and the transfer is....

Two  sunsets over Reggio Emilia from by balcony.

 

                                                       This is my desk space where I study!

The great thing about living in Reggio is we have a ton of stuff you usually can't buy here (in Italy) because there are so many "Africa Asia market" s around. They all have that name. We have gotten peanut butter (usually super expensive) gotten and fried plaintains, bought cumin to make hummis (so delicious) you name it they have it! I will miss all the random middle eastern spices I have bought here. Also a particularly beautiful sunset off our balcony was very great.

 
We had a great Preparation day today and visited beautiful Bologna. Very beautiful city and I saw Anziano Fiorentino, my first companion there.


 A  burger king sighting in Bologna! We don't see that every day in Italy.. usually the only fast food is Kabobs. Tons of people from Pakistan and Turkey come here and have Kabob places.
    
 Thinking about my mission so far, I am indeed very thankful for the two companions I have had! They have both impacted me in a lot of ways I don't think I fully realize at this time. Both taught me very different things, but both great missionaries. Anziano Fiorentino and Anziano Collins. They are great. 

Anziano Collins has been especially awesome because he likes to laugh a lot and is really happy all the time. Good match. 

My language skills have been coming along very nicely, I'm getting better and better every day. Studying the grammar and then just really listening for the phrases people use every day really helps me to learn the language. 

 

And then our English lesson (conversation course) about music. That was a really fun English lesson. We have a lesson for grammar and a lesson for conversation every week.  

So this week I have been assigned a new area to serve in (wont reveal it quite yet.. :) but this last week has been a bit crazy. We have been trying to visit everyone  and then I was sick for two whole days! It was horrible. I thought I was going to "lose my lunch" so I just laid down pretty much for two whole days. I guess a similar thing has been going around in Reggio Emilia so It wasn't too bad. 

On the plus side I pretty much got to study the scriptures for two whole days while I wasn't sleeping.. I read the first 200 pages of Jesus the Christ by Talmadge, hopefully I can finish that book soon it truly is an amazing book. Talking about all the events in Christs life and his miracles and it gives a lot of context to his life.. boring to some but not to me! . 

So anyways... the big news... where I am being transferred... dundundundundun LIVORNO!!!!! It is a Toscana city on the West coast near Pisa. Enough said. I'm going to Toscana  (Tuscany) ahh so amazing. 

Here is the crazy part though... I will be with an Anziano Lockleer who I knew in the MTC, he was a group below me. He is a guy from North Carolina or Tennessee I can't remember and is super loud and hilarious. But we are probably going to be one of the youngest copia (companionships) in the mission. I have been here 3 transfers, and he has been here 2. My current companion, in contrast, has 9 transfers right now (a transfer is 6 weeks.) So its going to be a little crazy. Its the same city that Anziano Fiorentino was trained in, and I will probably train there right after someone unknown and new. 

I'm really really excited. We are going to work really hard and have way too much fun doing it. Tomorrow I leave Reggio! It will be really different because Livorno is almost all Italian with not as many immigrants. And it is beautiful near the beach, although I wont be going there really. Anyways. So much to say, so little time. I will have more updates and pictures of everything next week!

My companion Anziano Collins being crazy... he got coolaid in the mail so that was pretty cool.

Yessss Camille went to a Ben Folds concert! I hope he didn't swear too much.. haha. I always listened to Ben Folds music because he is a sweet piano player. Sorry for not sending a letter in a while, I wrote one before Robertos baptism and I will send all those in the mail very soon. Tell Camille to write me and thank Jeremy for writing me please. 

Vi Voglio un sacco di bene! Love you all, this work is the Lords work and it is GREAT!!!

Anziano Day

Food Report 

A delicious dessert we had at a restaurant in Bologna (we were definitely under dressed at that restaurant!) 

We made an inordinate amount of pasta one day with pesto and lemon chicken recipe I got from a Toscana cookbook, it was amazing!

 

Liverno is a beautiful port city that has a cruise ship berth for ships to land and take day tours of Pisa and Florence.