Allora.....

Hello. Its me again. We had a pretty normal week. Nothing really changed. We are doing well. The work is picking up as well as slowing down. IT hasn't really had a good progression in the sense that it has been so unpredictable. SO that's always fun. We lost a lot of our investigators because they cant meet with us. My comp and I are trying tons of new things so that's fun. The work with the american branch is going well. Its weird working with Americans, I don't know how to work with them sometimes. Something weird this week happened. I woke up and a part of my lip was swollen. It was weird. I don't know why. Its de-swelling now so all is well. That's about it. Have a good week!

Elder Texiera!

So the reason why we didn't have pday yesterday was because we had our area president came to our mission and talked to us. It was awesome because I got to see Anziano Money, my ex comp. Him and his new comp stayed with us because they lived to far away so they came the night before the conference. It was a REALLY good conference. I wish it had happened at the beginning of my mission because he taught TONS of good things that will help the missionary work pick up here. We hadn't had a conference in about 4 months and we were all dying for something to pick us up, and that is what the conference did. One of our investigators is doing really well right now. He is reading, he just hasn't come to church yet which is annoying but that's OK. We went to the church Halloween party, it was weird! We got tons of american candy. No wonder Americans are fat. That stuff is deadly! anyways you all have a great day!

Good week!

So last week was pretty good, we were able to teach 10 lessons which was awesome. We found a bunch of people and we were able to set 2 baptismal dates for the 23 of November. I really hope they go through because it is the very last day in which I could see a baptismal so I'm praying that they do! It has been raining a lot lately. We actually got caught in a storm and had to run home, within the 3 minute run home we got soaked! It was funny! My comp almost ate it. He was running and didn't see that the sidewalk was unlevel and almost tripped face first. It was crazy. Well got classes and what not in order so all is well there. We have a Halloween trunky treat activity that we are going to tomorrow. We have less actives and non members going so we are excited. We are also the selected judges, to judge the chili so I'm excited about that. My comp and I are getting along a lot better. Our companionship reminds me a lot of when I was with Anziano Boscia. Well love you all,have a great week!

I'm out of creative names for my emails

So this week was crazy. We have been working hard and we are finding tons of people. Unfortunately most of them don't speak Italian, so that stinks but we are working on trying to find Italians My comp and I are doing well. Its been weird being with someone so young because we seem really different but that;s OK. He is a good missionary. We have had some crazy stuff happen this week, a drunk man wanted us to teach him about the Book of Mormon. That was wild. We went ding dong ditching.....Ill explain we went with our ward missionary leader and we went to members who were less active and we left a bag of goodies on their porch and ding dong ditched them......it's a lot harder in Italy to do that. I hop over a 6 foot fence :). The work is going a lot better. Well I hope you all have a good one! Love you all

Final Resting Place....Vicenza!

So its transfer week. I'm staying here in Vicenza to finish the fight. All is well. Our work is slowing down from what we had last week. I'm not sure what to write. I feel like this email will be short. We got a referral from an American family in the Military branch. It was cool. One of the daughters is dating an Italian. He had a lot of interest in the Church. So we were able to teach him. It went well. Umm yeah. I really don't know what to write. We finally got hot water so that's nice. My last companion, Anziano Christensen is now an assistant. Let it be known that my last two comps both have been assistant...I made them assistant material :P. (This probably means nothing to many of you reading this but that is okay). Well have a great week!

Verona, Marostica, Vicenza!

So yesterday was crazy. We didn't really get a chance to email because we were in Verona and then we went to a little unknown town called Marostica to do a baptismal interview. Then my comp lost his camera on the train and we that didnt help but that is ok All is well. The work is still slow, but we are seeing small miracles and so that keeps us going. This past week our water heater broke and so I have had to boil water for my shower and then use a cup to distribute it. Its been really fun. Someone will come to our house today to fix it so that will be good. Everything is well, love you all. have a great week!

Forza Vicenza!

Well this past week was normal. Lots of finding work and what not. We had Cafe Rio at an American family;s house. The wife knows how to make Cafe Rio stuff just like they make it. It wasn't exactly the same but it was close enough. It was good. At that dinner there was a soldier and his wife that came. They were really cool. The wife was really interested in our Church. She bombarded us with questions which made it easier because we didn't have to ask them any because they told us everything. Overall it was awesome and we expect to see the family again. Other than that, I bought some really good pesto that comes from Liguria(where pesto comes from). My comp and I are doing well. We don't really have any stable investigators but that is okay. Next week we will go to Verona. That will be fun. Umm yeah. Its weird being the oldest. I hope you all have a great week!

Training......

So not much happened this week. We are working hard, just no solid investigators but that is ok. Anziano West and I are still getting used to each other. He is a cool kid. He reminds me a lot of Aaron. We have been working well with the American branch. We went to a family home evening and it was really cool because it was for all of the single soldiers. It went really well and I was able to connect with one of our less active soldiers that is assigned to us. He is really cool. I like him. He likes the Seahawks but that's okay. We talked a lot about football. He told us a lot about his war experiences. It was crazy. People in the military see some crazy stuff. But it was cool because he told us that he was coming back to the church because he knew it was true and that it was still apart of him. He couldn't deny what he felt about the book of Mormon and so he is coming back to church. Its really cool. Other than that. Not much is happening. Well I hope you all have a great week! Ciao! Vi volgio bene

Basta means basta!

So this past week was a little hectic. So on Saturday around 14:00, president called us to ask if we were going to the stake conference. And we told him we had not planned on it, but then we followed up and asked if he had wanted us to come to it. He told us yes. It was starting in an hour so we immediately left and went to the train station to catch a train. We get to the city, Pordenone, around 17:00. We then walked to the church and got there at 18:00. We are there for an hour of the conference and then it ended. Our mission president wanted to interview 2 of us(me and another missionary). We are in the same city but we are not companions. THe only problem is that we didn't have another train until 22:44 so we were stuck in Pordenone for awhile and we wouldn't get home till around 23:50. So our president decided to send my comp with another missionary(Anziano Castagno) back to Vicenza and I would stray with Anziano Jaramillo, the companion of Anziano Castagno. Well we get interviewed and we then go out for pizza with president. After that we got dropped off at the train station. Well the only problem is that when we got there we saw that our train was cancelled. So we got stuck in Pordenone. We called president and told him the situation. He came back and picked us up and then he took us to a senior couples apartment where we stayed the night. We went to conference in Pordenone on Sunday and then we went home. It was crazy! We found a man named Frank. He is really cool. He comes from Nigeria. He has met with us twice and at the end of the last meeting he asked us if we could meet him the next day...obviously we said yes. So we are going to meet with him today. Its really good because he is the only person that we have as an investigator. So there is an american military base here in Vicenza and we can get on the base and get stuff at the commissary. We got so much Americana soda its great. Well I hope you all are doing well! I'm doing great! Have a good one! Vi volgio bene! Ci si sente!

It is well....in Vicenza!

Alright so I did not write last week so I will make by writing this week. I am doing well! I am in a city called Vicenza! There is an american military base and so we cover the Italian branch as well as the american branch. So we have 6 hours of church on Sunday. Its crazy! The crazy part of all of this is the amount of English and Americanness that is around me. I have consumed more american food in the past few days than I have in 22 months. It is crazy! All I have to say is that american cheese is an abomination. Other than that I do like some of the american food. I'm sad to have left Firenze. That city is very special to me and I cannot WAIT to go back!!!! All of the young men were sad to see my comp and I leave. Some of them came to the train station to see us off. It was cool! I am training as well. My comp is Anziano West and he is from American Fork. He got to spend to time with two of my companions while I was in the hospital. MY companion Anziano Christensen left Firenze as well and he is in the office helping the office clean up all of the mess that is happening. There was so much change in the mission office at the same time and they need help to keep everything in order...so he went there. Its weird to not be with Anziano Christensen, we were comps for so long. But its cool, I like Anziano West. He is cool. We get along well. The past few days we have spent getting everything in order. We had nothing. No materials to proselyte...no food, no stamp to mark our materials, no maps, no bikes, no knowledge of the area. It's been fun. We have gotten everything in order expect the bikes but other than that we are good. We have ac in our apartment! Its awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you all are doing well!! Love you all!

30 LESSONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we taught 30 lessons this past week! IT was crazy!!! The assistants called us because they didn't believe that we had done it! Im really tired now! So I talked with one of the assistants and I will be leaving next week. Where to I have no idea. Anziano Money, my last comp, is assistant and I asked him where I was going to die(finish my mission) and he was like well where do you want to finish?? So I told him some places so hopeful I will go to one of them!!! We had a cool miracle, there is man, Agostino, the boyfriend of a member, who we have wanted to see for a long time. Well he happened to be our 30th lessons. He pulled us aside after Church and told us that he wanted to talk to us. He then told us about all of the problems he had and how he wanted our help!!! HE wants to get baptized but wants to get rid of the problems first. What was really cool is that he realized what was wrong in his life, he felt the difference from when he went to Church and when he didn't, then he realized before he could be baptized he had to change! He is sooooo ELECT! It sucks that I will leave before he gets baptized. But that's okay. We did lose some investigators that I liked but it was cool. Other than that all is well. I will find out Monday where I will go, so that will be crazy!!! Love you all!

Ferragosto, vacanze, mare....all things we cant do

So this past week was a little harder for us because there was ferragosto and everyone went to the sea but that's okay. We still did fairly well for having had all of that happen. This week we have decided to go for the goal of teaching 30 lessons. In this mission 30 lessons is something very difficult to do...especially considering the distances and what not. This goal has really pushed us this week. We are at 12 lessons right now and we will be at 15 tonight(the number of lessons that the mission has set as a goal for everyone to teach each week...We are ahead of schedule!) We have had to a scambio with our young men because we had 10 lessons set up on Monday. It was soo much fun. We are going to very busy for the rest of the week. Enjoy the pictures....one is me with my cool hair, one is with me at Livorno, and the other one is the black that my comp gave me. I guess 3 transfers together is too much for...just kidding. What really happened is that we were playing basketball and my head hit the back of his head and I got a black eye from it.

Where am I.....?

This past week was a doosy! We ended up doing 3 scambi. I was with the Anziani on the other side of Firenze, the Anziani from Livorno, and the Anziani from Pisa. We left Monday morning and we got back a few hours ago. It was crazy! I cant remember where I have been nor what I have done. The temperature is cooling down which is really nice. Our week was good. We ended teaching 18 lessons which was good considering we only 3 and 1/2 days to do it. We got a new investigator named Fredy. He is a 19 kid from Perù. He is so cool! We will see him again tomorrow. The work is going realllyy well here. Its going to suck to leave. So there is a good chance that I will open a new area and train next transfer. I'm not too keen but its ok. Tomorrow is Ferr'agosto which means there will be no living soul in the streets of Firenze. Pretty much its a day where EVERYONE goes to the sea. So it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. I'm pretty sure not much will happen. We went to an outlet mall earlier today and it was ridiculous. There were stores such as Prada, Gucci, Armani, etcc....and did I eat a slice of humble pie....Everything was insanely expensive. There was a suit that was discounted from 3000 to 2, 500. It was crazy. MY comp and I felt out of place.....however we were dressed nicely enough that people thought we worked there :). Anyways, have a great day!

I'm tired....

So we have been so BUSY! We ended up teaching 20 lessons last week which was crazy! I haven't done that since I was with Anziano Boscia! We then drove to Milano met with the President then we went on a Scambio with the Assistants, one of which is my old comp Anziano Money. Driving in Milano was probably the craziest thing I have ever done. There was one street that I drove down that also was a tram trolley railway. You could slide all over the place. It was crazy. While in Milano Anziano Young told me that we were going to teach a man named Omar. He said that he was a little weird. I then started to ask him questions about Omar. He started to sound like a man named Omar that I taught over a year and 5 months ago when I was in Milano. We got to the appointment and it was HIM! It was crazy! I taught him n my 2nd transfer and then I go see him in my 14 transfer! It was crazy! It was really cool. m Everything is going well. There have been some crazy changes that have been made in our mission. Mainly just little changes that are effect a lot of what we do. I'm really tired. Driving takes it out of you. We went to a place called Boboli gardens today. It was owned by the Medici family here in Firenze. It was a HUGE Garden. I'm pretty sure I will open a new companionship and train next transfer. That will be fun. Enjoy the pictures of my comp and me. The karate picture was in Boboli gardens

I dont know what to title this email....

So this week we were pretty busy-ish. We had to get tons of stuff ready for the zone and what not. We still ended teaching 15 lessons(the goal of the mission for every companionship). All of our young men went to the temple this week so we are super excited about that. We went to Prato for a scambio yesterday. It was really fun. I got to meet my second Grandson!!!! SO let me explain, my son is Anziano Walker because I trained him. He trained Anziano Hilliard(my first grandson) and now he came to my zone and he is now training Anziano Orso(my second grandson). I feel honored! I got to meet him. He is really cool! He is a new convert. He was baptized march of last year! He is a cool kid. Next week is going to fly by. We got to Milano on Monday next week and we wont come back till Tuesday night, and then we have to train missionaries on Thursday and then we will have a normal week. We found some new investigators last week and they are pretty sick. One of them is from Peru. He is really cool and he is really open with us. I'm not sure what else to write, the week was good! Have a great week!

Firenze round 4, Christensen round 3!

Well we found out about transfers on Monday! I am staying in Firenze and I'm doing a third transfer with Anziano Christensen...crazy huh? So I will most likely leave in 6 weeks. I'm excited to stay. We are getting along really well, I love this city, and are work is going really well. I feel like this transfer we will get a lot of great stuff done. Our investigator Kreat is doing really well. He is close to baptism! However because of people going on vacation and what not, his baptism may not happen until September....when I most likely will leave....that stinks but that's OK. As long as he gets baptized! Its starting to get unbearably hot now. I woke up in the middle of the night last night because it was so hot. I eventually went on the floor and slept there because it was cooler and even then it was hard. Its going to be a long summer! I will spend all of it here in Firenze!(One of the hottest if not THE HOTTEST city in our mission). But that is okay I don't mind living here longer! I cant remember what happened last week. I just remember that it was very busy and that everything is going well. Honestly, I feel like pday was yesterday but here we are on another pday. I think this is the part I love most about being a Zone Leader. You are busy. We got more missionaries in our zone, they opened up 2 more companionships, one more in Prato, and one more in Pisa. We now have 24 missionaries in our zone that we take of. Its crazy to see how much our zone has grown since I have been here. Our zone used to be the smallest in the mission now it is tied for the biggest!!!!!!! Anyways, enough of that. Everything is good and I hope you guys have a great week! Ci si sente!

Crazy eights..........

So last week was sick!! We have seen tons of cool stuff happen! Mainly with all of the youth we are working with! The coolest thing that happened, happened last night. There is a man named Bruno, hes about 20 years old. He is a less active member of the church. The past 4 and half months we have been going to his house and teaching him, as well as teaching him English. Apparently our visits went a lot farther than we though. Last night we went over because they asked us to pick up some cake that they made. When we got there, we saw his girlfriend(also a member of the church) balling her eyes. She was crying so much and we were so confused. Her sister then came and told us what happened. Apparently they both were trying to get a job on a cruise ship with their mom, but Bruno kept getting denied. Then he finally decided that if he got denied one more time he would go on a mission. Yesterday he found out that got denied again and is now planning to go on a mission. It was so cool to hear that. His sister, afterwards, told us that our visits with him really touched him. She said we were a lot different than the missionaries in the past who went to him and asked him why he wasn't on a mission, he really liked the friendship that we made with him and slowly a desire to go on a mission grew. We also have another 18 year old named Bruno who was really far from the church and is now starting to come back to church because of what my comp and I are doing! Its sooo sick. Our investigators are doing really well! I don't want to leave Firenze right now, everything is going reallllllllllly well right now. I will find out next week if I go.....That makes me sad! Love you guys!

Its a bit warm....

Hello! SO I'm not sure if you all know but they changed missionary grooming standards recently. We are no longer allowed to wear backpacks because they don't want us to look like college students anymore. So they are having us wear satchels, we can wear khakis, and lighter color suits. We went into the market here and bargained with people and we got some good side bags for a good price. It was crazy to bargain! Crazy stuff. Also, all missionary companionships will have a tablet to use for missionary work in the next 6 months. I will most likely be done before it gets put into place but that is OK. The work is going pretty well. We have been able to meet with tons of new people who are awesome. Two of our new people are Andy and Eduardo. We really weren't sure how far along they would go with us but they are progressing really well which makes us really excited! One of our investigators, Franco...we found out something that kept him from be baptizing..meaning he was just scared of change...and it was great because we talked to him more and he will get be baptized. We just don't know when We had interviews with our new mission president, it was crazy. We went to Gli Uffizi today for p-day. It is one of the most famous museum here in Firenze. It was cool. There was a lot of art! Anyways I hope you have a great week!

New pres. in town

We were able to meet our new mission president yesterday. It was weird. He is really cool, just old school. He is going to be a really good mission president. He will help this mission a lot with our coordination with members in the work. He is a lot different than Pres. Wolfgramm. I think it felt weird to have a new president because everything is going to change, the ways things are done and what not. With a new president I could stay longer here in Firenze. I have no idea how he is going to do transfers, so honestly I have no idea whats going to happen. Our work is going reallly well. We found 3 more people this week and we are teaching a lot. Our zone is doing really well as well. All the missionary work in the Firenze zone is BLOWING up. It is really cool to see all of the success that is happening. I think that is my favorite part about being a zone leader. I really want to stay as one as well. It has really helped me be a better missionary as well as be more focused, there is not enough time for us to be able to be unfocused and I really love it. I heard that missionary work is going to be changing like crazy in the next few months. I have heard that they announced some crazy stuff in the broadcast, and they also have changed the grooming standards. I guess we will eventually find out all they have changed soon. Other than that all is going well. Its crazy to hear about everyone going out on missions. This is a crazy time to be a missionary because of all the changes that have happened in our mission as well as missionary work around the whole world. Its really cool being on the "front lines" to see the dramatic changes that have happened and all of the positive influences it is has had. Well you all have a great week!

Scramble!!!!!!

This past week was a lot of fun. We went out wanting to teach people about the gospel and we ending up finding 5 new people. 1 of which was a referral from a member. It has been really sick to have so much success so fast. We have a lot of work right now. Dave Rose(The coach for BYU basketball) came to our church on Sunday. He was here on vacation. That was cool. It was a lot nicer this week with the weather. So that is been good. We drove down to Pisa this past week to go work with the missionaries there for a day. It was a lot of fun. I really like being a Zone leader because We get to have a huge impact on other missionaries and help them in their problems. I love it. Its a lot fun. Crazy Story, so this week we are baptizing someone! Long story short, there is an american family here whose kid wanted to get baptized here. So he will be baptized here in Firenze....coool story. I honestly don't know what else to say. Have a great week!