Weekly Email November 10th 2014

Well, my beloved parents, how are you?

I'm super good, but I'll get to that in a minute. Also, might be a shorter email, we're going to POMPEII today!!!!!!!!

Mom:  Go Seattle! We'll make it at least to the playoffs!

Sounds like things are going pretty good in the ward, and congrats on the new students, and on festival of trees! I can't wait to go see it again some day!

Dad: Busy week then? Yeah, I'll do my best to send a postcard to Grandma, so here goes. Hopefully I can remember how to use a scope. I may have to practice in the backyard before I go out to the West Desert with you.

Here's hoping the interviews go well.

Both: Sounds like the symphony was awesome. Classical music has become a staple part of my musical diet. LOTR is key!

Well, another week of miracles.

We got a huge amount of work going for us now. All our investigators are great, making great progress, and our investigator pool is huge! We have ten investigators, which has been the biggest amount of my entire mission, and all are amazing. All really have a desire to learn more, and honestly know.

So, we taught almost all of them this week, except Isuru, but he had to help his uncle so understandable. This next week, we're going for a lot of baptismal dates, and I personally believe that the Lord will help us meet that goal.

Overall, the Lord is blessing our work, and us so much, and I'm super grateful for that! Things can only get better from here!

Okay, so Anziano McArthur is from Oceanside, California, about 30 minutes out of San Diego. He was here for one transfer before me, so it's very likely and probably will happen that we end up staying together for a long time.

I'm in a branch and things are really good. The branch just got a new church building, so we've been using that a lot for work and the like, especially since it's basically dead center of Napoli. Yeah, Mom, no pics until I get home. I'll be sending L'Aquila pics later today, so you can enjoy those.

Okay the, I think that's all. Love you guys!

NaNa

Anziano Eads' Release Date Letter

Here is a copy of the release date letter from Anziano Eads' Mission President.  MARCH 3rd!!! is the date!!!!!!

To the Family of Anziano Eads

Elder Eads will be completing his mission 03 Mar 2015 .

We are extremely grateful for the time we have been able to spend with your missionary as he has served the Lord and the people here in Italy.  However, the time has come when we must look ahead and help you make plans for his return home.

If your missionary is planning to go to school soon after his return home, we ask that you take care of the enrollment process so that it will not be distracting and time consuming for him .  Any questions regarding school and other plans should be done in your regular emails.  If there are extenuating problems, feel free to call us and we can help work them out.

The Church encourages missionaries to travel directly home from their missions.  Any other travel is permitted only when the missionary is (1) accompanied by at least one of his parents or guardians and (2) the duration of travel is limited to not more than two weeks.  We ask that you be sensitive to the desires of your missionary when making this decision.  Many look forward to returning home with their MTC group and to the "traditional welcome home" experience of greeting their family at the airport.

If you decide to pick up your missionary here in Rome, your plans must be based on the release date established by the mission president.  Parents are encouraged not to request a change in the date to accommodate other travel plans or commitments.  Parents should advise the mission office as early as possible if they plan to pick up their missionaries.

Parents who wish to pick up their missionary need to arrange travel for themselves and their missionary.  Church Travel will send a reimbursement check to the family in the amount the Church would have spent on the ticket for the missionary.  The check will be sent one month before the missionary's release date.  Parents are required to contact Church Travel to let them know they will pick up their missionary so Church Travel does not book the missionary's flight. If you do not contact Church Travel or choose to pick up your missionary after Church Travel has purchased your missionary's ticket, you might not be eligible for reimbursement if the ticket purchased by Church Travel  is non-refundable.   You will be responsible to absorb the penalty  to cancel the ticket.   You MUST email Katy Talbot at Church Travel and tell her you will be picking up your missionary.   When you have  the return travel itinerary for your missionary you must also email this information along with a copy of the purchased ticket with  the amount you paid and your current mailing address  to Katy Talbot.

Her email is:

***Whether you are picking up your missionary or not, we ask that you inform the mission office    which AIRPORT you would like your missionary to fly home to.  Please include the AIRPORT CODE.   Please send your response to Sister Stevens at

Sister Waddoups and I would like to thank you for the support you have given us and your missionary.  We ask that you help your missionary continue to work hard and stay focused in his missionary work.  The last six months in the field often prove to be the most fruitful for our missionaries.

Best personal regards

Michael G. Waddoups

President

Italy Rome Mission




PS If you will be picking up your missionary, you may pick him up at the Mission Home on 03 Mar 2015 anytime after 8am. The address is:

 95 Via Cimone

Rome

Weekly Email November 3rd, 2014

Just as an FYI.  Four months from tomorrow Anziano Eads will be coming home!!!! Just 17, YES, 17 more emails (plus one of those is a Skype for Christmas).

Hey you guys!

Sorry I couldn't be there for grandma's funeral and that I couldn't write right away. I just couldn't do a lot of it this week with it being transfers....I'm sorry....

But anyways, things went really good then? I'm glad. Wow, good amount of the family was gathered, that's impressive. Sorry the weather went bad, but it happens. I honestly don't know what to say about all of that.

Okay, so Mom: Glad you enjoyed the letter. I poured my heart and soul into that thing, and thanks for gma's stuff. Nice to see it.

Not too much has changed. Oh well, that's okay. Glad you enjoyed Halloween, it isn't super big here, but there are a few kids who go trick or treating, so it's not too bad, makes finding a little difficult but not too bad.

Dad: Man, from Mom's comment have you lost weight, pretty sure we won't recognize each other at the airport. Sorry things are busy, but I'm praying for you, and for the charitable service you have done, you will be blessed.

Well, I've made it to Napoli and things are going pretty good. The train ride wasn't too bad, we got into Napoli around 9pm, but then had to sit around in the train station for forever, but no biggie. I'm super happy about being here and the Lord has blessed us already with some wonderful miracles.

My new comp's name is Anziano McArthur, and he's only a transfer older than me, so if you are wondering, then yes, I think I'm dying (finishing the mission) here in Napoli. We'll do two together, I'll kill McArthur, and then get a new comp and then die. I'm okay with that.

He's quiet, but a pretty funny dude. I think we'll get along fine.

Napoli's okay. I've learned a few tricks to keep my things from getting stolen and I have the Lord's help so I'm not too worried about it. I always check my things though, like every 30 seconds or so. I'm already paranoid so it helps.

For Dad: Anziano Tew stayed in L'Aquila,. but the rest of the district got pretty scattered.

So, how are things right now? Well, after getting into Napoli, and planning out the week, we got like 10 referrals and managed to contact almost all of them, and most of them expressed an interest in hearing us, in fact we got a new investigators from these referrals, and the Lord is definitely blessing us!

So this new investigator is named Isuru, and he's from Sri Lanka and he's really cool. He was looking for a christian church to join in Italy, and we called him. He's pretty sure that God is leading him down this path, and I'm sure he's correct. We have invited him to read the Book of Mormon and he said he's going to.

We also got two new investigators from English course. Rosanna and Valentina are a mother and daughter who have expressed interest in the church, and have already come twice. We met with them and taught them the Restoration, and it went really well, and they accepted the invite to read and pray to know about the Book of Mormon. No date as of yet, but we're working on it.

I also met with Anna and Francesco, two of our new converts and they are an amazing family. She has a super strong testimony and Francesco does as well, he's planning on serving a mission. Anyways, we taught about the importance of scriptures and they really appreciated it. They promised to start reading the scriptures mores.

So overall, a pretty decent first week. We're going to be contacting the rest of these contacts and setting up appointments with them to teach them the restored gospel. I think we're going to see the Lord's blessings more and more over here. I know for a fact that the Lord is helping us out.

Passing of Anziano Eads' Grandmother

Nathan has written of his thoughts in his emails to us on the passing of his grandmother. This week his grandmother, who played a major role in his life, received her own mission call. This call was to return home to that God that she loved, to be with those of her family and friends who have entered into that glorious full time work in the Spirit World. Colleen was greeted by her husband, mother, father, sister and many other family and friends on Monday, October 27th, 2014 as she had a reunion and then began her period of instruction in preparation to her assignments there.  One assignment that we know she will relish is to act as a ministering angel to her earthly missionaries and to her family.  Let us hope that as with the Holy Ghost, we are open to the promptings she gives.  Three pictures, one of Nathan and Kendra with Gma and face paint.  Two of Nathan with his Gma after his farewell (yes, Anziano Eads has lost a LOT of weight).

A copy of her Obituary at this LINK.

Nathan's and I favorite hymn, well one of a couple.

Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I come,
And I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God.
He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

O to grace, how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.
Seal it for thy courts above.

As I wrote here on this hymn with Nathan in an email truly, we all wander from our Father yet the tendrils of love from our Savior reach to us, and interposes His precious blood to make us clean, worthy to serve and reach and share to others, to bring them to those tendrils that reach to them and to us. This is our work in mortality, this is now Colleen's work in the Spirit World. From Alma Chapter 26:

26 Therefore let us glory, yea we will glory in the Lord, yeah we will rejoice for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of His great power, and of His mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel."

35 Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.

 36 Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.

 37 Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

Special Email to Mom October 27th, 2014; A Mama's Boy

Several people ask if we share everything on the blog. Well, about 90% of stuff yes. This is a sample of the 10% of stuff we don't as they are very personal and spiritual. It is shared here to show the growth and blessings that a child serving our Heavenly Father has and the importance of family in all of our lives. Sometimes Mother's Day doesn't come in May. Sometimes it comes in October . . .



Hey Mommy,

So, I'd thought I'd write you a little personal email this week, just because I've written one to Dad way back when, I don't remember, and I thought I'd write you something too. I'm probably going to get a little spiritual, and all, so, please know that I'm probably crying as I write this, so it's okay to cry too.

Firstly, I hope you know how much I love you. I'll probably mention this all the time in this email, but it's true. I love you so much! Honestly, for the first part of my life, and for an ongoing part of it, you were and still are my example in a lot of things.

It was weird, but without Dad in my life when he was traveling all the time for business, you were kinda my role model. You worked so hard to keep Kendra and I happy and content with the things we had in life, and you do so many good things for the both of us. One of my favorite memories is of us reading Harry Potter together, and of course when I was getting ready to be baptized, "One of the Lord's commandments is...Nathan, go to the bathroom!!!!!!!" Oh man I still laugh about that one.

Seriously, I love you, and I never knew how hard you worked, or how much you sacrificed for the sake of our family until I came out on my mission. You can say I'm a mama's boy, but honestly, I kinda am. I'm not afraid to admit that when my time comes to come home, the person I'm probably most happy to see is going to be you.

Secondly, you are amazing spiritually. I wish I had payed more attention to it back home, but thinking about it, you really are Dad's spiritual equal. No wonder he married you!  You're just so humble about it, that's the thing, and honestly, that's a great example.

Speaking of which, you are one of the most humble people I've ever met. It's been an example to me as a missionary as I strive to be humble, I always think of you and your example in regards to that. You've served Kendra and I, Dad, Grandpa and GMa, and so many others that so many don't know about and your so humble doing it. It's been something that I've had to work on, and your example has helped me with that.

Thinking back, I probably wasn't the best son you could've had, I was a bit of a problem child I think, and I want to apologize for that. I could've been a lot better, and could've made your life a whole lot easier. Sorry, things you learn with time, and hindsight is 20/20....

Anyways, I was thinking about some scriptures I could write that would describe how our relationship is, and this was the first one that came to my mind:

"...yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it." Alma 56: 47-48

I think that describes us pretty well. You taught me a lot of the things I know of the Gospel, and from your example you taught me, and I do not doubt that you knew it, know it, and will continue to know it far into the future.

Another one that I thought described us pretty well was the story of Hannah and Samuel. You and Dad tried so hard to have a kid, and the Lord promised Dad that you would have a son and I was the result of the blessing of the Lord. And like Hannah, you've dedicated me to the work of the Lord, at least for these two years, and you've done it willingly, despite the sadness.

I love you mommy, so much. Don't worry too much about Gma, she'll be fine, but you know that. I'm fine, so don't worry about me, I've grown so much, and all that, but remember that I'm still your son. Dad is right, no matter how old I get, I will also be your boy, and thus a Mama's Boy and I am just fine with that.

I'm gonna try and send you a song with this email that makes me think of you everytime I hear it. It makes me cry, and hopefully, you'll understand why. If I can't get it uploaded, I'll let you listen to it when I get home.

I love you mum, take care, see you in about 4 months.

I don't know if I'll hug you for five minutes, but it'll be a decent hug when I do see you!

NaNa

PS I love you

Weekly Email October 27th, 2014 Transfer to Napoli

Well, I guess I'll start off with what I'm thinking about...

It's strange, but I feel the same way I did with Grandpa when he left, I'm not sad, or relieved. It's more like an accepting of what needs to happen, and that this is the will of the Lord. I honestly guess that that's a gift the Lord has given me, in that I can accept whatever His will is, and then work with it.

As for what I'd like to say at her funeral: Not sure yet. I'll probably write you guys later, with that. Don't worry, I'll be okay with it all.

So, another thing: I'm emailing a little earlier than usual so we can go bowling with the missionaries in Pescara. A little district activity before we all break up and go our seperate ways.

Oh yeah, transfers....well....Dad, you're wrong.

Mom got it right, the Lord is sending me to NAPOLI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


OH FRICK YEAH!!!!!!! THE LAND OF PIZZA, VESUVIUS, POMPEII!!!!!

So, if you can't tell, I'm pumped about this transfer. It's a little different because I'm going to a bigger city, instead of a smaller city, but whatever, I'm content. So, what's happening next is that I?m gonna party it up and work my butt off. I'll be sending pictures either later this week, or next week from my time in L'Aquila.

Okay stuff from home:

Dad: Sorry life is so busy. I'm praying for you to do well, and all that jazz. Hoping it all goes well.

Sorry about Kendra. Don't worry, I'll be a lot better than she is/was.

So, funny story about your astronomy. I told the Custodes (a family here in L'Aquila) that you did astronomy and had a blog. Well, in church I showed them your blog and your scopes. They were rather impressed. See, your touching lives over here!

Mom: You get your own personal email.

As for work, honestly, it was kinda dead this week. Tew was sick, then I got sick, then nothing worked out, we got lost, so yeah. It was a long week, unfortunately.

Well, next week I'll write ya'll from Napoli.

Love ya!!!

NaNa

Weekly Email October 20th 2014

Well, another week has gone by, and it was a little difficult towards the end, but things aren't too bad. You guys first, like always! 

Most importantly: GRANDMA LET IT GO!!!!!!!!! She should know that she doesn't have to hold on, and more importantly that she has to forgive herself, and that she can do that. If there's something I've seen as a missionary it's that repentance can't take full affect until the person has forgiven themselves. Only then can repentance truly work.

Hey Dad. Sorry you've been sick. Anyways, you can bet I'll pray for you to do well, and that the people's hearts will be softened. Non ti preoccupare padre mio, I've got your back out here!  And thanks for the drawing!

Mom: I'm glad that Sam did really well. Let me know when you've got the email, it'll mean something that I can write my cousin on her mission! 

Honestly, I'm still trying to decide which semester. Again, can I get your advice (your's as well Dad) on what you think I should do (start summer or fall at SLCC?). Don't worry too much about cleaning up too much. I'll help you out when I get home if you haven't finished by then. To prove that miracles do occur on a mission, yes, I really do know how to keep my apartment clean!

Both: Zone conference was fun. It was about teaching and how to be better teachers, something I've tried to do my entire mission. So yeah, it was really well done and fun. As for the tie, I've decided that it has become my zone conference tie, at least until the last conference, then I'll have a different tie on (you'll have to see which one it is ). But no, I haven't lost my love for black. If you'll notice, most of my ties are still black in some degree. 

I honestly forgot how many I had on there, about 25 I think it was. I tried to get black and green, which I did, but I also got some blue ones on there (so there's a reference to Seattle!!!!!! Sorry Dad, Seattle beats Niners).

Didn't get to see a lot of our investigators this week, things just didn't seem to work out with any of them. SO, we spent the time calling people in our phone to see who they were and if they would have any interest. So far, a lot have expressed interest in corso, but not the Gospel. Luckily, corso is a good way to get the Gospel in on the side, so they'll come around.

We did have luck with LaVigna though, she came to church, and we taught her about God as our Heavenly Father, it was a rather special lesson and it touched her a good amount. We're going to be trying to see her on Wednesday with the Famiglia Melone and another time this week if we get the chance.

Iole's doing good. We taught her about the preisthood, and auxilaries, so she understands that now and she'd doing really well with the members now. Looks like things have gotten worked out. 

Besides that, not much else. Anziano Tew got a little under the weather this weekend, but he's doing much better. We've also got some good planning in for this week, and some good outlooks for people to meet with, so here goes all our efforts.

I'll let you all know about transfers next week. Get ready for the guesses about where I'm going....

Much love,

NaNa