December 28, 2011

Trevor played Joseph in his Zone's Nativity. See if you can find him.  

Caro Famiglia,

What a pleasure it was to talk you this past Sunday, Looking back over the call it seems like not much was even said. Hah, Both boys froze up... again no shock there, Maybe next year we can have a real conversation. But It was awesome to see you and hear your voices. It has been awhile and at times it was hard to call on the memory of the sounds of your voices. To be honest it was hard seeing you, the whole family, and not seeing Riley. It was kind of just like a second testimony that he really is not home waiting for me to come home. But on a more happy note it was great talking to you.

Thanks for the update on the rest of your Christmas day, Mine was pretty much over when we finished talking, My companion did his skype and then we went home. It was a good Christmas. Very different, But hey, how many Christmases does one have as a missionary and in Italy for that matter? I made the most of it and had a great time. But I still did miss home more than normal.

I spent the first part of the week in Verona on another scambio with Anz. M+++++++. I don't even want to begin explaining how to pronounce it. He's the zone leader in Verona now and we have a lot in common. Mainly, Hah we are known around the entire mission as the two Halo Kids, He's a hardcore Halo Player like me, Hah it was fun talking about stories from the past. But we went out that night and had a great scambio and were blessed with a miracle. We found a young Italian family of 4 who let us in and seemed very interested in our message.
Anz. M+++++++ is a great missionary. He also served with Anz. W*******. He talked to me a lot also about coming to USU with him after the mission and moving into to a Milano Mission Alumni Frat house. Sounds fun. Who knows where my path will take me after the mission, Boh
Vediamo.

Things in Mantova seem to be picking up. Anz. Strong and the missionaries who are coming here for the few scambios in the last 2 weeks have been somewhat successful and we've found a few more people to teach. Still work is a lil slow and we have a lot ahead of us.



Love you!


Anz. Mendel

December 6, 2011

Buon Giorno,

Okay where to start, Well the turkey wasnt too hard to find... It just took time. We must have checked 15 butcher shops and then we finally found the right one. Dont worry I made sure to ask them to clean out the center. When we found the right turkey (we only found 3, one 14 kili, 8 kili and 2 kili) we bought it and took it home right then. Stuck it in the freezer then 3 days before moved in into the fridge. I wish I could send home the videos... we took a bunch.

It was great to hear about NYC and of course Sinter Klaus. Landon and I have been talking back and forth about how much fun the last year's was... Do you remember our matching outfits we showed up in? Everything sounds like a blast... What are the shrimp things called
again? The Crackers?

So your calculations are correct, this is week 5, I should find out what happens this Monday, oh I would so love to stay in Ferrara for the Holidays. Just one more transfer is all I need. The odds of Anz. Weller and I doing another one together is almost zero so he would have to be transfered for me to stay, which is very possible. However it is still probable that I leave Ferrara this upcoming week. I don't know what will happen, I'm dying to find out but at the same time, whatever comes, comes. I'm definitely ready for a change though.

So this week has also been rather busy for us, we are completely moved into our apartment in Ferrara now. Our first night here was Saturday. The apartment is really nice and we both love it. We had help from an amazing member, S. N++++ to bring our luggage back and forth so it wasn't too hard. Just transfers bring lots of stress.... On the trains with all this luggage... Stuff like this. The office couple brought us mattresses on Saturday and also our mail so I got the 2 packages (padded envelopes) you sent! Thank you! I loved the stuff for Monkey bread... I wonder if I can find the rolls though.... The million dollar chocolate bar was
perfect too, in  fact, just a few days before, S. N++++ gave Anz. Weller and I the same thing but it was a 500£ bar. So I gave her the million dollar bar, she loved it! it was perfect and really funny. Back to the mattresses the office drove us down... Yikes. Just ridiculous the state they are in. They brought us 3, The first night I didn't sleep at all. That's how bad the mattress was. Then I switched it out for the 3rd and now I can kinda sleep but they are still terrible. We got hooked up with one of the nicest apartments in the mission, it is so nice. But the mattresses are terrible.  Aargh.

This Sunday we saw M****** with S. N++++. M, the referral from Argentina. We had planned to teach her the Gospel... We had a super powerful lesson with her. She loved how the Gospel built on itself starting with faith and then repentance. As we moved on to baptism the
spirit was just so strong so we decided to give her a date right then. She accpeted baptism and her date is for the 14th of Jan. She still has a long way to go, she needs to come to church and start reading better but I think she recognizes the spirit when we come and teach
her and she is starting to take this whole thing more seriously now. I'm excited to see if she will come to chruch on Sunday.

Okay, Anz. Weller and I both experienced the biggest miracle of our mission this week. It was just crazy what happened. About 2 weeks ago during a scambio with Anz. B+++++ and I in Ferrara we knocked into this sweet lady who was so interested in our message and was so nice to us. We couldn't go in and teach her because she didn't have a man in the house so we had to just talk to her at the door for a short moment. She told us how much she loves God and how her whole life she has been praying and searching for the truth. She told us how about 10 years back her husband and pretty much the whole extended family converted into jehovah witnesses and how she just never felt like that church was right and never felt the spirit with them. She told us that she thinks we might have the answers she is looking for and that we needed to come back and teach her more but she was leaving out of town for 2 weeks and we couldnt come back til Dec 4. Bummer we would have to wait awhile to see her again... Well the weeks passed and I had her in the back of my mind mainly focusing on the investigators we were seeing and just other missionary stuff.... We went back on Monday and we brought S. N++++ (the Member) again. She opened her house to us and let us in. S. N++++ and her, Z+++++, became instant friends. Long story short Z++++ recounted the story of when  she met Anz. B++++++ and I the first time to A. Weller and S. N++++, how she felt this overwhelming spirit about us and could feel the love and truth and that on her whole vaction all she could think about was us. The missionaries... She told us she knows what she felt from us is true and that you know when somthing is true or not, you feel it. You don't
see it. We had the most powerful lesson of my life, I was choking back tears, N++++ and Z++++ were both crying. Anz. Weller and I couldn't believe how ready this lady is. Literally prepared her whole life to meet us. This was her first real lesson. She committed herself to
coming to church every sunday, S.N++++ said she can pick her up and take her every sunday and then... she committed herself to bapitsm, after A. Weller gave her the tenth point. My mind was just blown. The rest of the Night Both Anz. Weller and I were just pacing back and forth blown away by the power of the spirit, blown away by the faith and readiness of this lady. I could not wipe the smile off my face the rest of the night... Just absolutely crazy. Tonight we will be setting a baptismal date with her. Most likely she will be coming to see a
baptismal service in Bologna this sunday. This lady is ready. She'll be baptised in 3 weeks. No doubt.

Love you! Have a great week!

Anz. Mendel

PS: I dont know the Robinsons...