Hahaha so this week was amazing and very fun to say the least. So first off mom and dad thank you so much for the 49 letters... no just kidding there werent that many but they was a lot haha. I loved them. So lets start with last wednesday. I was a little worried about you guys but at the same time i realized that your busy. So me and my companion were eating lunch with this old couple, she cooked some awesomeeee baked pasta it was great! When i saw the office calling... hmm thats strange, but not that strange, i ignored the call. Then 2 minutes later.... vibrations, to see the office calling again. Hmmm now this is starting to be strange. So after the appointement i called the office thinking.. oh no what did i do haha. When sister christensen answers... hello anziano perkes we recieved a call from your father about an hour ago... oh no something must really be wrong i thought, and he called to say that him and your mom love you and they forgot to email. She then went on for about a minute telling me how much you love me haha. So dont worry dad i wasnt mad at all, in fact i laughed about it for a good part of the day. The no no would be if you called the mission president, but the office sisters, there fine. Seriously they remind me of grandma. There very sweet. So that was pretty funny. So i sent my companion off, after packing and saying bye to members. To pick up my new companion, Anziano Bosco.... and the big news is.... drumroll..... he is a stud!!! I love this kid! Okay so it will be hard to describe him. I want to say he is kind of like mister been, but that sounds negative and i dont want it to be negative. Okay so he kind of looks like a mr. been and a eoen mcGregor mix. So he has the himor of mister been (not his weird strange humor but funny humor) and the studlyness of mcGregor. Seriously this kid is awesome, we laugh all day long.... literally we laugh so much. We get a long great. In fact i would say the best out of all my companions by far. We have the same amount of goofyness in each other. So we'll just like make eye contact in the bus and start laughing. Not only is this italian funny, but he is the most amazing teacher. We taught this lesson and he blew me a away. This kid knows how to teach. It is not just because it is his language, but he just knows how to teach. So all is good in the world of lugano. We are getting a long perfect, and not just that but the work is going great as well. We have been finding new people and inviting tons on the bus, in the park everywhere! And the last bonus of the day is he is a gooooood cook! We have been eating great here in lugano i love it. He has made this like cheesy pasta with sauce, it is the bomb. So anyways i am running out of time here so i gotta rap this up haha. So yesterday i got to return to Piacenza to do fingerprints for my documents!! So we slept over in italy yesterday morning and we had a blast. Anziano Motley (big black brother from mtc) is serving there so we had a blast together. I also got to see the saquing family (awesome new convert family) and they fed us dinner which was awesome. So Carbone family is doing great. They have met there first trial in this blessed process of conversion. The word of wisdom. I never told you before but both of them smoke like someone from NH (alot! Haha shout out to Jake and the NH smokers voice. COUGHHH* ). So we taught them this lesson and they are both working on quitting smoking. They are smoking less but it is very hard. So we are going to come up with a program to help them quit. Any advice from x-missionaries that had investigators quit smoking? I would love some thanks! Okay mom and dad thanks so much for the birthday money, we'll have to go get some pizza or something. It will be awesome thanks so much! Yeah you guys called the american school Tasis right? Haha that is funny, a kid in the ward goes to that school he is aweseome. Mom thanks for the jello facts haha i loved them. I loved the pictures of mt. washington... how amazing is that! I loved the story of the italians haha... and yes dad all italians are loud and very animated with there speech, hands and everything getted involved in the language. MOm your already putting together the christmas package wow your on the ball haha. Quite honestly i had no idea christmas was coming up haha. Umm im not sure about requests... ill think about it this week and let you know ok? Well my wonderful family my time is running out. But i hope you all have a marvelous week!!!!
Vi Volgio Bene!
Anziano Perkes
Friday, November 27, 2009
Good Morning America . . . [Letter written 10-7-09]
Helllo familyyyy
How is everyone doing. So strange thing happened this morning. I opened my email box and there was only one letter from Buckstersss. Props to Buck yeah! So i'm not quite sure if my computer is working, or if my emails buggy, or if there was an emergency at home, or if everyone is just busy (which is very understandable). So let me know, i hope everything is okay. So this week was a really awesome week. It was way funnn. First thing is that last pday we went to Locarno which was awesomeeee. It is a city an hour north. It is set on a gorgeous lake just like Lugano. I like Lugano more, but it was fun to see a complete other city. Most people spoke German there which was fun. So fun culture fact haha. So because they speak italian here, they just like us in america come up with lots of clever abbreviations for things, although sometimes there abbreviations have meening in english haha. For example... the bus company in Locarno is called FART LOCARNO. On all the buses that is written in big letters on the side. So i got a good laugh out of that. Another i saw was CTR. So the choose the right progam is famous here in svizzera. I would name the other ones off but they were a bit on the vulgar side haha so i'll spare you the pain. So it's startin to be a bit chilly here in lugano. I love it. We haven't put on jackets yet which i just love. Nothing is better than a brisk fall day. It is so beautiful here. In fact this morning i got some great pics of the lake before emails. Sorry about not being able to send pictures. I'll try to figure it out today and see how it goes. So it feels realllllly weird being 20!!!! I'm an old person aghhhh. It kind of scares me... i want to be a kid still haha. So for a great birthday present i got to go watch conference!!! Which was amazing. We watched every session except for the sunday afternoon session. Which meens we missed elder holland's talk which is sad. BUt the rest were wonderful! And another fun surprise was that Maddelenna and Allessander (Carbone family) came to all the sessions of conference and loved it!!! Not only this but Allessander showed up in a suit looking very sharp. He is 20 and such a stud. You guys would love him, he is really a sharp kid. He is the type of kid that if i ever came back to lugano i'd have to go see him and hang out. So another conference surprise was when i saw Mark Stevens in the choir!!! LIKE 5 times haha. Great job Mark, you sounded great! So they don't have Jell-O here but yesterday i was looking through our cupboards and i saw a huggggge like 3 gallon bag of jello powder. So i have been making jello for all these people and they all hate it hahahaha. They think it is soooo weird. I guess jello would be rather gross if you havent grown up eating it... or sloshing it. So fun fact about Lugano. They have a hockey team here that is reallllly good. It is kind of like canada. Everyone plays hockey here so there really good. So funny thing. I changed the zone leaders name in the phone to George Cloony so everytime they call us i say like... oh george cloony is calling, and these people on the bus next to us are like..... HE'S TALKING to George Cloony!!!! Haha so were quite famous here now haha. So something i wanted to emphasize is that i'm in a different country!!!! CRAZY HUH? Now that is not just like going from idaho to utah or NH to Vermont. This is like going from mexico to cuba or something. The culture here and the food is very different and unique. So just know that i am lovvvvving soaking in a completely new experience here in switzerland! It¨s amazing i love it! So some big newsssss DRUMROLL....................................... So yesterday in the bus president called us and he was like... can i speak with Anziano Perkes. So turns out my new companion who will come on thursday is italian!! Another italian crazy huh! His name is Anziano Bosco. Just so you know the craziness of this... we have 4 italian elders, and 120 ish americans. That is some crazy odds. He has been out about a year now. So this should be interesting haha. But i'm excited, an italiannnnnnnnn no way. It will really help my language skills. I'll be with him for 4 and a half months! Long time huh. And this elder doesnt speak english by the way haha. So yeah this will be way fun. But that is about it for news about switzerland. Sorry if i was boring this week haha. So thanks you all so much for the love and prayers. I feel them everyday. Vi AMO!! Love you guys
Love
Anziano Massimo Perkes
How is everyone doing. So strange thing happened this morning. I opened my email box and there was only one letter from Buckstersss. Props to Buck yeah! So i'm not quite sure if my computer is working, or if my emails buggy, or if there was an emergency at home, or if everyone is just busy (which is very understandable). So let me know, i hope everything is okay. So this week was a really awesome week. It was way funnn. First thing is that last pday we went to Locarno which was awesomeeee. It is a city an hour north. It is set on a gorgeous lake just like Lugano. I like Lugano more, but it was fun to see a complete other city. Most people spoke German there which was fun. So fun culture fact haha. So because they speak italian here, they just like us in america come up with lots of clever abbreviations for things, although sometimes there abbreviations have meening in english haha. For example... the bus company in Locarno is called FART LOCARNO. On all the buses that is written in big letters on the side. So i got a good laugh out of that. Another i saw was CTR. So the choose the right progam is famous here in svizzera. I would name the other ones off but they were a bit on the vulgar side haha so i'll spare you the pain. So it's startin to be a bit chilly here in lugano. I love it. We haven't put on jackets yet which i just love. Nothing is better than a brisk fall day. It is so beautiful here. In fact this morning i got some great pics of the lake before emails. Sorry about not being able to send pictures. I'll try to figure it out today and see how it goes. So it feels realllllly weird being 20!!!! I'm an old person aghhhh. It kind of scares me... i want to be a kid still haha. So for a great birthday present i got to go watch conference!!! Which was amazing. We watched every session except for the sunday afternoon session. Which meens we missed elder holland's talk which is sad. BUt the rest were wonderful! And another fun surprise was that Maddelenna and Allessander (Carbone family) came to all the sessions of conference and loved it!!! Not only this but Allessander showed up in a suit looking very sharp. He is 20 and such a stud. You guys would love him, he is really a sharp kid. He is the type of kid that if i ever came back to lugano i'd have to go see him and hang out. So another conference surprise was when i saw Mark Stevens in the choir!!! LIKE 5 times haha. Great job Mark, you sounded great! So they don't have Jell-O here but yesterday i was looking through our cupboards and i saw a huggggge like 3 gallon bag of jello powder. So i have been making jello for all these people and they all hate it hahahaha. They think it is soooo weird. I guess jello would be rather gross if you havent grown up eating it... or sloshing it. So fun fact about Lugano. They have a hockey team here that is reallllly good. It is kind of like canada. Everyone plays hockey here so there really good. So funny thing. I changed the zone leaders name in the phone to George Cloony so everytime they call us i say like... oh george cloony is calling, and these people on the bus next to us are like..... HE'S TALKING to George Cloony!!!! Haha so were quite famous here now haha. So something i wanted to emphasize is that i'm in a different country!!!! CRAZY HUH? Now that is not just like going from idaho to utah or NH to Vermont. This is like going from mexico to cuba or something. The culture here and the food is very different and unique. So just know that i am lovvvvving soaking in a completely new experience here in switzerland! It¨s amazing i love it! So some big newsssss DRUMROLL....................................... So yesterday in the bus president called us and he was like... can i speak with Anziano Perkes. So turns out my new companion who will come on thursday is italian!! Another italian crazy huh! His name is Anziano Bosco. Just so you know the craziness of this... we have 4 italian elders, and 120 ish americans. That is some crazy odds. He has been out about a year now. So this should be interesting haha. But i'm excited, an italiannnnnnnnn no way. It will really help my language skills. I'll be with him for 4 and a half months! Long time huh. And this elder doesnt speak english by the way haha. So yeah this will be way fun. But that is about it for news about switzerland. Sorry if i was boring this week haha. So thanks you all so much for the love and prayers. I feel them everyday. Vi AMO!! Love you guys
Love
Anziano Massimo Perkes
Bonjour!!!! [Letter written 9-30-09]
Hello hello wonderful Perx family!!
Thanks so much for the emails this week. I laughed a lot haha you guys are too funny. So this week was drumroll..... awesome as always in the mission haha got ya. No but really it was an awesome week. So first for some cultural Lugano facts for you. Languages.... there are lots of languages here. Switzlerand has 4 national languages being, italian, english, german, and french. So pretty much everyone speaks at least two languages. We hear other languages being spoken all day everywhere. I love when german speakers ask us for directions and there like... chzne bokcnien shinepine bla bla bla... and i respond with i dont speak german (in german though) and immediatly they think i do speak german so they start speaking louder and slower, and once again i respond with nooooo i dont speak german silly!! Haha so it is quite fun. So next cultural fact.... ethnicity. Most people here are swiss, with some connection to italy... like there parents are from italy but they were born here in Ticino (the name of our region). There are many german swiss people here as well. Lotsss of africans, a ton in fact. And most of them are muslim african from like... samalia or other crazy places i've never heard of. I have met, iraqians, pakistanians, iranians, turkish, russian, mongolian, johanisburgians, all of the european places, japanese, chinese, ukrainians, americans, santo domingo people (lots actually, quite fun) and basically name a place and i know someone from there. So it is quite the little mixing pot of people for us. For some reason on the muslims love us here haha. We'll have some guy stop us and be like... wasssup man ho are you guys. And as we are walking away i turn to my comp and ask... who is he.. and he responds... i have no idea... never met him haha. So they like the missionaries here. So food here in Lugano. Nothing really different than in italy actually. Pizza, the works. Lots of pasta or as you americans say spaghetti. Just a fun fact. Spaghetti is a specific type of pasta. So as americans we just call any type of pasta spaghetti which is like calling every car a jeep or something. Each type of pasta has its own cool name here which is fun. Spaghetti is correct but that is the long pasta. But anyways im not sure if i already told you but we just have 2 hours for lunch and no dinner, so we usually eat lotssss of pasta for lunch with mayonaise too... yummmmy. The Carbone Family is doing great. The grandma came to church and lovvvvvved it!!! The son who is our age was in Locarno (2 hours away) for the weekend so he coudlnt come. But she seriosuly loved it. She told us after that everyone was soooo nice. She made some friends so she is doing great! Thank you guys so much for praying for them that is very sweet. I will tell them that, they will love it. So last pday we went hiking!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome! We actually took a ski lift partly up and then hiked the rest. But we hiked Mount san salvatore which is right next to lugano. SO i got some great pics on top of the world with lugano behind. There is soooo much hiking to be done here. I hope my next comp likes hiking because im way excited!! Today for pday we are going to lucarno a city about an hour north that is also on a big lake. I think they talk about it in I loved lucy crazy huh?? Dumb fred sends the band to locarno i believe... which quite honestly is a great place to be sent haha. So sorry i havent been able to send any pics really. I keep trying at the second library and the computers are mega slow and it hasnt been working. I'll try to figure out a better way. Maybe i'll show you in two years haha... just kidding. I'll work on it. So mom about the package. Thats good there wasnt meat in it. The office unfortunatly doesnt call when they recieve it. But honestly mom i dont want you to feel bad that i wont have it on my bday. Were so busy here that quite honestly i have not really realized my birthday is coming up. So i'll just pretend like it actually is october 20 haha. I will get it at next zone conference which they havent announced yet. I would bet in like 3 ish weeks or so. But dont worry mom seriously.... ill be just as excited, im not sad. Mom i'm glad the birthday was fun. Funny fact, i saw your present from nate before you haha. Nate sent me a picture preview and it looks awesome. Nate you really have an eye my friend, in fact you have two!! Dad thanks so much for the pop culture. I have really come to love your news caster type reports thanks so much. THats crazy paula abdul quit. In italian we say... Meno Male.... which meens like... perfect... its about time. I think miss degeneres will be a great replacement. Mom and Dad your trip to idaho sounded awesome. I laughed so hard hearing about Ben and how he shouldnt step on Jesus's animals haha how cute. Those little stinkers are growing up on me. The trip sounded too fun. But we are cutting internet time a bit shorter today to make it in time. But mom i recieved your letter the other day and loved it thanks so much! I'll get around to writin one back to ya'll. But hey my wonderful family i love you guys so much and will see you later!!!! Buck and JayZ how is my little Max doing? Haha he'll be the cutest kid for sure!! Well i gotta get going.
CIAO!!!
PACE FRATELLI
Love you guys!
Vi Amo!
Anziano Perx
Thanks so much for the emails this week. I laughed a lot haha you guys are too funny. So this week was drumroll..... awesome as always in the mission haha got ya. No but really it was an awesome week. So first for some cultural Lugano facts for you. Languages.... there are lots of languages here. Switzlerand has 4 national languages being, italian, english, german, and french. So pretty much everyone speaks at least two languages. We hear other languages being spoken all day everywhere. I love when german speakers ask us for directions and there like... chzne bokcnien shinepine bla bla bla... and i respond with i dont speak german (in german though) and immediatly they think i do speak german so they start speaking louder and slower, and once again i respond with nooooo i dont speak german silly!! Haha so it is quite fun. So next cultural fact.... ethnicity. Most people here are swiss, with some connection to italy... like there parents are from italy but they were born here in Ticino (the name of our region). There are many german swiss people here as well. Lotsss of africans, a ton in fact. And most of them are muslim african from like... samalia or other crazy places i've never heard of. I have met, iraqians, pakistanians, iranians, turkish, russian, mongolian, johanisburgians, all of the european places, japanese, chinese, ukrainians, americans, santo domingo people (lots actually, quite fun) and basically name a place and i know someone from there. So it is quite the little mixing pot of people for us. For some reason on the muslims love us here haha. We'll have some guy stop us and be like... wasssup man ho are you guys. And as we are walking away i turn to my comp and ask... who is he.. and he responds... i have no idea... never met him haha. So they like the missionaries here. So food here in Lugano. Nothing really different than in italy actually. Pizza, the works. Lots of pasta or as you americans say spaghetti. Just a fun fact. Spaghetti is a specific type of pasta. So as americans we just call any type of pasta spaghetti which is like calling every car a jeep or something. Each type of pasta has its own cool name here which is fun. Spaghetti is correct but that is the long pasta. But anyways im not sure if i already told you but we just have 2 hours for lunch and no dinner, so we usually eat lotssss of pasta for lunch with mayonaise too... yummmmy. The Carbone Family is doing great. The grandma came to church and lovvvvvved it!!! The son who is our age was in Locarno (2 hours away) for the weekend so he coudlnt come. But she seriosuly loved it. She told us after that everyone was soooo nice. She made some friends so she is doing great! Thank you guys so much for praying for them that is very sweet. I will tell them that, they will love it. So last pday we went hiking!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome! We actually took a ski lift partly up and then hiked the rest. But we hiked Mount san salvatore which is right next to lugano. SO i got some great pics on top of the world with lugano behind. There is soooo much hiking to be done here. I hope my next comp likes hiking because im way excited!! Today for pday we are going to lucarno a city about an hour north that is also on a big lake. I think they talk about it in I loved lucy crazy huh?? Dumb fred sends the band to locarno i believe... which quite honestly is a great place to be sent haha. So sorry i havent been able to send any pics really. I keep trying at the second library and the computers are mega slow and it hasnt been working. I'll try to figure out a better way. Maybe i'll show you in two years haha... just kidding. I'll work on it. So mom about the package. Thats good there wasnt meat in it. The office unfortunatly doesnt call when they recieve it. But honestly mom i dont want you to feel bad that i wont have it on my bday. Were so busy here that quite honestly i have not really realized my birthday is coming up. So i'll just pretend like it actually is october 20 haha. I will get it at next zone conference which they havent announced yet. I would bet in like 3 ish weeks or so. But dont worry mom seriously.... ill be just as excited, im not sad. Mom i'm glad the birthday was fun. Funny fact, i saw your present from nate before you haha. Nate sent me a picture preview and it looks awesome. Nate you really have an eye my friend, in fact you have two!! Dad thanks so much for the pop culture. I have really come to love your news caster type reports thanks so much. THats crazy paula abdul quit. In italian we say... Meno Male.... which meens like... perfect... its about time. I think miss degeneres will be a great replacement. Mom and Dad your trip to idaho sounded awesome. I laughed so hard hearing about Ben and how he shouldnt step on Jesus's animals haha how cute. Those little stinkers are growing up on me. The trip sounded too fun. But we are cutting internet time a bit shorter today to make it in time. But mom i recieved your letter the other day and loved it thanks so much! I'll get around to writin one back to ya'll. But hey my wonderful family i love you guys so much and will see you later!!!! Buck and JayZ how is my little Max doing? Haha he'll be the cutest kid for sure!! Well i gotta get going.
CIAO!!!
PACE FRATELLI
Love you guys!
Vi Amo!
Anziano Perx
Hola Amigos! [Letter written 9-23-09]
Hello wonderful family!!
This week my inbox was flooded with letters from the family. Thank you sooo much i loved everyone of them. Unfortunatly i only have 3 minutes to write this letter so here we go. I love you guys but i gotta run!!! Sorry i'll write better next week!!
Love Anziano Perkes
PS.. Haha im just kidding sorry that was a terrible joke i know. I have plenty of time to write a big long letter haha. So let's just start off with the miracle story of the week. The Carbone family!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow what a family. I cant even describe them in words. So we were doing casa right... and we were just getting a lot of doors shut on our faces. So we were like... hey this isnt working so we decided to switch it up a bit. So we knocked on another door and this 20 year old kid leans his head out and says what do you want? Instead of pitching him like we usually did we just said... hey can we come in? And he said... ummmmm why? We just want to explain who we are. Sure come on in. So they we were we got into the house! Not only did we get into a house but we got into a house of a family!! There is this boy Allessander, the grandma, madelena, the daughter of the grandmpa barbara, and the daughters daughter (8 year old girl). So this Allesander isnt actually apart of the family but he lives in the house, and is just best friends with this 50 year old grandma. So there we begin to teach our lesson. Turns out there all catholic, but they all like many italians/swiss people dont like the church and don't really practice. So we taught about how the church of Christ is once again upon the Earth!! This whole time all of the were completely silent, just staring at us with a deep concentration, not even blinking. We gave them a book of mormon at the end of the lesson and asked them to read a chapter. The next day we called them and Allesander answered the phone. Hey he said... we love the chapter but honestly bro... were gonna need some more books of mormon in this house! We have been arguing over who's turn it is. WOW RIGHT!! So we set another appointment with them for 2 days later. Brought back 4 book of mormons, and taught them again. The lesson went awesome. They are all just wayyyy interested. So at the end of the lesson we challenged them to be baptized on November 14th and they all said a big YES!!! It was awesome. SO we taught them again and it went great again. We are seeing them tommorow and saturday and then there gonna come to church! I really cant describe this family. Lets just say that this is the type of family that all missionaries in the world dream of finding. So they are stellar and ill keep you updated on them. So this last week i went to Como and yes mom it is amazing. Unfortunatly i didnt see Goerge Clooney but we'll see haha. There part of our district in como. They have a big ole ward there. Yeah mom, we taught a bunch of lesson on the exchange it was great. Real nice members there. It was wayyy beautiful but i still think lugano is more beautiful up here. There is just a huge difference between swiss and italian cities. So dad you'll be sooo jealous haha. There is a hugggge bonsai convention right across the street from our apartment!!! When i saw the sign i was like dad would be soooo jealous. So mom you asked some questions lemme try and answer them now. The weather here is great now. I would imagine they the do have a rainy season and it would be in the fall not quite sure. The leaves here arent turning red yet but i think soon they will. When i say cold i just meen a bit chilly. We arent even wearing jackets yet so its still not cold cold but it is getting there. At night it cools wayyy down. And then during the day the temp is perfect! Haha mom you dont have to send a new jacket. My jacket is actually really nice its just that i wouldnt go rollin around BYU campus flashin it off. I only use it in the rain so its fine dont worry about it. I cant believe Tanner is home mom that is nuts!! And Brandon comes home in 3 weeks i dont believe it!! What a good kid i miss him. Say hi to him alright? Mom you asked me about the convert baptisms that is a great idea. I'll have to write Alice and ask her to send it to me. How neat would that be. Dad haha thanks so much for the letter. I really enjoyed the Pop's pop culture keep them coming!! You'll be famous some day! I loved how you wrote your letter with the features like it was a news cast haha your too funny. So i'm running out of things to say haha. Lugano is going great i love it. Oh mom i do have some sad news for you. I didn't get my birthday package yesterday (we went to milano for interviews). My guess is that it is still in the mail. But i should recieve it next month's conferences. I wont get it in time for my birthday but i dont want you to be sad. Honestly i nearly forgot it was my birthday. And plus conference is on my birthday so it couldnt be better! But i was a bit nervous.. you didnt put beef jerky in it did you? The mail system is known to confiscate packages for certain items like beef jerky. So i was just wondering. But dont worry mumsy i'll get it some day and ill love it more than ever!!! So sorry that i didnt really have much to say this week. Lugano is going great. I love being a missionary. Time is flying haha thanks mom for the reminder. I feel like ive been here for 3 weeks honestly. It is kind of scary!! But anywho i'll talk to ya'll next week!
Love ya!!
Vi amo
Anziano Perkes
This week my inbox was flooded with letters from the family. Thank you sooo much i loved everyone of them. Unfortunatly i only have 3 minutes to write this letter so here we go. I love you guys but i gotta run!!! Sorry i'll write better next week!!
Love Anziano Perkes
PS.. Haha im just kidding sorry that was a terrible joke i know. I have plenty of time to write a big long letter haha. So let's just start off with the miracle story of the week. The Carbone family!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow what a family. I cant even describe them in words. So we were doing casa right... and we were just getting a lot of doors shut on our faces. So we were like... hey this isnt working so we decided to switch it up a bit. So we knocked on another door and this 20 year old kid leans his head out and says what do you want? Instead of pitching him like we usually did we just said... hey can we come in? And he said... ummmmm why? We just want to explain who we are. Sure come on in. So they we were we got into the house! Not only did we get into a house but we got into a house of a family!! There is this boy Allessander, the grandma, madelena, the daughter of the grandmpa barbara, and the daughters daughter (8 year old girl). So this Allesander isnt actually apart of the family but he lives in the house, and is just best friends with this 50 year old grandma. So there we begin to teach our lesson. Turns out there all catholic, but they all like many italians/swiss people dont like the church and don't really practice. So we taught about how the church of Christ is once again upon the Earth!! This whole time all of the were completely silent, just staring at us with a deep concentration, not even blinking. We gave them a book of mormon at the end of the lesson and asked them to read a chapter. The next day we called them and Allesander answered the phone. Hey he said... we love the chapter but honestly bro... were gonna need some more books of mormon in this house! We have been arguing over who's turn it is. WOW RIGHT!! So we set another appointment with them for 2 days later. Brought back 4 book of mormons, and taught them again. The lesson went awesome. They are all just wayyyy interested. So at the end of the lesson we challenged them to be baptized on November 14th and they all said a big YES!!! It was awesome. SO we taught them again and it went great again. We are seeing them tommorow and saturday and then there gonna come to church! I really cant describe this family. Lets just say that this is the type of family that all missionaries in the world dream of finding. So they are stellar and ill keep you updated on them. So this last week i went to Como and yes mom it is amazing. Unfortunatly i didnt see Goerge Clooney but we'll see haha. There part of our district in como. They have a big ole ward there. Yeah mom, we taught a bunch of lesson on the exchange it was great. Real nice members there. It was wayyy beautiful but i still think lugano is more beautiful up here. There is just a huge difference between swiss and italian cities. So dad you'll be sooo jealous haha. There is a hugggge bonsai convention right across the street from our apartment!!! When i saw the sign i was like dad would be soooo jealous. So mom you asked some questions lemme try and answer them now. The weather here is great now. I would imagine they the do have a rainy season and it would be in the fall not quite sure. The leaves here arent turning red yet but i think soon they will. When i say cold i just meen a bit chilly. We arent even wearing jackets yet so its still not cold cold but it is getting there. At night it cools wayyy down. And then during the day the temp is perfect! Haha mom you dont have to send a new jacket. My jacket is actually really nice its just that i wouldnt go rollin around BYU campus flashin it off. I only use it in the rain so its fine dont worry about it. I cant believe Tanner is home mom that is nuts!! And Brandon comes home in 3 weeks i dont believe it!! What a good kid i miss him. Say hi to him alright? Mom you asked me about the convert baptisms that is a great idea. I'll have to write Alice and ask her to send it to me. How neat would that be. Dad haha thanks so much for the letter. I really enjoyed the Pop's pop culture keep them coming!! You'll be famous some day! I loved how you wrote your letter with the features like it was a news cast haha your too funny. So i'm running out of things to say haha. Lugano is going great i love it. Oh mom i do have some sad news for you. I didn't get my birthday package yesterday (we went to milano for interviews). My guess is that it is still in the mail. But i should recieve it next month's conferences. I wont get it in time for my birthday but i dont want you to be sad. Honestly i nearly forgot it was my birthday. And plus conference is on my birthday so it couldnt be better! But i was a bit nervous.. you didnt put beef jerky in it did you? The mail system is known to confiscate packages for certain items like beef jerky. So i was just wondering. But dont worry mumsy i'll get it some day and ill love it more than ever!!! So sorry that i didnt really have much to say this week. Lugano is going great. I love being a missionary. Time is flying haha thanks mom for the reminder. I feel like ive been here for 3 weeks honestly. It is kind of scary!! But anywho i'll talk to ya'll next week!
Love ya!!
Vi amo
Anziano Perkes
Hi . . . [Letter written 9-16-09]
Hi!
That sounds weird. I havent said hi for about 6 months haha. The funny thing is sometimes people answer the phone here saying hhello? Its not in italia but just here in switzerland it was very funny last week i had the phone and someone called and i answered saying in my best italian accent, si pronto, sono anziano perkes. And this man responded hello. So i started talking in enlgish, hey hows it going how can i help you etc. etc. And he started being very confused..... chi é, perche parli in inglese? Non parlo inglese! Which translates to pretty much.... what?? I dont speak english what is going on?? Haha so people say hello here it is funny. So anyways sorry that was random. Whats up everyone!!! Thanks so much for the letters i loved them. Lemme jot down some things about the week and then ill get to answering your questions. So this week was absolutly spendidly fantastic. You like that string of adjectives there.. haha yeah i liked them too. So this week has been wayyyyyy rainy. But surprisngly enough i loveeee it. For many reasons. First is that the buses are cramped with people that cant leave haha... so i get to talk to them and they cant run away. Second, when were out in the rain it really helps motivate me to get into a pillazo, or in english... a... ummm dang what is the word. Condo?...no thats not right. Like a flat or something i dunno a apartemnt complex. English is lame.. so a pilazzo right. Okay it really helps motivate me to get in there because its raining. And thirdly, its not hottttt anymore!!! In fact it is kinda chilly i love it so much. Were still in short sleeves here, and we get asked by lots of sweet old ladies... arent you cold?!?! Haha i love it, its a great intro into a gospel conversation. That is something we learned about in yone conference this week is how to navigate everything into a gospel conversation it is awesome. It reminds me a lot like sales.... not selling the gospel but of controlling the conversation. For example, i met this guy that was carrying a fishing pole... so i was like.. hey man you like fishing? He started going off about fishing and i was like.. dang how can i NAVIGATE this conversation. So i was like.. hey man your just like an apostle of Jesus Christ, did you know they were fisherman? Haha it worked perfect... sadly he wasnt interested but i invited him to here about the restored gospel! So it is rather fun. Like a challenge actually. So the fourth reason for liking the rain is we get to wear rain jackets! And luckily my trainer gave me one. Man i miss that kid. But this jacket makes me look like a hench man haha. Its one of those big ole jackets with the popped collar. I look quite fashionable haha. But something cool about the rain is that its really foggy and misty being on the lake here. The mountains are covered in fog it is soooo pretty. It is raining today i want to go hike a mountain but we'll see what we do today. I get to go to como tonight for a split. Como is where george cloony lives!! Ill let you know if i see him! So the ward is still doing great. I seriously feel like im in a utah ward here the members are just sooo cool. There is lots of families in the branch here. About 50 60 ish people in church on sundays. Interesting fact is before these 4 baptisms that happend in the past 6 months, there wasnt a batpism for 5 years!!!! So the branch is getting real involved in the work its great. They had an activity the other night and we got a call from the branch president and he was like... hey guys (he calls us rigazzi which meens like kids or guys its very funny.) Hey guys.. theres a bunch of food in the church, go take it home or it will go bad. This man kind of reminds me of an italian brother siebach. He is from balogna (italy) and has a serious bolagnesi accent. Its funny because that is his name, Presidente Bolagnesi. So last week we went to the chocolate factory. Honestly it wasnt as cool as we thought but it was still very intersting. We got to eat a big ole handful of chocolate for free. And we got to take pictures with a cow!!! Ill send a picture! So besides all that that is the week! We did lots of finding work and it was great i love finding work. More than anything! We have found lots and lots of potentials in the past 2 weeks so now were working on turning some of them into new investigators. We are trying to kind of recycle some investigators. Kind of like a bonsai. Get rid of the week branches and make way for strong ones! Mom thanks so much for the BYU trivia i loved it haha. Go cougars! Hey did mark stevens serve in the milano mission? Dad you commented about the cheese factory and the store clerk that was short. I didnt explain this but this wasnt some cheese tour or something. We were good friends with that store clerk named Gorgio. And he invited us to come to the factory where he buys his cheese from. So it literally was like we were ina cheese factory watching people make cheese. This wasnt some tour where there like... okay look over here. We just sat and watched these cheese makers for hours. It was awesome. And the cheese warehouse with the millions of cheese balls, the guy there gave us the key and was like... hey go check out the warehouse here.... lock it up when your done. So it was arealllllly cool experience. It was like a behind the tape tour type of thing. Dad im surprised at how hip your becoming!! Way to go cowboy! You know what gaged ears are! Isnt that gross haha... lots of teenagers here do that to their ears. Dad i laughed so hard about your water haha. You are too funny. Youll be sad to know that i just drink tap water here... aghhh. It actually makes sense though. So your not too weird haha. It actually kind of sounds like a fun little hobby to have. Lemme know if there is some springs here in lugano okay! Actually cool thing is everywhere there are these fountains in the parks, sidewalks everywhere!!! Now this isnt like a walmart drinking fountain, but a cool modern fountain that you can drink out of... all different too. And dad guess where the water comes from!!! The lake!.... no im jus tkidding. The mountains! So my friend i drink from your springs up here in lugano!! Haha i¨m glad you guys liked the movies. So mom lemme answer your questions now!
You haven't shared with us much about your new companion. Do you like him? Do you get along? Is he hard working? Would he be your friend if you were at BYU together?
Yeah i like him is is reallly hard working. We get along just perfect. He is a cool kid i think ill keep him around for 4 more weeks haha. sad!!
I know you only have him for about another 4 weeks and he will be transfered out. Man, you've got to get the lay of the land quick so you don't loose anyone when he goes. Tell me about the leadership in the branch. Are you loving all of the members. You have commented what a wealthy area you are in. Are the members that way as well??
The members here for the most part are pretty well off. We have an american family that lives here they are aweesome. And yes they are veryy wealthy. But i only have 54 se^conds aghhh!!! So i have to go i love you guys so much... Ill send pics in 10 minutes at the next place.
Love ya
BYEEE!!!
That sounds weird. I havent said hi for about 6 months haha. The funny thing is sometimes people answer the phone here saying hhello? Its not in italia but just here in switzerland it was very funny last week i had the phone and someone called and i answered saying in my best italian accent, si pronto, sono anziano perkes. And this man responded hello. So i started talking in enlgish, hey hows it going how can i help you etc. etc. And he started being very confused..... chi é, perche parli in inglese? Non parlo inglese! Which translates to pretty much.... what?? I dont speak english what is going on?? Haha so people say hello here it is funny. So anyways sorry that was random. Whats up everyone!!! Thanks so much for the letters i loved them. Lemme jot down some things about the week and then ill get to answering your questions. So this week was absolutly spendidly fantastic. You like that string of adjectives there.. haha yeah i liked them too. So this week has been wayyyyyy rainy. But surprisngly enough i loveeee it. For many reasons. First is that the buses are cramped with people that cant leave haha... so i get to talk to them and they cant run away. Second, when were out in the rain it really helps motivate me to get into a pillazo, or in english... a... ummm dang what is the word. Condo?...no thats not right. Like a flat or something i dunno a apartemnt complex. English is lame.. so a pilazzo right. Okay it really helps motivate me to get in there because its raining. And thirdly, its not hottttt anymore!!! In fact it is kinda chilly i love it so much. Were still in short sleeves here, and we get asked by lots of sweet old ladies... arent you cold?!?! Haha i love it, its a great intro into a gospel conversation. That is something we learned about in yone conference this week is how to navigate everything into a gospel conversation it is awesome. It reminds me a lot like sales.... not selling the gospel but of controlling the conversation. For example, i met this guy that was carrying a fishing pole... so i was like.. hey man you like fishing? He started going off about fishing and i was like.. dang how can i NAVIGATE this conversation. So i was like.. hey man your just like an apostle of Jesus Christ, did you know they were fisherman? Haha it worked perfect... sadly he wasnt interested but i invited him to here about the restored gospel! So it is rather fun. Like a challenge actually. So the fourth reason for liking the rain is we get to wear rain jackets! And luckily my trainer gave me one. Man i miss that kid. But this jacket makes me look like a hench man haha. Its one of those big ole jackets with the popped collar. I look quite fashionable haha. But something cool about the rain is that its really foggy and misty being on the lake here. The mountains are covered in fog it is soooo pretty. It is raining today i want to go hike a mountain but we'll see what we do today. I get to go to como tonight for a split. Como is where george cloony lives!! Ill let you know if i see him! So the ward is still doing great. I seriously feel like im in a utah ward here the members are just sooo cool. There is lots of families in the branch here. About 50 60 ish people in church on sundays. Interesting fact is before these 4 baptisms that happend in the past 6 months, there wasnt a batpism for 5 years!!!! So the branch is getting real involved in the work its great. They had an activity the other night and we got a call from the branch president and he was like... hey guys (he calls us rigazzi which meens like kids or guys its very funny.) Hey guys.. theres a bunch of food in the church, go take it home or it will go bad. This man kind of reminds me of an italian brother siebach. He is from balogna (italy) and has a serious bolagnesi accent. Its funny because that is his name, Presidente Bolagnesi. So last week we went to the chocolate factory. Honestly it wasnt as cool as we thought but it was still very intersting. We got to eat a big ole handful of chocolate for free. And we got to take pictures with a cow!!! Ill send a picture! So besides all that that is the week! We did lots of finding work and it was great i love finding work. More than anything! We have found lots and lots of potentials in the past 2 weeks so now were working on turning some of them into new investigators. We are trying to kind of recycle some investigators. Kind of like a bonsai. Get rid of the week branches and make way for strong ones! Mom thanks so much for the BYU trivia i loved it haha. Go cougars! Hey did mark stevens serve in the milano mission? Dad you commented about the cheese factory and the store clerk that was short. I didnt explain this but this wasnt some cheese tour or something. We were good friends with that store clerk named Gorgio. And he invited us to come to the factory where he buys his cheese from. So it literally was like we were ina cheese factory watching people make cheese. This wasnt some tour where there like... okay look over here. We just sat and watched these cheese makers for hours. It was awesome. And the cheese warehouse with the millions of cheese balls, the guy there gave us the key and was like... hey go check out the warehouse here.... lock it up when your done. So it was arealllllly cool experience. It was like a behind the tape tour type of thing. Dad im surprised at how hip your becoming!! Way to go cowboy! You know what gaged ears are! Isnt that gross haha... lots of teenagers here do that to their ears. Dad i laughed so hard about your water haha. You are too funny. Youll be sad to know that i just drink tap water here... aghhh. It actually makes sense though. So your not too weird haha. It actually kind of sounds like a fun little hobby to have. Lemme know if there is some springs here in lugano okay! Actually cool thing is everywhere there are these fountains in the parks, sidewalks everywhere!!! Now this isnt like a walmart drinking fountain, but a cool modern fountain that you can drink out of... all different too. And dad guess where the water comes from!!! The lake!.... no im jus tkidding. The mountains! So my friend i drink from your springs up here in lugano!! Haha i¨m glad you guys liked the movies. So mom lemme answer your questions now!
You haven't shared with us much about your new companion. Do you like him? Do you get along? Is he hard working? Would he be your friend if you were at BYU together?
Yeah i like him is is reallly hard working. We get along just perfect. He is a cool kid i think ill keep him around for 4 more weeks haha. sad!!
I know you only have him for about another 4 weeks and he will be transfered out. Man, you've got to get the lay of the land quick so you don't loose anyone when he goes. Tell me about the leadership in the branch. Are you loving all of the members. You have commented what a wealthy area you are in. Are the members that way as well??
The members here for the most part are pretty well off. We have an american family that lives here they are aweesome. And yes they are veryy wealthy. But i only have 54 se^conds aghhh!!! So i have to go i love you guys so much... Ill send pics in 10 minutes at the next place.
Love ya
BYEEE!!!
Helllllllllo la la la . . . [Letter written 9-9-090
Hellllllo wonderful family of mine!!
So this week was a gggggreat week! Thanks for all the emails i loved them. Dad if you sent a letter i didn't get it. If you didnt have time though i understand. Mom told me that you won your big trial!!!!! CONGRATS!!! That is soo fun! Was that the hanniford bank robbery one!? That is too cool. So did your boss give you a fat bonus check? Well anyways i have lots to write this week so i better get started. So i have realized that i love old ladies haha. They are too fun. Especially european old ladies there just a kick. So we were walking on the street and there was this old lady with a mustache, i know rather strange... i was a bit surpirsed myself. But when we walked by i heard her under her breath mutter... translated.... holy cow he is tall!! So i stopped and turned to her and was like... mam have you ever seen someone as short as me? And she starts laughing, by the way she seems a bit strange from the start. She was like... wow how did you grow that tall?? And i said... mam i ate my vegetables like my mother told me too (i know kind of a fib but i did eat potatoes and ketchup too!) And she was like.... oh my gosh stop!!! Stop growing!!! Basta!!! which meens enough. And she was seriously like screaming this in her old lady voice... so i was like.... okayyyy mam i wont eat any more. And she was like NOOOOO Youll die dummy!! You have to eat. So that was basically our converstaiont,,, doesnt sound quite as funny written down as i thought haha... just picture a crazy old italian woman with a mustache shouting at me haha. Okay so this week i met someone from joburg! Shout out to nate woo! THey had crazy accents by the way... they were white. Okay so i told you how amazingly gorgeous lugano is right?? So along the lake there is a giant sidewalk along the whole outside. Not only that but its surrounded by gardens, modern statues, and lots of american tourists! We meet americans on a daily basis here it is soooo fun. I love americans there soo funny. So last pday we just walked around the city and centro. I saw like 9 ferraris and maseratis it was great. But today for pday were going to a giant chocolate factory!!!! How fun is that right! Were are very excited. Switzerland is mega famous for chocolate... in fact lindt comes from here. The chocolate here is soooo yummy... i get chocolate once a week when i shop and then i nibble on it all week hah yummm... we also got root beer!!! So gooooood. So you know the phrase everything is bigger in texas? Same goes here but it goes like this... everytrhing is bigger, nicer, cleaner, prettier, more expensive, fancier, more legit, and tottaly cooler in LUGANO!!! I cant stop being amazed by this beautiful country! At least once a day i say to myself... wow this is my area!! So we have a guy come to our english class named Tiziano! He is a magician!!! And he comes to practice his show in english with us!! No way right. He taught us like 8 tricks the last week and i wrote them all down in my journal so i can remember them. But he is super funny and just a really cool guy. So every wednesday night we have a magic show for us! Mom you already sent the birthday package? Dang i wanted to tell you not to spend too much money. But its too late... so i'll tell you in advance... next year please dont spend too much money haha. Oh yeah so our area is ginormous by the way... its like the size of utah... maybe not that big... but to put it into perspective... we can ride a train for 3 hours going north and we are still in our area! Thats a lot of souls to cover! But mainly we just stick here in lugano because there is tons of work to do here. So right now we have a baptism coming up of a 17 kid named Davide. He is a stud. His mom is less active so that is how we found him through her. He is progressing just great. He said that he wants to serve a mission. They also baptized a lady named Dina the week before i got here and i realized that most of the fun is not the progressing towards baptism which dont get me wrong is an amazing sweet process. But i think i like even more working with them after. Seeing them just completely change there life and become happier and happier is amazing. Because the work is not done after baptism for sure. So Dina is amazing and i love her. She is 40 and single. 2 daughters about our age never met them though. She is just radiating happyness off of her i love it. So something funny i dont think ive told yall. Anziano literally translated means ancient. In my opinion its a bad translation for us to have on our tags and ill tell you why. About once a day i swear.... we have people that stop us saying.... do you know what anziano meens?!?! You guys are young!! Your not old! Becuase they call old people anziani so its kinda funny. I make a joke out of it telling poeple that im much older than i look. So funny story... i said that theres lots of americans here. So we were on a bus yesterday and these 3 americans got on and they started speaking english right next to us. And they gave us a look of like... what losers haha. So me and anziano mickelsen started talking in italian just saying like... hey next stop is ours. When they heard us speaking in italian they started making fun of us because they didnt think we spoke english. They were like... oh hahaha theres always two of them, there so weird type talk. So im just sitting there smiling, almost chuckling to myself. Right before we get off i turn my head and in a big smily voice im like... where ya'll from?? And the look on there faces was priceless. They were silent for about 2 seconds all looking at each other with the look of a guilty 8 year old... then the main guy stuttered out colo...o...o...orado. And i was like... awesome yeah i worked there for a summer... well guyss this is our stop see ya later! It was sooo funny the look on there faces. So i got a good laugh out of that. Someone actually thought i was italian awesome huh?? So mom you told me to email president to tell him to make sure to bring my package haha. Sei Fouri?? Meens.. are you nuts?? Haha i cant call president saying... oh yes presidnet.... dont forget my birthday package hah. No im just kidding dont worry though... they never forget. He has a big van he uses. Wait mom you said that Mark Stevens knows lugano? Did he serve in the milano mission?????? Am i just an idiot or did i not know this?!?! He must of been zone leader in como then. At least that is what it is now.. Como, where george clooney lives. It could have been Bergamo back then not sure. But he served here!?! No way i dont believe it!! I feel dumb now haha. Salute Mark for me! Tell him i say hi from lugano! Well family that is about it for the letter today sorry! I'll try to send a pic at the other library today. Sorry i didnt send one last week. Love you guys!!!!!
Vi voglio bene!
Anziano Perkes
So this week was a gggggreat week! Thanks for all the emails i loved them. Dad if you sent a letter i didn't get it. If you didnt have time though i understand. Mom told me that you won your big trial!!!!! CONGRATS!!! That is soo fun! Was that the hanniford bank robbery one!? That is too cool. So did your boss give you a fat bonus check? Well anyways i have lots to write this week so i better get started. So i have realized that i love old ladies haha. They are too fun. Especially european old ladies there just a kick. So we were walking on the street and there was this old lady with a mustache, i know rather strange... i was a bit surpirsed myself. But when we walked by i heard her under her breath mutter... translated.... holy cow he is tall!! So i stopped and turned to her and was like... mam have you ever seen someone as short as me? And she starts laughing, by the way she seems a bit strange from the start. She was like... wow how did you grow that tall?? And i said... mam i ate my vegetables like my mother told me too (i know kind of a fib but i did eat potatoes and ketchup too!) And she was like.... oh my gosh stop!!! Stop growing!!! Basta!!! which meens enough. And she was seriously like screaming this in her old lady voice... so i was like.... okayyyy mam i wont eat any more. And she was like NOOOOO Youll die dummy!! You have to eat. So that was basically our converstaiont,,, doesnt sound quite as funny written down as i thought haha... just picture a crazy old italian woman with a mustache shouting at me haha. Okay so this week i met someone from joburg! Shout out to nate woo! THey had crazy accents by the way... they were white. Okay so i told you how amazingly gorgeous lugano is right?? So along the lake there is a giant sidewalk along the whole outside. Not only that but its surrounded by gardens, modern statues, and lots of american tourists! We meet americans on a daily basis here it is soooo fun. I love americans there soo funny. So last pday we just walked around the city and centro. I saw like 9 ferraris and maseratis it was great. But today for pday were going to a giant chocolate factory!!!! How fun is that right! Were are very excited. Switzerland is mega famous for chocolate... in fact lindt comes from here. The chocolate here is soooo yummy... i get chocolate once a week when i shop and then i nibble on it all week hah yummm... we also got root beer!!! So gooooood. So you know the phrase everything is bigger in texas? Same goes here but it goes like this... everytrhing is bigger, nicer, cleaner, prettier, more expensive, fancier, more legit, and tottaly cooler in LUGANO!!! I cant stop being amazed by this beautiful country! At least once a day i say to myself... wow this is my area!! So we have a guy come to our english class named Tiziano! He is a magician!!! And he comes to practice his show in english with us!! No way right. He taught us like 8 tricks the last week and i wrote them all down in my journal so i can remember them. But he is super funny and just a really cool guy. So every wednesday night we have a magic show for us! Mom you already sent the birthday package? Dang i wanted to tell you not to spend too much money. But its too late... so i'll tell you in advance... next year please dont spend too much money haha. Oh yeah so our area is ginormous by the way... its like the size of utah... maybe not that big... but to put it into perspective... we can ride a train for 3 hours going north and we are still in our area! Thats a lot of souls to cover! But mainly we just stick here in lugano because there is tons of work to do here. So right now we have a baptism coming up of a 17 kid named Davide. He is a stud. His mom is less active so that is how we found him through her. He is progressing just great. He said that he wants to serve a mission. They also baptized a lady named Dina the week before i got here and i realized that most of the fun is not the progressing towards baptism which dont get me wrong is an amazing sweet process. But i think i like even more working with them after. Seeing them just completely change there life and become happier and happier is amazing. Because the work is not done after baptism for sure. So Dina is amazing and i love her. She is 40 and single. 2 daughters about our age never met them though. She is just radiating happyness off of her i love it. So something funny i dont think ive told yall. Anziano literally translated means ancient. In my opinion its a bad translation for us to have on our tags and ill tell you why. About once a day i swear.... we have people that stop us saying.... do you know what anziano meens?!?! You guys are young!! Your not old! Becuase they call old people anziani so its kinda funny. I make a joke out of it telling poeple that im much older than i look. So funny story... i said that theres lots of americans here. So we were on a bus yesterday and these 3 americans got on and they started speaking english right next to us. And they gave us a look of like... what losers haha. So me and anziano mickelsen started talking in italian just saying like... hey next stop is ours. When they heard us speaking in italian they started making fun of us because they didnt think we spoke english. They were like... oh hahaha theres always two of them, there so weird type talk. So im just sitting there smiling, almost chuckling to myself. Right before we get off i turn my head and in a big smily voice im like... where ya'll from?? And the look on there faces was priceless. They were silent for about 2 seconds all looking at each other with the look of a guilty 8 year old... then the main guy stuttered out colo...o...o...orado. And i was like... awesome yeah i worked there for a summer... well guyss this is our stop see ya later! It was sooo funny the look on there faces. So i got a good laugh out of that. Someone actually thought i was italian awesome huh?? So mom you told me to email president to tell him to make sure to bring my package haha. Sei Fouri?? Meens.. are you nuts?? Haha i cant call president saying... oh yes presidnet.... dont forget my birthday package hah. No im just kidding dont worry though... they never forget. He has a big van he uses. Wait mom you said that Mark Stevens knows lugano? Did he serve in the milano mission?????? Am i just an idiot or did i not know this?!?! He must of been zone leader in como then. At least that is what it is now.. Como, where george clooney lives. It could have been Bergamo back then not sure. But he served here!?! No way i dont believe it!! I feel dumb now haha. Salute Mark for me! Tell him i say hi from lugano! Well family that is about it for the letter today sorry! I'll try to send a pic at the other library today. Sorry i didnt send one last week. Love you guys!!!!!
Vi voglio bene!
Anziano Perkes
Helllllooooo from the mountains!! [Letter written 9-2-09]
Okay so lemme explain something real quick. So here the swiss switched the z and the y on the keyboard and it is taking me forever to try to perfect it. So if i mess up i am sorry but i think youll understand the same. It will actually make me sound swiss which would be cool. So anzwazs swityerland is sooooooo amaying. So seriouslz i want to move here sooo bad. It would be hard but we should build a cabin here it would be awesome. So transfers went good. The last night i ate dinner with the saquing family which was awesome!! I gave them my password for facebook so that they could add me as a friend to see my pictures. So if any of zou saw me cruisin facebook it wasnt me so dont get nervous or anzthing. That would be verz dumb and i wouldnt do that. Oh zeah so thez also called me and told me that right next to there friend request was Jake Perkes!! What Jake zou got a facebook... no way i dont believe you!! That is too cool. Haha so i thought instead of waiting 2 years to accept you id just give you my password so you can go on if you want. [password edited out] Yeah ps... dad please edit that out and dont publish it to the thousands of people online haha. Thanks! So Jake or anyone i guess if you wanna go on there go ahead. So i have to tell yall my first impression of lugano. So we are on the train just up in these green mountains superrrr beautiful. And then all of a sudden we come around the corner and there is a ginormous lake with a city dug into the mountain. It was the most beautful thing that i think i have ever seen. Truely incredible. So this city is surrounded by green mountains and a giant lake. It is awesome. For instance.... sitting here in the library i am looking out the window and i can see the lake. So pretty much from everywhere we can see the lake or the mountains. It is awesome. The city is wayyyy rich. I have seen the nicest cars of my life here in 4 days. Masarati, ferrari, porshe, lamborghini, bentley, aston martin. You name it and ive seen it. They are everywhere!!! So the city is way nice. It is just a step above the rest. Everything here is of the nicest quality, from the shopping, to the trash cans, to the bus sytem. Things are quite elegant here. So no im gonna answer moms questions because im running out of time. By the way we use 2 different libraries here to get the full time. An hour at each for our allowed 2 hours. So im done here in a bit and then off to the other one to send pics, write president and all that good stuff. So anyways here we go.
1) What is your shirt size? Ohh.... i honestly dont know very good. But if your thinking of sending white shirts honestly im fine with white shirts. I picked up a couple in piacenza. But i think it is 15 and a half neck and longest sleeve im not sure.
2) What is your tshiet size?
Tshirt size would be L
3) What is your pant size? Think 34 waist and longest they come
4) What is your shoe size? 11
1) How is your companion? He is a stud. His name is anz. mickelsen. He is from clearfield utah. Comes from a big family. Is the only one in his family to serve a mission which is amazing. So he is a stud i have a lot of respect for him. He has been out for about a year now and actually served with Anz catalano my last companion so we have had some fun conversations haha.
2) What do you think of Lugauna? Lugauna also known as lugano is amazzing i love it.
3) What is your apartment like?
The apartment is tinyyyyyyyy. It has a bedroom, where we sleep, study, dry laundry, and have the fridge. Then we have a kitchen the size of a large shirt, and a tiny bathroom. It is nice quality but just very small. But i like it. It is in great location. In fact it is way close to the lake. Yesterdaz we went running along the lake with the sun rising it was awesome. Very beautiful and tiring haha.
4) Are you on city transportation, or do you have a bike again??
Nope we use a very expensive city pass that lets us use all buses, gondolas, and local trains. Yes there are gondolas here haha. There awesome. The bus system is amazinggg.. Super nice nad clean.
5) Tell us all about the branch??
The branch is awesome. SO i loved piacenza a ton especially the branch, but there were not a lot of families in the branch. Here in lugano it is all families!!! It is awesome. Little kids running around. They have primary, seminary everything!! It is awesome. They are super nice. It is bigger as well about 60 members that come, so i need to get to know them all!! So oh yeah i have to learn the city in one transfer because anz. mickelsen is leaving next transfer. So i have to pay attention a lot this transfer haha.
KK mom i hope i did well haha. Thanks for the questions i love them it makes it very easy to respond. So we use franks here. They are huggggge. It is about the equivalent to the dollar more or less. It is very expensive up here though. Also they have root beer here!! And dr. pepper!!! So it is amazinggg. So this is a really touristy area so we meet americans on a daily basis. It is quite fun. Okay so mom you asked about my address here in switzerland. You can mail the package here. Im not sure what will happen. I have interviews on sept. 22 so if you mail it to the mission home i'll get it before my birthday. I think that would be better. Im not sure how the mail sytem is for packages here. I might get charged for customs and stuff. So if you need to you can send it here but mission home might be better. Its up to you. So my address is Anziano Perkes, Via Del Tiglio 13A 6900, Lugano (TI), Switzerland, Svizzera If you could update my facebook with that new address saying ill be here for 6 months that would be great. Letters come here just great. So that is about it. I want to take a picture of the lake and send it at the next library. I'm running out of time so i better wrap this up. Josh congrats on denver big guyyy!! That is wayyyy cool. I am very excited. You are tooo cool. You will have lots of fun. I'm sure Buck and JZ will miss you guys lots. Mom and Nate California sounded amazingggg. Thanks for the pictures i loved them!!! You guys must of had soo much fun. Nate you surfed huntington you lucky dawg!! Dad i'll keep you in my prayers my man. Sounds like the trail is going great. Keep it up slugger! So i'm glad you got hedwig. Everything worked all right? Mom if you could back it up and then send it back ill work on another delivery from hedwig my owl. Sorry i was a bit short. I love you guys so much. Thanks for all your love and support. Lugano is amazing i love it. I'll explain more next week.
Love ya!!
Anziano Perkes!
1) What is your shirt size? Ohh.... i honestly dont know very good. But if your thinking of sending white shirts honestly im fine with white shirts. I picked up a couple in piacenza. But i think it is 15 and a half neck and longest sleeve im not sure.
2) What is your tshiet size?
Tshirt size would be L
3) What is your pant size? Think 34 waist and longest they come
4) What is your shoe size? 11
1) How is your companion? He is a stud. His name is anz. mickelsen. He is from clearfield utah. Comes from a big family. Is the only one in his family to serve a mission which is amazing. So he is a stud i have a lot of respect for him. He has been out for about a year now and actually served with Anz catalano my last companion so we have had some fun conversations haha.
2) What do you think of Lugauna? Lugauna also known as lugano is amazzing i love it.
3) What is your apartment like?
The apartment is tinyyyyyyyy. It has a bedroom, where we sleep, study, dry laundry, and have the fridge. Then we have a kitchen the size of a large shirt, and a tiny bathroom. It is nice quality but just very small. But i like it. It is in great location. In fact it is way close to the lake. Yesterdaz we went running along the lake with the sun rising it was awesome. Very beautiful and tiring haha.
4) Are you on city transportation, or do you have a bike again??
Nope we use a very expensive city pass that lets us use all buses, gondolas, and local trains. Yes there are gondolas here haha. There awesome. The bus system is amazinggg.. Super nice nad clean.
5) Tell us all about the branch??
The branch is awesome. SO i loved piacenza a ton especially the branch, but there were not a lot of families in the branch. Here in lugano it is all families!!! It is awesome. Little kids running around. They have primary, seminary everything!! It is awesome. They are super nice. It is bigger as well about 60 members that come, so i need to get to know them all!! So oh yeah i have to learn the city in one transfer because anz. mickelsen is leaving next transfer. So i have to pay attention a lot this transfer haha.
KK mom i hope i did well haha. Thanks for the questions i love them it makes it very easy to respond. So we use franks here. They are huggggge. It is about the equivalent to the dollar more or less. It is very expensive up here though. Also they have root beer here!! And dr. pepper!!! So it is amazinggg. So this is a really touristy area so we meet americans on a daily basis. It is quite fun. Okay so mom you asked about my address here in switzerland. You can mail the package here. Im not sure what will happen. I have interviews on sept. 22 so if you mail it to the mission home i'll get it before my birthday. I think that would be better. Im not sure how the mail sytem is for packages here. I might get charged for customs and stuff. So if you need to you can send it here but mission home might be better. Its up to you. So my address is Anziano Perkes, Via Del Tiglio 13A 6900, Lugano (TI), Switzerland, Svizzera If you could update my facebook with that new address saying ill be here for 6 months that would be great. Letters come here just great. So that is about it. I want to take a picture of the lake and send it at the next library. I'm running out of time so i better wrap this up. Josh congrats on denver big guyyy!! That is wayyyy cool. I am very excited. You are tooo cool. You will have lots of fun. I'm sure Buck and JZ will miss you guys lots. Mom and Nate California sounded amazingggg. Thanks for the pictures i loved them!!! You guys must of had soo much fun. Nate you surfed huntington you lucky dawg!! Dad i'll keep you in my prayers my man. Sounds like the trail is going great. Keep it up slugger! So i'm glad you got hedwig. Everything worked all right? Mom if you could back it up and then send it back ill work on another delivery from hedwig my owl. Sorry i was a bit short. I love you guys so much. Thanks for all your love and support. Lugano is amazing i love it. I'll explain more next week.
Love ya!!
Anziano Perkes!
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