September 18, 2013

Ciao tutti!

Well another great week in Verona! Not really too much to report this week.

So the last couple of P Days have been really fun! Two weeks ago, I went with the zone leaders and my companion Anziano Lovett to Lago di Garda! Very beautiful! Last week, with my new companion, Anziano Burton, and the other new anziani that are living with us, we went to centro to see the Arena and Torre dei Lamberti.  It's all stuff that I've seen before but it's cool to see it again.  This morning, however, was awesome!!  We went and played soccer! We had 4 companionships! So it was 4v4 and it was super fun.  There was also a dirt bike trail close-by...we went jumped the bikes a couple of times haha.  It was fun to get some energy out and get a little dirty.

So not many miracles this week.  But! I did learn a good lesson! Anziano Burton and I planned one night to find a ragazza wearing a red sweatshirt. We set out the next morning to find her. We searched everywhere but didn't find her. We stopped to pray for help and continued our search. We found a couple women wearing red but not a red sweatshirt. We searched for a good hour and a half. We have decided that Heavenly Father has a sense of humor because at one point we walked out to this intersection and there were four or five people all wearing red shirts! So after much searching, we never found the ragazza. But I learned a lesson! We can't limit ourselves to just one person or people. There are so many people who are ready to hear the gospel and we need to talk to every one we meet. I think this is the lesson Heavenly Father wanted to teach me.

Well gotta get back to work! Love you all! Vi voglio bene! Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

New companion!! Anziano Burton 

September 11, 2013

Ciao tutti!

Whew I've started my third transfer here in Italia. Pretty crazy. I am now completely finished with my training as a new missionary and I'm a real missionary now! I got a new companion last thursday. His name is Anziano Burton. He's a pretty cool dude and we've already done great work together. I'm still here in Verona but I am working in a different in a different area and living in a new apartment. It's a great opportunity to learn more about this beautiful city!

So last week for P Day we went to the beautiful Lago di Garda. It is a large lake just north of here. It was so pretty and there is a castle on the shore and ancient Roman ruins. Unfortunately the internet point that I went to won't allow me to attach pictures...sad day. I'll get some sent home eventually.

The other day we met with a man from Sri Lanka that the sorelle had referred us to. He doesn't speak English very well...or Italian. It's very hard to teach him in a way that he understands. We brought a Book of Mormon in Singhala to give to him. After we had explained a little bit about the Book of Mormon, we were very unsure about what he understood. We asked him to read 3 Nephi 11:7 in his language. As he began to read, the spirit filled the room. It was like a light bulb turned on inside his head! We then showed him a picture of Christ appearing to the Nephites and he nodded and smiled as if he now understood everything. It's amazing how the Book of Mormon brings everything to light. Simply reading from it's pages can bring in a powerful spirit, even if it's in a language you don't understand.

Well gotta get back to work! Love you all! Ci sentiamo!

-Anziano Petterborg

September 4, 2013

Wow we started September this past week!! That's pretty crazy! That means that I've been a missionary for 4 months!  I've got only 20 left! I better use them wisely. 

So it is the end of the transfer.  Luckily I get to stay here in Verona! I will have to change apartments but I'm super glad that I get to stay in this beautiful city.  Anziano Lovett isn't so lucky...he is being transfered to Ancona.  That is a city much farther south.  I hear that it's pretty down there but the city is a lot smaller.  He'll get to open an area and train again.  Poor guy...good thing he is good at it!  My new companion is Anziano Burton.  I haven't met him yet but from what I've heard he is a pretty good guy so I'm excited for that.  Another 6 weeks in Romeo and Juliet country!

We didn't go anywhere for P-Day last week, unfortunately.  We did go to Lago di Garda today...but you'll have to wait til next week to hear about that!! It was really cool!

We had another slow week...not a lot to report this week unfortunately...however, I would like to share a spiritual thought.  One of my Zone Leaders shared this thought one morning as we were leaving the house.  In 3 Nephi 11, Christ appears to the people living in America.  He is introduced by God our Heavenly Father, "Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name-hear ye him." Heavenly Father expressed his appreciation for his son as he introduced him.  That could make us think, how would God introduce me?  We are all his children and He loves us very much.  But if he were to introduce you to somebody, would he say "Well, this is So-and-So...he's...well...good luck."  I challenge all of us to take an accounting on where you stand with God.  Alma chapter 5 is a great reminder to us all.  Heavenly Father loves each of His children more than any of us can know.  He wants us to reach our full potential and knows how to help us reach that potential.

Well I gotta get back to work! Love you all! Ciao!

Spent some time with my friends before the next transfer!

Went to Lago di Garda

Made a trip to an Army Base in Vicenza & bought peanut butter and other good stuff!

August 28, 2013

Ciao tutti!

Things seemed to have slowed down here in Verona a bit.  We have slowly lost a lot of our investigators unfortunately.  However, it has given us a chance to reevaluate and see what we really want in an investigator.  It has given a chance to kind of start fresh.  So, we have been doing lots of finding work the last couple of days and really searching out referrals from our members.

So last P-Day we decided there isn't much else left to see in Verona...so we really didn't do anything to fun to report.  We just ran some errands and stuff.

This week had a couple of experiences that I would like to talk about.  On thursday, all of the district leaders had to go to a meeting in Milano, including my companion Anziano Lovett.  In our zone, all of the district leaders have brand new trainees who are in their first transfer (I'm in my second) and so all of the trainees had to go some where while their trainers are at this meeting.  Well, that leaves me as the most "experienced" and I ended up in charge of two really green missionaries for the day.  Luckily, we met with mostly Africans that spoke English, but we did have to do some finding work and we had to use Italian for that...it really put my Italian to the test...but it was a really good experience! I really helped me to see where I'm at and what I can improve on.

My other story I want to talk about is a miracle that we had.  A couple of days ago, my companion and I were doing some finding work. While we were out and about, a really prized investigator texted us and told us that they didn't want to meet with us at all this month and that they preferred that we didn't send them text messages every now and then. We were very disappointed but we quickly said a prayer to make sure that we kept up our spirits and we asked that we could find someone else to take their place. The next doorbell that we rang, a lady answered the citofono and let us in. She said we couldn't meet with her right then but she had heard of the church and wants to learn more! She has a husband and two kids and we are super excited to teach them this coming friday.

Well sorry for the really long email this week! Love you all! Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

August 21, 2013

Hello again from Italy!

Well the work is having a slow start from last week's holiday, but we're excited to hit it hard this next week!  Everyone should be coming back to town and be ready to hear our message.

So in the Utah/Idaho area we have what is called "Temple Hopping". It's where you go and try to see a bunch of different temples in Utah within a single area.  However there are not any temples in Italy (yet) but there are lots of old Catholic churches! Especially here in Verona!  So last week for P Day we did some "Church Hopping".  We went and saw about four different churches here in Verona.  All of them are very ornate and beautiful...and kinda creepy at the same time.  One of the churches that we went to was the Duomo of Verona.  They were having some sort of mass going on there.  We watched for a bit out of curiosity but we decided it would better if we just left...

I mentioned how this week kinda slowed down as far as finding people because of the holiday.  However, it was our best week for getting new investigators! We got four new investigators this week!  Pretty stinkin cool!  I would like to tell you about 3 of them...because they're a family.  A couple of weeks ago we met a boy in a park. He stopped us and asked us if we were American in English. We told him we were and we stopped to talk to him for a bit. He told us that he was born in the United States and that he had been living here in Italy for most of his life with his grandma, his mom, and his two sisters. About a week later, we saw him walking down the street and we stopped to talk to him. He invited us to his house for a drink of water. We visited with the whole family for a bit and set up a time when we could come back and talk about our message. Our first lesson was so awesome and the whole family has a desire to read The Book of Mormon and learn more about our church. Because there is not a man in the house, we will have to pass them to the Sorelle but they are such an awesome Italian/American family and we're excited to see their progress.

Well gotta get back to work! Love you all as always! Ciao!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

Homemade Apple Pie yummy!  Thank You Elder and Sister Mann!

It isn't very Often that you see pictures of Christ in Gethsemane in Italy

We made it in the newspaper!  A new bike path in Verona.  The members were excited to share this with us!

August 14, 2013

Hello everyone again!  Everything is really good here in Verona.  It gets pretty hot some days but it rained today and I hope that cools things down a bit.  The work is acually moving kinda slow in Verona right now.  This week there is a big holiday here in Italy called Feria Agosto.  All the stores close down and everybody leaves town for a week!  It is difficult to find people to teach.  It narrows things down to Africans and Sri Lankans but va bene we can't keep the gospel from them!

For P Day last week we went to the Resurrecturis.  It is a big cemetery here in Verona with lots of old statues and pictures.  It was really big! My favorite part of the cemetery was the entrance.  It had some really cool statues on it.  One of the statues looked strangely a lot like the Angel Moroni.  Kinda cool. 

So like I said before, the work has kind of slowed down for this week.  But that doesn't stop the miracles!  One of the less actives we have been working with finally came to church!!  It was soo cool to see hime there.  I don't know if I've told you his story so I'll go ahead and tell you about him.  About a year ago he had a stroke.  It made it really difficult for him to get to church because half of his body was paralyzed.  He has been going to therapy and has actually made a huge recovery! That is a miracle in itself!  He takes really long walks everyday to keep the muscles loose.  For the past couple of months, we have been inviting him to come to church.  He is hard to catch at home because he's always walking and he never answers his phone.  But we try to meet with him as often as we can.  We have had some awesome lessons with him.  I was so excited to see him at church! And he was able to sit by some of our African investigators and explain to them what was going on.  We hope that he continues to come.

I hope everyone is helping the missionaries wherever you live! It sure helps when we have the help of our members.  Our lessons are so much more spiritual when we have the testimony of a member.

Well I gotta get back to work! Ciao tutti!

-Anziano Cody Petterborg

This picture is actually from last week, but it's of Cody and his companion after a big rainstorm!

August 7th, 2013

Well another week come and gone here in Verona. It's getting so hot here! We've been told that August is the hottest time of the year. I'm pretty sure that it gets up above 100° F at least once a day here and humidity makes things very sweaty. But! All is well here! The work is still moving along!

Last week for P-Day, we went to the Basilica of San Zeno here in Verona. It was a really cool building! Lots of old paintings on the walls and the doors had brass or bronze images of a bunch of different Bible scenes. I was really surprised to see how big and spacious it was inside. There are lots of old buildings and churches like that here.

So a few weeks ago, my companion and I were passing by a less active member. While we were waiting for an answer to the door, I noticed a man in his car, stopped at a stoplight, looking at us kinda funny. I waved at him and he shouted back, "Siete Mormoni (Are you guys Mormons)?" I answered back, "Sì!" By then, Anziano Lovett turned around to see who I was talking to. The man asked if we had an English class and we told him that we did. Anziano Lovett then ran across the street and gave him the information about our English class. The next week at English class, he showed up with his fiance. They are super nice! The following week after English class (we always share a spiritual thought at the end) the woman came up to us and expressed that they would like to learn more about our church and that they would like to attend church. They were talking to the right people! We didn't see them for a couple of weeks, but they came last night. We were able to talk to them some more about setting up an appointment and we will be seeing them tonight! We are super excited! English class miracles!!

Well that's all folks! Love you all!

Ciao!!

-Anziano Petterborg