Be SUPERMAN!

Email: October 30, 2013

Sorry I don't have time today to say much.

I am doing well. Anz. Warnock is a good companion.

Well we are cooking and learning how to be real italians for pday in Ferrara so we are cooking a ragu, pasta by hand, chicken, a roast, bread of course, and dessert. I cant wait to eat in about  15 min.

Cool song is In Chirst by Owl City.

There is Bologna meat here. It is called mortadella. It is super yummy, not like plastic back home.

Grazie per il vosto amore per me!

Ciao!

Anz. Edwards and Anz. Warnock

Making Pasta 

Ready for a "real" Italian meal 

What a "real" Italian meal looks like! One of the best ways to spend a P-Day!

Zone Vision for this transfer. Be SUPERMAN!

Another Great Week in Italy!

Email: October 23, 2013

Well dont have much time sorry in advance. 

Ilife is good. Anz. warnock is great. so far I love him. He is from Northern Utah and there are just little things that we really relate to each other so that is cool. 

Our zone past trasfer did was one of the best. (there are 10  zones in the mission currently) We are the smallest but had the bst ratios of new investigators, baptismal dates set and baptisms. In the last six weeks, the mission baptized 27 children of God. Super cool! 

To get good shoes for the mission here in Italy, you would be paying over 120 Euro and they wouldnt be as comfortable. I talked with all the other missionaries who have bought some shoes in Italy. They all say shoes in italy are great sunday shoes. Fancy. That is it, not comfortable or really durable, let along waterproof. 

I shouldnt have to pay customs or any fees for the package. I have never heard of anyone ever having to pay for a package. The office sr. couple just scared us all about fees when we first arrived in the mission. 

side note, I started to read the Italain book of mormon in Itlaian and I am in Mosiah now. I just finished it in English yesterday too. The Book of Mormon is true! I know it!

We are starting do do alot of member lessons working with member referals. They make up more than half the the baptisms. Few baptims come from kncoking doors and walking the streets, so its just using your time most effectivly. We also have some pass-bys of past investigators.

I am not getting fat. Just staying the same. 

For p-day we just go and find cool things to take pictures offor every now and again play some sports with the other Anziani. 

I eat well, missionaries cook pasta often, but there are so many types so it doesnt get old. I eat the healthiest by far in the apartment. I always have my salads and a bunch of varried fruits and veggies. 

A typical day is two lessons, maybe three or four if we are lucky. We teach  about 8 differnt less avtice members and we then hav our handful of investigators. On sunday this man just walked to church. he is a new investigator. Plus, he is Italian and knows basically everything and agrees too! He is super cool. i am really excited for him. Crazy part is he studied the life of Joseph Smith and a bunch of other random things about the church, didnt get any anti mormon material and knows more than I do! 

My companion wont let me take a picture of him, so next week you can see what he looks like. :)

Ciao!

Anziano Edwards

Fall is in the Air

Email: October 16, 2013

The weather in Bologna is quite cool. I am glad I am in a suit jacket. It has been raining alot in October, but expected. Always rains in October.

I will be staying as capo zona here in Bologna. my new companion will be Anz. Warnock(he is from up north like bountiful or somthing) He is starting his 12th trasfer so two older than me. He has never been Capo Zona before so I have to basicaly train him in a sense on zone leader stuff. My companion is being trasfered to Trento, up in the northern mountains. He is going to be a "normal" missionary. He is with a young missionary who is starting his 4th trasfer and Anz. Thompson will not be a district leader. He is really excited to not be a leader and be at a slower pace. It will be weird for hom though. There is a big differnce in the speed and everything with being a zone leader. Zone leaders are always thinking about everything and just quick paced. It hard to keep up sometimes.

There were quite a few changes in the Zone, about half the companionships were changed and we are getting some really good missionaries. I am really excited. it is alway a good thing to get some "new blood" in a the zone. New and difernet ideas add to the zone.

It is super crazy for zone leaders. We recived all the travel plans for all the missionaries in our zone and also all those missionaries who were traveling through Bologna or meeting up half way with someone. It is simply crazy! We have to make a billion phone calls, check train times and inform the zone. We also have to correlate with the other zones a bit. Plus we have the current zone members calling and wanting "mission gosiup" and its just anoying, maybe more annoying than the "dumb questions we get during the week. The answer is usualy, use your brain! hahaha. It is super fun though, but quite stessfull. we ere lucky that no missionaries are traveling halfway and staying the night in our apartment because that just creates more chaos.

All is going well here in Bologna. We have found some new investigators and so its not too bad. We are excited and happy and healthy so not much to complain about except it is about winter time and that will mean Anziano Edwards will freeze to death. It was a miracle that I didnt die last winter. hahaha I pray there will be little to no snow. snow....YUCK! 

Love you all as always and pray for you daily!

Con amore,

Anziano Edwards

Email #2 10/16/2013

oh, well I speak more English, but I should be speaking more Italian.
A mission rule is speak English in the apartment and Itlaliano outside. I am not very good at speaking Italian always outside. Inside is 90% English. Only the Africans will speak english with us. 99% of the time we speak Italian on the street. You do meet that random Italian who speaks really good English, but more times that not, my crapy Italian is better than his really crapy English.
I email earlier because in Bologna is just makes more sense to email, then so shoping and return home to put away the groceries then go and wander around and see cool stuff. Before in Udine and Genova, we did shoping, lunch, then did a fun P-day activity then emailed at the end of our p-day. Hope that made sense :)

Picture is of the fix-it job with some packageing tape of the wall socket that wasnt in wall....tape is magic. The only problem is if you pull the plug out, the socket comes out. So as long as you dont mess with it, we did a mighty fine job. We are basically profesionals :) hahaha

Miracles of English Class and New Life Motto!!!

Email: October 9, 2013

Miracles of English Class! We had a random guy call us and said he wants to come to our English Class! He was looking online for a good english school/class and all the comments online said "dont go here, the Mormons do a free english class" so then he googled "mormons in Bologna" and found the address of the chaple, went there and since the chaple is under consturction there is a paper taped on the door with the bishops phone number and the missionaries number along with the temporary chaples address. He saw that and called us and said he would come with his girlfriend. Sure enough he came! He went upstaris in the church (where there was the institute class) and so they talked with the young adults of the ward for a few minutes then were directed to the room whrere we do English Class. They are super funny, a young couple, and also from the south. Southern Italians talk with such a differnt accent, usually partly in dialect so its easy to pick out people from southen Italy. Anyways I really like their accent, plus, they might me the funniest Itlaians I have ever met! We taught class, then they stayed after and we, (Anziano Money and I, he is one of the presidents assistents. (Abbiamo fatto un scabio con i assistenti la settimana scorsa)) taught them a gosple lesson and answered a buch of their questions. Really good questions too!. The piont is tehy came again to English Class, witha friend, and we stayed after and taught all three another lesson! They are all new investigators! That is a miracle within a miracle because we have gone three weeks without a new investigator! In the past, I have always averaged at least 1 or 2 new investigators weekly. It has been hard to find people to teach for us, but its on the upside now :) Also, they said they have another friend who is interested in learning English too! Do I have a testimony that doing Engish Class will bring new investigators? YES! Miracle! 

I was able to watch both saturday sessons, the preisthood session and Sunday morning sessions of confrence. We watched them at the internnet cafè here in Bologna. The other Anziani traveled to Modena and watched it there. We would have gone too, but we set up lessons between sessions of confrence. 
To say the least, confrence was fantastic! I have pages and pages and pages filled in my journal from confrence. My favorite part was when pres. Monson said that after confrence he is going to write that this has been one of the most memorable and inspiring sessions of confrence. If the Prophet said that, you can bet it was a powerful confrence. Nearly all the talks were focused on missionary work, and that is not just because I am a missionary and everything in the world relates to missionary work...it is so true that the members are vital in growing the Lords kingdom. Missionaries cant do it alone and neither can the members do it alone. We need to work together. A favorite talk of mine was David A. Bednar's talk about tithing, it didnt realate 100%, but the way he did his invite at the end was powerfull, he said that as you and I obey this divine law, we will recieve the besings. He didnt say 'you' or even 'we' he said 'as you and I obey' Cool little thing I picked up. The work is going well. We have new investigators after a few long weeks of dropping investigators, others just not answering their phone, and other little things that happen so we can no longer teach someone. It helps alot if you have a large teaching pool of investigators. Anziano Thompson's girlfriend is serving in LA California Spanish speaking and there is a member in Cal who gave her three referals of her family who lives in Italy. It ends up them living in Bologna! Out of all of Itlay, Bologna! What are the odds! Even more crazy, they all live on the west side of the city, the side my companionship works on! it was crazy odds. The Lord has his hand in this work, I am sure of it. Too many things happen, its more than 'chance'. They were not home when we went to their house, so we will go back agian this week at a different time of day. 
The chruch is true. Miracles every day. I love you all, and dont ever forget that! 
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Con anore, il vostro missionario,Anziano Edwards


Follow up from last week:
"100% leagal...maybe not, but I shouldnt get deported back to America.....hahaha. I started the renewal process and my appointment at the Questura di Bologna is at the end of the month, then I will give them a photo of my beautuful face and my prints of my fingers ;) Then maybe a month after that they will give my a new official card aka permesso di soggiorno. We will see, hope all will go well!"

Castello in Centro 

We went to Cento last p-day. Cool little city with a castle and I found where to buy cheap gelato in Italy, go to Cento. I tried a new flavor too, Soy. made from soy milk, it was actualy really good, had a very homemade taste.   

My companion almost killed himself this morning. Electric current will hurt according to Anz. Thompson...hahaha 
I just started to laugh uncontrollably at his stupidity...maybe I am not the nicest Christlike companion. It did numb his arm for a bit Maybe we will get the electrical outlet fixed sometime.....

Motto of Anziano Edwards' Life

One Year in Italy!!!

Email: October 2, 2013

Italy is treating me very well! I have no free time really as capo zona but the benifits are all worth it! i hear and see so many miracles as we do scambi (exchanges) with each of the district leaders (two of them) and then if we feel the need, with any other companionships. Its fun and great work be able to train, lead, and inspire the members of my zone. Anziano Proctor, my second companion in Vicenza emails me often and gives me great advice to being a great capo zona as he was one too during his mission. Presidente Wolfgramm told me I have one of the best missionaries, refering to Anz. Proctor. And I agree, he was amazing!

The econonmy is still really rough here. Its hard on my seeing the effects it has on people. Back home I never really interacted or saw what could happen with someone who didnt have work or a house. Its rough! Really sad, but cool part is the message of the restoration of the true gople of Chirst is of true happiness. Happiness an joy during this life and sweet happiness that last for the eternities.

Bologna is a great city. I am getting used to the big cities, but still dont like them. It is nice to serve in a ward, but nothing like a ward back home. We have maybe 70 people is a ward. Bologna should be nice in the winter because it has the most covered walkways in the world so I will be out of the snow. It snows quite a bit here too. I strongly disaprove of the cold! haha The people are alot more open here than my past cities so that is a plus! :)

Fun story. So my Permesso di Soggiorno expires Oct. 1st 2013 (what keeps me from being deported back to America). two months ago I received a folder of papers to renew it. The insturctions said to start it at least 6-8 weeks before it expires. The mission office would inform me when they set my appointment. Never got it. I called them each week, and they said they will do it and let me know....never happend....go figure! I guess the office didnt like me and wanted me to get kicked out of the country haha All the paper work was address to the government and city of Vicenza, my first city. So I had to renew it there, but couldnt with out the appointment....well I got trasfered to Bologna and I told them next week I will be illegal in Itlay, so the actualy set my appointment, but it was in Bologna, the city that wasnt written on my official paper work....whoops! their fault! ....hope the fancy government people dont care! haha Well the office over night send some more documents for my appointment, recived them in the morning, I wasnt able to go out and work all morning because I needed to be home when DHL came with my package so I could sign for it. it came I went to my appointment stood inline for 30 min, its worst than the US "post dump"! Left becuase I had my number, bought a gelato and then came back and my number still wasnt even close to being called. So after nearly all day, step one of 4 is complete and my renewal process has begun! Miracle! hahahIn a month I have my second appointment with the real official people who can deny me and not give me permission. But good thing the church has always been polite and always had our paperwork filled ouit inadvance so they like us and always give us permission. :) 

Thanks for all you do for me. I truly feel your prayers and see the Lords hand in this wonderful work. I cant even begin to tell you my love for my savior, for the Italian people and of course for all of you! With all the love I can get into this little email,

Love you TONS!  (I hope that hurt your eyes!) haha

Anziano Edwards :)

The Covered Walkways 

Random picture of me and my collega.It is us taking a picture of this really old window that was like a mirro. Co0l random stuff you find if you walk around a city all day every day