17 Apr 13

Hello all! I cant believe that its already been a month in Italy. It seriously flies by.

So last P Day after email we went to the Duomo, the big Cathedral in Milan, and went to the restraunt Luinis behind it. Brad was telling me about it, and holy cow it is AWESOME. Its like Italian food inside scones. Seriously amazing. Anyways, were going back there today haha.

Oh, happy birthday to Amanda and Kate this week! Im so proud of you for making it this far haha. I love you both so much (and Sophie too :) ) and hopefully you have a good week!

So remember that kid who got pulled into conference? So on Friday we went to teach the mission prep class because there would be an investigator there. So we go, and at the last minute the investigator bails. But then, this kid Matteo shows up. Someone had invited him to it. So he was making comments and stuff, then he came to Church on Sunday! So we have an appointment with him this week. So I guess I was wrong in thinking it was a bad idea to make him sit through English conference haha. Hopefully that works out.

We got dumped (dropped) by Mario, the guy who refused to pray. But we did get a new investigator named Juana. Shes from Peru (not anywhere by where Jeremy is going though). Her sister is a member, but doesnt speak Italian so she translates for her at Church. Weve taught here twice this week and we set a baptism date with her for May 5. It might not happen then cause shes waiting for her boyfriends divorce to go through until they can get married. But everything is going awesome, so hopefully itll work out! Her sister is actually moving to Spain now for work, but shes still coming to church. Ill find out where in Spain, and hopefully Rachel can check up on her!

So last night at our wards FHE, they had a drink called Sanpellegrino Chino. Its Chinese rootbeer. Anziano Davis told me it was amazing, so I tried it. It was the most foul, putrid, disgusting thing ive ever tasted. He said that its a requirement for trainers to have their trainees try it haha. It seriously is SO bad.

Yeah, I was going to ask about the bomb thing in Boston. I saw a newspaper that said "America in terror" and I was wondering. Thats really sad. Glad that Stan’s sister was safe though. Hopefully they catch the guys that did it.

Funny note though, we were on the metro and some guy was wearing a Red Sox hat. So I asked if he was American, and he said he was. He said "Youre Mitt Romenys people." So we talked to him for a little bit. He said Mitt was a great guy. Those are the only things that I can tell you about what he said cause we arent supposed to talk about polotics or negative things when we write home haha. Moral of the story, he likes Mitt Romney haha.

I guess you heard I ran into Mark Lusvardi at a special conference this week. It was a conference for District and Zone leaders and me (probably because it was in my area, but still cool I got to go) with Stephen B Allen, head of the missionary department for the Church. Brother Lusvardi was there. When we were all introducing ourselves, he says "does the name Gary McKinnon mean anything to you?" So I talked to him for a little while at lunch. He said this: "Gary McKinnons marketing class at BYU inspired me. It inspired me to have a succesfull business career where I could retire young and help the Church. Then he (grandpa) taught his kids at BYU H, and then he worked with Lusvardi at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial. He said Granpa is an amazing man who has influenced his life so much." So he asked me to tell Grandpa all this. Hes super nice. I dont have Grandpas email, but could you forward this to him? Maybe you already send all my letters to him but if not, send this one! Haha.

Thats been my week! Its starting to click more. I contributed to dinner conversation at our ward mission leaders house, so I wasnt the awkward kid anymore haha. Or atleast I wasnt the silent awkward kid. His son is waiting for his mission call. I told him if he got called to Utah, you guys would have him over for dinner haha. Theyre a super awesome family though. We started teaching his daughters boyfriend also. He agreed to be baptised but we dont ahve a date yet. They were all laughing at me when I tried to eat spaghetti. Its hard haha. Fratello Lauriolla (oh, we ate at their house twice this week) was teasing me. We had this sea food and rice stuff (mom, you should be proud of me. Ive eatin everything theyve given me, even the tenticles and stuff haha) and he was saying "we made this for you because its easier to eat than spaghetti." Hes awesome though.

I love you all so much! And happy birthday again to Amanda and Kate. Glad to hear Scottie is doing better (he really is Mom, I promise). Im in good hands over here, so dont worry about me!

Love, Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon