Well another busy and super fun week
has flown by. I can't believe how fast the time is going. So let me just
start out with the worldly stuff. Yes Dad, Anz Parker wants to know
about the NBA playoffs. haha. Why do we always end up playing the Sharks
in the playoffs? I don't get it. At least we made it again. Hopefully
we won't bomb out with the Kings or the Clippers, but we'll see. Also,
BYU volleyball is killing it!!! That's so awesome. Anz Valencia and I
always talk about BYU volleyball. Also, on that all star team thing, I
know Jake Staahl. He hung out with Emile and I back in middle school.
He's super good and he went to Westlake!! Whoo!!!! I'm not surprised the
Dodgers are already starting to crash and burn. It just always happens.
As for people caring about hockey.....that would be a big fat no. We
talk about it sometimes in English class, but no one really understands
any of it or like watching it. There are hockey teams here though, they
are just super unknown. But everyone here is excited for the world cup
or mondiale and not excited, because they all think that Italy is going
to bomb out in the group stage (very possible). Surprisingly, a lot of
people here think that America is going to do really well this year.
I've even had some people tell me that they think we might win it this
year or the next one. We can dream right? haha.
Next, thank you for the pictures of Ellie and Jack. I
miss the white wonder and Ellie is adorable. I don't know if you guys
think so, but she totally looks like Linda to me. I can totally see it
in her. I can't wait to actually see her in a little more than a year.
Holy cow....that's nuts. This time next year I will be getting ready to
come home. WHAT?!?!?!?!?! Where has the time gone. The harder we work
the faster it goes!! There's no way to make it slow down, it just gets
faster and faster. Lame.
Dad, don't worry, we don't miss a lot of buses
anymore, because we just decided that its easier and faster sometimes
just to walk, so we just skip the buses. However, this past week every
time we went to Voghera, we had to literally sprint back to the train
station to make it in time. Crazy stuff. I hate running. Any who, I will
be on the lookout for contact solution because we are in Milano today.
There was a certain other brand that Dr. Reider told me about, but I
don't remember what it's called. Whoops....
But speaking about Skype, me doing it at 6 my time
is going to be perfect because Anz Parker needs to do his at 5 our time.
I don't know where we are going to do it yet, but that's our problem to
figure out. Let's just plan on that time and I will let you know next
week for some reason if it needs to change.
OK, lots to talk about today, but before I forget,
last week I talked about this super awesome family that we received as a referral that want to move to Pocatello Idaho (again...don't ask me
why). Well, they told us yesterday that they got word from a lawyer in
New York that they've been cleared to come over, so now they are trying
to sell their bar they just bought here and trying to figure everything
out to come over in like June. Crazy fast, right? Any who, they wanted to
know if you, Dad, knew of any good immigration lawyers close to the
Idaho area (anything closer than New York). It would be ideal if they
happened to know about Italian law, but they are just trying to find a
good lawyer closer to Idaho than New York so they don't have to fly back
and forth to the east coast. So if you could let me know that would be
great.
Alright, so like I said, this week has been crazy
busy. Full of fun and excitement and lots of success. Just to start off,
we taught 15 lessons this week and got 7 new investigators!!!!!
WHOOOOO!!!!!!!! That was some HUGE success for us. Unfortunately 5 of
those investigators will be moving to Idaho relatively soon, but we'll
see what we can do.
So first, one day this week, we were walking around
doing some strada when we decided to walk down this one street that we
had never been down before. I knew there was a little park or something
down there, but we had never gone, so we decided to go. After walking
all the way down the street, we found the "park" which was actually just
a place where you can launch boats into the fiume, and since there was
no one there, we walked back. When we got back to the main street, we
were standing there deciding where we wanted to go, when all of a
sudden, we see this man walking on the other side of the street. We both
recognized him as a man that we stopped the week before at that same
spot, but he immediately got on the bus, so we couldn't talk to him. So I
ran across the street and started talking to him. He had some time, so
we sat down on a bench near by and taught him the Restoration. We then
invited him to come to serata familiare that night, and he came! He had a
blast, and then we saw him the next day and taught him again. Then we
invited him to baptism of the Sorelle's investigator, because he wanted to
see one first, and it just so happened that we had a baptism the next
day. So he came to that too!! After the baptism, we sat down and talked
to him about what he thought and what not. He loved it and when we
extended the baptismal invite, he accepted! We saw him again yesterday,
and he told us that he's glad we met him and that we are helping him
follow Jesus Christ more fully in his life. He's so awesome and a real
miracle from the Lord. He sent us down that street to be there to run
into Nelson, so that we could bring him the gospel. He also told us that
his aunt started reading one of the pamphlets we left him and so we're
trying to meet her and teach her too. The Lord really does prepare
people together.
Other fun things that happened at the baptism is
that I made brownies for Sorella Palumbo's birthday and I'm going to be
honest...it weighed like 10 pounds and was super uncooked in the middle,
but everyone LOVED them for some reason. I thought they were gross, but
everyone else liked them, so go figure. Then walking home from the
baptism (because we had to stay late to drain the font), we walked past
this bar and these super drunk people who were dressed up like pirates
asked if they could take a picture with us. We started all having a
gospel based discussion with them, so it was super funny, but they were
hammered. One of them, asked me why we had never come to his bakery, so I
told him that we would come by this week. I'm curious to see if he
actually remembers us. haha. Gotta love this place. They were all super
nice though, but super drunk and super funny.
Next, I got to exercise my Priesthood 2 times this
week. It was super cool. So the first time we went by a less active who
is really looking for work and having a hard time and is super stressed.
During the lesson, I got the impression to ask him if he wanted a
blessing. He said yes and so we gave him a blessing. The spirit was
really strong and I really think it helped him a lot. Then the next day,
we went out to Voghera to try and pass by some investigators and
members. We went by the first house. Husband wasn't home. The next
house, doesn't live there anymore. The third house, we ran into the
daughter who told us that no one was home. So we struck out. Lame. But
then we decided to pass by this other house, the Carbone's. The husband
is kinda losing his way at this point in time for some reason, so the
family is a little on edge. But we stopped by and they always love
seeing us. They tried to make us some pasta again, but we were fasting.
Anyway, during the lesson, I got the impression that we should give the
daughter, who was sick a blessing. I wrote on my planner
"Nicole=Blessing?" and handed it to Anz. Parker and he wrote back "ho
pensato lo stesso" or "I thought the same thing". So we asked if Nicole
wanted a blessing, and they looked at us completely astonished. Then
they asked, "how did you know????". Apparently the night before, she
was crying because she wanted a blessing, but never got one. So we got
sent there to answer that prayer. The blessing was super spirit filled
and I could totally feel the words just popping right into my head. They
were so grateful after and kept on asking us, "how we knew". The spirit
works in mysterious ways, and I'm so glad that I headed both of those
promptings, so that I could use my priesthood to serve my fellow man.
OK, now for some less spiritual stories. So there is
construction upstairs in our palazzo, and every morning this week, when
we are doing our studies, it sounds like a bunch of hippos are throwing
a rave. It's so loud and obnoxious. Then I also starting to learn a
little bit of "twee" (may have spelled that wrong). Its a pigeon
language that they use in Ghana. It's super fun and our new converts
love it that I'm trying to learn their language a little bit. Right now I
can ask how you are, what's your name and respond to those. I can also
ask to eat fufu and bankoo. Fun stuff. It's a blast. But don't worry
dad, I'm still studying Italian.
OK, and here in the best story of them all. So this
week after church we were going over to a member's house for lunch.
While we were waiting for them to finish a meeting, Anz. Parker went
into the bathroom and when he tried to get out, he couldn't. The door
had broken and it was stuck shut. I started laughing, and then some
members came by and we started trying to get him out. we used plastic
cards to try and get it. we tried to pry it open with a screwdriver, but
after 20 minutes, we just decided to have Anz. Parker "go SWAT" on it
and kick the door in. He didn't want to be it was a church door, but
after our vescovo told him to stop being a pansy and just do it, he
kicked the door in. It was super funny and its probably going to be
remembered forever here in this ward. Too funny, seriously. haha
Well, anyway, that was just a little taste of our
week. A lot happened, I know. Crazy life here in the mission field, but I
love every minute of it. even when its raining and you miss the bus, or
when you have to sprint to catch the last train of the night. The
mission is crazy fun, and I'm really going to miss it. I'm super pumped
for this next year in the mission. Get ready for lots of miracles, great
stories, and amazing pictures of this beautiful country. Can't send you
pictures yet, because this internet point is super sketchy. But last
week, we pretty much went to the most beautiful place in the world,
Varenna. Its on Como lake and lets just say, we are definitely going
back there. haha.
I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week! I love this place!!!
Anziano Langlois
