Family,
Like your email there is not much to report this week. Just another week as a missionary in Mantova Italy. Hmmm....
1.) We had an AreaBook miracle this last week, I was looking through a gigantic trashed AreaBook that we have here in Mantova and reading the teaching history and comments of other missionaries for former investigators here. I found a few numbers that I wanted to call and decided to give it a shot. I called one and had a short conversation with a man who lived a lil bit out of the city but not too far and long story short set up an appointment for this last Saturday. We went and found this man, who we thought was just a single guy, with a wife and 2 small children. His name is D++++++, And we found a family to teach! Something that all missionaries are ask and are searching for. We sat down with him and his 2 kids, his wife was in the other room doing something and we gave him the Restoration lesson. Once we saw that he had a family we wondered if we should teach the Plan of Salvation but once we got going the Restortion felt right. In short we had a great, powerful lesson together. It was a little rougher than I'm used to in the sense that Anz. Strong and I haven't had much practice together teaching but I think he understood well and he accepted the invite to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He and his family are great and really open to talk, we will see where things go with him.
2) Yesterday Anz. Strong and I were invited to a "Specialized Training" in Milano. So we had to wake up at 5:30am and get ourselves to Milano. The training was amazing and very informative. I took so much from it that I've been looking for, you could say... President
really is amazing. He started out telling us why we were there in Milano at this training because it was a mixed up group of Missionaries. We were in a group of about 40. He told us "I felt impressed to invite you here, that's why you are here"... It kinda set the mood for the whole training. He then went on to talk about the Book of Mormon, more specifically answering difficult questions using the Book of Mormon. Not that we don't have the answer but saying simply "We don't have all the answers, but I know you can know through a testimony in the Book of Mormon". He ended with "There are some things you could say but don't Need to say". I really like that. He then went on to talk about what real success as a missionary is and then Anz. Strong and I had a part in the conference as well, 10 minute presentation on Personal Study...
I got Dani's Package too. I loved the Family DVD, It was awesome. I didn't realize before all the Italian Names we have in the Family!
Bella- Beautiful
Stella- Star
Siena- A beautiful city in the south of Tuscany.
That was funny to see now. Knowing Italian.
Well I dont have a ton of Time. Love you!
Anz. Mendel
Dear Family,
Another week has passed and I can't believe that we have begun another year. 2012! Crazy, I hit my year mark soon and then everything will be downhill from there. Often, When one year ends and another begins we take time to reflect and set new goals for the upcoming future. I look back at the beginning of Jan 2011 and the person I was, I feel like a completely different person. This last year of my life has been and probably will be the year in my life that I have changed the most and experienced/endured the most. I try to look back and sort of catalog my experiences in my mind and it's just too much to even comprehend. Luckily I have 250 pages of journal entries to help me with the task. In short, I am eternally grateful for what this last year in my life has done for me! I think It is safe to say that no other thing a person can do in his life could be as rewarding as a mission. I've experienced so much spiritual and mental growth in the last year and I look forward to just as much for 2012. Life is good.
We met a few interested people knocking doors earlier this week. We knocked into an old man who was a nice man and didn't want to be rude (surprising) but wasn't really interested in hearing what we had to say, he was giving us the whole range of excuses that we hear all day long and it was about time to give up and move on. His wife then got up and came to the door and asked if we were the Mormons, We said yes, she wasn't unhappy to see us but her comportment wasn't very friendly.... We started talking about the Book of Mormon and the role the scriptures play in our lives... and especially the need in these days for additional scripture, another testament of Jesus Christ. We were pulling the Book of Mormon out of our backpack to show her, She stopped us and told us she already had one. And that she read a lil bit years ago and hadn't opened it since. She then went and searched for it. After a lil she found it and handed it to us. We both bore testimony of the importance of the Book and told her that reading it and praying is the proof of our words. We left her 3 Nephi 11 to read and asked if we could leave her with a prayer right there at the door. She accepted. After the prayer her comportment had completely changed. She was on the brink of tears and told us we could come back... We will see where that goes.
We've met many people these last 2 weeks doing finding work. Right now we are having the same problem we were having back in Ferrara, turning the many contacts we have right now into progressing investigators... Right now on the radar. We have 2 brazilian couples, a few older ladies. A young couple from Sicily, And an African Family that seem pretty legit.
We Got stuck in Verona for 3 hours yesterday after we missed a train back to Mantova when we were exchanging comps from a scambio, So we did a lil giro. Verona is so beautiful! I saw the house of Juliet and the wall. Its not what it looks like in that gay movie they made. real different. I also found something I want to buy with my Christmas money... Big sales start Thursday so I want to wait to see if the price will go down, Its a coat. Super sick! full price was £179 a lil too expensive. Hopefully it will go down during the sales...
Thats about it. A few other things I will need soon is some more night/dayquil. And then the calendar that was made for me is almost expired... End of Feb it finishes... It'd be nice for another one.
Love you
Anz. Mendel
