So, i just wanted to talk a little about the first presidency's message in the september Liahona. President Uchtdorf talks about how we should prepare ourselves for the conference. Its really good and i would recommend it, i would also recommend watching all the sessions of conference. I wish i could, but, the time zone messes us uo over here in Europe. but, i'll get all of them except the sunday afternoon. Anyways, this past week has been good, really busy and fun. On wednesday, i went to the station in Cosenza to get my new companion and i had to say goodbye to my best bud Anziano Packer, he's one of the Assistant's now, he's the man! So, i got my new comp and hes really great. I got to the station and i expected a little timid nice young lad and to my surprise i got a big California football man. It's great, he's doing really well, he speaks well for coming out of the MTC and he's ready to work. He really reminds me of myself when i came out, its cool.

About the work... unfortunately, Godsent lost his phone this weekend, so we weren't able to get ahold of him and get him to church. So that was a bummer. We did however, find a cool girl this week who speaks good english and she came to a branch activity that we had on Saturday with her mom. We had a lesson with her yesterday and we gave her a book of mormon and she's excited to read it. Her and her mom have a lot of potential.

Also last week we went by a bakery and we smelt one of the greatest smells i've ever smelt, and so after we finished our plan, we went back to get something from that bakery. We went in, and there were quite a few people there, but, we went in and when we were about to get something, everyone in the place left and it was just us and the 2 people working, the mother who owns the bakery, and her daughter. We ordered somehting and then we talked to them for a few minutes and we gave them a book of mormon, they really like it. This week, however; we haven't seen them becasue we had to go to another city and yesterday they were closed, but, we'll definitely make some progress with them,

Last thing, we were doing house the other day, knocking the doors, and right as we were about to leasve, another girl comes out of the elevator and we start talking with her. She's a sweet girl, she really wants to know about the church and she said if we can help her understand why our church is right and the catholic not, she'll join (which wont be hard to do), so, we set up an appointment for a few days leter, however, the next day, i took my comp for his 1st italian pizza, and she was there, apparantly her parents own this pizzeria and we talked for about 15 minutes and then we went home, then yesterday, for the 3rd day in a row, guess who we saw again? i couldn't beleive it, but, we were on the other side of town and we saw her on the street and said hi. Then tomorrow, we have our appointment finally, but, i thought it was funny.

There is not too much other than that, we're putting up publicity all over the city for the general conference and we hope we get a good turn out of people for that. I'm really excited for the conference, its going to be great!

Love you guys, abbiate una buona conferenza generale!! ci sentiamo! vi vogliamo un sacco di bene!!
Anziano Lane



Anziano Landon lane wrote about the pictures:

the first one is from the castel in Crotone (im not sure if i already sent you guys that one), the next is of me and the coolest hat i've ever seen, then Anziano Packer with the "Lakers" ceral box in _Taranto when we went up to do the exchenges, and then i picked up smoking here in the mission so thats me and a cigarette, then the last is with me and my new companion, his first day in italy!
ciao, love you guys!

This week was really good. Me and Anziano Packer went up to Taranto this week to do Exchanges, and that was a lot of fun, then on Saturday we got a call from President Kelly with our Transfer Call. Pres told me that I'll be staying in Crotone and I get to train again, i'm really excited and it'll be a lot of fun.

So this week work had been going really slow again, but, i though of some things that we could do to find more people, and we'll be trying these out next week once everything gets settled down, especially with the new companion. But, I thought of these things. 1)organizing an italian class to help the immigrants here learn the language. 2)General conference Publicity 3) organize soccer or basketball games and 4)drawing out the plan of salvation at the graveyard.
So, just a few ideas that i had, and im excited to try them all out.

On sunday, we started a fast that ended on Monday. We felt like we needed it and we had a challenge from President Kelly about a week ago, and it was to get a baptismal date by the 21st of september (today). We were getting worried and the fast was a great idea. Monday morning, we went out and we had an appointment with a guy names Godsent, from Nigeria, and he's the man! We set a baptismal date with him for the 22nd of Oct, and we're stoked for it. Then, Monday afternoon, we went to another appointment, but, we got stood up, so, we did some finding in the area, and we found some sweet potential. We found a huge family of like 10 people and we taught some of them the restoration. Then tehy gave us a referral and we went to this referral, and we taught them the restoration, so we ended up getting 3 new investigators there, and a potential for much more. I'm super exciited to go back and see them.

A few days ago, i reviewed some of my goals and i felt like i needed to change some of them, i basically only set 2 goals for this next transfer with my new missionary. I set a goal for baptisms, and a goal for Reactivation (because only 15% of our members are active here). I want to make it simple and i really want to baptize, i haven't seen a baptism since Charles and his family, so, im hungry for it and i'll do all i can to help my greenie see some baptisms here in Crotone.

Well, i love you guys, have a great week!!

Its been another good week here. 2 months ago Elder Texiera from the 70, gave us an invite to read the Book of Mormon in 60 days, so, i just finished that up and it was really good. I love that book!
Also this week we went to Catanzaro and i did a baptismal interview that went very well and an exchange with a new missionary and it went well, the only problem was that night there was a big festival right outside the missionary appartment there, and it didnt stop until past 12... i didnt really well, but thats okay. Then we faced some problems there, we got shot at with an airsoft gun and so i went to exchange a few words with the kids that shot at us, then as we left, one of the kids shot at a group of girls walking by, and i just about lost it, but, i know that the Lord would have done a similar thing. Then, on our train home, there was a girl about our age who got on the train and then a a group of very poor-mannered 20 year guys followed her and for the first 10 minutes on the train ride, they were just being so immature and rude, and i couldn't take it anymore, so i went over to them and i just tried to figure out what they were doing, and i just told the guys that they were acting like morons and if they did anything else, i'd let them have it. I went back to my seat, and things quieted down a little bit, but, it was great, because i planted a nice seed for this girl, and when we got off the train, she came up and said thanks, and we gave her our info.

with our work here in Crotone, it's takin a step back. Godfrey cant see us anymore, we think it's because the people in charge of where he lives, wont let him leave to come to church, but, we'll keep trying with him. Also, with The Vaccaro family, our other investigators, it's been a rough week. I'm not sure if you remember the promise that one of our members made to him, but, the member basically said that if you do these things, you will get your answer that the church is true, and if you dont, we will never meet again....
the investigator did these things and didnt get his answer, so, he told us that we had a deal and he said, i'll call you guys if i want to meet in the future. Luckily, a few hours later, he called us and said that he needs help, that he's in really bad shape and he needs us to pray for him. I was really glad when he called us and asked us to pray for him because it shows that he trusts us and that he thinks we will be able to help, and so we went by his house and dropped off a few scriptures for him to read. I'm not sure what will happen, but, im hoping for the best.

Other than that good stuff, we've got a few contacts and we feel like we're going to find some new investigators this week. We just started our English course and i want to do an italian course because there are a ton of immigrants here that don't speak italian. that's about it, i'm excited to get the work moving.

Love you guys,
Anziano Lane

So, i got some of the greatest news that just about killed me monday night, i was writing in my journal, when anziano urry called me from Foggia and told me that Pina did it, however, they didint fill the font up enough, so they had to the member who baptized her had to basiically make her face-plant into the water, and thats how she was baptized, insane. I am just stoked though. I was thinking the other day, and this girl took hundreds of prayers, 3 fasts, a blessing and me moving to crotone for her to get baptized, haha, no just kidding. Im really happy that we were able to find her the week before i left foggia, and then we set the baptisimal date with her, and she finally did it!!! It's incredible, when me and my boy anziano Gibson found her that one night we knew she was ready. We were so excited to teach her and to help her get ready for baptism, and the big obstacle of her mom and dad got in the way. I remember very distinctly when i spoke with her mom on the phone and we had a long talk about why she wouldnt allow Pina to be baptized. Long story short, she didnt have any reason, so she hung up on me. Before she hung up, i told her that we want Pina to be happy and that this church makes her happy and that we really love her.
Then, the week that we found Pina again, her mom had recently told her what i had told her on the phone that we loved her and we wanted her to be happy, and she told pina that she could do what she wanted, YESS!

definitely the most pain and struggles ive ever had to face with an investigator to help them get to that day of baptism.

other than that, time us flying and i cant beleive that ive been in italy for a year now.

Some really sad news though, i killed another companion. Anziano Pettry has been sick with migrains his entire mission and he couldnt take it anymore, so, he went home this week, my new companion is Anziano Packer's greenie, he's really new, but, he already knows the language because he lived here before the mission for a year, and, he's a good missionary. It will be good working with him. I'm tired of sending missionaries home though, it's sad.

also tonight, i get to go and interview an investigator in Catanzaro for baptism, so im really excited about that.

With our work here in Crotone, we set a baptisimal date with Godfrey and with one of our families, Salvatore told the father that if he prays for 3 days, then fasts and comes to church on fast sunday, he would receive his answer, and if not, he would never need to talk to us again. I liked the first part , but the second i didnt like to much, however, the experience went well i think, becasue he invited us over to see him tomorrow and we'll try to set a baptisimal date with him and his fam. Thats it for investigators, our branch is realy struggling and we have a ton of work to do with them, its a big problem here and we just gotta find to solution.

allright, thats it for this week, Love you guys,
Anziano Lane