November 26, 2014

HELOOO!

Ciao, 

This week was a pretty normal week, nothing too crazy happened. It was still a very good week though:) We met with a couple of our investigators and less-active members that we are teaching and had really good lessons with each one! We also watched the new "He is the Gift" video on Lds.Org which is pretty cool :) I got to teach the training for District meeting this week which was pretty cool! Our district is actually a pretty old district in the sense that we are all nearing the end of our mission and so i decided to teach about "Diligence". It went really well and we had a really good district meeting! (I learned that the best way to do district meeting is by bringing candy to give to the people who answer questions and participate haha it worked like a charm). 

Well we are still working with Sara, the little 8 year-old girl who is getting baptized the 20th of December. She is soooo funny!!! Her and her mom are from the South of italy and totally talk like southerners with all their slang and sass and just all around crazy personality haha we have a good time to say the least :) Sara is so great though, she already knows so much and every night she reads the BoM and Bibble... FOR FUN! I never would have guessed it because she isn't like an anti-social girl or anything at all, more like the opposite but she just LOVES to read the scriptures haha pretty cool!

Well we are working with a couple other people right now, one lady and one man but niether of the two are making a whole lot of progress... we'll keep working hard with them though and hopefully God will soften their hearts :9

Ok well tomorrow is Thanksgiving and unfortunately here in Bologna none of the members are american except for one family but they are going to be busy i suppose.... so we are just going to celebrate thanksgiving by ourselves by making mashed potatoes and eating chicken since turkey here is wayyy too expensive. It'll be fun :)

Ok well that is pretty much it! Hopefully next week i'll have a good story to tell you :) Talk to ya then, ciao cari!

-Anziano Delgado

PICTURES from Torino and Bologna

with Anziano Ferradini and an Investigator in Torino

Tower of Bologna

Ducati Factory

Views from Tower over Bologna

with Anziano Oz

with group from MTC at Zone Conference

November 20, 2014

CIAO!

Well yesterday we had an AMAZING combined zone conference with a member of the 70 Elder Fingerle. He and his wife came to give us a little instruction on how we can better improve the success in our mission. His entire lesson was all about 1% improvements on all that we do and how even little changes can make a huge difference. It is so true! It was also great because i got to see some people that i havent really seen since the mtc and got to catch up with them which was REALLY nice :)

 So this week we met with our new investigators and so far only one of them seems to want to make good progress but that is better than nothing :) We taught another couple lessons to the little girl who is going to be baptized the 20th of December and had a great time with that! We taught her about obedience to God and the prophets and then we taught her the 10 commandments and why they are so important. We did a really cool visual lesson with an empty tea pack and a lighter. We folded the tea pack open and stood it on top of her hand and then lit the top of it on fire. We told her to have faith in us and not to move her hand because when the flame would reach her hand it wouldn't burn her. When the flame got down right about to touch her hand all of a sudden it flew up into the air and she never got burnt :) It was really cool hahaha she made us do it like 5 more times :p

Fortunately we didn't have any encounters with any drunk dudes with handguns this week but we DID get to go to VERONA! It is sooo beautiful. We went there for the conference and so we didn't really have time to tour the city or the colosseum but we did see them as we drove by it in the bus on the way to the church :) It was awesome!

So my companion and I are convinced that sister missionaries need to learn how to do simple around-the-house things. So when we got to our apartment there were so many things that needed to be fixed. 1)the shower head was busted and water squirted EVERYWHERE when you turned it on. so we had to buy a new one... 2) The shower curtain was half torn/a couple loops were not attached (simplest fix ever)... 3) ALL the handles on the cooking pots were way loose and about to fall off (screw driver...done).... 4) the legs on the bed frames were supposedly "broken" but all they needed to do was flip it over and tighten some screws... 5) this doesn't have to do with the others but there is GIRL HAIR EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! hahaha i feel like instead of putting laundry detergent inside the washing machine the sisters just decided to scrub a cat with soap and throw him in there as a sponge or something! SUPER NASTY! 

So yea, my companion and I have been making a lot of sister jokes lately because of all of the "broken" things around our house haha (of course we still love the sisters though :) ). 

Well ill send you guys some pictures now since i did bring my camera this time, yayyyyy ;) ciao, talk to you next week!

-Anziano Delgado

 

November 12, 2014

CRAZY WEEK!

Ciaooo!

Ok well this week has been very good and VERY interesting ha. So to start off ill tell you about the work and how much it is improving. This week we got 3 new potentials and numbers, 1 new investigator, 2 new less active members that we are teaching, and 1 baptismal date! We are having such a better week than the past ones it is great :) We are doing a lot more pass by's and proselyting along the way and Heavenly father keeps putting us in the right place at the right time. So that is going really well, my companion and i are getting a long much better now and all is looking up!

Ok so last thursday an interesting thing happened to my companion and me. After teaching english class at the church we got on a bus to head to the center of the city so that we could take another bus there that takes us to our apartment on the other side of the city. We got on the bus and there was a man standing on the inside of the door who smelled like beer and was talking to the driver. We walked passed him and sat down behind to other ladies. At a certain point i felt a tap on my shoulder from one of the ladies. When i turned around i saw that her face was VERY preoccupied and nervous. She told me that the man up front talking to the bus driver had a PISTOL in his jacket and that she and her friend by her both saw it with their own eyes! They were freaking out and shaking from nerves. I was very caught off guard and didn't know how to react so i tried to get them to calm down a little and that we would get off at the next stop and that if they wanted to they could get off with us. they agreed. All of a sudden, almost as if the drunk man with the pistol (very tall and very large statured) turned around and walks up to where we are and yells to us and the rest of the 6 or 7 people that were on the bus saying (in a very drunk italian) "Ok from now on I am your guys conference and if you do what i say then everything will be fine." Then the stop came and me, my companion and the two younger ladies got up to leave the bus. The man however decided to leave his "conference" and follow us off the bus! When we got off he started talking to my companion and i asking us where we were going. We told him that we were just going to the center of the city. I then asked him where he was going... he said,I'm going wherever you go." by this time the two younger ladies had already gone their own way. It was obvious that he was VERY drunk and as we were walking down the streets he was yelling out loud the most random things and cussing out people as they walked by us. My companion and i were trying to think how in the world we would get rid of this guy because if we just ran we feared he would just pull out the gun and shoot so we had to do it while he wasn't looking somehow. When we got to the bus stop that we had to take to get home i told him "okay we are going to visit a friend that lives a little far away and we can go by ourselves seeing as how we aren't little kids and don't need help getting there". He said, " no no you guys are of the church and i want to "make sure you get there safe" so i'll go there with you. I insisted that we didn't need help and he started to understand that we thought he would do something to us so he gets close to me and looks me in the eyes and says, "what are you going to punch me in the face?" I didn't want to make a drunk man get mad or anything so i said no, he also said then that nor would he punch me so all is well. Of course that didn't really make us feel at ease however. Then all of a sudden, as if it were God sent, a street vender came up to the man and tried to sell us things. the drunk man was distracted while playing with the laser pen that the vender sold so we took advantage of the opportunity and BOOKED IT! We ran and ran until we were farrr from being found from him. 

CRAZY RIGHT?!?!?!?!?!?!

that one went in the journal hahahaha. 

Well all is well and Heavenly Father really looked out for us on that one. Okay I have no more time to write haha but don't worry mom im fine and if we see him again im sure heavenly father will help us out again :)

Love you guys and cant wait to hear from you next week! Yes i will have pictures next week :) Ciao!

-Anziano Delgado

November 5, 2014

A GOOD WEEK!

Ciao!

Ok well unfortunately i dont have much time to write this week because i had to fill out a huge missionary survey that took most my emailing time, sorry! Well this week was really good! We got a few new investigators, some from the sisters that left and some from our own efforts doing proselyting. 

My new companion is Anziano Bingham from Utah and he is about half way finished with his mission. He is a pretty cool kid and is very hard working. We get along pretty well and im really excited for this transfer! :) 

This week we also moved into a new apartment that is way on the other side of the city so a good amount of our time was spent just trying to figure out how to get around haha. But in the end it worked out well because we talked to some people along the way and we got a new investigator from it! Now we also know all of the shortcuts of the city and we also know which dark alleys NOT to take haha there are some craazzy people out at night.

Ok well unfortunately i have like no time to write so here is my new address and I hope to hear from you next week! love you guys! Ciao :)

-Anziano Delgado

October 29, 2014

TRANSFERS!!

Ciao!

Well this week has been a little rough and weird unfortunately. My companion and I have been trying really hard to find new people to teach but we just can't seem to find anyone and we have done almost everything that we can think of. We were able to meet with Lukebana though which was really nice. Unfortunately he wasn't able to come to church but the next lesson we are going to talk about why doing the little things like reading, praying, and coming to church consistently is so important. 

So my companion Anziano Warren and I are really getting along well and everything was going great but saturday we got the call for transfers and Anziano Warren will be going to La Spezia tomorrow. We were having a really good time and we really helped eachother keep our heads up through this rough time of no investigators which was really nice because usually missionaries get really on edge and depressed when there is no one to teach.

My new companion will be Anziano Bingham who is a couple months away from his year mark. The cool thing is that we will be getting our own apartment instead of living in 4 with only one bathroom so that will be REALLY nice haha.

Well unfortunately today all of the internet points that we went to are having maintenence done on them except for this really really cheap one that doesnt even have usb outlets so i cant get any photos to you this week but next week the guy we normally go to for internet said that all would be up and running much better than before :)

Ok well thanks for all the photos and emails! Halloween is coming up and friday we will be having a party in the church which will probably be a really small one but im sure we will have a lot of fun :) Ok i love you guys and hope to hear from you next week! Have a fun Halloween! Get a lot of candy Dallin! ;)

 -Anziano Delgado

October 22, 2014

WELAA!!!

Ciao cari miei,

Well this week was pretty good here in the beautiful city of Bologna. We met and had a good lesson with Lukebana and he finally found work which is so great! So the bright side is he is now looking a lot better financially but already he has had to reschedule appointments with us twice since now he is pretty busy... hopefully he can find time for both work and us! 

So we have constantly been doing proselyting work here and so far we have been completely skunked and haven't found anyone who wants to set up a real appointment. The people here are really nice and open to talk to about stuff but when the topic of religion comes up they close right up and want nothing to do with it which is really unfortunate. But it's alright because my companion and i are determined on finding and teaching and we both have enough experience in the mission to not get down from little things like that :) We are actually going to focus more on less active pass by's this week and just doing proselyting on the way between pass by's and hopefully be in the right place at the right time! fingers crossed ;)

Well last week we did go see the Ducati Factory which was pretty awesome, and today we climbed up the HUGE tower in the center of Bologna. I got some really cool pictures of both and i'll send them all to you next week since i have been saving up a good amount of pictures by now haha. 

Well i don't have any SUPER funny stories this week but i guess recently i have been talking A LOT in my sleep and sleep walking every now and then hahahaha. I was on an exchange with the District leader who is from my group in the mtc and at about 4 in the morning i woke up (totally half asleep still) and looked over at the foot of Anziano Lewis's bed and "saw" a HUGE snake like the size of an anaconda! So i didn't want to wake up Anziano Lewis and have him freak out so i said "Hey... hey anziano lewis.... there is a balloon on the end of your bed.... yea there is a balloon on the end of your bed hurry look!" hahahahahaha i didnt want him to freak out if i said there was a snake so i just said there was a balloon hahaha. But then like 5 seconds later i realized that i was sleep talking and woke up and was super embarrassed haha it was good. :)

Well that's pretty much it hahaha, hope to hear from all of you next week! ciaooooo!

-Anziano Delgado

October 15, 2014

MIRACLES IN TORINO!

Buongiorno cari miei!

Well this week was pretty great! My companion and i were able to meet twice with our investigator lukebana and teach him some really great lessons on the life of christ and his teachings and how proper authority is so important when we do ordinances like baptism. He actually is not baptized in any church but he has now understood the importance of doing so and is really praying hard to know if it is the right thing to do. I promised him that i am sure he will recieve an answer from God if he prays with a sincere heart and full faith that God will answer him. The coolest thing about him is that every time after we finish a lesson with him he will call or text us letting us know how greatful he is for the joyfull lessons that we bring him. He is such a sincere guy and is so respectful and nice, just a really genuine guy :) Other than lukebana we are yet to have any really in depth lessons with other people, people here are a little more closed than passed cities in which i served but thats always ok because miracles are still happening in other places... like TORINO!

So i am writing mine and anziano ferradini's recent convert, Barbara, that we baptized back at Torino and she is doing SOOO GREAT! 1) The triple combination that we had made for her with genuine leather and her name on the front finally got finished and she was so emotional about it and was so happy and grateful :). 2) She got a calling in church to be the head of the visiting teaching and she makes sure everyone is passing by their families and what not and she is sooo stoked and she said it made her feel very proud and good that bishop had so much faith in her to give her a calling haha which is way cool. 3) This monday before going to a lesson with the new missionaries that took over my spot after we left she asked her friend to give her a ride because it was raining and she didnt feel like going alone. When they got to the church for the appointment she thought that her friend would just wait in the lobby until they had finished but instead she decided to join barbara and the Anziani in the lesson! They watched the restauration film and at the end barbara's friend couldn't stop crying and really felt the spirit. She then said that she would love to come back again and listen to another one of their messages!!!! member missionary work already from a new convert!!!! so cool :) 4) Barbara has been taking the temple class lessons in church and got an interview with the bishop there and he said she is worthy to enter the temple and she will be going with her 8 year-old son AND her non-member husband who has been so very supportive of her this entire time. The is SOOOOO EXCITED to go to the temple and she just cant get over how much she feels the love of Gad in her life and how blessed she feels to be a member of this church. SHE IS THE BEST!!!!!

Well pretty awesome right?! i love barbara she is such an amazing person and i am so grateful to have had the opportunity to know and help her along this path to salvation :)

Well that is pretty much it for the week, today for p-day we are going to the Ducati factory here in Bologna and taking a tour inside of it so that will be pretty fun :) Hope to hear from you next week, love you ciao!!

-Anziano Delgado

October 8, 2014

ANOTHER WEEK IN BOLOGNA!

Ciao!

How great was general conference?! Unfortunately i still havent seen the sunday afternoon session so dont tell me anything about it yet! I really enjoyed President Uchdorf's talk about the dandylions, it reminded me of the hymn "Lord, I would follow thee" when in the 2nd verse it says "who am i to judge another when i walk imperfectly". In life we are always going to be faced with hurdles, or challenges. And when we trip over our hurdles and fall down the last thing that we want is for people to laugh at us when we are down and judge us for not being able to jump over the obsticle. When Christ was on the earth he too had to take part in the "race" to the "finish line", however instead of laughing at or judging the people who had tripped over hurdles as he rand by them he helped them back up to their feet and gave them a second chance to finish the race. This talk helped me realize that. I hope that i can immitate christ's love and do as he did while he was here on the earth which is to not judge others because they sin differently than me, but rather to help them to their feet and continue onward. 

Well the work here in Bologna is still going a little slow. However, our investigator lukebana is making some really good progress! Yesterday while i was on an exchange with another missionary in Ferrara, my companion and the District Leader taught Lukebana the Plan of Salvation. He accepted all of it and really enjoyed the idea of eternal families. He is a really great guy who has a great faith in God but has a little difficulty accepting that christ is our savior and the Son of God. He is getting a little more accepting of the idea however and i really think he is going to make some great progress.

Well that is pretty much all that happened this week, nothing super crazy but thats not always a bad thing ha. Well i love you guys and i'll hear from you next week!

-Anziano Delgado 

October 3, 2014

CIAOO!

Come va!

Well this week has been very good! Sorry i couldn't write you wednesday we were super busy and got permission to change pday to friday which is much better for us. Bologna is so beautiful and my companion and i are really starting to get used to the city and how to get around... for the most part.. so far we have only gotten lost once haha. Well this week we got a new investigator named Luca and he is really cool and funny. He is African but has been in italy for about 9 years and speaks italian pretty well. We had a quick little lesson with him that only lasted about 10 minutes because he had to return to work but it went very well. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was very excited to read it and meet with us again. So we made an appointment for tomorrow :)

This week we also were fortunate enough to get invited by a less active member to go eat at a VERY DELICIOUS bolognese restaurant because it was anziano Jensen's (zone leader that lives in our apartment) birthday... IT WAS THE BEST FOOD IN THE WORLD. No joke, i was speachless when i ate this food. I'll try to explain to you how it works here in this restaurant because they serve you a little differently than other places... So here you sit down, they waitors come by and ask you what you want to drink (normal so far) but then they asked if we wanted the full course.. (the less active didnt tell us what type of restaurant it was before we went so it was all a surprise). So the waiter comes back with 2 giant plates full of thin slices of meat and these really good bread roles and delicious slices of amazing quality cheese. After we had finished those plates the waitors came back with another plate that consisted of a soup with inside it tortellini with are small, ring shaped pasta that are to die for. THEN, after that plate is finished they bring out another plate! This time they brought out Tortellone (im pretty sure it is spelled like that but im not sure), which are pillow shaped past but this time filled with The most creamy amazing quality cheese i have ever had in the mission. THEN, after that plate they bring out just normal spaghetti that is covered in a sauce called ragù which is like a beef flavored sauce and little chunks of meat in it. SOOOO GOOD! By that time i was pretty dang stuffed to say the least, but we weren't even close to being done hahaha. After that they started to bring out ALLL the desserts. There were THIRTEEN different types of desserts that they brought out to us, one after the other! All were one huge plates so there were plenty for each person to have as much as they wanted. I cant even remember all of the names of these desserts but a couple of them were flawn, chocolate cake, cream filled crepes, strawberry cake, sweet rise balls, brownies, and many many more haha. BEST restaurant ever... im guessing it was quite pricy however and i felt kind of bad that the less active paid for all of us. i was so curious to see how much it had cost but of course i couldnt ask...

It was so good though. He also wants to take us out to get some really good steaks apparantly! He is also a lawyer just like you dad and so we got to talking about that and how different law is here in italy compared to the Sates. 

Well other than that really amazing dinner we were also invited by our english class that we teach to go eat at an all you can eat sushi restaurant last night. It was SOOOO good!! Dont worry though, we haven't just been eating this whole week, we also are doing a lot of proselyting ha. Besides, i have to take advantage of this once in a life time opportunity living in the great Bologna! ;p

Well tomorrow we are going to watch the general conference in italian because the english broadcast is going to be in Modena which is outside of our zone so we aren't allowed to go unfortunately :/ It's okay though i enjoy watching it in italian to be honest, they use really big words and it increases my italian vocabulary a lot :) We are also hoping to have our new investigator come to the broadcast, it would be really nice if he could but he works a lot so we will see how it goes.

Ok well thats about it for me! I really hope that we can find more people on the streets or in the area book but so far we havent found a whole bunch. Unfortunately there are a LOT of tourists and students here in Bologna that want to have nothing to do with our message so proselying is a little tougher than it has been in the past so we are really going to be relying on area book and member referrals this transfer. I hope all goes well! Thanks for the emails and pictures! I love you guys and ill hear from you next week :) Ciao!

 

-anziano delgado

September 24, 2014

I GRANDI BOLOGNESI

 

Ciao!!!

Well I'm here in Bologna and i love it sooo much! It is such a beautiful city and is full of beautiful people. My companion's name is Anziano Warren and he is from Indiana! He is kind of a shy type but really smart and is a huge baseball player, we get along perfectly! He is just about to hit his year mark in the mission and he is a great missionary with some good experience which will really be of help since we are practically opening up a new area with no investigators ha. I say practically because there are already 4 missionaries here in Bologna... we live with the zone leaders and there is also a sister companionship here. They are all sooooo fun!! Living in this apartment is definitly the most fun i have had all mission haha dont worry though we are getting a lot of work done as well :) Fortunately there were missionaries serving in our part of Bologna in the past and they did a really good job with the area book so we have been making a TON of calls and trying to set up appointments that way as well as less active pass by's. The work here is starting out pretty slow but im sure it will soon pick up the pace. 

Well this Sunday after stake conference us 6 missionaries decided to go to the Centro (the center of the city where all the people are, including the 2 famous towers) and we did what's called a "mostra". In the past i have done 3 mostra's and usually what we do is set up a table and a stand with giant pictures of our church and the restoration and stuff like that and we just talk to all the people that walk by or stop to look at our stand. BUT, this time we decided to bring chalk and draw the Plan of Salvation on the street because they were doint a HUGE festival that day and all the streets were closed off to cars (dont worry it's not illegal ha). It was so much fun and we got a ton of people to stop and ask questions about our church, it was great! We handed out a couple books of mormon and a lot of pass along cards so hopefully we get some investigators from it! I took some pictures of centro and our plan of salvation drawing but i didnt bring my camera with me to do internet so ill send them to you next week and ill have even more pictures then anyway :) 

Well that is pretty much what has gone on. I love it here in Bologna and i really feel like i do need to be here and i know that someone here needs to here the message that i bring about our Lord and Savior and His church. I love you all very much and i cant wait to hear from you next week! Ciao!

ps- Barbara is doing great and i got her email address to continue writing her. She might even come down to Bologna, if she gets the chance, to see me haha i hope Pres. Dibb will be alright with that!

-Anziano Delgado

September 17, 2014

BOLOGNA!

Ciao cari,

Well this week was very surprising... im getting transferred to Bologna! To be honest it is really a bummer that i have to leave barbara (She is doing AMAZING by the way)... i mean i just got here :/ It's alright though, at least i got to be here to see her get baptized! We just went over to her house last night and had the "last supper" with her and her family which was really nice. she made me lasagna alla bolognese since i'm going to be going to the city where that lasagna comes from haha so that was pretty cool. 

Well this week we haven't really done a whole bunch other than say goodbye to everyone that we know here at Torino. It's really a bummer that i only got to stay here for 2 transfers... the members really started to warm up to us and we were doing a lot of good work. I am going to be opening up a new companionship in Bologna so at the start im sure the work is going to be pretty slow but i have faith that we will get some really good investigators and get some people in the water :)

Well I'm definitely going to miss this city... it has been very nice living here and i've had such a great time. Although, everyone tells me that Bologna is a BEAUTIFUL city and the food there is AMAZING so im pretty stoked for that haha. 

Ok well make sure not to send any mail to this Torino address! Im not sure what my new address is just yet but when i get it ill be sure to let you guys know :) Ciao! 

-Anziano Delgado

September 10, 2014

Baptism!!!

Ciao!

This saturday Barbara got baptized!!! I have been so happy this entire week it's just been amazing. Everything just seemed to work out perfectly this weekend and it was so great. There were so many members, missionaries and even investigators from other missionary companionships that came and brought refreshments as well it all played out so wonderfully. The coolest thing though was that Barbara's husband, who is atheist, ended up leaving his vacation in the mountains (he paraglides which is SO cool) and showed up to her baptism right in time before it started! So he was there holding her hand all the way through it. It couldn't have been any more perfect. she also brought her 8 year-old son alessandro, who is very funny and VERY energetic, to the baptism so they were all there as a family. Barbara also bore a very beautiful testimony after the baptism which really touched my heart. She is going to be such a strong member and i really look forward to seeing the progress and change in her now that she has the Holy Ghost as a helpful companion :) 

We plan on getting alessandro to be baptized soon as well, Barbara would just like that he has a little more of a base knowledge of our church's doctrine before he gets baptized. He really wants to though and loves coming to church to learn and mostly play with his new friends that he made here in the ward ha. 

Well there isn't a WHOLE lot else going on other than Barbara's baptism. We are working with a couple people right now who are making progress but at a very slow pace. I love them to death though, especially one man named Lorenzo who is the sweetest guy EVER. 

Ok well that is pretty much it for this week. Most of it was just getting things ready for the baptism and making sure everything went smoothly which really paid off! Thanks for the emails guys and the photos as well, love you and hope to hear from you soon! Ciao!

-Anziano Delgado

September 3, 2014

Baptism this Saturday!

ciao ciao!

Well this week has been really great but pretty crazy at the same time. sunday we found out that Barbara actually lives right on the border of the Torino ward zone and the Vercelli ward zone but moreso on the Vercelli side by literally about 50 meters. So we were a little worried about this because being in that zone means that obviously she would have to go to the Vercelli ward and not ours. So we called our Bishop and explained to him the situation and he was a little worried as well because we all love barbara so much and we want her to stay here! So bishop pulled some strings by calling the stake president and now barbara is going to get baptized here in torino this saturday and will stay a part of this ward :) MIRACLES!

yesterday we also had a zone conference in Alessandria which was very nice. I got to see a lot of familiar faces, some people from my mtc group and we at mexican food!!! It was so good ha. It really did end up being a great zone conference and gave me some more motivation and new ideas for teaching. 

So this Saturday is going to be the baptism for Barbara and i am soooo excited! She has made so much progress and has really come a long way. She is just so humble and willing to accept God's will for her. We NEVER had any truble teaching her, she would always keep our commitments and even when we got to the word of wisdom she was all for giving up her coffee and wine! I just feel like she truly has been prepared to recieve and accept this gospel in her life. she will make an amazing member and im sure that she will help others as well by her wonderful example. 

I absolutely love this gospel. The mission can be pretty difficult at times and it has definitely been the biggest trial of my faith, but i have learned so much and I have never had such a strong testimony of this gospel than i do now. As long as we continue in the faith and hold fast to the iron rod when times get hard, all will be well in the end :) As italians say, "quando il gioco si fa duro, i duri cominciano a giocare". 

I love you guys so much and i am so thankful for all of your thoughts and prayers towards me, my companion and our investigators. Love you guys and ill talk to you next week and hopefully i will have some baptismal pictures to send to you :) Ciao!

 

-Anziano Delgado

 

 

August 27, 2014

GREAT WEEK~

ciao tutti! well this week has been fantastico! We have really been blessed lately and i am so grateful for all of your prayers and thoughts because i can definitly feel the extra support. This week we had a few lessons with barbara and they all went extremely well. she asked the most perfect questions about our church and has a VERY strong desire to continue with her investigation. Last week after the lesson she told us that she recieved and answer that the book of mormon is true, that joseph smith was a true prophet and did really see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and she knows that our church is the true church and she stopped drinking wine and coffee! So we asked her if she will be ready on her baptismal date that we set as a goal for the 6th of september. Her answer was that she really wants too, but that she doesnt feel like she is worthy enough to be baptised. We of course told her that none of us are perfect and we all make mistakes but that if she continued to not drink wine or coffee that all would be well and God would give her the confirmation that she is indeed ready to make that promise with god and be baptised. I also told her that sometimes when i have a question i open the book of mormon to a random page and start reading and that SOMETIMES i find the answer that i am actually looking for and said that she could try the same if she wanted to. This happened last Friday. Then Saturday night around 10 we got a message saying that she opened the BoM to a random page, which was 1Nephi 17:55 and the first words that she read were"We know of a surety that the Lord is with thee." And she continued the message by saying, "now i know that i am ready for the baptism because i know that the Lord is with me... i am very happy, thank you :)"  it was the happiest moment of my entire mission when i read that. I felt sooo extremely happy for Babara and i knew that Heavenly Father is watching over her and guiding her every step of the way.

Then monday night we decided to have a family home evening over at the bishops house with barbara and her 8 year old son and us. We had homemade pizza and soda and it was just a GREAt time, our bishop is a really funny guy, in fact he reminds me a lot about you dad haha. We talked about her baptism and she shared her feelings about at first not feeling pure enough but now feeling certain that she wants to be baptise on the 6th of september. She also wants to buy her own baptismal dress to keep as a memory and she wants to also take it to the temple when she goes to do baptisms for the dead! When i say she is the golden investigator i mean she is THE GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR :)

Well that is pretty much the highlight of the week. we are setting up all of the baptismal preperations and getting everyting ready for who gives the talks and all that good stuff :) im so excited for Barbara i know she will be blessed so much and i cant wait to see her in her white baptismal dress it will make me the happiest person on the planet. well i love you guys and again i thank you all for your thoughts and prayers i couldnt have done it without you! Talk to you next week! Ciao!

August 20, 2014

Ciao Cari!

Okay well this week went by extremely fast! My companion and I are having a great time here in torino! This week we met with barbara and she told us that she read the scriptures, prayed and received an answer that she needs to be baptized! We planned for the 6th of September since we have already taught most of the lessons to her and she accepted it without a problem! We are so excited for her! Out of all of the baptismal dates that i have set with our investigators in the past this one is the most solid and promising :) 

Our new convert, the 14 year old girl and i are actually great friends now so that is also very great ha. She was just upset for the longest time that her first missionary who baptized her right before i got here had to get transferred and she took it out on me since i was the one who took his spot lol but she is over it and she actually made me a braclet with my name on it so that was very sweet :) 

So the work is going great here in Torino. it is definitely the most progressing city that i have served in so far and we are having a great time moving the work forward. The members still need a little bit up a push to get going on the member missionary side of the work but we are slowly getting better and better each week :) 

Well that is pretty much it. My companion and i are doing great and we are totally kickin it at his place after the mission in california (caugh caugh... BEVERLY HILLS... caugh ;) ). He is a very easy guy to get a long with and is a convert at 16. he is the only member in his family but is very strong willed and has a great head on his shoulders. 

Ok well i love you guys so much and cant wait to talk to you next week! hope you have a great week, ciao!

 

-Anziano Delgado 

August 13, 2014

Ciao tutti!

Well this week has been really good! We have been extremely blessed here at torino with the work and i am absolutely loving it! A lot of people are coming back from vacation (its funny because entire italy is pretty much a vacation) and we are super excited to see what we can make from it! Recently we are still teaching barbara, our most progressing investigator who found the church from a friend on facebook and she is making outstanding progress! She came to church again last sunday and this time she stayed all three hours, as well as her son who is 8, and she really enjoyed it. We also had another one of our investigators in church, Lorenzo. He is catholic but knows how corrupt the catholic church is and ALWAYS says that our church, the mormon church, is the true church... its just that the catholic church is also true... according to him ha. so that is a little tough to get past. we have been trying so hard to help him realize that only one can be the true church but its just not getting through. I love him to death though he is the sweetest most loving guy ever and i know he would make a very strong convert. 

Well this week one of our very progressive investigators, yuliya should be returning from her vacation to the Ukraine and we will set a new baptismal date with her. its just a matter of if she will have enough time to meet with us since she will have to get right back to work when she returns... i hope she will find the time though. pray for us please :)

well that is pretty much it here. we haven't found any real new investigators this week but we are working hard with the ones we do have! hope that everything goes the way Heavenly Father wants it to.

Thanks for the emails, hope to hear from you all soon! love you, ciao ciao!

-anziano delgado

August 6, 2014

Another Good Week!

Well transfers are this week and i am staying here with my companion anziano ferradini for another 6 weeks! He and I have been getting along great and i feel very blessed with the companions that i have recieved because they are all really nice, really hard working Elders and have helped me grow so much in so many different ways. I am also very excited that i get to stay and continue the work that we have started here with these wonderful investigators. Looks like the other companionship will be splitting up though and a greenie is going to be trained here hahaha.... this is going to be FUN! ;)

But yea everything is going great here. our investigators are doing good as always and one of our investiagators should be returning from the Ukraine so we are very excited to start meeting with her again!

Well thats about it, everything is going great and i am loving it, as always, here in beautiful Italy. Ci sentiamo la prossima settimana! Ciao!

-Anziano Delgado

July 30, 2014

5 New Investigators!

Ciao!!! 

This week was amazing! it started out very slow and there were 2 days were it just stormed the entire time but when it calmed down we decided to go out and look for some people to talk to. we ended up finding one man who is nigerian and very spiritual. we taught him in his store while it rained. The lesson went great and he really wants to see us again and said that he would come to church this sunday and to call him that morning so that he could remember. 

Then that evening we went to see a family that lives a little outside of torino because we had a dinner appointment with them. The husband is from Texas and we met him on a train a while ago and got his number then. His wife is 100% italian and they have a 9 year old daughter. they also had a family friend over who is a lady and she is SUPER funny! she reminds me A LOT of Sister Reese! way outgoing and fun! we had a blast to say the least and at the end of the night we had a great lesson with them and gave them the book of mormon in english and italian. they really want us to come back and the wife said she could teach me how to make some really good food which i am really looking forward to haha. 

So that was pretty much our week so far. it went really well and we are seeing a lot of blessings. I have to say the mission is definitely the hardest thing i have ever done in my life but it is by far the most enjoyable and spiritual experience that i have ever had. i love the mission.

well ill hear from you guys next week! talk to you soon, ciao!

-anziano delgado 

July 23, 2014

Good Week :)

Ciao cari miei :)

Well this week was a pretty average week but it was still really great :) We got lot of really good, spiritual lessons, and our investigator with the baptismal date for the 16th of August is making really good progress! We taught to her monday and she always asks REALLY good questions during the lessons which shows how interested she really is and the answers we give are always inspired and invite the spirit. unfortunately, she is going to Ukraine for 2-3 weeks to see family so we will have to postpone her bap date a little further back but we gave here the temple address there, which is right next to where she will be staying, and she asked us to constantly send her scriptures to read while she is gone :) she is AWESOME! 

We also got contact again with an old investigator that went on vacation and we just taught her yesterday! it went SO GREAT. We had a member present lesson with her with a 25 year old return missionary named Stefano who served in Tokyo Japan and finished his mission 2 years ago. I told him that Colton also served in Japan and he got really excited so he told me a little bit about what the mission is like over there :) So we had a great lesson and Stefano really did a great job in sharing his testimony and helping her feel the spirit which was so perfect. We are going to see her again tomorrow and share with the the Plan of Salvation :) Pray for us and her! :)

We are also really focusing on member pass-by's here just like the missionaries back at home are. We have created a family mission plan with about 6 families here. they are all great members but they just need a little push to get more into the work so thats what we are searching to do :)

Well thats about it, thanks for the emails and updates! hope to hear from you all soon! Statemi bene! Ciao!

-Anziano Delgado

July 16, 2014 - Pictures of Torino Alps

July 16, 2014

Mountains to Climb!

Ciao tutti!

Well this last week sorry for not being able to write we decided to hike up a mountain and it ended up taking all of the time for pday haha. fortunately i took a lot of good pictures and videos so send some of them to you today :) It was such a great hike, it was so relaxing to get out of the city and into the outdoors i really missed the relaxing smell and sound of the birds and animals it was perfect. 

Well these past two weeks have been really great here in torino. Anziano Ferradini and i get along so great and we are really working hard to teach lessons to our new converts, less active members and member families and so far we are doing a really good job of it. the work in Italy is actually much easier and less demanding than that of switzerland which is actually pretty nice. Torino is a fairly large city though so it was a little hard for me to get used to at first but now im getting the hang of it pretty well :) We have a few investigators that are making pretty good progress and have came to church last week so that was very nice! We also have a new convert, Whitney (13 yrs old) who is actually really starting to scare me. She was baptized right before i got here and really loved the elder that i replaced so when he left she got super depressed and didnt/still doesnt want to warm up to me just yet. We have seen her quite a few times but idk we'll see. I really hope we can create a better relationship, its probably one of the hardest things ive had to do on the mission, especially since i really dont want this new convert to already go inactive...

Well we are teaching another girl, Yuliya (18 years old) who we set a baptismal date with for the 16th of August and she just came to church this last sunday and said that she enjoyed it so im really excited for her and the progress that she has made. Its kinda unfortunate that we had to set the bap date with her so far away but she works two jobs and only has time to meet with us once a week. But she really loved the last lesson that we taught her which was the plan of salvation and friday we will teach her the gospel of christ so im super excited for that :)

Well i should get going so i can send those pictures to you, thanks for all of the pictures and im super glad that you had a great week in california with Matt and the Reese's! Hope to hear from you soon, ciao!

 

-Anziano Delgado

July 2, 2014

FIRST WEEK IN TORINO

GREAT WEEK!

Well i got here thursday and i got to do a nice little exchange with Anziano Osmotherly and we got to catch up and we had a really great time and an amazing lesson together. Then i met my companion that night after we got back home and i have to say he SOO LEGIT! he is hilarious and we get along great. His name is Anziano Ferradini and he is from Beverly Hills. He has been in the mission for almost 4 months and he is loving it and he's working hard! I don't have any good pictures yet but today we are going to walk around the streets of Torino and take some really good pictures so next week ill have those for you :)

Well saturday we had a baptism! Even though i didn't really do much to help this man, Johnfranco,  to decide to be baptized but i feel really fortunate that i get to teach him now after his baptism and really help him feel the Holy Ghost now that he has Him as a constant companion :) Well here we are working with another recent convert named Whitney, 13 years old, and she is really cool but SUCH a punk ha. She is really great though the only problem is that she really loved the missionary that i replaced and its really hard for her to warm up to me :/ but she is great and i love teaching her!

The ward here is really cool! there are about 100 members and they are all super nice and hard working. the bishop is a really funny and outgoing guy and hard working. I am very excited to serve here and i can already feel how strong this ward is and how much of a help they will be.

Well i gotta go im out of time. Im glad the funeral went well and i am glad to hear that all of you are doing well. i love you guys and cant wait to hear from you soon! Ciao cari miei!

-Anziano Delgado

June 25, 2014

TORINO!

Ciao Belli,

Well this week was a little rough and im sure it was a little rough for you guys as well. Im really going to miss Grandma and her loving, energetic, goofy, sweet personality. She really is the best example of kindness and love and I am so grateful for her. I know that she is in a wonderful place now and is surrounded by loved ones and Grandpa and just thinking about that really made me feel at peace.

Well I am being transfered to TORINO!! I've wanted to serve there since the beginning of the mission and now i actually get to go there, im so excited! It's definitly a bitter sweet though becuase this ward at Lugano truly is the best and i love each and every member to death.

I already got some numbers and emails so that after the mission i can stay in contact because i really would love to visit them again i love them so much! I am super excited to go to torino though for 2 reasons;  1) i can go make new friendships there and i love that about the mission, and 2) I am going to be living in the same apartment as my last companion Anziano Ozmotherly! haha it is going to be the best! My companion will be in his 3rd transfer so i will be "bottle-breaking"

him and i am actually very excited for that :)

Well this week the work was good! Actually it was the best out of this entire transfer! we had many lessons and they were all very spiritual and great! we got 5 new investigators and some new less actives to work with so Anziano Salvatori and his new companion will have some good work to work with :)

ok well i need to get going, thanks for all of the emails and updates.

I wish i could be there at the funeral but i know that the mission is where i need to be now. I love grandma so so so much and i will miss her a lot as im sure all of you will, and i cant wait till the day where we can reunite together but this time forever. I love you guys and next time i hear from you ill be back in italy!

-Anziano Delgado

June 18, 2014

Buon giorno, cara famiglia!

Well this week has been soooo great! The end of last week we had a great sunday sacrament meeting and great classes following it. The main topic was about choices and how important it is to use our free agency to choose the right. There was a talk from an apostle quite some time ago that a member mentioned that says something like "Everything that we sacrifice to give to god was never really ours to begin with, it was always his. The only thing that we can really give up that truly belongs to us is our free agency. When we decide to not do our will but to completely give ourselves to the Lord then we are really giving something to him. And when we do that there will not be enough space for all of the blessings that will come our way. " Im pretty sure the talk went something like that lol. How great is that though? i absolutely love it :)

Well this week like i said was great. We did exchanges with the Zone leaders and i did mine with Anziano Ostergar! He is the funniest and coolest guy in the world. We had such a great time and in the first hour of finding work in a park we had 4 lessons and one of them was a member present lesson (as we were talking to to guys about our age a member walked up and started in the conversation and told them how they should really listen to our message and invite us over to their house lol it was so great)! We had such a great time and i really hope i get to serve with him sometime during the mission, i think we could do really well together.

Well yesterday we had a really crazy miracle! We got 4 new investigators in one day!!! We were walking back from the park to our house after a little bit of proseliting and we decided to stop on last guy as we were about 50 yards from our front door. We talked to him about the book of mormon and had him read the moroni 10: 4,5 scripture. he really liked it and invited us to his apartment which was about 10 steps away from where we stopped him haha. we walked in the house and there were to other people, a guy and a girl both about the same age as the man we stopped (25-28 years old). They are all from the dominican republic but have lived in svizzera for 15 to 20 years so they speak italian perfectly. They are all pretty religious and go to church. We talked to them a little bit more about the book of mormon and joseph smith restoring the true church on the earth. the really were interested in reading the BoM so we left them with 2 copies (since we only had 2 at the time) and a prayer before we left.

We also set another appointment to see them friday so i am so excited for that! Then later that night we ran into another man that we had had a lesson with the week before at the park and we talked to him a little, he said he went online on our website and read about our church and joseph smith and thought it was very interesting. we talked to him a little bit more about what he read and then had a little prayer with him and set up an appointment for next week! It was such a great day full of miracles! So then we decided that we had to celebrate by getting a couple of gelato's :)

So that was my week! is was pretty great :) unfortunately im not able to watch any of the world cup but i hear about it everywhere we go haha so at least i stay updated! well i hope you all are having a great time back in the states, i love you guys and pray for you often

:) Vi voglio bene! Ciao!

-Anziano Delgado

June 11, 2014

Ciao Tutti!

Well this week we had a lot of up's and down's. This week the weather and allergies have really been killing me. I got sick with a pretty sore throat and then the allergies really didnt help at all so it was kinda tough ha. Im feeling a lot better today though so things should be getting a lot better now :) Also, our really good investigator just informed us that her dog Suma (who is pretty much her only child) might have to be put down because she has epilespy and could possibly have cancer in the brain as well..... very sad. So she is SUPER upset and depressed right now because that dog means the world to her. I just really hope that everything turns out okay.

The up's were that we talked to A LOT of people, got some numbers and had some really good lessons and even a couple return appointments to teach them again. We also have come up with a couple new ideas for finding new (and hopefully more promising) investigators so i am very excited to see how it will turn out!

Okay well sorry for the short email next week hopefully ill have a little more time to write :) Love you guys, talk to you soon! :) Ciao!

June 4, 2014

FAST WEEK

Ciao Cari!

Well im doing great here in Switzerland, the weather is perfect and the people are great! This week really flew by quick though, i feel like every week seems a little shorter than the last! Well this week my companion and i got quite a bit of work done here in Lugano. We found another investigator, and we are really excited to meet with her and her husband who are both catholic but are really interested in our message :) Our most progressing investigator is still doing really well, she wasnt able to come to church this sunday but we are meeting with her tomorrow and she is really excited to learn more so we are super happy about that! We are still focusing on doing member work so we might start doing more member exchanges and do proseliting or door to door with them and try to get them a little more involved this month. This month is also "invite month" so we are trying to get all the members to invite a friend or someone they know to come to church so i am really excited to see how this month will go!

My companion and i are having a great time! He was born in Rome, and then moved to Pescara when he was 8 and he has the coolest dialect ive ever heard haha. He actually speaks english really well but he wants to be a lot better so he will speak in english 24/7 while i speak italian 24/7 ha. its a weird mix but we are both improving a lot so im happy with it :)

Well i still dont have any pictures for you guys because of some computer issues. so im not sure when ill be able to send you pictures but ill get them to you as soon as i can :)

Vi voglio benissimo, tutti quanti! Statemi bene! Ciao ciao :)

-Anziano Delgado

May 28, 2014

GREAT WEEK!

Buon giorno cari miei!

Well this week has been AMAZING! This sunday i gave my talk about Small and Simple things which went really well, i was super relieved ha. Also, my companion and i are really getting a lot of work done here in Lugano! We have already found 4 new investigators, 5 numbers from people we met on the street and had a lesson/prayer with, and we have been having a ton of lessons :) We really are working hard and having a great time doing it. These past two weeks we have decided not to use public transport and instead we are just walking everywhere we need to go (unless its outside of the city of Lugano of course) and talking to the people we pass. I've never been so tired in my life haha but i am so pleased with our outcome that i cant stop working and somehow i always end up finding the strength to push on no matter how tired i get.

Also, I am having a great time with my companion Anziano Salvatori! He is a really hard worker and an amazing missionary. Our situation is pretty funny though haha. He really wants to learn english and i want to learn Italian, so he is always speaking in English and i am always speaking in Italian when we are outside of the house lol. i bet it is really weird for the people we pass on the street but we get a big kick out of it ha.

Ok well i better get going, thanks for all of the emails, love you guys! Ciao caio!

Much Love,

Anziano Delgado

May 21, 2014

MIRACLES!!!!

Ciao Tutti!

Well this last week was really great! Last Saturday we ended up having a Lot of success and the miracles just keep seeming to continue :) We talked to a BUNCH of people and ended up having 4 lessons Saturday and got 2 new phone numbers! It was really great i am so happy! 

So we had our first District Meeting which went really well! We are going to stay working with the members and trying to do exchanges and getting refferals from them if we can :) This sunday one of our investigators came to church and she REALLY enjoyed it. She texted us afterwards saying how she had such a good feeling while she was there. She has also been reading the book or mormon often and praying as well so i am really happy for her. When you see one of your investigators make progress, feel the spirit in their life and want to make a change it is the BEST feeling in the world. i am so glad that i got to stay here another transfer i absolutely love the people here.

well, this sunday i will be giving a talk in church about how small and simple things become big which is one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon so i am super excited for that :) Wish me good luck!

Ok well my time is almost up, thanks for the emails and updates! Vi voglio tantissimo bene! Buona settimana! Ciao:)

May 14, 2014

TRANSFERS!!!!

Ciao cari miei,

To start off i just want to say how great it was to see you guys for "il Giorno delle Madre" :) It was so nice to be able to talk to all of you guys! To Mom, Grandma, Granna, and all of my Aunts i hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!! 

Well, we got our transfer calls yesterday and i am going to...... STAY IN LUGANO!!!!!!!!!! :):):):):):) I am soo excited to stay here another transfer it is going to be so great! I am going to be District Leader and my new companion will be Anziano Salvatori! He is from Pescara (east of Rome) and I have already seen and talked to him a couple times, he is such a cool guy! I am SUPER excited to serve with him! My recent companion, Anziano Oz is getting transfered to Torino, which is where i have always wanted to serve since i got into the mission so i am very excited for him! It's really a bummer though because he and I have really had a GREAT time together and i have learned a lot from him. He is a great missionary to say the least. The ward here is really going to miss him as well, but im sure they are going to welcome in Anziano Salvatori with arms wide open :)

The work here in Lugano has been about the same for the past couple weeks. The people here seem very closed to the topic of religion but I am positive that there are people out there who Heavenly Father is preparing and helping to have a change of heart and meet with us missionaries :) 

So mom you asked me to give a little spiritual thought for the Sunny Mesa Ward so i'll share something that i have come to learn here on the mission:

I really love the Scripture Either 12:27 which says, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them". 

A lot of times we are quick to point out the pridefulness in others and, in doing so, we tend to oversee the lack of humility in ourselves. I have been very blessed here on the mission because I have been given the opportunity to serve with and meet many humble missionaries. I really look up to each one of them because they have learned to utilize the teachings of Either 12:27 in their life and have made weak things become evidently strong unto them enough for others to see and admire. My invite to all of you back at home base is to apply this scripture to you, have faith, and act in a way that will turn your weaknesses into your "forte".

Ciao Tutti, vi voglio benone! Statemi bene!

 

Anziano Delgado

 

May 7, 2014

ANOTHER GOOD WEEK

 

Buon Giorno tutti quanti! 

Well this week really has flown by! We are preparing to do a skit for a talent show that our ward is putting on... its on saturday and we still havent decided on what to do haha It is going to be pretty interesting :) Well the work is picking up a little bit now! We made about 120 calls to people that the missionaries in the past have contacted and out of all 120 we got 3 that are willing to meet and talk with us. It's not a huge number but its a lot more than we have been getting so i consider it a big success! Tomorrow we are also supposed to be having FHE with a member family and their refferals for us so wish us luck :)

Also, one of our investigators (the lady who was having depression problems) is feeling a lot better and things in her life like medical issues and money problems are really starting to go her way! She is coming to meet us tomorrow to take a little tour of the chapel before coming sunday, so we are very excited for that :) 

Things are going good and i am absolutely loving it here in the mission. Its hard to imagine that almost an entire year has gone by since i began the mission. I sure have had the chance to learn a lot about many things, spiritually and in the real world, but there is still a whole year of more things to learn and i cant wait! I really just dont want this next year to go by as fast as this year has. I feel like i still have so much more to do and so many more people to talk to here in Europe about this gospel before i come home. Well, i better get to it then :)

Well, thats my week! Thanks for all of the updates on life back in the US, i cant wait to hear from you next week! Vi voglio un sacco di bene! Buona settimana! Ciao ciao :)

-Anziano Delgado