Great Week, July 28, 2011

So this last week has been a pretty good week. One of my favorite in the mission by far, mainly because I did another scambi with my good friend Bona in Ravenna again and those are always amazing. We have so much fun together and also we had an amazing P-day! We went to the Republic of San Marino, and it was just beautiful! I loved going up the mountain city and through the castles and towers of that gorgeous country. Don't worry I took tons of amazing pictures and they are being uploaded to MobileMe as we speak. I had a great time there. The weather was nice and we were in a big group of really close missionaries so we just had a blast. I bought a watch too, a San Marino watch. its pretty sick, I cant decide if I want to wear it on my mission or just wait til I get home to... I got a great deal after bartering a lil. It was only 30£.

So Anz. Rich and I set a baptismal date with an investigator we have been teaching for a few weeks now, He is really awesome. He is always really punctual and came to church dressed like a baller! So I'm really excited for him right now. He is in a really good spot to get baptised. He's really interested, has a job, is married. The only problem is that he's not very good with Italian so we teach him in English and have to translate for him in church but thats okay. Maybe coming to church and being associated with some members will help him learn. So I have high hopes for him. His baptism if everything goes well, will be the 19 of August. I hope he is ready. I can only do my part and then the Lord has to take over and do the rest.

I have a really funny story to tell, I actually knew that Lance Cannon served in Bologna before your email and it's a crazy story how... So after Chruch on Sunday, the 4 missionaries serving here in Bologna were invited over to lunch at G******** 's house along with half the ward it seemed like. It was kind of like a ward party. So me and the other anziani just kinda retired into the other room away from all the madness while everyone got the food all ready and we were just talking and I looked behind me to the shelf and saw about 10 huge picture albums. So I grabbed one, opened the first page and there is Bishop Cannon staring at me in the face! It just caught me by such surprise to see him and his family, I saw Lance and some of his mission photos and then the photos when G********* went to their house... Hah! 14 year old Brinn with braces. And young Chase. I had a good conversation with G*********about it too! Just crazy that the first one I open and the first picture I see was a family from my ward in Utah.
Fratello S******** is now the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric here. 

The work in Bologna is alright right now. Still, doing door to door contacting has rendered no success whatsoever, we have gotten in once all transfer and it wasn't like that in Pisa at all.  I sometimes bring water and sometimes not. There are places where we can get water like fountains and things like that in parks, I usually bring some sort of bottle with me. The heat is still hot but not as bad as it was in early July. I hope it doesn't shoot up like it did then, It gets so humid here sometimes it starts raining and there aren't even clouds in the air. Crazy. The City is huge and packed but honestly now it's not that busy because everyone leaves. Italians love their vacations, they all go on month long vacations from the months of July through August. My first sunday we had about 60 or so members at church. Next week I think we will be lucky to get 15. With deodorant I have 1 and a half left. So for sure enough to get me through the summer and into September. Ya I have seen the University of Bologna. It's cool. It's not really like a separate campus or anything like that. It's just right smack dab in the middle of the city. The students are pretty wild sometimes. Yeah we have a bus pass that we have to buy every month to take the bus around. it costs 36£ a month.


I'm glad to hear you had a great time going to New York and the church history sites! Sounds amazing. 

Love Anziano Mendel