Ciao tutti!
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy my package came. I was worried that it wouldn't come. I'm glad you liked the tapestry mom. That is a picture of the duomo in Firenze. It's nothing compared to the real thing, but it will have to wait until you can come and see the real one. I knew Lizzy would love that scarf. She starting to get harder to shop for, but she's still Lizzy, so a pink and purple scarf from Firenze is still right up her alley. I really hope everyone else likes their gifts! You'll have to let me know when they get them. You saw Grandma's gift right? It's kind of small, so it might have fallen down the side or something.
That's so weird still that finals are like 2 weeks after winter break in high school. I definitely do not miss that. haha. I didn't get to see Sean again, but I left them our bigliettino just in case they were free today to call us. Last night, we were all talking, when I got a call from a random number, so I answered it in Italian of course, and then it was Sean. I was kind of caught off guard because I forgot he was still here in Italy. Anyway, I got to talk to him for about 15 minutes which was really nice. It was so much fun to see him and talk to him.
I am fine with staying here in Prato. I like changing cities, because then I get to kind of like start over and see new places, but this is a beautiful area (Toscana), the members are awesome, and the work is starting to really pick up for our copia. I'm really excited to hang out with Anz Windley for another transfer, he's so cool. We are definitely going to party when we get back. And I love Anz Andersen. We have a ton of fun and we really get along. This may be the only time I serve with someone from my group, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts. Staying another transfer here after this one might be a little much, because the finding areas are kind of super tiring after we do them day after day after day, but we keep trying to find people so that's life. It is really not that cold here, which is really nice. There has been a lot of rain recently, so that’s not very fun. Especially when your bike breaks on your way home and you have to stand in the pouring rain trying to fix it. But more with that story later.
That's so awesome that Lincoln got his call to Taiwan! Which mission there? Taipei? or Taichun? I actually have a favor of you to ask mom, can you friend request my AP Euro teacher. Sean and I were talking about him and he told me that I need to friend request him, so if you could do that, that would be awesome.
Also, speaking of it being not very wintery at home. I keep hearing that it is like arctic temperatures in the east and around Chicago and crazy stuff like that. Is that true? We are kind of cut off from the world here, so I have no clue what's happening. Just what I hear on the street.
So the touch gold idea comes from that little gold paper we have on the door mom. I didn't remember where it came from, but I remembered it being there. So I know it sounds silly, but it really works. Every single time we touch gold, we have a miracle. It's crazy! One day, we teach 2 lessons in an hour. Another we set a baptismal date. This is day 3 of the transfer and we have already taught 5 lessons, and we have 2 more set up for today. We are on fire right now!! We never miss a chance to touch gold. It is a guaranteed miracle. But more about this baptism date. So my first transfer here, we met a man on the street named Angelo, who had met the missionaries before and wanted a Book of Mormon. We met with him and taught him the restoration. We then tried to meet with him again and he was super busy. I’ve been trying to meet with him for about a transfer or so. I called him the other day and he said that he thought we had forgotten about him. We set up another appointment and then we met with him yesterday. He has a lot of questions, but the gospel perfectly answers all of them. We taught him about the plan of salvation and he really liked how families could be together forever, because that was a big concern of his. The spirit was really strong and we bore powerful testimony. At the end of the lesson, we invited him to be baptized on the 1st of March, and he accepted. He is ready to do his part with reading and praying to find out if this is really true. It’s still hard to see him, so that’s why we set the date a bit later than normal, but I am so excited. I knew from the first time we met him that he was ready to have the gospel and its blessing in his life. We are going to try to meet the rest of his family this week. The Lord really does bless his missionaries every single day. Every single day for the past week or so, Anz Andersen and I have seen little miracles in our work here. It is such a great time to be a missionary. And on the way home from his house is when my bike broke in the rain and I got completely soaked. When I got home, I took off the jacket I was wearing, which was one that a member gave me, and the dye had run off and stained my shirt. It is literally blue. I will send a picture. It was ridiculous.
So in other news, I finished the Book of Mormon in Italian!!! Now I’m reading in the D&C. I’m in section 35 or something, so don’t worry Dad, I’m doing my language study. Ha-ha It’s so cool that I can now understand the scriptures without much effort. It’s so awesome!!! Then, I finished the journal that the Stake gave me, and it just happened to end on the last day of the transfer, so a new transfer, a new journal. I may buy another journal from Firenze since I’m in the area and that way I don’t need to buy one later when I run out later in my mission.
So funny story time. So there is this group of old men in centro that love talking to us when we walk past, and one time we were talking to one of them how I play the trombone. Now every time he sees me, he tells me about the last opera, concerto or symphony that he’s listened to, and talks to me like I know everything about music. It’s really funny and he always makes me smile. Then we ran into him again with the rest of the old man gang and they asked about American cars and whether they were really that big or not. It was so funny. I really love Italians. They LOVE to talk. Oh my goodness. It’s impossible to get a word in, but oh well. Succede.
I’m so happy to hear that Grandpa’s funeral went well. From what Dad told me, it sounded amazing and really spiritual and uplifting. I love LDS funerals, they are so much happier. I wish I could have been there, and I tried to read the eulogy but I couldn’t get it to open, so if you could copy and paste it into an email for me that would be awesome.
As always, thanks for the sports report Dad. I’m sad that chargers lost, but that’s a lot farther than I was expecting them to get. Ha-ha Thank you so much for your emails and support. I always love hearing about life back home and I hope it’s the same for my emails. Sometimes I feel like I just kind of rant about nothing. Oh well.
Just one final thought before I close. I love teaching. I love teaching the gospel so much. Whether it’s in Italian, African English, American English, my terrible broken English-Italian, it’s always something that makes me so happy and feel the spirit. I have such a great love for the people we teach and I try so hard to help them feel that love that I have for them and that their Father in Heaven has for them. The Lord’s promises to people wanting to teach the gospel are true. I have seen the blessings in my life and especially while I’ve been out here. Non avete paura. Don’t fear to share the gospel. As Elder Holland said, an invitation extended with love, will never be seen as offensive.
I love you all so much and I pray for you all. Thank you so much for your love and support.
Ti voglio bene!
Anziano Langlois
PS No pics this week. My computer crashed.
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