July 27, 2015

One month left! Oh wait

Dang it's already been a month! It's flown by. Time flies when you are working hard and having fun. We sure do a lot of both out here. One more month and most of you will be in school. Ha. Sucks. jk I loved school.

Anyway last Monday I dropped a whole lot of cash (not really) on Clorox and cleaning supplies because our shower was disgusting. It didn't drain and there was like mold. It's been a missionary apartment for like three years so you can't judge. But I cleaned the crap out of it. I sprayed so much Clorox my eyes were crying and I could feel it in my lungs. Yeah that was a really dumb idea, also we couldn't open our window to vent because there was a hornets nest and they would fly in. So naturally I sprayed them with Clorox too. Anyway the shower is clean and it makes me happy. Also I bought this sweet shower curtain. It's this mountain scene in the forest and there's a wolf. Coolest thing I've ever bought ever.

On Tuesday we had zone conference. It was amazing. My mission president is a powerful man. that changed the ways of how I do things. We learned better planning and teaching techniques. We also focused a lot on the doctrine of Christ. That's pretty much what we focus on all the time but this was like super deep. We went over how we know if someone is ready for baptisms and what evidences are they showing that they will live this way forever. It was a great way to evaluate where I'm at and what I need to change to become better.

That's the beauty of this gospel. You can always improve on something. You are never done. You have to keep working. I love this gospel and can stand boldly in front of you and testify that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I have been called by Him through a prophet of God. It is my sacred privilege to carry on His work and declare His word among His people that they might have everlasting life. He is the son of God and the redeemer of the world. I know that if we exercise faith in him, sincerely repent, are baptized for the remission of sins, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands, and endure to the end, we will receive a forgiveness of all our sins, and live with Heavenly Father again with our families for all eternity. (doctrine of Christ) Love you all!
Elder Verdoni

July 20, 2015

Weekly Update

So Fort Wayne is probably the funnest city on earth. There's so many things to do, actually all I see people do is smoke and mow their lawns lol. haha! 

I love my area. There's literally a different church on every corner. I'm not kidding. Oh and the weather here is so random. Like it will be raining then five minutes later it's sunny with no clouds and then four hours later it's raining again. I don't understand. 

Also I'd much rather take the AZ heat over this. The highest it's gotten is like 90°F maybe, but it's so darn humid. And I bike a lot, so I find myself drowning in my sweat quite frequently. The other day we biked 30 min south, uphill, and it was the muggiest it's ever been (at least for me) then we got to the person's house and they didn't have A/C. It was death. In AZ you can escape most of the heat by being is shade but here the shade doesn't do that much, haha. 

Fun fact, to prevent missionaries from being jumped, we got rid of our name tags and now we have to wear silver grills. Mine says "Elder 'Ca$h money' Verdoni." We do this to blend in. We also have to wear at least 3 pounds of other jewelry and brass knuckles on our right hand. But other than that, the mission life is great. I'm loving it so much. We have four people on date for baptism! It's so exciting. Anyway I love and miss all of you!

Elder Verdoni

Letter to Mom

So about the bike, there was one left behind by someone so I gave it to a shop to fix up. It's nice. It should be done by next week or hopefully this one. But right now I'm just borrowing one. I got rained on too! poured on actually. We got soaked. It happens quite a bit actually. So anyway, I'm adjusting to missionary life pretty well. My trainer is very good. We have four people on date for baptism.

Oh, also there's this area down by Dayton where there's a large population of Ghanaian people that speak Twi. So maybe Elder Michael Verdoni (his brother in Ghana) and I will both be teaching Ghanians.

Elders being silly!

One soaked Elder

July 13, 2015

First week = First baptism!

Hey everyone! Well I'm out of the MTC now and currently I'm serving in Fort Wayne, Indiana! It's way different than Arizona. It's about a three hour time difference, so that was fun getting used too. I get up at 2;45 a.m. your time every morning. It's Very flat, very green and very humid, but the weather is pretty nice. The hottest its gotten is like 80. 

Yeah so I live in the hood. It's pretty sweet. It's a little (a lot) run down and sketchy but it's home and I love it. I've never lived in an area where the people smoke more than they breathe though. Literally everyone out here smokes.  

It rains quite a bit out here. There's actually a huge thunderstorm right now. Last week there was a huge storm where it flooded and like 50-100 ft trees were uprooted and fell everywhere. The other day my companion Elder Heiner and I were riding our bikes, and when we were 20 min out it started raining and we were soaked. It was so fun.

Fireflies are pretty cool! I flipped out a little when I first saw them. Things just started glowing and I had no idea why. Oh, I hate the mosquitoes. 

And yes just like the subject says, I had my first baptism! it was on Saturday! His name is J. C. He's one of the most solid guys I've ever met. He's a great example to me. 

The first day out here was pretty hard. Everything was new and different. I prayed for the strength to carry on and keep going. I know our Heavenly Father hears our prayers because he heard mine. The next day was so good. The atonement of Jesus Christ is amazing. Through it we can receive comfort and strength beyond our own. I know this to be true. I'm so glad to be out here serving the lord. 

Write me! 

Love you all.

Tid bits form Letter to Mom

There's no iPads :( but I can make it through. Something cool my mission president (coolest guy on earth) said, is that he receives no greater and clearer revelation than who is being trained and who the trainer is. Pretty cool huh?! My trainer, Elder Heiner, is awesome.

Elder Heiner and Elder Verdoni

With Elder Basset

He really brings the spirit of others up. I love him!

MTC Fun below!

Elder Verdoni  "supporting" is companion!

Treats from his dad through Dearelder.com

July 2, 2015

The MTC Experience

Wow Wow Wow this week has been crazy. I am finally here. Thank you so much for the letters and packages! I've really appreciated them. The days feel like weeks and weeks days. Time is a weird thing in the MTC. 

My day is scheduled out from 6:30 to 10:30. I'm in a class for like nine hours. It can get pretty intense. The food here is pretty good. I smelled the cream soda tree and that made my whole experience worth it. Yes, there's a tree that smells like cream soda. I'm not kidding when I say it made everything worth it lol. 

The first few days were hard and I got homesick but I got over it and I'm fine now. I love it here. The spirit is so strong here. I'm going to try to keep it short because no one likes long emails, but I will be replying with my testimony and why I'm here if you want to read it. If you don't that's cool too haha. 

My companion is pretty cool. He's so funny. and my district is so amazing. I love them, they are my family away from home. In just a week they've become my best friends. It's crazy how much I've grown in a week. I understand so much more about this gospel and even though I'm in a classroom a lot, I love it. I can't seem to figure out pictures yet, but I'll get them on here. It's been such an amazing experience and I can't wait to go to Ohio. I leave Monday morning at 430 am. Wooo! Alright, well I love and miss all of you. Write me!
I am Elder Verdoni

 In the MTC

Our district 

 Smelling the Cream Soda Tree - MTC
(random missionaries since Elder Verdoni hasn't sent pics yet)

President Thomas S. Monson, center, and his counselors, 

President Henry B. Eyring, left, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

pause for a photo to be taken in the MTC after a sacrament meeting 

attended by new mission presidents and their wives on June 28, 2015.