July 2, 2014

Ciao tutti!!
Well another week runs on by.  Kinda crazy how time is flying.  I've only got 10 more months to work my heart out.  Happy 4th of July!!  I don't know what I'll do to celebrate...maybe make hamburgers or something American.

The other day, we didn't have much to do.  In the morning, we called some people.  We were able to contact a less active that we have been wanting to see and he told us that we could come that afternoon to see him.  When we got to his house, you could tell that times were rough.  His house was very scarce of furniture.  He has one daughter who is disabled and can't do anything for herself.  Her lifeline is her dad.  It really touched me.  You could tell just looking at his house that he gave everything he had to make sure his daughter was taken care of.

My companion and I had quite an exciting experience this week.  We were down the road in the mountains.  On one side there were houses and on the other a thick forest of trees.  All was quite when all of a sudden we heard what we thought to be a lion's roar!!  My companion stuck around to fight but I was out of there running at top speed.  When I got ahold of myselft, we looked a little closer.  There was a wild boar and her baby milling around in the bushes.  We stuck around to see what they'd do.  The eventually decided we weren't worth eating and took off in the other direction.  Whew...that woke us up!  Cinghiale...that's how you say wild boar in Italian...

Love you all and have a great 4th of July!  Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

June 25, 2014

Ciao tutti!!
Well transfers have come and gone again.  I received the news yesterday that I will be staying here in Trieste for the next transfer.  And so is the rest of my district!!  So not too many changes, but were excited to keep plugging on!

This week we went to find a couple of investigators we havn't seen in a while.  We got lost a couple of times finding one and ended up getting closer to the other.  When we finally got to where we wanted to go, we knocked on the door and what do you know, one of our less-actives was also in visit to this particular investigators of ours.  We got to sit down with the less-active and the investigator.  We were able to set a return appointment.  Hopefully this will be a double-whammy.  Less-active reactivation and a baptism.

I ended up doing two scambi this week.  My first one was with our zone leaders.  I was paired up with Anziano Lovett who also happens to be my trainer.  It was a good scambio and we worked hard to find people.  One particular miracle was a woman we found on a park bench who wanted nothing to do with us.  We talked about her concerns and tried to confort her with personal stories and scriptures.  My other scambio was with Anziano Christensen.  We ended up teaching an investigator that we haven't seen in a while.  We taught him about the importance of the Book of Mormon.  We even invited him to be baptized.  He couldn't commit to a date because he's going out of town.  But he told us that he would do it when he received his answer.

So today for P-Day, we finally made it to Venice!!!  I've been there!  It was really cool.  The only downer was that it rained the whole time we were there.  But we bought some umbrellas and ponchos to stay dry.  Yep!  Venice is as pretty as they say it is!!

Well gotta go!  Love you all!  Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

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