Cari amici e famiglia,
Okay, once again I don't have much
time to write this email, our P-days are crammed full of stuff to do and it’s
so hard to find a second and sit down and email you guys. So, yes I did get the
email from trav and the package yesterday at zone conference, tell him to
expect a letter from me because after a couple weeks ago we are only allowed to
email direct family members. So if people don't get emails from me that’s why. Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes
and I did get the packages and letters and everything here at my new address
last Friday. Stuff gets here pretty fast. If you want to mail packages to the
mission office though that isn't a problem, because that’s how most
missionaries get packages anyways because it’s the safest way. In Rome postage
and packages don’t "disappear" as often as they do anywhere else in
the mission. As a matter of fact it’s probably a lot better to mail packages to
the mission office. I have more peanut butter now than I know what to do with.
It should last me through the rest of the mission. The Syrup mix grandma sent
will be awesome once I find vanilla. It’s expensive and rare here in Italy.
PLEASE SEND ME MY BALLOT!!! Even if it ends up arriving back in America
late. Everyone here in Italy is going nutz about the election and I promised
everyone here I’d let them see the ballot while I voted, so no voter fraud
okay? Because that’s illegal and the government reads these emails =) I
almost forgot that Mike is old enough to vote. It’s interesting how little the Italians
know about American politics but how interested they are in it.
I've think I’ve mentioned this a couple
times already but I'll say it again. Taranto is no different than our home ward
haha. IT IS AMAZING HERE. We eat dinner often with members and don't have to
give talks or teach lessons during Sunday ever =) Last week was the primary
program and we had a good 25 little kids up on the podium singing their hearts
out about choosing the right. I love it here. The only thing is that after my
interview with president yesterday he made it very clear I shouldn't get too
comfortable here and that I wasn't supposed to come here originally but it was
just a last minute inspiration on his part transfer night. So this will
probably be a short lived dream =( I'll make the best of it while I
can. I speak Italian fluently so having an Italian companion isn't a
problem. We talk too much haha. He says I’m the first companion he’s had
that talks so much I could be an Italian. There is never a moment of
silence at home. We get along really well.
Okay so you need something for the
missionary newsletter, get a load of this story =). So when I first arrived
here Anziano Visitin was explaining to me the work here and our investigators.
He started talking about a guy named Stefano who we were teaching but that he
was very lazy and wasn't making any progress so Anziano Visitin got up and
started to erase his name from our white board. At the exact moment he went to
erase the name the phone rang. And it was................... Stefano! Yeah way
crazy. Well anyways. Stefano came to church that Sunday, and had already been a
couple times in the past few months because his mother and little brother are
members. They are a Romanian family and Stefano doesn't look like the baptizing
type when you first see him. He’s a BIG guy with some of the gnarliest tattoos I
have ever seen. So continuing. He came to church and then we had a little
lesson with him and talked a bit about baptism and asked him to think about a
date. Well at our next visit which was a Thursday we asked him about a baptism date
and he responded by asking if he could do it in 2 weeks! That was a shocker but
we went ahead and also set up an interview with the bishop for the following
day just so they could get to know each other. After the interview Friday night
Bishop Vescovo came out and asked us why
we don't baptize him this very Sunday. We said we didn't know if we couldso we
held an emergency ward correlation meeting, organized everything and sure
enough Stefano Kovacs was baptized last Sunday along with a man named
Valentine, one of the Sisters investigators. Crazy huh? MIRACLES!! Work
continues to go well here and we may have more baptisms if everything goes to
plan here.
Alright today we had an awesome
P-day. We went to a city called Matera about an hour away. Now this is a city
so old and so beautiful, this is where they filmed "Passion of the Christ"
It was amazing. I’ll send some pictures. There are tons of caves and old houses
and everything. There is this huge valley that goes along side the city which
is on a hill alongside a cliff. Ok, looks like there might be some problems
hooking my camera up to this computer =( google it okay! "MATERA"
Well thank you grandma Nancy for
the $21 I'll be sure to go get myself a nice little gelato. I got a post card
from the Carpenters too. Thanks everyone. Say hi to the missionaries back home
for me and make them work hard. I love and miss you all. Have a great week
everyone and tell grandma Carolyn happy birthday for me and Aunt Heather, my
fellow October Birthdays!! VI VOGLIO BENE!!
Con
Amore -Anziano Kyle Hill
