Thursday, September 4, 2014

September 3rd, 2014 Rome East Specialized Training

These are pictures of Anziano Eads, the other Anziano and of Anziano Eads and his companion, Anziano Tew.

 Anziano Eads with other Anziano at Training


Anziano Eads and other Anziano singing Mission Song at Training (he's up to something). 


Anziano Eads and his companion, Anziano Tew


Anziano Eads in Training

Monday, September 1, 2014

Weekly Email September 4th 2014

Wow, this is different this week, a longer email from Mom and a short one from Dad. I'm impressed.

Glad to hear you guys made it to Washington alright, and that things worked out. I'm glad that you were able to meet with the family, and that, once again, comments were made on weight lost. Still planning on joining in that fast.

I'm fine with every second sunday as dinner day I like that idea a whole lot (as the kids get married and move on with their lives Lynda wants the second Sunday to be family dinner with everyone at our home). Good luck choosing a family vacation spot. I'm assuming it's going to be near the ocean (we are looking at locations for a retirement home and a place to gather the family).

Dad: Good luck with school my father! Don't worry too much, just relax do your best and don't stress and you'll do fine. AND DO GET TOO TIRED!!!!!!!!

Back to Mom: I'm defintley going to try that idea out. I think it might be good. I'll be spending some more money on food, but I think that'll work out great.

I'll write you an email no Monday that is just for you Mom (Lynda's birthday is Monday the 8th).

I'll send baptism pics in a bit. And as for my week:

So, after a last minute change from the Terni Anziani, and moving the baptism to L'Aquila we nearly had to wait another week to baptize Iole. There was some confusion due to some things that were told her by some members, and she thought the baptism was taking place at Terni still. However, after some counsel and help from the spirit we got the baptism reshceduled for yesterday.

So, after church we had the baptism, and it went off without a whole lot of problems. We had to repeat the ordinance 4 times, but that's just cause something always came out of the water, but that lat time, we got it! Iole was content and she said she felt really happy and clean. So next week it's going to be just as good when she gets the Holy Ghost. Man, that took a lot of work, but it went done. The Lord's hand was definitely in that baptism.

Also, Federica's doing great as well, and she was there for the baptism.She said that she would come to church until she left. We've got a date for her for the 6th of September, or this Friday, and she's going to make it, she even chose it herself! I just know it! She's already made huge amounts of pogress and just keeps getting better everyday. She is quite literally glowing in these days. It's going to be hard to let her go to Vertabo, but at the very least, I know her life has been touched by the Gospel and by Christ.

Anziano Tew is doing great as well. His Italian is getting better everyday, and he's starting to come out of his shell with other people and is talking to them now. He's going to be a fantastic missionary and is doing some great things and will continue to do them. He really has helped out a lot with Federica and Iole. We're getting along dandily. It's never been a problem with me.

And yeah, that was our week. This week, we're going to try and get some old investigators revived and brought back to the lessons. We're also going to be going for referrals from the members, so things will be going good.

Okay then, there's my week! Love you guys, next week!

NaNa


Branch members, Anziano Eads and Anziono Tew in the back left


Anziano Tew, Eads and Iole. 


This is the font they use in the branches in Italy. 

Monday, August 25, 2014

Weekly Email August 25th 2014

The beginning of this email may sound cutoff and it is. Anziano Eads and his mother and I were discussing some matters that we all feel are best left to the three of us; spiritual stuff, just deeply personal.

Okay, next up, Gma. Glad that she's starting to let go. Dad's blessing was spot on. Gma needs to turn it all over to the Savior, ALL of her concerns and worries and realize she will do more good on the other side then just hurting and worrying in her bed.  I'll definitely join you all in that fast, since, y'know, I can do that. Don't worry I've got things covered in prayers, and I'm ready for whatever happens. Teaching the Plan of Salvation really helps and as Dad knows, the veil is thin and this life is not the end. We do continue on our journey without a doubt, with our loved ones.

Answers to questions:

Dad: Yup, still have that letter. Read every once in a while, but I prefer your conversion story. NOTHING compares to a convert's conversion, especially when it's your own Dad.

Mom: Anziano Tew is great. He's easily frstrated with not being able to speak the language, which I find to be rather entertaining, if only because I see a lot of myself in my first transfer in him. But he's willing to try, and just needs to build up his confidence. He will end up being a great missionary.

I'm having him teach me the Restoration to help him with that. A good message that he needs to know really well.

Well, it was a  rough week, but a good one as well.

Not sure, but we're back into the August grind, aka, lots of finding. However, it must be the greenie magic that Anziano Tew brought with him, because we've met quite a few people who seem interested in learning more about he Gospel. We met a women named Valentina on a park bench, that taught us both the importance of listening to the spirit and following promptings.

Basically, Valentina's been here for 10 years, and was missing her family. We felt inspired to share a little about the plan of salvation, and leave her with the pamplet. Unfortunately she is busy with her job, (a bidonte) and only has Thursday off, but we're going back to meet with her this Thursday. So, it's going to be cool. The Spirit was strong in our contact meeting.

We also had a rather interesting phone call from someone named Giuseppe. He said he had met with the missionaries in the past, and wanted to talk to us about spiritual things. He said he was busy that weekend, but that he knew where the church was and he would come on the 31st. I did set up an appointment with him for Saturday, but he didn't show, even after we tried to call him. Going to try again and see what happens.

Let's see, we had the interview with Iole, and it went all okay. I talked with Anziano Morgan afterwards and he said that she was perfectly fine, and everything was good for gold. She is unfortunately out of the area for a while, until Friday, so we can't meet with her, but we are planning on keeping in contact over the phone this week just to keep on eye on her.

And for her baptism, we're going to be going over to Terni, as they are also having a baptism this week, and our branch president thinks it'll be a good idea for all involved if she goes. I would agree, as it lets her see that other people like her are getting baptized as well. We're getting things organized so that we can get rides arranged and get her over there by 17:00. But if we have to move earth and sky, she'll get there and she'll get baptized since she wants to.

Then there's Federica. So, after a week of her being with her famliy she came back, and she made an announcement, that honestly, I already knew was coming. Listening to the Spirit is always critical.  Because she's part of the military, she's been trying to go to this one military school in Vertabo. Well, she got her wish...only now, it's going to be really hard for her to try and find a way to get out of the place where she'll be and get to church.

But, on the bright side of life, she has expressed that she would like to be baptized. However, she would like to be baptized before she goes to Vertabo, because she fears that going would hurt her a lot if she wasn't baptized before she goes. Anziano Tew and I have prayed hard about this and we both feel, after our prayers, that she should be baptized, under the condition that she comes to church every Sunday before she goes. That leaves us with the 31st and the 7th, and the latter date would theoretically be the day after her baptism.

We've counseled with the Zone Leaders and Anziano Bermudes and they both feel the same as us, that it would be a good thing, but she would have to come to church all three times Still waiting on some counsel from PW. My fear is that if she goes to Vertabo, Satan will work hard on making her regress form her progress, and that, without the Holy Ghost helping, she will fall. If you could pray her for, that'd be very nice.

But we're open to whatever. We're meeting with her tomorrow to explain what's going to go down, and once again talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the importance of baptism and recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost. I think we'll be okay though. As President Eyring said in the last conference quoting two of our prophets: "Things will work out."

Okay, that's all I've got for this week, I'm tired, in case you all are wondering. But it's a good kinda tired, one that comes from working hard.

I'M NOT DYING THOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (however, if you and anyone who prays for me could pray that I have extra energy during the rest of my mission, that would be much appreciated. )

Much love,

NaNa

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Hi everyone!

So stuff from home first. No more hot tub? I'm sad.  Okay not really, I'm glad it's going to people who will use it. Good luck with everything, I'm not sure what you're talking about, but good luck with that talk about the trailers and the well.

More dog problems. Well, it's not something too drastic.

I really do expect Grandma to be gone within the next few months. Still think it'd be better for her. Let it go Gma. The Savior loves you and your family is waiting for you.

Wow, I forgot that football season started. Oh well, I'll be busy so probably won't care too much. Sounds like Dad is too busy also.

Well, where to begin this week? Good things happened, and then some other things that caught us off guard. But overall, a great week.

So, we first got all of Anziano Tew's permesso stuff done, we're just waiting for the appointment time, as they didn't give it to us at the post office, so just checking the mailbox every dya. Then we went to some caves with Federica and Alfredo, another English course student. I think Alfredo took the lessons in the past, and I just have the desire to ask, and see if he would take them again.

Then we had a lesson with Federica about tithing and fasting. It went rather well, until we started talking about fasting. She had a major concern about going without water for 24 hours. Food she was okay with, but water was the problem. We calmed her down, and she admitted that she would try it out on the 6 of Settembre and see what happens. But besides that, she's doing good. She wasn't able to come to church this week, as her parents put their foot down, but when we meet her this week, we're going to try and invite her this Sunday...well, I should say commit her.

Then there's Iole. We went on Wednesday to teach her tithing (the last thing we needed to teach her), and it went really well. We had some time left over, so we went over the baptismal interview questions with her. Well, there's question 4, and I always dread reading that one, but we did, and let's say there may be something that has to be covered by President.

So, no baptism this week, that's been postponed until the 30th, because now Iole needs to have an interview with President Waddoups (henceforth in my emails, to save typing space he shall be called PW. ) But we're going on Saturday and I already know that things will turn out all right. The Spirit told me that when I was doing the mock interview and later when I prayed about it.

Besides that, we've been doing a good amount of hunting down people. I've trying to get some member appointments set up so that we can go and start asking for some referrals, because I know the branch is working on that, so I want to start getting them to invite people.

Yup, that's how things are going. Anziano Tew is fantastic, a great person to have as a companion. I'm learning a whole heck of a lot from him, and he's doing some great things. He's still a little timid, and doesn't speak a whole lot yet, but he's going to be doing that this week. He's going to be taking charge in some of the lessons.

His language is okay, grammer wise. He still doesn't know a whole lot of words of course, but he's getting better everyday. I think him giving a talk on Sunday should help his confidence.

Okay, well, that's it for me this week. Next week, I'll let you what's down!

NaNa

Friday, August 15, 2014

Email from President Waddoups

We've posted that Anziano Eads is training with Anziano Tew (since they will learn from each other). Yesterday this email arrived and since the blog is to keep family and friends informed and as a semi record of Anziano Eads' own mission, we share it here since we acknowledge that it has taken many of you to help prepare Nathan to be who he is today and who he will continue to become. Most of all we acknowledge our son for taking the steps he has taken to be who he has and will continue to become.  

14 August 2014

To the Family of Anziano Eads

Your missionary, Elder Eads, has recently been assigned to be a "New Missionary Trainer".  In this assignment he will be the companion of a newly arrived missionary.  This is a very important responsibility.  Trainers have a profound and lasting influence on the development of a new missionary's attitude and habits.

I am confident that Elder Eads will do an excellent job in this new assignment.

Sister Waddoups and I thank you for your faith and prayers on behalf of our mission and for all you have done to prepare such an outstanding missionary.

Sincerely,

Michael G. Waddoups

President

Italy Rome Mission

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

August 11th, 2014 Weekly Email

Okay, so now that I have time to email perfectly normally, let's get this show on the road.

I'm really happy that your guys' talks went well. I knew that all of you would do a good job. I'm perfectly fine that you told about my fits when I didn't want to go driving with you all, it's not that big a deal. I'm way over that now. I actually WANT to do some trips with my own familia!

Whoa! Gma mad at Uncle Jerry? That's never happened before. I'm literally going into shock! I'm glad that you were able to pacify her and get things calmed down, kinda....I give it another month or so. Tell her that I think of her, and that I miss her, maybe that will help.

Sorry you have to be up so early Dad. I know that feeling really well. Although, I do like waking up at 6:30, greeting the sun with some beautiful excersize, it's rather nice.

HOLY FRICK! That's a rather inpressive change Dad! Almost 40lbs and Dr. Daynes was impressed!  I'm really happy for you! I had to buy a new pair of jeans this week, and I'm down to a 36 in size. I don't know if we're going to recognize each other when we get home, we'll both be so different.

And yeah, that's really all I can address.

As for me, things are going good. I got Anzinao Tew to L'Aquila, and he taught his first lesson with Federica about the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy. It went really well, Anziano Tew bore a really good testimony.

Iole is progressing fine, we taught her the law of chastity on Sunday, and she was perfectly happy with living it, and she even said that she was already living it. Things are lining up perfectly for her baptism. We are going to teach her tithing this wednesday, and then she'll have her interview on Saturday. I know she will pass just fine.

Besides that, things are going rather well. It's going to be a lot of finding, and asking members for referrals for a while, especially since we have ferragosto right around the corner. So, we'll see how it goes, but I'm optimistic about the chances. We've got greenie magic thanks to Anziano Tew, and we'll definitely find people to teach.

Okay, I'll send the pictures here next. Next week, on Monday like always.

NaNa


PICTURES!!!!

No specific Order. Anziano Bethke and Eads went to Rome to see some sights before the transfer went down. The these are their pictures at the Coliseum, Anziano Eads got the Fedora to keep from being sunburn he says (his parents know that he just really likes Fedoras). 


Alfredo above on a P-Day with the missionaries and he attends English class. 


In or near the Coliseum. 


In or near the Coliseum. 

 Anziano Eads at the Coliseum. 


Anziano Tew still adjusting from Jet lag during personal study. Poor guy (you may hear Anziano Eads call him his "son."  That is a term of endearment from trainers to the missionaries they are training with. Sounds like Anizano Tew is doing great having taught his first discussion on the Sabbath already!). 


Anziano Tew, Anziano Eads' new companion and trainee. Jet lag is over! 


Anziano Eads and Bethke, companions for 1 transfer (sad). 

 This is the mission home . . . the Coliseum. 


Coliseum again. 





Chilling with Fedora . . . son sunburn (yes, Anziano Eads can sunburn VERY easily). 


Emperor Eads giving the thumbs down in the Emperor's chair. 


Somewhere in or near the Coliseum 


Anziano Bethke and Federica, one of their investigators.  


Anziano Bethke, Iole (one of their investigators, her son Giuseppe, Anziano Eads and Fratello Grassi. (Fratello means Brother).



Anziano Eads buying his Fedora and the vendor putting it on his head!


Presidente Custode (branch President, with Anziano Bethke and Eads).



Anziano Bethke, Fratello Grassi, Anziano Eads


Selfies in their apartment of Anziano Eads and Bethke. Note that Anziano Eads has the Italian World Cup Jersey, and Anziano Bethke has the Italian World Cup shorts (I believe).  

Monday, August 4, 2014

Weekly Email August 4th, 2014

Well, I'll start off with transfer news. I've done another one and done with a companion in a city. Anziano Bethke is leaving and I'm staying in L'Aquila, however, I don't have any idea who my next companion is, because I'm going to be a father.

Yup, I'm training.

Well, I guess the Spirit was right when it told me that. I'm sad that I'm going to be seeing Bethke leave, as he's become a really good friend, but I'm happy for the new adventure and challenges. This is going to be interesting. I'm a little nervous and excited about training. Thinking about it, I've come to realize that my hurting my foot this transfer was to help me come to rely on the Lord so that I would be ready for the upcoming adventure that I have in store for me. Well, in the words of President Spencer W. Kimball: "Give me this [adventure], give me these challenges!" Because I know that they will help me grow into who the Lord needs me to be. I'm still going to miss Anziano Bethke though. What a wonderful companion and friend.

I'll let you know who my companion is next week. Along with pictures from my second trip into the heart of Catholicism on Earth. Yup, I'm going back to the Vatican, more or less a year later than when I was there last. Bethke's never seen Rome, and we decided it be better for him to see it before he leaves. I'm in Rome again, pics next week.

Okay, now to the stuff from home.

Go my sister! I'm glad that she's starting to pull her own weight in the family now that I'm gone. I hope it continues that way when I return. Anyways. No change huh? Still stuck in the rut of life? Don't worry, I've been that way for a long time now. But unfortunately, my rut just seems to make time fly by, instead of making it crawl....why can't time move slower?! I feel the urgency to do more with less time!

Good insight on how the Lord works Mom. I've come to see that, an honestly (that as we and others repent, the Savior honestly forgives and forget and we must do the same, that our job is to love, serve and not pass judgement), I can't really remember when I last looked for the flaws in others. Probably never, because that's not my personality. But still....I like it. Good luck with your talk and all else! I have faith in you!

YOU'VE BEEN A GREAT MOTHER DON'T BREAK YOURSELF DOWN!!!!!!!! I'm mean, you haven't been perfect, but who needs perfection? That's an eternal goal, you don't need to be perfect now, you just have to do your best with the time that's been given you. Hence why I'm out here....also because I wanted to see Italy, then there is this thing about how awesome the people here are.

Man, solar panels, self-sufficiency, I really wasn't expecting these kinda life changes. Still, I'm all for green energy just so long as I can play my video games and goof around on the computer.

Hail Jay, son of Larry, son of Howard, King of the realm of Nothingness!  (I think I've out beaten you on the long titles!)

Thanks for the Hobbit pics. I can't wait to have the Hobbit and LOTR marathon with you when I get home  HINT HINT!. Also, good for going to girl's camp, it's good for you to participate in the ward, serve and grow friendships. I'm proud of you for helping people out. Nice to see that your getting back to that.

Okay then, as for my week:

Another beautiful week in beautiful L'Aquila.

Firstly, we had to change Iole's baptismal date to the 23rd, but that's only for convience as the members will be out for Ferragosto, and they really want to be there for the baptism. They are really excited about it, and so is Iole. She is progressing very quickly and happily. She recently bought a tablet and had us put the Gospel Library on for her, and she has been accepting all the commandments that we have taught. No more coffee, and she understands why we fast at this point and the blessings of these things. So she will definitley make it.

Federica is growing a lot as well. In just two weeks, she has gone from being atheist, to actually believing in the existence of God, and she has been receiving answers to her prayers. Two cool stories about that how her prayers have progressed. When we met with her on Friday, when she said the closing prayer, she said "questo รจ un po strano ma, God, ti voglio bene." ("This is a little weird, but God, I love you.).  And again on Friday night she was feeling sad and she said a prayer and she told us that she had never felt God so close in her life. No date though. She wants to wait until she receives an answer for herself, but she did say yes when we invited her. So just give it a little time, the Lord will bless her, we know that.

Yup, that's been our work this week. We've been out doing some proselyting and we've seen some people express interest in Corso d'Inglese, and we're hoping that from that we can begin to get some more investigators, as well as following up with our members about how things are going with their friends and families.

Okay then, that's my life, and I'm content with how things are. Tell Kendra I love her, that I expect there to be chinese food when I see you all at the airport (if not that's okay, I'll buy Taco Bell), and that I'll see you all soon....fricking December is right around the corner....and my time is going to fast.... way too fast.  I guess it is that way for all of us, be it in our callings, in life etc. It just seems to go too fast and we have to maximize each of the days that we have left.

Love ya'll!

NaNa,

 Also, I'll be going to the Ladyhawke castle sometime this transfer)