11/10

Hey Everyone,

We have had a good week together here in Caserta! Anziano   and I are really enjoying being together and having the opportunity to learn from each other. I love how willing he is to learn and to just talk to everyone because he cares so much about all of the people here. I would say that is one of his greatest strengths! It is awesome because we both love like the same exact things and almost every 20 min something happens where we say "Hey, the same thing happened to me", or "It was the same in my family" so we are having lots of fun:)

Unfortunately due to the lack of coming to church, we have had a few baptismal dates fall through this week but we are really striving hard to find out exactly what they need so we can work to their needs. Hopefully we can help them progress and help them really have that desire to come to church. 

We have been given a real miracle this past week as well. An investigator that we had when Anziano Burnham was here felt like she should come to church last week. It was really special because she is really amazing but she felt like everything happened too quickly at first and she feels a little bit more ready now. We were able to help her out a lot this week and she is really doing well. 

This weekend we worked a lot with the less-active members of the church trying to get them to come back. Anziano P and I visited 4 less-active members yesterday and tried to help them out a little bit. I feel like some people just need someone there to tell them they care about them. Lots of time weather it be on purpose, or by accident we exclude or offend others and the consequences are very strong. Now, I am a strong believer in the fact that we can choose to be offended or not and that we can include ourselves and be more outgoing, but I would say that we could be more careful. I would say that actions speak waaaaayyyy louder than words and that our example really matters. I only say this because I have unfortunately seen the results of many bad examples and the effects that it has on others and also those to whom in may even seem irrelevant. 

This is a large lesson that I have learned this week on how we can improve a little bit. I know that my example is not perfect and I need to get a lot better at this but everything we do or say to others will have some kind of impact on them so we must always be careful. I love all of you guys and am grateful for the many prayers and wishes. Have a fantastic week:)

Love 

Anziano Passantino 

11/4

Family and Friends!!

Well the mission just doesn't produce bad weeks. Maybe some better than others but never bad, and I can say the same about this one. We have had a fantastic week and I am super excited to be with Anziano P******. He is super awesome and we get along super well. He has taught me a lot already and is an amazing missionary who speaks really well for being in Italy for only around 4 months.

We had an amazing week and it has been very efficient. We have really hit it off together and we have some great goals for this next week and I can feel that there is a lot of amazing work that is about to happen.

This last week we had an amazing Halloween party and there were over seventy people there that participated, along with the fact that they were able to mix and mingle with the members and get to know them. Our English Course right now is really exploding with potential. After transfers were all finished we were able to meet with some of our new members and help strengthen them. 

Hopefully we can get a lot of work done this transfer, there isn't a lot to report for this week other than we are happy to be together and looking forward to everything. 

There are defiantly people to find here. We are all doing really good with good attitudes and heads up. We need to find and help these people grow and feel the blessings of the gospel. 

Thanks for everyones prayers and love! I hope you all have an amazing week!!

Love

Anziano Passantino

10/27

Family and Friends!!

Well the mission just doesn't produce bad weeks. Maybe some better than others but never bad, and I can say the same about this one. We have had a fantastic week and I am super excited to be with Anziano Pingree. He is super awesome and we get along super well. He has taught me a lot already and is an amazing missionary who speaks really well for being in Italy for only around 4 months.

We had an amazing week and it has been very efficient. We have really hit it off together and we have some great goals for this next week and I can feel that there is a lot of amazing work that is about to happen.

This last week we had an amazing Halloween party and there were over seventy people there that participated, along with the fact that they were able to mix and mingle with the members and get to know them. Our English Course right now is really exploding with potential. After transfers were all finished we were able to meet with some of our new members and help strengthen them. 

Hopefully we can get a lot of work done this transfer, there isn't a lot to report for this week other than we are happy to be together and looking forward to everything. 

There are defiantly people to find here. We are all doing really good with good attitudes and heads up. We need to find and help these people grow and feel the blessings of the gospel. 

Thanks for everyones prayers and love! I hope you all have an amazing week!!

Love

Anziano Passantino

10/20

Hello Everybody,

Well we have had another good week here. We loved being able to go up to Rome and have our Zone Conference there. I think it offered us all a nice refresher and it helped us to get a nice little energy boost for the rest of the transfer. Not to mention the fact that I love doing finding on the streets of Rome and seeing/meeting so many amazing people. The Lord blessed us with many miracles this week after a week that may have been a little bit harder. 

We had 2 new investigators this week The first is the mother of our new convert here named A******* who was born in Russia but has lived here for her entire life more or less. She has been praying to have the opportunity to share the gospel with her mother and this past week when we went to go see A******, her mother, Irina was the one that we actually taught. A****** was beyond happy that the joy that she recieved from the gospel is now being given to other parts of her family!

The other is a man here named L*****. He is an american that lives just down the street from us that we randomly met on the street. His wife lives here and is an Italian and he came here a lot for Judo. He was married and has remained here and now speaks both perfect English and Italian. He is really amazing, he grew up in the San Diego area but was born in China so actually he also speaks Chinese. He has showed some interest in the gospel as well and we are grateful for his friendship and we hope to be able to share this gospel and joy with him in the new future.

The hard part will be trying to get them to Church as they both have work problems but we will be fasting and praying and puting our faith in the Lord that He will provide a way for them to feel of the spirit as they come and join with us in Church. I am grateful for this work and the many miracles that I see each and every day!! Transfer calls are this week so we will see how that goes!!  Thanks for everything!! I love you all!

Love

Anziano Passantino

The Good Life

Family and Friends

Well this week has been a good one. To start off with today, we just got back from the Naval Base and we were playing woofle ball with some members and investigators there. It was lots of fun and took me back to the good ole days when we played with Josh and Brandon in our yard in Chico. I play a lot better now then I did back then though haha

Other than just the none work stuff we were humbled a little bit but we are still happy and recieving many blessings from the Lord. As usual after having success and happiness Satin trys to get you down by making you sad and discouraged. Well after an amazing week the week before, this week we were nailed by lots of different trials. Nothing major but we did see a lot of opposition, you could say, in the work. We had a week full of appointments and lessons, almost unlike any other before. We watched as day by day they kept on falling through, so much so that the only thing we could do was life and smile and just move on. It became a joke as each day we would get "that" phone call. The best thing is that neither Anziano Burnham nor I became discouraged. We both just kepts making jokes and moving on. I know that it will be a blessing for us:)

Other than that we did see a lot of success in meeting with new converts and less-active members. While studying this past week it really hit me the important responsibility we have to keep these people here and help them continue to have the blessings of the gospel. Those who have "lost there way" a little bit need to be helped out and loved. Here, we have been blessed with some realy success in the not so distant past and the Lord showed to me this week in my studies the responsibility I have to help not only those whom I helped recieve the blessings of the gospel but also those whom others have helped. The Lord loves ALL of His children and wants each and ever one of them to return and live with Him. Our responsibility is to help others to feel that love and partake of the blessings that come through the gospel. 

Other than that, not a lot to report on this week. I am grateful for this gospel and all that I am able to do to help His work go forward. Thanks for your prayers and love!

Anziano Passantino

10/6

Family and Friends,

We have had a great week here this week and we have really been blessed and edifyed. 

This past Friday we were able to witness the baptisms of both A****** and V****** here in Caserta. They are both very strong and we are grateful for the chance that we have had to teach them. They have actually taught us a lot in return which is one of the many paradoxes of the mission. As we teach others we also learn not only from them but through the spirit. Without the spirit it is impossible to learn at the level we need to grow spiritually. After the they received the Holy Ghost I asked them how the felt, V said he felt very strange and I asked him what he meant by that. He went on to explain about how for the first time in his life he had zero negative thoughts and that they were all positive. He also felt happier and more calm than ever before. This was such a big deal for him because he sufferes from Anxiety problems and for the first time he wasn't having those feelings while passing through a very big step in his life. I am grateful for the help that the Lord gives to His children to pass through the difficult trials we face in this life. I know that thorugh the Atonement of Christ we can recieve exterior help to be empowered to day and say things that we would not have been able to do or say on our own. He never leaves us down here alone and I know that He also speaks to Apostles and Prophets today that live and guide us,as they so elequently did this weekend, and teach us the path we must follow to one day return and live with Him. 

Something that has given me much comfort and joy in the past few months as been the invite by the Savior to "take up [our] cross and follow me." I know that as we do this He gives us the comfort and help that we need to overcome trials in this life and my testimony of this grew this past weekend as the prohpets and apostles taught and instructed us on how we can do our duty better or how we can "take up [our] cross daily" as Luke adds. 

The greatest testimony of which I had added upon this past weekend would best be summarized in the words of James as he said "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself uspotted from the world" I heard many different admonitions on the importance of helping others and most importantly following the two great commandments. Alll things taught this past weekend, in my opinion, could be summed up in the fact that we must love others, and most importantly, our God. I know this to be true and am grateful the the spirit testifyed of this to me this week!! I hope you have a great week!!

Love 

Anziano Passantino

9/29

Hey Family!!

How is everyone doing?? We have had a good week here and it has really just flown by. I feel like it was just the other day that I was doing my email. We have really had some good work going on here and we are very happy for this coming up week as many exciting things are happening. 

This past week went really well and especially english course. We have about 50 people or more that are coming to the course now but we have lots of people there that are very intersted in the gospel. 

On wednesday we really had a miracle happen though at our "family night" that we do mainly for the youth but now some older people are coming which is fine. We had a really cool experience there this past week. We started off by playing some games and just having fun then my comp and I did the spiritual thought. We did it about the gifts that each one of us have and how we can use them in our lives. We shared the video of a blind teenager who is an amazing piano player from the youth mormon messages! It went really well and the spirit was very strong as we explained it and bore testimony of how each one of us has gifts given to us by God, some people are good at some things and others are better at other things but we each are given gifts that help us become who we are to be. After we finished we asked if anyone would like to say the prayer (even though none of them are members of the church) and one lady said that she would like to. She started by saying dear heavenly father then she started balling and ran out of the room. She then proceeded to tell us how it was the first time she had said a prayer in more then 15 years. I stoped her on the street about 3 weeks ago and she has been coming to these activities and english course since that time. Her husband and her came to a ward activity we had last week on the American base and we brought another friend who knew them. It was an amazing miracle that they had so much fun and that they made so many good relationships there. She will come to church next week and hopefully everything will go well!! After the prayer she told us that the first time she came she though "can people really be that happy and is it true happiness" then she came the next few times to make sure we were not just faking it! She is really amazing and the Lord has blessed us with her this past week!!

A scripture that has been in my mind this week is Heleman 3:35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God." As we are humble, we have faith then we give our hearts to the Lord, He will bless us with the purifying and the sanctification of our hearts!! I love this work and everything the Lord gives to us. I can't imagine my life without it!! I hope everyone has a great week!!

 Love

Anziano Passantino

9/22

Dear Family and Friends,

We are doing really well here in Caserta. The work is going well, we are still trying to grow our teaching pool but those who we are teaching are really showing some great progress.

We do have two baptismal dates for the week of conference. These people are both youth and Italian and we are really looking forward to having them become members here because they would be the only Italian ones that are active. The ward here in Caserta has made a goal to make this an Italian self-sufficient ward and we cannot do that if there are 0 italian youth here. They are very excited and have great testimony's of the gospel and how they can really recieve answers to their prayers. They are even sharing the gospel with their family members because they have found this joy for themselves they want everyone in their families to have the same thing as well. 

Caserta is great, it is amazing to see a ward that is run correctly because of all the American members that are here and it really makes a big difference, the only hard thing is getting members to lessons when we have to teach in Italians. Hopefully they will show the desire and we will be able to help them with their desire!

This whole subject of how to get the Italian members excited about missionary work has really been on my mind the last week during my studies and my prayers! I know that we need to help them out and the only thing that has come to me thus far is just to love them. We have to love others, that is what gets them to work. Without love it is harder for others to have a desire to share this messagge with others so we really need to love them. I hope this will be something we can really work on here. 

Have a great week everyone!!

Love Anziano Passantino

9/16

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry but this week I don't really have time to write an email so I have copied and pasted some statements in my letter to our mission president. It was a crazy day yesterday so we got permission to use 20 min to email today! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Well, I feel as though it might be a little bit clique always saying the same thing but it has been another great week her in Caserta. The work is really starting to go forward. We have some good work but we both know that we are going to have to work a really hard this next transfer to try and get some new people to teach.

First off, Anziano B and I are happy to be able to serve together for another transfer. I hope to continue to learn and grow from his example.

 

We had stake conference and after that I think that everyone in this zone is really going to recieve that push to go forward. President D really gave some amazing talks that made me think like it was general conference just a few weeks early. The mission president gave a great talk about member missionary work and that will be a big focus here in Caserta in the next little while. Members are everything to us and we hope to be able to help by teaching their friends and family after the manner of the spirit. We also have talked to our ward mission leader to get a copy of the stake and ward missionary plan as something that we can look at, ponder and pray about to try and get the work here to really burst forward. As I have said in the recent past we have been blessed with so many miracles that it is hard even to count them.

We have had some good work with those we are teaching as well this week as they are beginning to work toward their baptismal dates at the beginning of october. We are excited that we are seeing the interest of lots of youth here and as youth begin to feel the spirit, they are the best at sharing it with friends and family. Our investigators that are progressing are really looking up and are, what we would like to think, the "future" so to speak of the wards and branches here in this area. The more we work with the youth the more the future of the church will grow. I thank the Lord for all that He does in this work and for the trials and blessings that He gives to us. 

I hope everyone is doing well and that you all have great weeks!!

 Love 

Anziano Passantino

8/18

Friends and Family,

How was everyones week? We have had a great week. The work here is going well and we are having a lot of fun and working very hard together.  I am really liking it here and I hope that I will be able to really help others here. 

This week we went to a few members house on the base and met with them. All of them are super cool and when we go to the base for me it is like going into a little American city. For diner we had a nice little stake and mashed patatoes with salad. Just an amazing typical meal that I haven't seen/eaten for a year. Plus as gifts they gave us Dr. Pepper, Mt. Dew, Honey Bunches of Oats and Fruit Loops with normal American milk. I guess being here has its benifits;) haha It is strange to see normal American things just around but it is pretty cool as well!

This week we were able to find a couple new people that we are teaching.One is named Amos. We found him last week and we started the conversation by talking about the prophet Amos. He is very spiritual and he loves God so we are really hoping that  he will be able to come to church next week and listen to this wonderful message about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He has accepted the Book of Mormon and really wants to know the truth.

Then J****** and M******. J is from Nigeria and M from Austria but then they both live here now but will be going back soon. They are working really hard to always be closer to Christ. The story on how they were found is really amazing and shows that Joseph follows the promptings of the spirit. One day when they Anziani were looking for their house and they couldn't find it. Then Joseph felt like he should call them randomly without an appointment and he did so. They "happened" ti be there but we all know that that was the spirit guiding them. They are the most humble most amazing couple ever, they came here to get married but it didn't work out very well. They had to stay and ended up meeting the missionaries in the most incredible way and then she got pregnant. They are now living the law of chastity and will be married on wednesday but they told us they will do the big wedding when they go to the temple when it is "really special". They are great and will soon be able to accept the gospel through baptism and whether it is here or in Austria we are very excited for them.

Hope you all are doing well and that you all have a great week. I hope that everyone is safe and protected this week and I love yo all!!

Love,
Anziano Passantino

A LITTLE BOY WENT DOWN TO NAPOLI, BECAUSE HE MISSED THE SCENERY (DEAN MARTIN SONG)

haha I don't know if that is exactly how the song goes by dean martin but you'll have to look it up. We always sing it,  the "HEY MAMBO, Mambo italiano" song for the subject line.

Hey Everyone,

Well it has been a really great week!!. I have already fallen in love with Caserta and I know that there are people here that are ready for the gospel. Anziano B and I are ready to bring them the "great news". I am excited also to be in an area with many of the Americans and Italians so that I can learn from both cultures because I think that each one has something to offer. 
I feel that in my time here I will try to really focus on getting some referals from the members because they are all really strong and very helpful. The church organization really works here and I think that we can really use that to our favor. We also were able to go to a ward activity last Saturday on the American Base and I think that really helped others get to know us and us to get to know them and just to create a good relationship with them. It was perfect timing for us who are newly arrived!  Members and missionaries really need to come together to bring this work forward. Neither one of them can do it by themselves and I think the general authorities of the church are really trying to teach this especially recently.
In terms of work, it seems as though this area has had a lot of baptisms in the recent past and that calls for a lot of work with our new converts and helping them grow in the church. That along with the fact that we will be teaching our own people calls for a lot of hard work and so I am super duper excited!!
We do have two investigators that were going to be baptized here at the end of the month but they have decided that they want to wait until they can do it together in their home country of Austria. They came here planning to stay for about a month so they could get married but the papers didn' work out very well so they have stayed for longer, but during that stay they have met the missionaries, taken all the lessons and excepted invites to be baptized. We are very excited for them and we know that their short time here in Italy was for a reason and that reason was to meet the missionaries but more importantly come unto Christ. They already have the address there in Austria and have promissed us that they would go. They are both very strong spiritually and we are very happy for them and the family they are about to start and that they will be able to grow that family in a home blessed by the gospel. 
We are really doing "a great work" and we are so happy to be dong so. The pizza is just another little plus (by the way, IT IS SOOOOO GOOD HERE!!)  Have a great week everybody and remember, miracles do happen and they happen every single day!!!!

Love
Anziano Passantino