Wednesday, August 10 2011

Dear Mom,

First I have to tell you something. This email might be a little shorter than the other because I'm feeling really really sick today. I think it was something I ate last night. Anyway no need to be worried its probably only a day thing. I think I ate some bad mozzarella. 

Sounds like you had a great B day! I'm so happy to hear that. I still have not received your package! Not your fault, I'm sure the package got to here in 10 days...Its just having trouble making it from the post office to my door. Seriously the mail system here in Muggiò really sucks. It took 2 1\2 weeks for a measly letter to get from here to Milano! Muggiò is super tiny! I don't get it. Anyway I did get the little note Kort sent me. Tell her thank you. I was so very happy to get that. Actually I also learned alto about the Mad Hatter. That was just a plus. 

Monica starts school next week huh? That's just crazy to think about. If she passes this semester...she'll be more ahead than me! That's even crazier to think about. I can't believe how old everyone is getting! I can't believe you're 50. You're getting to be in Grandma territory. Pretty soon....probably within the next 5 years. Unfortunately looks like I'm your only shot for grand kids. I'll try my best to keep the seed alive!

I'm tired.

Well I'll be doing another 6 weeks here in Muggiò, I'm pretty content. I like my comp and he likes me so we're good. 

That's about the only thing going on here in Italy though because right now its vacation season and there is NOBODY. Seriously everyone in at the beach for the whole month of August. I'm not exaggerating at all either. The entire bishopric is out of town on holiday so the high priest group leader will be presiding over our sacrament meeting this Sunday. Pretty funny right? Not funny. I'm a little bummed. You'd be surprised how hard it is to try and get things done with all your leaders are on holiday. Not their fault I'm aware, but still pretty hard. Its ago Vescovo Gessati needs to get it all in now because pretty soon....He'll be a general authority.

The work is going alright. Like I said everybody is gone so nobody is home when we do proselyting work. Its cool though we're just finding the super elect. Those that don't have enough money to go on vacation are the humble one ready for the gospel. 

I love napolitani.

Well my dearest mother unfortunately I'm feeling super sick so I think I will go home right now make myself some chicken broth and then take a nice nap and dream of Minky. I miss Minky. Haha oh I have to tell you this story really fast.

So I went on exchanges with Anziano Parker (It was cool it was just like old times...except now he speaks Italian!) and we were teaching this old lady who had the cutest little dog. I literally just kept it on my lap and was playing with her while we were teaching the lady. It reminded me of Elder Miller when Elder Bowman would talk. Haha he was just always playing with Mia. Anyway the funny part was that the lady absolutely loved the fact that I couldn't get enough of her dog and she just kept saying how cute it was that I was such an animal lover. Haha I was thinking no I just miss Mia.

Anyway yeah...I miss Mia. And I miss you! I pray for you as well so don't forget it!

Much love,
Joe

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Dear Madre,

 

Lunedì sera alla discoteca... Martedì sera alla discoteca... Mercoledì sera alla discoteca...

 

 

Yep that pretty much describes my week...Haha no just kidding. Anziano Armenise has been teaching me some weird italian songs just like that one.

 

This week was GREAT. Let me tell you why.

 

Thursday we went up to visit the anziani in La Spezia and La Spezia is always beautiful. I had some fun up there. Then this weekend we just saw some sweet miracles.

 

I'm going to need you all to start praying for Emilio. He's from Peru. He came to church on Sunday, loved it, and now has a baptismal date for the 16th of July...We have to start praying that he makes it! He speaks very little italian so normally we teach him through the pamphlets...He's loving everything though.

 

On Monday I went to Livorno and I have to tell you something...I love Livorno. Its right on the beach so there was this amazing sea breeze...Oh it was so delightful. Also we were doing an exchange so...naturally...we bought pizza at the end...That's always the best.

 

The work here in Florence, well in Tuscany in general, is really picking up. In Siena they had the first baptism of a family of 4! 4! The number of people that attend there are like 10. We've really been seeing some summer miracles that will not stop.

 

I can't believe everyone moved! I feel so disoriented...Like I have no identity...No that's a lie. That's super crazy though...This time is going by so fast.

 

We are learning Spanish from one of our investigators, Emilio.

 

I love you,

 

Joey

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Dearest Mommy,

Do not worry. You still sent a pretty long email, I was very content with it. That's super super sick you guys went to Vegas to see old man Paul. I would've been crying with you guys had I been there. I love that man and the songs he sings.

Why wasn't I there crying with you then you might ask??? I was in Italy riding around on my bike. WOOO!!!!! MISSIONARY WORK! Take that Satan.

Well Armenise and I are still saving the world, one door at a time. We've had some pretty fun experiences this week. Too many to explain...Let me explain one to you.

We accidently called an ex investigator of missionaries from the past while trying to call a new investigator of our own...both named Emilio. Turns out this kid Emilio met with the missionaries in Reggio Calabria for 10 years! 10 YEARS! Anyway he said lately he's been having some spiritual experiences that have kind of been indicating to him to start listening to us again...and then we call him! YAYAAAA!

I'm also still tired.

We had a really good zone conference on Monday. The President of the district of Rimini was there and gave one of the strongest testimonies I had ever heard. ALSO the 1st councelor of the mission presidency gave his conversion story and guess who was the first person to bring him the gospel???? Onofrio Armenise...the father of my companion. Anziano Armenise was definitely surprised. I guess his father never told him that. It was a pretty big deal for him. I love being a missionary here. There are so many cool amazing things that happen. I'm so happy to be apart of this marvoulous work. I'm loving every minute of it.

Alright I have to go now. I love you so very much dear mommy. I hope you feel better I'll be praying for you!

Much Love,

Joey

PS. SEND THE PACKAGE.

Wednesday May 25,2011

Dear Mommy,

 

Okay Anziano Armenise, super cool. He's just all about shenigans which is great because I am too. He taught me how to say, 'Say hi to your sister for me' in his dialect and I taught him how to sing the first verse of ,'I like big butts.' Its going to be a really fun transfer. Craziest thing too, his girlfriend lives in this mission! Like missionaries in this mission serve in her ward. Crazy right? He wrote that down on his mission papers hoping they wouldn't send here but, they didn't care. Its pretty funny.

 

He's a super good leader as well. He's not afraid to make decisions and if nothing is getting done he takes action super fast. Just super good.

 

He's the shining light because unfortunately we're starting from square one here in Florence. The last week with Anziano Bullock a series of unfortunate events unfolded and alot of our investigators kind of stopped running with us. Almost all except 2. That leaves us basically back at the beginning. I think with anybody else I would be a little discourged but Anziano Armenise seems so determined and confidant about the success we'll see I'm super excited. I'm positive we'll see miracles.

 

Not much else to report on. Last week after email we saw literally 20 members walking around centro. After that, we kind of pretended to not here when people shouted, 'ELDER! ELDER!' One guy did buy us gelato. That was super nice of him.

 

One little thought for the day. I was talking to Anziano Armenise this morning about like decisions we make and why we make them, I think I came to a conclusion. I think sometimes the best reason to do something is because its commanded of you. That's when the lord blesses you the most. Obbedience to me is starting to become that key to life that everybody talks about. My mission has been abudnately(Spell check on that word, I'd ask my comp but...He doesn't even know what that word means! haha sorry I just wanted one crack at him) blessed when I've been obediant. I know the same principle applies in life.

 

Anyway that's it. I love it here. I love being a missionary and having this experience. Its just too much good. I can't wait to hear from you next week!

 

Much love,

Joey

NEW PICTURES..Wednesday, May 11, 2011

MOM!

You have to remember to write me after Mother's day call! Haha you did this after Christmas too! I still get to email! Haha well quite actually I don't have much to tell you. I'm still doing well, exactly the same as Sunday. I'll be getting a new companion next week so that's pretty crazy. The cool thing is that for some reason our Mission President will be in our branch this Sunday, and he does transfers this Saturday...So I'll see if I can't get him to tell me who my new companion will be before Tuesday night. That'll be exciting. I'm going to miss old Bullock though, he's seriously been one of my favorite companions. We've done a ton of fun stuff together and really did some good work too.

Oh address to you and all who wish to write to me directly here in Florence/Firenze/Florencia.

Via Boito 28

50144 Firenze

Italia

That's for EVERYONE who wants to write me a little something something.

Okay that's all I got...I'll write you next week!

Love,

Joey

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Dearest Mommy,

 

So, I'm tired. Period. I've been everywhere these past couple weeks. I was in Prato, Pistoia, tomorrow we're going to Milano, and guess where I was on Monday... Pisa!!! Finally! I mean, I was there doing work and not site seeing but it was still cool. Its the only city in the tuscany zone I haven't visted...until now. Haha I did walk past the leaning tower and take pictures while my companion made some phone calls. I think the next time I go there I'll be taking pictures of all the weird poses people do there. Like, you go there, and you see 4 or 5 people making it seem like they're leaning or doing something to the tower but from different angles it just looks goofy. I can't explain it, you just have to see it!

 

The work is going good as well. Giulio is doing good, just not married yet. Here's the cool thing though. We finally told him that in like 2 weeks anziano bullock is going home and he was like, 'Wait, that means we have to do a dinner soon.' Ha so in two weeks he's making us bistecca fiorentina! YES. I will eat a Florence steak without having to pay 30 euro. I count that as a success. He's doing really well too. He quite smoking! WOO! Know he just needs to quite not being married and he'll be able to be baptized. Prayers!

 

Cool miracle story that happened just last night. My companion for some strange reason had a weird craving for pizza so called and the guy came after we were done planning. Anyway here comes the cool part. He notices our picture of christ on the door(Its the one of him showing himself to mary after he's resurrected) and asks who we are. We then continue to explain, give him our card, number, and money, he gives us the pizza, and then he splits. about 20 minutes later after the pizzas are long gone and eaten and we're just about to bed, we get a call. It turns out its him! He said he's not too happy with the catholic church or the evangelist church he's attending, the picture of christ on our door really touched him, and now he wants to join. Haha he was asking where we were located. He's coming to church on sunday and we'll be seeing him Friday. Woo! The cool thing is that he's really concerned about his life. Apparently he's not happy with where his life went and wants to change. He's problem is that he knows the only way to find happiness is through the family, and he doesn't have one. I'm excited to see where we go with this guy. He's from Palermo! I don't think that means much to you but its super fun talking to him because people from sicily have crazy cool accents. 

 

Well that's about all Elder joey slash Anziano Dell'Oso has for you guys today. Its super hard to type today because I'm using a weird keyboard. There's the english alphabet and also the arabic one soo...it gets confusing.

 

Much love to all and I'll talk to you on Sunday!

Joey

On

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Dearest Mommy,

 

Hey! P day was GREAT! SUPER tiring. I was dead on the train home. cinque terre is beautiful though. I haven't reall seen sea since I've been on the mission and that was the best way to see it. I know last week I said I'd bring pictures but the computer I'm on right now is being super annoying so it will have to wait till the next one. Again I apologize for the lack of photos I said. I know, I suck.

 

Basically, I've almost seen every cool thing to see in Tuscany, almost. I still have to see the leaning tower and then I have to find some way to get to San Gimigliano...Which I don't think is too pratical. Anyway the most beautiful thing I've seen in Italy thus far...is still Bolzano. Haha I LOVE Bolzano. Still by far my favorite city. We had lunch with some members for Easter and turns out one of them served their mission in the Padova mission and got to serve in Bolzano. We just then spent the remainder of the time talking about how awesome Bolzano is. Long story short, Bolzano is awesome.

 

Oh another funny thing. So this morning we got our haircuts by these two guys from chile and guess what they like to do when they're not cutting hair. Box. Haha turns out the guy that cut my companions hair is also the featherweight champion of all of Italy. He showed us posters and pictures of him and his champion belt. Haha only in Italy can one man be a professional hairdresser and professional boxer at the same time. Haha I love it.

 

Sounds like everybody is doing well! That's good to hear. I'm doing super good as of recently. This week went by much better than last week. We're starting to find alot more people. GIULIO(Haha is name is Giulio no Guido mamma) is doing alright. Lately he's been having to work a ton and its really taking a tole on his spiritual progress. He still loves us and the church though so no worries. I would just ask that you keep him in your prayers cuz more than anything he still needs to get married so he start making some serious progress. Other than him we've had alot of south american investigators, which has been great because recently a less active member from equador came to us saying he wants to start being more involved with the church again so he wants to come with us to teaching appointments.

 

Other than that, its been another great week of scambio! Like I said we were in La Spezia and the other day I found myself yet again in Prato. Or should I say...China. There are TONS of chinese people in Prato I can't believe it. Anyway I love working with other missionaries. There are some truly amazing missionaries in our mission. I'm super impressed.

 

Last sunday we had a team of translators in church. Haha okay that sounds a bit extreme but there were a TON of tourists in church. Haha there was actually a family from Arizona. That would be the second family from Arizona I've seen in Florence. Anyway there where so many tourists that they took up pratically half the chapel! Its a good thing though it makes our branch look alot bigger. Haha anyway I had to do some major translating. I was doing well to right up until our 1st counciler started reading excerpts from Jesus the Christ in his talk. It was the equivalent of getting hit by a baseball bat. I did not see it coming and I could not handle it. I was able to give them the gist of it though so in the end it wasn't too bad. It did hurt though.

 

Anyway that's my week! I love you so very much and I love being on a mission! I had the spirit confirm that to me more than once this week so I thought I'd throw that in there.

 

Much love,

Joey

Wednesday, April 20,2011

Hello Everyone...

Today I am writing for Joey!  This weeks email was "just for his mommy" and he asked me to tell all of you that he is "loving life", and that today he was running out the door on his P-day to see Cinque Terre.  Nice. Anyway hope you and your families are in good health and enjoying the Spring.  Happy Easter!

Joey's Mom

Wednesday, April 14,2011

Hey Mom,

First, I'm doing good so no worries there. I think I'll just spend this email responding to your questions you asked because you've asked them a few times.

 

1. General Conference is always the best part of the year. Me and one of my companions used to call it 'super bowl sunday.' Members here can't watch it on tv so we always just go to a chapel and they televise it via satellite and we just watch it there. There's usually 2 rooms that they view it. One in italian with an italian translator and then the second is in english which is normally for us and nigerians. I love it though. Members didn't feed us but one missionary who came into the field with me has learned to make a ton of really sweet dishes so for General Conference he made us calzone. It was delicious. He then fed us cake. Also the sisters in our zone made us sugar cookies. It was a really good day.

 

2. Okay you want a typical p day. Normally it varies depending on the needs of the week. Normally we'll go site seeing. Like we'll walk around centro and go see a museum or take a train out to siena or go see something cool in Tuscany. Other days, we'll just mosey around centro and maybe go buy 2 euro ties or buy a pizza and enjoy the day. There's other times when I'm just dead for the week and I have to go home and nap because I'm just too tired. Those are basically my 3 types of p days. All of them include internet and grocery shopping.

 

3. Nobody has gardens. They all have plants that hang from their balconies because they all live in apartments.

 

4.  I'd say we have about 40 or so active members in our branch. There's 2 branch here in Firenze. Both with about the same number of members. I think when they make Tuscany a stake they'll just combine both branchs to make a ward.

 

5. I eat breakfast and a big lunch. We don't take dinner breaks. My new favorite food is Lasagna. I love the stuff. I only like it when its made with care and love though. pre made ones from the grocery store just aren't the same. I can make some dishes...I'm not going to tell you what though...You'll just have to wait a year.

 

6. I keep forgetting I have a tape recorder. Thanks for the reminder I'll totally use it.

 

Okay I think I answered your questions. It actually made for a great email outline. I feel as though this email was jam packed with info.

 

Basically it goes like this, there's always going to be too much to tell you so you'll never get the full picture through my emails. I'll keep trying though.

 

Yesterday all the museums in Firenze were free! Too bad the lines were so long that we would have to spend all our p day waiting in one line. We didn't end up doing it. OH which reminds me...You're probably wondering why you're getting this email today instead of yesterday. I'm super sorry I forgot to write you! Haha just kidding. No what happened was myldsmail.net wasn't working. It was a mission wide crisis. I figured wednesday is the uniform p day throughout the world for missionaries so my question is for all the days they chose to have problems with the site, yesterday had to be the day. Who else besides mormon missionaries use myldsmail.net? Anyway that's why I'm writing you today and not yesterday.

 

That's about all I got for you today. Our investigators are doing good. We have one italian and the rest are actually south americans. Primarily from Peru. I love Peruvians now! They are amazing members. Our Relief Society Pres is from Peru and she's a ball of fire! Angela Zahorsky! Haha her husband is from the Czech Republic! Crazy right??? Yeah I love this branch.

 

Okay I must depart now. I love you so much and I'm oh so thankful for everything that you do.

 

Love,

Joey

Wednesday, April 6, 2001

Cara Mama,

 

What's going on??? Haha first I have to tell you that I received your easter package and it was delicious. Everything I could've asked for and more. I'm not going to lie I was a little nervous when I read the contents description and it read magazines, socks, and boots. Not so much that I wouldn't want any of that stuff...Just that magazines aren't allowed and I didn't want to throw away something you sent. Anyway, it turned out not to be the case and now I'm enjoying honey peanut butter daily. THANKS.

 

First things first, UCONN!!!!! I know that serving a mission brings blessings. From updates from Dad and random LDS american tourists, it sounded like a long shot that they would win. BUT THEY DID! I'm very happy.

 

I'm also super tired. But tired in a good way. The only reason I'm super pooped is because instead of resting on P day my companion and I always go to some tourist attraction. Its totally worth it though. I feel like I'm getting the most out of our Firenze experience. We're definitely resting today though.

 

Oh we had transfers yesterday, we're staying together! Woo! I'm really excited about that. Anziano Bullock is really cool. Oh yeah mom and if you were wondering my companions/mission has gone like this.

 

Bolzano w/ Anziano Wright then Anziano Condie

Ravenna w/ Anziano Parker

Firenze w/ Anziano Casuto and now I'm with Anziano Bullock

 

None of them are from Britian. Anziano Parker is from Mesa. The british kid you're thinking of is our buddy Anziano Wilkey serving in Pistoia. He's a little crack up. Whenever he likes something its always brilliant! Haha and whenever he doesn't like something he calls it rubbish. Haha is vocabulary is a crack up.

 

The week as gone by quite well though. Giulio was not baptized when we thought he would but that's only because he's still not married. His companion wants to get married but said,'Lo voglio bellino.' Which means to say,' I want it nice.' Which means to say MONTHS of prepartion...We're praying for a miracle. Haha She's super nice and accepting though. Her name is Monica! Crazy right? I thought that was pretty cool.

 

We've been meeting with quite a few south americans lately. They're all awesome. I'm learning spanish. Sometimes they just speak and spanish while we respond in Italian. I personally understand spanish that great but my companion(Anziano Bullock who is not british) studied it before the mission and understands everything.

 

I'm doing great! I'm really stoked to stay here for another transfer, there's alot that needs to be done. Also, I get to go to Pisa and finally see that leaning tower!

 

General conference was AWESOME right? Favorite part you might wonder? When President Monson talked about temples. I miss the temple so much. There's nothing like it. Also it was especially touching for all of who were listening when he started telling his experience about the Rome temple. I remember watching the ground breaking via satellite in a chapel in Rimini in October. The spirit really confirmed to me there how much I'm binded to helping the lord's work go forth in this country until my departure date. We all received that same confirmation Sunday watching conference. I love this church. I love temples. I can't wait until this country receives the wonderful blessing of having a temple so close. Please please, I've said it before, don't forget how wonderful it is having a temple.

 

Okay on that note I'm out. We have places to go people to see. You are the best. Keep on keepin' on. I love you so much.

 

Much Love,

Joey

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Hey Mom!

 

This week was good! I think it was the first week this whole transfer that I got to stay in lovely Florence. It was SO NICE. The weather has been great too except for Monday. We're still working alot with our investigator Giulio. He's the man. Like I said he's the head chef of a restaurant here and he said in like a couple weeks or so he's going to have us over for a 'bella cena.' That means beautiful dinner. Oh yeah. Can you say free Bistecca Fiorentina???? I love him so much. Not just for that either. He's making so much progress! He's learned everything and is just itching to get baptized. Haha the only problem is that he's living with somebody and he has to get married. Looks like its going to be a waiting game. PLEASE pray for him if you get the chance. He's super awesome and all he wants to do is follow Christ. He's super cool. He's a super stud.

 

Anziano Bullock is the man. Did I mention he has 9 kids in his family? Haha I've been completely oblivious to the fact that a ton of LDS people have a TON of kids. Its super foreign to italians because the max they normally have is like 2. Super funny though. Whenever he shows a picture of his family you can just see their eyes widen suddenly.

 

Anything else that happened...Oh there was a HUGE activity for all the single adults members in Italy in our chapel this weekend. From Bolzano to Sicily ages 18 to 34. IT was crazy. It was also cool because I got to see some members from Bolzano and they remembered me. They where like, 'Anziano Dell'Oso what the heck? You speak italian now!' Haha I completely forgot that they knew me when I didn't know how to speak. It was pretty funny.

 

Well I have to go now. I hope everybody is doing well. I'm super sorry that this email is so short. Thanks again for everything!

 

Love,

Joey

Joey's Recent Letter Home, March 23, 2011

Hey Mom!

 

Okay this week has been great! Very tiring! First we went to Pistoia and I got to do a little scambio with a certain Anziano Wilkey. He's awesome. He's from Great Britian. Haha I was trying to copy his accent but he said I just couldn't do it. Anyway we were there all Thursday and then on Sunday we had District Conference! That was super fun. President and Sorella Wolfgramm gave talks. Sorella Wolfgramm's was hilarious! Haha she has this 'war cry' that she implemented into the mission when she first got here called G.E.M. or just gem! haha it stands for Grow every missionary. The point is to just love your companion and try to serve him to make him better. Anyway it was funny because you can't translate it into italian. Like grow every missionary in italian doesn't make the word gem. Anyway so she was using the word gem with her talk and her translator was super confused. It was awesome, you had to have been there. It was a good talk though.

 

That believe it or not was the first district/zone conference I'd ever been to as well. I seem to get transfered just before one happens, and then I get transfered into a city where I just miss it. Anyway, I did not miss it this time! We held it at a sherriott hotel and we felt like high rollers. My buddy who's serving in Siena walked in and was like 'I feel like we're going to the Grammys'  It was cool too our investigator Giulio came and brought his Uncle.

 

Have I told you about Giulio yet? He is the MAN. Honestly I've never met anybody so cool. When we first met him he was like,' Yeah I love Christ, he's my hero.' Then he continued to show us his picture of christ that he had on the background of his phone. Also he's a man of strong faith. In 2 weeks he's already committed to live every comandment and loves church. He said its something he used to think was boring but coming to our church he says he looks forward to it every week. Ha he's too cool. We have a date to baptize him during general conference so we're praying for that.

 

We have other people we're working with but none as cool as him. Oh and you asked about our chapels. I personally have never served in a city with a chapel for the members. Bolzano was above a pizza place. Ravenna used to be a car garage and Firenze is just the bottom floor of a apartment complex. Its pretty spacious though. I can't really explain it to you, you'd just have to go there. You could probably ask any member who's visited Florence and they'd be able to describe it for you. The cool thing is that we're getting a chapel built by the church in a couple years. both are very cool. A chapel is a big enough deal but to have it built by the church is golden. That  makes it legit. There's only a handful of church built chapels in Italy so Florence is going to be pretty lucky.

 

Oh and you asked where I got the grey suit. My last companion gave it to me. He never wore it so he thought I might. I wear it. I'm wearing it right now. Its super comfy. He got it at some market in Verona. I think he paid like 30 euros or something cheap like that.

 

Okay dearest mommy. That's about all the time I have for you today. I'm doing just fine. Thank you so much for your love and support. You're doing great! haha give Rick my love and tell him the heart of Italy goes to his comrades in Japan. Literally everybody we talked to is just stressed about it. Its kind of interesting. Like when we ask if we can do any type of service they just ask us to pray for their spouse and then Japan. Long story short, Japan is most definitely in my prayers.

 

You guys are the best! Thank you for everything!

 

Much love,

Joey

Joey's Recent Letter Home, March 15, 2011

Dearest Mommy,

Howdy! Thank you for your wonderful email! I'm oh so grateful for them. I will repeat...I never liked ash wednesday. It was not a fun time of the year for me. A little weird actually. As for little old italian ladies walking the streets with little ash marks on their foreheads...I actually never saw any. Weird huh? Well I was also in Siena and not really paying attention so that could be why as well. 

So here are some more pictures! I hope you like them! I would like to say that so far I have 2 favorites cities in Italy. Bolzano and Siena. Why? They are both small, BEAUTIFUL, and really clean. The clean part is the one that does it for me. When I got to Bolzano I thought all cities were super clean but now I realize that it was just Bolzano and now Siena. Bummer but what are you gonna do? 

I hope you get the one of Anthony's name on the door in the apartment in Siena. I thought that was pretty cool. You should tell him that I love that apartment. Its super clean a spacious. I was impressed. The other couple pictures of of me and my companion in centro, and then me and other missionaries on top of a tower overlooking piazza del campo and the rest of Siena. It was definitely a magical P day. The final picture is of our investigator Deng Xin who got baptized 2 weeks ago. He's awesome. He knows a ton about the NBA and keeps me pretty up to date. He's also super solid. After his baptism he went up to bear his testimony and just talked about how happy he was to follow christ. Last week he just got the priesthood. His favorite part about it is how he can only use it to serve others. He's 24 so we're going to start talk about his plans for serving a mission. He would tear china up. They wouldn't even recognize what hit him. I love that kid.

Other than that this week has been pretty hetic. I've been in siena, prato (Haha I decided to do a Consentino family mission tour), Milano for a conference, and tomorrow we're going to Pistoia. Last week I spent about 3 days in Firenze. It was definitely a crazy week of traveling. Super fun though. Super fun. I've gotten to work with some amazing missionaries. The work in Italy is on the verge to explode. Literally, we have some amazing missionaries in this mission doing some amazing things. I feel super grateful to be apart of it. 

Our work is going good. We found somebody who his really cool. His name is Giulio. He's super funny. He wants to be baptized so we're helping him out. He asks really funny questions. The other day he was like, ' So like with funerals...Do we have our own cemeteries or like do just bury everybody with everybody else?' Haha he also asked if he had to stop being a volunteer ambulance driver because its a catholic service, and we told him no. He's really cool. Somebody that just wants to follow christ. When we told him about our church and our message he stopped us, took out his cellphone and showed us his wallpaper. It was a picture of christ. He was like, 'I love christ.' It was a really strong testimony to me. I know that this is the only way to follow him. He is the shepard and his sheep do hear his voice. I'm so thankful to be apart of this work. 

I think I'll leave on that note. I love you so much and thanks again for the email. I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Joey