Italy Milan Mission Anziano Jackson Puzey August 2022-July 2024

It has been said that there was a gas strike today. So to save our gas (as we had a 3 hour roundtrip drive today to visit a family) we had a very calm p-day. But I did get to buy House of Gucci in Italian. Late once again but I have a feeling this one will be much shorter. The past 2 weeks we have been in charge of Facebook Blitz. We meet with a zone and give a 30 minute training on how to find online and what to text and how to be genuine. Then the next day everyone would try to message as many people as possible. They went really well and people loved my bingo idea (not trying to brag hehe). Each square had something like "message someone who has a dog" to "Share a link to the book of Mormon". Some zones did better than others but it was still really fun overall. We're also working on our landing page so we can put more ads on Facebook. Self referrals are always the best. Our friend Giulia back in Rimini was a referral through Facebook, meaning she sorta reach...

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). W e 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...

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 ...