Dear family and friends,
We are talking about the greater good.
We are missionaries of the almighty. We are the greatest good you're ever gonna get.
We stayed in the apartment this p day and played some board games again. Every day besides p day is jammed packed filled with lessons. We don't have enough time in the day to do everything I would like. We are still preparing quite a few people for baptism next month for the 28th of November. Four investigators came to church on Sunday. Never had that happen before. Also Martin the Nigerian return missionary came. They all really liked church so that's a plus. We are hoping to get about eight people this next week. Last week was really high number wise. We met another member that is from Nigeria this last week. He should be coming to church this next week.
Tell me a story about a memorable lesson you taught. A funny lesson yesterday was when we taught Dennis. The really awesome guy from Ghana who is here with his mom. Super humble guy. We taught him with Godwin and Ek. Both are new converts who are awesome. (They are from Nigeria). On the way over I asked them if they would like to marry a woman from Nigeria. They basically said they would let God decide and then they would have no choice but to follow it. I related that to the lesson about 3 times during the lesson. How if God decides something for us. We follow it. It was pretty dang funny.
Beh.. I can't think of anything to write about.. Ask me questions if you'd like so these can be longer.. Sort of too tired to make up stuff on the spot. We got to go teach a lesson so I'll let you go. Also I feel like some of my victory stuff in email form is just bragging. So I'll keep it all to myself. Before I tear it all up and throw it away. Almost had you. (That's a good song).
That was totally wicked.
You are welcome,
Anziano Gridley
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Silver and Gold Have I Not. But Here's Some Bread and Please Here the Word of The Almighty.
Dear family and friends,
You are insane.
Good thing I was.. Or else this probably wouldn't work.
On Sunday we had one investigator come to church. Valentine... He is super awesome. He is from Nigeria. His family has lived in France for a few years. He lived in Morocco as a human rights representative there. Now he is here.. He looking for a new start. A very humble awesome guy. He remembers the missionaries from back in 96. We are hopefully going to see him tonight again.
In the bunny park there is a pull up bar. I saw a guy working out so I took off my jacket and put down my bag and did as many pull ups as I could. Only 6. I then started talking to him in a natural way. He is from Brazil.. Speaks English and Italian. We have an appointment later in the week. Sometimes ping pong / pull up finding is worth it.
On Saturday there were a lot of people in the centro of the city. So many we couldn't talk to all of them and it would only be so productive. We tried to talk to specific people. The big success of the night was when I went up to three Africans and started to talk to them in Italian talking to two of them. One has been in Italy for 13 years.. The other for 8 years.. All of them are from Ghana. One was going to college in Venice. I started to talk about the gospel. After a while Anziano Keller came up and started talking to the two. I started talking to the other guy. His name is Dennis. He told me he has been in italy about 8 months. He is here with his mother. He didn't understand the Italian I was saying. But said he was in the past if I hadn't talked to him go look it up when he got home. This guy is legit. We saw him yesterday with Godwin and Ek. Two African members. Dennis is extremely humble. We are going to see him on Friday. We got all three of their numbers. But we are most excited about Dennis.
Chris and rosemary are doing ok. Hopefully we are going to see them tomorrow. Chris helps the other Africans go to the Pentecostal church so he did not come to church on Sunday. He is still super cool and we talked about baptism with him.
We met two men from Nigeria Chris and Martin last week. Chris is like Valentine and Dennis. Super humble awesome guy... And Martin is a member from Nigeria.. Who served a mission. A complete stud. We are going to try to have him help us with quite a few of these people.
There is a hotel where a lot of the Africans are brought in to stay in Vicenza when they first come to Italy. We have a few people who live there. It's super funny because if we wait for someone outside so we can go sit somewhere and teach them. Usually within five minutes we have someone new to teach. I keep telling Anziano Keller we can't go out there cause it's a bad environment for me. Kind of a funny joke.
Friso did not come to church on Sunday. We called him that night and he said I have changed my ideas.. Anziano Keller told him he did not hear him well and asked him to say it again. But he hung up. Anziano Keller is super bummed. We are not giving up on him yet.. But these last few days we have tried to give him some space. We have no idea what is wrong.
We met with Tony a long time (2 months) investigator. We invited him to be baptized. He accepted.. He got really excited about the gift of the Holy Ghost. We will see what happens. He needs to come to church etc.
We are not just talking with Africans.. They are usually the ones humble enough to listen and who love God and Jesus Christ. Hopefully friso and a man named Rugero will work out.
Anyways we are working with a lot of these people which is fantastic.. I'm a little bummed we can't find as much but this is great. It's kind of what is going on right now so excuse me for talking about it.
The Dutchman must have a captain.
You go come church on Sunday with me?
Anziano Gridley Austin says "I have a gut"
You are insane.
Good thing I was.. Or else this probably wouldn't work.
On Sunday we had one investigator come to church. Valentine... He is super awesome. He is from Nigeria. His family has lived in France for a few years. He lived in Morocco as a human rights representative there. Now he is here.. He looking for a new start. A very humble awesome guy. He remembers the missionaries from back in 96. We are hopefully going to see him tonight again.
In the bunny park there is a pull up bar. I saw a guy working out so I took off my jacket and put down my bag and did as many pull ups as I could. Only 6. I then started talking to him in a natural way. He is from Brazil.. Speaks English and Italian. We have an appointment later in the week. Sometimes ping pong / pull up finding is worth it.
On Saturday there were a lot of people in the centro of the city. So many we couldn't talk to all of them and it would only be so productive. We tried to talk to specific people. The big success of the night was when I went up to three Africans and started to talk to them in Italian talking to two of them. One has been in Italy for 13 years.. The other for 8 years.. All of them are from Ghana. One was going to college in Venice. I started to talk about the gospel. After a while Anziano Keller came up and started talking to the two. I started talking to the other guy. His name is Dennis. He told me he has been in italy about 8 months. He is here with his mother. He didn't understand the Italian I was saying. But said he was in the past if I hadn't talked to him go look it up when he got home. This guy is legit. We saw him yesterday with Godwin and Ek. Two African members. Dennis is extremely humble. We are going to see him on Friday. We got all three of their numbers. But we are most excited about Dennis.
Chris and rosemary are doing ok. Hopefully we are going to see them tomorrow. Chris helps the other Africans go to the Pentecostal church so he did not come to church on Sunday. He is still super cool and we talked about baptism with him.
We met two men from Nigeria Chris and Martin last week. Chris is like Valentine and Dennis. Super humble awesome guy... And Martin is a member from Nigeria.. Who served a mission. A complete stud. We are going to try to have him help us with quite a few of these people.
There is a hotel where a lot of the Africans are brought in to stay in Vicenza when they first come to Italy. We have a few people who live there. It's super funny because if we wait for someone outside so we can go sit somewhere and teach them. Usually within five minutes we have someone new to teach. I keep telling Anziano Keller we can't go out there cause it's a bad environment for me. Kind of a funny joke.
Friso did not come to church on Sunday. We called him that night and he said I have changed my ideas.. Anziano Keller told him he did not hear him well and asked him to say it again. But he hung up. Anziano Keller is super bummed. We are not giving up on him yet.. But these last few days we have tried to give him some space. We have no idea what is wrong.
We met with Tony a long time (2 months) investigator. We invited him to be baptized. He accepted.. He got really excited about the gift of the Holy Ghost. We will see what happens. He needs to come to church etc.
We are not just talking with Africans.. They are usually the ones humble enough to listen and who love God and Jesus Christ. Hopefully friso and a man named Rugero will work out.
Anyways we are working with a lot of these people which is fantastic.. I'm a little bummed we can't find as much but this is great. It's kind of what is going on right now so excuse me for talking about it.
The Dutchman must have a captain.
You go come church on Sunday with me?
Anziano Gridley Austin says "I have a gut"
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Scambio with Anziano Hansen
Ciao amici e la Mia famiglia,
How are you doing?
Does it hurt?
I had a scambio after zone conference. I got to go with Anziano Hansen. He is going to go home from his mission in a few weeks. It was nice to work with someone with lots of experience. We saw some people playing ping pong in the park.. They could play a bit.. We were going to just keep going.. But I figured it was one of the few things I was half way good at. So we went up and I got to play against this old guy. He beat me the first game 11-2.. Then I won 4 games as he won 2 more.. Anziano Hansen talked to the two young guys there while we played. I am sad at how I've lost the skills. Please help me after the mission Glen. All of my game is lost. At least I beat an old Italian man ~_~. We then tried to talk to more people etc.. We had gelato I than told him I was going to go hulk mode. We got a few people's numbers. It was a good time.
Anziano Keller and I were in a park on Sunday talking to some people I felt like things were off. So we sat down and did a short pop.. And said a prayer. We then had a lot of success.. Those kind of cool little things happen a lot. Jesus's recommendation for being strengthened for something is prayer.
Yesterday we did about an hour of "bus stop" finding.. Basically we sit at a bus stop talking to people for an hour as they leave and we stay.. And then at the end leave on our bikes. Incredibly funny. The point is to talk to people in a natural environment.. Unnaturally made.. It worked really well last night. I keep on chuckling to myself.. It's just so incredibly evil and funny. And the nice part is it works.. Finding on the streets works.. We just talk to everyone and have a bit of success from it.. People are a lot more willing to be rude to a complete stranger than to a semi stranger. Most people aren't mean.. They just don't know they are interested in God and what not till you show how it applies.. Or are just in a rush etc.. Hence street finding is a lot more tiring.. We circle through lots of people.. And it does hurt a bit to here no so often. So we are trying to switch it up.
Questora finding was good yesterday. I talked to this man from the benign republic. He is married to a woman from Nigeria.. They have two children have lived in Italy for two years etc.. He told me how he heavily believes in prayer.. How things have come easily to him because of prayer. He prayed for work.. It came easy enough. He prayed for a good wife.. He found one.. I taught a lesson specifically geared to him and at the end he told me that the things I was talking about was probably something he would be interested in. Perfect. He was a really cool guy.. And I meet lots of people like him.. With so much people like him.. Something has got to pan through.
We teach the Italian class for the ward once a week. No one comes. Our copia is a bit chipped when it comes to a few things. My goal is to leave this city with our copia with the cooler stuff haha.
We met a man on the street from Nigeria he is super cool. He brought his wife to an appointment we made with him. Which is interesting because most Africans come alone when they come to Italy by boat. So we have good hopes in them.. The lesson was a bit rocky.. But they were awesome enough that it didn't super matter. They came in the rain and they are African to hear gods word. We now know they are legit people.
Friso is doing ok. He was feeling sick so he did not come to church on Sunday. So his baptism will be pushed back. We are going to go see him tonight. Hopefully he is ok.
We are trying to read as a mission the Book of Mormon before Christmas. It's been pretty nice.
We are working pretty hard so I am decently tired. Nap time etc. risk took way too long today. I won.. It was arguably not worth it.
Swing home jack.
I greet you bros,
Anziano Gridley
How are you doing?
Does it hurt?
I had a scambio after zone conference. I got to go with Anziano Hansen. He is going to go home from his mission in a few weeks. It was nice to work with someone with lots of experience. We saw some people playing ping pong in the park.. They could play a bit.. We were going to just keep going.. But I figured it was one of the few things I was half way good at. So we went up and I got to play against this old guy. He beat me the first game 11-2.. Then I won 4 games as he won 2 more.. Anziano Hansen talked to the two young guys there while we played. I am sad at how I've lost the skills. Please help me after the mission Glen. All of my game is lost. At least I beat an old Italian man ~_~. We then tried to talk to more people etc.. We had gelato I than told him I was going to go hulk mode. We got a few people's numbers. It was a good time.
Anziano Keller and I were in a park on Sunday talking to some people I felt like things were off. So we sat down and did a short pop.. And said a prayer. We then had a lot of success.. Those kind of cool little things happen a lot. Jesus's recommendation for being strengthened for something is prayer.
Yesterday we did about an hour of "bus stop" finding.. Basically we sit at a bus stop talking to people for an hour as they leave and we stay.. And then at the end leave on our bikes. Incredibly funny. The point is to talk to people in a natural environment.. Unnaturally made.. It worked really well last night. I keep on chuckling to myself.. It's just so incredibly evil and funny. And the nice part is it works.. Finding on the streets works.. We just talk to everyone and have a bit of success from it.. People are a lot more willing to be rude to a complete stranger than to a semi stranger. Most people aren't mean.. They just don't know they are interested in God and what not till you show how it applies.. Or are just in a rush etc.. Hence street finding is a lot more tiring.. We circle through lots of people.. And it does hurt a bit to here no so often. So we are trying to switch it up.
Questora finding was good yesterday. I talked to this man from the benign republic. He is married to a woman from Nigeria.. They have two children have lived in Italy for two years etc.. He told me how he heavily believes in prayer.. How things have come easily to him because of prayer. He prayed for work.. It came easy enough. He prayed for a good wife.. He found one.. I taught a lesson specifically geared to him and at the end he told me that the things I was talking about was probably something he would be interested in. Perfect. He was a really cool guy.. And I meet lots of people like him.. With so much people like him.. Something has got to pan through.
We teach the Italian class for the ward once a week. No one comes. Our copia is a bit chipped when it comes to a few things. My goal is to leave this city with our copia with the cooler stuff haha.
We met a man on the street from Nigeria he is super cool. He brought his wife to an appointment we made with him. Which is interesting because most Africans come alone when they come to Italy by boat. So we have good hopes in them.. The lesson was a bit rocky.. But they were awesome enough that it didn't super matter. They came in the rain and they are African to hear gods word. We now know they are legit people.
Friso is doing ok. He was feeling sick so he did not come to church on Sunday. So his baptism will be pushed back. We are going to go see him tonight. Hopefully he is ok.
We are trying to read as a mission the Book of Mormon before Christmas. It's been pretty nice.
We are working pretty hard so I am decently tired. Nap time etc. risk took way too long today. I won.. It was arguably not worth it.
Swing home jack.
I greet you bros,
Anziano Gridley
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Pretty fly for a white guy
Dear family and friends,
What's this going to cost us? Huh. Cavallo.
I have arrived in the city of beauty.. And of sketchiness.. And of maleducato people. Finishing the time with Anziano Galli the train ride to Milano was good we both talked to some people.. He bought a bigger coat at the station.. Which was pretty funny.. Because it's kind of a big purchase and he just makes it very quickly and randomly.. He and Anziano Sanchez are doing good in vercelli.. Isabella and Godstime are still progressing well. I then got to ride a train more or less by myself to Verona.. Next to my home Trento. I talked to a lady that is involved in horses. She is Italian.. Lives in England... Believes in spiritual stuff.. She didn't go super in depth with me.. She was quite thin and over forty and not married.. We meet lots of different people. When I got in Verona talked to some people from Sydney Australia.. I have a feeling one of the members of our family served there I just can't remember who.. That's awkward. (Sto scherzando). They live near one of our churches.. Small world. Anyways..
We talked to a lady from Kiev Ukraine.. She is back in Ukraine now. She came to Venice to talk about conditions in Ukraine.. She was so sad. I felt really bad.. We tried to help her feel better.. I definitely felt sad afterwords for a little while. I guess things in Ukraine are really bad. Thought of grandma and grandpa low..
I got to meet my new companions. Anziano Keller and Anziano Olsen. Anziano Keller is kind of like crimson chin if you've ever watched fairly odd parents. He's got glasses and an incredible double chin. He's like Anziano Thomas... He's way to nice of a guy. I will be find with him. Anziano Olsen is a new Anziano he just got finished being trained. He is a small guy. He stayed an extra day to get his permesso the next day. Ok to kind of explain this once so it's not just an under toning thing. I definitely got sick of being inside the apartment with Anziano Galli. I was probably only 30% here and giving a 20% effort with finding new people. These aren't solid numbers they fluctuated. Anyways right now I'm giving it 100%.. Trying to talk to lots of people.. And trying to make up for some lost time.. Going home is not a good thing. So I'm talking to lots of people.
Here in Vicenza.. They are a little more cold.. I ask them if they have interest in Jesus Christ... They walk away or say no.. We got to go at it at other angles or we will be trying that kind of an approach all day and get nothing done. Some things we have been trying. Finding on the street is a lot harder than when people are waiting for something.. A train.. A bus.. They are sitting on a bus.. They have time to talk to us.. So we try to find in those scenarios.. If on the street we ask a lot of groups of people if they are interested in English class.. I ask Africans in Italian if they know a man named Marcus.. (Marcus from vercelli) (I don't have Marcus's # right now..) They usually don't know him.. I then ask them where they are from etc. we have asked some people to be baptized by someone holding the proper authority. They usually stop for that one... That's right you be interested now and stop and listen to us. We tried questora finding yesterday.. A questora is where foreigners go for documents.. You have to wait forever.. We decided to just go sit down.. Or wait in line and talk to people.. (We don't need documents).. Worked pretty well.. We had a lesson with a guy and got his number.. Definitely extremely hilarious to me. Something different and funny. Anyways the guns are blazing.. Anziano Keller has been out almost a year and a half.. So we both know what we are doing and going hardcore.
We had one legit investigator when I got here. Two others who are semi legit who we have each met with once. Friso is an older man who is super love able and kind.. He liked to paint as a hobby and he bikes to nearby cities traveling long distances. He is retired and is super humble.. He should be baptized within a few weeks. We don't have a ton of investigators so we are changing that and making our own work.. Definitely what I wanted after being stuck inside for a while.
There is an American base here so there is an American ward. We ate with the Zitermans Thursday evening when I got here. They moved into a nicer Italian looking apartment recently. We helped them move some furniture. We had some pizza afterwords. Sister Z then interviewed me.. The one question I remember was she asked me what three things I wanted in my wife. I said spirituality.. A mutual unconditional love which included a willingness to adapt.. And chemistry. Mike the husband is not a member.. They said they have the missionaries often.. They had already heard about the story of Anziano Gallis legs so that's really funny. The legend of Anziano Galli continues.
At night Vicenza is decently sketchy.. We were stopped by a guy asking for money which we can't as missionaries give.. He pulled out a knife and told us he didn't want to use this on one someone that night.. I told him I'd bring him food the next day.. He didn't like that and walked off.. Some cookies are waiting in my backpack to save our lives. There are some parks with some drug deals going on.. Etc.
This city makes up for all of it with how beautiful it is.. This city is Italy.. I will send some pictures etc. We are having a ball. Having some extremely good success. The guns are out and there are no prisoners in custody.
We are trying our best and I like to think our best can do really good when we are talking to people.. That my best can do it. It's a nice thought.. Well dang my best can do that. A mentality like that might help ya out.
I really liked conference.. It's scary how every talk is so good. It could be a bad omen. Don't procrastinate your repentance.. If only for the bad omens sake. When I talk to people I try to bring up how we have our church.. The restoration etc. about James 1:5 if any of ye lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given unto him. If we have a question we should ask God and he will answer us. If we need something we can ask him. I try to leave people regardless of how they take the lesson with that promise. I would invite you this week if you got a question or you are having a hard time etc
Use the promise.. As emperor Palpatine says.. You could tap into OMNIPOTENT POWER.
Do not go calmly into the night.
I hailo,
Anziano Gridley
What's this going to cost us? Huh. Cavallo.
I have arrived in the city of beauty.. And of sketchiness.. And of maleducato people. Finishing the time with Anziano Galli the train ride to Milano was good we both talked to some people.. He bought a bigger coat at the station.. Which was pretty funny.. Because it's kind of a big purchase and he just makes it very quickly and randomly.. He and Anziano Sanchez are doing good in vercelli.. Isabella and Godstime are still progressing well. I then got to ride a train more or less by myself to Verona.. Next to my home Trento. I talked to a lady that is involved in horses. She is Italian.. Lives in England... Believes in spiritual stuff.. She didn't go super in depth with me.. She was quite thin and over forty and not married.. We meet lots of different people. When I got in Verona talked to some people from Sydney Australia.. I have a feeling one of the members of our family served there I just can't remember who.. That's awkward. (Sto scherzando). They live near one of our churches.. Small world. Anyways..
We talked to a lady from Kiev Ukraine.. She is back in Ukraine now. She came to Venice to talk about conditions in Ukraine.. She was so sad. I felt really bad.. We tried to help her feel better.. I definitely felt sad afterwords for a little while. I guess things in Ukraine are really bad. Thought of grandma and grandpa low..
I got to meet my new companions. Anziano Keller and Anziano Olsen. Anziano Keller is kind of like crimson chin if you've ever watched fairly odd parents. He's got glasses and an incredible double chin. He's like Anziano Thomas... He's way to nice of a guy. I will be find with him. Anziano Olsen is a new Anziano he just got finished being trained. He is a small guy. He stayed an extra day to get his permesso the next day. Ok to kind of explain this once so it's not just an under toning thing. I definitely got sick of being inside the apartment with Anziano Galli. I was probably only 30% here and giving a 20% effort with finding new people. These aren't solid numbers they fluctuated. Anyways right now I'm giving it 100%.. Trying to talk to lots of people.. And trying to make up for some lost time.. Going home is not a good thing. So I'm talking to lots of people.
Here in Vicenza.. They are a little more cold.. I ask them if they have interest in Jesus Christ... They walk away or say no.. We got to go at it at other angles or we will be trying that kind of an approach all day and get nothing done. Some things we have been trying. Finding on the street is a lot harder than when people are waiting for something.. A train.. A bus.. They are sitting on a bus.. They have time to talk to us.. So we try to find in those scenarios.. If on the street we ask a lot of groups of people if they are interested in English class.. I ask Africans in Italian if they know a man named Marcus.. (Marcus from vercelli) (I don't have Marcus's # right now..) They usually don't know him.. I then ask them where they are from etc. we have asked some people to be baptized by someone holding the proper authority. They usually stop for that one... That's right you be interested now and stop and listen to us. We tried questora finding yesterday.. A questora is where foreigners go for documents.. You have to wait forever.. We decided to just go sit down.. Or wait in line and talk to people.. (We don't need documents).. Worked pretty well.. We had a lesson with a guy and got his number.. Definitely extremely hilarious to me. Something different and funny. Anyways the guns are blazing.. Anziano Keller has been out almost a year and a half.. So we both know what we are doing and going hardcore.
We had one legit investigator when I got here. Two others who are semi legit who we have each met with once. Friso is an older man who is super love able and kind.. He liked to paint as a hobby and he bikes to nearby cities traveling long distances. He is retired and is super humble.. He should be baptized within a few weeks. We don't have a ton of investigators so we are changing that and making our own work.. Definitely what I wanted after being stuck inside for a while.
There is an American base here so there is an American ward. We ate with the Zitermans Thursday evening when I got here. They moved into a nicer Italian looking apartment recently. We helped them move some furniture. We had some pizza afterwords. Sister Z then interviewed me.. The one question I remember was she asked me what three things I wanted in my wife. I said spirituality.. A mutual unconditional love which included a willingness to adapt.. And chemistry. Mike the husband is not a member.. They said they have the missionaries often.. They had already heard about the story of Anziano Gallis legs so that's really funny. The legend of Anziano Galli continues.
At night Vicenza is decently sketchy.. We were stopped by a guy asking for money which we can't as missionaries give.. He pulled out a knife and told us he didn't want to use this on one someone that night.. I told him I'd bring him food the next day.. He didn't like that and walked off.. Some cookies are waiting in my backpack to save our lives. There are some parks with some drug deals going on.. Etc.
This city makes up for all of it with how beautiful it is.. This city is Italy.. I will send some pictures etc. We are having a ball. Having some extremely good success. The guns are out and there are no prisoners in custody.
We are trying our best and I like to think our best can do really good when we are talking to people.. That my best can do it. It's a nice thought.. Well dang my best can do that. A mentality like that might help ya out.
I really liked conference.. It's scary how every talk is so good. It could be a bad omen. Don't procrastinate your repentance.. If only for the bad omens sake. When I talk to people I try to bring up how we have our church.. The restoration etc. about James 1:5 if any of ye lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given unto him. If we have a question we should ask God and he will answer us. If we need something we can ask him. I try to leave people regardless of how they take the lesson with that promise. I would invite you this week if you got a question or you are having a hard time etc
Use the promise.. As emperor Palpatine says.. You could tap into OMNIPOTENT POWER.
Do not go calmly into the night.
I hailo,
Anziano Gridley
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