July 24th... Last week of first transfer (6 weeks in Verona)

Well I've just begun the last week of my first transfer! I've already been here for almost a full transfer! Isn't that crazy? I'm almost not the new guy in the Italy Milan Mission!

Last week's P-Day was pretty fun! We went to the Torre dei Lamberti.  This is a tall tower in the middle of Verona, and it gives you a way cool view of all of Verona from within the city! It's way cool! I got some great pictures!  Next we went to Castello Vecchio.  It is a really old castle here in Verona.  It's mostly just a museum now filled with lots of really old paintings and statues, but you can walk around the castle and it's really cool. I got lots of cool pictures of it as well.

So last week was a tough one for me.  It is was what we call "The Fifth Week".  The roles of the senior companion and the junior companion switch! So last week I was in charge of making calls, leading us on the bikes through the city, and guiding us through daily and weekly planning.  I tell you what...I was stressed out!  I learned a lot about how much my companion does and it has made me realize how much I need to start helping! I learned a lot about where things are in the city.  Listening to Italians gibber on the phone and trying to understand what they say is even getting easier! I'm just glad to be the junior companion again.

This week, not a lot happened...probably because I didn't know where I was going most of the time. But I did have one miracle that happened!  I was on an exchange with my district leader, Anziano Haglund.  While he was here, he interviewed a young man for baptism (which is something I am excited to report about next week).  After we got done with the interview, I felt like we should go see a less-active that lived nearby.  Anziano Lovett and I had been trying to go and see this guy for the past month! We had planned to teach him the same lesson for the past month as well!  He never answered his phone and whenever we would drop by, he was never home, so it was very hard to get ahold of him.  But after this interview, I felt like Anziano Haglund and I should go see him.  Guess what? He was home! We taught a great lesson about church and the importance of it.  Unfortunately it was in English because he's from Ghana...maybe that's why the lesson was so good.  But he is preparing himself to come back to church and we're very excited...of course, Anziano Lovett was a little disappointed that he didn't get to meet with him after a month of waiting...but all is well.

Well that's my report of the week! Hope you are all doing well back in the States! Love you all! Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

A view from Torre dei Lamberti 

 The Staircase at Torre dei Lamberti

Cody and Verona!! 

Strange statue at Castello Vecchio

(New Italian Slacks and his side bag :)... awwww yeeeah!) 

 This museum was just full of statues and old paintings. It is crazy how many pictures there are of the crucifixion and scenes of christs' life. This is definitely catholic country. 

 Lots of armor and midievil stuff

Verona City straddles the Adige River  

Castle Vecchio

5th email from Verona, Italy

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Well another week come and gone!

Last P Day, Anziano Lovett and I decided to go do some shopping instead of our regular ventures.  In case you didn't know, the missionary dress code has been changed a little bit! Missionaries are now not allowed to wear backpacks! Kind of weird huh? The new missionary dress website is where we found out.  So last week, me and my companion bought side bags.  I'm not gonna lie...I feel rather feminine, but who knows? Maybe I'll learn to like it.  I also bought my first pair of Italian slacks...whew! They're pretty slick!

Well this week had some adventures! Friday I woke up with an upset stomach.  Yeah that wasn't cool because it was the day that we all got to meet President and Sister Dibb for the first time.  We went to the church and we had interviews, but I really wasn't feeling well after my interview...I had to make a trip to the bathroom...then I really didn't feel well after that but I had to persevere!  I sat through a 3 hour meeting.  The first couple of hours, really didn't get much out of it, but I was starting to feel better after during the last hour. For the rest of the day I was kinda achy but I never had to make another trip to the bathroom.

President and Sister Dibb are pretty cool! I'm excited to work with them.  I had a good long chat with Sister Dibb because she's from Preston, Idaho!  Small world right? We talked about the people we know and where we grew up! It turns out we didn't grow up to far from one another.  It's so cool! 

After this long meeting, I was able to go home a take a nap, but then we came right back because...I had to baptize someone! That's right I had my first baptism! I didn't actually teach the man.  The sorelle in our district taught him but because he didn't really know anybody yet, the sorelle asked me if I would baptize him! I was honored!  So I got to baptize someone and it was so awesome! His name is Daniel!

Well not much else happened this week.  But I'm super grateful for my family and friends! Thank you all for your love and support! Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

4th email from Verona, Italy

Wednesday; July 10, 2013

Salve tutti!

Well we had another great week! It was my first time being out of the country for the 4th of July...that was an interesting experience. No fireworks! But in my apartment, we have an elder from England...we had a blast singing him patriotic songs all day haha...I don't know if he enjoyed the 4th of July as much as we did.

Last week on P Day I got to eat some delicious pizza! One of the slices was similar to a pepperoni pizza but it was super delicious but my second piece was covered in Nutella! Haha it was awesome! Way too much chocolate but it was an interesting experience. We also went and saw a Catholic Sanctuary on top of one of the hills here in Verona. It was very old and pretty cool...but definately different. The view over the city was way cool from the hill.

One of the unique things that I've done this week is I've had the opportunity to sit down and talk about the gopel with some African Pentacostals. One of them is a minister! They know their Bible very well, but their beliefs are very similar to ours. They have a hard time with believing the Book of Mormon is also the word of God, but we've had some good discussions. We never argue with them..probably because they talk too much about everything they know...but all we can really do is bear testimony. I learn a lot from them.

My miracle this week is that we met an African man named Felix (yeah...we talk to a lot of Africans. The joke is "Mission: Baptize Africa"). Felix ran into LDS missionaries in Africa and he never joined the church but he reads The Book of Mormon and the Bible side by side and compares them. He loves the Tree of Life and he knows of the prophets Lehi and Nephi. It was soo cool to see that the gospel can be reached just about anywhere you go! But we met with him a second time and taught him the whole Restoration. We're excited for this guy. We hope to see and talk to this guy some more.

We're always looking for service opportunities! Especially when there's food involved. We went and helped a recent convert paint a wall in his house and then he made is lunch...holy cow! It was soooo good! I love the food here. We had a pasta dish that had zucchini in it and then he served tomatoes with mozzarella on some really good bread...mmmm!

Well that's probably enough for the week! Hope you all are doing well! Hope 4th of July was fun! Until next week! Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

3rd email from Verona, Italy!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Alrighty, another week passed! On Monday I realized that I have been a missionary for 2 months! Pretty crazy! I've also completed my second full week as a missionary. So last week for P Day. We went to the archives here in Verona where we have senior couples doing lots of work! They have a huge room full of books that have records full of marriages, births, and deaths and they have to take a picture of every page of every book with these really fancy cameras.  They have so many books to do! And they haven't even made a dent yet!  After this we went to San Pietro's Castle and looked over the city.  It was a very impressive sight! It was so beautiful!  After that Anziano Lovett and I took a walk up the hill and we found this cool trail that had walls on both sides.  Occasionally there was like a watch tower.  This trail high up enough that it was out of the smoke, the noise, and the people...which was a nice break.
As far as missionary work goes.  We had a rough week.  Anziano Lovett has been kind of sick and he has been getting tired really easy, so we took a couple of days to let him rest.  But this week we met with a new convert.  He is cool! We talked to him about temples and their importance. He just soaks everything in and he is so faithful! This next week we are going to help him paint a room in his house and that should be fun.  On that same day we were out doing house to house work and it started pouring! It was so crazy! The lightning and the thunder were awesome! We were able to talk to over 50 people that day! Most of them didn't want to listen to us, but it's amazing that we were able to talk to so many despite the rain.
One of my favorite parts of this week was when we met our newest investigator! Anziano Lovett wasn't feeling well so we were headed home.  On our way, I saw a Nigerian man sitting on a bench in a park.  He was smiling at us and kind of waving.  I knew Anziano Lovett didn't feel well but I told him we should go talk to him.  So we did! It turns out that he as spoken with missionaries before! We set up a return appointment and we taught him the Restoration two days later! We're headed back soon to teach the Plan of Salvation! I'm excited!
Another awesome thing that happened was the family I talked about last week, with the dad who's a member but the kids and wife are not, well we have a set a baptism date for the little boy and his sister is turning 8 on that same day so we're going to baptize her too! So cool! And the cool thing is that their dad gets to baptize them! I'm super stoked for this family.
Well that's most of my adventures for the week! Love you all! Ciao!
-Anziano Petterborg

Just living the dream!