Week 12 & 13

Hey Everyone,
I finally made it to Italy! It has been such a crazy last 2 weeks. Last week when we came to email our families i typed out a 2 hour long email and went to send it and the church website i was on kicked me off and i lost the entire letter i had typed. I was so mad, and didn't have time to write a new one so now i have to try to catch everyone up.
OK, so the flight over was FOREVER LONG!!!! HAHAHA oh man! I am never going to complain about being carsick ever again. As we landed in Rome we were met by president and sister Acerson, and the assistants. We were absolutely wasted from the long flight and it was so hot and smoggy, and we had been in our suits for over 24 hours, and there was a constant fog of cigg smoke and terrible pictures on the walls everywhere i looked, and tons and tons of people running every direction speaking a language i had never heard before, i was guessing it was Italian! You could say I was experiencing just a little bit of culture shock! Haha i had spent the last 3 months sitting in a quiet classroom reading the scriptures and now i was in the real world, in Italy of all places. I think President was used to seeing the dazed look on the new missionaries as they got off the plane, cus he dint skip a beat. Everyone grabbed our bags for us and they quickly lead us out to the van. It was nuts as we walked outside. Cars were flying around doing whatever they wanted. I quickly learned that traffic laws in Italy are more like suggestions, and are usually just disregarded. Dad, you prob wouldn't function very well hear as a police officer, all they do is sit around and do nothing. You know how we have blond jokes in the US, well they have the same kind of jokes but for the police here. So the streets are pretty much just a free for all. Well the first place we went to was a pizzeria and i had my first real Italian Pizza. It was SOOO amazing!!
After we finished eating, the zone leaders took us on a tour of Rome by foot. We were pretty much running everywhere we went because there is so much to see and they wanted us to get to see most everything. So i had to just take pictures as we were running around. Everything here is just like the pictures and movies. It didn't even feel real, as we looked at some of the things we saw, it was incredible! Later that night we heading to the mission home and had a huge lasagna dinner, and took showers and relaxed. The mission home is amazing! They said its one of the nicest properties the church owns in Europe.
The next morning we had a big lunch with all the trainers and we did something called the golden transfer. Because it was my first transfer i got a golden envelope with the name of my city inside along with the name of my new companion/Trainer. We opened them all up 2 at a time in front of everyone and found out where we were going. I opened mine up and found out I would be serving in the city of Pescara, and my trainer would be Anziano Bennett. I was so relieved when i found out cus as we were talking during lunch him and i really clicked and i really wanted him to train me. They showed my on a map where pescara was and we packed up my things and we were off. Pescara is a beautiful city on the east coast, right on the Adriatic sea. We took another long trip by bus that was 4 hours long and finally arrived that evening around 7:30. The rest of my district was at the station waiting for me with a big chalk sign. There are 6 all together in my district, 4 Anziani and 2 Sorrelle. They took me to the city bus and we headed out for some gellato and more pizza! Hahaha oh man i am addicted! You can buy a whole pizza for only 3 Euro, and its amazing!
After we finished eating we walked to our apartment which turned out to be not even 50 yards from the pizzeria! The apartment is pretty nice but is was trashed inside, you could definitely tell it had been lived in by 4 college aged guys. But i was to tired to even care, i dropped my bags and said my prayers and crashed! For the next 4 days i was absolutely miserable but at the same time excited out of my mind. The jet lag caught up to me and i met my new worst enemy-the CITY BUS. I have never been so car sick in my entire life! We take the bus everywhere we go and my body was so tired and the jet lag wasn't helping and hearing the constant Italian made me SO sick. We did some super fun things though.
That Saturday we played calcetto, which is Italian soccer. It is played in a cage and its 5 on 5. Its way faster than normal soccer, and the Italians that play are incredible! We played with some members and with 2 investigators, and it was a blast! I actually did OK, i scored 3 times. It was so funny though cus no one here can say Koozer so the kids we were playing with called me Arnold Schwartzeneger, and I don't know why they can say his name and not Koozer, but that was officially my new name for the time we were playing. I never realized how small Italian really are, i feel like a giant here.
That night there was a baptism, and it was really exciting to watch, and to get to meet some of the members. We are super lucky here to actually have a ward. There are about 90 members that come every Sunday, and they are such great people! On Sunday i had to Give a lesson in Priesthood about the temple, and it actually went really well. I'm not sure how much they actually understood, but they acted like what i was saying made sense. I totally feel like the guy off of the best 2 years HAHAHA oh man I know i stick out like a sore thumb but oh well, I'll start to get things sooner or later.
On Tuesday we teach a free English class, and i was assigned to teach the beginners class, which is pretty much everything i just learned in the MTC. It was a blast! And at the end we brought everyone together and i sang to them. Hahaha i think everyone was a little surprised at the end, cus i didn't tell anyone that i liked to sing, but it went well and was super fun. That was pretty much my first week and a half, and for the rest of the week were just teaching everyday.
Haha oh ya i wanted to tell you about my first grocery shopping experience by myself. Well my trainer said we need to go get you some food since you missed shopping on P-day, so we went to the store. As we walked in I didn't recognize a single thing! It was all in Italian and it was completely different looking food than what i am used to, and my trainer dint help me with a single thing! So i ended up buying hot dogs, eggs, milk, Nutella, cookies, and a loaf of bread, and that was it. I had no idea what to get, i have never shopped for myself, or planned out meals for myself. Lets just say i completely STARVED my first week! Haaha oh my gosh i was so frustrated when it came to meal times and i saw all the other Anziani eating delicious food and i was stuck with my cookies and hot dogs, haha can you say self correcting error?!
But anyways, the work is going so well! We had a lesson with a woman named Gloria and i challenged her to be baptised and she said yes! I was scared out of my mind when i asked her and didn't even understand her response but i felt like i needed to say it so i did, and now we have a baptism coming up! It was amazing. I have been learning so much, my ear is starting to pick apart the Italian now and i can actually tell when when someone is asking me a question or tell me something. Haha i wish it would just come faster but i know I'll get it eventually. It is such a different world here, the people the culture, the foods the way things work, its has been such an adventure seeing all these new things, and trying so many new things. For example some old man in church came up and kissed me and called me beautiful child, it freaked me out but i guess its normal here, haha. But anyways things are going great, I'm finally used to the bus now i can ride it all day long and not get sick, and its getting funner and funner to talk to people as I'm learning more and more new words every day.
Mom is there any way you could email me some easy recipes, and maybe the directions for how to make that home made bread, and your super good enchiladas? I'm sick of hot dogs, and boiled eggs. Oh ya, there are Olympic games going on right now here in Pescara. I think they are called the Adriatic games. SO i think we are going to try to go watch some this week. I'm way excited. Well i have to go now i love you all so much, and will email you again next week.
Love ,Anziano Koozer