Verona, Italy - December 1, 2010

''It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go!'' It snowed this morning in Verona! It was Sorella Mullen's first time seeing snow falling, and she was super duper excited. It was really cute to see her running around all over the house to all the different windows trying to get the best view. She was so excited she even called the Anziani to tell them, and they are all from Utah or Colorado, and one from New Hampshire, and thus all very familiar with snow, and thought it was really funny how excited she was. Also, today for p-day we went around centro (downtown), and it really does look awesomely Christmas-like. They've got this great Christmas market, a German one, actually, just like the one Dad and I went to in Nurnburg, but smaller. The workers are even from Germany. It's beautiful. Cold, but beautiful. The bikes are harder with the weather being so cold and wet. Hmph. Well, that at least was the proof that it is truly beginning to look like Christmas in Verona, but i sure hope it's true that it is looking like Christmas everywhere you go because, at long last, after seven months, five transfers, four companions, and literally hundreds of lessongs taught (over 500, I do believe), I am leaving Verona. The transfer call came yesterday, and I will be going to Modena! So not too far, just a little jump south. Crazy. It feels so weird to actually be leaving, transfers didn't ever really feel real because I have still been in my first city all the way till now, which by the way this week in the halfway point of my mission. I love Verona and the people here so much, and I have really loved my time and the opportunity to serve here. I am excited for a new adventure in Modena, though! I will be with Sorella Ryan, with whom I have done two scambi, and I like her very much. I have had a really wonderful experience here in Verona, and I am really going to miss these people. But I also feel very strongly that going to Modena is where the Lord wants me to go right now, and I am excited for it! I love missionary work.

Verona, Italy - November 24, 2010

I have a major announcement. During my third week here in Italy, in Verona, the light in the bathroom went out. Despite our best attempts standing on the washing machine or shower edges, we could never quite reach it. I got used to it. Then, about a month ago, I was cleaning the bathroom and became crazed from the lack of light, and built a tower out of chairs and tables to reach the light. Finally, we could touch it! But the inexplicable Italian light fixture would not be opened. And alas, we went away empty-handed. Then, this week, my companion was very sick. So we stayed inside most of the past three days. And I took the opportunity to call the bishop, who sent an Italian ward member who knows Italian light fixtures over. And he couldn't open it either. And then, it suddenly became apparent to him and it opened! And yes, dear friends, we now, after seven months of darkness, have light in the bathroom! It's incredible! We also had a unusual random encounter with this random woman from Norway. [Editor note: I'll call her A.] We think she is somewhat nomadic, or homeless. We got a call from her, asking if we could meet her at Castelvecchio, so we went right away. She told us she would be sitting on a bench with three large bags. She seemed a little crazy, honestly, like clinically insane, and she wasn't making a lot of sense as to why she was there in Verona, where she was going, who she knows, what she does, anything at all, but she really wanted a place to go pray, just for a few minutes. So we went with her on the bus to the church to let her in to pray for a few minutes. But getting there was quite an adventure too. She had a lot of bags, right, so we go to try and get on the bus, and my companion takes one bag, A takes another, and I try to take one, but A gets off again to help me, so I have one end of the bag and A the other end, and I am in the bus, when the bus driver, who is totally not looking, just slams the door on me! He wacked me in the head with the door, sending my glasses all skewompus, and has my arm caught, and then starts driving! And I was still holding the other end of the bag. People started yelling at him, and he tried to blame it on us, but he was totally the one not looking. Anyhow, we made it to the church in fairly good condition after that, with a stop so that A could pick up some food at a mercato because they would all be closed afterwards. Oh, and also, we saw the anziani on our way, who could not understand what on earth we were doing. But we stopped and they met A, and she pinpointed their family nationality solely by last name, made random comments relating what we were talking about to our immediate surroundings, like what sorts of stores we were standing in front of, which I certainly had not noticed, and did I mention that she only had one functioning eye? the other was stuck closed. I was very impressed by her observativeness. Both Sorella Mullen and I only became more and more impressed by her the more we got to know her, even though she definitely was insane. So while she was praying, we wrote a note in the Book of Mormon for her, telling her about her divine potential and how much God loves her. We prayed with her and taught her about the Book of Mormon, and then she read the note and cried and told us thank you so much. It was a really beautiful experience, getting to see one of Heavenly Father's daughters in a light we probably would not have otherwise taken the time to see. Over and over again I meet people that I think are ridiculous or strange or something, then get to know them and feel so powerfully God's love for them. I really do know that God loves and knows intimately every one of His children.

Verona, Italy - November 17, 2010

Yesterday we went out to Bussolengo, a city outside Verona, to eat lunch with our member friends, Sorella Gasparatto and Sorella Mistura, but we missed our stop and ended up in the middle of no where. We called Sorella Gasparatto to tell her we were lost (we were already extremely late), and so she asked me to describe where we were. We told her we had no idea, but that there was a field of big electricity towers on one side of the road, and a field of very small trees with no leaves on the other side. She announced she would come get us, and that we should wait! So we have no idea where we are, and Sorella Gasparatto and Sorella Mistura have no idea where they are going, and they just hop in the car and start driving, and left their cell phone at home so we couldn't contact them either. It was crazy! We waited about twenty minutes, then decided to start walking and hope we would find Bussolengo. Then miraculously, they found us! It was so funny, and Sorella Gasparatto was so excited to tell her son, who would just laugh and say, 'women.'

Then during lunch, they started telling us about going to some crazy Italian yoga class the other week, and how the lady teaching it started chanting and making gong noises halfway through, and how they had to do this one position (which they imitated for us), where they are rolled in half on the floor, and the lady says, 'If you are having trouble breathing, don't worry! It's fine. It's good for you. If you can't breath, just stay there.' And it was super funny. They taught us some of the stuff they learned, so we were all doing yoga together in the Gasparatto's living room. hehe.

We had a big training meeting on Monday with two zones combined together here in Verona, and so two of the anziani from my MTC district were there, Anziano Lesa and Anziano Palmer, and we chatted some about the MTC during lunch. It was fun. The training was really neat, both Sorella Mullen and I felt we learned a lot of things we need to improve on.

Verona, Italy - November 10, 2010

On Monday morning before district meeting Sorella Mullen and I were walking down the street, when suddenly our vision was slightly obscured from some smelly haze, and we realized we were walking through smoke! And that smoke was coming off the top of this house we were walking past! It was not good. So we ran all over trying to see where the smoke was coming from. We suoned all the citofoni on the house but no one responded. Sorella Mullen was convinced they were passed out from smoke inhalation and going to die. So we called the Anziani, who gave us the number for the fire department, and we called the Italian version of 911. (except in italy there is a different one for each service - 113 for police, 115 for ambulance, and 118 for firemen). They asked us if the smoke was more white or more black, I told them it was more black and explained what it looked like, he took my name and phone number and said they would be there in ten minutes and we were to flag them down so they could find the place. Then we wait. And then we hear sirens blaring and blue lights flashing and up drives the vigili del fuoco! They come piling out of the truck with oxygen tanks and gas masks and axes and full gear. We show them the smoke. They go try to get inside. Then some people come out of the building and are wandering around. We wondered why they did not answer their citofono, because we suoned many many times before calling 118. Then we saw the vigili del fuoco up on the roof. They were inspecting the matter. They took my info from my recently obtained permesso di sogiorno. Do you want to know what it was? Wet wood inside a wood-burning heater thing. We called the firemen for wet wood. We felt quite sheepish.

Verona, Italy - October 27, 2010

Frequently accordian players will walk up and down our street playing, and hoping to catch people looking at them from their windows, in which case the accordian player kind of expects you to throw him money from your window for the benefits of his services. The other day during companion study we suddenly were hearing accordian music, and I already knew what it was, having seen this phenomenon before, but Sorella Mullen looked very confused and I realized she had never seen one yet and had no idea what the music was! So we rushed to go look out the windows to find him, but I told her not to let him see her looking, so she is staring out the window and then all of a sudden yelps and ducks super fast because he glanced towards her, but Sorella Mullen, being her goofy self, ducked so fast and hard she sort of fell backwards across the kitchen. It was hilarious.

Last week also we were doing casa, and it was a neighborhood full of not very willing to talk to us people. Two funny conversations over the citofono (the intercom thing outside the front gate where we talk to them and they are still inside their apartment):
Sorella Mullen: Salve! Siamo missionarie della Chiesa di Gesu Cristo, and siamo qua per ---- (Hello! We are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ, and we are here for ---)
they hang up abruptly while the mailman is walking up unbeknownst behind us
----per niente. (---for nothing.)
we turn around and see the mailman listening.
Sorella Langham: E come sta lei oggi? (And how are you doing today?)
Mailman: laughs at us and does not respond.

another conversation went like this.
Citofono person: Chi e? (Who is it?)
Sorella Langham: Salve! Siamo della Chiesa di Gesu Cristo! Mi puo aprire? (Hello! We are from the church of Jesus Christ! Will you please open for us?), said in thoroughly energetic tones.
Citofono person: NO! practically yelled, but they don't hang up and just wait.
Sorella Langham: Oh. in dejected tones with drooping shoulders.
CLICK. they hang up.

And then that same morning, someone did let us in, and we were very excited, but he was on something like the fifth floor, and was trying to yell down through the stairwell to find out who we are, so I said, we're coming, we are missionaries, we'll be right there, or something or other, and we start trying to hurry up the stairs, and he just keeps saying, no no, i'll come down, i'll come down, so finally we stop and wait, thinking it was very polite of him to come to meet us. he did not even talk to us at all, though, he just said, 'non mi serve niente!' which is like, 'it does nothing for me,' basically, and then forcibly walked us out of the palazzo, very angrily, and would not even let us knock on the other doors. Turns out he came down five flights of stairs, this 80 year old man, just to walk us out the door! Crazy neighborhood.

But then on Sunday night we got to watch the coolest thing - the broadcast of the temple groundbreaking in Rome! President Monson came to Rome on Saturday to break the temple grounds, and it was a really awesome meeting. They played it all over Italy on Sunday night for everyone to see. Everyone is soo sooooo excited here for the temple, and President Monson gave a very touching talk and a beautiful dedicatory prayer. And then after the prayer, before going to sit down, he stopped and said, 'I would add just one line. Our eldest son, many years ago, served in the Italy Milan Mission, and alighted in our hearts the fire of the spirit of the people of Italy, which is very near to the spirit of Godliness.' And then he sat down. It was way cool. And our mission president was there, President Wolfgramm, and he got to take a shovel full of dirt too! And President Monson called up a bunch of the little kids in the audience and helped them shovel dirt too. It was really great! Woot! The Rome, Italy temple is begun!