Week 22

Ciao Famiglia!  

How are you Goobers doing?  I heard that there was a snow day today. You luckies.  It doesn't really snow here it's just cold.  It warmed up in the begining of February but it's cooling down again.  

How are you guys doing?  Are you excited to hear from me?  I am, but it's really weird.  I didn't expect that change. So many changes happening so fast.  I wonder what the next one will be.  I think street clothes, Melchin thinks obligatory Sister Missionaries.  Non si sa (not known).  One thing's fo sho President Nelson is a prophet.

We just did our spesa (shopping) for this week and we're sitting at the bus stop waiting to go to Venezia.  I got stuff to make a different type of risotto and also some chicken teriyaki and also some gnocconi.  Yeah I'm pretty much a pro cooker.  I'm excited to be that guy who knows how to cook really well when I get back.  Melchin's Christmas package just came after getting lost in the mail and his Mom sent him some pretty nice yo-yo's.  So yeah I'm pretty much a pro yo-er.  We have this book full of yo-yo tricks and I've been practicing them.  Melchin is my coach and guides me through them.  I also can now juggle with four balls.  I'm pretty much a pro juggler.  I should probably be using all this time to study more- haha.

I do feel that my improvement in Italian has kinda leveled off a bit.  I can understand and comunicate well but I need to push it to the next level where I can just understand perfectly and speak easily.  If I concentrate really hard I can usually understand all but I want it to be at the point where it's easy and natural.

So this morning Melchin and I went through all the mission areas and found out what the probability is that I'm training based on a number of variables like how old they are, weather or not their comp is out, if they're going capo or AP, and some other things.  I came in at number 4 most likely to train based on our estimation so.... I'm pretty much a trainer haha.  Nothing is final yet so I'm trying not to get my hopes up.  Higham came in at number 2 so I might see him at Greenie pick up.

If I do get have a son he'll be born into a baren wasteland as far as investigators go.  Lately we've been dropping a lot and a lot of people.  They just don't have interest and can't meet with us.  It's sad.  We'll just have to tear everything down in order to build it up again.  This area is our garden and we're tryin to grow some nice investigators but some times ya got to pull out the dead plants and plant new ones.  And then you can harvest those investigators and eat them.  It's just what missionaries do.

We even had a miracle with L and he still wouldn't accept us.  We were absolutely lead by the Spirit to exaclty where he was.  We were standing in  front of him face to face after such a long time of no answers and he just looked at us confused about how we found him and said to us,  "andate via sono arrabiato con voi" ("go away I'm angry with you") I know that we needed to be there if not to teach him to at least to give him a second chance.  Is was a miracle and I know it.  I'll talk a little more about the details in my hand written letter.

Anyways that's about it for now.  We're headed to the church now and once we get there I'll probably call you guys on whatsapp If that's alright.  

Here are some pictures of venice.  I love you all!

1.  Butiful scene

2.  Guy with a narly six pack

3.  Some good advice for Julia

Happy Drew

Ciao Famiglia!  Come state?

It's been a really good week here in Mestre.  We've been working hard and we've done finding a lot and a lot.

It's always good to hear from you guys.  It's so crazy that Nathan is now 25 and Audrey is now 11 what the heck?  When did you guys get so old?  Audrey you better getoutfromwayfromroundthemboys, and Nathan you better getinfromwayfromroundthembabies. Seriously though when am I gonna be an Uncle? I mean come on.

Also when the heck did Evan even have a ps4!!?  Getoutfromwayfromroundthembiolentbideodames.

Also Mom that sounds like a good start to a talk.  Heck that sounds like a good whole talk.  You'r a prtty gud riter i guess.

This week the work has been good.  We are still having trouble meeting with people.  And we are also having a little trouble with the meno attivi (less actives) who don't want to come to church.  But we are still working hard and hope for the best.  I don't know how much longer we can continue to teach A because he is very very Muslim and doesn't let us talk about other things besides the Qur'an and Alicia Keys.  We did however ask him to be willing to learn from us and read from the Book of Mormon and he said he would. So we'll see how it goes.  

The more I teach people the more I realize that I really have to rely on Heavenly Father.  The other day I was thinking about all our investigators and potentials and how I really really want them to progress.  The reality is that I don't know if they will.  But even thinking about that fact I still wasn't really worried or stressed.  Just kinda happy.  The Lord will work all that out. All I have to do is let Him.

Icky spiritual stuff.  Anyways I love you guys.  I went to Venezia (Venice) today and it was freaking awesome.  I have a lot and a lot of pictures.  It's the most beautiful city I've been to.  We went to the island of Murano which is a little off of the mainland of Venezia.  It is where all the master glass blowers in the world live and work.  It's where they did all of the glass work for the Rome temple.  It was pretty dang exciting.

Pictures:

1. Another happy Drew

2-3. The city from a tower

4. Drew on a boat

 

Week 20

Ciao cara Famiglia!  

How are you guys doin?  I'm doing great here in Mestre.

The work is going steady.  We are working really hard with these darn meno attivi (less active).  One of them is doing fantastic and another one is doing really well but just still needs to get his butt in church.  Hopefully we can meet with him and his friend and then he will pick himself up and be the example for his friend.  That would be awesome.  As for investigators we are still having a hard time actually meeting with them but we have a couple up and comer potentials.  Thanks for praying for me mom.  I kinda have a good feeling about this transfer too, and I know that pecific (Tagg speak for specific) prayers work.  We will definitely work hard the rest of the transfer.  Anziano Melchin is not one to slack off at the end. He's an awesome guy.

Honestly, it seems like everybody that we teach is absolutely insane.  There's L who flipped out at us, the crazy guy on the street that gave me a scribble drawing, and now there is A.  A is quite the character and I'll tell you more in the hand-written letter that I'm gonna send, but for now it sufficeth to say he is a conspiracy theorist of sorts.  All these crazy people are driving me crazy and sometimes I just want to talk to a normal person.  But we'll continue to try with A even though he's strange.

Today we went to Vicenza for interviews with President and "outerviews"  with Sorella Allen as she calls them.  She's kinda funny haha. I don't want to say anything definitive yet because I'm not sure but President said in the interview, "well Anziano it seems like you're doing well... are you ready to train new missionaries?"  Now that could just mean that he expects me to be always capable and ready so don't spread the word or anything.  However I am killing this transfer so there is a slightly big chance that there is a Greenie in the MTC right now waiting to come to Mestre to be trained by me.  I don't know yet.  I would love to train.  I feel ready to but also kinda nervous to.

Anyways this week I did get the opportunity to see a Doctor on base.  Anziano Melchin and I were just amazed about how everything was so organized and there was so much space for so many comfy waiting room chairs.  Definitely not like Italy.  But yeah I got some pills to take every night.  The doctor said that everything shouod be fine withing 7-10 days and if not I'll call again.  So hopefully I can put all of this behind me.

Anyways that is about all I can think of for this week.  I love you guys.  Ciao.

PS I keep telling Audrey to getoutfromwayfromrounddemboys but she doesn't listen to me.  She's a crazy one.

1. Fire Nation Church close to our house

2. Subway on the base

Week 19 in Venice!!

Ciao Famiglia

How are you guys doing?  I'm doing pretty good I guess out here in VENICE ITALY!! Eat that! I don't even care if you take a family trip to Europe cuz I'm already here Suckas!  

Anyways.  This first week in mestre has been very eventful.  We have seen a couple investigators and a couple menoattivi (less actives).  The lessons with the menoattivi went very very well.  One guy really wants to come back to church and is determined to stop smoking and drinking, so we're planning on helping him through that.  The other guy was hard to meet with because he bidoned (cancelled) on us once and showed up almost two hours late the second time.   But the lesson was awesome and he said he would commit to come to church.  He said we could call him at 7:00 to make sure he's coming.

As for investigators there is a lot of potential if only we could actually meet with people but lately it's been hard to get in contact.  But I have a lot of hope for this area and some good goals.  We met with this one guy that is like 70 something and has smoked 40 cigarettes a day for 40 years.  He is very very frail and slow because his body is just wrecked from all that badness.  He has agreed to try to quit though and has set a goal to get it down to 30 a day.  However this last time we met it did not go well.  He seemed right of the bat very agitated and angry at us.  He said that I resembled this one American tennis player and I said thank you and he said, "non è un complimento" (it's not a compliment) and then I asked him what he did today and he said "cazzi miei"  which is a very bad curse word... don't look it up.  The way he used it basically means none of your business.  I don't think he likes me.  He said some other mean things to my companion and we ended up leaving.  I think that he actually did try to stop smoking and then got agitated and took it out on us.

Other than that I've enjoyed this area a lot.  We have been busy marking up Books ofs Mormons because the Marriot Hotel wanted some copies.  And we also taught a little lesson about the Church to a class full of elementary school students and their teachers.  That was fun.  At the end all the kids swarmed us and for some reason wanted us to sign their papers/books/arms/faces haha it was fun.

The ward here is fun.  The Bishop is such a fun guy.  He showed us how he eats eggs and it's kinda gross.  He just poked a hole in the bottom and sucked it out.  Then my companion did it and I got a video haha.  Apparently it's not bad.

This transfer I want to experiment a lot more with food.  I'm gonna make risotto di zucca this week and see how it goes.  Then at some point I want to try pizza and then ragù and lasagna.

Anyways I think that's it for this week.  Love you guys.  Ciao!

PS I recently ripped the pants of my blue suit standing up it got caught ot the table.  I was so mad.  But I will probably be needing to buy a new cool one soon.  Right now is the sale season in Italy.  I don't think I have enough money on my card though.  

1.  A picture that a crazy guy on the street drew me

2.  I've recently picked up the habit of smoking so this is my program to help me stop

3. Depressed ET

4.  Mestre Anziani

No ET!!  PHONE HOME instead.

Week 18

Ciao Famiglia!

How are you guys doing?!  I'm glad to hear that the renovations on the house are coming along.  Are they finished?  I'm excited to see it in person.

I am currently on a train in route to Bologna where I will take another train to Venezia Mestre.  And also I'm COMPLETELY ALONE!!!  It is so nice to be alone for the first time in months.  It's weird being 24/7 with another guy.  Sometimes I just need some alone time.

I will arrive in Mestre around 3:00 and meet Anziano Melchin.  I've heard from different people that he's a really good guy.  Anziano Higham was born (started his mission) in Mestre so we've been talking a little bit too.  Melchin bottlebroke him and he said he was the best companion yet. So things are looking up.  Lately I've been getting really pumped up to get there.  In the mission it's nice to have a fresh start every couple transfers.  I'm super excited for a new area, new investigators, and new members.  Mestre won't know what hit it.  

It will be hard without the awesome members of Pesaro.  I'll miss that ward a lot.  They had a nice serata familiare (FHE) to say goodbye to me and a lot of people said some really nice things.  I was surprised to find out that I had made such an impact on their lives.  I told them that they were the ones who had made an impact on mine. I'll miss them.

I miss you guys too.  You da best in da world.  

Anyways I'm gonna go switch trains now.  Sorry, it's kind of a short email.  I'll write more next week and send pictures of the city when I get there.  

Love you guys.  

Ciao!

Week 17

Ciao famiglia come state?  Tutto bene?

Wow you guys are lucky to have a snow day.  I miss those fun days trapped at home playing biolent bideodames.  Is it gonna be a cold winter?  What did Puxutony Phil say?  We taught our English class about Groundhog Day and they were weirded out.  We also taught them how to pronounce the word bologna (bo-loe-nie) and they flipped out because there is an Italian city called bologna (bo-loe-nia) and it's funny how Americans butcher Italian words.  

This week has been really good.  We got a record number of bidoni (cancelations) but it's OK because we worked hard and I feel good about it.  We don't have very many progressing investigators but I feel like we have established a foundation.  We are teaching our English class consistently and hope to teach a couple members individually.  We have met with a really awesome dude named Matteo who works at the mensa with us.  We've given out a lot of Book ofs Mormon lately (that's the right way to say it plurally).  We've been doing a lot of finding lately.  So yeah we're working hard.

There are a lot of mixed feelings among Missionaries about finding.  Some absolutely hate it and say it's a waste of time and some absolutely love it and only do finding.  I can definitely see the argument for both sides because Italians are not very receptive to it but on the other hand it is better than doing nothing.  Leavitt did not like it and so we didn't do it very much but Hepner and I have been doing it and I definitely feel good after.  Especially when we have a good conversation I just feel like I'm a missionary.  The more we do it the more I've noticed that old people suck.  They are always the ones who either will give us the Italian finger wave/hand gesture or they will just not acknowledge us.  Young people however are generally kind and willing to talk. Unfortunately there is no emoji for Italian hand gesture but if you turn this one upside down and remove the pencil it kinda looks like he's doing it ✍.  Seriously though they do it all the time every stereotype about Italians is true.

Well the transfer is about to end and I think my time here in Pesaro is about to come to an end as well.  It'll be sad to leave such awesome people but I'm excited to find out where I go.  I kinda hope Milano or Genova or Firenze.  After the end of next transfer I will have completed one fourth of my mission.  That is the weirdest thing ever.

Anyways I think thats it for today haha.  I love you guys.  Ci sentiamo più avanti! Talk to you later!

Pics

1. Anziani di Pesaro

2. Me

3. The fried pasta I made