December 3, 2014

Buon giorno tutti!
Well we have jumped into December!  Christmas is just around the corner.  What gift are you giving to Christ this year?

On sunday we had three baptisms!  That in itself is a miracle.  However, I think that just as important as the baptisms are the people that baptized them.  My companion baptized one of them, but we had two different members baptize the other two.  One of them has been recently reactivated.  It was great to see him in the water for the first time and exercise that priesthood authority that he is considered worthy to hold.  It was a special moment for a lot of members in the ward especially this once-less-active member's mom who came up and thanked us after the baptism.

Saturday Matteo is getting baptized! And on sunday we'll have four confirmations! Crazy miracles!  I'll let you all know how it goes.

Have a great week! Love you all! Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

November 26, 2014

Ciao tutti!!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!  I hope your holiday is happy and that you eat lots of turkey, potatoes, stuffing and whatever else gets placed in front of you:)

Matteo and Alice are married!!  The ceremony went really well.  I've seen an Italian wedding now.  It's nothing too special if that's what you're wondering.  Next step, baptism.

This week we were given a cool referral from one of the GANS in our ward.  She told us that she got a friend request from someone she didn't know and usually she woudn't have accepted it, but for some reason this time she did.  After she had accepted this young man that had sent the invited started talking to her and almost immediately the subject turned to religion.  This young man is from Nigeria and has recently come to Italy.  He wants to start attending a church and make some big changes in his life.  We're excited to start working with him especially since we have three Nigerian investigators that are getting baptized this sunday.

Well I don't have much else to say!  I hope you have a great week and a wonderful beginning to your holiday season!  Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

November 20, 2014

Ciao tutti!

Still working hard in Trieste!  We have a few great things happening in the next couple of weeks!  Sunday, our Nigerian investigators are getting baptized, monday Matteo and Alice are getting married, then Matteo is getting baptized on the 6th of December!!  Fun stuff!
So you may have noticed that my email arrived on thursday rather than on wednesday.  Well that's because yesterday, we had a multi-zone conference in Verona with Elder Fingerle of the seventy!!  He gave us lots of great council and trained us in several different areas.  It was a great conference!!

One of the things that Elder Fingerle talked about was improving in every field by 1% in order to hasten the work of salvation and he made a comparison to an English cyclist team that one the Tour de France a couple of years ago.  I had a memory pop into my head as he was talking to us.  When I was in high school and trying out for the soccer team, I remember my dad telling me, "When the coach tells you to jump..." And then I interrupted him, thinking I knew the answer, "I ask how high" And then my kind, gentle, and wise father said, "You ask him that on the way up".  All of us at some point or another have been called by the Lord to fulfill an assignment and we obeyed.  But do we ask "the coach" how high he wants us to go?  Only He can tell us how high, how far, in what way and where we need to carry it out.  I invite you all to ask our Heavenly Father where you can improve and how you can carry out your individual assignments better this week.

This week, one of our investigators that will be baptized on sunday, told me, "I wanted to bear my testimony in [family home evening] but I was scared." After I told him he should share the good feelings he had he told me that since he met the church, his life has been changed. He told me that since he has been coming to church on sunday and the various activities his faith in Jesus Christ has been stregthened a lot and that he never wants to leave.
Well I love you all!  Ciao!
-Anziano Cody Petterborg

November 12, 2014

Ciao tutti!!

Well just another chill week here in Trieste.  Things are moving right along.  Man, all of the investigators we have are getting baptismal dates...I guess we'll have to go find some more to set with...

This week already we have been able to set two baptismal dates.  They are two of our investigators that we have been seeing for a while.  Both of them have a great desire to change their lives and live according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We have lots to teach them still and the both have several things they need to change in their lives but their desire is pure and they are excited to make this step.  We set the dates for the 3rd of January so it will be a great way to start of the new year for them.

I have a thought for you all today.  I was reading in Matthew 7 today at the end of the chapter where it talks about the wise man and the foolish man who both built houses on different foundations.  And as we know, because of their different foundations they had different results when the rain finally came.  But the thing that stood out to me was that they had to build those houses. The wise man built his on the rock.  Building a house takes time and resources.  How much time and what resources do we use to build our "houses"?  And just as a house takes time to build, so does our testimony.  It doesn't come all at once but line upon line, precept upon precept.

Well that's all folks!  Ci sentiamo e vi voglio un mucchio di bene! Ciao! 

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

 

November 5, 2014

Ciao tutti!!

Hey it's my sister's birthday!!  Tell her Happy Birthday for me and give her a big hug if you see her :)

This week was kind of slow...except for sunday.  In sacrament we had an investigator in church for the second time.  It was fast and testimony meeting.  All of a sudden, he had the urge to get up and bear his testimony.  Well sort of...he got up and spoke about some really strange things.  One of them was that he believe in reincarnation...just like us!! What? Who's teaching this guy? Don't look at me! So needless to say, we got some funny looks from some members.  But that wasn't it.  After he had sat down, he stood back up and asked if he could say something else.  Well the bishop was telling him yes and the 1st counselor was telling him no so he just stood right there in the congregation and yelled over the crowd that he was willing to give massages to anyone that wants one.  Pretty exciting meeting.  Haha oh man the funny stories you acquire on your mission.

Well I better be on my way!  Love you all! Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

 

October 29, 2014

Ciao tutti!

Transfer news is here and I am staying another one in Trieste!  Woohoo!

We now have a total of 4 baptismal dates! 3 of them are men from Nigeria. We had set a date with them for the 8th of November but we were kind of worried that it was too soon. They don't know any members yet and we don't know if they are completely commited yet. After consulting with our ward mission leader, we decided to move their baptsmal date so that they have an opportunity to create a relationship with the ward members here and have an opportunity "to manifest by their works that they have repented of their sins."

Sorry for the short email this week! But I gotta run! Happy Halloween!!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg
 

October 22, 2014

Ciao tutti!

Lots to report this week. So I'll just get started.

 

On sunday we had 5 investigators in church!  It was a miracle!  3 of them were some african investigators that we found a couple of weeks ago.  The other two were an investigator and his friend who I will talk about in a minute.

Also on sunday, I met a returned missionary who served in Sweden.  He was just visiting our ward because he has some family there.  He saw my name and recognized it right away as Scandinavian.  He told my how to pronounce it (way to difficult to repeat) and told me what it means.  He said that Petter means Peter...obviously...and Borg means city or town.  So my name would mean town of Peter.  What the?!  Like Peter the Apostle?  Legit!!  Another thing he told me was that there are lots of Petterborgs in Norway and Sweden and that almost everybody speaks English there.  Definetly will have to go there to do some Family History after the mission!!

Last week, one of our investigators talked about a friend that he had given our number to.  His friend, Max, called us the next day and we set up an appointment.  In the first lesson, he told us how he had been an alcoholic for most of his life.  In the last years, he has stopped with Alcoholics Anonymous and really tried looking for a religious track.  He has tried Evangelists and Jehova's Witnesses but says that neither one of them made him feel right.  We talked about The Book of Mormon and how one could understand more deeply the power of the Atonement by reading and studying it's pages.  Max came to church on sunday and really liked it.  This may be our next big investigator.

We spent another P Day in Venice...yeah no biggy.  Really fun!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg