03 Apr 13

Hello family!

 

Well week two is done. This is insane. The ward here is absolutely awesome. We had a dinner appointment this past week with a member. For lunch, we ate at a kebab place. My comp described it as "a place that isnt legal in the US cause of how they cook the meat." It was actually way good. So I ate almost a whole kebab pizza. We dont usually have dinner, just eat snacks at night but this member invited us over. So im full and im feeling pretty sick and he tells us were having sardine spaghetti. Italians are super generous and gave me a ton. The guy is from the Phillipines (there are lots of them here) and pretty poor. So I said "Christian, you are going to eat all of this even if it kills you." I did it. It actually wasnt that bad haha.

 

Then for Easter we ate at a members house, the Favlos. Seriously one of the coolest families ive ever met. Sister Favlo is the best cook. We had 8 courses and ate for 2 hours, and I ate everything they gave me. Im staying at the same weight though so dont worry. I refuse to get fat haha.

 

The work is picking up a little bit. We met with two investigators, Roberto and Silvia who are super super believers that the Bible is the only word of God. Theyre starting to be more and more accepting of the BoM though. Tonight we have a lesson with them and itll be good. Then we have this guy Marrio. His house kind of smells like the stuff used to preserve animals for discection. He asks really weird questions and refuses to pray. Absolutely refuses. He says if God is real he needs to strike him with a lightening bolt. But we believe in him and hes going to believe eventually haha.

 

Funniest story of my mission so far. It actually might not be that funny, but I thought it was hilarious. So were doing casa (door to door) and every apartment complex has the telephone thing on the outside of the gate right? So were ringing all the doors and theyre all saying no. I get to one lady and she says shes not interested, and as shes hanging up the phone, the gate unlocks. When this happens we usually open and close it so no annoying soliciters can get in (haha). Also we got tired of being thrown out of apartment complexes. So I open it and close it. A few seconds later, this little old lady comes around the corner with a cane, going super slow. As I see her, im thinking "please please please tell me she didnt unlock it." She keeps walking towards the gate and I have no clue how to say "Hey, im an idiot and locked the gate" in Italian. So I just go behind this wall that surrounds the complex. The old lady gets to the gate, pulls on it, its locked, so she has to walk all the way down the driveway to push the button again. I busted up laughing, and I know its a horrible story but I just cant believe it happened. oh well, thats what repentance is for I guess.

 

Mom to answer your questions: No other elders in our apartment, its pretty tiny. Four sisters in our district and no elders. Theyre solid missionaries.

 

I hope you all had fun in St George. I bet its warmer there than it is here. It rains all day erry day. Actually, yesterday was pretty nice but Anziano Davis was sick so we stayed in. I got some good language study in, so that was good.

 

Dad, im glad BYU is doing well. Hopefully they win the NIT. Gross about that Louisville guy though. Glad I missed that. Who won the NCAA tournament?

 

The language is still frustrating, but its cause im being too hard on myself. We helped with an activity with some of the youth, where they went on splits with us. So I was with some seventeen year old kid, and guess who we ran into? Jehovahs Witnesses. It made me mad, cause I cant speak Italian well and he starts going off on this kid about the Bible. So I said look, ill set you an appointment with the missionaries (we were in a city like 30 min north) and you can talk with them. They said no. So thats my encounter with them haha.

 

No other stories really. My schedule is wake up, study personal, and with my comp till like 11. Then we do strada (street) till one and eat. Then at 2 we do language study. Then we do strada till like 6 and then 6 to 8 we do casa. The glamorous life of a missionary haha.

 

Thats pretty much it on this end. Glad everyone is doing well. If you could send me Brennens email that would be awesome. I got BKJs so thats good. Keep me updated with everything else thats going on! And there is zero excuse for Amanda Sophie and Kate /anyone else not to send me letters cause its over email now. Anyways I love you all! Shout out to Brynn for getting her mission call to Argentina Rosario mission. Itll be awesome! And Jeremy is going to the MTC on the tenth, so thats awesome to! Youre all the best!

 

Love Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon