June 18, 2014

Ciao tutti!!

Just another week in paradise.  Our miracle man has gone back to the United States for a month...but he has promised to meet the missionaries in New York and continue his progress.  He has a baptismal date for the 2 of August when he comes back to Trieste.  We are super excited!!

On monday, you'll never guess where I got to go back to.  Verona!!  I went there for a zone conference.  It was great to walk around my old city.  The conference was really good too.  They talked about Family History and how we can put that into our individual work.

This week we went to find our Mexican friends.  They live with a member of the church and are here studying at the University of Trieste for the summer.  We went to their house this week and ate pizza before jumping into a great lesson about the Restoration.  The spirit was strong and we promised blessings about how the gospel will bless the family.  The members that we taught the lesson with were great!!  They were able to bear strong testimony about how they joined the church and the blessings that they have seen

One day as we were out and about doing contacting down a trail in a beautiful grove, we heard a huge crack of thunder!!!  Next thing you know, we were getting drenched!!  We tried to stand underneath a tree...but it didn't do anything.  When you're a missionary, you get blessings for being out in the rain.Anziano Gardiner and I have come up with a scale for the rain.  The heavier it is, the better your wife is!!  After that day, I think I'll have a really good one...I sure wish it would rain some more...

Well gotta go!!  Love you all!  Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

June 11, 2014

Ciao tutti!

Well I'm about to hit another important mark on my mission.  Tomorrow marks a year in Italy!!  Time is going by so fast.  It's hard to hold on as time slips by.

This week we had to people come to church after severaly weeks of nothing.  The first one was our miracle man that we found a couple of weeks ago.  The other was a man that some members brought to church who we plan to begin teaching this week.  Both of them enjoyed it.  It was, however, stake conference.  They liked it anyway!

Things are going really well in Trieste.  We had a really good week last week and we're shooting for another good one this week.  Trieste is full of miracles and I love working here!

Vi voglio bene tutti!  Buona settimana!  Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

June 4, 2014

Ciao tutti!

Lots to report this week.  It really was a great week.  Our numbers didn't show it but we really did a lot!

Sunday, the Giro D'Italia finished here in Trieste.  Giro D'Italia is a big bike race that happens every year and is comparable to Tour Di France...I think that's how you write it.  In the middle of the city there were tons and tons of people to witness the end of this race.  Anziano Gardiner and I saw this as an opportunity to do some missionary work.  We stamped tons of pass along cards.  We each had a stack about 2 inches high....and we passed them all out.  Every single one.  Now we'll wait and see what happens.

On monday our ward did a hike.  It was beautiful and it was great to get out into the wilderness a little bit for some fresh air.  We had a couple of ward members bring friends that weren't members of the church.  We were able to explain a little about who we are and we have plans to try to see them this weekend.  Church activities are missionary activities!!

Yesterday we had an appointment with a man that we haven't known for very long.  We had taught him the first two lessons in a park that is close to his house.  Yesterday we asked if we could go to his house to teach him.  Luckily, his girlfriend and son were home.  They offered us dinner, so we had the opportunity to talk about who we were with the girlfriend.  After dinner we taught the restoration.  They both seemed on board!!  Really cool.  However, they both have a lot of problems that they have to sort out.  We will pray for these things and hopefully see some miracles happen in the next month! 

I would upload pictures of my adventures but the computer wouldn't allow it this week...maybe next week...

Well hope you all have a great week!  Love you all!  Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

May 28, 2014

Cari miei,

Trieste is beautiful!!  What a cool city!  And it is just full of miracles!  We see several everyday.

This week happened the greatest miracle of my mission so far!  Sunday night we were planning and we found a spot on the map that we had never explored before.  So we decided to check it out.  We climbed on a bus that we thought would get us close.  The bus took off up into the mountains in the middle of nowhere.  We had no idea where to get off.  I prayed that Heavenly Father would guide us to know where to get off and that this situation that we had gotten ourselves into would turn out to be a good experience.  We got off where we felt it was right.  We then pulled out the map and decided where we needed to go.  We had to do some wandering but we eventually got to a street that we thought would get us where we wanted to go.  The street was pretty much empty and we had to walk for a while.  Eventually we saw these men talking on the side of the road.  One of them left and the one that remained yelled out to us, "How are you?" in English.  We of course stopped to talk to him.  We found out that he knew about the church many years ago but didn't join for lack of time.  He has lived in Italy, New York, Switzerland.  He speaks 5 different languages.  He told us that he has read the Bible 30 times and the entire Book of Mormon once.  He thinks it is a fantastic book!  He says now that he's older and has more time, we would like to join our church.  I am super excited to see what happens with him in the coming weeks.

Last week for P-Day we went to a big cave called Grotta Gigante.  It was super cool!  I heard it's the biggest tourist cave in the world.  Cool stuff.

This week the ward had an activity where they invited African members of the church to present the African Culture.  It was super cool.  The sang and danced and then we ate some typical food.  Super good time.  Pictures attached!!

Well gotta go!  Love you all!  Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

May 21, 2014

Ciao tutti!!

Trieste is beautiful!!  I don't have much time to describe it this week...maybe next week!

This week, we finally got ahold of a referral that Anziano Gardiner has been try to reach for some time now.  He texted us sunday after church and asked us if we could see him that night.  So we did!  The lesson went pretty well.  He seems kind of nervous about talking to us, but our questions very well.  He accepted an invitation to see us again next week.  We also invited him to be baptized but he told us it was a little early.  We are excited to meet with man who seems ready for the gospel.

Love you all!  Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

May 14, 2014

Ciao cari!

Sorry for the delayed email for last week.  I logged out and forgot to send it.  So you get two emails this week.

So it's happening.  I am leaving my second city and I'm on to my third.  I am going to a city called Trieste.  For those of you who don't know, I am currently on the west coast of Italy.  Trieste is on the East coast of Italy.  Clear on the other side of the country!!  That's far away!!  But I have heard that it is a very pretty city and the members are great.  I'm excited to go.

Yesterday, Anziano Pinnock and I went to visit a new investigator that we found on scambio.  We taught the first lesson and everything went fine.  When it came time to give the baptismal invite, we did it.  Like most Italians, he told us that he had already been baptized into the Catholic church.  We explained the priesthood again.  He asked us, "So my baptism isn't valid".  I was a little worried about what would happen after we answered.  We answered boldly, "Yes, it's invalid".  He was actually pretty calm about it.  He said, "Va bene."  And that was it.  We set a date for the first Saturday in June.

Well I'm leaving Toscana tomorrow.  We've had a lot of good p days here...but I think Venice is in my next zone...no promises but I guess we'll see.

Love you all!  Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

May 7, 2014

Ciao tutti!

Well it's going to be a brief email because my time is about gone.

 The other day as we were about to walk into a member's home, a man rode up to us on his bike and started talking to us.  He asked us if we had a "Mormon Gospel".  I pulled out a copy of the Book of Mormon and handed it to him.  We explained what time church starts and and gave him our number.  That rarely happens.  It's amazing how Heavenly Father prepares people.  He said he would see us on sunday.

This week might be my last full one in Toscana.  I kinda think they're going to kick me out on transfer day.  But I loved my time in Toscana.  I learned so much here. 

Gotta go!  Love you all!  Ciao!