Hello!
So this week has been good, we've been finding so many families! And they are so amazing! We taught Rita her first lesson, the Restoration the other day, and she taught half of it to us! She practically is a Mormon, without ever being Baptised or coming to Church! And she has an amazing family! There are 10 of them! We're still working on reaching all of them, but the potential is great! It's interesting how you can work so long without much result, then all of a sudden the work just explodes! We've had to give half of the people we're finding to the Sisters to teach, and we're still struggling to teach all our investigators as much as we'd like, and we're still getting more! I've also noticed how much our success relies on what's going on behind the scenes. When we as a companionship are not getting on, or the balance is wrong, or we're not as obedient as we could be, the work stalls, and nothing happens. But when we're striving our best to be what the Lord wants us to be, even if that means that we are tying one hand behind our back, the work just explodes! It's a real testimony to me of how important it is to the Lord that we do things His way, that it doesn't matter how good WE are, only that we do things the way the Lord wants them to be done. Our skills have no relation to the success of the work. Only that we do things in the true way, the way that the Lord wants us to do them, for the reasons for which the Lord wants us to do them, and the Lord then shovels success onto us. I'm sure this is true in everyday life too. Don't be tempted to do it your way, do it the Lord's way, even if it makes no sense, and I'm confident that the Lord will bless you so much that you won't be able to afford to do it any other way!
I love you all! Anziano Nelson.
Wednesday 28 March 2012
Wednesday 21 March 2012
Hey everyone!
So this week has been rather sad, we've had to say goodbye to a few
really good people. One is Francis, a Ghanian man. He is just so
humble and open. We've been teaching him for a couple of weeks. He
doesn't speak Italian very well, so I've been translating for him at
Church, he is so patient with me as I try to figure out what the
speaker is trying to say, translate it, then have it make sense in
English! He's also been teaching me his language, twe. M'kor! I'm
getting better! He was going to be getting Baptised in two weeks, but
he doesn't have work and so needs to go live with a few friends in
Napoli (Naples I think is the English name? It's south of Rome).
Hopefully the Missionaries there will be able to pick him up again and
get him Baptised! He taught me so much. I taught him a lot of the True
Doctrine, but he taught me how to be like Christ. I'm really grateful
to have known him, he, just like many others, has changed my life
forever.
Sometimes we take the people in our lives for granted. They change us
in ways so profoundly and deeply that we can never be the same again,
yet we barely even recognise their presence in our lives. Everyone I
ever met has influenced me, for good or for bad. Changed me, forged
me. And it's the same for everyone. We all have our Francis' who come
into our lives, sometimes for a long time, others for only a fleeting
glimpse, but in that time they are someone who just changes who we
fundamentally are. It's my hope and prayer that we'll recognise those
people, and thank them for helping us being who we are, and who we
will be in the time to come.
I love you all!
Anziano Nelson
So this week has been rather sad, we've had to say goodbye to a few
really good people. One is Francis, a Ghanian man. He is just so
humble and open. We've been teaching him for a couple of weeks. He
doesn't speak Italian very well, so I've been translating for him at
Church, he is so patient with me as I try to figure out what the
speaker is trying to say, translate it, then have it make sense in
English! He's also been teaching me his language, twe. M'kor! I'm
getting better! He was going to be getting Baptised in two weeks, but
he doesn't have work and so needs to go live with a few friends in
Napoli (Naples I think is the English name? It's south of Rome).
Hopefully the Missionaries there will be able to pick him up again and
get him Baptised! He taught me so much. I taught him a lot of the True
Doctrine, but he taught me how to be like Christ. I'm really grateful
to have known him, he, just like many others, has changed my life
forever.
Sometimes we take the people in our lives for granted. They change us
in ways so profoundly and deeply that we can never be the same again,
yet we barely even recognise their presence in our lives. Everyone I
ever met has influenced me, for good or for bad. Changed me, forged
me. And it's the same for everyone. We all have our Francis' who come
into our lives, sometimes for a long time, others for only a fleeting
glimpse, but in that time they are someone who just changes who we
fundamentally are. It's my hope and prayer that we'll recognise those
people, and thank them for helping us being who we are, and who we
will be in the time to come.
I love you all!
Anziano Nelson
Wednesday 14 March 2012
Hello!
So this week has been an adventure, after an incident with a car, we got to work. While using the chitophono (the device you use to speak to people in apartment blocks), a man didn't get my accent right, and thought I was African, and threatened to call the police, thinking I was a burglar! We left to do another apartment block, and twenty minutes later a man comes up to us, and asks angrily if we were the ones who buzzed him. We spoke for about an hour, he was very apologetic for calling the police on us (apparently he was good on his threat) and now has a good relationship with the Church! I'm not sure why he thought I was African now!
Now, I need to explain a little Italian. When we want to use a word as an adjective, often in Italian we have to add -ale to the end. For example, Settimana means week. If I want to use it to mean a weekly plan, I would say programma settimanale. You may know that male means bad, or badly in Italian, hence MALnutrition, bad nutrition. With one of our Albanian investigators, we made a Baptismal calendar, or calendario battesimale. He read it, and asks, why is it bad? A little confused, we asked what he meant. It says it's bad right there! Reading it I realised what he was reading "calendario battesiMALE"! I had to laugh, then cry when I realised I can't explain Italian grammar in Italian to an Albanian who can't read that well in his own language! However it did teach me the importance of words, and that it's not what you say or write that's important, it's the message received. Our investigator didn't see correct Italian grammar, he saw "bad baptismal calendar". Let us all be careful to always make sure that the person receives the right message and not just send it!
I love you all!
Anziano Nelson
So this week has been an adventure, after an incident with a car, we got to work. While using the chitophono (the device you use to speak to people in apartment blocks), a man didn't get my accent right, and thought I was African, and threatened to call the police, thinking I was a burglar! We left to do another apartment block, and twenty minutes later a man comes up to us, and asks angrily if we were the ones who buzzed him. We spoke for about an hour, he was very apologetic for calling the police on us (apparently he was good on his threat) and now has a good relationship with the Church! I'm not sure why he thought I was African now!
Now, I need to explain a little Italian. When we want to use a word as an adjective, often in Italian we have to add -ale to the end. For example, Settimana means week. If I want to use it to mean a weekly plan, I would say programma settimanale. You may know that male means bad, or badly in Italian, hence MALnutrition, bad nutrition. With one of our Albanian investigators, we made a Baptismal calendar, or calendario battesimale. He read it, and asks, why is it bad? A little confused, we asked what he meant. It says it's bad right there! Reading it I realised what he was reading "calendario battesiMALE"! I had to laugh, then cry when I realised I can't explain Italian grammar in Italian to an Albanian who can't read that well in his own language! However it did teach me the importance of words, and that it's not what you say or write that's important, it's the message received. Our investigator didn't see correct Italian grammar, he saw "bad baptismal calendar". Let us all be careful to always make sure that the person receives the right message and not just send it!
I love you all!
Anziano Nelson
Thursday 8 March 2012
Hello!
So this week has been the start of the new transfer in Reggio! We've been busy coming up with what we want to do in this transfer, and how we can help the people of Reggio nell'Emilia! Something that came up in training yesterday was that "without vision, the people perish", and it's true! We're being very simple and very specific in what we wish to achieve this transfer! What's even better we have specific names! It'll be hard work, but I'm excited for the opportunity to help these people! One of our goals was the number of the lessons we would teach each week. In District meeting we had the Zone Leader's over to explain the Zone Vision as well. As each Companionship got up to share their Vision, it was obvious that there was one thing in common, that we each individually had come up with 20 lessons a week! Then the Zone Leaders told us that the Zone Vision was exactly the same! Obviously the Spirit of the Lord felt very strongly about this one aspect for this transfer!
Visions are so important, visions for the day, the week, the month, and so forth. Without them we are just wandering like a ship with a rudder. I hope you each have visions for what you wish to achieve, even if it's not as detailed and extensive as Missionary visions are, and and don't forget to be specific!
Love Anziano Nelson.
So this week has been the start of the new transfer in Reggio! We've been busy coming up with what we want to do in this transfer, and how we can help the people of Reggio nell'Emilia! Something that came up in training yesterday was that "without vision, the people perish", and it's true! We're being very simple and very specific in what we wish to achieve this transfer! What's even better we have specific names! It'll be hard work, but I'm excited for the opportunity to help these people! One of our goals was the number of the lessons we would teach each week. In District meeting we had the Zone Leader's over to explain the Zone Vision as well. As each Companionship got up to share their Vision, it was obvious that there was one thing in common, that we each individually had come up with 20 lessons a week! Then the Zone Leaders told us that the Zone Vision was exactly the same! Obviously the Spirit of the Lord felt very strongly about this one aspect for this transfer!
Visions are so important, visions for the day, the week, the month, and so forth. Without them we are just wandering like a ship with a rudder. I hope you each have visions for what you wish to achieve, even if it's not as detailed and extensive as Missionary visions are, and and don't forget to be specific!
Love Anziano Nelson.
Thursday 1 March 2012
Hello everyone!
So this week has been great! This transfer we've been struggling as a District to hit 20 lessons a week, the Reggio Sisters have been getting about 14 lessons a week, we've been getting about 12, and Piacenza has been getting about 9. We decided for our last week together as a District, that we would each get twenty lessons. By Friday it looked dim, we had so many cancellations, that we only had 12 lessons taught in 5 days, two days left, and none planned. Then we went out and did Saturday, we got up to 15. Sunday we were determined to get the last 5 lessons, even though we only had 2 planned plus half the day taken up by Church and related activties. Well after some miracles of investigators coming up to us with their problems, we ended the week with a total of 21 lessons for our companionship! The Sisters taught 20, but unfortunately Piacenza "only" taught 18, but that is double what they taught the previous week, so we were happy for them!
Just remember you can achieve anything when you have the Lord on your side!
Love, Anziano Nelson
So this week has been great! This transfer we've been struggling as a District to hit 20 lessons a week, the Reggio Sisters have been getting about 14 lessons a week, we've been getting about 12, and Piacenza has been getting about 9. We decided for our last week together as a District, that we would each get twenty lessons. By Friday it looked dim, we had so many cancellations, that we only had 12 lessons taught in 5 days, two days left, and none planned. Then we went out and did Saturday, we got up to 15. Sunday we were determined to get the last 5 lessons, even though we only had 2 planned plus half the day taken up by Church and related activties. Well after some miracles of investigators coming up to us with their problems, we ended the week with a total of 21 lessons for our companionship! The Sisters taught 20, but unfortunately Piacenza "only" taught 18, but that is double what they taught the previous week, so we were happy for them!
Just remember you can achieve anything when you have the Lord on your side!
Love, Anziano Nelson
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