P-Day Is Great

Hi Fam!

Ok, remember how last week I was all like super pumped for everything, and we had a bunch of lessons at the start of the week? And there were people we were looking to meet with later in the week? Well, after P-day, we had a whole lot of ..... nothing. I got a little tired of going to all the people's houses that we wanted to see, and it wasn't even that they told us "later" or "Non mi interessa (I don't care)", but they didn't even open the doors. We went back to some houses like three times, and still, nothing. Kinda irritating. And one thing that really stunk, did I tell you about that one guy we met who was under house arrest for something? That Anziano Esplin and this other Anziano went to see on a scambio, and they said he was really repentant? Well, he called us yesterday morning, and he said he has no interest. We tried to go see him, but he wasn't there or something. GAH!

Anyway, ranting aside, this week has been interesting enough. The piano lesson was interesting, for several reasons: 1. I only had a conducting course book, which was already at the appartment, so I used that to teach a little bit of reading and beats and whatnot. 2. That and the keyboard course that I ordered are in English, so I learn from the kids there the names of stuff. 3. The parents of the kids thought it would be alright to have a kind of a classroom setting for learning, so that's what they brought the kids in, not like a one at a time lesson, which is definitely necessary. It worked well enough for the first lesson where they learned some of the notes and names, but for every other lesson, it's gonna HAVE to be in one on one settings, which will be interesting to schedule... I dunno, work in progress! There's 3 little girls that came, 1 of which really wants to learn and knows a little bit already, 1 who wants to learn but hasn't learned anything in the past, and 1 who, as far as I can tell, doesn't really seem to want to be there. Boh. Vediamo come va! We'll see how it goes! :) Oh, and the notes on the piano have different names here. All solfeggio (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do, Do being C, always). So it's a good thing I took choir and learned that, thanks Mr. Helm!

One prominent event from this week was English Course last night. I taught the Basic Course for the first time! Which was hard, cause it requires speaking a lot of Italian. But that wasn't the thing I wanted to say.... ANYWAY! We have a spiritual thought before we start, and we had planned this one out for a while: we brought a box of Libri di Mormon, and I explained a bit of what it is, and that if the book is true, then we have a living prophet on the earth today, this church has the authority of God to baptize, and so on. Then I let them know that we simply invite them to try it, to take a copy. A few people did! And then we also invited everyone to a branch activity that's tonight, and it seemed like some of them are thinking of going, we'll see. But yeah, I love doing English Course. I guess I'm kinda like Kalyn, I just love teaching! Honestly, whenever I'm in a bad mood, ANY kind of lesson (getting to know them, piano, English, or doctrinal) picks up my mood like none other! Kinda fun! :)

Ok, Dad: with that training thing, I don't quite understand the question. Usually, it seems like there's no real pattern here. Just time and maturity help decide if you are able to have a leadership position. There's one Italian Anziano who came in with me who's training this transfer, after having just done that "First 12 Weeks" in-field thing, which I guess is that thing you talked about. But yeah, it doesn't seem like anybody's really consistent with doing that here. Everybody kind of collectively feels that experience helps teach the best. Oh, and that Joseph Smith quote is awesome, definitely applicable here! I'm totally putting that in my quote book I got! :)

Mom: Oh my gosh, you went to Disneyland?! Jealous. :P I'm glad it was so fun, and Cole sounds really mature for his age, what the heck?!? He sounds a LOT more mature than a few of the Anziani here, hehe!

Kaden: Oh, hohoho, you sly dog. I'll get you for that. (With the Piano Guys) :P By the way, have you seen their thing they did with the LDS Bible Videos? Oh my gosh, it was great! We ocassionally got the opportunity to see the Bible Videos in Messina.

Cam: I'm glad you're thinking of my safety when you're going to sleep, haha! By the way, you still want to do engineering stuff? If you do, look at going military research when you grow up. Anziano Stewart told me about some of the stuff they have already in use (he comes from a military family), and it's like sci-fi books are real. Like, water cooling systems soldiers wear under 40 lbs. of gear to be able to feel perfectly normal in a desert, little spider-like things that scurry to the middle of a room and then explode, a microphone that ONLY focuses sound waves in one direction, so you talk into it, and can aim it at a person, and they are the ONLY one who hears it, and it's REALLY loud. And then there's the coolio little weapons, like for riot control stuff, so you don't even HAVE to make stuff for war! Honestly, I heard all that and was like "That is SO Cameron." ;)

Cole: Gosh, from the way Mom and Dad talk about you being with Paige and Taylee, you sound like someone super old and mature! What happened to my littlest brother? Nah, just kidding, you keep rocking it! You're awesome, Cole!




Forgot to sign that! Love you all!

Ciao!
Anziano Trey