August 1, 2013

Re: First Week in Italy!

 

hey guys! sorry its a few days behind but HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT! love ya brotha! I hope you are feeling better! its so good to hear that you all had a great time in italy and i did get all the pictures! wow dad your beard looks dope! well when i was on the airplane from london to milano i met a business man who sat next to me and asked me why i am going to italy so i told him i was going to serve a 2 year mission for my church. he found that very interesting that i would do that but he was very impressed. he said he has a lot of friends that believe in different things and some that don't even believe in god. he believes that their is a god but he didnt see the need to be religious because if we are on earth and we are doing the best we can to be good then at the judgement day he should be saved. luckily i had the holy ghost on my side telling me exactly what to say. my roommate and a couple of the people in my district were sitting right in front of me and were listening to my entire conversation by the way lol. but seriously though i have no idea how i did it but i answered all of his questions really well. i ended up giving him a book of mormon and he was REALLY intent on reading it. and i guess he is the CEO of his business which was over $10 million... i asked him if i could have a million of it hahah he laughed. 

            So when i got to milan everything was so industrialized i was caught way off guard! it was so beautiful though and i got a few pictures but i cant send them because i forgot to bring my camera... ooops. haha ill send them next week though! the first night in milan we went to a restaurant and had pizza, lasagna and gelato. OOOHHH MY GOOOSH IT WAS SOOOO GOOD! i love their pizza! it was a little spicy but perfect and its flat bread so you can eat so much and not be full. the lasagna was delicious especially with the parmassian cheese its heaven. and the gelato was out of this world i can't even describe how good it was... seriously though haha. so my companion is so awesome. he is 22, from utah, is the youngest of his siblings but im not sure how many there are, and he has been serving for 9 months. he is a really chill guy and has a very strong love for this gospel. we get along so well! we took a train to brescia and when we got there we were underground in a giant building that looked like it was from the olden times so i got a really good picture! then when we came up to the main level i turned around and there was a giant mideval castle on like a huge hill! it was soooo cool! im going to go there soon and get a lot of pictures so you'll get to see it if you havent already looked it up online haha. the city of brescia is soooo gorgeous, its just like what you would imagine in italy. there are little courtyards where people talk and eat and buildings all look old fashioned. the banks are all decorated out of the ancient looking stone and figures of people are carved in them and what not. its so cool i love it. the people in brescia aren't what i expected tho. they are either really mean or really nice. there is a lot of diversity in brescia so there are people from ghana, muslims, indians, and of course italians but they all have different accents its weird. the true italians are usually very kind though and we have actually gotten away with not having to pay for food and stuff like that because they are very kind to us! my apartment is in the most beautiful spot i love it! its a long thin road with giant trees all lined up on both sides of the sidewalk that go all the way down and our apartment has a balcony overlooking it. i also am rooming with an elder that was in my mtc district, elder lindley! he is a solid kid i love him to death. i also LOVE teaching this gopel! we have so many people we are teaching and it is very interesting to hear about their lives and then help them understand how they can be happier and most of the time they are very accepting! 

 

          So the weather in italy is definitly not what i expected. it is sooo hot here and the humidity is killer. niether did i know that they dont have air conditioning in houses. in our apartment we have 4 different fans going on at the same time and we still are sweating! also we only have a washer so we hang up our clothes to dry. ive taken so many things for granted its pretty crazy! everything else tho is so amazing here in italy and definitly make up for those other things. ok so my address is "via campo di marte #26 Brescia (BS) 25128 Italia". but dont send me packages unless its through amazoneuro.com or something like that im not exactly sure what its called but they dont charge much. im sure mom can find out what its called :) oh and by the way thats so cool that the barretta shop is here! my companions dad is also into guns so we are going to go to the shop and get some pictures for you dad :)

 

        Ok so to answer some questions, my companions name is anziano allen he is 22 years old, has been in the field for 9 months, has i think 4 siblings and he is the youngest. there are only 4 missionaries in brescia and we all live in the same apartment lol. i have not bought a bike because we already have one! i did have to still pay the 100 euro tho just in case anything happened to it or whatever, kinda lame but its whatever. no i didnt have to place a BoM right when we got into milan because of the huge flight delay and some people didnt recieve all their luggage. we are teaching a lot of people and yesterday while i was writing this i had to stop early becuase we had a lesson at 6 and it went FANTASTIC! probably the best lesson yet. we taught about the importance of prayer, scripture study and church attendance and how without doing one of them your faith will crumble. im not sure how many zones are in my mission but i heard in about a year if not sooner they are going to break up italy into more missions than just milan and rome. i dont know how i feel about that yet but i guess i'll just have to wait and see! yes my area has a fairly good sized branch. there are maybe 100 people or more. its different though we do priesthood first, then sunday school, which i taught a lesson with a branch leader and anziano allen to a less active during it, and then we have sacrament. it was also really weird because they didnt have me or anziano lindley introduce ourselves so this fast sunday i will go up. ummm im not sure what else there is to say other than i really love this work. so far im still confused as to why everyone says it is so hard because i am absolutely loving it here! im so glad i chose to serve a mission and i feel so blessed to be called to this wonderful country. i know this church is true and i know the book of mormon is the word of God. i am so grateful for Jesus Christ and the example he set for all of us and especially for the missionaries to bring these people unto the knowledge that they had before this life and the knowledge that they will have after this life. As a missionary i am just here to fill in the gap between the two so that they can have the knowledge in this life on earth and have eternal joy here and also in the life to come. I know Heavenly Father loves each and every one of his children and wants to be a part of their lives just like any father should. i am so grateful for all of you and the examples you have set for me. Thanks for all of your prayers and know that you are always in mine! talk to ya next week!