DECEMBER!!! [Letter written 12-2-09]

Helllllllllllllllllo awesome family!!!!!!

So this week was the best most tiring week ever!!! So i wanted to start off with telling you why haha. So first off this ex investigator called us to ask us to help her move... hmm okay maybe we can pick her up again and teach her. WRONG.... so it turns out she just wanted to use us because we are two men haha. So it was literally the worst move of my life. Lemme draw you a picture. Okay. So i asked if this giant closet thing need to go and she said yes. Okay this shouldnt be to hard i bet its light. SO me and Anziano Bosco go to lift it up (its about 7 feet tall f.y.i.) and it is SOOOO heavy. What?! I think to myself... hmm maybe theres somtheing in it like boxes packed away. hah wrong. I opened the closet and it was full of clothes and odd things. It was that type of move where you expect to come, lift a couple heavy things and be done, and then you arrive and the person throws you an empty box and says... okay fill it up and take it down. So lets just say it took for ever and we were literally dead afterwards! Ok enough with that.... so i want to descirbe the funnnest thanksgiving ever!!! So we still hadnt made any super special plans... .but Thursday morning we were out doing some finding work and we smelt a great smell... hmmm what is that???? So we discovered that there was a giant rotecery thing full of rotecery chicken!! (first time i have ever seen it in europe) So we finsiehd the work for the morning and decided to buy two chickens for lunch! It was sooooo delicious! It was literally the funnest lunch. We took some pics that i want to try to send. The computers here are pretty lame. but anywas lets get to the good part. SERGIO!!!!! So this is a very awesome story. So everything for the baptism was ready to go. It was wednesday afternoon. We were feeling really happy because the interview went great and everything was set up. We had an appointment that night and then again on friday to see him. We were so pumped up.... until we recieved a text... uh oh... from sergio??? Ciao Anziani i have to cancel tongight... bye. Hmm it is a little strange that he did that... .he's never done that before. We were a bit confused but at this point still not worried. Okay... well at least we see him on friday... Lets call him to make sure there is no problems. No answer. Hmm now were a bit more nervous. Strange. So thursday we try calling.... nothing. We try later in the day... nothing. Hmm now we started to worry a bit. Sergio always answers the phone. And then another time.... Hello?. YES He finally answered. On the phone this is what he said.. Hello Anziani i can't be baptized any more. I'm sorry. Sergio what why?!? Sorry i have to go...beep beep beep. Ok at this point i could say that we were utterly paniced!! We tried calling him later... nothing. Ok we have to pass by tonight to see what is the problem. No answer at the door. No answer at the phone. So no it is Friday... the day before the baptism!! We havent talked with him, and all we know is that he said i cant be baptized! We were seriously so nervous and stressed out. I think i even let out some sugar glider noises :) (shout out to dad!!) So we tried calling him throughout the day and nothing. Well we still have an appointment tonight. We knocked at the door and sergio answered.... oh hello! Come on in. He was a bit surprised that we were there. (PS... sergio is verrrrry timid but all around a stud) We come in and we say a prayer and we begin to talk. He explains to us that he met a priest in the street and talked with him and told him that he was about to be baptized. The priest........ i'm sure a nice man (bighting my lip a bit) filled Sergio's head with a bunch of lies. How he will be damned, and how our church will obligate him to give his job to someone who is jobless, and that we are strange. So Sergio was very agitated and nervous. We began to bear testimony to him and the spirit entered the room and his agitation began to ease away. The spirit was so strong. And after about 30 minutes with him, discussing the various questions he had, and bearing testimony we said.... Sergio tomorrow night there will be a baptism of one of the strongest and spirituall powerful man we know. And he just looked at us and said....Ok i will do it. The spirt at that point just covered us! It was soo cool. And the next day we went and picked him up and took him to the church. At this point he once again had his eagerness and excitement for the baptism. The baptism was sooo amazing. The spirit was really strong. After the baptism we talked with him and he was sooo happy. He said... i feel so light! What a wonderful feeling. And then on sunday he was confirmed and once again recieved a confermation that he was doing the right thing. Hmmm... i'm running out of time i think i have to finish this at the next library. Sorry! See you in a bit!!

Anziano Perkes

LETTER PART 2!!

Okay so i actually dont have a ton of time but i wanted to finish describing the awesome Sergio! So we went to see him last night and he was doing great!! There was literally a new light in his eyes! He says he has been praying and reading the book of mormon everyday and he feels great and he is so happy that he was baptized! So that was a awesome tender mercy that we saw. For a while we were quite nervous haha. So funny story. We did exchanges the other day and i stayed here in SWZ with Anziano Murdock from utah (PS... he is a super stud) and we got out of an appointment literally on the other side of the city. We live pretty close to the lake on the very end and we were on the other side of the lake about 2 or more miles down, and we got out of an appointment at 9:03. Now we have to enter at 9:30 and its about a 25 ish minute bus ride. So we run to the bus stop and there is not another bus for 25 minutes!!!! So clearly we would be late.. very late. So i turn to Anziano Murdock with a grin and say.... hey you like running? And he gives me back a grin and says... heck yeah baby! and we took off running. Luckily we had umbrellas with us (it rained in the afternoon but wasnt reaining then) so we felt a lot like soldiers from WWII with rifles in our hands running down the cobblestone streets of Lugano. We ran straight for 20 minutes and it was a blast. People looked at us a bit strange... but we wanted to be obedient so oh well. I can just imagine... 2 guys in suits and ties, running carrying an umbrella in tehre hands when it isnt raining. We blitzed through the door to the apartment and looked at the clock.... 9:29!!!!! Right as we sat down... out of breath the clock ticked 30. What a blessing we made it! So with the rain brought a couple of waterfalls up in the mountains that were beauitful!! It is kind of like at lake powell when it rains hard and waterfalls appear out of no where. Ok no i have a bit of time to answer the questions and then i gotta rap this up! So mom you asked about teh Christmas call. No please dont call me haha. I will buy a phone card that lets me call. And i am pretty certain that i can call the 4 different houses. I think we'll have time. its kinda hard to say now a month before but i am almost positive we can manage it. You asked if kebabs are kind of like gyros. There are similar but the meat is really unique. It has a taste that i've never tasted before. And yes that mans name really was voldemort. That is a very typical russian like name. For example like Vladimir, voldemort, Vloginfra, and Ron Weasly. There all very common names. Crazy huh! mom you asked about the number of people in church. I would say about 40 ish. It is proba bit smaller than somersowrth. But the chapel is tiny so it feels bigger. I cant remember who said it, but someone reminded me that i am more than half done with lugano. I KNOW!!! I am already starting to become sad. You have no idea. I love this city sooo much. Piacenza was awesome and i miss it , but for some reason i feel like i will die when i leave here. Very sad. Fun little thing and then i gotta really get goin. We were comin home the other night, and we say this guy with this big cauldren in centro. And there was a greattttt smell. So i asked what is it? And he replied chest nuts. Wow.... i finally understand why in all the christmas songs they say chestnuts roasted on a open fire. So we bought some and they were delicious! I highly reccomend it!! Well i better get going but i love you guys!!!!!!!!! THanks so much for all you do!


Anziano Perkes

BOUN NATALE!

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! [Letter written 11-25-09]

Hello wonderful family!!

First off i want to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving! Unfortunatly they don't celebrate that here as it is an american holiday... huh who woulda thunk? But we'll probably go out and buy a nice kebab. Hmm not sure if i have explained kebabs. They are turkish i believe. It is pretty much a ton of meat, chillin on this pole all day next to a burner, and then they shave off realllllly thin slices, put it on fresh bread, with a really good sauce. It is awesome! Not quite turkey but oh well haha, it is even better. Okay so let's start off the week here! Okay.... so we have a NEW ALLSTAR here in Lugano and his name is Luis!!!!! He just quit smoking 2 weeks ago and hasn't touched it since. He was a referral from San Remo (city on the beach in italy), but then he moved here to lugano so we were able to find him! And he is amazing! We have been working with him lots and he truely is a stud. He is 38, and is half argentinian and half italian. Not married, no kids. He will be getting baptized in a couple of weeks now and is very excited!! Okay so fun story... we do an english class every wednesday night for an hour. We make 15 bucks an hour.. no just kidding, we do it as service. But we have this man named Tiziano, (PS:.. coolest name in the world!) (PS... speaking of names i have decided that i want to name one of my daughters Stella. I know its a bit premature to be thinking about this but i heard that as a name the other day and loved it. It meens star in english.)) Anyways sorry for that rant! So this man Tiziano is a magician here in lugano. He speaks english pretty well. But last wednesday, he was the only one to come, and he said.... guys.. i have to do a show in english this saturday, so i need to rehearse it. So there in the church, he did his whole presentation for us!! I felt like i was in las vegas for a second it was awesome! He is really good and really funny. But fun news... i am learning finally to cook a killer pasta. The only bad thing is i'm not sure if i can make it in america haha, because ya'll dont have the ingredients. Maybe you can find them i dunno. Okay... fun update. I don't know if you guys know about this.... BUT...... the world is coming to an end in 2012!!!! That is the newest news here in SWZ. At LEAST 3-4 times a day someone says.... what do you know about 2012, or did you know the world will end?? So it is quite humorous. I would love to be a missionary in the end of 2011. I'm sure it would be quite interesting. So funny story..... we met a ukranian man yesterday and we taught him... in english luckily haha. And when we left i said... oh dang we forgot to ask your name... what is it? And he replied......VOLDEMORT! So i just wanted to warn everyone that Voldemort has returned, and has takin refuge here in the swiss alps. Don't tell Harry! Some other fun news! We found maggots in our apartment!! Yay what a fun surprise! Yesterday i was in the kitchen and i glanced at the cieling... oh.....uhh..... ANZIANO COME HERE!!!! Gross huh? Luckily we burned most of them, but they keep magically appearing. (PS:.. mom or dad please dont call the mission president :)

Oh yeah i just wanted to give a quick shout out to Jake. I printed off the Perx Security logo, and stuck it on the back of my agenda. So Jake my man... your company has spread all across the world. You can now tell people on the door.. umm yes we are international! Haha so another shout out! CONGRATS BUCK AND JAY-Z FOR BABY JACK JACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now i'm a bit confused because in Dads email it says baby Jake. Did you guys change his name? I am assuming it is just a typo but that is sooooo coool. I'm sure he is the cutest little bugger ever! Wow i am starting to lose count of nephew and nieces. I have now had 3 born while i'm in mission. Crazy! There is just one missing link! No just kidding... no pressure! Man there are a lot of shout outs this week so sorry haha! Next shout out goes to my man NATEEEEEEE!!!!! CONGRATS BROTHER! You landed the job!! That is soo cool. SWZ is way proud of you mate! Shout out to MOM AND DAD... temple officiators?!?! SOOO COOL! That is amazing. What a blessing! And last shout out to LUISA!! CONGRATS on the advancement for the job!!! Your a star! Wow i can't think of any more shout outs. If i missed someone... SHOUT OUT to you (insert your name here)......because your are amazing! Dad thanks so much for the baby picture i laughed out loud it is awesome! I want to print it off! So update on Maddelena! She hasn't smoked for 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!! The last little obstacle is the coffee in the morning but were workin on that together! Oh wow i almost forgot! Sergio!!! Had is interview last week and everything is good to go!!! This Saturday at 7 PM he will be baptised!! We are sooo excited!! Mom you asked a question about italians and there excersise habits haha. And yes my last Italian was the reason we got rid of the bikes. It's kind of a cultural thing. Kind of the take it chill attitude. A bit like ST. Thomas. Dont worry be happy mentality haha. So i should be wrappin this email up. Sorry I just realized it was really random haha. Every 2 sentences i changed subjects. I'll do better next week! Thank you all so much for your love and support!!!!

LOVE YA!!

Anziano Perkes!

What an amazing week!!! [Letter written 11-18-09]

Haha okay so i put the word amazing in the title so that i wouldnt have to start my letter by saying this week was amazing. But I guess i'll say it anyways because this week was TRUELY AMAZING! It was full of tender mercies, miracles, and fun. This week we were so busy teaching!!! I almost don't want to tell you because it really doesnt matter but i will anyways haha. We were blessed to be able to teach 34 lessons this last week. The whole week we were non stop rushing to lesson appointments, or tracting houses, and getting in a lot!! It truely was a blessed week. All week we just kept asking each other... man Lugano is amazing!! So i wrote down some funny and sweet experiences that i wanted to share... the first is funny so here we go. We have a sweet afghani family that we were teaching (i used past tense because we dont teach them more... werent super interested :( ) Anyways so they have this crazy son about 2 years old and he is too full of energy haha. So we were teaching the plan of salvation and i was bearing my testimony about something, when all of a sudden this little champion sprinted into the room from behind us and blind side tackeled me!! Haha included was a heroic tarzan scream aghhhhhhhhh. I found myself half falling off the couch on my side with this little munchkin on top of me with his arms around my face, a couple of his fingers nearly poking my eyes out. Imagine alladin when he is on the carpet and abu the monkey jumps on his head and he cant see. That is me with this little afghani monkey haha. So the parents chased him into another room. Ahh at last peace... ok sorry so anyways... i was saying... that Adam was the first prohet called to....... AGHHHHHHHHHHH another blind attack! So let's just end this story by saying the lesson wasn't the best but it brought back the funnest memories of wrestling with my cute little nephewes and nieces. So next story... we have this cool new african investigator named Patrick. He is from Nigeria and quite the man. He came to church one day to see if he could play the piano, so we volunteered to stay after and let him play a bit. Then we ended up teaching him and now he is a cool investigator with a baptismal date! We'll see how it goes. Were pretty much at the veryyyy beginning of the teaching process but he is way cool. He sings soul music while playing the piano like... i believe in Jesus!!!!.... i put my faith in him!! He actually has a decent voice. So fun story... last pday!!! So as ya'll know we decided to attack on of the biggest and coolest mountains in our area here. So we took a bus out to the mountain (named mount Boglia) and began our hike. It was very comical because Anziano Bosco hates hiking and has never gone. Honestly i'm not quite sure how i talked him into it. So we start hiking and we go for about 20 minutes (i start to hear gasps for breath behind me.) We turn a corner and we get a great view of our final destination. There before us is the mountain... wow very beautiful but far up in the distance. I was very excited... when i heard a gasp... anziano.....breath..... were nevvvvvvvver going to make it up there.....breath..... lets go back..... this is stupid. Haha oh... did you say go back anziano... NEVER!! So after a short discussion i managed to convince him of this brilliant idea yet a second time.... we continued on. About 2 hours later i was just starting to break a sweat when i turned around to see a nearly dead, crawling up the mountain companion. Anziano... want some water?.... NO this is stupid!! Well the good news is that we finally made it up to the top after a couple more discussions.. kind of like a family council you could say. And the view was UNREALLLLLLL. First off it was the most clear day ever.. and second the view was out of this world. I honestly have never seen ANYTHING like this ever before. We have to hike this as a family some day! For 360 degrees there were jagged mountains! It was amazing. So then we had a fun lunch on top of this swiss alp I Love Lucy style.. and then began the climb down. So in the end it was the funnest pday ever. Super fun. I took lots of pics... that i will send at the next library! So great news about Maddelenna!!!!!!! She hasnt smoked for 4 days!!! So for about a month now every time we see her we ask.. hey how is quitting going... and she responds... oh i smoked 13 or i smoked 9 yesterday. We always re committed her and she always said... sure sure i'll try. For about a month nothing happened. So we were really struggling with what we could do. We had tried it all... a program, a contract, we gave up coke. So at the end ... an idea came to us that was simpler than the rest... would it work?? The next lesson we went and at the end we said... Maddelenna we have a challenge for you. Don't smoke for an entire day! We were nervous about how she would respond but her response surprised us.... Why not 2 days!! Wow... okay yeah 2 days sounds great. We called her about 10 times every day to check up on her and not it is since friday that she hasnt smoked! She is doing amazing!! So we are super excited. Her baptism is planned for the 12 of december. So were working on making that date. Sergio continues to be amazing! He is now starting to get very excited for his baptism that is in 2 weeks!! We also are starting to get the pre baptism jitters haha. We brought him to the american families for lunch after church, and he loved it!!! He finally came out of his shy box and made some friends, and felt comfortable and relaxed!! And also we had an amazing american lunch (first american in mission... sad i know.) She made corn chowder, and then we had salald with RANCH!!!! Ranch just so you know doesnt exist here... they shipped it in from america because they miss it too much. And then we had classic american cookies. It was amazing. I miss american food actually. Italian food is the bestest ever... but theres nothing like a good ole' american plate. Oh before i forget... DAD MY MAN! HAPPPPPPY BIRTHDAY!!! TANTI AGURI A TE, TANTI AGURI A TE, TANTI AGURI A PAPA, TANTI AGURI A TEEEEEEEE! My man what is this birthday.... 45?! Oh wow 50 sneakin up you young cowboy you! I hope you have a great birthday.... oh and ps.. mom thanks for the reminder haha, believe it or not i actually remembered! Mom i got your letter yesterday and the CD's today!!!! THANK you sooo much! I love them! There are perfect to bring the Christmas season into the small apartment here! I want to try to send a chocolate bar home so we'll see how it works haha. Oh speaking of Christmas, i have to excuse a flubber that i did haha. I titled my email SNOWWWWW and then i forgot to tell you guys... it snowed!!! Kind of... only in the mountains, but now, all the mountains are white capped in snow and it is very beautiful!!! So fun little thing.... well actually it is very annoying.. but i am forgetting english!!!! Aghh i hate it. When i talk in english to teach or talk to the american family, i sound like such an idiot sometimes haha. Because i'll be talking and then an italian word sneaks its way in. For example.... like this..... ohhh yeah, the other giorno we had a great lesson! Haha but at the same time it is funny. So now i cant speak english or italian! No just kidding... italian is actually coming along great! I can talk pretty easily now without thinking or being nervous. It is very natural. Ok so i have to give a shout out to MOM and DAD for being the most faithful writers for 2 weeks in a row! You guys are the best! Dad i laughed your story about almost getting beat by G.I. Jane haha. How funny. Oh yeah i wanted to give another shout out to Jake for the Perx security logo!! I love it! It is awesome! I heard Nate designed it... is that true? If it is props to nate for being amazing!! So i discovered a fun surprise at our store... PS.... the store we shop at is called MIGROS. Kind of risky huh? Everytime i say it i feel like i'm being racist or something haha. So i found a giant chocolate bar, half a kilo... not quite sure in lbs. But anyways... i found this chocolate bar for 1.80!! It lasts for a long time and it is the best chocolate ever!!!! Super creamy. I'll have to smuggle some with me when i leave switzerland! But anways wonderful family i must get running!!! Thanks so much for the love and support!!

Love ya!

Anziano Perkes!!

SNOWWWWW!!! [Letter written 11-11-09]

Hello wonderful family!!!!!

So lemme just say that this week was one of the best weeks in my entire mission!! We were amazing blessed to teach 26 lessons this last week, but that is not why it is special, because in the end it's not the numbers that are important but the progress that people are making. So i want to tell you why this was a very special week. So we were teaching our dear sweet sister Maddelena about the 10 commandments. We had finished all the other commandments and that was the last step we needed before we were done. In the middle of the lesson, Maddelenna inturrupted and said. "You know what??" And instantly i was like... oh nooooo haha. Quick note about our dear friend. She is about 60 not sure if ya'll knew that. And she is one of the funniest people i know in the whole planet. She is like our mother here in switzlerland. And she lovessss to talk and tell stories so when she interupted i was like.. oh no were gonna get side tracked. But to my wonderful surprise she said... You know what my desire is..? No Maddelenna what is it? Can i tell you? YESSS tell us what is it! My desire.... is to go to the temple in switzlerland. When she said this the spirit just flooded the room it was so incredible. (note.. we have never talked about the temple with her before... must of heard about it in church) Then she said... i dont know why but something inside of me is saying... you have to go there! I dont even know what you do there but someday i will go to the temple! WOW!!!! The spirit was so strong it was amazing. Truely a tender mercy. So the next day that we went which happened to be the actual next day, we brought a poster of the swiss temple and taught her about the temple. She was truely touched, and is now excited and eager to make it to the temple. At the end we asked her Maddelenna what do you need to do to go there. And right away she said... quit smoking and be worthy. Wow She is amazing! So we have finished all the commandments and doctrine with her. Literally she is ready for baptism. If she quit smoking today we would baptize her tongith! No not really but she is that ready. She amazes us every time we go there. I'll have to snag a pic with her the next time. But anways... she is doing amazing. Also Sergio is doing great. He is very excited for his baptism on the 28th of November. Okay so i'm sorry but today i dont have much time. Today, we are hiking one of the coolest mountains here in switzlerand, and it just happens to be the most beautiful day in the world!!! So we are very excited. Mom i have my shoes to help me too!! We packed a couple of sandwiches and were gonna eat on top of the world!! So another fun experience this week. We were doing door to door and this old guy let us in and in the middle of the first lesson he declared... i'm a mason! Wow how cool just like national treasure!! We asked a couple of questions, and then continued our lesson. At the end you wont believe what happened! We got invited to join the masons!! How cool! Unfortunatly we declined but we want to get a souvenir or something from him... like some ancient mason ring or something cool like from the movie! So that was an interesting experience. YOYO and Slaja are doing okay. They have some problems right now, and we havent seen them for a week. Were not quite sure whats up but right now they need to work some things out on there own. Were gonna try next week. Mom you asked what kind of art Anziano Bosco does. He draws fantasy stuff like spencer Hawkes, he does also paint, and scultp. He is really good of what i have seen of his work. Mom you asked if we see president at zone conference. Yes we do. We see him at least twice a transfer (6 weeks) for interviews and zone conference. He is the man... way cool. Mom you asked about a christmas cd. Sure! That would be awesome! I am always open to more music... and yes i do have a cd player! You talked about christmas goodies. You are right mom... I am in goody land right now so dont stress out to send candy. We have it all here! Speaking of chocolate wow... it is so amazing here. I want to send some home but i think it would explode in the mail. Your encounter with the italian man inthe temple sounds so neat. If he is from milan it meens he is a stud for sure. Dad i laughed so hard that Harvy will miss the max update haha. Wow... who woulda thunk huh?? Okay so Mom and Dad ya'll asked some questions so i just cut and paste below here... lemme answer them now!!



You spoke of going on exchanges in Como. Question,…when you do exchanges and you are with another Elder, who is he and do you enjoy that? …or would you just rather stay in Lugano?

No we always go with other Elders. And yes i love it. No matter how much you love a city or a companion it is always nice to have a little break. Also it gives us a chance to learn from other missionaries as well


Is there a purpose in doing the exchanges? Or is it to just mix up things a little and give missionaries a change?

The main purpose is so that we can learn from other missionaries.. like approaches or ways to teach a certain lesson.


When you go to Como do you teach from their teaching pool? Is Como part of your District or Zone. Do you have many Zone or District activities on p-day where you gather together???

Yes we teach people in Como... i love it. They are the zone leaders in Como and they have some very cool solid investigators. So it is fun to get to know the people who are getting baptized also there. Como is in our district. There are 6 in our district. 2 Elders from como, and 2 sisters from como... obviuously we dont do exchanges with them haha. And no... President discourages from doing group pday activities so i have never done it in my mission yet.



1. What one thing do you most love about Italy that we just don't have going for us here in the US?
Hmmm good question pops... lemme think. The architecture for sure is one thing, and also the history i would say. It is so fun to see these churches that are just ancient. For example the lds church in como was the popes house like 200 years ago. Pretty neat. Also there are markets everywhere which is quite fun. And gelato ever where!! I will for sure miss that!!!



2. What is the one cultural trait or characteristic of Italians that you most enjoy?
They are loud people. And there are blunt and not afraid to speak there mind. Its like when we went to st. thomas and the members came up to Jake and were like... Jake your fat!! (sorry jake to bring up that terrible memory again!!) They are just like that. For example.. if i wear an ugly tie and i ask someone.. hey you like my tie?? Instead of being like... uhh yeah its cool man.. there like... no it is ugly haha.



3. Do you ever get to hear Italian music? Opera? Other cool music? What do you think?
Yeah people really like andrea bocceli here. It is fun because now i understand the words! And all the teenagers listen to rap, so every once and i while a car will drive by blasting there music. So we catch a peak of all sourts of music haha. It is quite interesting.




Well my wonderful family i hope that this wasn't too short!!! But we are off to hike the world now! I'll write all about it next week. PS... mom i sent a letter 3 days ago so its funny that you sent one too haha! But i love you guys and i'll hear from ya next week!!


Love ya!

Anziano Perkes

Ya Ruschi . . . [Letter written 11-4-09]

Hellllllo everyone!!!!!!!

So lemme just start off by saying this week was great... no im just kidding im sure everyone is tired of me saying that haha so i want to start off by thanking everyone for there emails, pictures and love!! I seriously was laughing a lot while reading all these emails. I loved the pictures too!!!! Okay so i have lots to write about so ill just jump right into the good stuff! So i want to describe something called an out of country expereience. So i heard about the out of body expereience where you feel like your out of your body..... well i invented a new sort of abnormal thing called out of country experience. Let me explain ehem...... So i am currently serving in switzlerand right... so naturally one would think... okayy i'll teach and talk with swiss people right?!.......WRONG! So the other day we were fortunate to find a couple of people doing casa, and to talk with some other people on the bus/street. We found an amazing married couple named YoYo and Slaja!!! Yo Yo is from nigeria, and slaja is from croatia...... nothing close to swiss haha. So Then we talked with a nice man from Iran. An old italian couple, and an american mom! Well let me just finish this rather strange expereience with something i have named, the muslim encounter. So we were doing house, and this little (not trying to be racist) but this little arabian-like alladin man answered the door, complete with robe and slippers. We said, hey we have a great message for you... and he replyed with... there isnt a greater message than the islam one. Okay.... we said... we'd like to hear this message. So he invited us in. But first we had to take our shoes off, a religous tradition, pretty neat huh? So this man is from afghanistan. He was very nice and hospitable. We listened to him for a bit, and then we gave him our short sweet message. He told us that we should become muslim and that at the day of judgement he would be there to testify that he gave us the oppurtunity to be muslim. He was a stud. He was really concerned for our future and salvation. He did say one thing that was kind of strange. When he found out i was american he said that george bush is a child of the devil. Wow.... thats quite the statement huh? So this is my out of country expereience..... WHERE ARE THE SWISS PEOPLE?! Haha i love it... i feel like im serving in 18 different countries here in lugano. We meet people from all over the world every day!!! Ok so i took way to much time to describe that.. as it was just one bullet point on my list to email haha. So i went to como for exchanges again and it was funny because i learned that lugano has a reputation for just being rich people and banks haha. It is kind of true... there are so many swiss banks here where tons of foreigners store money to flee taxes. Quick update on sergio and maddelenna. Sergio is doing great.... we gave him so book of mormon posters and he had them framed and now his house is a great atmosphere for the spirit! Maddelennna is also doing great... she was in italy all week so we havent seen her, but she called us and told us she wanted to read the entire book of mormon this week!! She is in jacob when she called. She is soo cool! So i realized i havent talked about my bruther anz. Bosco much. So some basic info. He is the youngest in the family. Has 3 brothers... all served missions, and all are married. His parents are both converts and very awesome. He comes from Pescara, which is in the middle of italy. He went to artists school, and is very good. He is a great cook, and spoils me with amazing pastas, which im learning how to make! Mom and Dad that sounded so much fun about Brandon Gill!! What a good kid. I miss him tons... tell him i said hi. Email a pic of him to me from his mission if you can! Thanks!! Mom i actually did understand the packages theme haha its just that i couldnt wait to go hiking to try out the shoes so i sported them to help someone move. And i must sayyy that they are veryyyy comfy. Were planning a hike when the wearther gets nicer here!! Mom you asked how i liked Milano. That is where i have been going every month for zone conference, since i came to italy... so ive seen it beofre. According to me the best part of milano is that mcdonalds has burgers for 50 cents!!!!!!!!!!!! Every time we eat at least 5 or 6. The main station in milano is incredible!! Also the duomo is quite impressive! Dad i loved your story about facebook!! I agree with mom that your a nerd, but all the same i laughed very hard. Im glad that shadow ken and ken ken are friends haha. I literally laughed so hard. You should write a book dad! You have a great talent. But i'm sorry if this was short but i must be running soon. Im trying to think of what else is fun that i did this week. Hmmm... all I can say is that we are truely seeing miracles every week. The work here in Lugano is just booming. It is soo incredible. On a daily basis were finding new people. I often ask myself... what did i do to deserve such great blessings??? So i am very thankful and humbled to serve here. But anywho i gotta get running!! Love you guys soooo much. BYEEEEE..... oh ps.... Ya Ruschi... i have to explain that. It is russian for I'm russian. I am learning russian! Shout out to Tyler Mac! I like to learn little prhases in other languages so i can speak with all these foreigners!!!! So now im working on russian haha. Love ya guys!!

Anziano Perkes!

Hellllllllllllllllllo La La La . . . [Letter written 10-28-09]

Helllo my wonferful family!!!!

HOw is everyone doing!? So this week was terrible... no just kidding i just wanted to see if i could scare you. It was truely an incredible week! So lets start off with a funny like difference in languages. So everyonce in a while we meet people that only speak english. You would think this would be great but it is actually a real pain because im to the point now where it is easier to teach in italian. In fact i stink at teaching in english haha. So english for me is really awkward when it comes to like, approaching someone on the street or anything like that. So this other day i sounded like a complete idiot because i tried to translate what i say into english and it just didnt work haha. So in italian we say a lot, Lei e una persona credente. This translates to, are you religious? But the literall translation goes like this. So the other day we stopped the person, turns out to be an american! So im like... are you a believer?? I sounded like some vampire from a story or something haha. The gave me the weirdest face... a believer!? What does that meen? Like santa clause or something haha. And then there is another frase that is simply, In Giro. For example if i would say... hey were here in giro. THat meens hey were here going around talking to people. So with this same person i was like.... hey were here in gir.... umm around! Haha it made no sense at all. So lets just say it was like the worst street approach ive ever done haha. So funny story with americans... we were on the ski lift the other day going up to the train station and these really short girls were on the ski lift too. When they both look at me with a wow face. One leans over to the other laughing and says... oh my gosh he is sooooooo tall. And i was just sittin there crackin up inside because they didnt know i spoke english. Then as we were getting off i was like... oh go ahead... and they both turned brightttttt red it was hilarious. I gave them a cheesy smile and walked away, and then there were like.. oh my gosh he speaks enlglish aghhhh. Haha so last pday was way fun. WE went down and played billiards and fooseball, it was a lot of fun. And mom i dont remember the priest from st. thomas sorry! Ok.... speaking of mom.... I GOT MY PACKAGE!!!! ThANK THANK THANK THANK XOUUUUUUU. Thank you so much i loved it mom and dad! The freez dried ice cream was really fun. We enjoyed that a lot. THe frisbee is great too, we played in the house this morning and nearly broke a lamp haha. And the shoes!!! You will be glad to know that i am wearing them right now! Were in normal clothes right now it is soooo weird haha. We went and help this guy move early the morning and the library right next door. They are super comfy i love them. In fact i want to send a picture at the next place i hope i can. Did you guys get my pics last week?? I never know with the computers here. So we have zone conference last friday and we had to sleepover at como which was fun. Oh ya, the macho man post card is a blast, it is our work out pump up song haha. And PS::: Dad tell your parents thanks so much for the post card they are too nice. I wanna set some time aside to write a letter but were really busy latley. So Sergio is doing great!!!!! This week we saw a miracle from him ^he is amazing. So lets just say he had some sketchy posters and magazines all over his house haha..... we'll leave it at that. So we taught him the law of chastity and we came back and all of it was gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And then he said with a grin... did you notice i cleaned the house a bit? Not only did he do that but he threw away all his films that were too violent. He said he felt like it was the right thing to do. Sooo cool!! Soo funny little story haha. So i had to take some fotos at a machine for my documnets right. So i sit down, insert the outrageous 3 euro that it cost. And i smile and click.... do you like this photo? To take another press this button. Hmmm.. i look a little cheesy in that photo... i'll try again.... okay click.... hmm i look a little gay in that photo ok one more time. So this whole time im inside this little curtain booth thing okay and anziano bosco is outside. Well right when it was about to take the picture anziano bosco leans his head in right on the countdown 2.......1. And with a mister been voice and face says..... HEWWWO. (hello in mr. bean language.) And of course i started busting up laughing. Well it took the picture and i had the worst face imaginable... but right after it took it... it said... thank you! Your photo is now printing! NOOOOOOO! So this was for a serious document so i couldnt submit this terrible photo! So i got another 3 euro.... dang itttt. Well this time i was dumb and pressed the wrong button and instead of getting id pictures... i got a picture of me with the colleseum in the back round!!! Oh perfect a souvenir. So lets just say it took three times and 9 euro to finally get a picture that was half decent. But in the end it was a funny experience to remember. So we had conference of the Stake this sunday, so we all went to milano, (MAddelenna came and loved it!!!!!!) and Elder Causse spoke! He is of the 70 and a real good guy. And then the cool part is they had a special meeting after for all investigators with a baptismal date!! So maddlenna and us, got to talk to this 70 and it was awesome! He incouraged her and just did awesome... she fealt really special on the ride home. It really helped her. THis week though she is in italy... so we wont get to see her for a week or two... bummer. But we will continue to call her!! A announcement about future packages... i heard that shoes in the mail are really dangerous here, so i am very grateful to have recieved these ones, but for future notice it might not be a good idea. Mom also thanks so much for the back pack i love it. It is perfect for just bringing a couple things along! I dont know if you found my school bag. It would be nice to have for exchanges and things when i need to pack more... if you cant find it no worries! I love ya! So that was pretty much it for the week. Sorry if that was too short. Because of the move we dont have tons of time ikes! BUt i love you guys so much thanks for everything!!! Oh yeah... shout out to buck and Jay-Z and baby JACK JACK!!!!! That is sooo exciting!! But anywho i gotta write president now!!


Love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anziano Perkes!!

Tanti Aguri Halloween! [Letter written 10-21-09]

So this week i believe Halloween is coming up! How exciting... too bad they don't celebrate it here. I'll have to just scare anziano Bosco to get my fun out of the holiday haha. So this week was a great week. Thanks so much for all the letters. Wednesdays are always frun days because i get to hear from my wonderful family! It sounds like you are all doing great. I just wanted to give a shout out to Jake WOOP WOOP HOORAY. That is so cool you got the first business sale. Way to go bro. Were proud of you here in Switzlerand! I loved the logo's too. I kinda agree with mom a bit, but at the same time i really liked the hipness of them. And dad it isn't blood haha. So... lemme update ya'll on the week and then ill answer some questions etc. etc. So we were on the train and this priest walked by and i smiled and waved, and to my surprise he stopped and sat down with us. My first thought was oh no i dont want this to be contentious. Boy was I surprised when he was totally a cool guy and just wanted to talk. He is from brazil and has seen our temples down there, so he just asked us a bunch of questions. So before we know it were exchanging numbers and he invites us down to his sanctuary or whatever it is called sorry haha. So we went down this last week and he fed us a great dinner of rice and beans and meat... shout out to BUCK! Bring back any memories buddy!? It was delicious and then the coolest part... he took us on a tour of the facilities there. We saw things that not even the members see. He took on this tour of an old baptistry which was quite awesome. Then there was this section kind of like a museum, or a collection of old stuff and he showed us the oldest bible i have ever seen! So all in all it was a very intersting fun experience. In fact it was so fun that for pday today were going down to play some basketball, billiards, and fooseball with him and other priests haha. So were really excited. I'll have to get a picture. Oh i'm so sorry about not being able to send pictures. The computers here are really lame and the problem is to send one pic takes like 10 minutes, but i'll see if i can get one sent off today. Sorry! My card is almost full so i'll just have to burn a cd and send it home! Mom you are too sweet haha, your already wondering about my christmas package, wow your on the ball haha. I was trying to think the other day and i have a couple things that would be nice, but not neccassary. Whatever you send i'll be thrilled i'm sure! Just some ideas... Deodarant (axe), chapstick (magic kind jake uses), Zebra F-301 BP pen refills (black), I dont know if my bag is still sittin around the house but my bag here is really dorky and breaking, if you cant find it please dont worry about buying one, it was just a thought. And then i dunno if they have these but like 2 pairs of the thermal garments would be awesome! For size im guessing large, 34-35 ish waist. But these are just ideas to help ya get started. Thanks!! Anziano Bosco is still doing great. My italian is really improving i love it. We are both really motivated to study the language everyday. He is studying english obviuosly. I have some sad news about the Carbone family... not reallly that sad but not terrific. Allexander is leaving for the military in northern switzerland this week. It is obligatory for all youth here to serve for 8 months... BOGUS!! So unfortunatly he will be out of our teaching area, but we are going to refer him to missinoaries up there. We are going to still keep in contact with him. I know he will be baptized some day. But these day now will be difficult for him. Maddelenna is really struggling with quitting smoking. She is also going to italy for 3 weeks, so her batpism date needs to be pushed back, but no worries. It is more important to be ready right? So we are still working with them and they are still awesome, we love them! To try and help them quit we decided that we would give something up, so i cant drink any more soda!! OH NO!! So it has been a challenge but Anziano Bosco is helping me :) . The good news is that we have a new power house investigator named Sergio. He is seriously a stud. He has some of his own problems as well but he is amazing. We taught the word of wisdom and half way through the lesson he says, you know what i will not drink tea or coffee any more!! I've had enough! That was a week ago and to this day he has been living the word of wisdom 100%. He is our superhero. He is 50 and from france. Speaks perfect italian and is very nice. We teach him 3 times a week. So that is the news for us here in lugano! I am so excited that Brandon is home! That is soooo nuts! Give him a big hug for me! He is a good kid. Oh and mom haha, im sorry that someone profaned on my wall. You have my permission to permanantly delete them forever!! :) Thanks for the happy birthday messages from facebook. Honestly i had a hard time remembering who those people were but im sure were great friends haha. So i better get going now.. i will try photos at the next library. I cant promise anything but i will try!! THanks so much family and have a wonderful Halloween!! Sono molto grato per voi e per tutte le cose che fate. Siete un esempio per me ogni giorno. Veramente, siete bravi!


Ciao!!

Anziano Massimo Perx!