Max with his first companion, Anziano Ransom, and President and Sister Dunaway.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
I'm HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MAX'S 4-29-09 LETTER:Hello wonderful family!!!!!!!!!!
So first off this keyboard is very weird as it is set for Italian and has all these goofy accents everywhere, so every time I go to use the shift key it gives me one of these <<<. So if you see some of those don't worry, I'm okay. Okay, so let me seee . . . . WOW is all I have to say. WOW, WOW, WOW!! So I have a lot to write about and a lot of you had questions, which, by the way, I love questions, [they] make it easier for me to email, haha. First I'll start with Dad's list of questions . . . . drum roll pleaseeeeee.
1) Tell us about your INTRODUCTION to Italy. What was your first day like? What were your first impressions?
Okay, so this was a very amazing part of my welcome. As ya'll know, I didn't end up having any time in Germany. I am so sorry to anyone that was waiting up. We didn't even have time to call to say we didn't have time. But Mothers' Day is coming up, so I'll talk to you all then! So I had a big sleep over with all the cool kids in my district at the MTC. We laid mattresses all across the floor; it was awesome. When we woke up we were all just kind of stunned . . . we're leaving!!! So the plane ride from America to Germany was bruuuuuuutal! thought I was going to die. I was considering jumping out the emergency exit, no lie. I was in the middle row and the seat had no extra room at all even though the flight was 9 hours. So we couldn't watch the movies, so we pretty much just sat there and suffered. And of course, I sat next to Anziano Motely who is a 300 pound black man. So yeah . . . when the plane started coming over the Alps, we were all just like yesssssss, we're in Italy!!! So it was the best when the pilot started his descent to the wonderful land of Italy.
On the plane (which was the plane to Italy, sorry, I skipped the Germany plane), I got the chance to talk to an Italian man named Mario. Yeah, no joke, haha. First Italian I meet is Mario . . . pretty ironic, haha. So I really couldn't understand anything he was saying, haha, it was so fun. He said I did good though. Luckily he spoke a bit of English as well, which he didn't reveal till after I struggled for 10 minutes to hold a conversation with him. He was like, you speak very good. I was like, you speak English!?!?!? Haha, so that was fun.
Finally, we landed and President and the 2 AP's picked us up which was so great to finally see them. They took us to the mission home and it was a beautiful, bright, sunny day. We chilled in the mission home for a bit, had some boring meeting that I didn't understand, haha. No joke, I almost died, I was soooo tired! At this point I'd been up for like 30 hours straight. But then we got a chance to go to DOUMO!! In downtown Milan. If you haven't seen it, google it. It was incredible. We came out of the subway and it was just like BAMMMMM! It didn't even look real. The subways were way fun, except for the half-naked chicks posted everywhere. By the way, Italy must be very poor, because no one wears clothes here, haha. The first couple of days I was like . . . oh, my gosh, where am I!? But now I have just learned how to tune it out. It's pretty funny. Immodesty is literally everywhere. But anyway, we talked to some people on the subway and that was fun. We got to tour the Duomo. I'll attach some pictures after this email. It was awesome.
So then we came home and had some lasagna, which was awesome, and then they shipped us off to a hotel, which was so nice being as we were all dead tired! So then we woke up the next morning and went to the chapel in Milan and met all the trainers. Then they just straight up called us out . . . . . Anziano Perkes, you will be with Anziano Ransom in Piacenza!!!!!!!!!! WOW, was I excited. But I called it: I got the shortest trainer in the bunch, haha. We're quite the couple! So then we just were like . . . okay, let's go. We hopped on a train and headed off to Piacenza!!! I'll pick up this story later, but I wanna get these questions anwered!
2) What did you think of your mission president and his wife?
They're awesome . . . very nice . . . President Dunaway made me promise to call him if my bed was too short. I got to the apartment and discovered my feet only hung off about a foot, so I decided that wasn't enough, haha. I love it; it's great.
3) What was it like being at the mission home?
The mission home was so fun . . . just to be able to sit on a couch and relax was heavenly!
4) How was it SPEAKING Italian IN Italy? Was it easier or harder than you thought?
Haha . . . I think the only words to sum this up is WOW. What language did they teach me in the MTC!?!?! So yeah, it is very hard.
5) What are the people like? Have they been nice to you?
6) Did you get a great first companion? Tell us about him. Will he work real hard? How long has he been out? Is his Italian good?
Okay, so I've decided I'll probably end up answering all these in my story, so back to that . . .
We got on the train and at first it was just kinda awkward. Sooooo, where ya from?? Haha, I'm not gonna lie, the first day was just kinda weird. But A. Ransom is a stud. As I said, he's pretty short, so it's fun. He is a way nice kid from North Dakota. At first I thought he was kind of shy and not very talkative, but then he opened up quite a bit. We get along perfectly; I love it. He is the district leader of our district and goes home July 14th. So I'll be his last companion. We're gonna work way hard his last two months and send him home in style.
So we got to the apartment, which is actually very large. We have a study room with couches, a smalllllllll kitchen and bathroom, and bedroom and an empty room that we throw all our storage in. So we are very fortunate to have this great place. Italy smells great, by the way, I love it.
So the first couple of days were wayyyyyyy hard. I expected to come in and just teach lessons all day, haha. Anziano Ransom's last companion didn't ever want to do finding work, so basically we only have like 2 to 3 investigators. So the first two days we just did all finding work. Jet lag was getting the best of me and I couldn't speak at all! We had no success at all, everyone just said no. So the first two days were rough. I woke Saturday morning still jet laggy and just being like mamma mia, another dayyy aghhh. I was kinda just not excited to go out. I know this sounds terrible but just get to the end of this story, it gets better. So I showered and did some pushups. Well my personal study that morning was wayyy cool. It just pumped me up to get to work. So we went outside and it was pouring rain and at first I wils like this id gonna be a longgg day. So we started biking . . . . oh yeah, we're a biking area, which is wayyyy cool. My bike is purple and is so awesome, I love it. My helmet is even cooler; I'll have to send you a picture. So we're biking and it just hit me: I was like this is soooooo cool. I'm in Italy!!! I'm a missionary!! So I started singing teh rocky theme song and just had a grin on for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, I got sick as I don't have a rain coat, haha. So we are going to buy one today as it has been raining since then. My suit is beat to pulp. It smells like a drying tent; it actually is rather pleasant.
8) How is the food? Have you eaten anything weird? Really good?
In terms of food, I actually haven't had any Italian meals yet. President just put in the rule that we have to have an investigator there, so that kind of killed all our dinner appointments. But the food we've cooked at home has been awesome. You'd be proud of me. I cooked hamburgers the other night and they were delicious!
9) Have you been able to teach anyone yet?
Yeah, we have had a couple of lessons. They're a bit different than the golden investigators we taught in the MTC. People don't read what we ask them to; they have their tv on, haha. So it's been a bit of a shock. But I love it. We've had some sweet lessons. This man named Nando said he wanted to be baptized, but he smokes so we're gonna be working with him. Everyone here smokes; it is quite a sad thing. Especially the teenagers. It is sad to see all the teenagers wasting their lives to smoking and drinking.
10) Is your area one in which your companion has already been serving? Or are you both new?
My companion has been here for 1 transfor, so it is perfect. He knows the area greatly and also all the members.
11) What was church like? Are you a little branch? What are the members like?
Okay, so we have a little branch here in Piacenza. It has like 30-50 people, depending on the week. They are the nicest people in the world. Italy actually reminds me a lot of St. Thomas, without all the garbage and with a lot more Italians. It is sooooo beautiful here, I love it! So the members are very funny. In the middle of sacrament, the branch president said something like . . . . bla, bla, bla, bla, Perkes, bla, bla, bla, bla. I was like what??? And Anziano Ransom was like he wants you to bear your testimony. Oh, wow . . . so I got up there and the pulpit went up to my legs, which by teh way, Italians are very short, haha . . . they're all scared of me. But anyway, so I just bore my testimony as best as I could and told them how happy I was to be in Piacenza. I said that my Italian wasn't too good, so if they could help me. After sacrament they all came and welcomed me and said my Italian was awesome, which it isn't, haha. Some of them were like, Mamma Mia, un Gigante!! Which means like oh wow, a giant, haha. They call me the giant. That is one thing everyone comments on is how tall I am. I thought America was bad; Italy is like triple, haha, but I love it. It is a great way to start talking to people. So that's our branch; I don't know them very well, but I love them all, they're all sooo sweet. Wait till you see a cute little 2 year old girl speak Italian; it is the cutest thing I've ever seen. This little girl came up to me in her sweet voice and was like you're tall! But in Italian, obviously. Okay, so I'm now going to go off of my list so this may be a bit [of a] jump; I'm sorry.
So the cars here are crazyyyyy. I've seen like 20 Porsches, 2 Ferraris, and 1 Lamborini, and 3 Audi R8's, which is the car Iron Man drives. That's just in a week. People have real nice cars. Then there is the 3 wheeled tiny trucks people have. No joke. I could probably pick one up; they are hilarious. Alpha Romeo is a huge car brand out here. I alaso saw a Mazerati, which was awesome. So I've had a chance to have a few Italian foods from shops. I had some focaccia bread, gellato, and pizza. They were all amazing and so much better than American food.
Anziano Ransom is the district leader, which means that he does exchanges once a week. So I always do them too. I got the chance to go down to Reggio Emilia and do a 24 hour split with Anziano Cook, which was way fun to see his approaches and a different city. [Max describes doing "casa in casa (door to door)" contacting] When people yell in Italian I just can't help but smile. Whenever they slam the door I look at Anziano Ransom and I'm just like what did they say??? So we have been speaking as much as we can in Italian with each other. I'm imporving fast already, but I have a long wayyyy to go so I need to really work hard.
So every city has something called Centro (pronounced chentro), which is the old city of the city. For us, it is like the main hub where everything is. Our church is in Centro. The streets are are all cobblestone and very narrow. It is what Italy looks like when I think of Italy. The most beautiful long narrow streets with multi colored apartmetns all the way down. I'll have to get a good picture. It is raining still today so my picture I took isn't the best . . . I'll send it anyways though.
So I loved all your letters. Sales sound like they're going good! Buck and Jay Z, I like the Gulf model of car. It sounds sweet. By teh way, on P-days I have as much time as I want to spend, so emails work just fine. Here is my address, if you want to send letters, which would also be fine.
Anziano Perkes
Via XXIV Maggio 42
29100 Piacenza PC
Italia
All letters can go there. I'll be here for quite a while, so I'll let you know when I'm transferred. Here is the mission home, if you're sending packages and want to send them here.
Anziano Perkes
Via Gramsci 13/4
20090 Opera MI
Italia
If you send any packages, don't send beef jerky or deodorant. Customs, a lot of times, will take or charge huge fees on certain items like beef jerky. Just be careful of what you send; if you do send something, which you don't have to. Oh, and Luisa, I don't really have time to knit. You're too sweet. Thank you, though. It also helps if you put "Della Famiglia" on it. If you have any stickers of Christ, throw them on there too. Both of these help get it through.
Nate, your pictures you sent were amazing. But, hey wonderful family, I hope I answered all your questions. But I have to write President as well, so I love you and all look forward to emailing next week. I'll send pictures in another email. Please forward this to everyone as I don't have a contact list yet.
Italy is amazing. I love every moment of it. I'm already getting sad to leave.
LOVE TO ALL!!!
TODAYYYYYYYYYY!!! [Sent from MTC -- April 21, 2009]
So i'm sorry that i didn't get to email yesterday. They were being stupid, because today is officialy our departure day, so we had to wake up extra early and come down here to shoot off a quick email. Hello everyone!!!! Today i am flying out to Italy!!!!! Thank you all so much for your Dear Elder!!!! I got 9 letters on monday breaking all district records! I even got a little plaque, no i'm just kidding just on my teeth that is. So this past week was way intense! Guess of all people who spoke to us on Tuesday!?!?! ELDER HOLLAND!!! It was so amazing, he always gets so fired up when he speaks to the mtc. The spirit was so stong. There seriosuly could not have been any better way to get sent off to the mission field than by hearing from Elder Holland. He just talked about how he loved the mission so much and not to let one hour go by, one minute, one second be wasted because you will forever regret it. I took like 6 pages of notes it was so cool. I don't have then with me now though they are packed away sorry! So yesterday our teacher brought in all his mission pictures as kind of a farewell culture day. Italy is sooooo beautiful! I knew it was but i just thought you know like the top 4 cities, venice, bergamo, milan, and Genova were the only beautiful ones and the rest were kinda normal. Every city he was in was sooooo coool. There is something unique about every town/city in Italy, whether it be a special look or holiday or food. For example in the city Parma is where parmesian comes from and you have the best cheese there or in Genova they have the best fricatcha bread. I got your phone cards with all the numbers thank you sooo much. I might call mom and dad in provo and then the rest in germany. I'm not sure i'll have a ton of time in provo but i know i can at least call ya'll. I'll try to squeeze in as much in provo because it will be better time for ya'll. So i sent home my memory card yesterday! Please read Mormon 9: 31 (or maybe 33) before looking at my pics haha. No i'm just kidding from all my pictures you'll think i don't study, but i thought it would be boring if i just took pics of me memorizing vocab, reading all day, or in class. I sent a mini explanation paper for the pics that have people in them. If you zoom in i'm sure you can see their name tags to see who it is. Just keep your eyes out for Anziani, Motley and Casuto. There my boys that kepy me sain during these past 9 weeks. Without them i quite possibly could have gone bonkers haha no just kidding. So i really don't have that much to say, as I will be talking to you today!!! So I love you all and hope to get to hear you today!
Vi Voglio Bene!
Anziano Perkes
Vi Voglio Bene!
Anziano Perkes
1 WEEEEEK! [Sent from MTC -- April 14, 2009]
Wow oh wow!
1 Week from today i will be on an airplaine to ITALY!!!!!!!!! Hello wonderful family how is everyone doing?? Thank you all for the letters this week i loved them all as always. Mom listening to Kanye West?!? I'm impressed this is a whole new step for you. Mom and Dad your new raw diet sounds very.... intersting. I'll have to try it sometime, maybe when i'm like stranded on an island where there are only apples and pine apple juice... haha. No it sounds like it is working great. Okay so i made a list of things to write about to try and get in the most out of these letters! So first off i have about 500 pictures on my camera and i think i am going to send home the memory card now rather than get to italy put some more on and send it home. So if you guys could copy the pictures somewhere and then wait till i'm in italy to send it back that would be fantastic. Let me know what you think. If you want me to wait to fill it up in Italy let me know. I won't send it till next monday so you can tell me. I was very sad to hear about the earthquake in italy that is very sad. Something very interesting thouhg, i was talking to my teacher about it and he said that there has not been a baptism in that little city for 8 years. So mayvbe the Lord is just preparing these people to be humble. BUt regardless it is still sad. So we do this funny thing when we call (pretend) our teachers to set up an appointment with them, they will go out the door and then i'll make a ring sound for them and then 2 missionairies and the teacher will talk on the pghone. So my previous ringtone i used had been the stereotypical one that is like, beedo bee do beeedo beee do diiii. Its the one in the coke commercial where he answers the coke and says, its for you. SO i got a bit bored of going original so i decided to mix it up a bit. So i started singing, buffalo soldier in a ringtoness voice. And Fratello Clarke, (the teacher that is the horse) starts laughing and goes, Anziano Perkes what is that for? So i was like you got a custom ringtone last night, don't worry about it. And he was like, that is not my ringtone silly, so i was like... allright what is his ringtone hmmm. So about 2 seconds after i was like, As sisters in zion we all work together....." And he started laughing so hard that he had to close the door and re compose himself. It was quite funny. So in 30 minutes i have to go get a departure haricut!!!! Crazy huh!?!? Hey mom if you could send me everyones number, and let everyone know that i'll be calling. Thank you so much!! So here's the schedule. We fly out of provo on the 21st at 11:07, get to chicago at 3 and depart at 3:45, get to Frankfurt, Germany at 6:55 AM and then depart there at 8:45 AM. We then get into Milan at 9:55 AM on 22nd of April. So i won't have any time at chicago, but i have 2 hours in germany. I don't know what the time difference is but if you could check and let me know if that is not a good time to call. I was planning on calling then so lemme know. I might be able to make a quick call in Provo but i'm not sure i'll let you know. Just make sure people answer there phones because i won't have a ton of time to re call back. So we have this funny elder named Anziano Barthell that i told you about the one that is kinda like steve but very amusing. He's from Minnesota so has a crazy accent. He of all people got chosen to be our travel guide during our flight which isn't that big of a deal, but he is taking it ever so seriusoly. So he called a zone meeting yesterday to have a mission debriefing sort of haha. So he called us in and started talking about not watching movies on the planes and so forth. And then with his famous voice he was like, "NOw remember Anziani, once we leave provo we will be a bunch of weird men in suits." You have to see this kid say this to appreciate how funny it was. so i pulled out my camera to grab a picture of him and he was like, "Please Anziano Perkes, no flash photography at this meeting!" He was being dead serious too, we all busted up laughing. We all love him so much. So quick story i was reading in Ether. I'm going to finish the BOM today in the temple which is going to be amazing. My last temple day for 2 years!!! How sad, i've come to really love the temple. So i read about the Brother of Jared and i always just thought it was a sotry about a bunch of barges, nothing to special you know. And then i read in chapter 6, verse 2 and 3, and realized taht the two stones of lights in the boats of darkness could be missionaries!!! And that they light the people as they travel across the dark and scary ocean which could represent our lives here on Earth. I was very sad to hear of Daniele Hales getting married, no i'm just kidding, thats cool. So she didn't wait for the high voice kid then haha. Or maybe that is him woops haha. KK for my scripture plaque if you could put D&C 35:13-14 on there. Lemme know what you think. If that's not a good one lemme know. I just thought it was cool. Because without God I am nothing. So my family i must depart for my departure haricut. I might be checking this a bit later but we'll see. Dear Elders will work for this week but after this please email everything to this email. It will be lovey thank you all!!!!
Love ya'll tons!!!
Love Anziano Perkes!
1 Week from today i will be on an airplaine to ITALY!!!!!!!!! Hello wonderful family how is everyone doing?? Thank you all for the letters this week i loved them all as always. Mom listening to Kanye West?!? I'm impressed this is a whole new step for you. Mom and Dad your new raw diet sounds very.... intersting. I'll have to try it sometime, maybe when i'm like stranded on an island where there are only apples and pine apple juice... haha. No it sounds like it is working great. Okay so i made a list of things to write about to try and get in the most out of these letters! So first off i have about 500 pictures on my camera and i think i am going to send home the memory card now rather than get to italy put some more on and send it home. So if you guys could copy the pictures somewhere and then wait till i'm in italy to send it back that would be fantastic. Let me know what you think. If you want me to wait to fill it up in Italy let me know. I won't send it till next monday so you can tell me. I was very sad to hear about the earthquake in italy that is very sad. Something very interesting thouhg, i was talking to my teacher about it and he said that there has not been a baptism in that little city for 8 years. So mayvbe the Lord is just preparing these people to be humble. BUt regardless it is still sad. So we do this funny thing when we call (pretend) our teachers to set up an appointment with them, they will go out the door and then i'll make a ring sound for them and then 2 missionairies and the teacher will talk on the pghone. So my previous ringtone i used had been the stereotypical one that is like, beedo bee do beeedo beee do diiii. Its the one in the coke commercial where he answers the coke and says, its for you. SO i got a bit bored of going original so i decided to mix it up a bit. So i started singing, buffalo soldier in a ringtoness voice. And Fratello Clarke, (the teacher that is the horse) starts laughing and goes, Anziano Perkes what is that for? So i was like you got a custom ringtone last night, don't worry about it. And he was like, that is not my ringtone silly, so i was like... allright what is his ringtone hmmm. So about 2 seconds after i was like, As sisters in zion we all work together....." And he started laughing so hard that he had to close the door and re compose himself. It was quite funny. So in 30 minutes i have to go get a departure haricut!!!! Crazy huh!?!? Hey mom if you could send me everyones number, and let everyone know that i'll be calling. Thank you so much!! So here's the schedule. We fly out of provo on the 21st at 11:07, get to chicago at 3 and depart at 3:45, get to Frankfurt, Germany at 6:55 AM and then depart there at 8:45 AM. We then get into Milan at 9:55 AM on 22nd of April. So i won't have any time at chicago, but i have 2 hours in germany. I don't know what the time difference is but if you could check and let me know if that is not a good time to call. I was planning on calling then so lemme know. I might be able to make a quick call in Provo but i'm not sure i'll let you know. Just make sure people answer there phones because i won't have a ton of time to re call back. So we have this funny elder named Anziano Barthell that i told you about the one that is kinda like steve but very amusing. He's from Minnesota so has a crazy accent. He of all people got chosen to be our travel guide during our flight which isn't that big of a deal, but he is taking it ever so seriusoly. So he called a zone meeting yesterday to have a mission debriefing sort of haha. So he called us in and started talking about not watching movies on the planes and so forth. And then with his famous voice he was like, "NOw remember Anziani, once we leave provo we will be a bunch of weird men in suits." You have to see this kid say this to appreciate how funny it was. so i pulled out my camera to grab a picture of him and he was like, "Please Anziano Perkes, no flash photography at this meeting!" He was being dead serious too, we all busted up laughing. We all love him so much. So quick story i was reading in Ether. I'm going to finish the BOM today in the temple which is going to be amazing. My last temple day for 2 years!!! How sad, i've come to really love the temple. So i read about the Brother of Jared and i always just thought it was a sotry about a bunch of barges, nothing to special you know. And then i read in chapter 6, verse 2 and 3, and realized taht the two stones of lights in the boats of darkness could be missionaries!!! And that they light the people as they travel across the dark and scary ocean which could represent our lives here on Earth. I was very sad to hear of Daniele Hales getting married, no i'm just kidding, thats cool. So she didn't wait for the high voice kid then haha. Or maybe that is him woops haha. KK for my scripture plaque if you could put D&C 35:13-14 on there. Lemme know what you think. If that's not a good one lemme know. I just thought it was cool. Because without God I am nothing. So my family i must depart for my departure haricut. I might be checking this a bit later but we'll see. Dear Elders will work for this week but after this please email everything to this email. It will be lovey thank you all!!!!
Love ya'll tons!!!
Love Anziano Perkes!
Family!!!!! [Sent from MTC -- April 7, 2009]
La Mia Bella Famiglia!!
Thank you all for your letters this week i loved them! How is everyone doing?!?! This week has flown by again haha. Want to hear something crazy!!! So 2 weeks from today i will be on a airplane to italy!!!!! That seriously blows my mind! These next two weeks are going to flyyyyy by! So this email might be a bit shorter because i'm already a bit short on time. I keep zoning out haha. So i will only go to the temple one more time after today, and only teach in the TRC one more time! Time is already flying by i'm getting nervous that the field is going to go by in a blink. So i had a couple of funny experiences this week in teaching lessons. Actually they are probably very bad but i'm just glad i did them here and not in italy. So i was trying to say Jesus Christ suffered for our sins, so i said Gesu Crist Soffrito (past tense of soffrire (to suffer)) per i nostri peccati. Well it turns out soffrire is an irregular very and the past tense is supposed to be sofferto. So what i actually said is, Jesus deep fat fried for our sins. Which is sooooo bad right!! My teacher was laughing so hard but i guess a lot of people make that mistake. Another time i was trying to talk about sacrament bread and the word for bread is pane but in my nervousness i accidently said pene which is body part only males have. This one was sooo embarrassing. The investigator started cracking up and i was like... hey why are you laughing at me and he was like PANE Anziano!!! while laughing. So those were the only two language mess ups i had this week which i was grateful for. So i am famous for mixing different odd drinks in the cafeteria. After eating like 100 meals here you gotta mix it up right!? So i made up this drink called the hulk drink, which is white on the bottem and then it turns into this like battery acid green so we call it the hulk drink. It is coke, powerade, and sprite. I got everyone hooked on it haha. There is this one sister that always comments on how much energy i have when others are like dead tired, and she was like, Anziano Perkes i'm gonna have to start drinking that hulk drink to have as much energy as you. Haha so i'm trying to come up a with a new recipe for the spider man drink we'll see how it goes. Oh yeah mom and dad, bishop wrote me and said i forgot to give him my scripture plack scripture. I don't really have any time to write him so if you could just choose a scripture that would be awesome. Anyone works there all good. So i loved conference! iT WAS way cool to be able to watch it as a missionairy. We all watched it together in the gym so it got a little crowded and hot but it was still stellar. I left my page of notes at the dorm so i can't really remember which ones were my favorite. I know i loved Elder Eyring's talk about no soldier left behind, and also elder uchdorf's talk about the blinking light was way cool. A lot of the talks were so applicable to missionary work is was awesome. It seemed like almost every talk had something about the economy involved in it. Is it really stinking up outside this bubble i live in? So i saw Mark Stevens i believe in the choir which was way awesome. What a stud. I'm starting this new journal with this smaller journal which is called my book of memories. I have so many things in my life that i know i'll forget if i don't write them down, so every couple of days i'll write a page long memory down there. So far i've written about me and nate climbing the banana trees in st. thomas., building the igglo as kids, trailing james with nate in denver haha that was so funny, and skiing at grand targhee. I was thinking a lot about that day, man was that fun. When i get home we have to all go hit up targhee!! So i got both your packages this last week thank you soooo much! I got the conference candies and also the box of easter candy. I love the food but i just want to tell you, i have a whole drawer just full of food, chips, candies and everything that i'll never be able to eat in the next two weeks! Seriously i eat as much as a can each night an i haven't even dented my supply of food, so please no more haha. I loved the little easter bunny bubbles you sent me and the boys had a lot of fun with them haha i'm just kidding. I was blowing bubbles in my room and Anziano Motley the big ole black kid walked by and was like.... yo Anziano Perkes what the crapppp are you doing?! I think his respect for me as a person might of dropped a couple of points haha. How are all the kiddies doin? I miss them a lot. So usually i bring in all of your letters so i can answer questions and such but i forgot to today so i might miss some of your questions i'm sorry! I heard about the earthquake in italy. That is very sad. So i had this crazy dreem the other night that i actually didn't remember until the next day. You know how sometimes you'll just be like wo!!! I remember my dream! SO i was sitting in class and then i was like bam i remember! So i had a dreem i was meeting with President Dunaway and he was like, Anziano Perkes, you are going to serve in Bergamo. And when i remembered it i just felt so happy. So i'm not sure if i actually will serve in Bergamo or if it was just a dream so we'll have to see. I've come to realize that anywhere you serve in italy, is amazing! I remember my first day i asked my teacher what his favorite area was and he responded with Italy. So after seeing pictures of all these cities there is not a non gorgeuous city in the milan mission. So wherever i go i'll be so excited!!!!!!!!!! But hey family i got only 2 minutes left so i'll see you in 2 years!!!
LOVE YOU!!!!
Anziano Perkes!
Thank you all for your letters this week i loved them! How is everyone doing?!?! This week has flown by again haha. Want to hear something crazy!!! So 2 weeks from today i will be on a airplane to italy!!!!! That seriously blows my mind! These next two weeks are going to flyyyyy by! So this email might be a bit shorter because i'm already a bit short on time. I keep zoning out haha. So i will only go to the temple one more time after today, and only teach in the TRC one more time! Time is already flying by i'm getting nervous that the field is going to go by in a blink. So i had a couple of funny experiences this week in teaching lessons. Actually they are probably very bad but i'm just glad i did them here and not in italy. So i was trying to say Jesus Christ suffered for our sins, so i said Gesu Crist Soffrito (past tense of soffrire (to suffer)) per i nostri peccati. Well it turns out soffrire is an irregular very and the past tense is supposed to be sofferto. So what i actually said is, Jesus deep fat fried for our sins. Which is sooooo bad right!! My teacher was laughing so hard but i guess a lot of people make that mistake. Another time i was trying to talk about sacrament bread and the word for bread is pane but in my nervousness i accidently said pene which is body part only males have. This one was sooo embarrassing. The investigator started cracking up and i was like... hey why are you laughing at me and he was like PANE Anziano!!! while laughing. So those were the only two language mess ups i had this week which i was grateful for. So i am famous for mixing different odd drinks in the cafeteria. After eating like 100 meals here you gotta mix it up right!? So i made up this drink called the hulk drink, which is white on the bottem and then it turns into this like battery acid green so we call it the hulk drink. It is coke, powerade, and sprite. I got everyone hooked on it haha. There is this one sister that always comments on how much energy i have when others are like dead tired, and she was like, Anziano Perkes i'm gonna have to start drinking that hulk drink to have as much energy as you. Haha so i'm trying to come up a with a new recipe for the spider man drink we'll see how it goes. Oh yeah mom and dad, bishop wrote me and said i forgot to give him my scripture plack scripture. I don't really have any time to write him so if you could just choose a scripture that would be awesome. Anyone works there all good. So i loved conference! iT WAS way cool to be able to watch it as a missionairy. We all watched it together in the gym so it got a little crowded and hot but it was still stellar. I left my page of notes at the dorm so i can't really remember which ones were my favorite. I know i loved Elder Eyring's talk about no soldier left behind, and also elder uchdorf's talk about the blinking light was way cool. A lot of the talks were so applicable to missionary work is was awesome. It seemed like almost every talk had something about the economy involved in it. Is it really stinking up outside this bubble i live in? So i saw Mark Stevens i believe in the choir which was way awesome. What a stud. I'm starting this new journal with this smaller journal which is called my book of memories. I have so many things in my life that i know i'll forget if i don't write them down, so every couple of days i'll write a page long memory down there. So far i've written about me and nate climbing the banana trees in st. thomas., building the igglo as kids, trailing james with nate in denver haha that was so funny, and skiing at grand targhee. I was thinking a lot about that day, man was that fun. When i get home we have to all go hit up targhee!! So i got both your packages this last week thank you soooo much! I got the conference candies and also the box of easter candy. I love the food but i just want to tell you, i have a whole drawer just full of food, chips, candies and everything that i'll never be able to eat in the next two weeks! Seriously i eat as much as a can each night an i haven't even dented my supply of food, so please no more haha. I loved the little easter bunny bubbles you sent me and the boys had a lot of fun with them haha i'm just kidding. I was blowing bubbles in my room and Anziano Motley the big ole black kid walked by and was like.... yo Anziano Perkes what the crapppp are you doing?! I think his respect for me as a person might of dropped a couple of points haha. How are all the kiddies doin? I miss them a lot. So usually i bring in all of your letters so i can answer questions and such but i forgot to today so i might miss some of your questions i'm sorry! I heard about the earthquake in italy. That is very sad. So i had this crazy dreem the other night that i actually didn't remember until the next day. You know how sometimes you'll just be like wo!!! I remember my dream! SO i was sitting in class and then i was like bam i remember! So i had a dreem i was meeting with President Dunaway and he was like, Anziano Perkes, you are going to serve in Bergamo. And when i remembered it i just felt so happy. So i'm not sure if i actually will serve in Bergamo or if it was just a dream so we'll have to see. I've come to realize that anywhere you serve in italy, is amazing! I remember my first day i asked my teacher what his favorite area was and he responded with Italy. So after seeing pictures of all these cities there is not a non gorgeuous city in the milan mission. So wherever i go i'll be so excited!!!!!!!!!! But hey family i got only 2 minutes left so i'll see you in 2 years!!!
LOVE YOU!!!!
Anziano Perkes!
Family!!!!! [Sent from MTC -- March 31, 2009]
Wonderful Family!!!
Sorry i was a bit slow writing today. I can email anytime up to 6 so i kind of procrastinated this letter
but its all good because i have some time now! So this week at the mtc was amazing!!!! My companion kind
of had a rough week. We taught a lesson last week and he froze up and walked out of the lesson leaving
me to teach the whole thing by myself which actually happened for 3/4 of the lessons we taught this week
which kind of stinks haha but i look at it as a secret blessing because i must obviously need more practice
with the language. So he'll go to say something and then freeze up and go so frustrated that he just walks
out of the room or puts his head down and refuses to even just read a scripture. So this week was amazing
because i got a ton of practice with the language which was awesome. The bad part is i have tried to talk to
him a lot this past week and he always just ignores me. He has kind of become angry at our whole district.
So one night i was just asking how he was and he didn't respond. So i was like yo buddy you okay? And he
told me he was fine, and i said i could tell something was bothering him. So then he said why don't you just
shut up! You don't know me! You don't care about me! And i'm not mad i'm fine, and i'm not affected you at
all so just shut up. So that didn't go as well as i had hoped. That happened a week ago and he hasn't talked to
me or pretty much anyone including both teachers that have pulled him aside. So i really don't know how to
help him. I've tried countless times to lift him up telling him that he's doing great with the language
and how he is a smart guy, or simply just talking to him. It seems like no one can get through to him so
we are all just praying because we figure if anyone can get through his head it will be the Lord. So it has
kind of been a quite week but it has also been amazing. Silence every once in a while actually isn't that bad.
I've been able to feel the spirit a lot this week which has been a blessing. The spirit here at the mtc is crazy!!
So anyways I have a couple of funny stories that happened this week. We have a PA system in our class room and
our teacher needed to check up on 2 missionaries in the dentist office so he called and no one was answering so
I decided that i would go ahead and pretend to be the magice voice from the ceiling. So i cup my hands and go
"Beeeeep Yes how can i help you?" I never thought it would work until my teacher was like, "Umm yes we have two
missionaries......" I carried a like 1 minute conversation with him the whole time while the class was biting there
fingers to stop from laughing. And then at the very end i was like.. "Cshhh... this is commander Perkes speaking,
requesting permission to land Eagle one" My teacher got so mad in a funny way. Not like a mad way but in a like
i can't beleive i just got tricked haha way. Ed and Beth sound amazing! Tell them i say hi. Congrats dad on
your home teaching that sounds great!!! Oh and to answer your question dad we always go to the 12:40 session.
That is when we are assigned to go. Josh and Brooke the food coloring story about Emma made me laugh so much.
That little stinker haha. So many of you have been asking me about the language. I guess I don't talk about it
much. So far all i can do is bear my testimony.... no i'm just kidding haha sorry mom. I am amazed at how
much we are able to learn with help from the Lord. i love it. I walk away after teaching for 30 minutes in italian
not having memorized lessons, but just being able to talk about what the spirit is prompting me to talk about
and i just want to scream with joy. It is so amazing that we are able to learn the language as fast as we do.
Now i don't want to think that i'm fluent or perfect in any way because i am farrrrrr from it. But pretty much
i can get my point across even if i have to talk around a word i don't know. I love it. For example i haven't
memorized this but i'll just say something in italian about the gospel for you. Possiamo vivere con le nostre
famiglie per sempre, quando viviamo il vangelo. Dio ci ama, e perche Dio ci ama, lui ci dava le famiglie e il
vangelo e il libro di mormon. I just said, "We can live with our families for eternity, when we live the gospel.
God loves us and because God loves us, he gives us families, and the gospel, and the Book of Mormon. Pretty
crazy huh? I love being able to pick a gospel topic and bear my testimony on it. It is amazin! I just can't
wait to get out to Italy ans seriously talk to everyone in sight!!!! ON the plane, bus, bathroom, streets
everywhere!!!!! Oh my gosh i can't wait. I only have 3 more weeks here in the mtc. Tomorow is April 1st
(no foolin) and i leave on the 21st!!!!!! I am getting so excited, not ancy, but excited to finally teach
the wonderful people of Italy! So i am just about out of time so i will have to let you wonderful family
go! But thank you all for the letter i love every single one of them! Oh i think one of you asked what i
like to hear in the letter the most and my answer would be just life! I study the gospel like 12 hours a day
here so every once and a while it is nice to hear something non gospel related haha. I hope that makes sense.
Not that i don't like when you talk about the gospel i love it, just i love stories about home the most!
I love ya'll a billion!!!!
Ci Vediamo!
Anziano Perkes
Sorry i was a bit slow writing today. I can email anytime up to 6 so i kind of procrastinated this letter
but its all good because i have some time now! So this week at the mtc was amazing!!!! My companion kind
of had a rough week. We taught a lesson last week and he froze up and walked out of the lesson leaving
me to teach the whole thing by myself which actually happened for 3/4 of the lessons we taught this week
which kind of stinks haha but i look at it as a secret blessing because i must obviously need more practice
with the language. So he'll go to say something and then freeze up and go so frustrated that he just walks
out of the room or puts his head down and refuses to even just read a scripture. So this week was amazing
because i got a ton of practice with the language which was awesome. The bad part is i have tried to talk to
him a lot this past week and he always just ignores me. He has kind of become angry at our whole district.
So one night i was just asking how he was and he didn't respond. So i was like yo buddy you okay? And he
told me he was fine, and i said i could tell something was bothering him. So then he said why don't you just
shut up! You don't know me! You don't care about me! And i'm not mad i'm fine, and i'm not affected you at
all so just shut up. So that didn't go as well as i had hoped. That happened a week ago and he hasn't talked to
me or pretty much anyone including both teachers that have pulled him aside. So i really don't know how to
help him. I've tried countless times to lift him up telling him that he's doing great with the language
and how he is a smart guy, or simply just talking to him. It seems like no one can get through to him so
we are all just praying because we figure if anyone can get through his head it will be the Lord. So it has
kind of been a quite week but it has also been amazing. Silence every once in a while actually isn't that bad.
I've been able to feel the spirit a lot this week which has been a blessing. The spirit here at the mtc is crazy!!
So anyways I have a couple of funny stories that happened this week. We have a PA system in our class room and
our teacher needed to check up on 2 missionaries in the dentist office so he called and no one was answering so
I decided that i would go ahead and pretend to be the magice voice from the ceiling. So i cup my hands and go
"Beeeeep Yes how can i help you?" I never thought it would work until my teacher was like, "Umm yes we have two
missionaries......" I carried a like 1 minute conversation with him the whole time while the class was biting there
fingers to stop from laughing. And then at the very end i was like.. "Cshhh... this is commander Perkes speaking,
requesting permission to land Eagle one" My teacher got so mad in a funny way. Not like a mad way but in a like
i can't beleive i just got tricked haha way. Ed and Beth sound amazing! Tell them i say hi. Congrats dad on
your home teaching that sounds great!!! Oh and to answer your question dad we always go to the 12:40 session.
That is when we are assigned to go. Josh and Brooke the food coloring story about Emma made me laugh so much.
That little stinker haha. So many of you have been asking me about the language. I guess I don't talk about it
much. So far all i can do is bear my testimony.... no i'm just kidding haha sorry mom. I am amazed at how
much we are able to learn with help from the Lord. i love it. I walk away after teaching for 30 minutes in italian
not having memorized lessons, but just being able to talk about what the spirit is prompting me to talk about
and i just want to scream with joy. It is so amazing that we are able to learn the language as fast as we do.
Now i don't want to think that i'm fluent or perfect in any way because i am farrrrrr from it. But pretty much
i can get my point across even if i have to talk around a word i don't know. I love it. For example i haven't
memorized this but i'll just say something in italian about the gospel for you. Possiamo vivere con le nostre
famiglie per sempre, quando viviamo il vangelo. Dio ci ama, e perche Dio ci ama, lui ci dava le famiglie e il
vangelo e il libro di mormon. I just said, "We can live with our families for eternity, when we live the gospel.
God loves us and because God loves us, he gives us families, and the gospel, and the Book of Mormon. Pretty
crazy huh? I love being able to pick a gospel topic and bear my testimony on it. It is amazin! I just can't
wait to get out to Italy ans seriously talk to everyone in sight!!!! ON the plane, bus, bathroom, streets
everywhere!!!!! Oh my gosh i can't wait. I only have 3 more weeks here in the mtc. Tomorow is April 1st
(no foolin) and i leave on the 21st!!!!!! I am getting so excited, not ancy, but excited to finally teach
the wonderful people of Italy! So i am just about out of time so i will have to let you wonderful family
go! But thank you all for the letter i love every single one of them! Oh i think one of you asked what i
like to hear in the letter the most and my answer would be just life! I study the gospel like 12 hours a day
here so every once and a while it is nice to hear something non gospel related haha. I hope that makes sense.
Not that i don't like when you talk about the gospel i love it, just i love stories about home the most!
I love ya'll a billion!!!!
Ci Vediamo!
Anziano Perkes
Ciao La Mia Famiglia!! [Sent from MTC -- March 24, 2009]
Ciaody!!!!
Sorry that's like my mix between howdy and ciao, cheesy i know. How is my wonderful family doing?!?! Thank you all for your letters. They all piled in yesterday which was way nice. So i'll try to pack in as much as possible into this letter. If mom you could forward to all the fam and peeps that would be nice. So this last week was way crazy as you know we taught in italian which by the way is nuts!!! Our first lesson didn't go too well. Anziano Collins in the very beginning got frustrated and walked out on the lesson, leaving me to teach is all by myself. I guess it was a blessing in disguise because i got more practice haha, but it is really hard teaching, number one in italian, but also by yourself. I now have realized the importance of having a companion when you teach. It is very helpful. We taught 2 more yesterday and we did much better. We both talked and bore our testimonies and all that good stuff. So there is this really funny guy in our district named Anziano Barthell. If you look in the pictures look for the most odd but funny guy in the picture and you got him. He has been homeschooled all his life... yeah you know the guy. To make it even better he is from minnesotta which adds to his funniness. He prounounces everything way crazy. But i have been trying to teach him some innocent slang to slowly introduce to the outside world haha. So i was like, Anziano Barthell say, "You eye ballin my piece 50 cent??" Mom and dad you'll have no clue what this meens but i'm sure the brothers and sisters will appreciate this haha. It is a line from the movie transformers, but anyway that really isn't the point of the story, so he looks at me with the funniest expression and says, "You EYE Balling my piece 50 cents???" And then he says, but those pieces are so rare now adays, reffereing to actualy 50 cent coins rather than the rapper, haha what a character. So that's Anziano Barthell for you. The reason for this story is i realize i really have talked to much about elders in the zone. Another really funny elder is Anziano Motley. He is the big ole black kid that i semi knew at BYU before. Me and him are real close. He's way funny. The other night we were way bored and decidecd to give everyone in our district harry potter characters that they reminded us of. So of course he was Lee Jordan the only black kid in the whole movie. He elected me to be Fred, one of the weasley twins haha. But anywho sorry i'm kind of going off on a tangent here haha. So anyways Buck and JayZ I got an Italian shirt today that i had ordered from tyhe book store and boy was i surprised when i didn't have to pay for it and on top of that i got some cadburry eggs! Thank you so much. I have a feeling the magical Jeanie was involved in the scheme as well so if you could thank her. I've actually only seen her once. I don't frequent to the book store too much. I get to get the mail everyday which is always an adventure haha. So guess who i heard from last P-Day??? Elder L. Tom Perry!! It was soo cooooooool. I love how the Apostles kinda let lose when they speak to us. He literally jumped to the stage it was so funny. He talked on companionship Unity which was exactly what I and the zone needed to hear. It was so great. The spirit was so strong through the whole meeting. It was a very helpful talk. I took like 3 pages of notes it was soo good. So back to teaching in italian. It is so nuts. We taught this guy for 35 minutes in italian!!! And we only shared like 4 scriptures. I am so grateful to the Lord for the gift of tongues. I took spanish for 4 years and if someone said talk for 30 i'd be like.... Che Cosa!?!? Which meens like whattttt? I was amazed when we ended the lesson and saw how long we taught. It is amazingly hard though. I don't want you to think that i'm like this italian master because i am far from it. When we teach it is very simple, which they say is the best way to teach. I almost feel like our first italian lessons have been better than last weeks english lessons. We really rely on the spirit when we teach in italian which is good. So the temple dedication was so cool. They locked all the doors in the gym and as they said, they made it an extension of the draper temple so the gym literally became a temple for 2 hours. The spirit was so strong at the end when we sang the spirit of God. What was way cool is when we went in it all all nasty outside, foggy and just kinda dark. And when we came out there was like a cirlcle of blue sky around the mtc with sun pounding down. We decided to eat lunch outside and by the time we had finished it was cloudy again. Right as we came out the BYU bell tower was sounding a hymn so it was way neat when we came out to a beatufil day. Sorry if my english is bad. Ever since this week i can't spell haha, i'm hoping some day that will go away. Q hurt his shoulder? Dang that dummy haha. That stinks though tell him i say hi. I don't really have time to write him this week. Were teaching 3 more lessons so i'm busy busy busy! Dad it sounds like Ed and Beth are amazing. That's so cool way to go you stud muffin! Buck congrats on makin level 2 tech. By the time i get back you'll be like level 60 haha. Luisa your Italian is coming very well. I am impressed. You actyually probably know more than i do haha. That will be way sweet if your fluent when i get home. You me and dad can all chat about the latest Gilato flavour haha. So there is this elder in my zone name elder ghalacher and he knits every night it is way cool. he says it is like the most relacxing thing ever. I want him to teach me how to knit. He makes these way cool beanies. Mum and Dad, Ian's play sounded pretty cool. He is a funny kid. Tell him to start reading preach my gospel haha. We read that like alllll day here it's so intense. So something that me and Anziano COllins have done is we always sing a Inni (hymn) to our investigators before we leave. It is always way cool. We can't sing too well but they say songs are like prayers so it really invites the spirit. So mom you asked about my P-Day. We get up at 6:15 run and grab a sacked breakfast come back and chill in the residence until 8. Then we do laundery and write letters till lunch at 11:30. Then after lunch we head to the temple. After the temple we have dinner and then we have normal class schedule and devotional. So we don't get too much extra to do besides letters and laundery. You asked about adjusting to the schedule. I have adjusted great. I am tired every morning but it slowy wears off by the time lunch rolls around. The best thing about the mtc is you can always be happy and people aren't like.... dudde why are you always happy???!? I remember in high school people would always be like, yo perkes why are you always happy?!?! Gosh ahah. I can honeslty say that i have been happy every day here in the mtc, and i still get the occasional yo perkes your goofy but i love it haha. So this cool thing in the RC this week. I talked to this lady and just talked to her about life and nothing special. I told her i wanted to her to have the missinoaries over and she said she would like that. She had been to temple square once, and i helped her realize the feelings she felt was the spirit. I told her i want her to pray to know if the missinoaries coming were the servants of the Lord and she said she would. She thanked me so much, and she said it would be okay if i called her this week to say hi. So i'll let you know how she is. Her name is Terrie. Well my wonderful family it is time to go. I only have one minute so i better be off. I love you all oh so much and thank you for all the love and support.
Amore!
Anziano Perkes
Sorry that's like my mix between howdy and ciao, cheesy i know. How is my wonderful family doing?!?! Thank you all for your letters. They all piled in yesterday which was way nice. So i'll try to pack in as much as possible into this letter. If mom you could forward to all the fam and peeps that would be nice. So this last week was way crazy as you know we taught in italian which by the way is nuts!!! Our first lesson didn't go too well. Anziano Collins in the very beginning got frustrated and walked out on the lesson, leaving me to teach is all by myself. I guess it was a blessing in disguise because i got more practice haha, but it is really hard teaching, number one in italian, but also by yourself. I now have realized the importance of having a companion when you teach. It is very helpful. We taught 2 more yesterday and we did much better. We both talked and bore our testimonies and all that good stuff. So there is this really funny guy in our district named Anziano Barthell. If you look in the pictures look for the most odd but funny guy in the picture and you got him. He has been homeschooled all his life... yeah you know the guy. To make it even better he is from minnesotta which adds to his funniness. He prounounces everything way crazy. But i have been trying to teach him some innocent slang to slowly introduce to the outside world haha. So i was like, Anziano Barthell say, "You eye ballin my piece 50 cent??" Mom and dad you'll have no clue what this meens but i'm sure the brothers and sisters will appreciate this haha. It is a line from the movie transformers, but anyway that really isn't the point of the story, so he looks at me with the funniest expression and says, "You EYE Balling my piece 50 cents???" And then he says, but those pieces are so rare now adays, reffereing to actualy 50 cent coins rather than the rapper, haha what a character. So that's Anziano Barthell for you. The reason for this story is i realize i really have talked to much about elders in the zone. Another really funny elder is Anziano Motley. He is the big ole black kid that i semi knew at BYU before. Me and him are real close. He's way funny. The other night we were way bored and decidecd to give everyone in our district harry potter characters that they reminded us of. So of course he was Lee Jordan the only black kid in the whole movie. He elected me to be Fred, one of the weasley twins haha. But anywho sorry i'm kind of going off on a tangent here haha. So anyways Buck and JayZ I got an Italian shirt today that i had ordered from tyhe book store and boy was i surprised when i didn't have to pay for it and on top of that i got some cadburry eggs! Thank you so much. I have a feeling the magical Jeanie was involved in the scheme as well so if you could thank her. I've actually only seen her once. I don't frequent to the book store too much. I get to get the mail everyday which is always an adventure haha. So guess who i heard from last P-Day??? Elder L. Tom Perry!! It was soo cooooooool. I love how the Apostles kinda let lose when they speak to us. He literally jumped to the stage it was so funny. He talked on companionship Unity which was exactly what I and the zone needed to hear. It was so great. The spirit was so strong through the whole meeting. It was a very helpful talk. I took like 3 pages of notes it was soo good. So back to teaching in italian. It is so nuts. We taught this guy for 35 minutes in italian!!! And we only shared like 4 scriptures. I am so grateful to the Lord for the gift of tongues. I took spanish for 4 years and if someone said talk for 30 i'd be like.... Che Cosa!?!? Which meens like whattttt? I was amazed when we ended the lesson and saw how long we taught. It is amazingly hard though. I don't want you to think that i'm like this italian master because i am far from it. When we teach it is very simple, which they say is the best way to teach. I almost feel like our first italian lessons have been better than last weeks english lessons. We really rely on the spirit when we teach in italian which is good. So the temple dedication was so cool. They locked all the doors in the gym and as they said, they made it an extension of the draper temple so the gym literally became a temple for 2 hours. The spirit was so strong at the end when we sang the spirit of God. What was way cool is when we went in it all all nasty outside, foggy and just kinda dark. And when we came out there was like a cirlcle of blue sky around the mtc with sun pounding down. We decided to eat lunch outside and by the time we had finished it was cloudy again. Right as we came out the BYU bell tower was sounding a hymn so it was way neat when we came out to a beatufil day. Sorry if my english is bad. Ever since this week i can't spell haha, i'm hoping some day that will go away. Q hurt his shoulder? Dang that dummy haha. That stinks though tell him i say hi. I don't really have time to write him this week. Were teaching 3 more lessons so i'm busy busy busy! Dad it sounds like Ed and Beth are amazing. That's so cool way to go you stud muffin! Buck congrats on makin level 2 tech. By the time i get back you'll be like level 60 haha. Luisa your Italian is coming very well. I am impressed. You actyually probably know more than i do haha. That will be way sweet if your fluent when i get home. You me and dad can all chat about the latest Gilato flavour haha. So there is this elder in my zone name elder ghalacher and he knits every night it is way cool. he says it is like the most relacxing thing ever. I want him to teach me how to knit. He makes these way cool beanies. Mum and Dad, Ian's play sounded pretty cool. He is a funny kid. Tell him to start reading preach my gospel haha. We read that like alllll day here it's so intense. So something that me and Anziano COllins have done is we always sing a Inni (hymn) to our investigators before we leave. It is always way cool. We can't sing too well but they say songs are like prayers so it really invites the spirit. So mom you asked about my P-Day. We get up at 6:15 run and grab a sacked breakfast come back and chill in the residence until 8. Then we do laundery and write letters till lunch at 11:30. Then after lunch we head to the temple. After the temple we have dinner and then we have normal class schedule and devotional. So we don't get too much extra to do besides letters and laundery. You asked about adjusting to the schedule. I have adjusted great. I am tired every morning but it slowy wears off by the time lunch rolls around. The best thing about the mtc is you can always be happy and people aren't like.... dudde why are you always happy???!? I remember in high school people would always be like, yo perkes why are you always happy?!?! Gosh ahah. I can honeslty say that i have been happy every day here in the mtc, and i still get the occasional yo perkes your goofy but i love it haha. So this cool thing in the RC this week. I talked to this lady and just talked to her about life and nothing special. I told her i wanted to her to have the missinoaries over and she said she would like that. She had been to temple square once, and i helped her realize the feelings she felt was the spirit. I told her i want her to pray to know if the missinoaries coming were the servants of the Lord and she said she would. She thanked me so much, and she said it would be okay if i called her this week to say hi. So i'll let you know how she is. Her name is Terrie. Well my wonderful family it is time to go. I only have one minute so i better be off. I love you all oh so much and thank you for all the love and support.
Amore!
Anziano Perkes
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