Verona, Italy - September 18, 2010

I told you we were splitting up our email this week, right? So here we are for part 2. We got back to Verona last night from the training thing in Milano. It was a really cool conference. Basically what's going on is they are going to start teaching the missionaries in the MTC a little differently starting next summer, so between now and then they are getting us all ready by teaching us the same course they will be doing in the MTC so that when these new missionaries hit the field we are all ready to go with them. It is all the same stuff that is in Preach my Gospel, just splitting it up into 8 mini-lessons that will help us all become better teachers. We covered about 2-3 lessons a day for 3 days, and then each evening we did work in Milano. Most of the elders did finding work, but it turns out the Sorelle in Milano were actually sick right when we showed up, so they sent us out doing a lot of their work and keeping their appointments because they couldn't. It was kind of neat working in a different place for a few days. Milano is a huge city with a way different feel from Verona. We stayed with the Sorelle in Milano 2, in their apartment, and it was cool to see another missionary apartment, because I have only ever seen Verona. It was also my first time away from Verona overnight since arriving in Italy, and it felt weird being away from my city for so long! I loved the training in Milano and had some cool experiences in the evenings, but I was so glad to come home again to Verona. It was neat how much I really felt like I was home too, the instant we arrived at the train station. It was neat. I really love this city and these people and everything about it. We watched a lot of videos from The District 2, basically missionaries in some mission in the states, I think California or something, being filmed teaching and talking about teaching, and it was really cool and I got a lot of new ideas from it and from the roleplays we did that I think are really inspired help for our specific investigators in Verona. It was an extremely practical and useful training, I really loved it.

Something funny happened with my companion this morning. We were talking in Italian, because we try to as much as possible, and she asked who the bishop was in Verona 2, so I said that he is 'Vescovo Morando.' (vescovo = bishop, morando = his last name), and she stops all of a sudden and says in English, 'I don't think that can mean what I think it means. Did you just say the bishop is dying?' Because she thought his name was from the verb for to die. It was really funny. But no, the bishop is neither dying nor does his name mean that. Sorella Mullen is remarkably good at Italian, especially for being here only one week! She is incredible; I really love her a lot. I felt sorry for her and Sorella Casalino though, because neither of them know the city Verona at all and turns out they were pretty much 100% lost the whole week while we were gone at training, and had to call this one ward member with a bike to come lead them around and back home a couple of times. But she is so incredible, and has such a good attitude.