Friday 28 August 2015

Diesldorf 10/8/15 - 24/8/15 Golden Untersucherin, Tauftermin gesetztund einem Mittelalterfest!

Week 33 of 2015
Dienstag comes around and I forgot I had a DM assignment. This one was about ‘Why following through with goals is so important’. So my Personal Study was just full of planning for that. Then we headed to Pfahlhaus for DM. It was another spiritual one! Legit, I've always had really good District Meetings, but since I've been in Dielsdorf every DM is super spiritual! Then my assignment comes around. DM is supposed to be auf Deutsch, but if we really want to, we can do our assignment in English. Cause mine was so last minutely planned, I planned it all in English, but the time is handed to me and I just start speaking it all auf Deutsch! It’s so weird how that happens! Like, I'm looking at my English written notes, but I'm speaking German! The gift of tongues is real! Then, because we had so many brownies left over, we brought some to DM, as I would get extremely fat, as Palmer can barely even eat a piece of it! As tempting as that was .. and the district loved it! Then we headed to the middle of nowhere to drop the brownies off at this members’ home and on the way, the route took us through Kaiserstuhl (a little dorf in the north of our area) and we had like 20 mins til our next connection, so we took a look around. It is such a beautiful dorf and it has a cool little castle, so we took pictures! I'll send them to you! Then in the evening we headed to the Maurers’ for dinner. It was fetchin' amazing! I can't remember what it was called, but it tasted soooooo good, so I'll see if I can get the recipe at some point! Then for our Spiritual Thought we did the Jenga one and oh my word, it went on forever! It was fun, but we were all struggling by the end to come up with things that make our foundations weak! They loved it!
So, our plan on Wednesday would have brought us 4 lessons if everything went to schedule. We began with our lesson with Y, in the park, as it was a nice day and we couldn't find a JT. It was a pretty good lesson. We finished off the Plan of Salvation with her and she seemed to like it. Although, she had loooaadddssss of questions and it went on for like 2 hours, which wasn't the best, but hey! Then we set up another appointment and spent the rest of the day going by people who should have been home, but weren't, so we just doored their buildings and we found a super cool guy who was just leaving to go to the airport, but wants us to come back this week. So that was cool!
Donnerstag was another super-hot day! Legit! The last few months we've been dying! Dad sends us the weather with temperatures, but the humidity over here is ridiculous. It’s pure evil! Plus, it hasn't rained since the end of May apparently, so we got mail from the local Gemeinde telling us we need to be careful with using water and controlling how much we use, as they are apparently having a shortage. Like come on! We're in Switzerland .. they can just hike a mountain and melt a glacier or something!! haha! We had another lesson with Y in the park and this time we taught the first 2 points of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; so Faith and Repentance. It went really well and she loved it. Lots of questions again, but we kept this one to an hour and at the end, we asked if she was free on Sunday and she was like ‘Yep, I was wondering actually is there like a program or service at your church I can come to?’; so of course we invited her. Then she mentioned how she read somewhere that we don't drink tea of coffee and asked if she should stop drinking it as well. Like, what a Golden investigator!!! She’s the BEST! We also headed to another part of the area that I haven't worked in before to do some Tür zu Tür and this area also has a castle, so we checked it out and got some more photos. Plus, it only cost CHF1 to climb the tower, so we figured why not seen as it was dinner time, so we just took a bit of dinner time off to climb the tower. It was beautiful and this dorf was like in the middle of our area, so when you look around from the top of the tower it’s basically all our area that you can see! Lots of fields, lots of dorfs! It’s cool!





Freitag, mensch! Einen Wünderbares tag! We started after studies with a bit of finding in Seebach/Oerlikon area with no luck, so grabbed some lunch before heading off to M! We had an awesome lesson! We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he really liked it and we committed him to baptism again for the 26th September and this time he accepted!!! Miracles! He still hasn't got around to speaking to his pastor, but if he’s ready on the 26th, he's gonna get baptised! Then we went by a member to see how they were doing and spent a bit of time with them! Then back home for weekly planning and to send an email to the Branch to thank them for their prayers for M and to tell them we set a date and ask them to keep praying for him! This branch is the best! Legit! When you work together with the members, miracles happen!
Saturday was an interesting day! We headed back to Kaiserstuhl to do a bit of dooring, as it isn't too big of a dorf and we could easily door the whole place in a few hours. On our way there we met a lady who’s telling us how we are only missionaries because we've been forced to and how God doesn't exist and all sorts of stuff. It was peculiar. We basically bore our testimonies to her, but she was having none of it! Weird! .. but she gave us her details and told us to come round some time for a chat and coffee! Haha! Not sure if we'll actually go round! Definitely be bringing a member with us! Preferably a convert as well! So, we got to Kaiserstuhl and it turns out that they're having a  (Middle Age Festival), so we have to pay CHF7 to get into the place! So, we did it anyway! It was pretty cool! They were all dressed up - they had a market and sword fights and ahhhh! It was so cool and we had quite a few cool conversations with people, so it was a cool day! Then we needed to catch up with the 12 week thing! We aren't behind, we just had loads left to do for week 8 and only had Saturday and Sunday to do it!
Sonntag was a cool day! Y came to church and we taught her again with a couple of members, which was super cool! They answered some of her questions way better than we could have, plus one of the members only joined 2 years ago, so she got a converts perspective as well, which was super cool! She is so Golden and she said to a few members that she'll see them next Sunday, which was the BEST thing to hear, ever! Then home for studies, before heading to the Beever’s for dinner! It was really good! Then we had a really, quick GMK with him, as his wife was sick and he needed to get the boys to bed for school tomorrow – and that was our Sunday basically!
So, in general it’s been a pretty cool week! 
Oh and this weeks’ name from President Kohler is Glänzenden Steinen (Shiny Stones).
Grüessech! (Just felt like a bit of a Bärnerdütsch greeting today)
Week 34 of 2015
Montag war einen kühles tag! We headed out nice and early to get to Deutschland to do a bit of shopping. Basically, this month sucks and we have like no money left, so we headed to Germany to get some food to try and survive for the rest of the month. So far so good! I think! Hopefully it will last until we next get money! Dannach, we did emails! Then our lesson cancelled on us, so we just headed out and did some dooring. It was a nice evening, even if we found nobody, but we did find another super pretty area in our area... so that was cool!
Dienstag war auch einen sehr Schönes tag! So, we headed out straight after personal study to get the train to Singen, Deutschland. We did Zone Training in Singen this time, just because of the zone changing and us now having a pretty big part of Germany in our zone.It's to save them having to pay Swiss train tickets, so instead we had to pay for our train tickets instead, but it was DeutscheBahn prices, so it's nothing in comparison to SBB prices! Then we get there and one of the Senior Couples sorts lunch for the whole zone. Itwas amazing and our zone is pretty big, as we went from being 18 missionaries in the Zürich zone last transfer to like 30 odd, so it was pretty cool! Zone Training was brilliant and the STLs assignment was amazing! It has to have been my favorite part of ZT! Althoughit was all super good! Then headed home! Legit question- Why are Sister missionaries so amazing??
We were on the train back home and we got the same train as the Aarau Sisters and Wettingen Elders. It was pretty busy, so we were sitting separately from the other companionships, but we were all like one set of 4 seats behind each other and the Aarau
Sisters were behind us and one of the Sisters who is in her 4th transfer and spoke no German before the mission, just sits down and starts a conversation with the guy sitting opposite them, transitioning it perfectly from a random topic to the gospel, in like the most perfect German I have heard from a 4th transfer old missionary! Legit I was well impressed! I can't even do i that smoothly and I'm in my 9th transfer! Like what the fetch!! #humblingexperience Then we got back and did 12 week program and Sprach! Zone Training in Singen legit takes up an entire day, but it was super good and super spiritual!
Mittwoch hat ziemlich gut gegangen! We met with Frank in the morning and had a nice lesson with him. We shared the talk from Elder Bednar- 'Bear up their Burdens with Ease', from the April 2014 General Conference. It's a great talk! Give it a read through if you don't remember it! Then we had a second lesson with P, who we first met a couple weeks back! It was all auf Schwizerdeutsch, so that was fun! Luckily we had a member with us, so it ended up all good! Then we finished studies before heading back out to do some vorbeis and we finally met a guy who we have been trying to get in contact with for the last few weeks, so that was sweet! We had a doorstep Resto lesson with him, which was cool!
Donnerstag war ziemlich schlimm! All of our appointments fällt aus! . .. and nobody wanted to listen to us, so Thursday sucked!
Freitag war okay! We began the day by doing some finding! So, our area really sucks, as it is the place where people live, but nobody really hangs out there as there is like nothing! Our area borders with the ZLs area at Oerlikon Bhf and our side of Bahnhof is where there are apartments and the ZLs side is where there are shops and offices and stuff and their side is always packed and ours is super dead! We talked on Thursday evening, cause finding here sucks and we figured that all of the people who actually live in our area, if we want to find them, then we need to go to where they are, which will be with the shops and offices, so we went finding on the ZLs side of Bahnhof, as the people there more than likely actually live in our area! Well, we actually had a really good couple of hours finding, so I think we'll chat with President about it during interviews and see if he will give us permission to do it more often. It makes sense in my mind... So we shall see! Then we did Weekly Planning and the day was basically over! Sometimes the days go so
slow, but when you look back at a week it flew by!
Samstag war einen ganz Schönes tag! Tempeltag! Another early start to get to the temple, cause for some reason the last session at the Swiss temple is at 11.30 on a Saturday. Like super random, so we did the 10.30 session! It was so packed out! Like, I have never seen the temple so full, but it was beautiful! I love being able to go to the temple once a transfer. It really is a blessing and I got a few answers to things that have been on my mind recently. It really is the best thing ever! I love the temple and cannot wait to be able to go again with my family when I get back! That will be the BEST! We also bumped into Laura again! (My mom's cousin) We went for a walk around the temple as there was still time before our train and I thought I saw her, but wasn't sure, so we just went up and said hi anyway and it was! That was cool! We had a good chat and then she took some pics. 
Meeting Laura at the Bern Temple
Outside Bahnhof in Bern
Then we headed back into Bern and had like half an hour until our train, so I took 
Palmer around a little bit of Bern. Oh mensch! It felt so good to walk those streets again! I miss Bern like crazy amounts! I just get this home like feeling whenever I go to Bern! I LOVE it and I couldn't not be outside in Bern and not get a picture, so I got one outside Bahnhof, so I'll attach it!  Then we got home and finished studies! Oh!.. and I found a new way to help! We both hate doing train contacting, so I came up with an idea that basically, whenever we are on the train we do a typical missionary situation roleplay! Yeah, we look like weirdos, but hey, missionaries always look like weirdos and people are always listening in to our roleplays! It's not train contacting, but it's better than just sitting there doing nothing whenever we are on the train and it does spark some peoples interest! So that's a new tactic we are using!
Palmer around a little bit of Bern. Oh mensch! It felt so good to walk those streets again! I miss Bern like crazy amounts! I just get this home like feeling whenever I go to Bern! I LOVE it and I couldn't not be outside in Bern and not get a picture, so I got one outside Bahnhof, so I'll attach it!  Then we got home and finished studies! Oh!.. and I found a new way to help! We both hate doing train contacting, so I came up with an idea that basically, whenever we are on the train we do a typical missionary situation roleplay! Yeah, we look like weirdos, but hey, missionaries always look like weirdos and people are always listening in to our roleplays! It's not train contacting, but it's better than just sitting there doing nothing whenever we are on the train and it does spark some peoples interest! So that's a new tactic we are using!
 
 
Sonntag war auch einen kühles tag! In sacrament meeting the Young Women did all of the talks and a musical item (kind of like the Primary program, but the YW instead). It was cool and a really spiritual meeting! Then we had lunch with Schw. M! It was super good as per ... and that was basically the week!
Sonntag war auch einen kühles tag! In sacrament meeting the Young Women did all of the talks and a musical item (kind of like the Primary program, but the YW instead). It was cool and a really spiritual meeting! Then we had lunch with Schw. M! It was super good as per ... and that was basically the week!
  
Alles Liebe,
 
 
Elder Robertson xxxxxxxxxxxxx


 



Tuesday 18 August 2015

Cagliari 3/8/15 - 17/8/15 Vincere o perdere:- Vincenti nel lavoro, Perdere di bowling e worm poo formaggio (Casu Marzu)

Week 5 Cagliari‏
Soooo, this week I will write up each day on the day. Like a legit journal. Here it is...


Monday: Today was so so so so so so so so fulfilling. Well, once p’day finished. P’day itself wasn't super fulfilling, cus we spent like 2 hours waiting on the wifi. Then we did email, then Betty helped us again with spesa #eurospinftw!!! Comunque, by the time we'd done that, p’day was over. I'll have to get Beth's stuff next Monday. I actually saw a really awesome shop the other day during a mostra, so I'll go there next week! After p’day, we met up with B (finally!!!) :) We met her in the park, began with small talk, cus it had been a while... Then HER MOM AND BROTHER showed up and we shared a spiritual thought with them :)))) It went really well. They were so sweet and they told us they really enjoyed the cookies :) After B, we had a lesson with M (G’s friend, who is investigating). We just met in the same park, spoke about prophets and the 10 commandments. She basically knows everything già, cus G is an incredible new member and just speaks about the gospel allllll the time, so the lessons always go really well and G is always there to share her testimony. After that, we actually had nothing else planned. Usually we do FHE with the Anziani in that park, but they wanted to do it earlier and we had already set up appointments, so they did the FHE at the chapel at 5 instead. Anyways, we finished the lesson with M, THEN the E family rocked up. They are a family that the Sorelle before us tried to work with. Sister E is Betty's sister. Anyways, an unexpected opportunity for a FHE arose so that was awesome!!!! The girls in that family are gorgeous and so cute! We played a few games, duck duck goose, signs and charades. Then we shared a spiritual thought, SO WE HAD 3 LESSONS ON A P’DAY. That had NEVER happened to me before!!!!!! Cus there's usually no time for that, but it all just worked out so perfectly! Blessings!!!!! Anyways, so we are super content cus we met B’s mom and brother and we met the E family :) so good!!!
 
A Cute Lil Jar of Lemon Curd for Betty
Tuesday: Today we began making a cute jar of lemon curd for Betty, to thank her for everything that she does for us. Then we headed off to DDM. DDM was awesome. Anziano McColloum is such a great district leader. Our district are awesome. The first few weeks they were all super quiet and I was like oh nooooo, but they are way cool! I love them all! Anziano Mic (he has this name tag now, cus the Italians cannot pronounce his name ha) spoke about how the Lord has foreordained people to receive the gospel. He based it on a really awesome talk that he sent out to us. It's awesome. After DDM we all ate together, Betty made a carbonara. So good! Then we had melon and stuff. After that, we did lingua and 12 weeks. Finally caught up with week 4. (we all have weaknesses), but it's okay. We are up to date now!! Più o meno! After that, we saw R! It was all about the Book of Mormon and the importance of receiving a personal testimony of it’s truthfulness. Went well! :) Then her niece came and we spoke a little to her too! She was awesome :) After that, we tried calling Betty to tell her we were going to be a little late. As we called, an American guy voice answered. It was Anziano Ray (Oristano). I was so confused. It was really awkward and I was super embarrassed. The phone has been playing up lately and the Anziani’s numbers seem to be saved as 'Betty C', so that's weird. Anyway, we finally got hold of her. She picked us up from home, as we needed to pick up the lemon curd for her. She was so happy :)) Then we spoke about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! After that, we did English Course.

Wednesday: today was awesome. Straight after our studies we went to the chapel to meet M. We began speaking about the 10 commandments and prophets. Just like we did on Monday with M, but we swapped :) She loved it. We spoke about the importance of the scriptures and how she felt about the Book of Mormon. She said she believes it's true, but then when I asked if she had prayed about it, she said she hadn't. She thinks that she already knows it's true, but then we shared the promise in Moroni and said how it is great that she has so much faith, but there is a better way to really know, without doubt through the Holy Ghost that it's all true and then we bore testimony of that and it lead perfectly to the baptismal invite (we set the date for 5th September – but she wants to be 100% sure). We bore our testimony and told her that we'd be here to help her prepare and that there is, obviously a lot of preparation but that we felt it was achievable. She still said that she doesn't want to 'commit' until she is '100%', so then we just invited her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. She agreed to that and then we just closed by saying 'we know that when you do this and receive your answer that you will be ready' and we promised to send her small verses each night :) after M, Roberts did some 12 weeks on the computer, cus it wasn't working on the iPad, while I made calls. Well, until the phone died. I called this one lady, she talks forever! Like, literally. She spoke to me and sung to me until the phone died, so that was fun. After that, we headed home for pranzo and lingua study. I made carbonara and it was pretty good;);) Dopo that we did 12 weeks while cooking brownies. After that, we headed over to find Vescovo’s house. We wanna know the members better and Vescovo is a really good place to start. We made it to Vescovo’s house and we just caught them! They were heading to the beach, but we managed to get them in perfect timing. Gave them the brownies, spoke with them for a bit, then they invited us to go to their house next Wednesday for a FHE :), so we are super excited about that :) Also, we found out that the wife of Vescovo served a mission in Temple Square! So coollllll. After that, we headed to see A, who we've been trying to find for ages (the house that was once impossible to find), but we found it .. and she was super cool! She's from Nigeria! We spoke mostly in English and a lil bit in Italian. She told us about her conversion story and the visions and stuff she had, so that was cool. I think it was Sorella Roberts’ first proprio African experience. I mean, there was the strange man we met in the park, but that doesn't count! Then after, we each shared a scripture and spoke about how Heavenly Father prepared her before to receive the gospel message! It was super sweet! After that, we went home, planned and I ate a peach ‘cus I'm scared of getting fat.

Giovedi ... First we tried putting finding material together to find we only had..... 5 Restoration pamphlets in Italian and like 500 in Russian, Romanian, Polish, Albanian, Spanish.. Every language under the sun, but Italian. Anywayssssss after that, we began by trying to find a members’ house to give them brownies and to get to know them better... but we got lost. Yey. so we decided that maybe Heavenly Father wanted us to go find some souls; so we got off on via Roma. It's along the beach, where the flamingos are and there are a few piazzas with a ton of people, so we did that. Nobody seemed to want to listen and the people just seemed to be in such a rush. That or they were too hot and couldn't be bothered. It was really hot today. I would probably have been the same! Anyways, we then thought that we'd have more success 'flushing' (I explained that last week), so we went to a park and flushed through the phone until it was time for pranzo. We actually managed to book 4 appointments! One with a Nigerian guy called J for Saturday, who was listed as a potential, an ex simp called F, another potential called K and another potential called F, so we are super excited about that! Hopefully they won't 'bidone' us! :) Maybe we'll pick up some new simps that way :) Pray for them please! Not only that, but that the lessons happen and that they will progress! Progressing investigators would be... Really awesome! :) After that, we had pranzooo, then we studied the lingua ... Then saw R agaiiiiin! She refused to pray as per usual, but I was way more persistent than usual this time. FINALLY she prayed and asked for help in reading and understanding the Book of Mormon !!!!! I had to close it in the name of Jesus Christ .. but she prayed!!!! I was really proud of her though, as it was the cutest little prayer. She's adorable and I love her to bits. She is just so stubborn sometimes haa ha. So we have to play the stubborn game too. Anyways, after that, we spoke about scriptures and we got her to read (Alma 32 and spoke about faith and the Holy Ghost. Then we met her niece, A. She is awesome.  Then we headed to the chapel for a lesson with G and spoke about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It went well. Then we had English Course. Again, a repeat of 'At the eye doctor’s office' (opticians.....not really sure who says 'eye doctor’s office')! Then Betty, G and M took us home. We planned, ate cucumber and tuna mmmm (fave snack).  Oh, and yesterday Roberts’ mom sent us a joint letter with a cuuuute necklace :)))
:) .. Shout out for Sorella Roberts’ mom!!!
Ps today I thought a lot about Maddie, because it's her birthday  … shout out for Maddie Richardson!!!!!!


Friday: welllll we started the day off with the weekly planning session. During the weekly planning session, Sorella Roberts suggested we made an eating plan. Soooo, we also did that. I'm not sure how well I'm gonna follow it ‘cus I just get so hungry these days and so yeah... We'll see! Haha. She's very serious about it though. Maybe that will help me, boh! After that, we ate what we could ‘cus our lighter for the stove and oven broke the other day, so we are basically living ghetto. We borrowed our neighbours’ the other day, but feel too awkward to ask to borrow it again haha; so we just ate cucumber and tuna, then mozz with tomato. Thennnnn gelato haha. So, we ate abbastanza bene. After that, we studied the lingua. After that, we went to see R :)))))) She is so awesome! We decided to speak about covenants we make with God and based the lesson on the talk given by Jean A Stevens in October 2014 titled 'Figlie di Dio nell'alleanza', since she wants to prepare for the temple :) She loved it. One part that I particularly liked in the talk was where she invited us to think of our baptismal covenants and of it’s significance (individually for each one of us), then emphasised the importance of always looking toward the temple:

"Think back and picture your own baptismal day. Whether you can remember many details or just a few, try to feel now the significance of the covenant you individually made. Having been called by your own name, you were immersed in water and came forth as God’s daughter--a covenant daughter (or son), one willing to be called by the name of His Son and promising to follow Him and keep His commandments.
Covenants with God help us to know who we really are. They connect us to Him in a personal way, through which we come to feel our value in His sight and our place in His kingdom. In a way we can’t fully comprehend, we are known and loved individually by Him. Think of it--each of us holds such a place in His heart. His desire is that we will choose the path that will bring us home to Him.

As essential and significant as the covenant of baptism is, it is only the beginning--the gate that puts us on the path to eternal life. Ahead on our journey are temple covenants to be made and Priesthood ordinances to receive. As Elder David A. Bednar reminds us, “As we stand in the waters of baptism, we look to the temple.”

It is not only in making covenants, but also in faithfully keeping these covenants that we are prepared to receive eternal life. That is our Hope, our Goal, and our Joy."

She later continued ...

"If we are to receive all the blessings God so generously offers, our earthly path must lead to the temple. Temples are an expression of God’s love. He invites us all to come, learn of Him, feel His love and receive the Priesthood ordinances necessary for eternal life with Him. Each covenant is made one by one. Every mighty change of heart matters to the Lord. And yours will make all the difference to you. For as we go to His holy house, we can be “armed with [His] power, … [His] name … upon [us], … [His] glory … round about [us], and [His] angels have charge over [us].”

I just think that the way she puts it is so simple, yet so beautiful. Covenants are sacred, and it is a blessing that each one of us has, to make covenants with our Creator! :)

After her, we headed to the chapel to help the Anziani set up for the activity. Tried. We tried to get there early. Our original plan was to get 3 buses that we know very well, but R told us that we could take the 3 or just the 1 straight to church. Well, we followed her instructions, but didn’t cross the road, so we went on the full giro of the number 1 route. Never again will we be taking that bus!!! We made it barely just in time for the activity. It went really well though. We began with a small clip of the importance of doing all we can to keep our family unified. Then each of us bore our testimonies, then we invited some members to. Betty bore hers. She spoke how the recipient to a happy family is love. :) and service. Love her. Oh, and talking about Betty, she will get baptised in 2 weeks!!! :) ) so that is exciting!!! During the activity we spoke to a few people that aren't members, some contacts and some friends of members. Then Fratello S came up to me and was all excited and was like 'Sorella Robertson did you know Chris Hughes is coming in September and he is staying with us!!' Hahaha he's so sweet!!! Love that family.  It was awesomeeee. Then at the end, the Anziani took us home. So lucky they have a car!! :)

Saturday: We went to the park to do findinggggggg. On the way to the park we met an Indian man, teelling some random things on the side of the road. We spoke to a few people and actually found a young guy who used to do Family History and so knew a bit about our beliefs. His name was F. He seemed really cool. I'm hoping we will be able to meet up with him within the next few weeks, so please pray for him! After that, we did some more 'flushing' and booked an appointment with an ex. Simp, who had already planned to invite us over for dinner tomorrow, so I'm super excited for that!! :) Then some other people said they would love to see us again, so we set up some more appointments for next week with old contacts and previous investigators :) speriamo bene! After that, we did 'bus finding', so we cracked open our Restoration pamphlets, sat in different spots next to people and just started reading them. (This works every time, plus it's awesome for practising the language). I sat next to an African man, probably in his mid 50’s. Within about 4 minutes of me sitting there, I noticed him looking every now and again, then after a bit he asked me (in Italian) if I was a Mormon. Then obviously I said yes, then asked him what he knew and he told me that he used to meet with them and he has a Book of Mormon in French.. So then that just all lead onto the whole Restoration lesson. He remembered some bits from before. He told me that he hadn't yet been to our church, but that he had been looking at other churches because 'Like your Joseph Smith, I am searching for the truth' unfortunately his stop came and he rushed off before I had chance to get his number to talk some more, but I managed to give him our number and told him to call. I hope so badly that he calls, he is so ready! So frustrated that I didn't ask for his number earlier! While this was all happening, my awesome lil verdina was also having a conversation with the lady she was sat next to! She is doing so so well and handles situations wayyyyyy better than I did as a greenie! After that, we had pranzo and lingua. Then we went to meet J, one of the contacts from the phone. I wasn't really sure he would actually meet us, but we planned to meet him on his road. HE CAME. We went to his house, there was a ton of family and friends there doing their own thing. We spoke to him about our purpose and briefly went over the restoration. The setting wasn't really ideal. So much going on, lots of noise, but then we invited him to church. He said initially that he already has a church, but in the end he asked us to write down the directions to the church and said he will come. When we were discussing where it is, one of the ladies in the house explains perfectly to him, then told us that she used to go, until her American friends went away. That was kinda sad and I didn't know what to say, so I was like 'Well, now there are new American friends and an English friend and a friend from Bolivia'! She was just like 'Ah, nice' .. not sure if she'll come too, but J said he will! :) He was awesome! After that, we planned to do some less active finding in the city (Quartu). On the way a few funny things happened. A really weird old man squirted my foot with a hosepipe and sat there like he didn't do anything. Then there was literally an Italian twin of Justin Bieber and I was really confused, cus he actually was like Justin Bieber, but Italian, so that was weird. Then we tried asking a lady for directions and she thought we were trying to talk about religion and she was like no no no; then we were like 'no no stiamo cercando per Via San Benedetta' and the she listened... Con piacere... Finally we found the less actives’ house after walking for like 1 hour .. to find that she doesn't even live there anymore, or so said one of the other men that live there. So then by this time we needed to head home ‘cus we were in the literal middle of nowhere. Got the first bus, SAW FLAMINGOS, but didn't get a pic ‘cus the bus was full. Sorry. Next time! Then got the second bus home. Planned. Ate ice cream. Melon. Pasta. 
Sunday: suuuuundayyyyyy. We left to go to church. The lesson 'The sacred callings of fathers and mothers'!!! I was asked to share my thoughts and experience of eating together as a family. So I thought back to when I was at home and remembered that although some days we were busy and different people came home at different times due to college and work, but whenever we could, we would eat dinner together. I never really thought of that as necessarily a 'bonding' or 'strengthening' thing before, as it was just something we did, but as I was able to reflect on something as simple as that, I actually realised how much I appreciate the effort my parents went to, in order for us to eat together as a family whenever possible. Especially after church. That is something I miss a lot. You take things like that for granted until you're at the point where you're not there doing it anymore, so I just wanted to thank them for that. After that, the Anziani did an awesome lesson 'The Church of Jesus Christ in former times'. They make it look so easy and they just do such an awesome job with it. I play the piano and choose the hymns every week for sacrament meeting, so that's awesome and it again reminds me of home :)) After that, AUNTY SHELLY’S FRIEND CAME WITH THE CUTEST LIL PACKAGE FROM THEM!!!!! 
A Package from Aunty Shelly ;-)
Sorella Roberts and Myself  with Aunty Shellys friend Elena (right)
It was adorable .. and her friend was the sweetest most awesome person ever! She gave me a hug from Michelle and from home too. :) sooo SHOUT OUT TO AUNTY MICHELLE!!! I love you!!!! (There's a pic I have attached and the cute old lady is the one and only R!) After that we went home and ate, studied Italiano, then had correlation. That was great. Then we had a lesson with Sorella A, her daughter and sister. It went well. We began asking them all what role religion has played in their lives (pmg style), then spoke about how the gospel has blessed us in our families and did the spiritual thought taken from Alma. I think I've explained that one before. I learnt it in Pescara from Anziano Kawaii. Then we came home and made callsssssssss. Tomorrow the Anziani want to go bowling with us, woooooo! 

Week 6 Cagliari‏
Monday: Today was awesomeeee. We actually did p’day with the Anziani for once! We met them near their house and headed to Via Roma, cus Anz Teichert wanted to get souvenirs (he finishes next week); then I also wanted to find something for Beth! After that we did spesa! (So much quicker, cus we had the car.. They drove us around everywhere haha! Then after spesa.. We went to go bowlinggggg. I lost! 
P-Day Bowling with the Anziani
P-Day fun - Bowling
Moving on.. Then we played air hockey, then we met with AD and her cousin, who the Anziani are teaching and then we ate! Then we went to do email! I didn't get to email many people, cus my iPad was playing up and so was the Internet. :( I don't know why, so sorry to anyone who I didn't respond to! I even tried messaging Michelle to thank her for the package, but it didn't send. I'll try again next week! After that, we went to do a lesson with R. Weeeeeee did the Restoration really simply and throughout we asked questions, so at the start we spoke of how God is our loving Heavenly Father, then asked her what God has given her to show his love. After a while she said 'felicità' (happiness) then prophets, we asked her what a prophet is and if she could name some from the Bible. She said 'eve' to start with, but after we explained the question again, she said Abraham :) Then we just did that throughout to make sure she understood. She comes to church EVERY Sunday, says that she reads the Book of Mormon, but doesn't remember anything and WANTS to be baptised, but is still waiting for an answer that the Book of Mormon is true. We both love her A LOT. After that, we met the Anziani and the investigators in the park for the usual FHE. We played Ninja. Then spoke to them all. Me and Roberts did a spiritual thought. We began by getting them each to name something that they are grateful for, then we shared part of the talk by Dieter F Uchtdorf 'Grateful in Every Circumstance', then the scripture in D&C 78:19 and it went well! Then we went homeeeee and planned! Tomorrow looks like an awesome FULL day, so we are contente! 

Tuesday: first we met V in the park. We spoke about her conversion story, how she met the missionaries etc. then spoke about baptismal covenants and the blessing that each of us has of renewing those covenants every Sunday when we take the sacrament. She was super nice to us, so I think she's warming to us, and that's super sweet. After that we got a bidone, so did some area book finding. There is a ton of that, as before there used to be 4 Sorelle, so that's awesomeeeee! Then we saw R, based our spiritual thought on the talk given by Elder Russell M Nelson 'The Sabbath is a Delight'. It went really well and she told us that when she goes to church it feels like it's the 1st time again. It's just hard for her to actually come, cus of work and stuff, but we are working on it. The desire is definitely there! I love her :) oh, sad news though - one of her gerbils died. Then we went straight to see Betty. HER BAPTISM IS NEXT SATURDAY (22nd) woooooohoooooo!!!!! So we are just making sure we get everything covered before the big day! Then we headed to English course. Hahahahahahahahahahaah lollllll. We actually saw Betty at her Mom’s house who lives rightttt on the other side of town, so to get to the church we needed to take 2 busses, both of which were 1) running late and 2) managed to stop at EVERY red light, so bear in mind that English course starts at 1900. We got there at 1950. Luckily for us the Anziani are awesome and they just combined both classes, without fuss. I felt so bad. We were told it would take 30/45 mins to get to church. 1.30 hours later.... Hahahaha, so that was our day!

Wednesday. DDM. Anziano Ray brought the 'surprise activity'...
Worm cheese: cheese that worms eat then poo out then eat again the poo out... I don't know how many times. It's a delicacy. So gross, but it's a sad thing and I was put under pressure, so yes, we all ate it! I'm no longer a dignified woman!!! I ate the poo of a worm!!! 
Casu Marzu - Or Worm Poo Cheese!
MOOOOVING ON .. we also did transfer predictions. For me and Roberts, we all knew we'd stay, same for Mic and Jorgenson. We knew that Cab would stay too... AND I TOTALLY CALLED THAT ANZIANO MOLNAR WOULD COME!!! Then, that Anz Ray would leave, so we were all right. Then for Teichert the Anz like, tried to guess how long it would take him to get married, hahaha death transfer predictions are the most awkward. Then after DDM and pranzo we went to see an ex simp. He works in this big park not too far from our house, so we met him there. We spoke about our purpose, then began the Restoration. He's awesome and super open and promised to read the Book of Mormon, sooooo vediamo fra un po'!! After that, we did a bit of finding. Then we saw R :)

Thursday: first we saw M. Got E to come (member present lesson woopwoop). We did the Restoration, cus she didn't remember anything. It went so well. E is awesome. I love that girl. She is actually from Milan and is waiting for her mission call :)))), so we are super excited for her. M told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true (again), so this next week we're gonna do the baptismal invitation again. After that, our day was full of bidone’s. Ferragosto week. Woo. So we did more area book finding and that was basically our day.

Friday: weekly planning session... Betty. We planned her baptism and went over a few more commandments. It went really well. Then we went to the chapel to practise a musical number with the Anziani. (They have a baptism scheduled for Sunday). After that, we went to see A and that went really well. We again spoke about covenants. She asked us how we renew our baptismal covenant, so we explained the sacrament. She is so awesome and I feel like we're good friends :) She's the best! 

Saturday. Because of Ferragosto, we had 'deep cleaning' day, so that took us forever. We reorganised the house and gave it a real good clean. Sorella Roberts loved this day. Haha. She likes cleaning things, so that was cool. After that, the Anziani came to help us out moving some stuff like old mattresses, broken chairs, broken exercise bike etc. They're so awesome. Probably the best I've met in the mission in all honestly. They're always happy to help us and really watch out for us, so that's a huge blessing. :) 

Sunday: churchhhh. We gave the gospel principles lesson. 'The Church of Jesus Christ Today'. It seemed to go really well. Sorella Roberts is awesome – so blessed to have her! I chose and played the hymns. Anziano Teichert gave his farewell testimony. A ton of the girls were all emotional, hahaha. Then we went home, had pranzo, studied the language and made cookies for the Anziani to show our appreciation. They came like 30 mins early to pick us up for correlation, soooo that was awks, cus we were in the middle of doing the cookies hahaha. Anyways, we had correlation and said goodbye to the Anziani, then did more area book finding. We got a ton of ex Simps. :) and that was that.

It's always sad when someone finishes the mission. Every area I've been in has had a missionary 'die'. Part of me is really excited for them to start getting on to next phase of life, but the other part of me feels kinda sorry for them, cus the mission here in Italy ends. I can't even imagine how I'm gonna feel in less than 6 months’ time. I don't like thinking about it now. The thought of coming home brings very strong bitter sweet feelings. Sweet as heck, cus I've missed you all more than words can describe and cannot wait for the day we're together again, but bitter as heck, cus I love the mission so much and I don't know what I'm even gonna do when I finish this. Ahhhhh. Anyways. Thought of the week. Ha.

The church is true. Keep your testimonies precious. Guard them and nurture them like you'd do so with a new born baby. This is cheesy, but it's important. Missionary work is the best. I can't wait to help the missionaries in the England Birmingham Mission. It's gonna be so fun!   


I love you and miss you.

BACI E ABBRACCI mwah mwah mwah xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo 

Saturday 15 August 2015

Dielsdorf 27/7/15 - 10/8/15 Wochen 31 & 32 von 2015- Wahnsinn! Es ist ein Jahr!!‏

Week 31 of 2015- Craziness! It’s been a year!!‏
Grüezi wohl!!

So, a missionary has 3 year marks- a year until he goes home, a year away from home and a year in the mission!! I've already hit the first two and by the end of this new transfer I'd have passed all 3 of those! Time goes way too fast!! So, in a year what have I learnt.... German is actually a beautiful language (or maybe that’s cause I hear Swiss German all the time). It's beautiful no matter! Switzerland is the most beautiful country I have EVER been to!!! I love this place more than I have ever loved anywhere! The people, the cities, the dorfs, the mountains, EVERYTHING!!! And most importantly, how true this work is! My testimony is no longer based on Faith! It is based on knowledge! I know with every fibre of my being how true this Church is, how real the Atonement is, and that Jesus Christ truly is our Lord and Saviour! Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us because He loves us! I know that to be a fact!! These are just a few things I have learnt in the past year! If I wrote everything, I don't think this email would ever end!!!
Its been a year already!
So Monday! Lots of emails, then we had an appointment with M! The appointment went well and there is no way he couldn't feel the Spirit that was there!! We committed him to baptism and he said yes, but it was more of a passive type yes, and he followed it with a "but I want to speak with my pastor on Sunday"; so we aren't quite going to count it as a baptismal date yet, but we're gonna meet him on Tuesday, so we'll try and follow up on that one! Then we ended the day with Wagamamas!! The temptation was just too hard to resist! Plus, Wagamamas had free wifi, so we could keep emailing while we waited for food!!!

Tuesday! I don't have much written down in my journal from Tuesday, apart from District Meeting! It was a really spiritual DM! Plus, everything that was spoken about was like really personal to me. I've been struggling quite a bit recently with training and not seeing success from our work, cause I just want to give him the best start to his mission I possibly can and when we are getting like next to no lessons a week and finding hardly anyone, it just sucks! But DM really helped and then I got a blessing from Elder Murray (DL). It was a nice day!
Wednesday! Lesson with Frank, a few vorbeis and a lunch appointment! Lunch was amazing, as per! We had steam-cooked fish, risotto and some veggies! It was so good and then we just did a load of finding!!

Thursday! Fetch! This week went by sooo quickly!! So studies, then we did a personal touch! This time we did chocolate cupcakes with Biscoff frosting, topped with a mini daim!! They were so good and Biscoff frosting is amazing!!! Then we had a lesson with M. He had a lot of questions, but we answered them and he understood! We sent out an email on Thursday to the whole Branch asking them to pray with us for M that he'll receive an answer! The Branch are amazing! We got quite a few replies and those who didn't reply said on Sunday that they got it and are praying for him, so I love this Branch! They are amazing!! Then we had dinner with the Prohaskas! Schw Prohaska is the RS Pres and Brü Prohaska is the YM Pres! They are such an awesome couple! And the food was amazing! Swiss people and cooking is just the BEST!!! Then we helped Brü Prohaska with his Home Teaching! It was a cool evening!

Freitag! After studies we headed to Oerlikon/Seebach to meet up with Wettingen and just did some power finding in our area! So I worked with Murray for an hour and a half, while Palmer worked with Stomps. Then we swapped for like another hour and a half and just went finding! We found quite a few potentials that day, so it was awesome! Then we had a lesson with S and Bible Prophecies! Mine this time was Isaiah 21:4-6 .. it was a little weird and this time it didn't really link to transfer calls very well!

Saturday! Bundesfeir!!! So, the 1st of August is like Swiss National Pride Day or something like that! So there wasn't too much we could actually do! We started the day with transfer calls! Obviously we are staying together here in Dielsdorf! Although this transfer there are a lot of changes going on! So the Freiburg Zone is getting dissolved and is now joining the Zürich zone and we are losing the Bonstetten District. They are going to the St Gallen zone! It all makes sense! So now, each zone is the Stake! Meh! I'll send a map so you can see how it is now – compared to how it was!

Sonntag! Was a nice day! We had a couple of investigators at church an,d again we had to do another ‘on the spot’ Gospel Principles Class! I think it went okay! Then we had studies to finish and then to our GML’s again for dinner and GMK! It was a good day!
Today we had an early one! We headed to Deutschland! We are actually using the wifi in Maccies to send an email before getting our train, so I best get this sent before we have to leave!!! I love you all masses!
Alles Liebe,
Elder Ammon Robertson xxxxxxxxxxx

Week 32 of 2015
Höi zäme!

So, Monday we had a nice early start and headed off to Germany to go shopping, which meant that we got a nice cheap shop and it will last us this week as well, so basically shopping today we only need to get like 2/3 things. Sweet! The weather was beautiful! Although I forgot my camera, so I never got pictures this week. Sorry! And emails! In the evening we headed out and did a bit of Tür zu Tür! We had a fair amount of pretty good conversations and we found a lady who was so Golden! We gave her a BOM and she said to come by on Wednesday at 19.00! Sweet!!!

Dienstag! So district meeting, was pretty good again! My first DM this transfer where I didn't have an assignment to do for it! Wahey!! So it was nice to just sit and listen and join in as and when I pleased! Then we had a lesson with M! He never spoke with his Pastor, as he couldn't go to his Church on Sunday. He had an operation on his ankle like 2 months or so ago, so he can't drive and he couldn't find someone who would pick him up, so no Taufdatum yet, but I think we're getting there with him! Slowly, but getting there! The prayers are appreciated!

Wednesday was a pretty long day! We did a few vorbeis and had a couple of lessons from them and then in the venong we had this lady we met on Monday! It was so cool! He  husband/ boyfriend was also there and he was super cool and interested as well! She had so many questions it was crazy, but questions are great! We taught the Restoration lesson and the
member we took with us, was AMAZING!! Shout out to Brü Walder! He legit was the best joint teach I think I've ever had!!!

Thursday we paid Brü Walder back a little bit by spending the day at his place and helped with the building/renovation work. We were putting up a wall this time! It was cool! Looking at what we had accomplished- it looked like nothing, but oh man! It was crazy work! And they fed us- amazing as per! Then home to do 12 week prog. and Sprach! Also, today was transfer day! Craziness! I only have 7 of them left!! Weird thought!

Freitag morgen! So the ZL's called us up Thurday evening saying that we need to meet them at their chapel Friday morning, as we are going to do a handover lesson! So we're like, ummm okay! So we do roleplays all morning for this lesson, which is supposed to be auf Deutsch! Then we get there and the ZL's aren't there yet, but she is, so we speak with her auf Deutsch, then the ZL's come and we start the lesson and they start it in English, so she speaks English and German. Not bad! So we taught in English and she is super cool and open and so ready to learn! She comes from China and is married to a Swiss guy. We have another lesson with her this morning at 11 and we'll be teaching her here at the chapel, then after teaching her we'll do a bit more emailing before heading out to Zürich. Then after our lesson, we did a bit of Tür zu Tür whilst waiting for our train and found a potential! She was also super cool and wants to know how she can have a stronger relationship with God! Then Weekly Planning! Then in the evening we went to Familie Oseles' for dinner! Then they drove us home. 

Saturday! It was a strange day! Not too much happened, but it also seemed as though we did loads! Weird! Then we had a less active lesson in the evening!

Sonntag! It was a nice Sunday! For Sunday School we met with S (he's the one who's a part member family and he has a Taufdatum for Sept 13th), so we went through the baptismal interview with him so that A) he knows what to expect and B) so we know what we need to go over with him in the next month. He is so prepared! Legit, from that mock interview, he is ready to be baptised today! So pray for him, please!!! Then after church we had lunch with Schw. Marty! It was super good as per. It feels like forever since when we went to Schw. Marty last time. Craziness!! .. but that was basically our week! It was a much better week than last week.

I believe that is about it, but I'm gonna end with a nice list of names that President Kohler calls us at the start of his weekly emails:
Meine Geistige Krieger (My Spiritual Warriors)
Meine Liebe Missionare (My Dear Missionaries)
Meine Träger der Wahrheit (My Carriers of Truth)
My Special Forces
Mitlehrer des Evangeliums (Not quite sure of the translation for
Mitlehrer- Teachers of the Gospel)
Meine Kämpfer (My Fighters)
Kameraden (Comrades)
Verteidiger der Wahrheit (Defenders of Truth)
Meine geliebten Weihnachtsengel (My Loved Christmas Angels)
Meine Fleißige Missionare (My Hardworking Missionaries)
Treuer des Wortes (Loyalty of the Word)
Fleißige Dienerschaft (Hardworking Servants)
Verteiler der Wahrheit (Distributors of Truth)
Sammler der Ausserwählten (Collectors of the Chosen)
Zeugen der Wahrheit (Testifiers of Truth)
Kollegen in Christus (Colleagues in Christ)
Super Helden der Wahrheit (Superheroes of Truth)
Entscheider der Guten (Chooser of the Good)
Geschwister der Mönche (Siblings of Monks)- weird!
Vertreter des Herrn (Representatives of the Lord)
Lehrer der Menschen (Teachers of People)
Träger des Plans (Carriers of the Plan)
Armee der Alpen (Army of the Alps)
Maibaum Mannschaft (Maypole Team)- strange!
Segler für den Erretter (Sailors for the Savior)
Anhänger von Anweisungen (Followers of Instructions)
Wölfe der Bekehrung (Wolves of Conversion)- Where they get a little weird...
Lasttiere (Pack Animals)
Drachenflieger (Dragonflies)
Bewaffnet und bereit Missionare (Armed and Ready Missionaries)
Sammler von Öl (Collectors of Oil)
Seher des Unsichtbaren (Seer of the Invisible)
Bergsteiger (Mountain Climbers)
Pfadfinder (Pathfinder)
Wandteppiche Weber (Tapestry Weavers)- Super Weird!
Wechselhafte Missionare (Changable Missionaries)
Grifers des Guten (Grifers of Good)

I have no idea how he manages to find the time to come up with a new name every week! Life of a Mission Presdident, hey!

Have a great week!

Alles Liebe,

Elder Ammon Robertson xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx