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