San Marino- The Most Beautiful City I've Ever Seen

Ciao Famiglia!

Oh my goodness it's been crazy here in Italy.  I love it here.  The members are soooo awesome.  Even though there are not very many of them they are so strong.  I met all ten of them on Sunday. The singing was so bad I almost started laughing but other then that they are super bravi.  

My companion is really cool. He's really experienced and knows a lot of people in Pesaro because he's been here for 3 transfers before.  He actually was born here and is gonna die here. ('Born' and 'gonna die' refer to the beginning and the end of his mission life.  It's mission lingo)  Before this transfer he was in the office as you deducted.  Also yes we have bikes and yes he's a runner.  Both things you predicted somehow with your crazy psychic Mom-senses.  Haha.

I'm sad that I'm missing Halloween and the rest of the holidays.  But especially Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Make sure you send a picture of Flubba in her costume.  That is if she's still alive.  I won't be too sad at Christmas because I've heard that Christmas in Italy is awesome.  Haha.

Tell Audrey to get outfromwayfromrounddem boys!  She's too young to be messin' around wit dem boys roun'dem parts!  Dem boys be no good fo her.

Anyways this week has been really cool.  I love going into the city.  Yesterday we were leaving English class flyers around town and the weather was amazing and we were walking down this really beautiful cobblestone street and we passed the music school and I could here the sweet sweet sound of a violin through a window and I was like holy crap, I'm in Italy.  This place is amazing. The people are amazing.  The Gospel is amazing. Haha

Ok so just now in between paragraph 3 and 4 our district and the Rimini district went to San Marino which was amaaaaaaazing.  It's an independant city state, so we actually left Italy for a few hours.  It's the most beautiful city I've ever seen.  I have tanto pictures.  We had amazing pizza there and there were these really cool shops that sold stuff like broadswords, katanas, crossbows, knives, and watches.  I wanted to buy some weapons but I didn't have enough money, (jk). San Marino actually has some really unique and really cool watches and I wanted to get one of those. I don't know how much money I have on my card. Can you check for me? And also if I use it I don't know if they will freeze the card because I'm in Italy or not. Can you find out? Thanks.  Haha

Anyways I think that's all for this week. I love you guys! Ciao!

PS Some pics

Anziani Calton, Me, Leavitt & Traedon

First Week in Italy

 Ciao Famiglia

I just arrived in my first area yesterday and we needed to go shopping so we just did Pday today.  

So here I am!!!! I'm doing well, I met my trainer yesterday and we went to our area last night.  He's really cool, really smart and likes running, so that's awesome.  Although he's way better than me, I'll still run with him cuz I need to with all this pasta I'm gonna eat.  His name is Anziano Leavitt.  I think you talked with him on the phone Mom.  

My city is called Pesaro and my trainer and I are whitewashing (this just means they are both new missionaries to the area) it.  He was trained here as well though, so he knows the area.  It's a small town near the middle of the country right on the Eastern coast.  There are ten members here and there hasen't been a baptism in a really long time.  But! my trainer has a few contacts from the last missionaries and even one who might be close to baptism.  

It is soooo weird being in Italy.  It seems like it's America, but everything is slightly off.  It's really trippy.  As far as the language goes I can't understand anyone except for my trainer and even then it's only sometimes.  I'm jetlagged, and culture shocked, and just overall confused about everything.  It's alright though because the food makes up for it.  

I learned today that Italians don't get sarcasm so that's just great.  

Overall I'm doing good.  My apartment is kinda big and has two showers so that's nice.  The only thing is that there's no AC and as you know I'm not a wimp when it comes to sweat.  

I love you guys! Tell me what's goin' on at home.  How's school going? How was the beach? is flubba still kickin?  That ol fart better still be alive when I get back.  I don't really care about Bruno but it'd be nice if he survived I guess.  I'm kiiiiiiiding.  I miss playing with that little goober.  

I think that's it for this week! there's probably more but I'm kinda out of it right now.  I'm so tired that I can't even keep track of what I've said already and what I want to say.  Anyways I think that's it for this week! there's probably more but I'm kinda out of it right now.  I'm so tired that I can't even keep track of what I've said already and what I want to say.  Anyways I think that's it for ths week! 

Love you guys the most! Ciao!  

Anziano Tagg

Stepping off the plane

Hard to spot him but he's down there.

President Allen in front

Duomo di Milano

Apparently they take the new missionaries straight out to do some street contacting from the airport.

Looks like they met someone friendly

Dinner at the Mission President's home

Sis Allen, Pres Allen, Anziano Tagg & his new trainer Anziano Leavitt

Pesaro seaside

An old prison

Soooooooo Excited!

Ciao la mia Famiglia!

So today is my last P-day! You know what that means... No more emails for two years I guess. I better make it a good one.  

I'm glad to hear that all is well back at home.  I miss you guys a lot.  I miss playin' with ma sisters.  I miss hangin' with ma brothers and tryin' to keep up with them.  I miss watching Last Man on Earth with you Mama, and I miss goin' on runs with ya Dad.  I had a good childhood, and I'm sad that those days are over.  Nevertheless! (I'm trying to use more Bible language) I am sooooooo excited to go to Italy!!!!  And more importantly, I am soooooooo excited to do the Lord's work.  If you count the number of o's in each "so" you'll see which one is more important to me.  

This week has flown by.  At least the beginning of it was.  Yesterday was long and kindof a hard day.  We were so busy that I didn't have time to study the scriptures.  I think that's why the rest of the day was a little off.  The lessons we taught were kinda all over the place without direction, and I didn't really do as well in speaking the language as I could have.  I don't know it was just a hard day.  Sometime those happen.  It's alright.  Today was better because it was P-day.  We went to the temple and did my last session for a couple years.  I'm glad that we've been able to go every week.  I always feel the Spirit in the celestial room.  

Thanks for all the letters you guys have been sending me, they are really nice.  I'm gonna try to write one today and send it before I leave the MTC.  I've heard that the mailing system is really messed up in Italy, so it might be harder to do it there.  Like for example if you send clothes, I think I'll get charged a lot of money.  IDK.  

The new Anziani e Sorelle came on Wednesday.  There are 28 new Italian speaking missionaries so in total. So that is like 52 Italian speaking missionaries in the MTC!  Usually we wouldn't overlap with the new ones like this, but transfers got a little messed up for some reason.  But it's good because now the Italians rule the MTC.  We have the biggest zone in the MTC maybe even in the world.  It's really cool to see how much the Lord cares about Italy.  A new temple, tanti nuovi missionari (many new missionaries) and the best red headed missionary the world will ever see!  They won't know what hit them.  

Io so che questa chiesa e vero.  Ho visto l'amore di Dio nella mia vita ogni giorno sulla missione. (I know this Church is true. I see the love of God in my life every day on the mission.)

I think that's it for now here are some pictures for you.  Ciao!

Elder Tagg

Me making a weird face

My District enjoying some Italian soda

Week 5 Almost Done

Hey Fam.

I just saw the pictures Mom sent of you guys.  I love all of you tanto.  Almost cried but I'm a man so none of that.  Ok wait nevermind because I just read Audrey's poem.  Dang you Laudbod!  now I'm in the computer lab tearing up and it's your fault!  It was butiful.  You're a poet and you didn't even know that you were one!  I bet you could make a rhyme at any moment! Haha.  I hope you listen to my written letter and know that I love you and I miss you... hhuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh.  That's from a vine in case you didn't know.  I wouldn't be surprised cause I'm better at remembering vines than you.  That's super awesome that you got into the advanced orchestra! When I come back you better be better than me.  I'll be playing in Italy too though so its gonna be tough.  I love you tango (much) Audrey.

Mom, I'll try to write handwritten letters as much as possible but I absolutely refuse to stop writing on the back of them.  There is simply too much waste of paper in this world and I will NOT be a part of it.  I'm kiiiiiiddding.  I got your brownies and ties and my patriarchal blessing and stuffs.  Thanks a ton.  My favorite is the reindeer one.  This week I had my first tie trade and it was lucrative.  I got a bunch of new floral ties.  I love floral ties so much.  I think collecting floral ties is gonna be my thing.  I have nine of them already.  

I heard Dad was doing a century bike ride.  I wish I could do it with you.  I miss riding bikes with ya. Maybe Nathan could do it with you.  Haha.  Speaking of Nathan, he gave me a present right before I left and told me never to open it until he told me.  Is that gonna be any time soon?  It's probably some ancient relic that will give me wisdom and the key to missionary work right?  Yeah I could use that any time now cuz missionary work is hard.  Thanks Nathan and Evan for the advice you gave me before the mish.  I liked what Evan said to me I think it was like "have a good time, do what you love, and when that becomes missionary work, you're set"  Thought that was cool, so thanks.  I really do love being here.  It's gonna be sad to leave the MTC but at the same time I'm so ready to get out there. But at the same time I'm so not ready to get out there.  

I definitely want to see a picture of Mario from Eliza.  Then I can think of it every time I say "Mama mia." Eliza, you better practice fuse ball, pingpong, bideodames, mario cart, and super smash.  Because when I get home we're gonna have an all out brawl.  Brynbo versus Booboolie.  "test your might"  I love you tanto Eliza.  Keep killing it in middle school.  Tell me all your teachers and I'll tell you if I had them!  

Today we did sealings in the temple (which was super cool) and my comp Anziano F went into the baptisimal waiting room for some reason and literally saw his girlfriend sitting in there waiting to do baptisms.  We went outside the temple and then waited for her to come out.  I kinda felt like we shouldn't be doing that and he was conflicted weather or not to just leave or to stay and talk to her.  While he was deciding, she came out and talked to us for a little bit.  It was kinda awkward.  I really love Anziano F.  He's an awesome friend and an awesome missionary.   He misses his girlfriend.  He talks about her a lot.  It was a difficult situation today but I think he's fine.  It's just a struggle for him.  I told him that he could always talk to me about it. 

So many things have happened this week.  Some of the Anziani in the two Italian districts are chumps.  I'm anti-chump but some of these guys are raging chump supporters it's ridiculous.  The other night they got together and brought the new elders who arrived that day into an "initiation"  which basically consisted of a dimly light room with a bunch of anziani wearing hoodies.  There was chanting, yelling, etc.  I was pretty funny actually but I felt like I shouldn't participate, and I didn't.  Some of these straight-out-of-highschool guys amaze me sometimes.  Haha.

I love you guys tantissimo!! (a lot)  I'll write again next week and probably maybe a handwritten letter.

Here are some pics for this week

1. A butiful sunset 

2. Anziano Bawden and Anziano Mosteller

3. A picture I saw of a city In Italy

Dad Turns 49

Hey Mom and Dad!

Happy birthday Daddio!!!! almost 50 huh? You're really getting to be a biggy one.  I heard that Mom got you a scooter.  Make sure you wear a helmet and be safe ok?

Thanks for the extra bag Mom it'll be useful I think.  I do remember that story from Doctor Seuss.  That was one of my favorites along with the Sneetches one.  I'm a star bellied sneetch.  And by that I mean I got a star tattoo.  I'm Kiiiiiiiding.  

I wrote you guys a letter and sent it two days ago I think.  Sorry it didn't come in time for your birthday Dad.  Thanks for the second round of letters you guys sent me.  I'll probably send another one probably.  Haha

It's the year of Laudbod! (Audrey's nick name)  How are you doing Audrey? Make sure as school starts that you keep busy and get involved in things like violin, school clubs, CROSS COUNTRY.  Don't just sit around like a lazy Flubba.  (by the way is she still alive?)  If ya do those things and be a nicey nice it'll be the year of Laudbod.  (Flubba is Abby the Dog's nick name)

Eliza Liza bo Biza banana fanna fo Fiza me mo miza, Eliza.  Notice how I said me mo miza which is correct instead of me mo ma miza.  How are you doing Eliza?  middle school is gonna be grrreat.  Be sure to tell me all your teachers and I'll see if I recognize them.  Same thing goes for you Eliza, don't be a lazy Flubba get involved in school do cross country and you can make it the year of Brynbo (dont tell Laudbod I said that).  Guduuuuuuuu. (An inside joke from the movie Lion) 

Anyway I think that's all for this week.  Thanks for reading.  I love you guys.

Here are some pics

Happy Anziano Tagg

(Here is Elder Tagg's letter to his college buddies)

Hey guys!

It's been great as usual here in Provo.  

I really love it here.  I'm honestly kinda sad that I'm already halfway through my time here, but at the same time I am so excited to get out in the field.  I've been finding out lately that missionary work is really hard.  Whomstd've thought it right?  I mean it has always been hard but this week in particular we have been kinda slowly switching from simply speaking awkward Italian at the people we teach, to actually having a conversation and trying to connect with them.  Connecting with people is hard in English let alone Italian.  I think I'm getting better at it though.  The other day I felt the Spirit so strongly in an Italian lesson for one of the first times.  It was amazing.  

There's been some drama in the district lately.  Can't go into details but.... Yeah it's been a grand old time.  

I've tried not to get involved in the whole situation because it drives away the Spirit so fast.  If anything this experience has taught me that as missionaries we can't really afford to have hatred in our hearts because it makes it so hard to have the Spirit with us.  

Anyways I think that's all for now.  I'll write you guy's again next week.  Ciao!

Cinnamon Bear Situation

Hey Maham e Dadio/Padrel 

(Drew's Mom here) Drew Calls me Maham in his letters.  It's a hand-me-down nick name from his Eldest brother Nathan who would sometimes use that spelling when whining at me in his mission letters.  Like Mahaaam Staaap!  Also when I write it'll be in blue : )

*Maham! Stop forming the Mother's Gadianton robbers behind my back!  I know you can't be as good of a Smother with me being far away but secret combinations are bad!  Haha.  (I'm gonna say haha at the end of every paragraph) 

Here is the paragraph from my letter that Drew is referring to...

"I made friends with H's Mom from your MTC district on Facebook.  So that's good.  Also one other Mom who's name escapes me at this time.  We're forming our own Mom's District behind your backs!  I'm thinking secret combination hand shakes, youtube videos on how to make care packages, breaking into your son's email account to spy on them while they're away for 2 yrs.  It's a bad-girls district"

First of all Dad, it's obviously spelled Padrel what else could it be?  And mine is obviously Derail.  Second of all I'm a little confused, did Evan choke on two pieces of meat?!!! or just one?  I hope he doesn't do it again while you guys are on the road.  Haha.

Drew's brother Evan started calling everyone D-rail, A-rail, etc  a while ago. It's another Tagg nick name and I believe Drew and Troy are having a spelling dispute.  Also Drew knows how it bothers me when letters from missionaries have ton's of misplaced 'ha has' so he's teasing me here. 

That's awesome that Audrey had her patriarchal blessing.  Did she like it?  I wrote you guys a handwritten letter but I haven't sent it yet, I can't remember if I have some envelopes or if I need to buy them.  In the letter I did kinda a big paragraph about Audrey.  I felt like I needed to say some things to her including asking her to seriously consider and pray about going on a mission.  I've felt so many blessings in my life already because of this mission and I would love for her to have the same experience.  She would be such a great missionary.  I don't know I've just felt impressed this week to say that to her.  Haha.

My roomates are great, theres my comp. Anziano Fry, then theres the other companionship Anziani Brown and Humble.  In the other room there's Anziani Buckner, Mosteller, Bawden, and Weight.  They're a reaallly cool group of guys and really fun to hangout with.  I'm giving you this information in confidence Mom so don't use it to do secret combinations with all the other Moms.  Haha (An appropriate ha ha here!)

Ok so there must be something wrong with the cinnamon bears you sent because I was eating more of them and I bit into one and I felt another hard metal thing!!!  I don't even know how to explain this one so I'll just attach a picture of it.  Haha.

Lo vi volgio bene TANTO!!!  Io so che Dio e i nostri Padre Celeste e che lui anche vi ama. Io so che la chiesa e la verita e sono molto molto grato che posso servire il signore e i popoli di Italia.  Questa missione ha cambiato la mia vita.  Lo sono contento a essere qui. Haha.

I love you SO MUCH!!! I know that God is our Heavenly Father and that He also loves you.  I know the Church is true and I am very grateful that I can serve the Lord and the people of Italy.  This mission has changed my life.  I"m happy to be here.  Ha ha 

Here are some pictures

1. The thing I found in my cinnamon bear this weeks

2. Me being photographed without consent

3. Anziani weight’s weird pinky

A letter to Drew's friends below.  He's a fantastic letter writer!! 

Hey everyone! 

Week three has been awesome here in Provo.  It's a little dry but I'll just have to get used to that again.  I actually really like it here!  I love looking out at the mountains all the time, I love feeling the Spirit all the time, and I especially love how they keep me soooooo busy.  Sorry I just learned that in Italy they don't use sarcasm so I'm just trying to get it all out now.  

I'm loving my district.  There are some really cool guys and we have lots of fun. We all have these little zippy things that can attatch our keys and our ID cards to our belt loops and the other day we made a chain of people by putting our ID cards in the back pocket of the person in front of us.  So we did that and then walked all the way back to the residence in the rain.  Elder Maguet actually joined in so it was just a bunch of Italian missionaries and a couple Malagasy Missionaries connected by short strings wobbling through campus. It was a good time.  At one point someone tried to walk in between us and ended up breaking the string connection.  There were casualties.  But it was not in vain.

We are all learning the language amazingly fast.  I know the gift of tongues is real and it's blessed me so much.  Heveanly Father really does love his Missionaries.

Sometimes I do get a little homesick but it goes away when I pray or read the scriptures or listen to hymns.  I know that the Lord wants me here and that's all that matters.  

Ciao!

Elder Tagg

Week 1.5

Dear Mom and Dad,

Good day to you Sir and Madam. 

It’s officially been an entire week here at the MTC and it’s been pretty awesome.  Classes are going really well.  We have some amazing teachers and we are learning Italian soooo fast.  It’s actually a miracle how much we’ve learned.  In just a little over a week we are praying, testifying, teaching lessons, and leaving commitments.  Granted it’s only role playing but that still counts for something.  I can really feel the Spirit during lessons because Italian is such a beautiful language, but also because I know that I’m doing the right thing.  It’s been a little bit hard adjusting to such a busy schedule but I’m getting the hang of it now.  

The MTC is great.  It keeps me busy and the food is alright but not great.  My awesome teachers are teaching us Italian so much faster than I could have imagined.  Il dono delle lingue (the gift of tongues) I guess.  One thing I don't like about the teaching style is that It seems to be a lot of memorization of long phrases. Rather than actually learning the meaning of the words and the grammar and stuffs like that, I find myself simply memorizing words that I don't know the meaning of and spewing them out.  I would rather try to figure out what I want to say and say it rather than rehearsing memorized sentences in a lesson situation.  It feel less personal reciting phrases.  But it's ok, I'm still learning a ton and loving it.

This week really has been awesome! I finally feel like I've settled into the missionary life-style and its really helping me with Italian and with the Gospel.  Reading the Book of Mormon everyday from paper REALLY blesses my life.  I'm taking it slow and trying to really pay attention to each verse.  If I like a verse I'll highlight it, write down the reference and write what it's about in a little book of scripture references that I'm building up to be my scriptural arsenal.  It's already made such a difference in my ability to use the scripture in a discussion, and also just the way I feel each day.  I really love reading it.

My district is 22D and we are awesome. I’ve made some really good friends already and it’s only been a short time.  We ball up pretty much everyday here at the MTC so I’m gonna be pretty good at basketball in a few weeks.  Il mio collega (my companion) is pretty cool.  He’s a little shy but im getting to know him better and he’s awesome.  I do think he’s a little homesick and I don’t really know what I can do to help him with that.  I hope it’ll get better for him.  Hopefully after a while on the mission he’ll get used to it a little more and it won’t be that bad.

So much has happened and I can’t think of it all.  Honestly it feels like we’ve been here for a month not a week.  The other night I was munching on some cinnamon bears and I bit into one and hit something hard.  I looked down and I literally found a PENNY in there!  My roommates and I died laughing for like ten minutes.  I’m still bamboozled about it.  I could have choked on that penny and died!!  I guess I can sue the company and become a billionaire now so that’s nice.  

Please tell Evan that I miss him too, I miss my best friend too, and I'm super proud of me too. That's really scary that he almost died choking on Chick Fill A!  its kinda odd also because I almost choked on that cinnamon bear penny the same week that he choked on his chicken.

Anyway tell the girls that I love them and miss them.  Tell Eliza to not be afraid of her first day of MIDDLE school (bet you thought I'd say preschool haha, pranked ya).  Tell Audrey to stay cool but not too cool for school, and tell her to do cross country.  

Thank you Mom so much for the packages.  The cinnamon bears were great asside from that one with the penny but other than that everything was amazing.  I feel like I didn't express enough gratitude to you for everything you did for my mission and everything you did throughout my whole life so thank you and I love you.  You too Dad.  Thanks for putting clothes over my head and a roof on my back.  I miss our talks about sciencey stuff where I pretended to not know stuff just so that you could explain them too me.  I love and miss you guys lots!  

It’s been a very eventful week full of spiritual as well as near death experiences.  I love it here.  Until next week, Ciao!

Here’s some pictures for ya

1. The anziani in my district holding our flag

2. Us at the Provo temple

3. At a devotional

4. study time

5. See 1