Time Flies March 26, 2014

Ciao tutti!

Porca miseria!!! Time is flying by. I can't believe that its almost my birthday and that I've been out on my mission for so long. It's totally crazy. Any who, first of all, I want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes. It's going to be weird not really having any connection with you guys on my actual birthday, but I know that you are always close. I can feel it. Also, I'm going to be 20. WHAAAAAATTTTT???????????? I will never be a teenager again. Meno male. But that's so weird. Also, I realized that I will never be 20 in America. Weird right? So crazy that I'm going to be in Italy for an entire year straight.

Other random, not so important news. Thanks for the bracket info dad. I'm pretty sure mine got destroyed. haha. That's crazy that Duke already lost. I know they always choke, but I wasn't thinking that early. That's why they call it March madness, its really crazy. We all made brackets in our apartment, so we'll see who wins. I think it might be Valencia who just picked his by flipping a coin. haha.

OK, so I just read Linda's last blog post about Jude. He is so cute. Oh my gosh. And I'm sad to say, but I'm pretty sure Jude's English is better than mine right now. haha. I swear I make no sense. I don't know how you guys read these emails. They probably make no sense. 

Any who, I haven't gotten the package yet, but don't worry, I'll get it eventually. haha I don't have headphones here at the university, so I can't watch the video right now, but I will try to watch it when I can. 

OH yeah! I found out that Fratello Jeter (my teacher from the MTC) trained Anz Davis' (my grandpa) trainer, so I'm his great great grandson! Small world right? haha. I thought that was funny. Let me think, other random new things. Oh yeah! That's so crazy that Robert gets home in 30 days!!!! The other day I was thinking about him, and I didn't realize how close he really was to finishing. Crazy how fast time flies. I also hear that Brooke Hamilton is getting married. Auguri to her! The last of the clan to get married.

Any who, so this week was crazy like always, but in a different sense of the word crazy. Basically, Anz Parker and I have been just kinda talking in English to one another (I know dad, syl syl syl syl ), but just speaking English, we've got stopped by 6 or 7 people randomly. One of them is here on business and he just decided to go out one night, even though he doesn't really speak Italian, and guess who he runs into, but two Americans speaking in English. He was super pumped and he was actually super interested in the gospel. We're trying to see him again because he's really busy so we can give him a Book of Mormon, but he's super bravo and was totally led by the spirit to go out that night. Then we met an Italian who was born in Texas and basically all of her family except her are members and she asked us for a Book of Mormon for her friend. Super crazy things happening.

In other news, we set 3 more bapt dates this week! That puts us at 5 for this month and I'm pretty sure we are the highest in the zone right now. That's pretty cool. We are just super blessed. Last week, the other Anziani had to come to Voghera to bring us Anz. Parker's wallet (like I mentioned last week), and while they were there, they met a man named Victor. They taught him really quick and got his phone number. Then they passed him to our copia, so we called him and set up an appointment to meet him. Anz. Valencia and I met up with him on a scambio and started teaching him the Restoration. When we got to the great apostasy, his wife, Macy, walked up with their two children. We invited her to sit down with us and listen to the lesson. She happily agreed. After we taught about the Book of Mormon, we gave them a copy and then we invited them both to be baptized. They both accepted, so we proceeded to try and set a date, and they accepted that too. So it was a miracle! We started teaching one family, and just like President Dibb always says, "we're in the business of completing families", so we are already on that path to complete this family in the gospel. 

Then we set another bapt date with the wife of one of our new converts. Super awesome. We are trying to hard to make sure that these dates stick and actually go through, while setting even more and trying to find even more people to teach. Life is hectic.

Like I said last week, I found out that Tullio got baptized in Prato. In fact, Anz Andersen called me from the baptism and I got to talk to Tullio for a minute. He was so happy and I could just tell how important the gospel is to him. GOSH!!!! I love Tullio! He's such a boss!!!

Another thing, I gave my very first talk this week. It was on how Christ is the rock of our salvation. Super easy topic. Had a ton of scriptures and it went great. People said they liked it, so that's always good. And in SYL (speak your language) news, I just finished the Pearl of Great Price in Italian last week, so now I've read the entire triple in Italian. I'm now in the New Testament. A lot harder to understand, but the first day I read in it, I literally learned so much. I had such an awesome study for an hour straight. It was so cool! I didn't want to stop reading. I love the scriptures.

I also made the armor of god out of pizza boxes and tin foil for our serata familiare. We put it on one of the sorelle's investigators, Eduardo. It was so funny. I attach the picture.

 

Oh yeah! yesterday, we got fed well. Anzi, we got fed well this whole week. We had an awesome meal with some investigators last Wednesday, then Thursday we ate with a part member family. Then yesterday we ate lunch with our vescovo and then dinner with another family. I love Italians. They treat the missionaries well. I hope you guys are prepared for some good food when you come over here.

Well, that's pretty much my week in a nutshell. We're going to Milano today, so I'll have some cool duomo pictures next week.

Thank you all so much for your birthday wishes and your support. I love you all so much and I hope you all have an amazing week!!!

Statemi bene!

Anziano Langlois

 

Scioperos, Walking and More Scioperos March 19, 2014

Ciao tutti!!!

Well, first of all, I bet you are all wonder what in the heck a "sciopero" is. Well, its the Italian word for a "strike", and if any of you are familiar with Italian culture, you would know that they happen very often and they are really stupid and annoying. So basically, they announce it for about a week or so, and then it happens. 2 weeks ago we had a train sciopero. This past week, we had another train sciopero. Today is a bus sciopero here in Pavia and a public transportation sciopero in Milano, so for the 3rd week straight, we are stuck here in Pavia on p-day. It's not terrible, but its annoying, because we're trying to go to Lecco, and we can't because there is always a sciopero. Gahhhhhh!!!!! OK, Italian culture rant over.

So like last week, we are still super busy all the time. We are always on trains or buses or walking because there is a sciopero. When we aren't doing one of those things, we are probably in a lesson. We aren't teaching a ton of lessons (I taught more in Prato), but we are always teaching still because our lessons are so scattered about. So our days are really really long and tiring. Every time we try to go to the station in the morning or when we are coming back at night, the 3 bus is always about 10 minutes away, so we just walk to and from the station most days. It only takes about 5 minutes or so, but it's so tiring. We are walking to much. In Voghera, we just walk around for days. This week, I think we were in Voghera more than we were in Pavia. 

OK, miracle time. After church on Sunday, we went to a member's home in Voghera for lunch and to present them with a family mission plan. We started the lesson, and after talking about how the Lord is preparing people to accept the restored gospel, the mother stopped and thought for a minute. Then she asked her daughter about her friend's family that she always goes over to. Apparently, when she goes over they ask the daughter what the difference is between our church and the catholic church and other similar topics. After talking about this family for a few minutes, we got them to commit to setting up a time for us to come and see this family of 4 this week. It was incredible to see the spirit prompt the mother almost immediately. So we got 4 new referrals from just that appointment. After we left, Anziano Parker realized that he forgot his wallet at home which had his abbonamento and permesso in it, so we called up the other Anziani, who brought it too us. But while we were waiting, we stopped by a less active's house to see if she was there. She wasn't, but her non-member son was. He let us in and we got to talk to him for a little bit. We taught him a quick spiritual thought and then he had to leave to go pick up his girlfriend from work. We've been trying to get a hold of them for a while now, so it was a miracle that we ran into him, especially because he doesn't live with his mom. He just happened to be there for about an hour or so. Then we went to go do another pass by and while we were walking this man said "ciao anziani". Startled, we started talking to him and we found out that he works in Pavia and has talked to the missionaries before. He told us where he lives, so we are going to try and pass by him later this week. Then almost immediately after that, an older lady walked up to us and asked us who we were. We gladly told her and then started talking to her about our message. We taught her a lesson and then when we tried to get her phone number or set up a time to come by, she wouldn't let us, but still, it was a miracle. So from the small act of Anz Parker forgetting his wallet, which seemed like an inconvenience at first, we had 3 miracles that wouldn't have happened if he hadn't forgotten his stuff. We were talking about how the Lord really does work in mysterious ways, and it's so true. We always need to look for the hidden opportunities inside everything we do.

Another miracle that happened this week came on Friday. We set up an appointment to see a new convert's brother at 10, so we left Pavia pretty early and skipped our studies to get there. Of course, there was a sciopero that day, so after running from the bus stop to the station because our bus came late, we found out that our train was delayed because of the sciopero, so we ran for nothing. Gosh, we flew down that street. It was quite the sight to see. haha. Then we taught Joan, and we set a baptismal date with him! When we said the 26th of April, he sat there for a moment and then said "alright...26th? I'll do it". It was so awesome!! He's super bravo and I'm so pumped to work with him more. Then we walked to the station and found out that all of the trains that went to Pavia were cancelled, so we were stuck in Voghera. We found out that there was a bus in a few hours, so we went and tried some pass-by's. No one was home though. Then we went to catch the bus and turns out that the machine was wrong. The bus didn't come at 1:05, but 1:35. So we had to sit there for another 30 minutes. Luckily, we met this really cool couple and we started talking to them. When the bus came, we got on, but the girl sat a few rows behind us, so we couldn't keep talking to her. After taking that bus to the middle of nowhere and then getting onto a smaller bus, because a bridge was too narrow for the big bus, we finally got to Pavia, and as we walked away from the bus depot, we kept talking to her and we gave her an opuscolo. We also gave the guy a bigliettino when we said bye to him in Voghera. I don't know if anything will come of it, but we gave them a good impression of the church and I really hope they call us. They were super awesome. Then after that, of course, the 3 had just left, so we walked right to our next appointment, and then we got to go home for about 30 minutes to finally eat something. But then we went back to the station (that's right, on foot again) and hopped on a train to go visit some members. After having a great lesson and dinner with them, we rushed back to the station (the member may or may not have broken some speeding limits to get us there in time), but we jump out of the car and run to the platform and we don't see the train. We thought that we had missed it, but it turned out that it was 5 minutes delayed. Meno male. So we got back home safe, but only after walking home from the station AGAIN. haha. It was a super fun and hectic day. Oh the life of a missionary.

In other news, we had a super awesome zone conference yesterday in Milano. I got to see a bunch of my friends from the mission and I even got to meet my grandpa in the mission, Anziano Davis. He finishes his mission in 3 weeks, so I just barely got to see him. Crazy stuff. Then this week, we also found out that we had been going outside of our zone by accident to teach one of our investigators. We thought he was in our area because Mortara, the city he lives in, is in the providence of Pavia, but turns out that it's actually in a different stake. Whoops...of course we passed him to the other Anziani in that area (lucky them, he had a bapt date already). But yeah, that happens. Oh well. haha.

In other awesome news, I just got an email from Anz Andersen in Prato, and he told me that Tullio is getting baptised on Saturday. I'm so pumped!!!!! I'm sad that I can't be there to see him get baptized, but I'm so excited that he is finally doing it. I knew he would. He's been ready since I got there, but now they finally got everything worked out. That's so awesome.

Ok, now onto the worldly things. haha. Thanks for the bracket and your thoughts on it Dad. I'm literally doing this blindly right now. And Anz Parker thanks you because he LOVES basketball. 

Thanks for the updates on everyone. I was really wondering how everyone was. I heard about Linda and Peter from them last week. I still can't believe that Erin's pregnant. That's awesome. Another August birthday to remember. haha. I'm sorry that Jason lost his job, but I'm glad he found a better one so quickly. Also, tell him that Anz Valencia's sister lives in Salt Lake City. She sounds awesome and she sounds like she has a lot of similar interests as Jason. She works at the Al Rounds gallery studio thing right near City Creek. Apparently its right by the food court and it faces temple square. He should go there and ask for Nicole Valencia, and then take her on a date. haha. Tell Lizzy to keep up the hard work. I knew she would be a boss band president. AP's are coming up. That's crazy to think. I've been here for so long. It's crazy. As for Jack and his spotted head. That's too funny. Can you please send me a picture? I miss the little guy. Sounds like Dad is going to be super busy like always in the next few months. That's good. Work is something that is very hard to come by here in Italy, so I'm so grateful that Dad is doing such a great job and what he does. Everyone here thinks that we are rich when I tell them that Dad is a lawyer. haha. The Lord will always provide. That is a promise that we have as long as we are faithful.

Thank you all again for the emails and your love. It's been a great week and I hope it was great for you all too. I hope next week is even better and even busier for me! haha. I need some rest, but I'm doing the Lord's work and there is time for me to rest when I'm dead. Isn't that right Dad? haha

Shout out to all of my friends at college, all over the country. I love you guys and I'm thinking about you all. Keep up the good work. Gosh, I'm going to be so far behind you guys when I get home. haha

And a special shout out to Mr. G. You're a stud and I miss hanging out in your office and just talking about everything from Arrested Development to the Flint Michigan Mega Bowl!!!! 

I love you all and I will hear from you all next week!

Statemi bene!

Anziano Langlois

PS. the last picture is how we communicate with the sorelle on the train. Via the reflection on the roof. haha

 

Anziano Parker

Anziano Davis

 

Busy, Busy, Busy, Busy March 12, 2014

Ciao tutti!!!

Man oh man. It has been a super busy week. I've never been this busy in my entire mission so far. We are always running to lessons or teaching lessons or on a train to go teach another lesson. It's crazy.

So first of all, the weather is GRREAT here! I don't have to wear a jacket anymore! WHOHOO!!!!! In fact, I'm currently in a short sleeve white shirt, "aaaaannnd loving it". There is a down side to the warmer weather, we now have an ant invasion in our room. We discovered it one night when Anz. Parker squished a few ants, and then about 10 minutes later there were about 50 or so. So my companion, being the smart kid he is, put a piece of candy on a piece of paper and left it on the floor. When the ants swarmed, he tried to throw it out the window, but he wasn't fast enough and they all escaped, so he did it again. One night, we literally laid on the floor and looked at the ants for about 15 minutes. Oh the things that seem fun on a mission. haha.

 

Any who, talking about work now. Like you Dad, I'm super busy with work, albeit a different type of work, but work none the less. haha. I don't know what we are doing, but we are clearly doing something right. We keep getting referrals and teaching lessons like crazy. Although we only taught 8 lessons or so this week, 6 of them were in the presence of a member. Awesome!!! When I first got here, we didn't really try and bring members to lessons, so I asked one weekly planning why we weren't trying to get members to our lessons. So we decided to really focus on getting our members to lessons. After getting the first member to a lesson, everything just kinda fell into place. The members started making friends with our investigators and then at the end of the lessons, one of our members was asking when we could come back over and teach them. It was incredible. The power of having a member at each lesson is incredible. I never thought it would make such a difference, but it really does. The member's helped explain important parts of doctrine and bearing powerful testimony about the restored gospel. We are going to try and have members at every lesson we teach, because we have seen the difference that it makes. 

Like I kinda already mentioned, we are on trains a lot. That's because we are almost always in Voghera. We have a couple families we are teaching there and we just got another referral there. Also a bunch of our members live there, so when we go to visit them, we are out in that area. We are now spending about 4 or 5 days each week in Voghera. It's crazy. We are pretty much the Voghera Anziani. Yesterday, we went out to Mortara which is about 45 minutes away on a sketchy little one car train through all these fields and small small towns. Anziano Parker thought we were going to die. haha. But anyway, we went out there to meet one of our investigators and we taught him a really awesome lesson about the plan of salvation. It's a really sad situation, because when he was coming here to Italy from Africa, their ship capsized and his pregnant wife drowned, so now he is here all alone. He's a very humble man and he recognizes all of the blessings that he has in his life and keeps on trying to get closer to God. He was really touched by the gospel's message about eternal families. I love teaching people. I love this gospel and being able to share the joy that it brings with the people here in Italy. I just love it.

In funny news, I got stopped by the po-po last week. We were walking in Voghera to go to a lesson, when we saw a cop car drive past. Then we saw them parked on the side of the road up ahead, and I had a feeling that they wanted to talk to us. Sure enough, as we walked past they asked to see our documents. We gave them to them and then they went and sat in their car for about 10 minutes running them through their computer. Then they came back out and gave us our documents back and started talking to us about who we were, why we were here and the usual questions. Then we started talking about California because one of them had taken a trip there. Then the other one told us that Italian police do nothing except check things. I wasn't going to say it, but he's totally right. There are about 5 different types of police here and they all do nothing pretty much. Oh Italy....gotta love it. Any who, they then let us go, but not before I invited them to come to church and gave them a pass along card. Always doing missionary work, yeah! I'm pretty sure they just stopped us because they were bored and wanted someone to talk to. But oh well. I thought it was funny.

Well, its crazy to think that my birthday is coming up. Time is going by so fast, it's crazy!!! If its not too late, would it be possible for you to throw my jazz band CD in the package? I've been kinda craving some jazz recently. haha. If not, don't sweat it. And speaking of jazz CD's, when is the new one going to be done? It's been like almost 2 years. I could serve a mission in that time! haha...bad joke.

Love the sports updates, like always. Love hearing about life back home. Sad to hear that Cecil got released as BYU President. Now what am I going to do when we make a free throw at the games???? Well, I can't really think of anything else at the moment, so I hope everything is going well back at the home front. Basically, I love you guys a lot. Like a lot a lot. I miss you all like crazy and I can't believe how fast time is going. Again, you all mean a lot to me, and thank you so much for your support and prayers. I love you all and I wish you the best.

Vi voglio tanto bene,

Anziano Langlois

 

By The Great Horn Spoon March 5, 2014

Ciao tutti!!

Ok, so basically, I only think Lizzy, Erin, and Linda will get that title, but don't worry, I'll explain. So that is a book we read in 4th grade about the CA gold rush, and so I'm basically saying that we hit the gold mine. Because we did.

WHAT A WEEK!!!!!!! The mission has really been pushing for trying to get referrals from everyone. members, investigators, less actives, random people on the street, everyone!! So we've been trying to do this for a longggggg time and not really to any success. The success that I saw, turned out to be me referring the people to other missionaries, which is fine, but gets kinda annoying. But anyway, so my first couple days here, we got a phone call from the Alessandria Sorelle, saying that they might have a few referrals for us. We met them last Thursday in Voghera (a city in our area) like they told us too and boy were we in for a surprise. We ended up meeting this family of 4. Their daughter is getting baptized this Saturday by the Alessandria Sorelle, but then she will be in our Ward. So we got about 3 referrals there. Then we went to a different family who is still related to that family, and they have about 6 members in their family. 6 more referrals, and then the daughter had a friend over, new investigator. Then there was a less active member of that family who is married and has a kid with a fidanzata (fiancee sorta), so there are 3 more referrals. We couldn't believe our eyes! They were coming out of literally no where! They are all super bravi and are all related to this one member from Alessandria, hence why the Alessandria Sorelle got them first. They fed us some really good Santo Domingian food and we are going back tomorrow to see them again. We got 3 new investigators in about an hour. It was awesome! But then it gets better. Yesterday we got a referral from the Pavia Sorelle, and so we met him at the train station and taught him. Not only did he become a new investigator, but we also set a baptism date with him! And during the lesson, we got a text from the office saying that we had another referral. We have referrals "coming out of the wahzoo"  as Anziano Parker said. It's ridiculous. In the past week alone, we have gotten 6 new investigators and like 15 referrals. It's nuts!!! The Lord really does bless his faithful servants. It may seem like we are always giving and never receiving, but just like I read in Acts the other day, "it is better to give than to receive". And as a result, we received a TON of blessings. Holy cow. I still can't believe it. What a crazy week. But we are not stopping there. We are still asking everyone for referrals and we know that these people we just met have friends and they have friends and they have friends, so we will just keep working hard and asking for referrals.

Everything else kinda seems really lame compared to that. haha But this week, it rained a lot. And unlike Toscana, when it rains here, it's super cold. Like freezing cold. So that kinda stinks. And because most people are old here or in college, when it rains, literally no one is outside. But oh well, we try our best anyway. Speaking of rain, we went to Milano last week and it was raining, but I finally got to see this famous Duomo that everyone is talking about. yeah, its kinda huge and looks really cool. I still like Firenze's better, but oh well. Can't really complain. haha. We also ate these really good pizza things, that were basically Italian homemade hot pockets, they were super good. So we continue to eat well. haha. And speaking of food. Like you asked dad, we do not get fed as much as American missionaries. We are trying to start a meal calendar like they do back home, but we'll see what happens. The thing is, we are only allowed to eat with members for lunch, unless there is a less active or non member present. We also don't have an hour set aside for dinner every night like the missionaries in America. Magari...but when the members see us, they always try and feed us, and us being polite missionaries, will never turn down food. Unless we have to run back to the station to catch a train like we did last Wednesday. They still gave us candy though. haha. I love the members here. Speaking of members, our Vescovo is a boss. He played professional calcetto for Ravenna before he got baptized. I talk about soccer a lot with him and we are going to play sometime together. So excited. We have so many people that want to play calcio with us. For example, those two families we met as referrals, both have sons our age that are setting up games for us to come and play with them and their friends. More referrals. Whoo sports contacting! So I'm basically really pumped to be here right now. I love this city a lot and I can't believe that I've only been here for 2 weeks, its seems like a lot more. Weird how time works on the mission. 

Thanks again for the sports info Dad. I loved seeing those soccer scores from my team. Those are great numbers. haha. I hope we don't one and done in the tourney, but we'll see. Keep me updated.

I love you all so much and thank you so much for your emails like always.

Until next week y'all!!

Anziano Langlois

I'm Actually in Italy! February 26, 2014

Ticino River, Pavia Italy

Ciao tutti!

OK, so basically this first week here in Pavia has been CRAZY!!!! So first of all, let me explain the title and a little about Pavia. So like you already know, there is a university here. Apparently its one of the best in Italy. In fact, I'm sitting inside it right now. It's pretty nice. But I'm mostly happy to be out of the rain. There are a ton of students here, so its really weird to see all these kids my age. Besides that, there are just a ton of old people. This town is really small. My smallest yet, but when I walk around and look around at it, it actually looks like what most people think Italy looks like! My past two cities we're kinda modernized, but Pavia is pretty old school. The cobblestone roads kinda suck, they hurt my feet, but its cool to look at. The Ticino is HUGE!!!! Its a really cool river and we just walk up and down it for days talking to people. We also have a really sweet old bridge right outside our apartment. Its awesome. Super gorgeous at sunset. I haven't been out to certosa yet, but I'm planning on it. The other anziani said its pretty cool. Although its raining today, the weather has been great here! Sun all day and cool temperatures. I'm pretty happy right now and I'm excited to get to know the city better. Speaking of those towers, we randomly ran into a couple of them the other day. There are only 3 left sadly, but they were super cool. It reminded me of San Gimignano (where I went with Sean).

OK, so lets talk about my comps here. Anziano Parker is from Salt Lake City and he's really cool. He's a youngin' but his birthday is the 9th, so he'll finally be 19. haha. Turns out that he is the cousin of Anz Davis (from Pistoia), so I had heard about him before without even knowing it! Then the other two anziani are Anz Gainer (who I knew back in Genova) and Anz Valencia, who is AWESOME!!!! He's in his 4th transfer and he's from Dayton, Ohio. He is almost exactly like my friend Dane from BYU. Literally in almost every way. They are both huge, they talk the same and they are both super funny. We have a blast here together. They are so much fun already.

OK, onto the work here in Pavia. So I'm kind of doing damage control here for our copia. The last companion of Anz Parker wasn't the best and didn't really do a whole lot of anything, so I'm basically reopening this copia. We have basically no investigators and our new converts are less active because they never visited them. So basically my goal is to regain the trust of all of the members here and let them know that we are here to actually work. We've been working day in and day out. Doing finding work like crazy. Talking to everyone. Passing out bigliettini like crazy. Trying to see members, our new converts and investigators. I'm really excited to work with all of these people here. They are super bravi. Now a couple of stories of the miracles that we are already seeing here in Pavia.

This week, we've been doing a lot of finding work, because our teaching pool isn't that big right now. One day this week, we were out on the fiume talking to people when I saw this man staring into the distance. I felt that I should talk to him, but then I brushed off the feeling. We walked right past him and while we were walking away, I felt that prompting again, so I turned right around and started talking to him. He is from Israel. We taught him on the street for about 10 minutes and he seemed really interested. We ending up walking with him to a bus stop and just talked to him the whole time about who we are and why we are here. He had a ton of questions about the gospel, so we answered them the best that we could. He then called us the next day and told us to meet him at this gelateria. It was closed, but we ended up walking and talking again for another 30 minutes or so. Again, he had a lot of questions about the gospel and what we believe. He was really interested and we are going to meet him again today or tomorrow. It's funny how subtle the promptings of the spirit are. If we aren't paying attention, then we can easily miss them. I'm so glad that I listened to that prompting.

Then last Friday, we went to visit one of our new converts and his non member wife. Anziano Parker told me that the wife is about to have her baby (like any second now) and she doesn't really want to do anything or listen really until after the baby is born. Of course, that didn't discourage me, but prompted me to really try and get her involved. The husband doesn't have work and is usually in neighboring cities all week looking for jobs, so its a difficult family situation there. We read Mosiah 24 with them and really talked about how the Lord hears our prayers and will always come to our aid. During the middle of the lesson, we noticed that the wife stopped looking at the TV and was engaged in what we were saying. We asked her some questions and she responded with a smile. She was hooked. After the lesson, I went to shake her hand goodbye and she told me that she "liked my preaching" and told us to come back anytime. She then told her husband to go get us some juice boxes. He brought out some juice boxes for us and I was deeply touched. I know how poor this family is and the fact that they gave us out of the very little that they have, touched my heart. I'm so grateful for the Lord's love and the opportunity that I have as a missionary to share this love with his children who are maybe a bit lost. That really was one of the best moments of my mission. I'm so excited to go back there and teach them again. To love them and help them. And after she has the baby, to connect their family together in gospel, so that they can enjoy the blessings that eternal families bring.

OK, funny story time. So this Sunday was my first Sunday and I got worked. We were greeting the members and all of a sudden this American family from Switzerland shows up. Their daughter had just finished her mission in Rome and they were going around northern Italy. I had the lucky opportunity to translate for the two boys (12 and 18). In priesthood, we talked about the millennium because a boy the week before had a question about it. Don't worry, we were only using President Joseph Fielding Smith's "Doctrines of Salvation" books. That was pretty hard to translate, but I did it. Then in Sunday school all of the teenagers were talking at the same time and answering questions at the same time, so I had to translate jumbled up ragazzi talk. That was pretty hard, just because it was so fast. Then I helped pass the sacrament, which wasn't hard. And then I bore my testimony because I was new. So basically, that was the busiest Sunday of my life. Super fun, but crazy. The 18 year old is about to put his papers in. He wants to be my son in the mission, which is technically possible if he gets called here. We'll see what happens. haha.

Next, a random note. We thought our District was just our ward, so 4 anziani and 2 sorelle, but then our DL (District Leader) got a call Monday morning before district meeting telling him that we also have the Lodi sorelle and the Lodi Anziani, who just happen to be the AP's (assistants to the mission president). No pressure right? haha. Turns out, Sorella Smart from my MTC district is training in Lodi, so I get to see her every week! It was the first time that we've seen each other for 7 months. Crazy. 

To answer you question dad, yes, I am senior comp. This is my 3rd transfer in a row as senior comp. Crazy.

Next, thanks for the sports report like always. Love hearing about BYU basketball winning. Please try and send me the bracket. My comp is huge on basketball, so he'll love it. Thank you for updating me on my 4 friends. The only one I'm not sure about is Seth, because I'm pretty sure he went out on his mission before me. I think it might be a cold place in northern Europe too. But I do think he's from the Utah area. I don't know. Thanks anyway.

Please let me know about people's calls when they happen. That's so cool to hear about. Thank you so much for that story about your missionaries there. I know the power of prayer is real and when we put real people into our prayers, we will get real answers and real blessings. Thank you so much for your prayers. I'm going to try and send some pictures, but we'll see what happens. 

Just a heads up, I had to use 50 euro from my personal card last week for transfers. I guess my reimbursements didnt' get in in time. That's what going to Genova twice in two weeks does to your wallet. haha. I will pay myself back when I get the chance, but I just wanted to give you a heads up.

As for my address, since I'm so close to Milano it's actually going to be faster to send it to the mission home, because the assistants will bring mail to district meeting, and if not, we have a member who goes and picks up our mail for us. It's kinda sweet. haha. Besides, I don't know our address. haha. And I don't know how long I'll be here. For some reason, when I found out that I was coming here, I had this feeling that I won't be here that long. We'll see. Who knows. Only the Lord, that's who!

Well, thank you all again for your love and your support and your emails. I love you all so much and I love hearing from you. I hope you have a great week and I can't wait to hear from you all next week!

Statemi bene!

Anziano Langlois