Miracle Week

How is everyone doing!! 

Hope that ya'll had a wonderful mothers day! It was soooo much fun to talk with ya'll and hear your voices. Don't worry it didn't make me home sick. It actually inspired me to work harder talkin to ya'll so thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, let's see I'm runnin a bit short on time today so I'll have to make this faster than usual. Okay, so first off today we kind of did a bit of pday and then were doin more after this. This morning we went to this huge castle/Italian mansion thing that was turned into a museum. It's kinda hard to explain but just know that it is a hugeeee building filled with cool stuff. They had armour, and spears, swords, tonssss of awesome paintings, and sculptures. I guess we're the only tourists in Italy too, because we were like the only ones there. I snuck a few pics but then this lady told me i couldn't take pictures in the museum. So that was way fun.

We also went and bought groceries. Okay so they give us way too much money on our missions, haha. Too bad we can't save it away and buy a car here. So they give us 180 euro every month!! So I have a ton of money, so this time shopping I was like... okay, I need to spend more money. So I was grabbin all the stuff that I never dared to, like yogurts, Dolce (Italian sweets.... oh baby so good!), and all the good stuff. So I'm like dang I'm droppin some bills today, and I got up to the cash register and I only spend 15 euro! For a whole week!!!! So I'll be buyin some gelato this week, can't wait. I wish I could send home some gelato in the mail, you would loveee it. The best kind is cookies . . .  wow, amazing. Okay so anyways, sorry, little tangent there. So now we're emailing and we still have a lot of time for p day. We think we might go play some ball with some Italians, show them how it is done. Maybe some frisbee as well. We'll see.

So this week I did an exchange down to Parma where the oh-so-famous proccuto crudo di parma comes from. Cured meat in very thin slices. So I had some of that, it was amazing.  I loved it. We also had zone conference this past week and that was amazing. It lasted all day so it was very tiring, but it was good to see President.

Okay so we have this investigator named Augustine and we had the coolest lesson with him. We have always taught him and his wife decided to sit in this lesson. Up to now Augustine hasn't showed a ton of interest but in the middle of the lesson, the wife very sincerely asked.... how do you know that this is true? Our eyes lit up and we bore strong testimony to her, it was awesome. She said that she would read and pray. The only problem is that they live far out. They might be buying an apartment here in Piacenza though, so were praying for that. That way they could come to church and be near their friends. The Saquing family just got baptized 4 months ago, and they are wayyyy stellar. He is now the 1st counselor in the branch presidency. They help us out a ton. Augustine is Harold Saquing's (dad) best friend. So Harold comes to all the lessons; it really helps out. Unfortuanly, they are all Phillipino, haha. They speak kind of English, kind of Italian, and a lot of tagalog. So we had that lesson and it was so crazy. They want us to teach them in English, so we are teaching them in Enlish. They would read the scriptures in Italian and speak to each other in tagalog. So the whole lesson we keep switching between all these languages and I'm just sitting there dying, haha. It got to the point where the wife would ask me a question and I'd be like... I don't understand (in Italian) and my companion gave me the look of, she's speakin English you dummy, haha. So I got very mixed up language wise, but it was a wayyy stellar lesson.

Francesca is still amazing. She wasn't able to come to church because her daughter took her to some restaurant for mothers day and shopping, which is understandable, I guess. We have a lesson with her tommorrow, so were hoping it will go well. You asked for Fratello Clarke's (Harris is his first name) email, so here it is: harristclarke@gmail.com.  My other teacher is Fratello Garlick. He was a stud too. Here's his email: spenceritaly@gmail.com. They were both amazing. Tell them I said hi from Italy! Oh, if you ever send any packages.... something that I can't get here is drink mixes, so like little crystal light lemonade packets would be wonderful. But only send them if you're sending a package. Don't go out after reading this and mail a package out. I can survive till whenever, my birthday or something. About the baptismal picture. I'm not sure if you took pictures. If you can't find it, that is fine. Don't worry about it. 

I also did an exchange with the zone leaders this week in Milan. So I've traveled all over. At first I was like sweeet, I get to see other cities, but now I'm like... leave me alone, I'm tired of traveling, I just want to teach lessons, haha. No, they're fun, but I get tired of the travel time. So the other day we were biking on this big old road that is closed where all sorts of people walk on it, and these three old guys stopped us and were like... How is Obama!!! Haha, so we quickly dodged that question and were like we're missionaries. When they found that out they were like were in the Catholic choir! On the spot they started singing with an o so terrible old men voices and all. We caused quite an attraction in Piacenza here. 3 old crazy guys and 2 young guys with bike helmets on that look like bowling balls. So we gave them some pass a long cards and left the stage as soon as possible, haha.

Okay, so this week were are doing what's called an English fast... drum roll please..... I can't speak English this week agh!! From today to next wednesday, I cannot speak English ever! Not even if i slip in a puddle of melted gelato. Other missionaries have done it and say it just brings great blessings to the work and your language skill. It helps keep you more focused and improve in the language. So me and my companion, Anziano Handsome Ransom, are doing it this week. We started this morning. My head hurts a bit but I have already seen myself improve. There are times when I have to literally bite my tongue and grab a dictionary before I break my fast. I'm just like aghhhh what's the word!! But it is amazing. It will be a long hard week, but we are calling it miracle week, and i'm sure we'll see many miracles this week.

I laughed when you guys said you watched Lady Hawk, haha. I'm sure it was cheesy beyond belief, but probably fun. I heard that all the outside castle scenes are from the castle here. I'm guessing the indoor shots are sets, but I don't quite know. Dad your story of the fire truck made me laugh so hard. I could just picture you up there 100 feet above the ground and being like... wow, it's sooo beautiful... and the 13 fire fighters below being like... just take the picture already!! Hahaha, no I'm just kidding, but it sounded way amazing. I was jealous for about 4 seconds, but then I rememberd that I was in Italy, no I'm just kidding.... but seriously, Italy rocks! So I'm sorry this was a bit shorter. I can't think of anything else to say, hmmm. I'll send some pics across your way in a sec. But I love you all. Thanks so much for the letters; I love them.

CIAO CIAO CIAO!!

Anziano Perkes