Milan takes 2 & 3

What a couple of weeks it has been. Complete with 2 trips to Milan, over 24 hours of driving, a new assignment, an Italian woman praying on my downfall, nights spent on the floor, a success getting gas, and dead people.

The first week went a bit like this:

We were able to do our normal service project on Thursday. We go to Haus der Solidarität, which is a place for all sorts of people in need of shelter and food. This week we got to cook lunch for everyone! We made some pasta and potatoes and everyone seemed to really enjoy it.

We baked treats for and took them to our members, complete with an hour searching for a house that was actually on the complete other side of the city. We also had our first couple successful street contacts in our new area (update...no contact). We visited a friend that has met with missionaries a bit and we talked about Baptism and just enjoyed meeting her. But the highlight was definitely her son. He looked pretty young, maybe 2? When we walked in he was in his high chair and just stared. Then we sat on the couch and without me realizing he climbed from the highchair onto the couch right next to me and was hugging my arm. I thought my comp was poking me or something, so I was shocked when I looked down and saw him. He sat for a minute then his mom pulled him away. Then another two minutes he jumped down flm her lap, stood and stared at me, grabbed my finger and just stood there looking at me. It was pretty cute.

P-day was great! We were in Milan. Got to see all the important places like Hermes (iykyk), the place Maurizio Gucci was killed, the Lego store. All the typical places tourists go. We had a member from the area tag along and he was very...full of energy. But we could also just say where we wanted to go and he wouldn't even need to hesitate and knew how to get us there. He knew every subway line, every station, every street so well. And I don't mean to brag but people in the Metro station asked me how to get some place 🙂. I mean they asked me in English and I was the only one in the group who didn't know how to get where they wanted to go.... But hey, they still asked me first.

And when I thought all the sights were over we headed to the church that the Elder's we were staying with cover and it's an ACTUAL BUILDING. I was shocked when we came in and walked around. And it even has a parking lot! And a stage! I'm still in shock while writing this. I didn't know these buildings existed in Italy. At least not one that big.

Week 2---

This past week was much more of a blur. You know when your Mission President asks you to call him and then when he picks up he announces he's with the AP's so you think your in trouble (most likely because you're not sure if the speed cameras are always on or just to fool you), but then it turns out to be a new assignment so you go from nervous to totally scared? That was this week. On Friday we got a call that both my and Elder Evans are becoming the Tech Captains. This was a role that used to just be sisters but they decided to put a set of both, sorta kinda. It's a bit too complicated to explain everything but emails may be getting a lot more boring and there is even a chance I am moved to Milan and just stay there until I go home?

Speaking of Milan, we went again. The last time was for my comp, this time it was for me and my permesso appointment. Mine was much more eventful but all that matters is it was finished and only took 4 hours. And I'm not saying that as a joke. Other missionaries were there for closer to 8.

The spiritual thought this week is going to take a lot of imagination so please work with me here. One of the days we had an exchange, and because I'm the only one who can drive up here my comp left and was replaced for the day by a different elder. Someone in our ward gave us a plate of cookies and told us to deliver them to a girl named Claudia who works at the civil office. Now the first problem is google could not find the building. So we started off by going to what we later realized was the town hall. After doing some random buzzing (one of which was actually the mayor's assistant) someone let us in the building. After walking around what looked like Hogwarts for a bit a woman appeared and offered to help. I was able to whip out my German and explain we had a plate of cookies for a girl named Claudia. She then responded in German. To which I responded that I actually cannot speak and luckily she could switch to Italian. Although it turns out that directions in Italian are not super easy to follow. We knew we turned left at a yellow building and went around a water fountain. The first lesson. At this point we were committed, and we had every intention of meeting our end goal. Much like the covenant path. When we are baptized we have an end goal in mind and want to become the best versions of ourselves that we can. However, much like what happened next we tend to get lost. It turns out every other building in this town is yellow. Water fountains? Yeah we had like 5 within sight. We wanted to follow her instructions but we still got lost. So what did we have to do? Humble ourselves even unto repentance (or in this case say "I have no idea where to go let's just go ask the librarian"). The librarian took one look at the name Claudia, knew her last name apparently, and then told us where to go. But we learned our mistake and asked her to just drop a pin on google maps. And in the end Claudia got her cookies, we got to see the whole city, and everyone was happy. Just like when we'll get to heaven :)