Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Well this week another trip to Venice on Thursday.  We went after interviews with President. I bought some cufflinks, one set is purple and the other is white background with different hues of blue and they are special because they are made of Venetian glass, they are super cool. I  also bought a sailor hat that says Venezia on it because Venice in Italian translates to Venezia.

Friday we went down to the old farm again and did some farming.  The great thing was that we were separting tomatoes from this giant bin with the branch president’s daughter who doesnt come to church anymore and her husband Terry is the one whose dad owns the farm but he owns some of it. So we asked her a ton of questions about church and other things and she said her husband really likes us and likes us even more than the other missionaries because we don’t push him  to come to church.  So what we are going to do is to be his friends and  go visit him and slowly  get him to do the simple things with his wife and then get him to church. She told us he doesnt come because the members dont like him or he doesn’t like them. It’s weird though because he always just talks about his mission. He is super cool. Also if you guys don’t go to church because someone offended you I come over there and slap y'all in the face!!! thats for everyone not just my family!

Also there is this kid who is my age named Willy that works on the farm.  We also have a good friendship because we likes a lot of the same stuff like Lil Wayne and basketball and stuff. He is the son of the first counselor in our branch but not baptized. So we will also try to teach him.

Then Saturday we finally finished helping the crazy lady with all that wood. One thing I learned is that yes she is super strange but I learned to love who she actually is and she actually is a very kind loving lady.

Then we went to Monfalcone,  a city in our area, to teach a new convert. After the appointment we went back to the train station to go back  to Gorizia.  There are two trains that go to Venice from Monfalcone (because we have to take the train that goes to Venice from  our city because it passes through) and we didnt check the stops and the train we took didn’t pass by Gorizia so we went the wrong way and at this point it was already 8:30 at night and we were about 2 hours from Gorizia. So we asked the train conductor what to do and he told us to get off at a stop and then get on that train. The only problem is that at night the trains don’t run very often so we waited 40 mins for the train back to Monfalcone then when we got there our train wasnt until 10:44 and so we didnt get home till like 11:10 and we didnt get home until like 12ish. I just love how things never work out the way you want them too.

On Sunday my companion and I basically ran church.  We had to prepare the sacrament, teach gospel principles, and we both gave talks in sacrament. then my talk was centered on loving others and service because of what the branch presidents daughter told me. I basically called everyone to repentence in church. It may seem mean but isn’t that kinda my calling as a missionary to help people repent, I think so!!

Then Monday we did a scambio in Trieste and I went with Anziano Minà, he is from Sicily.  He is super great but having a hard time because him and his companion don’t get along well. Then we had district meeting yesterday and then english class.

Today in Italy it is  Ferragosto, an Italian Holiday, which means every store, and I mean every store, is closed, not one is open, the entire country shuts down for one day so right now I’m e-mailing at the family Bressan’s house. They are the best, pretty much like Cyro the Brazilian family from Mantova when I was there last year.

Ferragosto is an Italian holiday celebrated on August 15. Originally, it may have related to a celebration of the middle of the summer and the end of the hard labour in the fields.  The Catholic Church celebrates this date as a Holy Day of Obligation to commemorate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary—the real physical elevation of her sinless soul and incorrupt body, into Heaven. Before the Roman Catholic Church came into existence, however, this holiday was celebrated in the Roman Empire to honor the gods—in particular Diana—and the cycle of fertility and ripening.
The present Italian name of the holiday derives from its original Latin name, Feriae Augusti ("Festivals [Holidays] of the Emperor Augustus").^[1]

Tomorrow we will go to the the World War I trenches again with some other missionaries.

Yea, tell Parker tp write me I would like to hear from him. And Zach Batis is writting me every once in a while. Also Dilan and I write eachother every week.

Well love you and have a great week.  I am sending some pictures to you finally.

Love,

Jake