Buon Natale! (Merry Christmas)                              December 23, 2013

 Okay, this week will be really short!  It was a great week!  Especially because yesterday at church we had our Christmas sacrament meeting and one of our investigators got his baptismal interview done and will now be baptized shortly!!  Then after church we went to a south American ladies house to eat and it was incredible!!  

     This past week we also had zone conference and it was cool, crazy because one of my friends here finished the mission this week, so that was weird! haha  It was a different zone conference as well because we were in charge of the whole thing!

     This week I also had the pleasure of working on getting my permesso di sorgiorno, so that was fun!  Also had some pretty cool miracles this week, when we would just be walking down the road and have somebody run up to us and ask us for bibles!  Remind me to tell you that story on Thursday! haha

     We got to finally visit a member (Fratello Tang) who is awesome and made us Chinese food, he also lives in the nicest part of Napoli with a private beach! Wish we could use it! haha Since Christmas is coming up we have been seeing a lot of members and have quite a few investigators progressing towards baptism so that is awesome!!!

     And today for P day all we have done is gone caroling at a Catholic church, and I got the chance to teach the whole Restoration to a Priest there, so that was fun!  Love ya'll a ton and hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!

Love,

                  Anziano Bird

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!                               December 17,2013


Hey everybody!!

     First off, Merry week before Christmas!!!! This time of year is just incredible!!  Sorry I didn't email yesterday, our p day was moved for a conference.  Monday, we had p day and one of my good friends goes home soon s o we were doing as many "Italy things" as possible, then we went to see Fratello Di Orio, who is about 85ish and just the coolest guy ever, he has stories for days!

      Tuesday we had ddm, then lunch with Sorella Cozzi, who is another older member, and we got to give her a blessing because she had an operation recently so that was cool.  And afterwards we had English course.  Wednesday morning we spent all morning at the questura trying to do my fingerprinting for my permesso di sorgiorno, and since we are here on religious purposes, we waited with all the Catholic nuns and priests, for about 2 hours, had some really fun conversations!! haha  We then went out to see our investigator Samuel, who had a baptismal date, and we went out and found out he had just went to the hospital, but will be out soon.

     Thursday morning we helped a family move in Pozzuoli, then right after we had a lesson with Sunday in church.  And we also had time to go see the Lamagna family before English course.  Friday was a funny day, we had 3 people ditch out on our lessons, but all of them showed up to the Christmas party that night!!  It was awesome and everyone had a super great time!!  We all ate so much lasagna and mozzerella di bufala!!  And the Americans brought the desert!! yea!!

     Saturday was a travel day!  We were in the northern most part of the zone at coordination with the branch mission leader, and got a call from our branch president that said the stake president from Rome need you down in Napoli in 3 hours, and so we sprinted out to the bus stop and headed down and barely got there in time!  Turned out he just wanted to give us something for church on Sunday, but he remembered me from Rome and said he has a sweet picture of Elder Ballard and I, so he is going to send it to me! 

     And that night we went and taught Rita and her family, and of course they fed us!  It was awesome!  Sunday was church and the Christmas devotional and setting up and planning out the conference we had yesterday.  It was specialized training meeting and it was all planned by us and went super well and we had a secret Santa and it was a ton of fun!!  Hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit!  Love y'all a ton!!

Anziano Bird

     

December 9, 2103

Hey family!! So I have some time today, so I promise to make this email more interesting!! Last Monday. For p-day we really didn't do anything special, but that night we had a member appointment with an American family, the Wards. They are super awesome, and they made us Cafe Rio for dinner!! They have a little adopted black baby who is 3, made me kinda miss being around little kids!! Kinda.... haha Tuesday we had District Meeting in Napoli in the morning, and decided since we were there, for lunch we would get the best pizza on the planet, it was incredible. That evening before English course we taught Fidellio. Who we thought was just super golden, but we found out he is in it for the wrong reasons, so we are going to do our best with him, but it was a little bit of a let down. It is just hard when people know it is true but don't want to act on it. Wednesday morning we met with Sunday, he is one of our investigators from Africa. He is doing super well and wants to be baptized but doesn't have electricity, so this week we are going to buy him a head lamp so he can read the Book of Mormon at his house. We then had lunch with Sorella Tempesta who is the sweetest old lady ever!!! And she invited one of her friends to lunch so we were able to share a message with him as well. And that night we went to see some members that live out in Mondragone which for us by bus takes 2 hours!! But nobody else goes and sees them so it was a really good experience because they were so happy to see the missionaries out there again! Thursday we went out to see Samuel, he is also from Ghana and is super awesome. And we took Evans with us who is a member and just lays it all out there, so it was a really fun lesson, and then we had English course. Friday we had to translate for seminary and institute, and while we were there they got us to help set up the tree in the church, mostly because they couldn't reach the top! Then we went to a member families house, the Esposito family. And they are super cool, she drives out every day to churches in the area and goes through their records doing genealogy work! Saturday morning we met with a man who was a member referral, he is super super prepared and was so fun to teach, but we found out he might not live in our area so we with probably have to pass him on, but it was cool. And then we caught that same long bus, but only went out halfway to teach Samuel again. He is really wanting to get baptized this month, so we are hoping and praying for that! Yesterday we had church and coordination with our branch mission leader, and that is always fun because he is a super wise guy! I love y'all a ton and hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit, we have started a tradition of reading one story from Christ's life every day so we can always remember why we celebrate Christmas. I love y'all soooo much and hope everyone has a good week!! vi voglio bene, Anziano Bird

December!!        12-2-13   



  So I know I say the same thing every week, but I don't have a lot of time so just a quick rundown!!  Monday, we met with Rita and her family, she is a member, and when we got over there we realized we left our house keys in the house.  So her husband, a police officer, and us tried breaking into our house for a while, until we realized another member had an extra set of keys! haha

     Tuesday and Wednesday were normal, we met with members and investigators, we had a super crazy lesson with our branch president and Fidellio, they just argued the whole time, it was fun! haha  Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner with the Voelker family, Americans!!  It was incredible and we had a ton of fun!!  Friday and Saturday were pretty normal, our investigators are doing awesome and everything is super good, love y'all!!

Love,

             Anziano Bird

November 25, 2013

Hey everybody!      So this week I have to be brief.  Monday was p-day, and we didn't do anything really exciting.  And in the evening we had to translate institute which took forever! Tuesday not a lot happened either.  Taught a couple of lessons and had English course.  Wednesday we had a super awesome day planned and we ended up having like 4 people ditch out on us, but we went over to a part member family in the evening (Rita and her family) and they are about the coolest people ever and it was super fun and we had a super good lesson.  The only downside was the tripe we had to eat! haha      Thursday was a bunch of finding and pass backs to some guys who own a bar who always give us free stuff!  Then we had a lesson and English course.  Friday morning we went with the sorelle because they wanted us to teach a guy for them, but he didn't show, so we did finding until a lunch appointment with one of the older ladies in our ward.  And it was awesome because she invited a friend and the friend really wanted to get a blessing and we were able to do that.        Then we had a member scheduled to pick us up and take us to the church but they misunderstood and brought too many people in the car and we didn't have room! haha So we missed a lesson because the metro here takes a really long time.... And after that Anziano Malan and I headed down to Battipaglia for scambi.  It was a super fun day and in the evening we got to go to Salerno and teach the most prepared man ever!  It was a great experience.  And that night we came back up to Pozzuoli.       Then Sunday was normal, a lot of translating and we had a stake priesthood meeting which was awesome, then coordination with our branch mission leader, who lives really far away, so we had to ride the famous M1B bus home! haha  Today we went with the Sorelle and an American lady (sister Trimble) in our branch to the Amalfi coast, it was incredible!!  So we spent most of the day there and it was a ton of fun!  Nice to have super awesome members that do stuff like that for you!  Love y'all and hope your week is incredible! vi voglio bene,        Anziano Bird

Hey everybody!

Thanksgiving Week   November 18,2013

     

So this week I have to be brief.  Monday was pday, and we didn't do anything really exciting.  And in the evening we had to translate institute which took forever! Tuesday not a lot happened either.  Taught a couple of lessons and had English course.  Wednesday we had a super awesome day planned and we ended up having like 4 people ditch out on us, but we went over to a part member family in the evening (Rita and her family) and they are about the coolest people ever and it was super fun and we had a super good lesson.  The only downside was the tripe we had to eat! haha

     Thursday was a bunch of finding and pass backs to some guys who own a bar who always give us free stuff!  Then we had a lesson and English course.  Friday morning we went with the sorelle because they wanted us to teach a guy for them, but he didn't show, so we did finding until a lunch appointment with one of the older ladies in our ward.  And it was awesome because she invited a friend and the friend really wanted to get a blessing and we were able to do that.  

     Then we had a member scheduled to pick us up and take us to the church but they misunderstood and brought too many people in the car and we didn't have room! haha So we missed a lesson because the metro here takes a really long time.... And after that Anziano Malan and I headed down to Battipaglia for scambi.  It was a super fun day and in the evening we got to go to Salerno and teach the most prepared man ever!  It was a great experience.  And that night we came back up to Pozzuoli.

      Then Sunday was normal, a lot of translating and we had a stake priesthood meeting which was awesome, then cordination with our branch mission leader, who lives really far away, so we had to ride the famous M1B bus home! haha  Today we went with the Sorelle and an American lady (sister Trimble) in our branch to the Amalfi coast, it was incredible!!  So we spent most of the day there and it was a ton of fun!  Nice to have super awesome members that do stuff like that for you!  Love y'all and hope your week is incredible!

vi voglio bene,

       Anziano Bird

11-11-13

Hey family!

     Okay, so I am still loving it here in Pozzuoli, it is super awesome!  We actually live in Napoli in an area called Fuori Grotta, and it is where the Napoli soccer stadium is, it is actually a 5 min. walk from our house, and they are very good and their fans are very crazy!!  Needless to say about every other night when we go to bed it is very loud!!

     Monday night we went to the Lamagna families house and had a sweet family home evening with them, and talked about ways we can share the Gospel with our friends, they fed us a ton of cookies.  Tuesday we had our district meeting, but nobody had keys to the church in Napoli so we used an investigators house! haha She was working but just gave us the keys!!  Then we went over to Sorella Cozzi's house for lunch, and it was Delicious, a lot of food, but really good!  And that night we had english course.

     Wednesday, all morning we had finding, and had to eat lunch really fast because we had to catch a bus to go out to Mondragone (which is like half way to Rome!) to go see a member.  And when we got out there, he would not respond to our calls!!  Luckily we had an investigator out close to that area and were able to meet with him, and it ended up being a huge miracle because he was having a hard time and we got to set a new baptismal date with him!  Then we had to rush to the central station in Napoli because I was supposed to go down to Castellammare, but of course there was a strike, so we couldn't go! haha

     So Thursday morning that was the first thing Anziano Malan (my zone leader companion) and I did.  It was super awesome, in the morning we did street contacting and it was super successful, then in the afternoon we got to go teach an investigator in Pompei!!  Yep, that Pompei!!!  It was sooo cool, got the chance to see a ton of cool things just walking to the lesson!  Then we did english course, and it is fun to have new people in your english course! haha

     The highlight from Friday was our lesson with our new investigator Fidellio!!  He is Italian, has a car, and a job!!!  He is about 30 and just super religious.  And we found out he has already read all of first Nephi and understands really well and wants more than anything to receive an answer!!  So that makes us really happy because we just got to bear testimony and feel the spirit super strong when we teach him.  That evening we had dinner with the Voelker family, they are the ones who have already reserved us for Christmas!!  They are super cool, and the husband really wants to take us to a soccer game!!

     Saturday morning we met with Simone, who is a young college student we met, it went pretty well and we are hoping we can see him again.  Then after that it was the day of the bidoni, which is what we say when people don't show up to lessons, and we got 4 that afternoon! haha Church was awesome of course, and we ate lunch with the Grofolo family afterwards, it was nice because it was short and sweet (which normally doesn't happen here!) haha  Then we went out to teach Samuel, who has a baptismal date for December 7th.  He was having a really bad day and was sick and didn't really want to meet at first, but since we had come so far I was pretty persistent!  

     We finally got to teach him and just read the Book of Mormon with him, but the spirit was so strong and we talked about the priesthood and how we have that restored priesthood power.  He then asked if I would give him a blessing, the spirit was incredibly strong and it was a really cool experience!!  And today we have just been running around doing a little of everything, we just had to translate institute and we are about to go teach 3 guys we met the other day, should be awesome!!!  Love y'all so much and hope everyone is as happy as I am!!!

Love,

              Anziano Bird

November 4, 2013

HEY!!

     Okay, so lets start at last Monday, in the evening we went over to a part member families house (they are super awesome) and they also had family over, and she made 4 different kinds of homemade pizza!! It was so good!  Then we got to teach everyone that was there, and next week we should be going over to their families house to teach them again!  And Tuesday we spent most of the day working on my permesso di sorgiorno, which lets me stay here legally, then we got ditched on a lesson, but then we had English course which is always super fun!

    Wednesday, we worked on more permesso stuff, then in the evening we went over to an American members house, the Trimbles, and she fed us Mexican food!!! It was heaven!  And they are the best member missionaries there are, with their limited Italian they share the Gospel with everyone, so it was super fun!!  

     Thursday we had Zone Conference, it was so nice to finally not be the AP and just get to sit back and relax.  It was cool because I got to see Anziano Kasper again! haha  And as Zone Leaders we got to do a training on how to introduce a scripture during a lesson, it was a lot of fun!  And that night we had an English course Halloween party!!  We had SO much food and played games, it was pretty sweet, and the couple that took us home agreed to meet with us this week!

     Friday we had soooo many awesome plans and got dumped by everyone!  So it was back to the classic, finding!  But it was so cool because we found some really awesome people who we will be meeting with soon.  Saturday morning we had a lesson with an African man in the church, he has had such a rough past, but after hearing the message of the Restoration, has such a desire to change and follow Christ.  It is amazing the instant impact the Gospel can have on peoples lives!  And that night we found some more awesome people, and one young kid that plays basketball!!  We will see about that! haha

     Sunday was awesome of course, and it was my first time doing pulpit translating.  Like when an American or African gets up to speak, you have to go up with them and translate everything the say.  And one of our African brothers, Evans, got up to bear his testimony, and it was so hard to understand him, and then what he was saying didn't make any sense, so it was one of those moments in translating when you think "should I just start making things up?" haha  All the Americans came up to me afterwards and asked how I did it! haha  I also had to lead the music for sacrament, to a song nobody knew, it was interesting to say the least! haha 

     And today we came to Napoli and went to underground Napoli, it was super sweet!!  Hope y'all had a good week as well!!  Love y'all!!

Anziano Bird

  Week 2! 


 Okay, so week 2 in Napoli, shaped up to be pretty crazy!  So a lot of Monday was  spent on working on permesso stuff for Anziano Hansen.  Then we got to go to the super nice part of Napoli and see some American members, the Volkers,  that are up there.  They are a young couple with a 2 year old daughter, and she made us tortilla soup, which with the cheddar cheese may have been the best meal I have had this month! haha  We had a super awesome lesson with them about being examples and living the principles that we believe, and afterwards, we got an invitation to come over for Christmas!!!! 

     Tuesday we had to go into Napoli to the church there to have DDM, it was really good to hear other peoples experiences as well and get new ideas on how we can help our investigators.  Later that day we had a lesson with a less active member, Fratello Di Orio, he looks to be about 98 and stands maybe 5' tall on a good day.  He was awesome and had such a testimony and knew everything about the Gospel, just needed a way to get to church!  Then we had English course, which went good.  We have a student, Pasqualle, who learns all his English from American rap, so he comes up with some pretty interesting things sometimes! haha

     Thursday we got to do some street contacting and it was awesome because there is a college near to our house and younger people are a lot more open to listen to us, and they also just want to talk to us because we are American.... haha  But we talked to these high school kids and one of them is the class president and we are going to try and set up an appointment where we can do a presentation for their whole class!  It would be sweet!!

     Then that afternoon my zone leader companion, Anziano Malan, and the 2 sister trainer leaders from our  zone, we all headed up to Rome for "capi conference" which is our meeting for the leaders.  It was a pretty long train ride but I got to know Anziano Malan pretty well and he is awesome, and that night we went to the Villa and had a cafè rio style borritto bar!  So as far as food went, it was about the best week ever!  

     The next day we had to conference, and we mostly just established rules and stuff, then the area doctor for Europe came and spoke with us and I learned a ton!!!  Saturday we had our first coordination meeting, and we had it at the branch presidents house, so just like in church, every single word had to be translated, and it makes everything take about twice as much time! haha  But we got a lot accomplished and learned a lot about how we can help out the branch here.

    And earlier in the week we had found a record of somebody the missionaries had taught in 2005, and we gave them a call and they said they would love to have us over!  So Saturday night we went over there, they were awesome people and we made pizza and it was great, and we got the commitment out of them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon!  So that for me was a pretty cool story!  Then of course we got an hour more of sleep, which was needed!  

     Yesterday church was awesome, and afterward we went over to the Parisis house, he used to be the branch president and they are a super strong family.  And afterwards we went to take the sacrament to a lady in our branch who has luchimia (I don't know how to spell it) and it was a really cool experience because although she is going through so much right now, she has such a strong testimony of God's love for her and how he has not abandoned her once throughout the process.  I love y'all so much and hope everyone has a awesome Halloween!!

Anziano Bird

October 21, 2013

Guess who is back!

     I am!  After 6 months I am back in the field, thinking that it has been 6 months is just crazy!  So I have now been here in Pozzuoli for about 4 days now, and I am in love with it!  It is an incredible area in just about every way imaginable.  We don't have a lot of work right now, but that will change very quickly because there is a ton of potential here!

     So last Tuesday the Italian greenies got in, so we got to pick them up from the airport and then do scambi with them that evening, it is super fun because they have no idea what to do or say, but just want to get out and get work done!  Wednesday is when the American greenies came in, and that was also fun, they are always just so tired. haha  And in the midst of all this mess, I had to get myself ready to go and all packed.

     So Thursday morning I headed down to Napoli on a train.  When I got there the Anziani weren't there to pick me up, so I hung out by myself for a while, it was weird.  Then they got there and we grabbed the worlds best pizza, then headed home.  The last couple of days we have been doing a lot of finding, and my companion is only in his 2nd transfer and is one of the 18 year old anziani.

     Our members are super awesome here and there are even a ton of American members, so I will continue to get sweet stuff from the American base!  Our church overlooks the ocean and it is incredible.  Our area is HUGE and Saturday we went out to teach a lesson and it was 1 hour and 45 min away!  But it was super awesome.

     And since the ward has a lot of Americans that speak no Italian, everything is church is translated!  So yesterday when we got to church before anyone introduced themselves they said "good! your here!  you can translate now!"  And it is crazy because you literally translate every word said!  It really fries your brain! haha

     And last is our miracle for the week.  We were walking back from church yesterday night, and a car stopped us and asked if we could translate some stuff for him (which happens a lot)  so I told him to come to English course.  And then he said "Do you know who I am?"  And so I replied, no.  And so we talked for a few minutes and he offered us a ride home, and so we accepted.  Turns out he is a less active member that about 10 years ago was the branch mission leader!! Crazy, so we have an appointment with him this week and I am super excited to get to work with him!  I love being a missionary!  I love yall a ton, sorry no pictures this week, forgot my camera.

love,

        Anziano Bird

October 14, 2013


Hey Family!

     Okay, so the letter this week will actually be pretty short, because we want to get out and actually have a P-day in Rome!  We are planning on finally seeing the Vatican!  So the big news from this week was I got my transfer call to go to Pozzuoli!!! Which is just north of Napoli.  I am SOO excited!  Pozzuoli is one of the coolest places ever for so many different reasons!  I will be heading down there on Thursday.

     The end of last week I was doing a scambio in L'Aquila, it was awesome to see members and other people I worked with!  Then we went up to Ascoli to do a scambio there.  It is a brand new city that they opened that hadn't had missionaries there for 15 years!  And we saw so much success and got to go and find some less active members that hadn't seen missionaries for years!  

     So my new address is actually a Napoli address and it is Viale di Augosto,6  (80125) Napoli.  Pozzuoli is where Paul landed and so it is pretty historically rich and is right on the coast so it is beautiful!  Yesturday was sad saying goodbye to all of the members, and the Valle family had us over for dinner last night and it was awesome!  They have a one eyed cat and when we were leaving the dad was all teary eyed, makes you sad but also makes you feel good.

     The picture is of Fratello Mario (aka Super Mario) a man we have worked with and he is awesome!  Love ya'll so much and hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

          Anziano Bird 

October 9, 2013


Ciao Family!

     Okay, there is a lot to tell, but also not a lot to tell!!  Things are incredible here!!  We are wrapping up this transfer and I got the news the other day that I am not going to be an AP next transfer, so, I will be heading back into the field next week!  I just have no idea where yet!  I am pretty excited!  Also before I forget, pdays are on Mondays from now on so the emailing schedule changes again! haha

     The weather here has really started to change, and it was just in time for jacket season!  General Conference was awesome of course, it is cool when you are also watching and searching for answers for others as well.  We got to watch every session except the Sunday afternoon one.  Also next transfer there will be office missionaries as well to lighten the load of the assistants, so for the last couple of days I have been training one of the anziani who will fill that position.  He is awesome, so it has been a fun couple of days.

     Anziano Kasper and I are spending maybe our last day together today, hard to believe because we have now spent over 6 months of our missions as companions!!  It is going to be sad to leave him!  Tonight I will head back to L'Aquila to do a scambio there for a couple of days, then head up to a newly opened city, Ascoli, to do scambi for a couple of days, then I will be heading to my new city!!  Who knows where of with who!  I am really excited to head to L'Aquila for a couple of days and see and work with all the members again, and actually be able to understand everything they are saying to me! haha

     Sorry the letter is so short today, but know that I love y'all a lot and am always praying for each of you.  Oh yea, we also made tacos this last week, incredible!!!  And I almost forgot to tell about the most incredible part of the week!  Friday night we had a family home evening with the Lopez family, they are amazing!  And they invited a family, and also 2 younger people they knew to come, and they all came!  And it was one of the more awesome experiences I have had in a while, because it was just the model of how missionary work is supposed to be done.  And we shared a message and played a game and you could see they were really touched by the spirit and Anziano Kasper and I were just so happy!!  

     I love y'all and hope you all have an incredible week!!  Oh yea, I thought I would give suspenders a shot!  This is our best friend at the gas station we always go to!

love,

            Anziano Bird

Hey family!!

     Wow, this has been quite the week!  So when I wrote last week I was in L'Aquila again, this week I am happy to say I am back in Rome!  So last Thursday night we headed over to Pescara where we were planning on doing scambi all the way until Sunday.  And I was with Anziano Alessandro (an awesome Italian) And part way through our scambi on Friday we got a call saying we needed to come back.  But in the few hours we were there we saw so many miracles!  We did street finding and just had a ridiculous amount of success and then we got to teach a man who was baptized this past weekend.  And to listen to his story and how he was truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and put into practice all the principle that we all know, faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  And we got to share 2 Nephi 31:14-20 with him that are really powerful scriptures that make us realize the importance of the covenants we made when we were baptized and how important it is to endure to the end.

     Then on Saturday it was a scramble to get everything ready for the conference down in Bari on Tuesday.  Church on Sunday was super awesome, they just split the ward but we still all met together because we had been planning a missionary focused day for months.  I got to give a talk which was super awesome, my third one in this ward! haha And they had many returned missionaries in the ward give talks as well.  And what makes it even funner is I am the new translator for sacrament meeting!  Then that evening we finished packing up and left to go down to Foggia!  And so all Monday we did scambi in Foggia, and the miracles just continued to come.  Obedience has been our theme for these zone conferences we have been doing and we are really seeing the blessing come we are being obedient to all the rules.

     So Tuesday morning we headed to Bari, had zone conference, then tried to get out as soon as possible but when we got on the road and looked at TomTom, it said we would get home around 11.  So Napoli was on our way home so we stopped and stayed with the Anziani there, and then of course got some pizza and ties from Napoli this morning, then we headed back and now we are doing Internet.  And it all starts again here pretty soon!  Because next week we head to Sardegna, and will be there most of the week! YEAH!!  Then I will have hit every where in the mission! I love y'all so much and hope ya''ll know how much I miss y'all but love what I am doing here.

Love,

           Anziano Bird

Pic - Napoli pizza (aka best pizza in the world!)

Fall Already!  9/26/13


I'm sorry but every week I feel like I write the exact same thing.  I don't have a lot of time today because we are at an Internet point in L'Aquila and we have to go over to Pescara tonight.

     So last week we had Zone Conference in Napoli (aka coolest city on the planet) it was great, then we got to head to Caserta to do scambi.  We had so much success and it was way fun because I got to do them will with an anziano I was in the MTC with.  Then on our drive back to Rome we tried to find a referral that was in the mountains out in the middle of nowhere!  We searched and never found him!

     So we had a late night Saturday night getting ready for the next conference on Monday.  Sunday we went to church and found out the new boundaries and the new leaders in the new wards.  I got to do translation and is super fun, and our normal translator became a new bishop, so looks like its my job now! haha  Then right after church we ate, and started our drive down to Sicily!  We only made it down to Reggio Calabria Sunday night.

     Monday morning we finished the drive to Catania where we had Zone Conference there, it was awesome, tons of missionaries!  Then that night we headed to Messina to do scambi.  All Tuesday we had time to do scambi and that night we went over to a members house for a birthday party.  All of there family were non members and so it gave us a good chance to meet everyone and it was so fun and these people were some of the coolest people I have ever met!!  I have to add that to the list of places I have to serve. And of course the food was incredible!

     Then Wednesday morning we made the trip back up to Rome, stopping in Napoli for a pizza of course.  Got back pretty late, packed for the Rome East Zone Conference, then finally got to sleep in our own beds!  Then early this morning we came to L'Aquila (which is awesome!) and did the conference here, had to stay in the house in the morning because an anziano was sick, but it gave me a chance to write some letters!!  And tonight we head to Pescara to do scambi there until Sunday, then we will head to Foggia, then Bari!  Busy busy busy, but  I wouldn't have it any other way, love it!! And I love y'all!!                  

Anziano Bird

9/18/13

Last week of Summer!!!                                       

  Wow, every week it feels like there is so much to talk about!!  But this week I want to focus on one of the coolest things that has happened on my mission!  So we have our super awesome investigator named Laura.  And the only problem is we haven't been able to get here to come to church.  So Friday we decided we would do a lesson in the church and show her that the church wasn't scary or anything. 

     But right before our lesson we walked out of the office and saw there was a ton of people in the chapel.  So we started to panic a little and realized they were having choir practice for the conference with Elder Ballard on Sunday.  And so Laura arrived and we did a tour of the church and we felt inspired to ask her if she wanted to sing in the choir, and turns out she is a singer and really really wanted to!!

     And although this was just their last practice before the conference, everyone welcomed her and she had a really good experience.  And on Sunday morning she woke up before 6 so she could make it on time!  And she said afterwards she was just crying when Elder Ballard was speaking and it just so happened that he spoke about genealogy for a while which is her main interest!!  It was one of the coolest things ever!!

     So to go back alittle, last week we got back from Malta and immediately had to start preparing for this conference, it was crazy!!!!  And then before the conference on Sunday, Elder Ballard wanted to meet with all the missionaries and have a meeting.  So all of that was on us to prepare, and we were working until the very end, but everything went super smooth and it was one of the most amazing conferences I have been apart of.  Not to mention I got to chat with him for a second!  He truly is an amazing person.

     Then the main conference had SO many people there.  Missionaries alone there was over 100, then members from 18 wards and branches!  The talks were so amazing and it was such a blessing for all the members here.  We did lose our bishop to the stake presidency and found out they are splitting our ward!  Then Monday we had our first zone conference of the transfer, so one down 6 to go!  But it is a lot of fun and its is a good thing because president told Anziano Kasper and I we will both be here for quite a while! haha So we will probably end up doing half of our mission together by the end!

     I love y'all and hope all is well!

Love, 

            Anziano Bird

                                                     

                                                    just another Malta picture too!

MALTA!!!!


September 11, 2013

Hey everybody,

     So it was only a couple of days since I wrote so not a lot of new things have happened.  Sunday we had to really start preparing for Elder Ballard to come for the Stake Conference next week to split the stake.  There will now be 4 Stakes in our mission!  On Monday we kept preparing and also had a lesson with a man we met when we were in the basement of a Catholic church doing a P-day at Assasi.

     It was interesting to say the least.  We should have known the was something up when he was so eager to meet with us and and saying some weird things.  In the end he was not interested in the Gospel, he was more interested in Anziano Kasper and I..... so probly no more lessons with him.  

     Our house is pretty crazy right now because they are tearing off all our old wall paper and painting so the whole place is a mess!  Tuesday morning we got on a plane and got to come down to Malta!!  Just so happened to be my birthday, funny how that worked out!  But Malta is incredible!  So much different than I thought it would be.  They speak Maltese here, which is alittle bit Italian, Spanish, English, and alot of Arabic!  But luckily they speak english too.  So yesturday I was trying to talk to people in Maltese and preaching the Gospel for the first time in English, and it was pretty hard.

     We taught a lesson to a man from the Ivory coast yesturday and did finding the rest of the night.  And we saw so much success.  I would love to come down and serve!  It is pretty sweet because not a lot of people get to come see Malta, but we do!  So we will leave tomorrow afternoon, I dont want to leave but there will be a lot of work waiting for us in Rome! 

     I dont remember if last week I told yall about Laura, our sweet investigator.  We had a super awesome lesson with her last week and set a baptismal date.  And we had an Anziano with us who is in his 2nd transfer and so he doesnt really understand a ton yet.  And this lady has cats, and they were rubbing on his legs and he was trying to avoid them.  And so she stopped and looked at him and and if he was scared, but he didnt understand, so he did what every greenie does in the situation and just nod your head and say "si" really enthusiastically!! haha And so she jumped up and locked the cats out, it was hilarious!

     Just alittle bit more about today, there is a senior couple here that took us on the grand tour of the island so that was pretty sweet and this afternoon we have some appointments set up so I am excited!  I love yall a ton and hope everyone is doing good!

Love,

         Anziano Bird

September 8, 2013

Well I figured pictures are worth a thousand words, and there are 2 pictures so it is just like I wrote a really long letter!  The first is when the greenies came in last week and we are with Anziano Steurer who is one of the couples in the office. And the other is a cat that lives next door to the Anziani in Ostia!  So much has happened lately, the craziest week of my life and we haven't slept a lot!  This Tuesday I decided to treat myself for my birthday and take a 3 day trip to Malta, which should be incredible!!!  

     Our one investigator, Laura, is doing incredible, we just set a baptismal date and everything is super awesome!!  Love y'all!

Anziano Bird

This is at the baptism of Moses!!! he was the man we taught then handed off to the other Anziani! 

                          this is the other morning when we walked out and our rims were stolen!

8/28/13

End Of August

 Wow, this week has been incredible!  So busy but amazing!  So when I wrote last, I was in Palermo.  So we spent most of p-day in Palermo, then left and finished it out in Trapani.  I did an exchange with Anziano Gemmell (who is from New Zealand) he is a young trainer so they really needed some help.  So we had finding planned for all that evening (3 hours).  So I asked if there were some members close by we could stop by and share a thought with, and there was a little ways away, so we started to make our way there while talking to EVERYBODY. On these exchanges you really have to be a super missionary and set the bar super high!  So literally everybody!

     So we got some numbers and passed out a bunch of supplies, and by the time we got to the house Anziano Gemmell was just so excited to talk to everybody!  This family that we stopped by was awesome!!  They are probably in their late 50's, no kids at home, but another less active member was at their house which was even better!  They just loved the spiritual thought we shared and loved us!  So they really wanted to feed us, but nothing was ready yet.  So we went out and did finding for about 45 minutes and gave out some Books of Mormon and got some more numbers!  So we really saw some instant blessings for getting out and working!

     This family was awesome!!!!  Found out he had mafia ties back in the day, and heard their conversion story, not to mention the amazing food!  Shows how important it is to help build the members and build those relationships with them!  The next morning we left Trapani to head to Sciacca.  And on the way there, the gas light came on, we were in the middle of nowhere, soon the gas light started to blink, and there was no civilization in sight, we were pretty scared!  But ended up putting into a gas station just in time!! haha

     We did exchanges there with another struggling companionship, I was with an older missionary this time that is just alittle "tired" we like to say.  We taught a lesson and did more finding.  It was awesome because we were there for lunch so we really got to reinforce the study times and things like area book that I think will be really good for them.  That night, we headed back to Catania so we could catch our flight Friday morning!

     On the flight I sat next to a man from Perth, Australia, and was hear in Italy because his son was going to come over and play professional rugby!!  And he seemed pretty interested in the Gospel as well!  We got back to Rome and had a lunch appointment with a member that fed us SO much, and fed us the most delicious eggplant which is now my favorite food!!  Then Saturday was spent catching up, and we got a call from some sisters in Rome that locked their keys in their house, so Anziano Kasper and I had to go break into their house for them, it was pretty awesome!!!  We used xray paper and shook the door and it just popped open!

     Sunday in church it was finally full again, everybody is back from their vacations!  And as missionaries we are doing a musical number in a couple weeks for church so we practiced that!  Then the coolest news of the day, they announced that they are splitting the Rome Italy Stake!!!!  So that means, on September 15 Elder Ballard will be here to do that and there is a pretty good shot he will meet with the missionaries!!!  Monday we were preparing for some conferences this week and we are in Terni right now doing exchanges here until Thursday.  Last night we had a lesson with a man who is getting baptized in September and it was way awesome!!  Then a couple hours of finding and we met some really cool people and had lots of success!

     Today for p-day we might be heading up to Perugia to go to a world famous chocolate factory, where at the end of the tour you get all you can eat chocolate!!!!! YEA!!  I am so happy I am here and so blessed to have the opportunities I am having.  I love y'all so much!!  Have a great week!!

Vi voglio bene!

                      Anziano Bird

Hey family!!      8/21/13

     Okay, first off, guess where I am!  Palermo!!  But we will get to that in a second.  So starting back at last week, we had a lesson with our investigator Laura.  We planned on teaching the Restoration, but as we started to talk, she really opened up and told us all about her life and how she had been studying genealogy for a lot of her life!  So we decided to teach the Plan of Salvation.  It was one of the best and most spiritual lessons of my mission.  She was so happy and overwhelmed that she was in tears half the time.  The spirit was so strong, and we hadn't really covered the Book of Mormon yet, but she said "I have been thinking a lot about Native Americans lately and their history, I'm not sure why!"  So we explained the Book of Mormon and we were all just blown away!  She has truly been prepared by the Lord. 

     Saturday we had to go the the other side of Rome to do a baptismal interview, and we met this Filipino family that are members of another ward here, and they were incredible!!  So we did the baptismal interview at their house and then ate and talked with them.  The made fresh cantaloupe juice and it was the best thing ever!  Filipino people are the nicest people on the planet I have decided!  And it was about that time I got a call from a member in the bishop rick here to give a talk the next day!  Its nice to be the back up plan!  So this was my second talk here in Roma 2, which is awesome, because I actually really like giving talks now, and it is a good way to try and get people pumped about missionary work!

    So Sunday morning was spent planning a talk and church went great!  Then right after we headed to Roma 3, a ward across town, for the baptism of Moses.  A man we taught here in Roma 2 then passed over to the other missionaries.  So it was awesome to be able to go to that!  Then we ran home and had about 30 min to eat and pack for our almost week long trip!  We flew out of Rome on Sunday evening and flew into Catania.  The first night we did a mini exchange with some of the younger missionaries there.  There are a lot of really young companionship's in our mission and so we need to do a lot of exchanges so that their spirits will be lifted and they can learn to enjoy the work.

     Monday we had Zone Conference in Catania, and I did exchanges with Anziano Hatch, and we went out to the American Navy base outside of Catania with the Sorelle and we taught Italian class!  It was really really fun!!!  Also weird because it was like little America!!  Everyone spoke English and there was grass, and carpet, and Chevy camaros!! haha  And afterwards we met a guy that seemed really interested in the Gospel and got to share some things with him, which doesn't always happen on the base because you can't talk about religion unless they ask us something.

     The next morning we left early to head to Palermo!!!!  And we head the first Zone conference in Palermo in who knows how long! Other than the power being out and it being SO hot, it was incredible!  And we got to do splits here last night and I got to see everyone!!!!  My new converts, investigators, members, everyone!!!  It was so cool!  And so we are doing p-day here today, then driving over to Trapani to do scambi, then Thursday we are going to Sciacca to do more scambi, then back to Catania, and then flying home on Friday!  So it will, and has been a super fun week!! Love y'all a lot!!!!

Anziano Bird

Hello Everyone!  8/14/2013

Buon ferragosto!!

     Tomorrow is ferragosto here in Italy, and it is possibly the biggest holiday in Italy, I believe it celebrates the Madonna.  So, everyone is gone, and so for us missionaries, it is one of the big cleaning days for our apartments!  I am pretty excited because it has been a good while since our house has been cleaned, and with 6 missionaries living there, it has a tendency to get pretty dirty!

     So this past week our mission president and his wife were out of town, so we got more missionary work done than we usually do!  And we had the opportunity to teach our brand new investigator Laura for the first time!  It was incredible, there is no doubt that she has been prepared to hear our message, every question she asked was just perfect!  And we brought a greenie that lives in our house to the lesson and had him do the baptismal invite, and she led him right into it by asking the question "what do I have to do to be happy and have this light and this spirit that you all have?"  It was incredible to say the least and the spirit was SO strong!

     Also this week we found a less active man named Mario.  He is getting close to 90 and is just the tiniest most frail man, but is so cool!  So we ventured out to his house last week and in total it took us about 3 hours to find it!  Luckily we have began to listen to talks while we drive ( I can't handle MoTab anymore!! ) and we listened to a talk that quickly became my favorite talk for the month!  It was a talk by Anziano Holland at the MTC given a couple of years ago.  And he spoke on the Atonement.  It was one of the most powerful talks I have ever hear.  He spoke about how everything we teach as missionaries, and in turn everything we believe in is just a branch off the Atonement.  And how important it is in all of our lives, and how we are all in need of it, not just our investigators, not just missionaries, but everyone.

     I have actually listened to this talk twice this week because I love it so much!  My testimony on the Atonement of Christ is probably the part of my testimony that has grown the most on my mission, and it truly is incredible to have the comfort that Christ has literally felt every pain and difficulty that I face here in the mission.  And when I mess up, He is waiting to forgive me!  How blessed are we?!  

     So we visited Mario and it turns out it was just the perfect time!  He had really been facing some difficulties in his life and really needed some answers to his questions.  He has forgotten a lot what the missionaries taught him in the past so we are going over everything with him again and he is just loving it!  So rescuing the lost has been a pretty big part of the work, which is one of the most rewarding types of missionary work to do!

     This past Monday was our zone conference down in Napoli, and it went super well, it was crazy because they are in a district and so our mission president has to do all the temple recommend interviews.  After the conference we got to go do exchanges with the missionaries in Caserta, they were super young missionaries, and we did finding with them for 3 hours and we got 10 numbers and handed our tons of stuff, it was super cool because it got them so excited about the work and we all really learned a lot from it.  Also I saw one of my friends from the MTC at the Napoli conference, Anziano Carr came up from Malta and this was the first time I had seen him in the mission so that was super cool!

     And we especially didn't get a p-day today because we had the Roma East zone conference.  And guess where we held it..... L'Aquila!!!!!  Wonder who had something to do with that!?  It was my first time being back in 7 or 8 months and I did not want to leave!  Made me really miss it!  And so we just got back and I got to squeeze in internet on p-day which is always a plus!  I love ya'll SO much and I miss ya'll and hope that everyone's week is just awesome!!

Vi voglio tanto tanto bene!

              Anziano Bird

8/8/14  

  It is really weird to think that this is my release date for next year!  Well it has been another great week with tons to write about!  So Thursday and Friday were just the normal days doing a bunch of crazy work, we got new budgets and numbers for the mission and we found out that within the next 2 years they want us to have 31 new houses for missionaries, so, we have some work to do!  Then we were dealing with travel for peoples permessos so they can stay legal and stay in the country!

     We have a completely new english course program that we will be starting next transfer and so we have been preparing all of that stuff for zone conferences.  Sunday we got the official plan from the bishop on families we really want to work with.  We got the Lopez family, they are Peruvian and they are the BEST!!!!  We went over to their house for the first time last night and they are so ready to share the Gospel and we set up a plan with them to do it.  They already want to have us over twice a week and they want to make us all kinds of Peruvian food! YES!  The closest thing to Mexican food I can get!

     Sunday was also super awesome because we had a ward council and got to meet with everyone to talk about all our investigators and new converts and less actives, there is a lot of work to do!  Then we spent a lot of time preparing to go to Bari and Taranto for zone conferences.  So about 7a.m. Monday morning we heading down to Bari.  Had a sweet zone conference, our training was on our responsibility to the Lord and our mission president.  It went super good.  Then that night we got the opportunity to go and do exchanges with 2 struggling missionaries in Bitonto and really help them out.

     Tuesday morning we drove down to Taranto, which is super cool!  They have a super strong ward there and probably on of the nicest church buildings here.  Another good conference, and for lunch one of the members who owns a pizza place made us lasanga and a sister down there made salsa especially for me, so it made it one of the better lunches I had had! They also have probably the most youth and young adults in that ward and so every year that ward basically produces the Italian EFY music, so we got our hands on that too, MoTab was getting a little old. haha

     And here is the super cool story of the week, its not very spiritual, but its super cool!  So on the drive back from Taranto Tuesday night, it was dark, and cops here don't really pull people over, they just drive around with their lights on.  So we were on the freeway and I see a cop coming up behind us with his lights on, so I got over.  And as this cop car passes, I look over, and this is no ordinary cop car, its a Lamborghini!!!!!!  Yep a real Lamborghini Murcielago cop car!!  And he just cruised past.  And Anziano Kasper and I looked at each other and couldn't believe what we had just seen!!  So I was talking to the Italian that we live with and he said yea, there are only 2 in all of Italy, and they use them to transport organs, because ambulances aren't fast enough!!!  I felt like I was in a video game or a movie!

     Also yesterday for p day some members from the U.S. took us out to eat at a restaurant facing the Colosseum and then they paid for our tickets to finally go it and see inside!  It was pretty cool I guess!  Glad I got to do it for free!  But it was super fun!  Hope y'all are well, and I love y'all a ton!

Vi voglio bene,

                       Anziano Bird

July 23, 2013


Okay, this was a crazy week, so hold on tight!

     Last Saturday night when I emailed we also had a ward activity (talent show) but we had a lesson planned (we got stood up) so we went to the talent show.  It was a lot of fun and got a super sweet contact out of it.  There is a blind kid named Robert who comes to English course, he is 18 and super cool, he came and loved it!  So we invited him to church and he came!

     But first thing Sunday morning we drove down to the Trevi fountain to pick up Elder Evans and his wife!  So we went to church with them, and in church we had Elder Evans (first quorum of the 70) Elder De Feo (an area 70), the stake president, and the mission president!  It was so sweet!  Anziano Evans spoke alot about the mission presidents broadcast and about how missionary work is changing.

     After church we went to the temple site...... where we got on!!!!  We were the first missionaries to make it on!  Our last mission president didn't even get on!  We didn't get the full tour but it was still super cool!  Then we went to the mission home where we ate lunch and got to hang out with Elder Evans for another couple hours and ask all kinds of questions, and the direction they are taking missionary work will be incredible! 

     And as we were taking him back to his hotel, we decided to see Rome, and the Colosseum!  So we walked around with them looking at downtown Rome, also got my picture with them in front of the Colosseum!  Monday we left super early for Bari, takes about four and a half hours to get there, then we did the leadership council, got some famous sandwiches, then went to Bitonto to do exchanges!  And it went super well and we had alot of success!

     The next day was another zone conference, which is always fun, we got out of there pretty late and ended up getting home around midnight!  Wahoo!  And today for p day I bought a tie!  It was a good day!  Hope all is well with all of you and hope it continues to go well!  And nobody worry about sending me packages for the year mark! 

love y'all!