"I've Been Blessed with Some Really Awesome Companions"

From Tucker's November 1, 2011 E-mail:

Crazy week here in Modena! Well we had a very stressful week full of excitement and fun. So last week one of the missionaries asked the ward mission leader if we would be having a Halloween party. He told us he wasn't sure so one of the missionaries proposed we do it. Well our bishop approved(because it was on family night and a few of the families in the ward were opposed to it) and actually invited us to plan the party! Yay.....actually I was more like ugh....

Haha I feel as a missionary I already have a full plate especially with a baptism the following week(I will speak of that later). Anyway, we were running all over the place doing our regular missionary affairs and trying to plan this party. We had a budget of about 30 euro, yikes I know, and it didn't go very far haha. Well we spent much of stake conference in Verona trying to invite all the members to the party. Monday we had to teach some lessons then rush to the church to set up for the party.

We finally got it all set up with some games and a small little spook alley. We had bobbing for apples, musical chairs( fun right?), and a couple other things. Well 6 pm rolls around haha and hardly anyone was there. Nobody started really showing up until around 7 ish but finally around 8pm there was quite a few people. Most of the people weren't members actually haha so that was kinda cool. Castro brought a bunch of his friends and some of the very few members that were there also brought non-members. We all had a lots of fun though. We were dead tired though by the end of the night.

Anyways......I'm leaving Modena! I put the exclamation point not for excitement and not for being angry or upset, just because it needs emphasis haha. I got the call yesterday from Il Presidente saying that I will be leaving to Pisa. Pretty cool huh?. I was pretty surprised with that, but I'm actually pretty excited to go the Pisa. I will get to be in the Firenze(Florence) Zone. I will be senior companion to an Anziano Scheurn; I think he's about two transfers below me. 8th companion in 9 transfers?? I was also informed that he's been in Pisa for awhile so he will likely leave after next transfer. haha So yeah, maybe by the end of my mission I will have served with everyone. It should be super fun though because Pisa is a branch and actually Anziano Marino's family lives there. I will be able to go to Firenze, Siena(even though Ir's far) and the Cinqueterre, which is probably the most beautiful place in Italy....so I've heard. Oh yeah I forgot, Anziano Barnes is gonna be my new Zone Leader haha. Also many of my past companions have been called in some of the recent transfers as Zone Leaders, Anziani Dean, Barnes, Bolnick, and Marino. Not that having a leadership position really means you're better or anything, but I've been blessed with some really awesome companions. I'm pretty bummed to be leaving Anziano Hardy after just one transfer. Next to Anziano Glowa(who will be doing his 5th transfer in Mantova haha) Anziano Hardy has been one of my favorites. He's a stud.

I feel like I just got to Modena though, holy smokes! I can't be leaving already. Well, everything is all set for Antonio's baptism this Saturday! He's a really cool guy, a bit weird haha, but he has a strong desire to change and follow our Savior. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see it but it'll go fine. The work is going pretty good right now. I have felt super stressed with the party thing and the fact that we had to plan it all. I really disliked doing it because our responsibilities as missionaries are a lot more important. It was fun though and over.

Oh yeah, so everyone in my apartment, Anziani Hardy, Frustaci, and Owens are all staying put. My companion is going to become senior companion to someone else and Frustaci will take my spot as DL. haha This transfer was a whole lot of fun, but I'm glad to get out of being in 4 and going back to he normal ways of being just two missionaries in an apartment.

Well right now the work is going good. Tammaro is still struggling a bit now with the Word of Wisdom. He smokes a decent amount, drinks just a little but also drinks coffee. haha Coffee always seems to catch people really off guard. He has a lot of stressful things going on in his life and smoking is his "thing" that helps him relax. We are trying to replace that with prayer and scripture study, the perfect replacement. It brings even more peace and we get to obey at the same time, double the points!

CARDINALS!!!!!haha so dope! Of ourse I missed it. Lame....oh well..That's good that the Utes finally beat someone! Hopefully they can win out and salvage the season. It doesn't look like they have a tough schedule at all the rest of the way.

Anyways, holy smokes everyone you all so awesome! Keep hanging in there. I know it's hard not having your favorite person in the world around(ME). The coach is calling me up from the bench to pinch hit(been called to the mission field). I'm coming up with bases loaded(the fields are all ready to harvest) and I've got bring-em in so we can beat the Chicago Cubs(adversary) in the bottom of the 9th(Latter Days). It all depends on me( missionaries) to hit them in to win the ball game(bring some souls unto Christ). If I don't get a hit right here then those helpless souls on 1st, 2nd and 3rd base are gonna be left there all alone. It's time to get down to business and focus on the task at hand. Satan is going down(Carlos Zambrano will not strike me out).

Yeah that will be either a super cool analogy or just super dumb.....oh well.

Love you all and thanks for all your prayers. We all need to be anxiously engaged in a good cause in everything we do.

Ciao