Hi!!

Ciao President!
This week was tough on lessons again, and on seeing investigators. Antonio and Fabiana are busy with work and preparing for his english test, Agostino is getting set for his Chemotherapy this week, Cristiano is busy with work (said we should call back in a bit, though), and Salvatore Ibba we've kind of let be for a little bit, and the family of Sorella Pistidda we gave to the Sorelle, in the hopes that they could get appointments set up and actually done easier than we could, on account of difficulties of the husband being home. We're trying to work with less-actives almost completely through members, since many of them have a very difficult time, it seems, wanting to meet with us. We're mainly focusing on fostering member help a bit.
Anyway, thanks for caring President.

Ciao!
Anziano Walker

 

 

 

 

Hi Fam!!!

 

Man, slightly disappointing week, but working through it. Oh, we also met with Gianni and Sara last night. He's recovering from his eye surgery nicely, but now he has another one on October 11 for his other eye. But they were super nice again, and talkative. My gosh, we had a spiritual thought about Joseph Smith planned, just explaining the Restoration, but man, they kept going on and on. It didn't help that I tried to bring a picture book to try to focus the conversation to Joseph Smith, Gianni just took it and went through literally all the pictures, asking about everything. Which wouldn't have been so bad, except that it had everything from Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Church History, Ordinances, Prophets...... man. That took a while. But they're super nice!

 

Not a heck of a lot after that to say. Sorry I don't have pictures this week, I forgot to load them onto my flash drive last night and this morning. I'll try to get a better system of that. :) I like sending pictures back, I just never knew how I could before, and I stopped trying to figure out for a few months. But the past few weeks have been fun with that.

 

Cool spiritual thought: I was looking through the scriptures this morning, and came upon 1 Timothy 4. In there, I was reading, and reading, and decided to try to divide out the entire Epistle, to understand what Paul says. Like, "this section is about teaching doctrine and staying in those bounds" "this section on the qualifications for a bishop" "this is his personal testimony", and so on. I eventually found several points that related very specifically to my patriarchal blessing, and was amazed at the connection. So now I can see what people mean when they say a Patriarchal blessing is like personal scripture. As I read in Timothy those parts, it really was like Heavenly Father picked out those parts just for me.

 

So anyway, bye! Have a good week! Love you all!

Ciao Ciao!

Anziano Walker

First Email of Second Year

Hi President!
This week we didn't see a lot of lessons with investigators, unfortunately. However, we did have another lesson with Antonio and Fabiana, and after the english part, we got to talking about Elder Ballard coming to Rome the next day, and they wanted to come see the transmission at the church, but they and their family are currently remodeling the house, so they said if they could finish up early enough that day, they would come. However, they said they would like to come to General Conference.
From what we heard from our ward mission leader at correlation yesterday, the father of the missionary in the ward, who we met with him once (Salvatore Ibba) came to the transmission with his companion. We haven't heard from them, but Fratello Locci met with them afterwards and talked a bit. So that's pretty cool.
This past week with studying, I've continued studying by searching for the Lord being referred to in the scriptures, and then looking into other things. Recently, I've put more emphasis into memorizing the Missionary Handbook. [President had given this as an assignment last conference, but was really cryptic about how much to memorize. Gulp.] At this point I'm mainly focusing on memorizing the sections and the scriptures that go with them, and then seeing how the scripture relates to the section. It's cool to see some correlations that I've never noticed before, how the scriptures apply directly to the mission rules. I feel like it's helping me be able to see more in my personal study from the scriptures.

Thanks President!

Anziano Walker

 

 

Ho dang, there's a lot of stuff to write about here, from questions alone. Where do I start?

 

Let's see, Elder Ballard was really inspirational. He had a meeting with the missionaries at 8 in the morning, and talked about the work specifically in the mission here. One thing he said that the thing that would be best for the work would be to work with the youth, cause we can relate to them easier. I kind of sighed with relief at that one. Sometimes old people here are really,....... angry, let's say. Or just flat out rude. Or they talk a lot but conversation goes nowhere. Oh, old people.

 

But ok, Sunday was nuts. The assistants had bought our tickets to Rome early in the week, but then later in the week they learned Elder Ballard wanted to meet with the missionaries at 8. The tickets they had bought worked, however, because our flight left at 6:30. Arrived at 7:30. Which means we had to get to the airport 5:30. All 18 missionaries on the island. Which meant we start moving people with the 2 cars on the island at 4:00. Which meant we woke up at 3:00. I'm amazed I stayed up the whole day. But then we had a flight back to Sardegna at 4:00 and 5:30 (two different groups). And the planes were delayed by a lot. It was a looooooong day. But really good,  and I'm trying to apply a lot of what I learned.

 

But yeah, we're doing good over here. It's dang hard setting up appointments with people, so basically the only people we're consistently meeting with are Antonio and Fabiana. But they're tight, and really great people! Fabiana even gave a closing prayer last time, so they really are trying too!

 

Sorry, having a hard time thinking about what to write right now. Didn't think about it beforehand. But this week has been good, and we did a lot. Oh! This morning, I found something that I really want to look at in studies. I have never figured out the organization of the 70, or the Area 70's. So I've started looking into that a lot more. D&C 107 is great for that.

 

Well, love you all!

Ciao ciao!

Anziano Walker

 

P.S. - I FINALLY got the package with the ipod. Thank you so much Kaden! You did fantastic! =D

Happy PDay

Ciao Presidente!
This week has been interesting. To start off, the 2 new investigators we got are Antonio Melis and his sister Fabiana, the guy who we were meeting at his house for english and I mentioned that I was feeling iffy about going for too much longer. But, We've had some solid lessons with them, and they realize that we're not teachers of english, just practice. And they both really do have good questions about the church and our spiritual thoughts we give, which always end up with us staying at least a half hour longer to talk some more. They even said they would try to come to church (but not this past week because they already had something planned with someone else). But they are super great!
Also, we are trying really hard to continue to see our investigators we have. Yesterday, we saw Agostino at the hospital (his wife is a less-active, he asked for a blessing for a tumor a while ago), and he was really appreciative of the visit, and we're planning on going back tomorrow. We heard from Gianni that his eye surgery went well, but his eye is bugging him, and we can't come for a bit. He was happy to see we left a note for him though, and a Restoration film. We heard that Gino is also in the hospital, but we don't know which one. But we are giving him to the other Anziani here to teach, so they can have some ground to start on possibly. Monday night we were able to see William and Cristina again (the children of S.lla Pistidda), and had a nice little lesson with them, even though babies were crying and so on. Other ones that we have not been able to see are Salvatore Ibba, Vanessa, and Carlo.
And yesterday was full of miracles as well, a lesson with Efisio (an investigator of 5 years who wants to get baptized but can't due to problems with family and his rest home), which was great because he hasn't been allowed out of his house the past like 2 months, and then we have this lesson (on tithing because of some comments he made in Sunday School), and he tells us that he thinks the Spirit finally found a way into his brain to tell him that tithing is from God. And then we got another investigator, Cristiano, who seems golden. He is really searching for the right path, he has studied a bit about various religions, he's curious to learn more about us, and he was able to recognize the feelings he had as the Spirit when we expained that. It's great!
I'm also in a good mood right now because I recently started a new way of studying the scriptures that is helping me learn a ton. I'm highlighting all the times in the scriptures where it names Christ, whether as a name, pronoun, or title. This is really helping me see a lot of things I didn't expect, like different prophecies and promises, just how much the Book of Mormon and Bible testify of Him, and even how sacred his name is kept in the scriptures. Also, I'm learning a lot of questions I have too, like how to make sense of Mosiah 15, which really confuses me a bit. But I'm thinking a lot about it, and really trying to understand in a way I've never seen before.
Thanks President!

Anziano Walker

 

 

Hey guys!

 

Man, this week has been crazy, and fun! It was cool to be in 8 at church on Sunday, and in 10 at District Meeting Monday. Nuts! Oh, to answer Dad's question about the wards/branches: there are 3 other branches on the island, where each of the missionaries are (Oristano, Sassari, and Olbia), but as far as I know, Cagliari will be the only one that becomes a ward. The others are just way too small to sustain all the callings that come. But we're flying to Rome Sunday morning, and then flying back Sunday evening. All 18 missionaries on the island. Nuts.

 

Let's see, what did I not mention in my letter to President? I took a bit of time to write that because I was so excited about the week and all the work we did, and I knew I was gonna copy that part to you. But yeah, this past week has been nuts. Oh, and that Cristiano guy? We found him Sunday evening, after the Mostra. We had 10 minutes left when we dropped off the Mostra at the appartment, so we decided to do a little bit of finding before planning. We went out, and within 5 minutes we found him, and had a decent conversation with him, and set up an appointment for yesterday. And he was SUPER great in the lesson, even giving a really meaningful prayer at the end. Sweet!

 

But yeah, that's kind of my week. The new Anziani and Sorelle are fun. There's one Italian Sorella, Sorella Caramia, who's fun because she hardly speaks any english, and it's so rewarding to be able to have a full on conversation with a missionary like that. The new Anziani are both really funny and great workers, with an Anziano Davids being an especially good example for myself, I feel. He's one transfer ahead of me (we knew each other briefly in the MTC, which no new groups can say anymore (there's no overlapping time in the MTC)).

 

Well have fun this week, and I love hearing about all that's going on! Cameron, way to go on going to that Order of the Arrow thing, that's super cool! Kaden: I can tell you from experience: you will have less hard conversations with Mom and Dad if you make a goal to finish your eagle project in 2 months, and then focus on beating that goal. Cole: YOU'RE GONNA BE A DEACON, OH MAN THAT'S SO COOL! HAPPY ALMOST BIRTHDAY IN A FEW WEEKS!!!!! =D Mom and Dad: I love you! =D

 

I love you!

Anziano Walker

My First Letter As a 45 yr old

Ciao Presidente!

This week has been hard to meet with investigators (the appointments that we had had to be moved or cancelled), but to make up for that we wrote each family a note with a spiritual thought and letting them know we're thinking about them. It was fun to do, but I might have preferred meeting with them.

With what time we've had free last week, we went around to try to see less-actives in the area, to see if they still live there and/or what's holding them back from coming to church. Unfortunately, not a lot are home when we go, but some have at least responded. And then generally said they're not interested. One, however, I think not this past week but the one before, named Gianluca Picci, said he wants to get back in touch, and will come to english course tonight, so we'll see about that, and then follow up a bit.

A couple cool little things from this week: we have a guy that asked us to help him with his english at his house, to be able to understand better for a test he has coming up. We probably won't keep up these house visits for too long, since he seems to want to learn more of the grammar, but he is ok with us giving a spiritual thought at the end. Ok, thinking about this just now, I'm seeing that it may be turning a little more into an english class than a course, these visits, and not being understood that it's so much a missionary tool. Next time, we'll make sure to try to clear that up.

Last night, we were working in Capoterra (after dropping off a letter to Gianni and Sara), and ended up trying to drive back home after about 8:15 to try to make it in time. But we got going the wrong way on a road, and it was going into countryside, with no way of making a u turn. But anyway, we keep driving, and Anziano Woolsey says jokingly "Ok, next house we see, we stop there and there's gonna be someone ready to hear the Gospel." I decide to do that, and eventually we see a house, I park the car, and we go up. The owners were just walking up to the door, and we stopped them to talk real quick. Turns out, they had met with the missionaries like 3 years ago. And had heard all the lessons. And were super nice. And we have an appointment for next Thursday. So, yeah, that was really cool.

Ciao President!
Anziano Walker

HIYA!

Man I'm in a good mood right now. I love writing family! And friends, but it's always special with family. I love you guys, and love hearing about what's going on at home. Even if it is "same old same old". :)

So those new investigators? Yeah, not a heck of a lot from this week. But we do have an appointment with the William, Cristina, Carlo, Vanessa, and S.lla Pistidda this week, which we have high hopes for. We'll see!

I totally planned to send pictures this week, I got them all set on my flash drive and everything, but then I went and forgot my flash drive on my desk. Yeah, my bad....

We had transfer calls on Saturday, and guess what happened: I'm staying here! 4 in one city, what the heck? And my companion is....... Anziano Loertscher! Yep, 3 transfers in a row with the same companion, which is longer than I stayed in any other city, haha! But then Cagliari is gonna be changing after the new people arrive on the island tomorrow (hopefully): there's gonna be a new companionship of Anziani here! And, not only that, but a new companionship of Sorelle! So yep, we're gonna have 8 missionaries over here in one city, each of which is officially out of greenie stage (except for one that will be trained by a Sorella coming in). Apparently, they want this place to boom in a bit.

Although, I think I know a part of the reason. Last week, I totally forgot to mention this, but Sardegna is no longer gonna be by itself. On the 15th of September, it will be a part of the Rome West Stake, along with the Napoli area, and part of Rome. And Cagliari is gonna be a Ward.

Funnily enough, we haven't been able to talk about this with our Branch Mission Leader. He is currently in America, and has been for the past 2 months. We have been kind of floundering trying to work with the Branch here. It's tough. But ho dang, we've got a lot of news for him when he gets back this week!

******And one last thought: I've been learning a lot this past little bit about how I think and what I need to do to deal with hard times. I'm learning a lot that I just never learned how to deal with anxiety well. But recently, especially after talking with that counselor a few times, I'm seeing that a super easy way I've always had to get over it is to connect with somebody. Whether it's companion, Heavenly Father, or someone in a letter, that's almost always how I've gotten over that. So I'm deciding to put that more into practice, and work on making that a full on help for me. I know that Heavenly Father helps me, cause He helped me see that! :)

Bye everyone, and I love you!

Ciao!

Anziano Walker