Hi . . . [Letter written 9-16-09]

Hi!

That sounds weird. I havent said hi for about 6 months haha. The funny thing is sometimes people answer the phone here saying hhello? Its not in italia but just here in switzerland it was very funny last week i had the phone and someone called and i answered saying in my best italian accent, si pronto, sono anziano perkes. And this man responded hello. So i started talking in enlgish, hey hows it going how can i help you etc. etc. And he started being very confused..... chi é, perche parli in inglese? Non parlo inglese! Which translates to pretty much.... what?? I dont speak english what is going on?? Haha so people say hello here it is funny. So anyways sorry that was random. Whats up everyone!!! Thanks so much for the letters i loved them. Lemme jot down some things about the week and then ill get to answering your questions. So this week was absolutly spendidly fantastic. You like that string of adjectives there.. haha yeah i liked them too. So this week has been wayyyyyy rainy. But surprisngly enough i loveeee it. For many reasons. First is that the buses are cramped with people that cant leave haha... so i get to talk to them and they cant run away. Second, when were out in the rain it really helps motivate me to get into a pillazo, or in english... a... ummm dang what is the word. Condo?...no thats not right. Like a flat or something i dunno a apartemnt complex. English is lame.. so a pilazzo right. Okay it really helps motivate me to get in there because its raining. And thirdly, its not hottttt anymore!!! In fact it is kinda chilly i love it so much. Were still in short sleeves here, and we get asked by lots of sweet old ladies... arent you cold?!?! Haha i love it, its a great intro into a gospel conversation. That is something we learned about in yone conference this week is how to navigate everything into a gospel conversation it is awesome. It reminds me a lot like sales.... not selling the gospel but of controlling the conversation. For example, i met this guy that was carrying a fishing pole... so i was like.. hey man you like fishing? He started going off about fishing and i was like.. dang how can i NAVIGATE this conversation. So i was like.. hey man your just like an apostle of Jesus Christ, did you know they were fisherman? Haha it worked perfect... sadly he wasnt interested but i invited him to here about the restored gospel! So it is rather fun. Like a challenge actually. So the fourth reason for liking the rain is we get to wear rain jackets! And luckily my trainer gave me one. Man i miss that kid. But this jacket makes me look like a hench man haha. Its one of those big ole jackets with the popped collar. I look quite fashionable haha. But something cool about the rain is that its really foggy and misty being on the lake here. The mountains are covered in fog it is soooo pretty. It is raining today i want to go hike a mountain but we'll see what we do today. I get to go to como tonight for a split. Como is where george cloony lives!! Ill let you know if i see him! So the ward is still doing great. I seriously feel like im in a utah ward here the members are just sooo cool. There is lots of families in the branch here. About 50 60 ish people in church on sundays. Interesting fact is before these 4 baptisms that happend in the past 6 months, there wasnt a batpism for 5 years!!!! So the branch is getting real involved in the work its great. They had an activity the other night and we got a call from the branch president and he was like... hey guys (he calls us rigazzi which meens like kids or guys its very funny.) Hey guys.. theres a bunch of food in the church, go take it home or it will go bad. This man kind of reminds me of an italian brother siebach. He is from balogna (italy) and has a serious bolagnesi accent. Its funny because that is his name, Presidente Bolagnesi. So last week we went to the chocolate factory. Honestly it wasnt as cool as we thought but it was still very intersting. We got to eat a big ole handful of chocolate for free. And we got to take pictures with a cow!!! Ill send a picture! So besides all that that is the week! We did lots of finding work and it was great i love finding work. More than anything! We have found lots and lots of potentials in the past 2 weeks so now were working on turning some of them into new investigators. We are trying to kind of recycle some investigators. Kind of like a bonsai. Get rid of the week branches and make way for strong ones! Mom thanks so much for the BYU trivia i loved it haha. Go cougars! Hey did mark stevens serve in the milano mission? Dad you commented about the cheese factory and the store clerk that was short. I didnt explain this but this wasnt some cheese tour or something. We were good friends with that store clerk named Gorgio. And he invited us to come to the factory where he buys his cheese from. So it literally was like we were ina cheese factory watching people make cheese. This wasnt some tour where there like... okay look over here. We just sat and watched these cheese makers for hours. It was awesome. And the cheese warehouse with the millions of cheese balls, the guy there gave us the key and was like... hey go check out the warehouse here.... lock it up when your done. So it was arealllllly cool experience. It was like a behind the tape tour type of thing. Dad im surprised at how hip your becoming!! Way to go cowboy! You know what gaged ears are! Isnt that gross haha... lots of teenagers here do that to their ears. Dad i laughed so hard about your water haha. You are too funny. Youll be sad to know that i just drink tap water here... aghhh. It actually makes sense though. So your not too weird haha. It actually kind of sounds like a fun little hobby to have. Lemme know if there is some springs here in lugano okay! Actually cool thing is everywhere there are these fountains in the parks, sidewalks everywhere!!! Now this isnt like a walmart drinking fountain, but a cool modern fountain that you can drink out of... all different too. And dad guess where the water comes from!!! The lake!.... no im jus tkidding. The mountains! So my friend i drink from your springs up here in lugano!! Haha i¨m glad you guys liked the movies. So mom lemme answer your questions now!

You haven't shared with us much about your new companion. Do you like him? Do you get along? Is he hard working? Would he be your friend if you were at BYU together?

Yeah i like him is is reallly hard working. We get along just perfect. He is a cool kid i think ill keep him around for 4 more weeks haha. sad!!


I know you only have him for about another 4 weeks and he will be transfered out. Man, you've got to get the lay of the land quick so you don't loose anyone when he goes. Tell me about the leadership in the branch. Are you loving all of the members. You have commented what a wealthy area you are in. Are the members that way as well??

The members here for the most part are pretty well off. We have an american family that lives here they are aweesome. And yes they are veryy wealthy. But i only have 54 se^conds aghhh!!! So i have to go i love you guys so much... Ill send pics in 10 minutes at the next place.

Love ya

BYEEE!!!