2nd email from Verona, Italy

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Well I finished my first week in the field. It's been fun! 
I think the jet lag has finally worn off! I feel much happier and much more awake!  Now I need to focus on understanding and speaking the language.  I think I learn a little bit more everyday.  It's really fun to just go around and talk to people.  They kind of give us weird looks when we come up and immediately ask them what their purpose in life is but we just smile and be friendly and that usually gets them to talk to us.My favorite people to meet with are a family who's dad just recently joined the church last transfer.  We still meet with him and he is awesome.  He has a strong belief in God and has great faith in Christ.  We are working on his son who is 9.  He comes to church everyweek and has some friends that are his age in the ward.  We will probably set a baptismal date with him sometime this week and he will be baptized by the end of this transfer.  There is also a daughter who is 7 but she turns 8 this month. We think it would be so cool to these two cute kids baptized on the same day.  The mom tells us that she is content with not being baptized but we really hope that she will see the inportance of this ordinance soon and have a desire to be baptized also.  She is very happy with her family's decision to go to church and be baptized though.  She has seen the happiness that comes from the gospel.  She came to church this last week.  It was so awesome to see this whole family sitting together in sacrament as a family.  We hope that as we expose this sweet lady to the spirit more she will want to be baptized one day as well.    This past week our ward had a Culture Night.  It was fun! Everyone brought a dish that represented where they're from.  You'd be surprised at how many South American members there are and African members also.  You'll be happy to hear that I represented Idaho very well! I made some delicious potatos haha! But every dish there was very good and it was fun to talk with members in a more casual setting.  Me and my companion talked a lot with some little kids in the ward.  Haha they're so fun to listen to.  I usually can't understand what they're saying but they don't care.  All I gotta do is smile and nod haha.  They speak Italian better than I do and it's just awesome.Last P-Day we were able to do some sight seeing.  We went to Piazza Bra.  There is cool mini coloseum thing that is very cool! I think they just call it the Arena.  We also went and saw the house of Juliet and the statue there and also the wall of love.  It was cool...but very touristy.  We spent some more time in this central area of a city.  I got to eat a Kebab for the first time and it was soo good! I also got some gellato...not my first time but still it was yummy.  Luckily all of this stuff is close to my apartment.  We walked through a mall sort of thing and saw some different buildings that have some cool artistry on them.  I hope all is well back in the United States!  It's sure fun over here! Well until next week! Ci sentiamo! Ciao!
-Anziano Petterborg




A Kebob. (Whatever that is!) Yum!!!

Cody and his companion at a marketplace.

1st email from Verona, Italy

Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2013


Salve da Italia!!!
Wow! I've seen and done so many things since I wrote last! So we left the MTC on tuesday of last week.  We left early tuesday morning and caught the FrontRunner to the airport.  Everything went according to plan.  We got through the gate and I was able to call my mom for the first time in a while and it was so great! While waiting at the airport I learned that Sister (Laken) Hemsley was flying on the same plane as I was to Dallas, Texas! Kind of a small and crazy world.  We flew to Dallas and then I called everyone else.  I talked to all of my family and some other special people ;) And it was so good to talk to each of them again for a bit.  We then flew a long flight to London.  It was so long and exhausting.  Our plane arrived late to London.  And we missed our plane to Milan.  But! We were able to schedule another flight later in the evening.  We got to spend some time in the London Airport.  We eventually ended up leaving London airport at 6:30 pm.  So we spent about 5 hours there in London, just wandering around the airport and occasionally trying to take a nap.  Well we did eventually make it to Milan at about 9:30 pm.  It took us forever to get out of the airport but President Wolfgramm met us there and it was awesome to see his and wife's smiling faces to greet us.  We went to a hotel, had some late night pizza and finally got to bed a little after 11:00.  I was so tired. The next day, we went to a church building in Milan where we had some orientation and we got our trainers and our first cities! My trainer's name is Anziano Lovett.  He's a pretty studly missionary.  He's been here for 2 transfers, so he's only a little less green then I am but I've already learned a lot form him.  He is very obedient to the mission rules and he works very hard.  He keeps me on my toes and he's made me exhausted.  My first city is Verona! Romeo and Juliet country! The city is very pretty.  There's lots of old architecture and especially lots of people.  We ride bikes everywhere we go. It's very hot here and I'm pretty sure I've sweated here more than I have in my whole life! It's ridiculous!  But we've talked to lots of people already.  I've already seen miracles in people's lives.  I'd like to share one story.  A man named Piero has been seeing the missionaries for I think three months now.  We visited with him the other day for the first time.  He had lots of questions but we taught a good solid lesson (by that I mean my companion and a member that we brought taught a good solid lesson).  After some talking we invited him to be baptized.  He told us he will have a hard time quitting smoking, but it sounds like he is going to make a solid effort to stop this month and possibly be baptized next month! Pretty crazy! I still don't understand a lot of what people say but you can always feel the spirit.  I haven't been able to take many pictures but today is P Day, so hopefully I can get some sent next week.  Well that's enough for this week.  Hopefully I'll have more time to share some more stories next week. And some pictures! Love you all! Vi voglio bene! Ciao!
Anziano Petterborg

                                           Cody and his trainer, Anziano Lovett.
                                                       1st day in Italy!!

                                             Outside his 1st apartment in Verona.

Cody, Christ Nartker, and Baylee Nash. All from Preston! 

Cody's second email for everyone, and this was from his last week at the MTC.
Enjoy!!

Wednesday; June 5, 2013:

Salve mie amice e famiglie!

I'm down to my last week of the MTC! I leave here on the June 11th.  We leave the MTC at 5:50 in the morning and ride the FrontRunner to the airport.  Our plane leaves at 12:30 from Salt Lake City and we have a 3 hour flight to Dallas, Texas.  In Dallas, we have a 3 hour layover until we board a plane to go London, England.  It's a 15 hour flight, I believe!  Kinda cool to be in London, but we'll only be there for an hour before we jump on a plane and have another 3 hour flight to Milan, Italy!  We will get there at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  Pretty cool!

 

I'm not sure how much my mom has shared with everyone but I'll try to update what has happened in the last 6 weeks.  Learning Italian has been very difficult! I think I shared how my companion and I told our investigator that Joseph Smith prayed in a tree house haha.  But there's been lots of other difficulties along the way.  Haha I still can't speak it very well but I suppose I will manage.  My teacher tells us that we really don't learn how to speak Italian in the MTC and that it comes when you get there and are speaking with the people.  Speaking of Italians!  Yesterday my district got to go to a Skype room and talk with real live Italians!  It was probably one of the coolest things I've done here! My companion and I talked to a teenage member over there named Pearl.  She was cool.  It surprised me because I could understand a lot of what she said!  I wondered if she was just talking really slow for us...I'm pretty sure not everyone in Italy will be that nice :)

 

Another cool thing that happened while I was here was that we got to listen to Elder Russel M. Nelson! He gave a really good talk! It was so cool to hear from an apostle! In his talk he kinda told us how we are like doctors of the soul.  People go to a doctor to fix things that hure on their body.  A doctor of the body asks, "Where does it hurt?".  As members of the church, and more specifically missionaries, we have a duty to help people with their spiritual problems.  The gospel is here to help in times of trouble and spiritual injuries.  As missionaries, we ask, "What are your hopes, dreams, and desires?" When we know how we can help, we become more effective teachers!

 

My companion's name is Anziano Baker.  He's from Saint George, Utah! He's a pretty cool guy and we get along pretty well!  He has a pretty impressive story.  His family isn't active in the church.  He grew up with friends who weren't the greatest examples and he was often exposed to drugs.  One day he told me he didn't have a testimony of The Book of Mormon and he didn't even know if it was true.  I expressed this to one of my teachers and he told me that Anziano Baker could be my first investigator.  I challenged him to go ahead and pray about The Book of Mormon even though he hadn't finished it yet.  A couple of weeks later he told me that he had prayed about it and he had a recieved a witness of his own.  It was so exciting to hear this from him! We have taught some excellent lessons and I'm gonna miss him as we go separate ways when we get to Italy.  We've had the opportunity to teach five different investigators.  Each one of them have been a different adventure haha but we've become pretty good at cave-maning our lessons haha.

 

My district is also awesome! We're basically family! We've had some good times! There are four Anziani and four Sorelle. All of them have pretty incredible stories.  Last sunday I had the opportunity to become their district leader.  That has been an adventure in itself!

 

Well that's pretty much it! Not much happens in the MTC! I'm sure I will have many more stories when I get to the field.  Well...back to work! If you have any questions feel free to email me.  I get lots of emails but I try my best to answer them.  My mom gets lots of emails and letters from me with all of my stories, so feel free to ask her too!  Alrighty! Ciao! Ci vidiamo!

 

Vi voglio bene!

-Anziano Petterborg

Sorry guys, we are just trying to get this blog started. So for now, (until we get it going), it may be a little mixed up.

So to start off here is Cody's very first email that he sent during his first week at the MTC.

Wednesday; May 8, 2013:

Hey Family and Friends!

 

I can't believe I've been in the MTC for a week! Days go pretty slow and it feels like I've been here for months! But it hasn't been a bad thing, after the first couple of days, things started to feel a little more comfortable.  My first day, I was taken straight to my classroom and I met my teacher.  He wouldn't speak English to us and it freaked me out!  A week later I can understand a little better, but Italian is going to be a challenge for sure.  My second day here, me and my companion were given an investigator who also spoke no English.  It has been so hard to communicate with her but it has been a good experience.  My companion and I burn off the calories we consume in the cafeteria by acting out our lessons.  When we do attempt to speak Italian, we don't make much sense.  I'm pretty sure we told her that Joseph Smith prayed and saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in a treehouse.  When we wanted to teach her how to pray, my companion accidentally asked her if we could teach her how to fly.  But we really have made some progress.  It makes me feel so good when she says, "Capito" which means she understands.  I spend a lot of time in class; usually about 6 hours everyday.  It's kinda tough but I feel like I'm learning a lot.  The Spirit is everywhere here at the MTC.  It's in every classroom and every conversation and that has been a great experience in itself.  My favorite experience, however, occured just yesterday.  One of the sorelle (sisters) from our district had an allergic reaction to something she ate.  She ended up in the emergency room at 2 in the morning with a nasty rash.  The doctor put her on an IV for a bit and sent her back with some medications.  All morning yesterday she was throwing up.  She went to talk to the medical people here at the MTC and they decided that she was assigned too high of a dose and it was making her very sick.  The sorelle in our district thought it would be a good idea if she had a blessing and they asked me and my companion to do it.  Neither one of us has had much experience, but my companion anointed the oil and I sealed and gave the blessing.  I'd never given a blessing to someone who was sick, especially not on the spot.  But it was so cool!  That very afternoon she came to class and she looked great!  She said she felt better too!  Heavenly Father is a God of miracles.  My companion's name is Anziano Baker.  He's from St. George and he's a pretty cool guy.  We're both a little quieter than everybody else but we are getting along good.  He was telling me the other day that none of his family is active in the church.  He's the only one!  That would be so hard for me and I am grateful for parents who raised me in the Gospel.  He had never received a blessing of any kind, let alone given one.  I just though that was very cool that he could step up and do that and he is great example to me.  I'm grateful for a father who is worthy of his Priesthood and was able to bless his family as often as we needed.  There are many in my district who came from much rougher circumstances than I did.  I have learned a lot from each and every one of them.  I have one Anziano and one Sorella who are recent converts to the church and that is amazing to me.  Well I better get back to work!  If you want to email me individually my email is cody.petterborg@myldsmail.net.  Love you all!

 

-Anziano Petterborg

 

The day of the drop off;  May 1, 2013

 

Cody's Zone!!

At the Provo Temple :)

Got to meet up with Joseph Seamons the first week they were at the MTC!

So far the MTC has been a great success!!!