New Year

Dear Family,

Another week has passed and I can't believe that we have begun another year. 2012! Crazy, I hit my year mark soon and then everything will be downhill from there. Often, When one year ends and another begins we take time to reflect and set new goals for the upcoming future. I look back at the beginning of Jan 2011 and the person I was, I feel like a completely different person.  This last year of my life has been and probably will be the year in my life that I have changed the most and experienced/endured the most. I try to look back and sort of catalog my experiences in my mind and it's just too much to even comprehend. Luckily I have 250 pages of journal entries to help me with the task. In short, I am eternally grateful for what this last year in my life has done for me! I think It is safe to say that no other thing a person can do in his life could be as rewarding as a mission. I've experienced so much spiritual and mental growth in the last year and I look forward to just as much for 2012. Life is good.

We met a few interested people knocking doors earlier this week. We knocked into an old man who was a nice man and didn't want to be rude (surprising) but wasn't really interested in hearing what we had to say, he was giving us the whole range of excuses that we hear all day long and it was about time to give up and move on. His wife then got up and came to the door and asked if we were the Mormons, We said yes, she wasn't unhappy to see us but her comportment wasn't very friendly.... We started talking about the Book of Mormon and the role the scriptures play in our lives... and especially the need in these days for additional scripture, another testament of Jesus Christ. We were pulling the Book of Mormon out of our backpack to show her, She stopped us and told us she already had one. And that she read a lil bit years ago and hadn't opened it since. She then went and searched for it. After a lil she found it and handed it to us. We both bore testimony of the importance of the Book and told her that reading it and praying is the proof of our words. We left her 3 Nephi 11 to read and asked if we could leave her with a prayer right there at the door. She accepted. After the prayer her comportment had completely changed. She was on the brink of tears and told us we could come back... We will see where that goes.

We've met many people these last 2 weeks doing finding work. Right now we are having the same problem we were having back in Ferrara, turning the many contacts we have right now into progressing investigators... Right now on the radar. We have 2 brazilian couples, a few older ladies. A young couple from Sicily, And an African Family that seem pretty legit.

We Got stuck in Verona for 3 hours yesterday after we missed a train back to Mantova when we were exchanging comps from a scambio, So we did a lil giro. Verona is so beautiful! I saw the house of Juliet and the wall. Its not what it looks like in that gay movie they made. real different. I also found something I want to buy with my Christmas money... Big sales start Thursday so I want to wait to see if the price will go down, Its a coat. Super sick! full price was £179 a lil too expensive. Hopefully it will go down during the sales...

Thats about it. A few other things I will need soon is  some more night/dayquil. And then the calendar that was made for me is almost expired... End of Feb it finishes... It'd be nice for another one.

Love you

Anz. Mendel