First Letter From Italy!

What up, FAM!!!!

Okay, so much has happend since I've arrived in Italy! It's crazy! (I know I say that a lot and I have a feeling I'll always be saying that but, seriously, it's crazy). So, let me begin my adventrue story-telling...

We arrived in Italy after a very long journey of flying around noon Italian time. Met President Dibb (amazing man) and his wife (also an amazing woman). Very nice people. So ya, we went to a church somewhere in downtown Milano. Now, I'm not a big fan of Milano. It just looks super weird. Well, Italy looks super weird. Period. You should see the bathrooms. Some parts remind me of California and other parts, apparently, remind people of Florida. It's also very hot. Because of the humidity. Which means during the winter it'll be super cold. Anyway, I then had an interview with President Dibb and, funny story, he knows Latin. So when we started he told me a phrase and asked me what it meant. I don't remember how to say it but I passed with flying colors. The phrase was "The die is cast" which was said from Ceaser when he crossed the Rubicon River to invade Rome. President then explained that this mission was a "Preach My Gospel" Mission and that there is now no turning back. The die is cast. Crazy, right?

Afterwards, since our group was so big, we were split into four smaller groups and then went at different times to go to the Duomo. Now, the Duomo looks pretty cool in pictures, but let me assure you, your mouth would be hanging open if you saw it in real life. It is literally exotic, beautiful, and...big. I couldn't take any pictures but I wouldn't mind showing it to guys sometime in the long run. We then did some street contacting (with Collega), and street-contacting is an art I realized. Anyway, we ran into a guy who was a Greek Orthodox (crazy!) and when I started bearing my testimony about the Book of Mormon he shook his head and said something about us having the misunderstanding and that God will bless us since we believe in Him and then he walked away. All I can say is that it was interesting.

After that we had dinner with President on a balcony and then we were shipped to a hotel. I was completely out was I hit the sack. Now fast forward to the morning (I had breakfast, no worries) and we went back to the church somewhere in downtown Milano. I have a funny story to share about us recieving our trainers. It's a great story. So all the newbies were on one side of the the room and all the trainers on the other side. The APs stood in the front and called up a trainer, whicht the trainer introduced him/herself, a miracle that happened the past week (most of them were baptisms! A lot of baptisms happen out here!) and then they read off of a piece of paper to see who's the trainee and the area. So everyone gets called up front and I'm just sitting there, seriously hoping and praying that I'll get an amazing trainer and not a stinge, just minding my own business. It soon became apparent that the number of trainers present did not equal the number of trainees. I was the last person to be called up and...there was no trainer. The APs were smiling and handed me the piece of paper. I read their names as my trainer. I'm going to be trained by the APs! I was so confused. President then stood up and explained the situation (thankfully). So, my trainer was down in Firenze (Florence) and he decided to eat a delicacy of the area (raw sausage sandwhich. Apparently, it's good) which caused him to have to go to the hospital, since the meat wasn't fresh. So I got to spend two days with the Office Elders and the APs! It was super fun! They even told me that I'm getting groomed to be an Office Elder or an AP since a trainee never sees the office on their first day. They're funny guys. On Friday, my trainer got out of the hospital and got on a train to Milano, which then I met him, and we got a train to Vicenza. That was the adventure of the week.

Cool thing about my trainer, since he's amazing. When President explained my situation to everyone, he said that I was getting the best missionary in the mission (he told that to everyone! The trainers and trainees!), and he's been a Zone leader down in Firenze during the summer. He actually told me that twice. My new Collega has two transfers left in his mission. Overall, he's going to be spending his last twelve weeks with me. Again, it's crazy. His name is Anziano Collins and he is from Virgina. A sprite 21 year old.

My first area is in Vicenza!!! It's a wierd little city. I like it a lot better than Milano. We're somewhat next to the mountians (hills) and the nature is really beautiful. Super green. We have to take care of two branches. The Italian and the English because there's a military base here. When I went to church on Sunday I didn't understand a word during the Italian branch. Not a word. And the Italians want the new missionaries to bear their testimony (there's two of us being trained. We're staying with another copia.) and my testimony was really short. The English branch I liked a lot better because I could understand it. Collega was freaking out because he never had church in English while in Italy. Actually, this really scares me. I was taking out my American money and putting it somewhere safe, and when Collega saw it, he goes, "whoa...this is really weird...American money." We had dinner with a senior english couple, and they had syrup out, and collega stopped in his tracks and starts muttering, "That's syrup. That's actually syrup..." He's looking at it like he's never seen it before!!!

One thing I've learned while I've been here is organization. Organization is important. I forgot to tell you but we didn't know we were opening up a new area. Collega also didn't know he was District Leader. So we spent a few days collecting things for the Apartment and stuff like that because we had absolutley nothing. Absolutely nothing. We also had to split up the area between three copia because the Sorelle are here too. It's taken a while to everything settled. Also, it's super important to work the members so we met with the Italians to figure out in-actives and stuff and we met with the English branch. The English branch is SUPER organized like none-other. Military, obviously, but we sat down for branch council and they STAYED on topic. They have a LASER-LIKE FOCUS when they discuss missionary work. It's amazing. Collega was almost jumping out of his seat because he has said that he has never seen anything like this before. I would even say that they're more focused than any Utah ward. They already have plans set out for us and families to visit. It's crazy. Collega leaned over to me and said that I'll never see this in an Italian branch. If they were organized then they wouldn't be branches. They would be wards. The image I get from the Italians is that they're more like little children when it comes to the gospel. They're still trying to figure it out.

That's everything right now. I'm still trying to get used to living here but I'm sure not in Kansas anymore.

Love you all and I miss you!!!

Anziano West