Buon giorno da Missouri!

Scott's on a little detour right now in Missouri until he gets his Visa.

Allora....Im here in missiouri! Im a little town called St. Joseph. ITs a nice area. there are two sets of elders in the this area but of course there are two different wards. The area we are in is really nice. I finally got to teach two lessons yesterday so that was really weird. I never thought I would see english again but here I am. My trainer is Elder Carpstein. He is a good elder. He is the district leader of this area. I think we will do good together. As for the Visa, no one knows how long I will be here for. It could be until the end of next week till 4 months from now. I just have no clue. So thats real fun. In the mean time Im in the states. MY new address is 619 1/2 bon ton street St. Joseph Missouri. I dont know the zip code so those with internet can look it up. Its crazy to think im out in the field now. Its crazy how everything happened. I found out thursday around 3:30pm that I had no visa and that I would be leaving the next morning at 5 am to go to the missouri independance mission until I get my visa. That was kind of shocking. I think the hardest part here is maintaing my italian. I have to at every free moment I have to speak, study, or anything really dealing with Italain. Yesterday when we were teaching this guy marvin, who is spanish, we had three different copies of the book of mormon out in three different langauges. My companion was reading in inglese, marvin in spagnolo, and me in italiano. It was pretty cool. I think im doing pretty well for only being out for such a short time. How is everyone doing? Sorry for not calling when I landed things got so hectic when I got there, that I was just focused on making sure everything was alright. An elder couple from the mission picked me up and we went to the mission home. I got to meet the mission president and then we all went out to dinner at Olive Garden so that was cool. Being a visa waiter apparently Im special and have a direct line to the mission president when ever I need something. So thats pretty cool to know, I dont think however that I will need any thing special..but who knows maybe next week Ill be in a different mission! I hope everyone is doing well! I hope to hear from you soon!
Amore,
Anziano Collins

p.s. it is funny watching people try to read what my name tag says and then slowly realize that its not english.

Firewalls at the MTC

So last week we didn't get our usual email until late Wednesday evening because of computer issues at the MTC!!! We thought we weren't going to get an email!

So ldsmail is run through gmail and gmail sent an update and sent a youtube video with it and no one could get on.....go mtc firewall :D. This week has been awesome! The Anziani are really awesome! We lost the new French sister, she is going to be leaving with us and thus was put in an english zone where she will study preach my gospel and what not. So that will be awesome. So I only have 13 DAYS TILL I LEAVE TO ITALY. But who's counting? We had an opportunity to hear Elder Nelson yesterday so that was very awesome :D! Im not sure if anything eye popping happened this week. Im exciting about playing basketball with all Italians(its not what I think about the time but when gym time comes up nothing else is on my mind :D). My Italian is getting better, Im starting to be able to read the book of mormon in italian without problems. Its crazy having Anziani that are younger and know less than us, it really puts pressure on us to be good examples and to know a lot so we can help them. Its awesome though. Im not really sure what else to put. We should be getting our travel plans tomorrow so that will be awesome. On monday, we taught a total of 5 lessons, in a regualr day thats not alot but for us newbies-it was a ton. It was so exhausting!
well I hope all is well and everyone is douing good!
Sinceramente,
Anziano Collins

Week 8....I think (in Scott's own words)

HEllo!!! Today we get new Anziani and Im very very excited about that! We got a new sister as well...she is from france...her name is Sorella Cojan. And I would like to say that she is very french. Anyways, this week has been awesome! One new years eve we had a very very tiny ceberation around 4 pm our time because it was new years in Italy. A sisters mom sent us some Italian drinks and food...welll more like little treats...it was a lot of fun! We had a devotional this apst sunday and it was really good. IT was a nice change of pace. It was a family doing the whole thing and they did a lotof singing but the main speaker was the director of all international MTC and his main focus was just to show us the other MTC's and told us some wonderful stories. One I liked the most was of the MTC in ghana. A young man's mom wanted to provide the essential things for his mission so she moved down to johannesburg to earn money. Right before he was supposed to leave his mom sent a package full of all the things he needed, unfortunately when He got the box, everything was gone. He got a white shirt, tie, and black pants right before he went into the mtc and that was all he had. THe MTC president found out about the elders dillemma about 3 days after he arrived. He went to speak to the elder and asked him if he needed anything. The elder smiled and said he had all that he needed. THe president being persistent didnt believe him and had him show him his closest, he opened his closet and it was filled with clothes. He then began to explain that when the elders that lived with him found out that he had nothing, everyone started to donate things from pants, to shoes, to ties, to even a whole suit. I loved that story because it demonstrates pure charity. HE told usmany oither stories but that one stuck out the most! The temple is finally open so I get to go today so that will be fuin. I find it harder to wake up earlier on p-days than it was in the beginning. Also, another story, one of branch presidency members came to our room,(only my collega and I were there) to come interview us. HE walked in and explained that he was too interview our district...(its important to know that this branch presidency member is exmilitary and can be faiirly intimidating at times) during his explanation Anziano Thomas and I hear a LOUD fart....alittle confused we started to laugh like anyone in the situation would have. THe branch president member then started to fan it away and apologized that it had slipped out. ANd at that point I was laughing histerically.....luckikly I was not the first to be interviewed because I would have laughed during the whole thing. DAd, 2 days ago when I played some ball I did pretty bad and this kid who was gaurding me was all over me and even attimes blocked me...it was embarassing. A day later I come and play with an intent to dominate...and let me tell you...the same elder gaurded me and I just walked all over him. And oon defense I was a monster. It felt good. 20 days till Italy. I cant think about these thiings...........Im hearing that our first day there they will take us somewhere...most likely near the the duomo in Milan and have us place book of mormons. Again, Im excited with the Anziani coming tomorrow, it started to get kind of lonely hear. our branch is only 14 members.......all itialians! Our branch presidency all had served in Milan so a lot of sunday meetings are in Italian. I hope all is well! I would aslo like to make a shout to Jason HAmilton..I got your letter yesterday and willwrite back today!
I think this is by far the longest emial I have written, im pretty proud of that. ONe last cool story, our teacher Fratello Pesci(yes his last name is fish in italian) had served in rome and made friends with a teenager there. Well it turns out the that same teenager is now here in the MTC and hecame to talk to fratello pesci and it was reallly ciool! We got to talk to him and whata relief it is to know that I understood him completely!!!!!!! I thought that was really exciting!
UNtil next time! SOmeone enjoy chipotle for me :D
Sinceramente,
Anziano COllins