Anziano Day Milan Italy: Improbable bicycle misfortunes and modern art

A miracle we saw this week in church was a man who came back to church after 20 years. We saw him in church and then set up an appointment to meet with him. He told us when he was 17 years old he met the missionaries through playing basketball with them and eventually took the missionary lessons. During this time he recieved a huge spiritual witness from God that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Soon after becoming a member, he moved to London and started working and became very busy, never making time to come to church. But throughout those twenty years he never forgot his testimony and the spiritual experiences he witnessed with the missionaries. Just recently he decided to return to church. He has a family and two children that we are going to start teaching, and he told us that he wants to be united with his family in the gospel in this life and after this life.

Such a strong and powerful testimony to how God answers prayers, Anziano Colemere and I could not stop thinking about it during this week.

Bicycles that revolt!

Una settimana molto divertente e pericoloso

This week there have been many improbable misfortunes relating to my bicycle that I will recount. I love my bike, its a street bike with great breaks, and so light that I can carry it over my shoulder without fatigue.

I was riding it on the way to an appointment when suddenly the back tire deflated and my bike started bumping over the road. We found out the tire had a leaking whole in it. So we walked it back home. Luckily there was a spare bicycle at the apartment that I could use. However, it was without brakes, so I had to stop the bike with my feet.

Many nearly-perilous accidents occurred as we made our way to Decathlathon ( a store) on the brakeless bicycle to buy a spare tire. We bought the spare tire, and double checked to make sure it was the right size for the other bike. It was.

So we went home but... the tire was too long! It had extra slack that wouldnt fit on the bike. So we tried to get another one but it didnt work. Eventually we just gave up and I used the no brakes bike.

The next day I used some good old scotch tape to fix the brakes, and we went over to our church service in the morning. After the meetings ended, I mounted my bike and starting pedaling... when the tire sputtered and went flat! Bike number 2!

So we walked it home and called a bike-savy member who told us he would fix the first bike, and that we could borrow one of his. We dropped it off at night and picked up his bike to our relief.

The next morning we were on our way home from an appointment when.... you guessed it, I heard a sputtering sound and felt my bike continue with difficulty on the road. The tire popped again.

3 tires. 3 days.

Mannaggia.

At the end of the night we carefully wheeled the bicycle to Salvatore, and he gave me my beautiful, fully healed road bike back. There havent been any problems with it... yet...

We visited a modern art museum last week and here are some of my favorite photos from there. My companion really loves going and doing interesting things for pday, so I will be having a lot of fun I'm sure in this transfer.

Me in the middle of a hovering circle of old used chairs

and a towering structure of many wooden men, all walking in line.

Zone conference vision

This picture is our zone vision! We had a great zone meeting, hosted by me and Anziano Colemere. Our vision for the zone was to be prepared, to keep ourselves spiritually set with God so that we can be on the same page as Him as we go out and work.

After the zone meeting the Anziani from Cuneo came and ate with us because they weren't going to get home until 330 or 4. Anziano Briscoe is a vegetarian, so I made one of the only vegetarian meals I have ever made on the mission. It was still delicious. Yay.

Delicious vegetarian meal

Our zone consists of about 22 missionaries, a very medium sized zone consisting of Torino and various satellite provinces as well as Novara and Alessandria. Our specific responsibilities includes communicating with district leaders to watch over the overall effectiveness and well being of the missionaries in our zone, and to help specific missionaries if needed. We then report to president on how everything is going.

We are specifically in the Torino 2 ward. The first and second sunday I felt very welcomed by the ward, who all love my name. Day!

English speaking members say.. Have a beautiful day! hahaha. Our ward is pretty big, 60-80 people are in church every week, with really motivated members and a witty bishop. He did an imitation of an american accent one time that made us laugh pretty hard.

More from the modern art museum in Torino