SNOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone!!!!!! Allora, so we had to move our pday to today because we were supposed to have a conference today but it snowed like crazy yesterday so we it got moved to tomorrow. so p day is today. Things are going really well here. We haven't found anyone new but are investigators are doing well and its been a lot of fun being with Anziano Devincent. He reminds me a lot of Anziano Russo and Anziano Scheurn. So we are getting a long very well. This transfer is going to be a lot of fun because I made a game for my district. Every time we teach, contact people and what not you get points. And the compansionship with the most points at the end of the transfer will win. Its been really fun lately. I have actually worked harder because of it haha. just shows how I can use my competitiveness for good :) And everyone seems to like it! So we will see how that goes. Comunque, sooo it was really cool, the other day we had a lesson with one of our investigators Luigi. I was not sure how he felt about church and what not so going into the lesson I was lightly nervous but we ended having an amazing lesson with him which was awesome. He is from Napoli. He is looking to change his life, with the help of his girlfriend who is a member of the church. Yesterday, it snowed a lot. Luckily its over with. It was funny because we went to Parma for a lesson and we missed the last bus to get to the station so we had to walk about an hour through parma around 8 pm and there was no living soul out because it was snowing a lot. It was really fun. We eventually got home. meno male. The work is going pretty well, we are still getting thing organized. I'm pretty excited to find new people so that we can teach more. How is everyone? Apparently there was one of the biggest missionary groups that went into the MTC the other day, about 800 missionaries. That is a lot! When I went in, there were about 700 so I am sad that we were beat out. Its weird that I am starting my 10th transfer!!! AHHHH!!! Time is flying by too fast. We talked to a missionary who had just finished his mission here in Italy(he was visiting) and he told us what it was like to get released from being a missionary, he sad it was weird. I rather not get to that point. weird stuff. Well that is enough for now! Love you all! Anziano Collins

Transfers!

So we found out about transfers and my companion will be leaving reggio and he will go to livorno! I will stay here and I will get a new companion, who's name is Anziano Davincint(I think that is how you spell it)! He is from West Virginia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are going to have a lot of fun together! It will be awesome. This past week has been interesting my comp was sick for awhile so I did a TON of cleaning. Our aparmnet loooks reallllyyy nice! I even learned how to make a bread called cinque cinque (five five) which would be bread made out of chik pea flower! its really good. The work is going really well, we are having a hard time finding new people but the ones we have are progressing very well which is awesome. Roberto was confirmed into the church this past week which was really awesome! It was really cool meeting with him later that day because he told us something really cool. He said "voi mi avete aiutato ad essere la persona che io volevo essere" (you have helped me become the person I wanted to be". Its crazy to see the amazing changes that I have seen in him since I have been here! One of the biggest reasons he has changed so much was because he reads the book of mormon everyday! It is such a special book that we have been given to help us. It is so awesome. I was thinking the other day that my time is clicking. I am coming up on my 10th transfer and I thouht crap my time is going to faast. I dont want to finish. This has been so great for me. I have grown so much and have changed so much and have made decisions in my life that I never would have thought about making. Its crazy. Even though I am far away from home and I may be missing out on things, I dont care because I am doing something that I know I need to be doing. I know my heavenly Father wanted me to do and is helping me become the person he knows I can be. When you guys come to pick me up, be ready to drag me out of here because I really dont want to go! haah. I hope all is well! Love you all! Sinceramente Anziano Collins

Birthday and a Baptism!

Well this past week I had my birthday. We were supposed to have the baptism the day before my birthday but then we ended up having it on my birthday, so that was convenient. It was really nice to see Roberto getting baptized. He had changed so much and it was so obvious that he was a completely different person! It was awesome! It was a very special experience! I also got to enjoy a box of Reeses puffs for my birthday. It was soooo goooodddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you! Its still been really foggy and raining. I feel like that it will be like this until I leave. Oh well. I think my comp will get transferred and I will get a new comp next transfer.....again! I can never keep my comps! OH well. So we are without bikes for awhile. Mine is in the shop. Man did we have a lot of shenanigans this past week. So I went to Modena on a scambio. I was with a missionary named Anziano Klemm who reminds me a ton like Jared so I get a long with him very well. Anyways, Our scambio starts out with us going to their apartments and we are on bikes. Here in Italy bike riders ride on the road for the most of the part with the cars. Anyways we were going through traffic with parked cars next to us and cars to our left that were stopped by a stoplight. While we are going a lady in her car decides to open her dooor....as she is doing this she hits Anziano Klemm is going by and she opens the door right in front of me so I run into it. She was slightly upset but realized it was her fault because she opened the door right when we were going. Anyways we go home and eat. Then we go to appointments in which no one came to so we got showed up if you will, during this time I rip my pants so bad that we have to go back to the modenas apartment so I can put shorts underneath because the hole was so big and I didn't have other pants. Then our bikes get flat tires. Then my bike at reggio completely broke. So it is in the shop right now. Hopefully all is well. So we will be walking a lot for awhile! We have two people set up for baptisms for next week, so that's really exciting! Love you guys!

Reggiano!

Ciao! Hello Everyone! This week was a bit crazy. But the way it ended is that we fixed a baptismal date with a man who will be baptized this week! We are very excited. Roberto, our baptismal date, has made so much progress and he is so happy to be baptized. He has been n investigator for a long time but is finally there! We have that going on. We are working with another kid named Puochner, He is from Haiti. He is so cool. He is our age as well! He loves coming to church, and loves the Book of Mormon. We saw him yesterday an we established a date for his baptism! He was excited. Other than that we are still working hard to find more people. It is still raining. It has been doing this for a long time! I'm really tired of it but that's ok I guess. I finally got new shoes last week! I sent picture so that you all could see the new shoes I got. They were only 45 euro which was decent. They feel really nice and they don't have holes! Its great!!!!!!! Yesterday, we met an African lady who has been in Virginia!!!!!!!!!! It was funny because once she said she had been in Virginia, I threw my arms in the air and screamed yes. I was with another missionary and he just started laughing really hard. She turned out to be really cool. She lives in Parma so it will be hard for us to visit her often but vediamo. I cant believe that this transfer is almost already over!!!!!! I just got here. We start week number 5 next week. Crazy. I keep forgetting that my birthday is this week. I have refused to tell people. some know, but most no. haha. Anyways love you all!

Snow time.....

Buongiorno a tutti! Allora, this has been a good one. We are very busy all of the time. Which is nice. unfortunately it is snowing right now, which makes it difficult to get around places. So one of our investigators is making tons of progress. It's really awesome. He met with the missionaries almost 8 months ago, which is a long time. He wasn't really making tons of progress and it seemed like he wasn't interested. Now, he has changed his life so much and he is so excited to get baptized. We don't have a date for his baptism but we will get one soon. Its really cool to how much his life has changed ever since he decided to live the commandments of god.He is so much happier now than he has ever been. So its been really tiring. Its been awhile since I have had so much to do, so it gets me really tired. Its nice though, because it makes it easier to fall asleep at night. We should have two baptisms at the end of this month on the 26th of January, which would be really cool. Its really awesome, the ward is helping us out so much. Especially the Bishop. He has met with all of our investigators and has been willing to come to lessons with us. It is so awesome. The work is going so much easier with all of this support from the members. Help out the missionaries in everything! They need it. Its much easier with all of your help. We just had a conference were we went over all the basics of missionary work. Our leaders are getting everyone ready for the income of new missionaries, we should have a total of 200 missionaries by the end of June. right now there are 138 missionaries.... that's a lot of missionaries! Well I'm running out of time. I love you guys! Read the Book of Mormon! It will change your life!

Week 2...let the games begin!

Hello! I am doing very well here in Reggio Emilia. Last week, the sister missionaries had a baptism and that was really awesome. We were able to bring some of our investigators. It was really cool. Also, this past week the sisters gave us a lot of their investigators(all masculine) to avoid any problems..so our work is cut out for us now. We actually dont have enough time to see everyone we need to see. Its great! We also have found some new people and we are excited. Its really awesome to be so busy like. Its definately a change of pace for me which is nice. Its also awesome because the ward here just got a new bishop and he is pushing hard core for more missionary work and he is helping is out so much. He asked for the emails of our parents so that he could email you all. He is awesome! The ward is helping us out so much. There are going to be tons of missionaries that are going to be coming in our mission in the next few months. In one group of missionaries there will be something like 50 some missionaries. THATS A LOT OF PEOPLE! I might have to train again, vediamo. Anziano Day and I are getting along really well. He is a pretty good cook as well. He was very excited to be with some one who had an Italian comp because he wants to improve his italian. I will some more pictures next week because I forgot to bring a chord to hook up my camera to the computer. Today I went looking to buy new shoes but I couldnt find any shoes for anything under 50 euro so I held out and I will keep looking. I refuse to pay so much for shoes. I got some new pants and 2 new ties. We spent most of our day in parma today. Tomorrow we will go to milano for a training, so that will be fun! I hope that you are all well! Love, Anziano Collins

Reggio Emilia!

Well I am in my new area. It's crazy to be in a different are. Here is my new address. Viale IV Novembre, 8 Reggio Nell'Emilia 42121 Italia MY new comp is really cool. We get along and we are doing some good work. For new years we had to stay inside almost all day so that was cool. We did some cleaning and chilled. Its been weird because here there are tons of foreigners and the city is less clean and there are no mountains. But that is okay I really like it. The work is going really well here. We have the sisters in our ward as well so I am excited about that. They are having a baptism and I get to give a talk this weekend so that will be awesome. We have tons of investigators here so that is nice. The people here are crazy open. I was so shocked the first time I talked with some people on the street. It was funny. The other day in church I met tons of members and I met some people from Moldavia(I will give anyone a euro if they know where that is on the top of their heads) and so I asked them how to say how are you in Moldavian. I learned it and then a few days later I ran into from Moldavia and I was able to ask him how he was in Moldavia. It made my day. My district is made up of fairly young missionaries. Its weird. I dislike changing areas because there are tons of missionaries there that you don't know but that's ok. Today we went to the Ferrari factory. It was really cool. I saw lots of fast cars. Christmas day we ended up watching parts of Kung Fu panda 2. We didn't have enough time to watch it all unfortunately but I didn't care. I had lots of fun just hanging out with La famiglia Tagliavia. I'm doing well. Sorry I didn't have time for email last week, we were really busy saying goodbye to everyone. I hope you are all good! Love you!