One Year!

Long week! There was a lot of cool things that happened this week! So first off, we got to set another baptismal date with Lisette. Her date now is for march 20th. Hopefully she can get everything cleared up in time for that! We also found this way cool family, they have a daughter that's a year old and they lived in America for a while so they speak English and everything! Were really hoping to get something going with them! We have our first real appointment with them tomorrow! Hopefully everything goes well!


So this Saturday we got to take a culture day because its Anziano Wiederholt's last transfer, and we went to Verona! It was SO cool! Its such a sweet city! It's where Romeo and Juliet takes place, So we got to see the real balcony thing, which is pretty cool,and Juliet's house which has tons of antique stuff inside and a statue of her that apparently if you touch her in a certain spot, it's good luck -haha. And there are walls and tons of things where little lovers and can write their names and all that good stuff. There's also the tomb of Juliet - which we didn't get to see, so there's a lot from the story. I had no idea that there was that much stuff before we got there. There's also a Colosseum like the one in Rome, which was way cool too. There was a school group or something with an English-speaking teacher and he was explaining all about it and the gladiators and stuff so we snuck over and listened in- haha. He said within the first couple weeks of it opening, they had like 30,000 gladiators fight and 10,000 of them died. And tons of other cool stuff, like they would sometimes fill the arena with water and have ship battles and alligators and all sorts of stuff.I guess it's a good thing that entertainment has changed a little bit- haha. Then there was a tower you could go to that looks over the whole city. which was really cool. There were parts of an ancient theatre, as well, that we saw, too. I took some really cool pics from there. The entire day I took about 275 photos ha, there was so much to take pictures of! So it was us and the Anziani from Milano 3, Anziano Poulsen, and Balzo who's Italian. Then Brendan Foley came with us as well- since we got permission which was way cool too! We had to wake up at 4:15 in the morning, walk for a half hour to the train station because there was no bus, and then we got home at about midnight- I was DEAD at the end of the night. But it was way fun. It was cool, too, because I had been praying that we would have a nice day and not crappy weather, and it was so nice that I was walking around in a short sleeve shirt! It was great!

So we got transfer calls the other day! Anziano Wiederholt is going home, obviously, and Anziano Neff is coming into Pavia. I don't know who he is though. He's apparently pretty young in the mission. I'll get more info next time tho! It's weird to have a companion going home. And I cant believe I hit my year mark next week! Time is going by so fast! The last year is even faster too, it still feels like there's so much to do and I love being here so much I don't want to go home ha!

This last Sunday we had a really cool thing happen. This random guy just showed up in church. We talked to him and i guess he had stopped by the church some months ago to grab a book of Mormon because he heard we have them here to give out. He went home, read the whole thing, and actually followed what Moroni asks in the end about praying to know the truth, and did so and said that he feels like he received an answer. So he came to church. He had been searching through different religions, the last one he tried following krishna like the Indian kinda stuff, but he couldn't do it and felt it wasn't right so he went on the internet to look around and found our church! He knows like everything about it haha- it's way cool. We set a baptismal date with him yesterday as well for the 20th, so we know have 4 dates set! Simona, Gerard, Lisette, and now Gianluca! I'm way stoked! Its amazing the miracles you see here on the mission. And I know that I wouldn't be able to see anything even close to it if I wasn't here, because I know that this is the work of the Lord and that I'm helping His children. I know that this is the most important thing that any of these people will ever hear and I'm so glad I get to help in bringing it to them. Through the gospel, these people can be together with their families, not only for a lifetime, but forever. I'm soo grateful for the restoration of the church and i know with all my heart it's true, there's absolutely no way it cant be, it's just too perfect! And that's because is guided by Christ :) The mission is soo cool!

Well that's about it for this week, We have transfers tomorrow so I go pick up my new guy and get him shown to Pavia! I'll let you know whats going on for this next week! Hope your all doing well!

Statemi bene! Vi voglio un mondo di bene!

a doppo

Anziano Bolnick

February 16, 2011

Week 5! Man, I cant believe this transfer is almost over. This is Anziano Wiederholts last pday because he goes home next week. It's crazy! So that means that I'll be getting a new companion next week!

I'm pretty sure I'll be staying in Pavia, but I'm fine with that for another transfer! I'll keep you updated with what happens though!

So this past week has been pretty crazy, we've had a bunch of problems with our investigators turn up ha. Gerard is still ballin, he's doing really well! He came to church and accepted the word of wisdom and everything. We probably have to push his date back another week because we cant see him very often so we cant teach him everything in time but he's doing good.

Lourdes is also doing really well, she's preparing for the 20th of March and has already started receiving a testimony of the book of mormon! Were stoked about that as well. Then there's Simona- we found out yesterday at ward council that she is schizophrenic, and can be dangerous when she crashes. She's ready for the gospel and has a testimony and everything, but right now she's in a high point, so if she crashes again she could end up hurting someone. So were holding off her baptism and trying to get her help with a psychologist. It was really upsetting to find that all out the week of the baptism but, I guess that's what happens, right? Were all praying for her that all will be well.

Then we found out that Lisette has a ton of problems too. She just needs to be honest with some of her people back home, and there is also a guy here, her bf, that is paying her rent for her house who beats her and does tons of bad things, but she can't leave him because he's paying the rent ha. so we gotta get all those problems worked out before she can be baptized, but it will all work out!

So this Sunday we had 7 investigators in church! That's like half the ward- haha- it was way cool! We'll see if everyone keeps going and what not, I really hope so!

The weather has kinda sucked lately, it's been gray and raining which is super annoying as a missionary haha but whatever, it's kinda almost summer right? :)

Well that's about all that's been going on this week. I sent some photos too, from when I met up with Francesco, and there's a couple other random ones too! Hope all is well back home!

A presto tutti!

February 9, 2011

9 Febbraio 2011

Well, just another week here in Pavia, Italy! Lately Anziano Wiederholt and I have been trying to improve our finding and thinking of new and more efficient ways to do it, so we've been trying to do "whiteboarding." Basically, you write a question on the board, such as "is there life after death" or something simple like that, (a yes or no question). Then you divide it into a yes section and a no section. Then you go to a crowded place, like centro, especially here in Pavia where there's TONS of students and people, and you walk up to them and ask them what they think! It's cool because people are a lot more open to answer a question like that at first and then you can talk about it after, instead of stopping a random person and asking what they think happens after death. They're a lot more open to answering it after the ice is broken. It's been working pretty well! We've found a lot of really cool people these last few days by doing it. One of the Seventies, Elder Kopishke, came to us a couple weeks ago for a zone conference and was talking about how President Monson made the announcement that the world needs more missionaries, and he challenged us to "find our replacement". So we've been basically targeting people around our age, that have the potential to go on missions. It's pretty cool because I can share with them my experience of converting at their age, and now I'm here so, obviously it works --at least sometimes haha. A fun thing we do sometimes just to break the ice and have some fun with it is write AMERICA and INGHILTERRA (England) and ask which is better! About 99 percent of the time people say America, but that's just because it's true. Then we explain that were Americans and state what we're doing here. It works pretty well, and it's all in good fun!

So this Sunday we got to see the baptism of Jose and Alia. Jose is from Peru and Alia is from Venezuela. It was so cool to see that! Here in Italy, it's cool because after the ordinance is done, they have the person go up and bear their testimony and its so cool to hear it coming from these new converts, to see how they've truly been helped and changed their lives, and to see the joy that they now have. It's such a sweet experience!

Monday we had our district meeting, then we went out afterward all together to this Japanese restaurant in Milano, it's 9 euro for all you can eat, and they have sushi and everything, and it's pretty good! Except you have to eat everything, otherwise they make you pay for it and we all ordered so much food and we were trying too hard to eat it all, helping each other out.It was rough, but we did it! Then afterward we did our scambio with the zone leaders, Anziano Jones came to Pavia with me. We had a lot of fun! Unfortunately our night on Monday was just a huge let down. All of our appointments got canceled and we ended up wasting a ton of time. But Tuesday morning we taught Simona and she's doing really well! The interview for her baptism should be next Tuesday and she'll be baptized on the 20th as long as all goes well! Were super stoked! Then we also taught a new contact named Lurdes (also from Peru) and we gave her the baptismal invite and she said she is very open to trying and preparing! We didn't set a date yet because we need to pray and think of when she can be ready, but we will the next appointment!

Well that's about all that's going on this week. It's been pretty hectic lately. We have been super busy and always out of the house. Poor Anziano Wiederholt hasn't had a normal week since he's been in Pavia, and he's getting ready to go home in about 2 weeks! I'm trying to keep him from getting trunky haha ;) Hes doing pretty well, though. Even though he's already been home, so he knows what to expect, and that helps a little bit.

Allora devo andare adess ma volevo lasciarvi con la mia testimonianza personale, che so che questa è la chiesa di cristo, e che egli la guida tramite il suo profeta, thomas monson. Sono contentissimo che posso avere questa possibilità di essere qua e aiutare tutte le persone che sono disposte, a trovare quello che ho trovato io. é triste che ho già finito con quasi una metà della missione, vorrei restare qua per sempre haha, è veramente un meraviglioso il lavoro del signore, e tutto quello che ho la possibilità di vedere. sono veramente grato che faccio parte del vero vangelo del signore, e che ho trovato la mia <> hah, e so con tutto il mio cuore che è la strada giusta. La chiesa è vera! Semplicimente!

Vi voglio tanto bene! Alla prossima!

Anziano Bolnick