Ciao! Presidenti!

President and Sorella Wolfgramm departed for the United States the day following the arrival of President and Sorella Dibb on June 28^th. 

Mission Leadership Council (Consiglio) was held the following Tuesday with the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders.  The picture of the Sister Training Leaders is below:

President and Sorella Dibb toured the mission attending zone training and interviewing each missionary.   

President Dibb spoke of changes announced by the First Presidency and Missionary Department at the New Mission Presidents’ Seminar.  He also spoke of the “Work of Salvation” broadcast.  Missionaries were encouraged to dress like executives using the new Church websites for Sisters and Elders as a guideline.  Backpacks are to be replaced by side bags or brief cases.

Missionaries taught their peers about characteristics of a missionary from the 4^th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants.  President Dibb encouraged missionaries to study faith (Bible Dictionary page 669) as well as the scriptures to learn the process of developing faith.  Obedience produces faith.  All true faith is based on correct knowledge so participants were urged to study continually.  President Dibb taught, “Be obedient missionaries so that you may accumulate a reserve of faith.”

“No matter what your circumstance, you can choose to be a disciple of Christ.”  “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life” (3 Nephi 5:13).

Sister Dibb taught that the faithful service of the missionaries will bring about the promise, “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face.  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit will be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you to bear you up” (D&C 84:88).

The assistants and zone leaders directed instruction from Predicare il mio Vangelo on helping investigators with baptismal dates achieve their goal of being baptized as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  

Mestre Zone

Verona Zone

Genova Zone

Milano Est Zone

Milano Ovest Zone

Torino Zone

Firenze Zone

All Types of Missionaries

Milan Missionaries come in all shapes and ages.  Younger missionaries leave school, home and friends to dedicate 18-24 months to the Lord. Senior missionaries also leave home and friends as well as careers, children, and great grandchildren to serve their Lord. Older missionaries pack two large suitcases with a few changes of clothing and a lifetime of experience.  They step into an unknown future. First Nephi 4:6 describes their desire to serve and trust in the Lord: "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.°

In Northern Italy senior missionaries provide many services. Couples are assigned to the mission office, host military servicemen, labor in branch presidencies, facilitate young single adult activities, provide housing and health services, and film genealogical records.

                             

In Verona, Italy, missionary couples volunteer in the Italian State Archives to preserve state records from 1871-1942. The family history project in Verona began with one camera in December 2012 when 650 meters of books were identified as needing reproduction. Since then another 350 meters of records were scheduled for “filming”.  Five couples using state of the art digital cameras and software take picture of records that date back to 800 AD. Records preservation is vital to governments, religions, and families. Each missionary couple produces about 10,000 pictures a week.

The experts work under difficult conditions. The Verona project preserves documents covered by flood waters in 1965. 

“Paper weakens when wet. Today I worked on books still damp from the floods,” said Anziano Savoldi. The volunteers first clean the books from dust, dirt, mold, pigeon excrement, rat droppings, and/or worm and bug destruction. 

The next step is to capture the images and label them so that indexers can organize and translate the documents. The seniors wear shop coats, masks and gloves; sometimes, laboring under extreme temperatures. An air purification machine helps filter the air.
                                    
  Their dedication can be heard in words from Anziano Salvoldi, "Families are depending on us. We do our best to save every document. I have seen books with holes in them as large as a basketball. We do our best to preserve what is left." The Italy Milan Missionaries anticipate saving 115 million names on birth records, marriage banns, immigration documents and death records.

June Arrivals

A late plane tested new missionaries' flexibility skills. Due to missing connections, the arrivals landed in Milano Italy in the middle of the night. They ate a pizza dinner and retired as quickly as possible. Early Thursday, the  tired but eager missionaries met in a Milano Chapel for orientation and assignments.

The Mission President and his wife welcomed the new missionaries both at the airport and chapel.

Sorella and President Wolfgramm taught the new Anziani and Sorelle about G.E.M.s which stands for Grow Every Missionary.

He also asked an experienced missionary to demonstrate how sharing a skill could bless the lives of others.

The President's assistants organized the meeting of singing, laughing and waiting for an introduction to the trainer companions.

Excitement buzzed.

The trainers lined the room prepared to share a miracle and describe their cities and wards. Trainers announced their new companions, shared hugs and posed for pictures.

After a closing hymn and a large lunch, new missionaries traveled to their first cities.

The Office

The work of the Milano Italy missionaries grows with each passing week. There are 124 anziani and 54 sorelle. That number is expected to increase over the summer. The missionaries share the gospel in northern Italy with more than half of the 60.72 million Italian residents. Italy supports 100 congregations with about 25,000 members.

The boundaries of the mission stretch from areas South of Sienna and Ancona to the northern borders of Italy and the Ticino Province of Switzerland, which speaks Italian.

One mission office coordinates missionary endeavors. The office is located in Opera, a small attractive town outside of Milan. The English translation of Opera is work.

 

The staff:
• Obtain permessi and renewals
• Organize trainings and events
• Keep records
• Facilitate missionary projects

• Liaison with families, church and governments
• Obtain, furnish, and maintain apartments
• Organize and distribute supplies
• Arranges travel
• Manage finances
• Provide telephones
• Support personal missionary needs
• Create and communicate reports
• Sort and deliver communications
• Teach and encourage
• Help members and leaders
• Provide media correspondence

The office consists of a conference room, kitchen, four offices and a stock room that supports missionaries with pamphlets and scriptures of many languages. The Church has published the Book of Mormon in 82 languages.

Welcoming 31 new missionaries

Last week we welcomed 31 new missionaries into our mission, which is the largest group coming into the mission in a very long time. It is also the first group to come in who were all called since President Monson's announcement of the age change for missionary service.

The twenty-eight missionaries who arrived from the Provo MTC just outside the airport.

Just the Sorelle outside the Milano Duomo after contacting some people in the piazza there.

All thirty-one new missionaries at the restaurant after their first day. Some of them were really struggling to stay awake.

Arriving and departing missionaries.

We just had another group of missionaries arrive and one leave us.
Eleven new Sorelle just came in this week and sixteen new Anziani. We're very excited to get to know this fantastic group of new missionaries and we're sure that they'll do great work as they begin teaching many people about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

New missionaries meeting their trainers. It's a very exciting moment!

The whole group of new missionaries and their trainers.

As always happens when one group comes into the mission, we have to say goodbye to a different group, this time it was a group of seventeen great missionaries. We wish these missionaries the very best as they return home.

Comings and Goings...

A great bunch of leaders have moved on to the next phase of their lives.  They will be missed.

But like always, their replacements have arrived, sharper than ever!!!  Welcome to 'The Best' mission in the world!