I suppose I better give you the run down on my new companion. First off, I should begin by saying: I LOVE HIM! When we first met, he was telling me that he has only gotten along well with a couple companions over the course of his mission... He told me that he has the reputation in the mission for not being a fun companion to have. Needless to say, I was a little concerned about what my next eight weeks were going to look like. Fortunately, we've been working extremely well together and we haven't been having any trouble getting along. He's 28 years old and not a very outgoing guy; I think that's part of why we work so well together. We don't have a lot of meaningless small talk. We ask each other questions about our lives, talk about lessons and investigators, I ask lots of Italian questions, but we're okay with silence. Also, his Italian is a lot easier to understand than everyone else around me (which is comforting for my future here in Italy). Unfortunately, we talk in English too much! He speaks very good English and likes speaking in it as much as possible. I ask lots of Italian questions everyday, but I was speaking Italian a lot more with Anziano Gibbons. It's kind of funny though because although he speaks great English, he cannot understand Africans! ;p I have been doing 90% of the actual teaching during all the lessons we teach with Africans (which is pretty much all the lessons we are teaching right now).

I'm on the top left, Mastino is next to me

Anziano Mastino is a very funny guy because he is... Quirky! He is very good at analyzing people and just says it how it is. I don't know how else to put it. He never really intends to make jokes, but a lot of things he says has me laughing! ;p He also gets super fixated on different things, which is always hilarious (to me). For example, yesterday morning, when he saw that our microwave doesn't have a spinning plate, he couldn't let it go! After a five minute rant, he came to the conclusion that we need a spinning plate in our microwave or a new microwave all together because this situation is just not going to do! ;p It's also pretty funny because he didn't ride a bike before the mission, so he is SLOW! I remember riding bikes with Pierce at the family reunion and that kid is 5x as fast as my companion. I completely understand why he isn't good at riding a bike (us Americans ride bikes all throughout our childhood), but for some reason he doesn't wear a helmet. He's always really wobbly and I'm always scared to death for him! Is this what it's going to feel like when I'm teaching my son to ride a bike? 

Nonetheless, it's been AMAZING being the missionary who knows what's up in the companionship. Anziano Mastino doesn't know the people or the location, so I've been planning the appointments, finding out how to get where, deciding when we leave, and taking the charge in the lessons. I've basically been the unofficial senior companion for the past week. :D I'll tell you guys about a few different appointments we had this week...

First off, I want to tell you guys about the ultimate bidonet we had this week. We were waiting outside the house of a man named Billy earlier this week for our second appointment with him. He hadn't been answering his phone all morning, but since we knew his address and had an appointment, we went to his house anyway. When we rang the doorbell, Billy asked through the house intercom who we were. I told him that we were the missionaries and were here for our appointment with him. He seemed happy enough that we were there and told us to wait outside for one minute. ...1 minute went by... 2 minutes went by... 3 minutes went by... Then, another man started talking to us through the intercom. He told us, "Sorry, Billy isn't home right now. Maybe try calling him to schedule another appointment with him." Needless to say, we aren't calling Billy ever again! ;p

Next, I want to tell you guys about an appointment we had scheduled for this week that got us a lesson with someone... But, also so much more! We were teaching the restoration to a man named Ezekiel in our church building. We weren't getting much teaching done because Ezekiel knows the Bible very well and he kept on trying to whip out scriptures to disprove us. After about 90 minutes of this, I had had enough. I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon and closed the lesson. Then, I asked him to say the closing prayer and he happily agreed. This is when things got interested. He was convinced that we needed to repeat his prayer back to him as he said it to truly show that we were confessing Jesus as our Christ (he was obsessed with Romans 10:9). We literally spent 40 minutes explaining to him why we don't pray like that... And at the conclusion of the big extravaganza, he wouldn't even say the closing prayer! 

I saved the best appointment for last... We have had a few awesome lesson with a man named Kevin! I guess I don't need to specify with you guys that I'm talking about Kevin #2 (we have three investigators named Kevin). ;) After our first lesson with him, Anziano Mastino said something like, "I really like that Nigerian. I can actually understand the English he speaks." And not only does he speak really proper English, he can sing! He travels around Italy singing and playing the piano for different churches. He's been recording some of his songs in a local studio and is coming out with an album next year. He played us a song after our last lesson with him and it was hilarious! He is a pretty quiet dude, but his voice is loud and opera-ish. He's been asking some incredible questions during our lessons and is truly searching for the truth. He even lived with a member of our ward for a few years when he came to Italy, so he is very familiar with the church.

Before I go, I have to tell you all about the best and worst parts of my week (both of which happened in a 10 second timespan). A few days ago, while waiting for the bus, a bird pooped on Anziano Mastino's arm. It was the first time I saw Anziano Mastino get flustered, so it was quite a funny scene. After getting out my iPad to take a picture of my unfortunate companion, a bird decided to drop a dump on my shirt collar AND iPad! I'm sure an optimistic elder would've been rejoicing that the poop didn't land on his head, but I can't say I was rejoicing! It was molto schifo. We had to make an emergency run to our church building to get cleaned up before our next lesson. Have a great week family! Hopefully the birds in Washington are a little nicer than the birds here in Italy. ;) 

This week was also great for a couple of other reasons: I had my first root beer float made with gelato and got my transfer call! First off, I should probably explain that this transfer was only four weeks instead of the normal six weeks. This is because the mission wanted to send the outgoing missionaries home before the Christmas rush, to save money on plane tickets. And, as I kind of already knew, I'm staying in Pistoia and Anziano Gibbons is transferring to Padova (a city near Milano). It's a little sad knowing my time with Anziano Gibbons is about to end. We are two very different people, but we've been through so much together... After going through a lot of hardships and happiness and spirit feeling with someone, you tend to get pretty close! 

Gibbons and I about to eat pizza!

But, my new companion is... *drum roll please*... ITALIAN! I don't know much about my new companion other than the fact that his name is Anziano Mastino and he's from Sardegna, Italy. I know that most Anziani in the Milan mission don't ever get the opportunity to have an Italian companion, so I'm on cloud nine right now. Hopefully I'll be speaking fluent Italian after my eight week transfer with him. ;) Although, all the members have been making fun of me when I tell them that my new companion is from Sardegna because apparently they speak such different Italian in Sardegna that a person from Tuscany can't even understand them!!! ;p

Speaking of Italian, this past week was our only-Italian-speaking week! Granite, we weren't 100% successful in speaking only Italian... But, we did pretty well. It was HARD! Trying to comprehend Italian all day is incredibly mentally draining. There were nights during this past week where it literally felt like I just got back from another all-night Senior grad night party as I was headed to bed. However, I'm so glad I stuck through this week though because I feel likmy Italian is a lot smoother and I can comprehend the meaning of words I know a lot faster. At district meeting on Monday, we celebrated our Italian-speaking week with brownies and cake (oh how I miss the brownie mix from Costco)!

I have a not so great story to tell you about this week... Yesterday, Anziano Gibbons and I made a lady in our ward cry! We had a lunch appointment at an old retired couple's house and when we got to their house, we went inside and didn't see the husband anywhere. So, Anziano Gibbons asked the lady if her husband was currently home (we can't be inside any house with a woman if their isn't a male 18 years or older present). When she answered that her husband would be home soon, Anziano Gibbons told her that we had to go and that we would be back in 20 minutes. So, after 20 minutes of tracting around some nearby neighborhoods, we returned to the lady's house. This time, the husband answered the door. However, when we went inside the house, the lady started telling Anziano Gibbons and I how un-Christ-like it was to leave her when she said that her husband would be home soon. She then left the house, with tears coming down her face, and said she needed some fresh air. We felt TERRIBLE! The husband still let us eat lunch at their house, but it was really awkward (especially considering the wife was the one that made the lunch). Moral of the story: be careful of your words and actions because you never know how other people are going to perceive them. Anziano Gibbons and I should've left the lady's house a little less fast than Joseph of Egypt left the house of Potiphar's wife, so we could've explained why following our mission rules with exactness was so important. ;p Luckily, after we had eaten lunch, the lady returned in time to hear our spiritual thought and seemed and she seemed to have forgiven us. But, I definitely think we owe her some cookies or something. 

Besides from the lunch appointment faux-pa, December in Italy has been a great experience for me. There are Christmas lights and decorations everywhere! We've been passing out A Savior Is Born pass-a-long cards by the hundreds and it's been fun seeing them laying on the ground all over the streets of Pistoia and Prato (if we're seeing them on the ground, other people are too ;)). I really hope the A Savior Is Born video will touch the lives of some people and prompt them to give the Pistoia missionaries a little call to learn more about our Savior. This is a great time of the year family, but don't get too caught up in all the glamour of the world. Be thankful for your warm beds, work and education, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. I see poverty all around me and know that our family has been extremely blessed. What are you guys giving Jesus for Christmas?

 

Ciao tutti,

It's been a great week! I thought of a phrase earlier this week that I think 
describes my life pretty well right now: "I'm doing the Lord's work and gaining 
Buddha's weight."

I feel like I need to dedicate a paragraph to Thanksgiving. I didn't
get to eat any of those delicious M&M turkeys that mom always makes
this year, but this was the best Thanksgiving of my life! We had
lessons with two new investigators. Then, we had a delicious lunch
with a member family (despite the fact that I got a really bad stomach
ache from all the cheese I ate). After that, we did some service for
an African in our ward who needed help doing some word processing on
his computer; he did NOT know how to use his laptop! ;p Then, we had a
lesson with Abbel and he accepted a baptismal date on the 9th of
January... I don't know who is more excited- him or me!! :D Later that
night, the Hydes gave us all of their leftover Thanksgiving food (including
pumpkin pie). And finally, at English class, two of my advanced
English students brought me a ton of pastries and chocolates as a
thank you present to me! This Thanksgiving was definitely a day for
the books.

It feels so unreal that we're already in December! We've been using
the "A Savior is Born" video quite a bit over the past few days...
Most people seem to really like the video (I particularly like the
little black boy)! A couple nights ago we were at a members house
giving a spiritual thought. The only member of the family we were
teaching was the father because the mom is inactive and the son was
preparing for a big test math test the next day. Shortly after
starting the lesson, the mom came into the room we were having our
lesson in and told the dad that the son was really struggling with his
test preparation. Luckily for the us, Anziano Gibbons knows Italian
and algebra and offered to help. Anziano Gibbons was successfully able
to help the boy with his math homework, and then, the mom and son were
now open to hearing our spiritual message! We showed them "A Savior is
Born" and the mom LOVED it. After our message, she invited us over for
dinner later next week and wants us (it will be my new companion and
me) to come back for lunch on Christmas. It was really cool getting
those invites from her (and not just because of the free food) because
it shows that her heart is still a little open to the gospel. :)

While we're on the subject of the new Christmas video, I should also
mention that it helped us get two new potential investigators
yesterday! Anziano Gibbons and I had a scambio with Anziano Vasquez
and Kenney from yesterday morning to this morning. However, on this
scambio, Anziano Kenney was my companion for the day and I stayed in
Pistoia! When we were doing some park finding in Prato, Anziano Kenney
and I showed the video to two men and they loved it! We ended up
saying a prayer with them and they want us to see them this weekend
for an appointment. I should also mention that the scambio with
Anziano Kenney was just as successful as my scambio was with Anziano
Vasquez! I was a little scared being the guy in charge, but I got us
to all 3 of our appointments we had scheduled with no problems at all.
;p It was also really good for Abbel to meet another missionary from
the church because we haven't been able to get a member present lesson
with him yet. Abbel thought that it would be good for Anziano Kenney
to come back to EVERY lesson with him and was a little sad when he
found out that Anziano Kenney was only going to be in Pistoia until
the end of the day.

I've been talking about Nosa every week, but he's such an all-star
ward member and there's always something awesome to share about him!
This week, Nosa brought someone to church named Sunny. When I saw the
unfamiliar face in the church building, I went up to find out more
about Sunny. It turns out that Sunny came to Prato on Monday (he was
previously living in Rome). Sunny got to Prato with no money and no
place to stay- that's where Nosa came in. On Monday night, at about
11:30, Nosa got the prompting to walk to a nearby supermarket. Nosa
wakes up REALLY early to go sell stuff on the street, but he followed
the prompting to go to the supermarket anyways. When Nosa got there,
he saw Sunny sitting outside the store crying. In the words of Sunny,
Nosa just came up to him and said, "Everything is going to be okay."
Nosa took Sunny home with him and Sunny has now been living with him
for the past week! I can't think of anyone who is more in tune with
spiritual promptings than Nosa (and maybe President Monson ;p). Sunny
told me at the end of church that he really liked it and was going to
come back again next week. He said it was different, yet refreshing,
being in a church where there was more doctrine teaching than
clapping/singing. I'm really hoping to get Sunny to start taking the
lessons from Anziano Gibbons and I.

I want to share a random tracting experience I had this week before I
go: We went up to an African man earlier this week who was leaning
against a building and started talking about the gospel with him. He
told us when we first started talking to him to leave him alone
because "it looked like we were doing bad things." But, after we
brought up God, he was more than happy to talk with us. After a few
minutes of talking about the gospel and getting his phone number for a
follow-up appointment, the man said he had to go. The man then walked
down the street and started talking to a teenage boy that appeared...
The teenage boy gave him a wad of cash and the African man said
"aspetta" (you wait) and walked down a nearby alley. Anziano Gibbons
and I didn't stick around to find out what happened next.

It's hard not seeing a ton of success in the work, but I really feel good about our efforts this past week. I've also been SO happy; I feel like I'm finally getting into the rhythm of things. The funniest moment of my week was probably getting kicked out of someone's house while teaching a lesson. We were teaching an African, who is renting a room in the house of an African family. When a little boy in the African family walked downstairs during the lesson and saw Anziano Gibbons and I in his house, he SPRINTED upstairs shouting for his mom. When the mom came down and saw us, she wasn't very happy... Apparently seeing two, young, white boys in her living room wasn't a daily occurrence for her (or her son). ;p

It's funny because when I wasn't a missionary, the best compliment I could get from someone was probably something like, "I think you're cute." But, as a missionary, things are different... I got a compliment this week that made me feel so good! During a lesson with an African man, he told me, "When you talk, everything makes so much sense." That is EXACTLY what a missionary wants to hear when teaching a lesson.

Also, thank you so much for the birthday sweater you guys sent me. Not only is it super classy, it's also much needed right now. Tracting has been VERY cold lately. Since becoming colder in Pistoia, I've noticed a couple of things... One, I see a lot more kissing everyday (I didn't think it was possible). And two, a lot more people are stopping on the street to talk to the Mormon missionaries. :D It's funny the responses you get while street contacting sometimes... But, it's always a struggle talking to people that just don't get it! Some people think that they know secret mysteries about the heritage of Mormonism and have the need to share it with the missionaries in an attempt to discredit our message. What they never seem to understand is that as Mormons, we aren't ashamed of our past because it's the truth. Some people just can't grasp the concept that with a testimony of the Book of Mormon, EVERYTHING is true!!

I had my first zone conference this past week and it was awesome! I feel like I learned a ton, strengthened my relationship with a lot of Elders and Sisters, and ate a delicious Thanksgiving-style dinner prepared by the Hydes. One cool thing I learned at zone conference is from a presentation given by my mission president. He talked about how we sustain our church leaders as prophets, SEErs, and revelators... The emphasis is on the seers! Isaiah the prophet was one of the greatest seers in history and because of this, a lot of (non Christian) scholars think that Isaiah has to be more than person because of how accurate his writing was! 

Florence Zone Conference

Another big thing talked about at zone conference was how we can use our iPads more effectively. They told us quite a few suggestions that I'm going to implement into my mission work. But, there's one way that I've been using my iPad that I thought you guys might get a kick out of. When we've been doing house to house tracting, I've been pulling up a picture of Jesus on the iPad and sticking it in front of the eye-hole! It hasn't gotten Anziano Gibbons and I into any houses yet, but it's definitely a good conversation starter.

Non mission or spiritually related, one thing that I've been meaning to tell you guys is about the broken feet I see here. I'm not sure why (birth defects, mob retaliation, self-inflicted pain, etc.),  but there is a lot of beggars that have broken feet... And when I say broken feet, I'm talking about REALLY broken! There's quite a few people that I see that walk around with a foot 180 degrees the wrong direction. It's always a horrifically sad sight to see.

Before I go, I want to brag about my companion a little bit... And this story is unrelated to the fact that he made my bed for me yesterday! I want to tell you guys how nice it is knowing that our companionship is being led by the spirit. Last night, Anziano Gibbons and I were going to bike somewhere to do some tracting. I was following Anziano Gibbons on my bike and he randomly pulled into a store parking lot. I was pretty confused and shouted up to him, "What are you doing man?!" He replied, "I'm trying to follow the Spirit." After biking around the parking lot for a second, we started to leave. But, at the edge of the parking lot we stopped a man named Giacomo. Giacomo turned out to be a total stud! We ended up saying a prayer with him and getting his number for a future visit. :D

Pondering the scriptures in Italy

Two Buff Dudes!  

 It's been amazing teaching some INCREDIBLE people
and understanding more Italian! We aren't teaching any Italians right
now, but that's okay with me. I feel like the Lord needs me working
with these Africans at this time, speaking my native tongue.
Nonetheless, my Italian is improving quite quickly! Last Sunday at
church, I could actually understand some of what the speakers were
saying. ;p I'm not very smooth at speaking the language, but I can
understand 100x more than I could a month ago. We got a new sister in
our district named Sorella Sharp, the replacement of Sorella Ince. She
is a very  good missionary and has recently challenged our district to
only speak Italian for a whole week at the end of this month (unless
you're teaching a lesson in English to someone). I am really scared
for this challenge, but am excited to become better in this language!

I want to tell you guys some more awesome things about Nosa, a
Nigerian convert of 8ish months that I've already told you guys a
little bit about. We had an appointment with Nosa this week and got to
go to his new house! He recently moved out of his old apartment (who
he was sharing with several other Africans) and into a basement owned
by an African family because it was cheaper. When Anziano Gibbons
walked into Nosa's room, the first thing I saw was his Book of Mormon
and Gospel Principles book on his pillow. Then, Nosa fed us dinner as
we taught him a lesson. This man has NOTHING and gives to us so
freely! After the closing prayer, Nosa went on to tell us about all
the missionary experiences he's been having with his friends...
There's something about new converts doing missionary work that sits
right with Anziano Anderson.

I also need to catch you guys up on our new convert, Solomon. He is
becoming such a strong member. Anziano Gibbons and I had him teach us
the Plan of Salvation at our last appointment, and I learned so much!!
You could tell he put a ton of preparation into the lesson and the
spirit really did work through him. It was pretty funny earlier this
week though because we had a lunch appointment at a member's home that
Solomon was invited to too. At the lunch appointment, it was the
funniest thing in the world watching Solomon gag down pasta with pesto
sauce. For some reason most Africans don't like Italian food. It was

nice pay back watching Solomon eat the food because he thought it was
pretty funny watching me gag down African food at the Family Home
Evening we had with him a couple weeks ago.

Earlier this week, when Anziano Gibbons and I were calling random
names from our phone (with over 500 contacts in it) in an attempt to
locate people interested in hearing a lesson from us and deleting
people that did not, we stumbled across Abbel's name. It turns out
that Abbel was met by missionaries long ago, was interested in hearing
a lesson, but was never re-contacted! Abbel happily agreed to meet
with us and expressed how sad he was that he wasn't re-contacted
sooner. He even told us that when we called him that day, he had
something in him that told him he needed to meet with us. We've only
had one lesson with Abbel so far, but he's incredible! We have another
appointment with him later tonight and he is beyond excited. When I
called him on Monday night to schedule the appointment, he told me how
much he missed us. ;p

I'll leave one last "silly" story with you guys before I head off(silly is Anziano 
Gibbon's favorite word). There was a youth stake

activity in Florence on Saturday night where the members got partnered
up with missionaries and did tracting! I got partnered with a 14 year
old boy named Eghosa. He moved from Nigeria 8 months ago and doesn't
speak Italian very good, so we made a good match. After about an hour
of tracting, we met an Italian man who started speaking English to me.
He came up to me and started telling me how handsome I was and what a
nice color of tie I had. I didn't think much of it (considering how
open the Italian culture is), but I felt a little uncomfortable
because he wasn't giving any compliments to Eghosa. I then start to
share a gospel principle with him and he stops me and tells me that
he'll never convert to Mormonism because he was born "different". I
had no idea what he meant, so I continued to share some more things
with him... Then, he just came straight out and told Eghosa and me
that he was gay and had to act on his desires. Our conversation ended
soon after thar, but for the rest of the night, Eghosa was SO freaked
out!! ;p

I was so excited for the companion-exchange last week that I forgot to mention... Solomon received the Gift of the Holy Ghost! He's now an official member of Christ's true church on the earth today. And speaking of last week's scambio (companion-exchange), it was RAD! I feel like I had to use the word rad because I was on scambio with Anziano Vasquez, my zone leader from Huntington Beach, California. I think I heard the words rad and gnarly at least 100 times before my 24 hours were up with him. ;p I got to teach lessons with two of Anziano Vasquez's investigators. One of the investigators worked at a gelateria and gave Anziano Vasquez's new friend some free gelato. ;) The other investigator was this really humble African man who is getting baptized this Saturday. I was a little freaked out when I met the man getting baptized this Saturday because his thumb nail was SUPER long (all the other fingernails were properly trimmed)! Afterward, Anziano Vasquez told me that growing out the thumbnail is a, very gross, Italian style. 

Since Anziano Vasquez is a zone leader, we got to drive around to places all day in a car. Not only were we able to get every a lot faster, we were also able to jam out to Christian Rock music all day! ;) The whole scambio was a major success in my eyes because I learned so much from Anziano Vasquez; it was very cool getting trained by another mind (I've only experienced training from Anziano Gibbons). The most important thing I learned from Anziano Vasquez was probably about the importance of dropping people when they aren't keeping commitments. 

In other news, Pope Francis came to Prato yesterday! Unfortunately, we couldn't see him... But, we were over in Prato at like 11:00 and there was still a TON of people all over the city (his speech was only from 8-9)! I was a little jealous of all the people wearing yellow baseball caps around the city (I don't know the significance behind the yellow, but they all looked cool).

I also want to tell you guys about a little miracle(s) that happened yesterday. I was having a really hard morning... Then, when I started reading my Book of Mormon during personal study, my mind was elsewhere. I was reading the words, but was getting no meaning out of what I was reading. When I caught myself doing this, I was at the end of verse three. When I started the next verse (now focused on what I was reading), it was EXACTLY what I needed to read. It's amazing how often the Book of Mormon speaks to you. #TheBookOfMormonIsTrue But, that's not all. God really didn't want me to forget that he was looking out for me because when I walked out of the apartment- BOOM! I found a €5 bill laying on the ground. Because of these little miracles, my hard morning became a little easier. 

Now, I feel like I need a paragraph dedicated to the senior missionary couple serving in our ward. I love them! Due to my awkwardness, I don't think I've ever really been able to connect with adults very well in my life... But, during the past month, I have grown so close with the Hydes! On Sunday night, they came up with the idea to have a family home evening in Carmignano at Solomon's house. Anziano Gibbons and I were super pumped and invited a ton of Africans. Unfortunately, none of the people we invited came... Nonetheless, it was a great family home evening. The five of us all sang songs, had a little spiritual thought, played games, and ate super spicy African food prepared by Solomon. Although we didn't have a big turnout, Solomon had a GREAT time and I'm really glad we did it. Our goal is to get the tradition of Family Home Evening started, so Solomon and others can have their own every single week! So, we're going to try and host another FHE in Carmignano in a few weeks (hopefully with a bigger turnout)!

The Prato District

Earlier this week, I convinced the sisters to bring a scale to district meeting, so I could see the damage. I'm at 163 pounds... A 10 pound increase from entering the MTC! I'm getting a little worried about what the next two years is going to do to my body. I think a lot of my weight gain is a result from the generosity of Grazia, a woman in our ward. Grazia is in charge of keeping an eye on the church building, so she literally comes to the building everyday. When she's at the building, she tends to leave food for Anziano Gibbons and I in the cupboard (pies, cakes, cookies, chocolate, chips, etc.). And since Anziano Gibbons and I have to visit the church building almost everyday of the week for some reason or another, we eat A LOT of food brought by Grazia! Ezra sent me an email this week telling me how we gained so much weight at one point in his mission that he had to keep the top button of his shirt unbuttoned all the time. Luckily, I haven't gotten to that point... Yet. ;)

I hope you all have a great week family! Anziano Gibbons and I have been cleaning the apartment all day (you do a super-clean once per transfer) and I really wish it could've been as fun as the 4:30 clean-up-sessions back home. ;) Also, in today's shopping trip, I only spent €25 (the normal for me is €40)! :D I'll leave you with some parting words of wisdom: put flour in the mix when you're making French toast. The fluffiness of the finished product is unreal. I love you all! Please keep me and my investigators in your prayers. 

View from my apartment

We're in Florence right now and after we meet up with the zone leaders, we're going to go on
a companionship-exchange! I am SO stoked. Anziano Gibbons and I have spent the day at the Palazzo Vecchio museum and have seen some INSANE views and lots of 15th century artwork.

It's already been an awesome week thus far because I'm currently the acting senior companion. On the 5th week of each transfer, the junior companion switches positions with the senior companion for the week.  So, I am no longer in charge of locking and unlocking the bikes and am now in charge of calling the shots! There's a little stress that comes with being a senior companion, but it's been a ton of fun. Frankly, my biggest trial this week has been my Sunday shirts... The collars are becoming very tight and uncomfortable. Unfortunately, fast Sunday didn't cure my problem. So, I'm going to have to lay off the pastries this week. ;p

Before I get going, I want to share a few experiences I had this week. First off: Halloween in Italy is LAME! There is no trick or treating and very little dressing-up. Fortunately, we have some Halloween activists in our ward and our ward threw a pretty great party on Saturday night! Some sisters in our ward made a ton of delicious food and did a good job advertising the party, so quite a few members dressed up! But, the best costume at the party was definitely my companion's lion costume that a member let him use... I took quite a few blackmail pictures of him throughout the night! ;)

Anziano Gibbons and I brought one of our investigators to the party named Jean and he was like a little boy on Christmas morning... He loved the party! He's this 52 year-old man from the Philippieans and is a die-hard Laker's fan. So, he came to the party looking like a member of the team- only a lot older and shorter! ;p At the party, us and the sister missionaries in our ward were in charge of running a "fish-for-candy" game. I feel like I'm a lot better friends with most of our ward members because of all the chatting we did with them throughout the night (the fact that I gave out a ton of free candy to all of them might have also helped). Later in the night, it was a little weird seeing all the members dancing and blasting American pop songs in the room that acts as the chapel on Sundays. ;p Besides having to call the president (we got home to our apartment past 10:00), it was a very good Halloween.

Another experience that I want to share with you guys is a lesson we had earlier this week that I can't stop thinking about. The lesson was with an African who is a relatively new member of the ward. He's a very hard-working man and sells random items to people on the street, all-day everyday. At the beginning of the lesson when we were asking him how he was doing, he broke down and started telling us how hard his life was. He was an electrical engineer in Africa and owned his own shop, but here in Italy, he can't find a job. He said something that really struck me... It was something along the lines of, "I know this is true church. That's why I don't understand why there aren't more true Christians. Christians are supposed to help the poor, but no one ever helps me!" My mind instantly went to King Benjamin's speech and I felt an overwhelming sense of sympathy for him... He is trying
so hard to be financially stable and doesn't feel the support from our ward. And the thing is, this man is VERY generous with the money he does have. Anziano Gibbons bought an umbrella from him this past week and he only charged Anziano Gibbons the €3 price that he bought the umbrella for. Also, on Sunday, he brought a cake for us and the sister missionaries. I MEAN, THIS MAN IS INCREDIBLE. I really hope that he can start feeling the ward's love and support for him.

The last experience I want to share with you all was a miracle that happened to us on Monday night. After giving some lessons in Prato, Anziano Gibbons and I were on a train headed to our apartment in
Pistoia (it was already a little past 9:00 pm). Unfortunately, we were so focused on discussing our lesson plans for the next day that we didn't get off when the train was in Pistoia. So, when we realized our mistake, we knew we had to get off at the next station. Panic mode sunk in when we realized that because it was so late, there wasn't a train scheduled to head back to Pistoia for another hour! But, miraculously, when we got to the next station, there was a train that was going to be going to Pistoia any minute (it was super late getting to the station). We didn't want to miss the train obviously, but we didn't have tickets. It's a rare occasion that your ticket gets checked while riding the train, but we knew as missionaries, we shouldn't ride dirty. So, despite the high chances of missing the train when it came, we went to the ticket booth and bought tickets. We didn't miss the train and WE DID get our tickets checked by a worker on the train back to Pistoia. GOD IS GOOD!