Italy Milan Mission Anziano Jackson Puzey August 2022-July 2024

A lot went on this past wek so I will do my best to sum everything up.(Can't remember if this was mentioned in the last email, but I don't think so) Last Thursday we headed down to stay in Verona again. This time I was driving and there were only 8 of us there so I got a bed. Then Friday we continued our journey to Bologna. We had an amazing Christmas conference. We got to meet the whole Wood family. Their grandchildren did the nativity as we sang the songs. And we got to hear all of their children's testimony on the Living Christ. It was such a great time complete with food and Christmas games and only one person got hurt!  On Christmas eve we got to eat with the Campos family. It was a typical Peruvian Christmas meal. It was so nice of them to have us over and we felt very loved. Then on Christmas we went to church (where I got to do the Sacrament again, with HUGE improvement. Very excited for next week). I did have some stage fright as there was a family visiting from Ge...

Hallo everyone! This email is very rushed. I guess it's a good sign that time  is flying so fast! We got to meet our branch at our Christmas party on Saturday (well some of them)! It was basically a family party with a couple extra people. It was so much fun. The Branch Presidents wife is also from Washington so we got along pretty well. Everyone was nice. The grandma of the family was kinda scary at first. Until I realized it's just her sense of humor. I was just impressed with the Puff family (they are basically the whole branch. And they run everything). They all speak English, German, and Italian. So playing bingo they call out the numbers 3 times to make sure everyone knows. Then it was the big day. Sunday. I was asked to bless the Sacrament, no flying under the radar here. Fun fact: When you just have one tray for bread and one for water it means you get to bless the Sacrament all alone. And you have to show how bad your pronunciation is on your 4th day of learning German...

I am sure many of my family and friends are like me. As in I did not read like any missionary emails at home. But if I could recommend reading one of mine. THIS is the one. I had a rather great email all typed out and ready to go. The stories were vivid, the descriptions immaculate, the knowledge of Shakespeare evident. But then I got transfer news yesterday and I knew the whole focus of my email was going to change. I will quickly recap the week:  Thursday drove to Verona. My bed was two chairs put together. I did not sleep well. Training was great (more on that later). Saturday we got to see Denis again, and had dinner with the Bazan's (amazing family love them and the food). Sunday was amazing too. For the first time ever we had people come to church with us! Only took 3 months. We had our friend Gulia and our less active, Massimiliano. They both stayed for second hour (Gulia did have to have a little smoke after Sacrament meeting, but still stayed).  Now the bigger news: O...

I'm finding it hard to think of what to write about this week. It felt a bit longer than last week. Maybe going back to 7 days instead of 6 really did a number on me.  I'll just share a highlight: oddly enough it was at a funeral. It wasn't for a member of a ward but a family member of a couple people in the ward. The guy putting it all together was his brother, and he asked me to sit on the stand with him so he wasn't alone (he then proceeded to leave me and sit at the piano in the corner the whole time). But he had a friend conduct and he sat next to me. It was a weird experience being able to look at the faces of everyone who knew this man, who I'd never meet or talked to. When the man's son (who was about my age) gave a talk, most people gave out and began to cry. And also clap? I guess it's how they encouraged him to keep speaking through his tears. It was a great experience and I felt like for some reason that day I wasn't really seen as just a mis...

Well this week was a week shorter than last and I don't have much to report on. Thursday (Thanksgiving) we were in Bologna for p-day. I love Bologna, it's such a good/fun(?) city. I played some spikeball, had some kebab, and got to talk to my family a lot. It was great! Monday we had a Thanksgiving dinner in Ravenna and got to interview with President. I'm so excited to see The Wood's again at 12 week training (which for us will only be 10 week). They're some of the best people I've ever met. We also said goodbye to the Howe's. The senior couple that's been serving in our area. I'm sad they're leaving but happy they get to be home for Christmas. Anziano Howe was telling some stories of when he was here in the 70s. There were basically no churches here. In one city the chapel was the apartment that they slept in. And there still is a lot of growth to come. We're the only city in the district that has a standalone building (the old house). All ...

Sorry everyone that emails are exposed this week I can't figure out BCC on my phone. So if anyone desires to write back be sure to not do reply all. Sorry this one's a long one. But it was a week with an extra day... You know how people talk about feeling a weight being lifted off of their shoulders? Well, I had that experience this week. One morning I was feeling the effects of walking around with my heavy backpack the day before, it wasn't that painful but I was feeling a little uncomfortable. So I took my English and Italian Bibles out of my backpack and it made it much better :).  This week once again had highs and lows. For instance with the language. One or two people thought that I was from Italy which made me feel pretty good. But of course, I was humbled when a couple of people said "sorry I don't speak English" after I asked a question in Italian... I didn't even try to save it, I just walked away. And today I was trying to speak and literally ev...

This week was a pretty good week! I've also hit over 3 months as a missionary! That may not seem like a lot compared to two years but thats the same amount of time if not longer that I worked at MOD this past summer; which is kinda weird for me to think about. Anyway, let's break down this week a little: 1) We got someone on date to be baptized! His name is Edi and actually he was taught a few years ago but wasn't baptized because his family was against it. But he moved out and is now meeting with us. He decided to br baptized in February which is aways away but he said there are some things he still needs to figure out. He's seriously the best though. We try to establish goals and see where the people we meet with are at. And when I asked him what he wanted to accomplish with meeting us and how we can help him he said that he wants us to help him get to church and never leave. He also said that before he starting coming and meeting with missionaries years ago his life ...