conversation with Anziano Day for Mother's Day

Ryan Skyped with us from his friend's Pino's apartment.  Here are some of the things he talked about.

The people are so nice here.  Toscana is so beautiful and the people have huge hearts.  When we have appointments people like to feed us because they are so nice.  I love the food and the culture.  The food is way better here (in Italy).  The quality is much higher. Tomato sauce is just fresh tomatoes, nothing else. We ran into some touring Americans and they gave us some snack bar from Costco and I looked at it and thought Uck,  this is loaded with preservatives.

Skyping Ryan wearing one of his many 2 Euro ties from Florence 

We found a place where we get fresh milk every day. (milked that day)  We are supposed to boil it, but we don't because the people who work there do not boil it.  (fresh unpasteurized milk).  We just get enough for what we need that day.  It is so delicious. I eat more than my companion who weighs 60 lb. more and I still do not gain weight.  If you are a vegetarian in Italy, it's Ok if you do, but only if it is because you love animals, but if you are a vegetarian for health, that makes no sense to Italians.  Why would you do that? they say.

The people dress nicely all the time.  Their houses are beautiful because of their sense of style.  You can tell people who are not from here because they are not dressed nicely. That is how you can spot Americans, by their casual clothing.    Even the people who clean the streets dress nicely.  They do not wear t-shirts.  There are some really interesting styles in Italy.  Men's hair is popular to have long hair on the top and shaved hair on the sides.  Sometimes they have things shaved into the sides.  The 80's styles are really popular including rollerblading and crazy 80's hair.   People think that I am from England or Germany from my looks.

Livorno

About the language, I can understand everything that they say.  Occasionally there is a word that they use that I do not know and I ask them what that word means and then I write it down.  Unfortunately, because I am training someone who knows less Italian than I do, so
I am not getting good practice at my accent.

There are a lot of people from all parts of Italy in Toscana for jobs because the job situation in the South is much worse than the North.

The people in the congregation are really supportive to the missionaries.  Sometimes their ward councils are a little crazy with all their opinions flying, but they are now trying to follow the ward council training videos.  Most of the contacts that we have to teach come from member referrals.  We teach between 7-12 appointments a week. I love the people in this branch.  There are about 50 people who attend this branch every week.  The church building has a sign in front of it made of Carrera (Michelangelo) marble.

I loved visiting Florence, it was so beautiful.  I loved getting ties for 2 Euros in Florence.  I really want to go and see Cinque Terre, ( 5 villages on the Italian Rivera with houses stacked on steep hillsides overlooking the sea built over

Livorno, Italy 

hundreds of years linked by a maze of footpaths. )

I have grown so much since I have been here. I see miracles every single day.  It is pretty amazing that God, the creator of the universe, is looking out for us individually.  I love to teach people how to pray from the heart. So many here in Italy have never prayed before from the heart, only rote prayers.  Many people that we talk to used to believe in God and were Catholics but say that they are atheist now.

 We pray hard to help the work and we work hard here.

It really means a lot to me for you to write.  I love when I get letters.  Thank you for writing me and please write me some more.

( Ryan also mentioned some of the people that he has taught- Paola and  a few others that he has mentioned in his previous emails.)