Yet Another Surprise! March 10, 2016

So first of all I'll talk about another crazy change in our departure date.  Because of a mistake that church travel made on some visa applications, many of the missionaries going to Milan cannot enter the country until the 21st so now our departure date has been pushed back a week.  For those of you who haven't been following the story so far,  my original departure date was supposed to be March 14.  Then because of a mix up in transfer schedules we were going to leave March 8.  Soon afterwards we received word that because of our visas we would stay until March 14: our original day.  Now we are waiting until March 21.  Then a day after we received that news I was checking my missionary portal and saw that my mission president had changed from the one for the Milan mission to the one for the Modesto, California mission.  I checked with the one other missionary who went to the Philadelphia Italian Consulate and it was the same switch for her.  I tried to have a good attitude about it but when a few days later it switched back to President Dibb, I was very relieved. My teachers have been talking a lot about their experiences in Italy and my eagerness to get there has grown exponentially since I've gotten here.  Too bad I still have to wait another week for that to happen though.

This week was pretty good.  We had "Culture Day"  with F. Sloan and he showed us his favorite pictures from his mission in Milan and told us about the investigators and members he met there.  Each city he showed us looked gorgeous and each time he showed us a new one he would say "oh this one was the most beautiful...oh no THIS was the most beautiful place I went to...oh no THIS one was" etc etc.  I've decided that no matter what President Dibb says I want to serve in Verona (the Romeo and Juliet city) because it's sooo gorgeous, Milan so I can get a taste of real Italian fashion and pick up some cheap yet good quality clothes,  Como because it is right on Lake Como and has some beautiful opportunities for a hike on my P-days that overlook the Italian Alps, the lake, and the city, La Spezia so I can go on early morning runs along the Mediterranean Sea, and Firenze (Florence) for just about everything.  I know I'll be lucky if I even go to 1 or 2 of these places and that I will love every place that I go because, well, it IS Italy.  Plus, the reason I'm going there is not for the sightseeing or for the food or for the beautiful scenery. I'm going to Italy to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with the people I meet and invite them to come unto Christ.  Everything else is just a backdrop (though I really do want to check out those awesome street markets in Firenze).  

We have started calling the mission president for the Milan mission "Mugshot" Dibb.  We call him that because in the picture they have of him on our missionary portal he looks like he's taking a mugshot. Everyone we've talked to who knows him says he is very serious but an amazing man and mission president.  On culture day F. Sloan, who had him for the last part of his mission, gave us an impression of him and now I CAN'T WAIT to meet him.  

That's about it for this week.

Ciao ciao!

Vi voglio bene!

Anziano Younce