Week 51

(Week 21 Bari)

While in the mission I've heard many missionaries tell me to watch in the Restoration when we are about to teach or while we are teaching The First Vision. They had told me that Satan ALWAYS will make a phone ring, a dog will bark, a window will slam shut or something else to drive away the Spirit. Well, I can testify that is true! 
Sorella Torres and I have been going crazy teaching to Restoration to all people, members and investigators. In fact, Satan always does something when that special moment comes in the lesson. 
Example: we were finally able to see our dear investigators Lidia and Gianni, after months! It's been hard to see them and we were so ready to bring the spirit with the Restoration. The lesson was incredible. At the start they were talking about all sorts of things, but as soon as we opened our mouths and started teaching the Spirit was literally tangible. 
The lesson was going so well and it came time to recite The First Vision. THE PHONE RANG!!!! Haha Sorella Torres and I just looked at eachother and mouthed "Satana". Luckily the Spirit came back and we had a beautiful lesson. I've just really had my testimony strengthened of this experience of Joseph Smith. That one event really changed everything and this is the "good news" we share with everyone! Satan knows it and does everything in his power to stop the conversion from happening.
I bear testimony that Jospeh Smith spoke the truth and really did see our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The church is restored!!! 
Investigators are doing well, our investigator Gabriella finally came to church Sunday! I've been teaching her off and on since I got here and this was her first time! She LOVED it! She stayed all three hours and at the end before we could ask her what she thought she just tells us she will be back next week! 
We picked up an awesome new girl named Cristina this week from English Course. She is 21 and super super spiritual. She has had a really hard life and we are really excited to get these lessons going with her. Overall, it was a very good week here in Bari. 
My "greenie" is so great that I feel like I am in a normal companionship a lot of days. I definitely have a testimony that God knows us and shapes us into the people He wants us to become. I can see many changes in myself from this past year and I know that the Lord has shaped me and continues to with different challenges and experiences. I'm super grateful to be part of His wonderful church and be able to bear testimony of the story of the restoration. Church is true! Vi voglio bene assai! 
Sorella Carrie Nelson 
Alma 57:21

Saw a goat herder taking care of his flock while on bus ride.

When Sorella Nelson cooks lunch.  BBQ chicken salad with tomatoes and cherries.

Birthday pancake from the Anziani.

Birthday gelato with the Sorelle.

Crazy crazy Angela had us over for my Bday and we ate gelato!!!!

Panzerotti for a birthday cake!!

Surprise birthday pancake breakfast!

Beautiful beautiful baptism this past Saturday!!!  Guiliana's sister came all the way from Boston for her baptism.

It's so hot now days I eat Popsicles during language studies!!

My favorite city in the world.

Literally the prettiest bus route ever.

Week 50

(Week 20 Bari)

What a fast fast week! Quick shout outs for the week to my awesome
dad! Happy Birthday and Father's Day! Second shoutout goes to my
beautiful sister Kirsten and brother in law Sam! They were married in the Logan Temple this past Thrusday.  Soooooo happy and so
proud of them!!! 

For all those who know what missionary work is like you know that the
work literally has high points and low points. Sometimes investigators
progress and all is well and you feel on top of the world and like the
best missionary ever and then the work starts to take a turn downward,
and it's stressful and you freak out that something is wrong but in
reality it's just a pattern and it has to go down so it can go back
up. Anywho, after being in this city for almost 6 months I've
definitely seen some ups and downs. 

Last week was rough with
appointments falling through and investigators not investigating, but
this week Heavenly Father is pulling us back up! It's the best feeling
to watch the Lord's hand in the work and as the work changes and we
stay constantly hard working He always blesses us.

T

The magic park - there is a great big park in our proselyting area and
we are convinced it is magic. The Anziani also agree it is magic.
Without fail, every time we say a prayer before we enter and go in we
always find someone and teach them the restoration. I've never loved
finding so much! 

We found two new investigators from the park! Luigi
is probably the coolest atheist/I'm Christian, 22 year old. We simply
asked him if he believed in God, shared the Restoration and he wants
to learn more. So Rad!
The Anziani go to this park literally everyday so now the trouble is
that we both end up there at the same time. 

Another cool miracle. After last Pday we were on the bus headed to
pass by a member and the Anziani called us saying there was a woman at
the church looking for us. Luckily we were a stop away from the church
so we ran off and booked it to the church. A past Anziano had found
this woman, Monica, and she wanted to meet the Sorelle. We were able
to teach her the Restoration and we are going to see her this next
week! AHHH! So cool! This is literally the Lord's work! 

Here in Italy everyone is a die hard soccer fan so Friday when Italia
played, NOTHING was open and NO-ONE would let us come see them. It was
seriously the craziest thing! It looked like Utah on a Sunday! We
decided to do English Discussion Group advertisement so we went to a
park (a different one). We saluted a cute family there and the older
woman turns to us and says, "Io sono mormone". She is an inactive and
I had never seen her before! The Lord isn't just blessing us with new
investigators but new less actives to work with! 

A sweet Fratello from the ward wanted to do some missionary work with
us one night so he took us to a less active woman's home and then to a
new contact! Her name is Olympia, she is newly married and it turns
out her father is an inactive man in the ward. So many crazy little
connections... Anywho, Fratello Caricola took us to her house we
chatted for a while and then when we could tell Fratello Caricola was
about to just leave we whipped out our Restoration Phamplet and
taught! Man, teaching is the best! 

This week has just been really cool to see the Lord putting so many
new people in our path. As we have been leaving old investigators we
have been seeing new prepared people come into our paths. I can't wait
for another week and to see more contacts and see all these new names
again and see if they are progressing! 

My testimony of being
contanstantly obedient, and hard working while the work rises and
falls has definitely grown. The Lord will bless us with people to
teach! I love missionary work! It's definitely called work, but it's
the best work ever!
Have a stellar week everyone! 

Sorella Carrie Nelson 

Ponderize scripture Moroni 7:45

Sooooooooooo......I guess I was a  bridesmaid for my sisters wedding this past week......

"Volare oh ohhhhhh, cantare, oh oh oh oh!"

The lovely Carbonara.

Salvation is knocking on your door! :)

#Trainrides

Focaccia after district meeting.  Comes close to my Napoli pizza but it still  can't be beat.

The blonde and the brunette.

Week 49

(Week 19 Bari)

What a week! It's been super crazy here in the Bari, Poggio Franco
ward with upcoming potential baptisms. Satan has literally been the
worst this week and has given everyone different sorts of illnesses.
Erg... BUT, the work goes on because good always triumphs evil! 

Maria was the first, she missed her interview with President because
she got sick so now we has to wait, but it will be good to help her
remember things really well. 

Camilla our Peruvian princess was sooooo excited for her baptismal
interview and then... Sore throat and missed bus... BUT, our ward is
incredible and are organizing everything for a beautiful baptism! Now
we will be able to have the mom there as well! 

Best experience from the week: Sorella Torres and I were teaching a
lesson to Antuanet, Camilla's older sister. She was baptized when she
was eight but hadn't been to church for years and years and when we
teach Camilla it is more like we are teaching both of them. Anywho, we
were doing a lesson with just her and we asked her if she had any
questions about anything and she just looks at us with a big smile and
just tells us how good she feels being back into church.
We had found this sweet girl three transfers ago in a little town and
now she is wanting to live the commandments, help her family, and just
literally beams with the light of Christ. I just wanted to cry after
she bore her testimony to us about how she knows the church is true
and can't wait for her sister to be baptized. What a complete
miracle!!! 

This email is really short but I just wanted to share that quick story
and bear my testimony of missionary work. The purpose of missionary
work is to bring others to Christ. Whether that be through baptism or
bringing them back to church, or sharing a testimony with a stranger
that God loves them. Some of the most precious moments so far in my
mission have been when I've seen someone so lost in their lives and
unsure where to go, come to church. What a wonderful opportunity we
have to not only bring our brothers and sisters outside of the church
unto Christ, but also our Fratelli e Sorelle inside the church come
back. I'm grateful for less active work and for the testimonies of
members of the church. I know we all mess us in this life but we
always can return. I love this work and all the things I learn. I'm
grateful to be a missionary!

Love you all and have an awesome week!
Alla prossima! 

Sorella Carrie Nelson

Our wonderful district!!

Week 48

(Week 18 Bari)
Ciao tutti! I had my last interview and zone conference with our dear
Presidente e Sorella Waddoups. What blessings they have been in my
mission. They will be missed so dearly. Our new president comes at the
end of June. Everyone was kind of freaking out about the change, but
in our leadership conference and zone conference we talked a lot about
how our purpose as missionaries doesn't change and if we are focused
on that this change won't be hard. I'm super grateful for amazing
leaders and for the direction they give us. I'm excited to meet
Presidente Pickard!

Our zone got the Waddoups these special Bari shirts.

We all made special "Count your blessings bracelets".

Maria and Camilla are doing great, we are going to have to move
Maria's baptism till July but Camilla is a rockstar and the last time
we saw her she goes, "Sorelle! I read ten verses!" Love that 11 year
old...

Cool stories from the week:
1. We were waiting for the bus so we start up conversation with a
woman who was waiting as well. Turns out she knew exactly who we were
and then she pulls out a couple of pieces of paper from her purse and
shoves them into my hands. It was a photo copie of the book of alma
from The Book of Mormon. I probably looked so dumb and confused just
standing there! Haha! We asked her how she felt about he BoM and she
told us she feels peace and knows it is true. WHAT!? We try getting
her number and setting an appointment but she just tells us her number
is "top secret" and wouldn't agree to meeting with us... Erg... One
day. I just couldn't believe she was carrying around a photo copy of
the Book of Alma!

2. My all time favorite less active member is Angelo who is always at
this gelateria/bar in the afternoon. We had just taught he and his
wife the word of wisdom and challenged them to live it for the week so
we thought we would swing by the bar to see if he was there. As we
were getting close we see Angelo reach in his pocket bring out a
cigarette and a lighter. His is about to light it and then he sees us
and throws it all on the table and yells "SORELLE!" What a miracle we
were able to stop him! He then introduced us to his friend and we
taught he Restoration. The cool part of the lesson was when we asked
him to pray he looked so confused. No one had ever asked him to pray
before and he was so overwhelmed with the beautiful thought of saying
a prayer. People need the gospel.

3. Last week we were doing some finding in a park and we were teaching
the Restoration to a couple of women. While we were teaching I noticed
a woman on the next bench was listening in on what we were saying.
Sadly she had left before we could talk to her and the two women
didn't end up having much interest. I told Sorella Torres about the
woman and that we have to go back to the park sometime to find her.
Lo and behold this week we returned and at the end of the girro around
the park when no one had listened to us we found her! Her name is
Viviana and she is super rad. God helps us find those who are lost!


Miracles happen everyday. Look for them. I love this work and the
little part I get to do. I love Italy, Italians and this gospel. Love
you all and have a super week!
VVB, Sorella Nelson
Ponderize scripture: Mosiah 23:21

Week 47

(Week 17 Bari)

This week has been super rad. Our zone leaders gave our entire zone a
challenge to meet the standard of excellence and to find three new
investigators this week. During our District meeting at the beginning
of the week we talked a lot about how we are going to be able to do
it. We decided the best way was to ask our Heavenly Father for help
and do everything in our power to find those three people who want to
hear our message. 

It happened!!! After District meeting we were all on fire to find
these three people who the Lord had prepared for us that week. We
always try to talk to everyone, but we were really talking with
EVERYONE! I will be completely honest and say that it was
uncomfortable and hard at the beginning of the week to give my all and
keep my eye out for just one person that day.
At the end of the week we saw the fruits of our labors! We meet two
wonderful girls at a gesso (when we draw on a sheet in centro and stop
people) and the third from a less active member referral! The Lord
really does help us accomplish our goals and He knows what we are
capable of when we show our best effort.

Couple stories from the week: 

My favorite Fratello Caricola, who reminds me so much of grandpa, called
us up to see if we would go with him to see two less active women. One
is a woman who for some reason hates the missionaries and never lets
us come to see her. Of course she was less than thrilled when she saw
us come in after this dear Fratello, but as we got talking we found
out why she has this dislike for the missionaries. She had felt like
the missionaries were coming to do check ups on her to make sure she
was reading and praying. Luckily we cleared up that we visit all
members and she is cool with us coming now but it made me realize just
how important it is that we show love for our brothers and sisters and
not treat them like another number. 

The second less active sister hadn't been to church for over 40 years
and when Fratello Caricola walked in with us she was overjoyed and
they recognized eachother right away. It was incredible. He showed so
much love for this sister and she cried and told us how she felt like
everyone had forgotten her. Fratello Caricola just kissed her cheeks
and he reminded me of the story of President Monson visiting the
widows in his ward. What an amazing Fratello :) 

This other story is about Vincenzo, the referral from his less active
aunt. He has been suffering from depression when his wife left him
with his child and has been in the hospital for several weeks. He is 28
and so prepared for this gospel. We had the address and everything
ready to go to find this Vincenzo. Hospitals in Italy are the scariest
thing, anyone can walk in and out of them at any hour, there are
people unattended on stretchers in hallways, lots of the walls and
electrical work is unfinished, and there is never a doctor or nurse in
sight. We are looking everywhere for this Vincenzo and finally we find
a doctor and he tells us we have to go to a different clinic that's
about 20 minutes away. I've about had it at this point and just want
to leave and try again when we have more information but we decide we
are so close we might as well go. We found him right away and he was
soooo happy to see us! His mom and aunt told him all about us and he
had literally just been waiting. We were able to do a mini Restoration
lesson with him and the next time we see him it will be with his
family! What a miracle! 

On our bus ride home Sunday night we were going so so so slow because
of traffic and then we saw what was the cause. The was a massive
Catholic parade marching through the city at 8:50 at night. It was
crazy! They were all dressed in white robes and carrying giant palm
leaves. The pope is coming here on Thursday so it might have been the
start of the festa week. Vediamo... I love Italy!!! 

Well friends, the church is true, investigators are progressing
towards baptism, I will do another 6 weeks here with my greenie, I ate
three panzarotti this week and don't regret it, God loves us and I'm
grateful for every opportunity I have to grow not only as a missionary
but also a person. From this last difficult transfer I've already seen
growth in myself and I'm ready to finish another six weeks. 

Love you
all!!! 

Ponderize scripture: Alma 17:11 

Our proselyting area.

Another Maria who made us a classic Bari dish with potatoes and muscles.

Our dear district!  We lost four of us this time!!

Yes, we are silly...

Sorella Carrie Nelson

Week 46

(Week 16 Bari)
This transfer is coming to a close and I can't believe how fast these weeks have gone by!!! It feels like I just arrived here in Bari with Sorella Taylor, and then did just a long exchange with Sorella Jones and then this transfer with Sorella Torres is almost finished! Time sure flies when you're having fun.

Quick work update: We had to move our baptism dates to June so as of now Maria will be baptized on the 25th of June and Camilla on the 19th. I hope nothing weird happens and that I leave Bari. It's just been so amazing to be here and see the work change so so much and I would love so much to see it through to a baptism. The Lord is the best though so what ever happens I'm sure it will be great. Anywho, these investigators are doing awesome! They are reading, praying, coming to church. I really couldn't ask for better investigators.

Miracle newbie! Cristina... So there is the best member in the ward Sorella Magno, I've talked about her in the past, but she is the best member missionary there is. Well, she has taken in a woman to do a little cleaning and work at her apartment and has been inviting her to church. Well this woman came last week and so this week Sorella Magno had us prepare ourselves to get her number and bring a Book of Mormon in Romanian and the whole bit. It was AWESOME! Cristina talked all about how she feels the Spirit at church and she absolutely adored the gospel principles lesson on baptism. The Anziani showed a video of Christ being baptized and she just kept talking all about how we have to be baptized like that! haha awesome Cristina... Well me being human and forgetful, I was super stressed before church and had forgotten Cristina's BoM. I was sooooo mad at myself! But low and behold the story goes on...

After pranzo and studies we were headed to a less active home and we ended up being stood up. THE WORST! As we were looking where we were at, we realized we were super close to Sorella Magno's home. We then realized I had grabbed the BoM before we went back to work so we decided it was fate and had better see if Cristina was at Sorella Magno's home. Sure enough she was! We ended up teaching the Restoration with a baptismal invite and she said YES! 

My testimony of following the Spirit has grown so much and it just keeps growing as I see miracles happen from following spiritual promptings. We saw a lot of miracles this week from planning to be in a certain area and then the Lord changing our plan and putting someone else in our pathway. It's really pretty amazing how it works.

Sorella Torres and I were both asked to speak in church last Sunday on missionary work. It's been super fun this transfer as we taught in Relief Society about missionary work and then had this opportunity as well. Our talks were awesome! Not to be prideful, but it was awesome to just feel the spirit and then as we all stood to sing Let Us All Press On it was literally the best missionary spirit ever! I'm just very grateful to be a missionary. It is so dang hard, but there is just a type of happiness that only comes from doing the Lord's work. Members are so so special and I'm grateful to know so many wonderful Italians who are trying to build the church here.

Ponderize scripture: Mosiah 28:3

Vi Voglio Bene!!!!

Sorella Carrie Nelson

Every scambio (exchange) ends with a gelato!

Scambia with Foggia Sorelle!

Panzerotti for District meeting lunch!

Good Pday. Played frisbee on the beach.

It  rains soooooooo hard here!!!!

Decisions, decisions, desicions.  The best gelato EVER!!!! Good day in a little city called Capurso.  

Pretty Bari Vecchia.

Happiest Sorella ever!!!!!  Half-way package FINALLY made it!!!!  

Sorella Ensign appreciated the ranch dressing mix as much as I did.