really good back
home. I hope you all had a great week and I hope that everyone is
staying healthy. I hear that it is continuing to snow, and snow and
snow back home... That's pretty neat. Must be making up for the lack
of snow last year. Everything is well out here. The weather has been
warm and it has also been cold. Some days feel like spring, while
others feel like the middle of winter. Here is what happened this past
week out here in the mountains.
Monday, like always, we had our P-Day. It was kind of a strange P-Day
because we spent the first couple hours at home, while Anziano Da
Ponte was packing his bags. He got all packed up and ready to head on
to his next area. We headed over to the church and emailed everyone
back home. After we finished P-Day, we planned on heading over to see
Dr. Enzo with Pippo Portera. We planned to teach Dr. Enzo about the
true doctrine of the Godhead. We got over to his house and he was busy
fixing his daughters computer, which caught a pretty nasty virus.
Because of the virus and him being forced to fix the problem, we were
unable to have our lesson with him. Anziano Da Ponte said his goodbyes
and we headed out to our next appointment. While we were with Dr.
Enzo, the thought came to my mind that Satan is truly working so hard
on him. He is doing everything he possibly can, to keep up from
teaching him; whether that be sending a virus to his daughters
computer or a virus to his belly...Satan is really working against us
with him. We met with the Bartalota's so Anziano Da Ponte could also
say goodbye to them. For some reason we talked a lot about dogs and
house pets. The Bartalota's are definitely cat people. They have
always had a cat in the house. Personally, I'm not a major fan of
cats... It was one of the stranger conversations I've had in the
mission field, but the Bartalota's enjoyed it and that's all that
matters. Anziano Da Ponte said his goodbyes, while I said my see ya
laters and we rushed over to our last appointment for the evening.
Vito (Nino's older brother. The one that fed us a few weeks ago and
the fur/hair hadn't been properly removed...yeah that Vito.) invited
us over once again for another dinner because Anziano Da Ponte was
transferred. Last Sunday, he promised us lamb but we were in for
another treat when we arrived last Monday evening. Instead of lamb, we
ate some good ole Bugs Bunny (Rabbit) and potatoes. I was lucky enough
to get the spine and the rib part of the Rabbit, but lucky enough for
us all....there was no fur/hair. It was one of the strangest meals
I've had, but now I can say that I've eaten rabbit. Vito loves, and I
mean loves, to talk and tell stories. Let's just say that he kept us
there for close to two and a half hours, and I honestly said five
words..."Thank You," "Amen," and "Good Evening." Vito is a very
interesting character, but all in all a pretty good guy. It was very
nice of him to invite us over, but goodness gracious he can sure carry
on a conversation.
Tuesday we met with as many people as possible, to give Anziano Da
Ponte the chance to say goodbye to everyone. We met with Maria (Nino's
Sister), Maria Grazia and a little old man named Salvatore. Maria was
very excited to see us, and welcomed us in warmly. She seemed and
acted very different Tuesday morning, than she has acted with us in
our past few meetings. She seemed much happier, and I am glad that she
is much happier. I am hoping that she has begun to seriously study the
scriptures and also to sincerely pray. Those things may seem small,
but they make all of the difference. She invited us to stay for lunch,
but unfortunately we didn't have time. Afterwards we headed over and
visited with Maria Grazia. Maria Grazia is always so nice and
respectful to us missionaries. She was sad to hear that Anziano Da
Ponte would be leaving, but happy that at least one of us would be
staying. We also visited a little old man named Salvatore. Anziano Da
Ponte met Salvatore while we were doing our Member Exchanges a few
weeks ago. Salvatore is close to 70 years old, and has substantial eye
sight and hearing loss. Poor fella. We visited with him a little bit
and practically had to shout every time we talked. We taught him the
Restoration and he loved what we were teaching. He is Catholic, but
believes the catholic religion is not true. He is pretty old, and
doesn't have a lot of desire to change or find the truth...but he is
willing to listen and really enjoys the good company. We finished up
Tuesday at the Wardles home. They cooked dinner for us, Nino and
Antonio Bartalota. We ate a really nice dinner and enjoyed one
another's company. Nino and Antonio told some stories and we all had a
great time together. Tough to beat a good night with good food and
good people.
Not a whole ton happened Wednesday. We were down in Palermo for the
final District Meeting of the transfer. We helped incoming
missionaries from our zone get settled in and ready to go for Transfer
Day which is on Thursday. Thursday was a crazy day. We were up at 5,
out the door at 5:30 packing bags, dragging luggage and sprinting to
the bus and train station so missionaries wouldn't miss them. It was a
wild morning to be honest. I was dead tired, but it was good to say
goodbye to some of my friends from the Zone. I spent the day, while
waiting for my companion to arrive from Rome, in Bagheria with Anziano
Cleveland. We cleaned up the Bagheria apartment and got everything
ready to go for the new elder coming into Bagheria to be Anziano
Cleveland's companion. Safe to say that we had the Bagheria Apartment
squeaky, squeaky clean and ready to go! Our companions got into the
train station in Palermo at 7 PM. Before they arrived, we went to a
tie shop close to the train station and I picked up an Italian tie for
my new companion. They got in just after 7 and we jumped right back on
another train that left at 7:06 heading back to Mistretta. My new
companions name is Elder Morgan Dunn and he comes from Springville,
Utah. He just barely started his mission and this is his first
transfer here in Italia. He is a stud and has such a big sincere desire to
become better and to become a solid missionary. He is hilarious as
well and our personalities match up super well. He is a really
outgoing kind of guy and literally had no fear. I'm blessed to have
Anziano Dunn as a companion. Truly blessed. We are going to work very
well together and see good things happen here in Mistretta.
Friday we took care of our planning for the following week and we both
got pretty excited for the work that we have here in Mistretta.
Anziano Dunn is full of energy and brings a lot to the table in every
phase of our missionary work. We did some door knocking in the
afternoon, and we received a lot of "No's." In fact, we only received
"No's" and I could tell that Anziano Morgan was getting discouraged.
He would ask, "Did I do something wrong?" I would reply, "No Buddy!
You did nothing wrong. Let's keep moving forward." Sadly we couldn't
schedule any lessons on the weekend and so he didn't have the
opportunity to teach someone yet, but he will sure have plenty of
opportunities to teach this week.Friday evening we headed on down to
Sorella Battista's home for our weekly Family Home Evening. We are
like Kings, Anziano Dunn did a great job with her spiritual though and
we played a few games of the classic Uno card game. Sorella Battista
is a fiery little old lady and cracks me up. She is a wonderful member
of the church and is always searching to help others.
Saturday was a good day. In the morning I began preparing Anziano
Dunn's documents, so he legally be able to live here in Italia was
pretty stressful to say the least. We got it all taken care of and all
is well now. Thank heavens. We also went over to help Nino cook. We
cooked up some Meatballs and some other things that he made with eggs.
It was a lot of fun and it means the world to Nino that we chose to go
over there and help him out for a little bit. He was so thankful and
just laughing the whole time. He cracks me up. Afterwards I took
Anziano Dunn over to meet the Portera family because they were dying
to see who the new elder was. They were so excited and instantly they
liked Anziano Dunn. We toppedSaturday off by studying with Nino in
preparation for his lesson Sunday. He was so grateful for again and
he always appreciates our assistance. Little does he know that he is
the one that is actually helping us and blessing our lives. I'm going
to miss little ole Nino one day. Hopefully I'll just stay in Mistretta
for the rest of my mission.. Hopefully!!
Sunday was the highlight of the week. Sunday has become my favorite
day in the Mission field. There is nothing quite like the peaceful
feeling on a Sunday morning. There are hardly any cars outside, it is
quiet, people stay inside for the most part and everything is just
calm. Our fast and testimony meeting here was so powerful. We only
have 14 members, including four missionaries, but the members are each
so powerful. Anziano Dunn stepped up and bore his first testimony in
Italian like a champion and I followed him up with some scriptures
from the Doctrine and Covenants. What happened afterwards was
unexpected. A member, Antonioni Bartalota, stood up and thanked me for
my happy, joyful attitude. He said, "His attitude radiates. He lifts
everyone around him. I love you Anziano Nessen." He returned to his
seat, which was right next to mine and he gave me a hug. I love that
guy. The next member, Costanza Purpari ( the niece of Nino ) and she
also thanked me for my attitude and my smile. She said, "I can see him
having a show on television one day in the future" and everyone
started laughing and agreed. I most certainly did not deserve those
compliments and those shouts outs if you will, but it was definitely a
tender mercy from the Lord. Sometimes we feel a little inadequate, a
little run down and a little tired....but if we are trying our best,
if we are obedient and searching to constantly lift those around
us...Heavenly Father will lift us Himself, and usually He lifts us
through the actions, words and deeds of others. I'm grateful for that
tender mercy from the Lord. Here in Mistretta we do something every
fast Sunday and I love it. Every fast Sunday immediately after church,
everyone from the branch brings a food assignment and we all each
together as a branch. This meal brings us together so close. Everyone
is always happy, always content and everyone is constantly laughing.
It will surely be one of the things that I miss when my time is up
here in Mistretta...but until that point, I am going to live the dream
here in the Sicilian Mountains.
That about wraps up my week over here in Italia. Another week has
officially bitten the dust and we are making our way through February.
I hope you all had a wonderful Super Bowl Sunday all together. Sadly
the Broncos and Peyton Manning pulled out the Win. Fun Fact, they did
not air the super bowl on tv here in Sicily and I am not sure if they
did on the Mainland either. Happily I can say that I will never miss
another Super Bowl away from the Fam. I hope you all have a Happy
Valentines Day coming up nest Sunday and I hope that everything goes
well for each of you back home. I love you all so much. I am grateful
for each of you and for the ways that you all have effected my life
for the better. Life is good. The mission is good. I love you all.
Much Love from Italia,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
Italy Rome Mission
Romans 1:15-16
Well here we are already two weeks into February and yet another week
has come and gone. I am grateful to have some more time here in
Mistretta with Nino, The Wardles, Sorella Battista and as well as the
Portera Family. These people are incredible, and make being away from
home much easier on us missionaries. They kind of take us in like
their own, and I'm grateful for them and for the beautiful city of
Mistretta. I'm blessed and thankful for the opportunity to serve
amongst these Italian people. I hope you all are doing really good back
home. I hope you all had a great week and I hope that everyone is
staying healthy. I hear that it is continuing to snow, and snow and
snow back home... That's pretty neat. Must be making up for the lack
of snow last year. Everything is well out here. The weather has been
warm and it has also been cold. Some days feel like spring, while
others feel like the middle of winter. Here is what happened this past
week out here in the mountains.
Monday, like always, we had our P-Day. It was kind of a strange P-Day
because we spent the first couple hours at home, while Anziano Da
Ponte was packing his bags. He got all packed up and ready to head on
to his next area. We headed over to the church and emailed everyone
back home. After we finished P-Day, we planned on heading over to see
Dr. Enzo with Pippo Portera. We planned to teach Dr. Enzo about the
true doctrine of the Godhead. We got over to his house and he was busy
fixing his daughters computer, which caught a pretty nasty virus.
Because of the virus and him being forced to fix the problem, we were
unable to have our lesson with him. Anziano Da Ponte said his goodbyes
and we headed out to our next appointment. While we were with Dr.
Enzo, the thought came to my mind that Satan is truly working so hard
on him. He is doing everything he possibly can, to keep up from
teaching him; whether that be sending a virus to his daughters
computer or a virus to his belly...Satan is really working against us
with him. We met with the Bartalota's so Anziano Da Ponte could also
say goodbye to them. For some reason we talked a lot about dogs and
house pets. The Bartalota's are definitely cat people. They have
always had a cat in the house. Personally, I'm not a major fan of
cats... It was one of the stranger conversations I've had in the
mission field, but the Bartalota's enjoyed it and that's all that
matters. Anziano Da Ponte said his goodbyes, while I said my see ya
laters and we rushed over to our last appointment for the evening.
Vito (Nino's older brother. The one that fed us a few weeks ago and
the fur/hair hadn't been properly removed...yeah that Vito.) invited
us over once again for another dinner because Anziano Da Ponte was
transferred. Last Sunday, he promised us lamb but we were in for
another treat when we arrived last Monday evening. Instead of lamb, we
ate some good ole Bugs Bunny (Rabbit) and potatoes. I was lucky enough
to get the spine and the rib part of the Rabbit, but lucky enough for
us all....there was no fur/hair. It was one of the strangest meals
I've had, but now I can say that I've eaten rabbit. Vito loves, and I
mean loves, to talk and tell stories. Let's just say that he kept us
there for close to two and a half hours, and I honestly said five
words..."Thank You," "Amen," and "Good Evening." Vito is a very
interesting character, but all in all a pretty good guy. It was very
nice of him to invite us over, but goodness gracious he can sure carry
on a conversation.
Tuesday we met with as many people as possible, to give Anziano Da
Ponte the chance to say goodbye to everyone. We met with Maria (Nino's
Sister), Maria Grazia and a little old man named Salvatore. Maria was
very excited to see us, and welcomed us in warmly. She seemed and
acted very different Tuesday morning, than she has acted with us in
our past few meetings. She seemed much happier, and I am glad that she
is much happier. I am hoping that she has begun to seriously study the
scriptures and also to sincerely pray. Those things may seem small,
but they make all of the difference. She invited us to stay for lunch,
but unfortunately we didn't have time. Afterwards we headed over and
visited with Maria Grazia. Maria Grazia is always so nice and
respectful to us missionaries. She was sad to hear that Anziano Da
Ponte would be leaving, but happy that at least one of us would be
staying. We also visited a little old man named Salvatore. Anziano Da
Ponte met Salvatore while we were doing our Member Exchanges a few
weeks ago. Salvatore is close to 70 years old, and has substantial eye
sight and hearing loss. Poor fella. We visited with him a little bit
and practically had to shout every time we talked. We taught him the
Restoration and he loved what we were teaching. He is Catholic, but
believes the catholic religion is not true. He is pretty old, and
doesn't have a lot of desire to change or find the truth...but he is
willing to listen and really enjoys the good company. We finished up
Tuesday at the Wardles home. They cooked dinner for us, Nino and
Antonio Bartalota. We ate a really nice dinner and enjoyed one
another's company. Nino and Antonio told some stories and we all had a
great time together. Tough to beat a good night with good food and
good people.
Not a whole ton happened Wednesday. We were down in Palermo for the
final District Meeting of the transfer. We helped incoming
missionaries from our zone get settled in and ready to go for Transfer
Day which is on Thursday. Thursday was a crazy day. We were up at 5,
out the door at 5:30 packing bags, dragging luggage and sprinting to
the bus and train station so missionaries wouldn't miss them. It was a
wild morning to be honest. I was dead tired, but it was good to say
goodbye to some of my friends from the Zone. I spent the day, while
waiting for my companion to arrive from Rome, in Bagheria with Anziano
Cleveland. We cleaned up the Bagheria apartment and got everything
ready to go for the new elder coming into Bagheria to be Anziano
Cleveland's companion. Safe to say that we had the Bagheria Apartment
squeaky, squeaky clean and ready to go! Our companions got into the
train station in Palermo at 7 PM. Before they arrived, we went to a
tie shop close to the train station and I picked up an Italian tie for
my new companion. They got in just after 7 and we jumped right back on
another train that left at 7:06 heading back to Mistretta. My new
companions name is Elder Morgan Dunn and he comes from Springville,
Utah. He just barely started his mission and this is his first
transfer here in Italia. He is a stud and has such a big sincere desire to
become better and to become a solid missionary. He is hilarious as
well and our personalities match up super well. He is a really
outgoing kind of guy and literally had no fear. I'm blessed to have
Anziano Dunn as a companion. Truly blessed. We are going to work very
well together and see good things happen here in Mistretta.
Friday we took care of our planning for the following week and we both
got pretty excited for the work that we have here in Mistretta.
Anziano Dunn is full of energy and brings a lot to the table in every
phase of our missionary work. We did some door knocking in the
afternoon, and we received a lot of "No's." In fact, we only received
"No's" and I could tell that Anziano Morgan was getting discouraged.
He would ask, "Did I do something wrong?" I would reply, "No Buddy!
You did nothing wrong. Let's keep moving forward." Sadly we couldn't
schedule any lessons on the weekend and so he didn't have the
opportunity to teach someone yet, but he will sure have plenty of
opportunities to teach this week.Friday evening we headed on down to
Sorella Battista's home for our weekly Family Home Evening. We are
like Kings, Anziano Dunn did a great job with her spiritual though and
we played a few games of the classic Uno card game. Sorella Battista
is a fiery little old lady and cracks me up. She is a wonderful member
of the church and is always searching to help others.
Saturday was a good day. In the morning I began preparing Anziano
Dunn's documents, so he legally be able to live here in Italia was
pretty stressful to say the least. We got it all taken care of and all
is well now. Thank heavens. We also went over to help Nino cook. We
cooked up some Meatballs and some other things that he made with eggs.
It was a lot of fun and it means the world to Nino that we chose to go
over there and help him out for a little bit. He was so thankful and
just laughing the whole time. He cracks me up. Afterwards I took
Anziano Dunn over to meet the Portera family because they were dying
to see who the new elder was. They were so excited and instantly they
liked Anziano Dunn. We toppedSaturday off by studying with Nino in
preparation for his lesson Sunday. He was so grateful for again and
he always appreciates our assistance. Little does he know that he is
the one that is actually helping us and blessing our lives. I'm going
to miss little ole Nino one day. Hopefully I'll just stay in Mistretta
for the rest of my mission.. Hopefully!!
Sunday was the highlight of the week. Sunday has become my favorite
day in the Mission field. There is nothing quite like the peaceful
feeling on a Sunday morning. There are hardly any cars outside, it is
quiet, people stay inside for the most part and everything is just
calm. Our fast and testimony meeting here was so powerful. We only
have 14 members, including four missionaries, but the members are each
so powerful. Anziano Dunn stepped up and bore his first testimony in
Italian like a champion and I followed him up with some scriptures
from the Doctrine and Covenants. What happened afterwards was
unexpected. A member, Antonioni Bartalota, stood up and thanked me for
my happy, joyful attitude. He said, "His attitude radiates. He lifts
everyone around him. I love you Anziano Nessen." He returned to his
seat, which was right next to mine and he gave me a hug. I love that
guy. The next member, Costanza Purpari ( the niece of Nino ) and she
also thanked me for my attitude and my smile. She said, "I can see him
having a show on television one day in the future" and everyone
started laughing and agreed. I most certainly did not deserve those
compliments and those shouts outs if you will, but it was definitely a
tender mercy from the Lord. Sometimes we feel a little inadequate, a
little run down and a little tired....but if we are trying our best,
if we are obedient and searching to constantly lift those around
us...Heavenly Father will lift us Himself, and usually He lifts us
through the actions, words and deeds of others. I'm grateful for that
tender mercy from the Lord. Here in Mistretta we do something every
fast Sunday and I love it. Every fast Sunday immediately after church,
everyone from the branch brings a food assignment and we all each
together as a branch. This meal brings us together so close. Everyone
is always happy, always content and everyone is constantly laughing.
It will surely be one of the things that I miss when my time is up
here in Mistretta...but until that point, I am going to live the dream
here in the Sicilian Mountains.
That about wraps up my week over here in Italia. Another week has
officially bitten the dust and we are making our way through February.
I hope you all had a wonderful Super Bowl Sunday all together. Sadly
the Broncos and Peyton Manning pulled out the Win. Fun Fact, they did
not air the super bowl on tv here in Sicily and I am not sure if they
did on the Mainland either. Happily I can say that I will never miss
another Super Bowl away from the Fam. I hope you all have a Happy
Valentines Day coming up nest Sunday and I hope that everything goes
well for each of you back home. I love you all so much. I am grateful
for each of you and for the ways that you all have effected my life
for the better. Life is good. The mission is good. I love you all.
Much Love from Italia,
Anziano JarDee Nessen
Italy Rome Mission
Romans 1:15-16
One last picture of our District before Transfers!
Cooking with Nino!
--Anziano Dunn (my son in the mission)
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