Twenty Lessons!

Hello everyone and all!

Thanks so much for the letters, today they were great. I laughed very hard while reading them. The Italian lady here asked if I was alright, haha. But anywho, this week was amazing. Wow, wow. wow, we were very blessed. So we had a real big desire to hit 20 lessons finally. My companion says he's never hit it that he can remember. But when Elder Perry came, these one missionaries went up and said hi and he said, how many lessons are you teaching? And they were like, yeah we hit 14 this week! And he was like... you are wasting time then, you must hit at least 20 lessons. So wow... that is pretty intense. So this week we were just like come on we got this... we really wanted and worked very hard to hit and alas.... we taught exactly 20 lessons! It was funny because we actually hit 20 lessons Saturday afternoon. And that night our 2 appointments gave us a no show but we were still happy because of hitting 20. Then on Sunday we had 5 lessons planned and all ended up falling through at the last moment. People that never cancel dropped us right at the end. So we decided to set a goal of 20 or more, that way we don't just call it in for the week when we hit 20. But that was besides the point we were soooo happy and blessed to be able to teach that much.

It was really an amazing week. It is amazing because when you're working the hardest the days fly by. I notice that when we bust it and give it our all, all day, that we get home and I'm like ... the day is over?!? But then on the days where we get discouraged and maybe take a gelato break, that I get home and am like... wowwww, what a long day, haha. So last week we just busted it and it was amazing. We were truly blessed. It was way cool.. the 20th lesson we taught was at the end of the day on Saturday, and we just needed one more to hit it, but we didn't have any planned so we met this guy in the park and we talked to him and told him we wanted to share a message with him another time and he was like, okay, that sounds good. And just as my companion was saying well cool we'll see you later, I decided... no, no, this isn't good enough. So I used some of my sales skills and was like... hmmm, well we don't have another commitment for 15 minutes if we could just sit down real quick and explain why were here in Italy for two years. And he was like... sounds great, take a seat. So we taught him a brief first lesson and just bore testimony on the Book of Mormon and gave him one and committed him to read it. So it was very cool. It made me realize that we need to be more bold instead of just being like... you don't want to hear us do you? Okay no perfect... Grazie tanto!

Okay, big news of the week Koffi. Wow, he is amazing. So I think I told you a little bit about our African brother. We went back again and we were like... hey, did you pray about the Book of Mormon? And he was like yes, I prayed about it and I felt good, but I've been searching for you missionaries for 1 year. Turns out when he first moved to Italy he tried lookin up the missionaries but couldn't figure out the website so he finally gave up because he didn't know what to do. One year later, he goes to his friend's house that is an hour away and it just so happens that his friend had just let in the missionaries. When he saw them he was like... hey, give my number to your brothers in Piacenza! Coincidence? I think not. The Lord is truely working miracles her in Italy.

So he told us this story and we were like wow, what a guy.  So this was our second time seeing him, but we decided that he needed this so we were like. . . Koffi, will you be baptized July 4th? And he was like . . . yes, it won't be a problem. So He is very prepared. So then we went back two days later and were like . . . oh, did you read the chapter we gave you? And he pulled out his Book of Mormon and he had a red pencil marking the page, and he had made little notes in the margins. We were like what did you like about this chapter? And he went off about how this awesome man Alma did this and that. He said he read every morning and night and I was like . . . did you keep reading on or re-reading the chapter?  And he said . . . I just kept re-reading it . . . I wanted to do exactly as you guys told me to do. Very humble man; he is the bomb. Then we taught him on Saturday and his cousin was there who is just as amazing as him. He, I guess, was also looking for the missionaries with Koffi, but before this week he was working the night shift. But this week they are on the same shift so we'll be teaching them together. His cousin's name is Dodi. They are both from Ghana. So I'll keep you updated on them. They are amazing. 

We taught Francesca and showed her the restoration movie and she loved it. At the end she just kept saying how much she loved it. She had read a little bit. The problem we have with her is we keep asking her if she has/will pray about the Book of Mormon and she keeps responding that she wants to read the whole thing before asking. We've tried teaching her that she can still recieve a witness of its truthfulness without finishing it. But she is doing marvelous. She met with her Catholic friend, and he was like... oh my, Mormons are evil, bla, bla, bla, and she was like . . . I don't care what he says, I like you guys, haha. And then she came to church on Sunday for the 2nd time! She is getting a long great with the members. They are really pulling her into the fold, which is great.

Okay so it is stinkkkkin hot here!! Sunday got up to 100 degrees farenheight plus like 99% humidity. So we have been veryyyyy sweatyy these past couple days. I think I'm slowly getting adjusted to the heat. Okay, Mom I got your letter yesterday!!! Because we had interviews with president in Milan. By the way . . . any letters can go here in Piacenza. Because I only get the ones that get sent to the mission home when we have zone conference or interviews which is 2x every 6 weeks. So letters can go here and packages to the mission home. But Mom, thanks so much I loved the letter. The memory card is in great condition. It was very fun to see the pics from the MTC. Man I feel like that was forever ago . . . weird, weird.

So I've been working out since I've got here, which has been awesome. They give us these super rubber band nifty things so I feel kinda of stupid but they work great. I've gained 10-15-ish pounds since entering the MTC. I weighed 81 kilos like a week ago which is 178 pounds. When I entered the MTC I was like 165 so it's been great. I hope to come home breaking 200. My companion says I eat a lot but I can't help it I'm hungry! In the pictures I'm sending I am sending my before picture from a week ago. Just in case you guys do like a LGN v2 competition or something . . . I'm winnning for sure this time. Bring it on baby! I'm actually in the best shape of my life right now I think. It is very nice.

So time for the language update... ba, ba, ba, blaaaa. Italian is still very hard, the end, haha. No, I actually am understanding much better now. I can understand mostly all the words people use, but just putting them all together and making any sense out of it is very hard. So we're still practicing here. It was fun to hear that Tyler Pendleton entered the MTC. If you could somehow give him my email or get me his I would love it. Wow, so this morning has been crazy. We were going to go teach Koffi this morning, but my bike tire popped . . . again. So we quickly ran back to the house... and patched it up, reassembled the bike to learn that there were 2 more holes in it. So we didn't have any patches left, so we ran to the bike store bought a new tube, ran home and put it on. Then as I was screwing the wheel back onto the bike, the axel thing kind of exploded, nearly taking my eyeball out. So then we ran back to the store, ran home and after a long time fixed the dumb bike. End of the story: Koffi had to go to work so we rescheduled for tomorrow which should be okay. We think that Satan is working hard because he knows Koffi is amazing. So that was kind of frustrating this morming to miss that but its all turned out well. My hands are like permanly black from all the oil though, haha . . . it is quite funny looking.

Josh and Brooke, I loved your letter thanks so much. The picture of Matty was especially cute. Rocketssss . . . I remember those! Mom I laughed very hard when you were telling me about the bats in the house. I could just picture you being like . . . Ken, Ken, KENNN being chased by a bat, haha. Very funny picture in my head. But I agree, I heard bats lay eggs in your hair and make you go crazy.  I would get rid of them for sure.  Sorry Dad. That is sooo cool that Ed and Beth are getting baptized . . . Wow, what a blessing for them and the ward. They sound amazing. Haha, Dad I liked your description of Mom's armoured truck camera bag; how fun, haha. And wow, you have lost 25 pounds!!!! That is amazing. I'll come home and be like . . .  where is Dad!! I'm glad you guys got the tape. That went real fast. A week is all. Yeah I listened to a bit before sending it and Mom your comment about us sounding like the Italian Job actors was very true, haha, I'm trying to work on the accent. I also realized that about every 10 seconds I was like . . . ummmm I hope this isn't boring, haha. Maybe I'll do another one for you sometime this next month. I'm gonna try to burn my picture off maybe next week sometime, so maybe I'll try to include a tape with descriptions of the pictures kind of like a slide show or something for ya. I'll see what I can do for ya. The other day we were on the highway and 10 Lamborghinis drove by in a row. It was awesome. But besides that I think I'm out of things to say. Thanks so much for your love and support. I can feel it all the way over here in Italy. I'll talk to you later!!

Vi Voglio Bene (Love ya'll)

Ciao, ciao, ciao

Anziano Perkes