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!

25 Sept 13

This week flew. And I think this week is probably going to fly to, because were trying really hard to keep busy. At the new missionary training, President Dibb told a story about this missionary, who is the son of a member of the seventy. The dad had access to all the mission statistics. He saw that his sons mission was teaching on average 5 lessons a week. (It wasnt our mission ps). So his Dad said "I just want you to do one thing. Teach 21 lessons your first week) and the kid did it. So President Dibb challenged us to do it. I nodded my head, and President Dibb said "Anziano McKinnon says he'll do it." Soooo pretty much I really really have to do it haha. So weve been really stressing and pushing to get 21 this week!

So this week flew, but I got yelled at ALOT. Ill put it out right at the beginning so no one is worried about me, it doesnt bother/affect me at all. So dont worry! Ill do this list style:

-The first one was with our investigator form Jamaica. She brought her friend from Cuba. This investigator hasnt really been progressing, so we were doing a sort of "drop" lesson, where we just be as bold as gold and if she doesnt understand the importance of this message, then its time to let her go. So we talked about the apostasy and showed scriptures about it. And they didnt understand. So I said "So what were saying is that our Church is the only true church." They still didnt get it, and were saying "Yeah, yeah we know, and so is our church." Like I said, were supposed to be bold (thats our zone's focus as well) so I said "And part of our message is that your church is not the church of Christ and your baptism was done without the priesthood authority." The Cuban didnt like that very much. So she yelled and yelled (and she is a pretty large person. Not that thats a bad thing, but it made the situation a little scarier haha) about how she bought a closet, and there was a book about Jesus in it, which means her church is true, and this happened on her birthday, and she never gets any presents on her birthday (her mom didnt even make her a cake!), so it was a super duper sign from God. Sorry about the bad grammar in that sentence Grandpa Fife. I know I might have sounded a little harsh, but I figured if I dont make it plain as day and be "strait up" with them, I wasnt doing them any favors in the long run. So theres one.

-The second was the most frustrating. We had a referral, so we set up an appointment and everything. We go by her house, but we dont know which door is hers. So we call her, and a man answers and says she isnt here. So were looking at the doors and a guy comes out and tells us to leave. We told him that we have an appointment with this woman, and he said "Well she lives in this house, but you have to leave right now." So we left for two minutes and came back. We rang the door, and this guy comes back over and starts telling us we have to leave, that we arent welcome here, and a lot of other things that I wont repeat. Im glad Anziano Atwood didnt understand everything he said to us. Just then, the woman comes out. They start arguing in Albanian, and the guy (who turns out to be her landlord) tells us that we still have to leave and never come back. So we left the Albanian Book of Mormon and left. I was really ticked after that, but we did all we could.

-The third was kinda dumb. We were teaching a guy on a bench (who understands Italian, but spoke 60% in french. The gift of tongues is real!) and an old man comes and sits by him. Were explaining about the Book of Mormon, and the old guy stands up and says "I want to say something!" And goes off about how we dont work and we dont have life experience. Then he sat down. After that, every time we asked this guy a question, the old man would said "Io spiego, io spiego" (ill explain, ill explain). And hed start yelling at me about World War 2, how I dont know anything, didnt know where the supermarket was. Completely unrelated stuff. Then finally he said "Im gonna go eat! What do you do when youre hungry? Go cry to your Mom?" And he left. I dont really understand what happened, but I guess I need to study more about World War 2.

An Elder from Australia did a scambio with the zone leaders, and says he knows the Hutchins! Anziano Osmotherly is his name. Hes super cool, I like him a lot. Just a little fun fact for yall.

Thats about it for this week. Still pluggin along and stuff! Glad everything is going well at home. Dad dont worry about sending Dr Pepper if its expensive, its not that big of a deal. But yeah! I love you all! Keep being good people and following commandments! I love you!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

18 Sep 13

Pretty good week!

Im going to start of real fast with some questoins: One, did one of the Naylors serve here in Milano? Because if so, were working with one of his old investigators!

Two, what is happening in America? Its been pretty frustrating, there are some crazy rumors going around. All from missionaries, I havent really heard anything from people that have a clue whats really going on. Ive heard: America is going to war with Syria, the Pentagon got attacked by Al Qaeda, and other stuff like that. Anything real even happening?

So yesterday I got to go back to Lampugnano! We had a new missionary training thing there, and it was so good to be back! I got to see a lot of members, Anziano Miller, and a few sister missionaries who Ive known from old districts. It was really fun, and I seriously love that ward! We got to stay after a little because we had a referral there an hour after training ended. Its someone who’s about to get baptized, who lives in our ward in Muggio. So were trying to decide what would be best for them, when/if they should switch over. So we waited for this referral, and they (a husband and wife) show up, and they turned out to be someone Anziano Davis and I found back forever ago! Small world, and cool to see that we really are planting seeds.

So remember that time when I said "You all found the true Church of Christ! Congratulations!" in sacrament meeting? Well turns out im famous, because all of Lampugnano says that now. Every single person said that to me, and the missionaries said that its the wards inside joke. So I would be lying if I didnt say I was proud of that.

Everything is still going well with Anziano Atwood! Except he hates my sense of humor. I asked him one day why he doesnt laugh at my jokes (as a joke) and he said "Because theyre not funny." Im still workin on him though! Bad news for him, I think my jokes are hilarious, so im gonna keep making them!

I played basketball a few weeks ago! I forgot to tell you, but it went really well. My right shoulder felt really really good, super tight and secure. My left one I might need to get checked out when I get home, but I was really careful. I was playing with Italians and you dont really need the best defense to guard them. But it was really fun, and good to see how well the shoulder is doing!

Some Asian guy is humming suuuuper loud on one of the computers in this internet point. Now hes singing. Hes got his headphones on, and I dont think he realizes hes being this loud. Not really important at all, but Im laughing right now and I thought id share.

We had a guy stop us last week (super drunk) and ask where were from. We said were Americans and he said "George Bush stole my neighbors bathroom!" Alcohol is really bad. Dont use it!

Anziano Matau and Anziano Simcox are both in my zone now! They were my roommates in the MTC. Anziano Simcoxs companion is the district leader, so they did a scambio with the zone leaders. So Anziano Simcox came to Muggio for a day, and it was awesome! Its weird, I feel like I just saw him, but its been like six months. It was really good to talk with him though.

Sunday was kinda frustrating. We went and tracked down this ex investigator who was ready to be baptized 3 years ago. We set up the appointment, took FOREVER to find his house (two hours) and it was pouring rain, but we finally got to his house. We call him because he wasnt answering the door and he said "Oh yeah... I forgot." So we had to go all the way back. Then the bus didnt stop at our stop, so we had to walk home in the rain. Laaaaame. But other than that, really good week!

Thats it for this week! I have a request from home. If its possible, could you send Dr Pepper and or Almond MMs through European Amazon? If not dont worry about it, but if so that would be awesome!

Glad everythings going well at home, and people are happy. Im glad youre all better Mom! Keep on CTRing and doing good things! Hope BYU beats Utah! I love you!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

11 Sep 13

Well another week done, and im exhausted.

Being a trainer is a blast, but suuuuuper tiring. My trainee is Anziano Atwood from Pleasant Grove. He was SBO President at PG, and graduated in 2013. Crazy to think there are kids out from 2013!

Its been really interesting to be a trainer, just cause there are things that have turned into common knowledge for me, are completely new for him. The hardest part has been watching what he buys when we go shopping. He accidentilly tried to buy vinegar with wine in it haha. Italians put wine in weird things though, its not his fault. Hes really awesome and ready to go!

So were working with this Jamaican lady, who is super cool. She makes me laugh a ton. Shes super practicing in another church, but she believes Joseph Smith was a prophet and stuff. She said that for awhile she didnt have a Bible, so she just read *the good words of Nephi.* She says there is a big problem with racism here, and that if you act like this in American *You get dead.* Shes really cool, were actually seeing her in two hours. Her son just got back from the hospital, so were gonna go see him.

Nothin really huge to report this week. Its been a different experience being with a new guy. For example, we have an extra hour of companionship study every day. I remember when I finished being trained, that extra hour in the morning of work felt like forever. Now I feel like were inside studying all day. Weird to see how things change. Its been interesting planning as well. Before, we could just say *Alright, were teaching the Restoration with them, and the Plan of Salvation with them* and choose what to focus on, and be good. Now, we plan out every single little detail, so we can get Anziano Atwood involved as much as possible.

I feel kind of bad (not really), because I remember when I was being trained, id be frustrated with Anziano Davis because he made me do a lot of things that I felt like I wasn't ready to do. It ended up really helping me, so im doing the same with Anziano Atwood. Hes doing a lot better than I did, im really proud of him. Hes steppin up big!

Life has just been busy. All day im being a trainer, then I get home and we finish planning, and then I have to worry about the district. So theres been zero time for anything else. Its good though, keeps me focused!

We had a cool lesson last night. Its this older lady, who grew up in a church, but was never practicing. So weve had two lessons with her, and she really wants faith. She doesnt under stand how we can be so convinced of this. So were working really hard with her on prayer and reading, to grow the faith. Its been cool to see her plant this seed, and really start to grow this tree!

Im having a blast out here. In Milano, it seemed like we had lots of investigators who were all the same. Here, everyone is different. We have this girl were teaching, who has studied with every church possible, and knows the Bible inside and out. Its been really fun to teach her, just because we cant just teach something, we have to back it up in the scriptures. At the beginning of the mission, I had this mindset *I gotta learn the bible,* but im learning now that we need to teach out of the Book of Mormon. So were teaching out of the Book of Mormon, and putting everything we say on if the Book is true or not. Its a good thing that it is!

Thats it from here. Glad BYU beat Texas! Im really excited about that! Glad the girls are doing well in school, and everythings going well at home! Glad Moms getting better and Dads doin well at work! I love you all!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon