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!)