Ciaooooooooo [FIRST LETTER!!! Written in MTC -- February 24, 2009]

Hello wonderful family!

This is Anziano Perkes writing from the mtc laundry room. Today is Tuesday which is P-Day, oh what a wonderful day it is. Today we do laundry, have personal study, go to the temple and then hear from a general authority tonight! What a day huh? So thank you so much for your cookies! We had a cookie party last night which was way fun. Everyone in the district thanks you! Okay time to answer your questions. I actually forgot the letter in my room so i'll do my best to answer some of your questions haha. First off my companion is Anziano Collins and he is from St. George Utah. He is a big ole football player which is cool. My district is wayyyyy cool. There is 12 of us and we are all going to Milan which is fun because we'll stay friends throughout the whole mission. They called this way awesome Anziano to be the District Leader. He got baptized a year ago and is now serving a mission. He is 23 and is a major stud. What a year huh? Get baptized, Holy Ghost, Patriarchal Blessing, Melchezidik Priesthood, go through the temple, and serve a mission. What a crazy year huh?? He is way cool and it is fun to hear the stories that he has to tell us about being a convert. So as i've told you the italian missionaries aren't Elders we are Anziani (plural of Anziano). It's really fun because we have a real tight knit group of all these italian Elders. There are only like 40 of us all together and pretty much everyone speak spanish so we are extra loud and fun to make up for the difference. They say that is how Italians are as well. So after learning a bit of Italian i have learned that the last name Perkes will not flow well for the natives in Milano. So I know introduce myself as Anziano Perkes prounced PEAR-KEZ. It took a day to get used to it but now if someone just says Perkes i'm like huh? So pretty much the MTC rocks and is awesome. Every day is so draining both physically, mentally, and spiritually but yet it is so amazing. There is not another place I would want to be than the mtc, well perhaps Italy.... or maybe even Hogwarts. Actually no mtc is cooler than even Hogwarts. We sing as a zone everynight in Italian and it is soooo cool. I think all the hymns were written to be sung in Italian. English is so last year haha. So i also am sending a letter out today that i wrote over the past two nights. So you should be getting that by the end of the week. Hopefully you got my first letter that i sent on the 18th. But the MTC is going wonderful. I have two teachers that teach us Italian, and then also Preach My Gospel. One has been home for 4 years and is married named Fratello (Brother) Garlick... haha what a last name huh? Mine as well be Fratello Spaghetti or something. And then we have Fratello Clarck that has been home for only 4 months. He is way cool. He was the Assistant to the President when he came home for President Dunaway the same mission president that i will have. I can just tell he would of been a powerhouse missionary. When he teaches us gospel stuff it is way intense. Time is flying by so far. I'm sitting here doing laundry and i'm like, I just got here like yesterday! What am I already doing laundry for? And then i realize i've been here for a week. Something way cool that our zone does is when we eat meals, whenever a Sorella (sister missionary) comes to the table all the Anziani stand up until they have sat down. So like 40 Anziani will all be standing up for 3 Sorelle. We are the only people in the cafeteria that do it, which is fun. So we get gymn time everyday and i've been playing basketball everyday which is sooo fun. We have little zone competitions and stuff. All the Anziani are obsessed with how tall i am haha. Most of them are pretty short which is funny. So i'm sending this email to a couple different emails off the top of my head, hoping that one of them will be the right email haha. So if you get this and your not mom or dad if you would not mind zapping it to one of them in case i got it wrong. Well wonderful family it is time for me to go. But I love you!!

Anziano Perkes

P.S. Mom and Dad the cookies were great. However, you don't have to send me packages quite yet as i'm guessing it is expensive, and the cafeteria has lots of food for me. So save the money and just draw a picture of cookies in your next email or something haha. Love ya!