Yikes....what a week it has been. Well we went to Milano last week and I picked up my new mission buddy, Anziano Smith. Man, we have been having a fun time this last week. It's been tough, yet fun at the same time. He is from McLean, Virginia and is two groups below me. He's super funny yet super humble and kind at the same time. I'm fortunate enough to have a companion that will laugh at my lame jokes and let me prender him in giro (tease him). I should ease up before I annoy him because I tend to do that with people.
We had a long planning session on Friday as we planned our weekly goals as well as our transfer vision. We planned all the companionship exchanges that we would be doing over the next week. Our zone definitely was a bit deflated this last week and I think the heavy snow was a bit to blame, but I don't think we fulfilled our calls effectively enough to keep the fire burning. To solve this problem we revived the 20 lessons goals, something simple but powerful at the same time.
Today we just finished our second scambio in two days. Monday morning we went down to Modena and did an exchange with the district leader and his companion. We actually both knew the city better than both those missionaries. I did three transfers there and actually took Anziano Smith's spot after he did three transfers. It was fun going around the city inviting everyone. I actually had my closest encounter with death ever that night...agh.
We were doing casa in casa and had just about finished a palazzo when we about pooped our pants. We were in the scala walking down when we saw this 25 to 30 years old guy walking up toward us. He started screaming at us and as he was about 5 feet away we see in his right hand a long kitchen knife. We were basically backed into a corner with him waving the knife around then he started pointing it in my face and yelling. At this point the knife is inches from my face. Then he started banging it against the door and then toward my companion for the day, Anziano Strong(Anziano Glowa's old trainee). I just kept saying "Mi dispiace, mi dispiace....Usciamo adesso. usciamo adesso" (I'm sorry, I'm sorry, we're leaving now). Holy smokes we were scared. We said a prayer in the elevator the rest of the way down then let out a huge sigh of relief after exiting the building.
That was interesting. We immediately hopped the bus into centro and actually found a cool African on the bus that was pretty interested. It helped calm us down a little being able to explain the Book of Mormon.
Yesterday we went to Reggio Emilia and spoke with the district there. I then did a scambio with the district leader and strolled around the city. It was a really fun scambio, at least I thought so. He's struggling with his companion so we talked a lot of the time about what he could do to have more unity in their companionship. It all comes back to love. We just need to love those with whom we serve! Sometimes it isn't easy, but totally possible. Next week we will visit Bergamo again.
Guess what? I get to go to Torino tomorrow! My companion has to go back to renew his permesso di soggiorno (Visa).
So you asked a little about the missionaries in my apartment. Well it's me, Smith, Webb and Money....yeah his name is Anziano Money!....he is a greenie and guess what his first name is? Golden! His name is Golden Money; how awesome is that! Anyway, he is a really cool missionary though and way more prepared than I was when I arrived. I think I already told you but Anz. Webb went to Olympus with me. His sister is married to Scott Neff. It's been really fun being in 4 again. The apartment is in decent condition and the food we make is ok. It's tough to make other stuff because we don't always have tons of time.
Dad so you told me to say hello to Sorella Maldarizzi (formerly Sorella Gallizia from Brad's mission). I have not met her but guess what? I think her son is our ward mission leader, Alberto Maldarizzi. He has been in the ward for like 6 months and is from the Brescia ward. I will have to tell him.
Alessandro is hanging in there but we are having to overcome lots of his concerns with church. Apparently the Bible says woman can't speak/teach in church. Well our teacher in Gospel Principles is a woman. Fortunately, he now has his Book of Mormon and has promised to read and pray about it. We are learning how to jump all these questions he presents, and just lead everything back to the Book of Mormon. He is super cool and just searching for the truth. We need to just love and have patience with him.
Hopefully after all these scambios we can focus on the Zone and our own personal work in Verona. We are super excited though and we feel our zone is gonna explode!!!!
Love you all!...
Tuck
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