Zone Conference went Great

Hey! Zone conference went great this week! It was really good to see everyone. It was really weird bearing my end of mission testimony. It didn't make me feel very good. Ha, After that we had to stay the night in Bari because the buses here don't work so great. Plus it is a four hour ride from Bari to Cosenza. Then we just jumped back into our work. We are really trying to work with the members and they seem to be responding to our request for some help finding people. They have started giving us some more referalls. Oh yeah. Gianna, a new convert, was over at her freinds house, who has a grandpa in a coma, Gianna went over to the grandpa and started praying and he came out of the coma! Miracle! That was a exciting. Last night the assistants had to come sleep over at our house. It was fun seeing them. They just got back from the zone conference in Catania and they were dead. Ha So the General Authority that is coming is Elder Kent F. Richards. We are really excited to meet him! President Monson came to Europe to do a tour for the church and Elder Texiera asked him what is your advice for the missionaries here in Europe and President Monson paused for a second and said one sentance. "Never Give Up". That was such a simple thing that he said but really touched us and gave us a boost that we needed! The Church is true! Yes, we will have to do an Italian night of cooking. I'm looking forward to it. Thank you so much for looking into all of that stuff for me! It seems pretty reasonable, just need to find work. Keep your eyes peeled please. Hope you all had a great week! Love you soo much!!! Ciao!

Learning to make Lasagna

Ciao! This week has been great! We have been staying busy with English course and a student offered to do a free self defense class for anyone who would like to learn. It has been a lot of fun. I feel like in the smaller cities you have to do more activites like this to find people. Finding here is fun but it is a bit rough. So we want to really work hard on activites such as english course and geneology and other service projects. Our investigators are great. The other day one of our investigators brought us a whole pan of lasagna with pizza and fresh cake! It was great! Then a member taught us to make home made lasagna. Also she taught us to make home made noodles! It was really cool. I will have to make it for you all when I get home! On Friday we have zone conference in Bari. So that should be fun. This transfer I have to bear my closing testimony because next transfer a general authority is coming to tour our mission so we can't do it then. It will be a weird experience. Sounds like you all are having fun in the cold. Thank you so much for the money to get clothes. I found some great sales and bought some nice stuff! :)  That is awesome Dad!!! I knew you would get it! Sounds like a big job! You will be great! TAKE lots of notes! Haha I will be praying for you to be successful in your new job!  You truly deserve it. I will also be sure to get you some skinny ties! ha I love skinny ties. Any color preferences? I'm blessed with a great family and sure miss you all. Hope that you all have an incredible week!

The Work is Picking Up

Ciao! This week has been a bit more eventful than the others. On Thursday, we did an exchange with the zone leaders. Anziano Visitin, an Italian went with me and Anziano Casillas another Italian went with my companion. In the morning Anziano Visintin and I found 8 people who were interested and got their numbers. Then on Sunday one of them actually ended up coming to church. It was really cool! Then I got your package!! Thank you so much!! It made my week! I was really excited! Thanks a ton! Then the next day I got the letters from Brian, Heather, Aspen and McKell! It was really nice to hear from them. Then yesterday we had our district meeting in Catanzaro and President Kelly came to it to interview a girl their for her mission. After that we did our interviews. He is great! Truly an inspired man and he always has great advice to give. So my week went great!! The work is picking up and we hope that it will continue this way. How is Anziano Miller!? haha What a guy. I can't wait to hang out with him after the mission. He was a really up beat fun missionary. Oh I didn't know Anziano McMullen was going to UVU. That's great! I'll have to get a hold of him. Yeah I wouldn't worry about the housing so much but if you can just check a few prices for the summer that would be great! Also keep an eye out for a job please. I hope that I can get a good job to pay for schooling and housing after the mission. I really don't know what classes to sign up for cause I can't really look, but if you could talk to a councilor and they can look at what I need maybe you could sign me up for the english class I need, I'm not sure which one but the counselor can look it up for you, and maybe a few other classes that I need to get my associates but then leave some time so in the day so I can work and study. You can also write me next week with some suggestions if you get around to it. Well Thanks for everything! I love you tons! Have a great day!

Our Ward Missionary is Awesome

Hey! This week has been a pretty average week. We did get a ward mission leader! Before I don't know why they didn't have one but now that we have one it will really help us to get this work moving along with the members. Our ward missionary is awesome. His name is Fratello Gardi. He used to be Branch President and he loves working with the missionaries. He owns a restaurant and asks us to pass by eveyday so that he can give us food. It is soo good! He always gives us bags of cornetti and pizza. We are over fed here. He is really good at making sure things happen that we plan. He calls all of our investigators, and less actives that we are working with to encourage them and always is free to come to our lessons. So we feel like we have a third companion in our companionship. The members are truly incredible. I can't wait for you to meet some of them. Sorella Spizzieri is going to come to Utah in April. So you will be able to meet her. The work is going a little slow but we really are working hard to change that around. We are trying to work hard with english course and geneology to introduce people to the gospel. Plus a lot of members have invited us over to teach their friends and family members, before we even finished our spiritual thought, they seem to be excited and so are we. Just hope that we can do our best to help them find this great truth. I feel so used to finding people on the streets that sometimes teaching feels a bit foreign. Teaching has become changed so much for me in the mission and seems to be mainly testifying. The doctrines and principles are so simple and easy and take such little time to explain that most of the time spent in the lesson is spent on testifying. Just telling them what you know to be true. As the mission goes on you slowly see this mess of puzzle pieces come together, into a more profond, deep understanding of every doctrine, and I'm sure that it will continue on like this for the rest of my life. As I strive to study and live the gospel. That is great that you have been going to the temple every week with Tayler! I would love to go with you when I get back. How did they just get my letter!? I did send that a long time ago! They are great! Yeah I'll be sure to put some money away for Mimi. Well I better run Love you tons and thanks for writing!!!

I Really like this City

Hey! My first week here in Cosenza was great! The members are incredible. They have been so kind and won't stop giving us food! The branch here is small but not as small as I expected. There are about 30 members. They are very kind and really made me feel at home. My companions name is Anziano Cremonesi. He is from Cavenago di Brianza close to Milan. He is really cool. He is tall. I think he is taller than me. So we are a pretty tall companionship. He is very layed back but also a hard worker. This is his second transfer so I feel like I'm training him. Cosenza is beautiful as well! The old part of the city is incredible! I really like this city. It's nice to be around mountains again. You always have a referall point when you're walking around. I hope you all had a great New Years! What did you do? Here we had to stay inside after 6 oclock because people here get pretty crazy. So we couldn't sleep very well with all the fireworks going off. They sounded like bombs. Then on the first we had to clean our house. It is perfect now. I will have to send pictures next week because I left my camera at home. I got to run! Love you tons! Hope you have a great week!