23 Oct 13

Were you worried I wasnt going to write today? Sorry im writing so late today. We had to pick up Anziano Atwoods permesso so hes legal. So thats pretty good.

Pretty uneventful week. We got sisters in our area, so we got (had) to give them all our single female investigators/less actives. We officially have three people total to teach! So looks like were doing lots more finding work!

I have done the impossible. I got kicked out of a church choir. So we went to the saturday session of stake conference, and someone asked if we could help sing. We said we could, and the director said "Tenors over here, and bass over here." I told him that I have no idea what im doing. "Are you a tenor or a bass?" No, you dont understand. I really have ZERO idea what im doing. He put me with the tenors. The next day we went early to practice. Oh wait, we were the only ones there! So the choir director had me practice with him. I told him again that I dont know what im doing. He told me to just sing the notes. My Italian was spot on, but he just didnt get it. I said ok, and so it was just me and him, singin along. At the end, he said "This is the first time youve sang before?" FINALLY YOU UNDERSTAND! "Were going to stick you with the basses." So me, him, and Anziano Atwood all practiced together. At the end of that, he said to Anziano Atwood "Well you know what youre doing." Then he looked at me, and said "Well if you really dont know what youre doing, you dont really need to come up and sing with us." So I took a hint and took a seat. For those who are worried about him hurting my musical self esteem, you cant hurt whats not there. No, in all honesty, I didnt sound bad (I thought at least) I just had no idea what notes to sing. You give me a simplified hymn book and ill show you how its done, but give me all those dots and lines and stuff, im as usefull as Michael Jordan in a baseball uniform.

My living condition right now is almost as good as it was in college.

Thats it for this week! Really nothing eventful happened. Im really sorry that this email is so lame, I cant think of any other stories or anything. Dad, you asked how often we eat pizza. We get it like once a week, and its really good. Most of the pizza places are owned by people from the middle east, but theyre still really good.

Thats funny you went to the Simpsons world thing. "Duff Beer" is a HUGE brand over here.

Ok for real thats it for this week. I finished Christmas shopping today, so expect a package from me in about 40 days! Im sending it by boat because its waaaay cheaper. So get excited about that! I love you tons! Keep being good people and CTRing!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

16 Oct 13

Well this was a very un-exciting week.

Weve had to kind of re start from scratch. Weve dropped a lot of those "eternal investigators" and maybe with time theyll be more willing to accept the gospel. Which means weve got a ton of finding work!

So we found out about transfers Monday. Im staying here with Anziano Atwood, Anziano Moore is going to train a new missionary, then "die" in Torino. He goes home Dec. 20th. Other fun news that you might care about. Anziano Matau is going to LAMPUGNANO! He is sooooo lucky. So im giving him tons of names he has to track down for me. Hes been training this past transfer as well. Sorella McCann is also super lucky and going to Firenze.

Im still district leader, and Muggio is adding two Sorelle missionaries. The Capi have been working with the office to get an apartment for them. Last night, Anziano Atwood and I went to help put it all together (in "normal" clothes. BEST THING EVER.) We got there, and there were some problems with the contract, so Anziano Moore had to stay there and translate. So I had to go with Anziano Benson to teach a lesson. Only problem is that I was wearing normal clothes. So Anziano Moore and I went into the bathroom and I put on his suit, and he put on my normal clothes and I went and taught the lesson. It went super well, and then we got to help with the apartment. Putting together IKEA furniture was super fun (im probably just going crazy), and we get to help tomorrow to.

Were still having problems with people fixing appointments with us, then us confirming the day of, and then they still dont show up. Thats getting beyond frustrating, but I guess thats life sometimes.

There arent really any fun stories this week. Weve spent a lot of time exploring our area and figuring out which ways are more efficient to get to places, so theres been lots of time on trains and buses. Weve got a good feel for it now, so were going to be kind of venturing out of our normal hunting grounds.

Hope everyone has fun in Orlando! Mom, that story about Scottie made me 

 laugh. You have to keep him at least until I get home!

Thats it from here! This will probably be the last six weeks I have in Muggio, so were going to hit it hard! I love you all so much, and thank you for all the support!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

09 Oct 13

This has been the fastest transfer ever. We find out about transfers next Monday. In interviews yesterday President Dibb all but told me im staying, so itll be a pretty boring transfer day. The only one who will probably go is Anziano Moore, who ive been with here in Muggio the whole time. I love him to death and hope he doesnt go, but he probably will. He has one and a half transfers left, and we dont think President will "space transfer" a zone leader.

Interviews! I love President Dibb. He is the funniest guy in the world. When we saw his picture for the first time we thought he would be super strict all the time, but he is the funniest guy!

Well somebody alert the press, we found Mimo. Not Nemo, but Mimo.

This week was pretty rough numbers wise. We got bedoned 9 times (where people just dont show up) but were keeping our spirits up! I have officially made my companion laugh 7 times all transfer (officially because ive been keeping track in my planner).

So conference! On Saturday we watch the Saturday morning session at 6pm. Then Sunday morning at 11 we watch priesthood, then at 2 we watch saturday afternoon, and then at 6 we watch sunday morning live. So thats how that works! I loved the talk in Priesthood about home teaching. I cant remember who by, but I thought it was cool how he talked about home teachers need to really be friends with the families they visit. Roger and Dale have already got that one down! Im really grateful for them and their friendship.

What a cool talk by President Monson sunday morning! It was really cool to hear a prophet of God bare his testimony about the plan of salvation, especially when it means so much to him at this point in his life.

We all of a sudden are teaching like 9 people whos native language is french. So maybe ill learn more than "Can I get a drink of water," which is all I learned in high school french.

Last real story for the week, which happened on the bus over here. The front few seats are reserved for old people, but on this bus it said "Posto riservato agli invalidi." Ill be honest, I dont know exactly what the word "invalido" means, so it could be something else, but if my educated guess is correct than those seats are reserved for the invalid.

Well thats all for this week! Was going to send pictures, but I left my SD card reader accidentely so ill send them when I get back! I love you all so much!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

PS Aunt Gisele, there is an Anziano Carter here from your ward. I couldnt remember your email off the top of my head (sorry) but he would like to email y'all! So if you want to shoot him an email thatd be cool!

02 Oct 13

This week flew (whats new?).

So I was planning on sending a picture but its to big. Ill take a smaller one next time I guess? I dont really know how to do that, but ill figure it out!

I told our french speaking investigator that my Dad speaks french, and wants me to bring him to the next lesson. So Dad, I guess ill let you know when thats happening!

Not a really super exciting week. Same old, same old really. With Anziano Atwood, weve been trying to go to some different places in our area. On Monday I did a scambio with a guy in my district, and went to where Anziano Hillyard and I used to go. I was wondering why Anziano Atwood and I hadnt met any really weird people for awhile. Turns out they all hang out in this area! We stopped a guy, and asked us to explain our message. We started and said "I want to explain something to you guys. I fight destiny." At this point im thinking "Uh oh, here we go" and I was right. The guy was... a goof ball. Long story short, life is more beautiful when we "fight destiny" which I guess means no riding in cars, only using bikes and our feet. Then we ran into some ex investigators (the ones who "speak English"). Anziano Berg asked where one of them was from, and the daughter said, pointing to her Mom "I am...you son." She tried to say "I am her daughter" but got a little mixed up. Maybe that doesnt sound that funny, but the way she was trying to be "humble" about speaking English, then having her say that was really funny. Or maybe the mission is getting to me and im getting weird. Probably that.

Those were the only real interesting stories from this week. I feel kinda lame cause this letter is super short, but I really cant think about what to write about!

Dad, you asked what our church looked like. Were lucky and have a real church building. Most of the wards use a rented out office building. Here in Muggio and Lampugnano, ive had the two nicest chapels in our mission. Our apartment is on the 4th floor (no elevators). Weve got three rooms and a kitchen. One room all four of us sleep in, one we study and change in, and then the other two have their own study room. Ill work on getting pictures next week. For lunch, we just all buy two meals for the week and rotate cooking for everyone. Breakfast I usually just eat cereal or a Peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. I found an arabic store that sells crunchy peanut butter. And then our mission is weird, and we dont eat dinner. It was rough at first, but im used to it now. A big lunch, then a small snack at night. Usually I eat leftovers from lunch or a PBJ. As far as dinner appointments, we dont have them very often. On my mission ive eaten at a members house probably 10 times at the most. They want us out looking for people instead of with members, because Italians LOVE to talk. But yeah, we arent as lucky as the stateside missionaries who have a dinner calendar and eat with members every night (or have cars AND bikes). But yeah, thats my living situation!

Oh fun fact for the Conlee family. An Anziano Duclos (I think its spelled like that) came and played basketball/soccer with us today who knows them. So yeah.

Thats it for this week! Thanks for the questions Dad so I could make up for not having any cool stories this week! Anyways I still love you all! Keep doing good things! To next week!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

Oh PS I had two people think I was Italian this week, so I was pretty pumped about that! They were foreigners, but baby steps!