31 Dec 14

Transfer 16 Week 3

Well I have stories this week.

We'll start with the funny ones. So there was a Christmas market that was selling Christmas hats. So I picked one that looked really warm and bought it. When I got home Anziano Malzone decided to tell me that the hat I bought was a girl hat. So of course I swore never to wear it. He tried to convince me that it wasn't really a girl hat but I didn't believe him. Then on Christmas, for my present I made him swear to tell me the truth if it was a girl hat or a boy hat. He said it was a boy hat, so a few days after I wore it for the first time. We went to do grocery shopping, and we get into the store and there is a girl in there wearing the exact same hat. Soooo I took it off never to wear it again.

So then I went to church and asked the sisters and some trusted members what they thought, and they all decided that it was a neutral hat. So I was thinking about just wearing it because it was warm. Then that night I got a call from one of the sisters who said she had a very serious question for me. She said "Anziano McKinnon, if you decide that you don't want the hat, can I have it? Because it's really cute." So that was the last straw and now she has the hat. Normally i'd take this story to the grave, but it's Christmas. So Merry Christmas.

Yesterday we ate the biggest pizza ever. Some members told us about this giant pizza and that there was no way we could eat it all. Challenge accepted. So we went and got the pizza and it was giant. While I was ordering, I told the lady I wanted the gigante and she laughed, but I got it anyway. The rule was the we didn't have to eat the crust, and I almost made it. I stopped only because it wouldn't look good for a missionary to throw up in the middle of a resturaunt, but if I ever go back i'm getting revenge. I'm attatching a picture.

Here's the sad news. So there are these investigators that i've been working with for like 7 months now. The Dad and son are a little farther behind on the conversion process, but the mom knows that the Book of Mormon is true and everything. So we went and saw them on Sunday and she said she decided that for New Years she couldn't have a foot in our church and a foot in the traditions she grew up with, so she said that she had decided to stick with her traditions. It was super super super bummer. We've still got time though, and I think that they'll get baptized eventually. 

That's all the big news for now, but i'll let you know if there's anything else. I hope you all have a great New Years and CTR. Tell the fam that I love them and stuff! I love you!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

PS Other big news, my companion says that i'm the best American foosball player he's ever seen 

24 Dec 14

Subject: Transfer 16 Week 2

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Well unfortunately this one has to be fast because today we have half a p-day because it's Christmas Eve....yeah.

So this week was pretty insane. Anziano Malzone makes everything interesting all the time, so my last X amount of time will not be boring. 

We've had a lot of success finding recently, especially with leaders of other religions. It's going to be a lot of fun teaching and we're excited to see some miracles!

I know this is a super lame email, but i'll talk to you more tomorrow!

I don't know what time i'll be able to Skype, but it'll be around 4ish probably. At least that's my guess. Like I said last week just put all of your phones on loud and we'll get it worked out.

I love you all so much! Talk to you tomorrow!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

17 Dec 14

I wish that words could explain this week. This email finishes well, so hang in there.

This week has been full of the worst luck ever. It started with the whole moving apartments thing. We were in a hurry because they gave us two days to pack, clean, get everything over to the other apartment, unpack, clean the other apartment. To make matters worse there was some miscommunication between my last comp and the office. Mallari understood that he can have two bags plus the carry on that could weigh 50 pounds each. We found out on Wednesday that it was really two bags could be 50 pounds and then 30 pounds for the carry on. So he was tryin to get his 3 barely under fifty pound bags to become twenty pounds lighter. But we got all my stuff to the other apartment and cleaned the sister's apartment to a respectable level (I swear I did my best). 

Then we went to Milano for transfers. There was a bit more miscommunication because my comp needed to get there early so we took a 7:10 train. We got there at 8 and just kind of waited because we were really supposed to be there at 11:30. 

So we waited and I got my new comp, Anziano Malzone. As one of the sister missionaries said "I need to film you (Malzone), because if I explain what you're like, nobody will be believe me." You'll probably talk to him on Skype. Anyways, i'm with him and the new sisters, and all the ticket services are down in Milano Centrale. So we end up having to wait until 3pm to take our train. It wasn't that bad waiting though, I hung out with Anziano Johnson and Anziano Anderson. Johnson played volleyball at Olympus and we've become really good friends and Anziano Anderson was in my group. They're all going to Utah State so that'll be fun. But it was good to hang out with them for awhile. 

So we get on the train and go to Piacenza. We get there and get on the bus. Some ticket checkers got on and threw a fit because we didn't buy tickets for all the luggage we had with us. So in the end they gave us a "Christmas deal" and only fined us for two "passengers" without tickets. So Malzone and I took the fall and both got fined 65 euro. Dont worry though we talked to the mission office and they helped us out. 

Long story short, after bike problems, apartment problems, cleaning our new apartment, everything, I think everything is back to normal now. I think.

So here is the happy thing. During district meeting, the doorbell in the church rang. So one of the sisters went and answered, and it was this lady. She said that she met with the missionaries a year ago but lost their number. There was something special about the missionaries, so she decided to re find us. She got our address off the internet and came to the church right when we were there. I was bummed that she didn't show up a week ago when there weren't sister missionaries (i'm only half serious), but she seems really cool! So there's the miracle of the week.

Other than that, we haven't had time to sit down. Yesterday we had enough time for language study for the first time in a week, so we've been keeping busy.

As far as Skype, It'll be at 7 or 8 in the morning. Maybe later. Just have your phones with you and i'll send you all an email when I get on. We've got a place to go so everything is ready to go!

I love you all so much! Make sure to be extra righteous for Jesus' birthday! CTR and have a good week!!!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

10 Dec 14

Well i'm about to start my last transfer, big bad 16.

Soooo i'll be in Piacenza for my last one, and i'll be serving with Anziano Malzone. He's an Italian who lived in England and Argentina so he speaks Italian, English, and Spanish. He's one transfer under me so it'll be good to work with him!

Here's the lame news. We found out about transfers Saturday morning, then the office called us on Monday night telling us that we need to go back to the old apartment. So yesterday was a lot of packing and cleaning, and today will be the same. I'll tell the truth, it was kind of hard packing all my stuff right before my last transfer while my companion is weighing his bags so he'll be under the weight limit for the plane. To answer the question i've heard a billion times already "Are you even going to un pack?" Yes, I am going to un pack. 

Other transfer news, we're going to have sisters in Piacenza again! So we aren't alone anymore. It's kind of sad though, because now we're our own district so we don't get to see the missionaries in Reggio any more. It was really good getting to know them and it was a blast doing scambios with them. 

The only other thing that you might care about is that Anziano Burton got transferred to Bergamo for his last transfer. That's all that I know about people you would know.

The rest of the week has been saying bye to people for Mallari. Lots of packing and re arranging of bags to get under weight and he finally got all three bags under 50 pounds. Then he found out this morning that he understood wrong and that only two can be at 50 and the other has to be 8kg. So this morning was kind of stressful and sad for him trying to decide what to do. 

Sunday evening we went to Reggio to Christmas carol. As you know, that's not really my thing. So first chance I got I went and talked to a guy listening to us on a bench. He asked who we were, etc. and all of a sudden he was telling me that we can't believe in the Bible because there are mistakes in it. "We believe in the Bible as far as it is translated correctly" is an invalid belief because something is either 100% correct or 0% correct. So we talked about the Book of Mormon and when he found out he couldn't prove it wrong he went back to the Bible. In the end, he wouldn't take a copy of the Book of Mormon because he already had one and had read it. His favorite part was when Joseph Smith starting teaching his religion. It turned out to be a very frustrating contact and I wish that I had been singing. 

Monday we had our last district meeting in Reggio, then we saw some of my favorite members. Then we got the call about us moving and yesterday was packing. So that was our week!

I hope everyone has a great week this week! Brandon is getting home pretty soon, right? Make sure to CTR this week and follow the commandments. Oh I forgot to tell you all, I decided to man up and wear contacts. The first few days were spent convincing people that I wasn't crying, but now i'm pretty used to them. So guys i'm growin up. Have a great week, I love you all!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

03 Dec 14

Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2014 6:21:13 AM

Subject: Transfer 15 Week 5

Well we're in the last week of Anziano Mallari's mission. That's kind of weird. 

Big news of the week was our Thanksgiving party with the branch. It was Saturday evening and almost everyone brought Shepards pie. So we ate a lot of that. We're really excited because we were expecting like 10 people to show up, but we ended up with 20. Better than that is that 7 of them were non members. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them all. I love this branch!

I can already tell that this is going to be a short email, so I'm sorry. Thursday I went to Reggio Emilia for a scambio. I was with an Anziano Vacklaw from Bartolsville (spelling?) [Bartlesvile] Oklahoma. He thought I was cool when I said that my mom was from Norman, so thanks for that mom. Bartolsville sounded super familiar for some reason, and finally I figured out that it's because Noah Hartsock is from there. The sports stuff is still in my brain, it just takes longer to process I guess. I must be getting old. But anyways, I was supposed to go back to Piacenza Friday morning but there were some difficulties and we missed the train. So I had to spend another day in Reggio. This week flew because I wasn't even in my city, and this week is going to fly as well. 

The only other big news of the week is that I had to go to Milano this morning to see a doctor about my migraines. They've been pretty bad lately and he gave me a perscription for better medicine. It was really good to be in Milano again, I love that big city feel. I was hoping to run into Claire Hubbard but it didn't happen. Is she still in Milano or did she go home?

This is the worst email i've ever done and i'm sorry. I'll try and make it better with this story. Please don't take it seriously. I got kissed this week. I did everything I could to avoid it, but I wasn't quick enough. Luckily we got a picture just nano seconds before it happened. My triple chin is a result of me leaning back while still trying to look at the camera. You have the evidence before you, and I still think that i'm innocent.

I repeat, don't take that story seriously, it's not what you think. That's all I have for this week! I hope you all are safe and CTR and stuff. Be nice to each other and have fun at Christmas! I love you all! 

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon