Fino al giorno in cui ci rivedrem ...Until we meet again

Well mom and dad....

this is the end. I honestly can't believe it. It's crazy... super mixed emotions. Just to let you know I'm ok about work. I am grateful for that because that will be just fine until i get on my feet! Saturday morning is fine to meet with Pres. Warner and being released. I'm so tired! I haven't been able to sleep well the last few nights and probably wont sleep until i get home! I'm probably not gonna go into much details about this past week because i will just tell you guys about it Friday night. Just letting you know I probably wont call from Dallas. There's no need really. Tell Brother Savage that it is fine for me to speak to the priests! I'd love to speak with them. The first week or 2 is gonna be crazy and I already know this so I will just go with the flow! haha

Well..... this is weird getting ready to finish my last email! I just want to let you guys know that i really did love my mission. It was amazing. It was so much more than just the gelato, pretty stuff everywhere and good food. It was about helping people come closer to Christ. I was not perfect by any means, but I'm still very thankful for the chance the Lord gave me to touch people's lives. All the people i met have completely changed my life. Putting the Gospel in practice has completely changed my life. My goal now is to keep it that way! I'm going to need your help and the Lord's help! We just have do what we know is right. I love Italy. I always have but now i REALLY love Italy. I will never forget what i have experienced here. I will be eternally grateful to the Lord for letting me serve a mission. I am not really good with public testimony because it's always been hard for me and still it is difficult but I do have a testimony of the Gospel! I love you guys so much and am thankful for the support that you guys game me.

Not gonna lie though I'm pretty excited to see you guys!!!! haha i gotta go though. Cio' da fare!!!!!! (I have stuff to do) ...I am in Milano and we are going to "hit" the city one last time :) I will see you guys on friday! vi voglio bene :)

love anziano bona

THE LAST FEW MONTHS.....IN PICUTURES

Anziano Bona arrived in Vicenza a week before Christmas.

He was so excited to be with Anz Duque, who would be finishing his mission the end of January.

There is a US military base in Vicenza, and a wonderful senior couple who server there,

Elder and Sister Maughan. They are from the SLC area.

They have watched over all the missionaries who have passed through Vicenza

and we are so thankful to them for all of these wonderful pictures.

Anz Bona and Anz Duque spent Christmas with the Maughan's and had a

traditional American meal and then spoke to us on the phone!

We look forward to meeting the Maughan's the end of 2013

when they will return home from their mission.

We are so glad they live in the SLC area.

Downtown Vicenza

Anziano Duque is going home. Last day together...off to Milano.

Thank you Anz Duque for being such a wonderful companion and dear friend to Robert.

You're example of great faith and love of the Lord has been an example to all of us.

Welcome Anziano Portellano, to little America.

Anz Bona's companion is from France, and a really nice guy!

They seem to get a long very well....we have been told that he is also an amazing cook.

I suppose that is why I am surprised that he would want to eat American fast food.

Something different is always nice though!

Again...the Maughan's are always so nice to take the missionaries to the base on pdays

and treat them to some "yummy" food. We have been told that the greatest attraction at the eatery is the drink machine...all the free refills that you want. That is unheard of in Italy.

Oh the things we take for granted!

Two weeks!

Celebrating with banana spits, after a day in Venice!

I love the scarf look!!!

Last district meeting in Vicenza.....

The elders are already missing Anz Bona....

Obviously these boys haven't danced for a while!

Time to get down to business....

District Meeting!

One last photo together!

Thank you Vicenza!!

Last breakfast in Vicenza...

Elder and Sister Maughan took the elders to the base....

Helping Anz Bona get use to American food!

Bags all packed and ready to go!

Thank you Vicenza for 2 1/2 great months!

Hanging out at the military base in Vicanza waiting for the train to Milano...

Thank you Anziano Portellano!

It has been a pleasure.

Anziano Bona...

we will see you in a couple of days...

We are so proud of Anziano Bona and all that he has done over the past two years.

His life, and ours will never be the same.

Thank you to all those who have been his companion and for the influence

that you have had on him and for touching his life in a way that no one else could.

(by Judi)

ONE WEEK

Dear Mom and Dad,

 

Thanks for your emails. They were great. This one and next weeks letter will probably be a bit short for obvious reasons! ha ha But ya we got back from Rimini today. We are so so tired!!! We went there Monday night and left this morning. We slept in Pesaro though, and it was cool cause Anziano Lesa is there and he is going home with me so it was nice to see him!

 

Things here have been going well. This past weekend Evans came to church for the first time. He loved it, and the members were great! For real, it was so good to see him there! He was looking super fly in his suit and he got a nice hair cut and everything. I think I forgot to tell you guys but we moved his date back to the 10th of March. We didn't wanna rush it, we need to make sure he's ready. I know I'll miss it, but it doesn't matter if I'm there or not. It just matters if it happens! I'll see it on FB anyways! ha ha

 

FYI the Hard Rock burger was amazing!!! It was huge!!! I got pics I'll show you in like 8 days :) hahahaha

And yes, I should have time to email you guys next week though.

 

It's so weird it's all pretty much done.... I have my final scambio with Anziano Free tomorrow then the weekend and then I think I'll be in Milan Wednesday for pday. Not sure about that yet though we will see.

 

I can honestly say I'm kinda sad though.... I've been looking forward to this time of my mission for like forever and now that it is here I don't want it to be here! but it's gotta happen sooner or later. I am excited though obviously. I can't wait to come back here and I haven't even left yet!!!! Oh well.

 

The mission has been the hardest thing ever... but I'm thankful because it's helped me rely on the Lord. Hopefully I can now put into practice in real life all of the things I've learned!!!! I'm nervous but I know I'm not alone!!

 

I think its awesome you guys are gonna finish the BoM!!! I'm so proud of you guys!! :) I love you guys tons!!! Cant wait to see you guys next week!!! Well take care! Have a great week and don't freak out too much!!! ha ha I'll try to email you guys next week! If not don't freak out though ha ha love you guys!! Thanks for everything. You have no idea how much it means to me.... TVB :)

 

love anziano bona

IT'S COMING TO AN END

Dear Mom and Dad


It was good to get your emails this week! Just to answer your question quickly, Yes Ben went to the office! We have sisters that serve in the office at Milano but next transfer they are going to be replaced by Anziani and Anz Lehnardt is one of them!!! They will be the new secretaries. He is gonna do great! It's cool too because that means he will be there my last night at the mission home!! That's cool I'll get to see him my last day!

Just as FYI, one of my suits is a bit tight!! haha But it will give me motivation to lose a few kg! I had to get a new one though because the other was destroyed. It looks pretty good! Yesterday for Pday we went to Venice for carnival!!! It was fun!!!! I definitely would love to go back there again during carnival when I'm not a missionary!!! Hate to say this- I am human- but I have to say there were some very cute girls! While I was in Venice I got a really nice mask. Funny story regarding this mask: so I walk into this super nice store with Anziano Portellano and all the other missionaries waited outside. This cute girl working there comes up and starts explaining all the stuff to me regarding masks etc. She tells me how these super nice ones are 40 euro but that she would give it to me for 35. I told her I would think about it. So I started leaving and she stopped me and said that if I would buy it right then that she'd give it to me for 30euro and a bacio (kiss)!!!! So I bought it right there and then!!! haha Sadly I had to decline the bacio though!!! I told her I was a missionary. If I wasn't a missionary it would of been tight :) haha so yes... i got a mask 25% off. Then we just went and took a giro of Venice. It was so cool to be there and see everyone all dressed up. I got cool pics. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. It was so good. The burger was really amazing. One of the best ones I've ever had! Just as FYI I had to pay also for my companion. He said he will repay me.

Ultimately all the elders had fun and a great day!

My interview with President Wolfgramm was awesome. Right when I walked in he told me that this interview was gonna be different and that I needed to put my "going home hat" on. So I did :) haha He pretty much gave me 1/2 of my going home interview. It was really cool, he just gave me advice about school and work and marriage. I am not gonna lie it was interesting talking to him about girls! haha But he did actually give me some really good advice! It was also really amazing because while we were talking President basically quoted a paragraph from my patriarchal blessing. It was so interesting to me. He is so inspired. I really have come to love and respect that man. He also renewed my temple recommend so now I  have one so that's good too. I saw Justin and of course I'll get one last pic with him ha at the office when I have my final interview. In that meeting (our training meeting/zone conference) if you are going home you also go up and give your "parting" testimony. So I did that too. That's when it just kinda hit me that it's really all coming to an end soon. I have seen so many of my missionary friends get up there and now I just did it too. It was strange but good at the same time. Honestly I am gonna miss Italy and miss the things that we do here but at the same time I'm excited to see you guys and start a new chapter of my life :) haha

So things are good. 2 weeks left and they are just gonna fly because next week we are going to Rimini for Anz Portellano and some documents he has to get, then I have a scambio with my main man Anziano Free. Then I'm like done!!!! Man it is weird! Oh well! have a great week! I love you guys so much! See you guys soon!!! ciao ciao!!

Anziano Bona.

REFLECTIONS

Dear Mom and Dad,

Well hello again! Sorry I'm writing on Thursday again. We were so busy yesterday! We didn't even do our shopping. We are going to do that right after this. So we had a pretty good week I guess. We feel we've been working pretty well. We have found some new investigators and stuff. Now we just gotta help them progress and find some more.

We ended up setting a date with Evans for the 25th of Feb. I don't know if he is going make it though.... it' ll be close.Ii just don't want to rush him if he's not totally ready. That's the last weekend I am here and of course it would be amazing to end with a baptism. But I totally don't want to push him if he's not ready. That would so not be worth it. As long as he gets baptized one day that's all that matters.

So ya I really did have a super sick scambio with Anziano Leinhardt. He is awesome and his comp Anz Free is one of my boys too. They have so much potential together to do so much good. Rhey are an amazing companionship. But ya it was just super cool to talk to him and reflect over my mission. Of course I told him not to be as stupid as I was and to be so much better then I was because he has such great potential! But it was cool to reflect and think about it. We went to Monte Berico which is this hill with a really nice church up at the top, and we just looked over the whole city and just kinda had a heart to heart. It was really cool. And we pretty much just had great time together. I love that kid! ha ha He is a great missionary. Then pday yesterday we were in Padova all day until our appointments at night.

Yes I do remember that fast Sunday. It's very sacred for me for some personal reason. But to answer your question no I didn't bear my testimony this Sunday ha I kinda wanted to though! I have been kinda sick this past week. It started Sunday and I still feel like crud today ha and there were just so many members getting up so fast that I really didn't have time to get up there, but I know they will make me speak my last Sunday because it's what they always do! So I'll be able to share my testimony with everyone then! ha ha

So ya things are going good. Just the usual. I'm gonna be kinda honest though. I'm a bit scared to come home because you guys think I'm this completely different dude who is perfect which is so freaking wrong. I just get the feeling that you guys are going to be disappointed! And I'm just not in the mood for school or a job or anything like that! ha ha That needs to change soon though! ha ha But overall things are all pretty good. I'm stoked for the next couple weeks because we got some pretty fun things planned. so it'll be fun!

Well I hope you guys have a great week! 3 weeks ha ha Take care, hear from you guys soon!!! ciao ciao!

love anziano bona

COMPLIMENT

I just did a scambio with Anz. Bona in Vicenza and I really loved it. Anz. Bona has become one of my good friends in the mission. He's really a great example of being kind and loving people and I loved hearing his perspective as he looks back just before going home. Hearing about his successes and lessons learned and also regrets really made me think about the way I live and serve. Anz. Bona is a missionary who knows how to have fun, and he also has a very sincere spiritual side. Looking back on it as I write I'm realizing how cool it is that I can spend time with another guy my age and talk about spiritual things and it isn't weird at all.


This was written to a mother by her missionary son who is serving in an area near Robert. What a sweet compliment and another tender mercy from the Lord.
Thank you my dear friend for sharing this with us. I know that it will mean a lot to Robert when he reads it.

(posted by Judi)

WEEK 100

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thanks for your emails this past week, they were very much enjoyed! Dad you are right about the ABC's. All of those things are needed. We can't be lacking any of them we need all three and - like you-  I have fallen in love with the BoM too. It's a great book. I just got into Alma this morning. If I keep reading 10 pages a day I should be able to finish. It's gonna be close but I'm gonna for sure try! It's funny that you've been talking to the people around here. I don't know who Kareen is.... no one is coming to mind.... but  I do love the Maughans!!! They are awesome. It's like having grandparents watching out for us while we are here! I love it... and you guys talked to Duque!!! I love him. He is a great guy. He told me about his situation at home. He just needs a friend. He misses his mission and that is awesome as well, because he has realized how great of an experience it was for him! We also talked about personal study and personal prayer and how the mission helped him out so much by getting him into a good habit of doing those things and how those things right now are helping him out in real life. It's awesome. Right now I'm very Duque trucky!!!! ha ha i miss him tons!!! He was more then just a great comp, he was a really good friend.

Things out here are going OK too. Anziano Portellano is a really nice guy. He is really.... french ha ha It's just interesting to me but the thing is that I can handle anything for 29 more days even though I'm exhausted now!!!!! Don't worry I'm still going and doing my best.

Our investigators are doing OK. It's just a really interesting situation for them right now. I guess we will just have to see what happens, but if they don't keep their commitments they can't expect God to bless them. If they don't read and don't come to church they wont receive those blessings they need. I just don't get why it's so hard for some people to understand that! Free agency sucks sometimes when people you care about use it wrongly!!!

OK so do you remember Anziano Strobelt by chance? I served with him while I was in Milano. Well right now he is serving in Bologna with Anziano Parker. They were with a member last night going home and they got in a car accident. Luckily no broken bones or anything but they got banged up pretty dang good. So if you could remember them in your prayers tonight that would be great thanks!!!

Other than that, pretty much things here are normal.... nothing special ha ha we are just trying to do our best out here. It snowed... and now it's freezing. It hit -°7 today (Celsius). Very cold!! Thank heavens for heating in the apartment!!! Well guys I hope you have a great week. if you did received them, ... send me my flight plans!!!!!! ha ha :) thanks! take care guys!!!!

Love Anziano Bona