Ty: Ancona, Italy

Ciao!!!

Sono qui in Italia! as I’m sure alot of you had heard, i am here in italy! the real mission has begun and its crazy and weird and just razy. so first let me tell you where i am, I am in Ancona. it is the furthest south i can possible go in my mission area.It is a beautiful city (in some parts) but it is right on the coast so its really nice weather all the tme! it is kinda sketchy in some parts and dirty, but overall it is real pretty and real italin here! my companions name is Anziano Garcia, he is from argentina but has been living in rome for the last 9 years i think. He i a great guy, an extremely hard worker, and really good missionary! so if your wondering if he speaks english... well, sort of haha. he is actually really good for only learning what he knows on his mission. but there is definatley a language barrier. im not gonna lie, its really hard sometimes. the first couple days were some of the most frustrating and hard times ive had. But, im learning patience haha. <it is good for me i know it is, i just need to stay focused on the work and all will be ok. I know it! The church is true, it has to work! haha alora... but yeah. i do think i am learning the language better, but it is one step at a time. what people say about them speaking a different language is totally right. my teachers spoke clear and slow, these italians speak fast and slured haha, its great! really it is, i just smile and laugh at them all the time because they are such great people. its great cause all the old italian women you imagine, are actually here in italy! they all use their hands all the time and just yell, its so great! i love it! alora.... it is only me and my companion in this city, so we get the appartment all to ourselves! we literally eat pasta every day haha and its always lunch time, we dont have time to eat a good dinner plus it is just the culture here to eat the big meal at lunch rather than dinner, im still getting used it. but ht pasta really makes me sleep well each night! pasta comba! the people in my branch are great! its really small, only about 20 member come to church each sunday, but they are all awesome member! they will seriously do everything and anything, and i imagine it would be har to stay strong in such a small branch, but they are so great! since its such a small branch that means i am in the branch presidency, which pretty much means im in the bishopric. its great haha. my compnion is the first counselor and i am the second counselor. so i have to plan all the talks and all that, which is hard since there isnt much to choose from. i think ill have more responsibilities once i get better at the language and all that, but we will see. We are also in charge of seminary which is twice a week, and i am also teaching an english class twice a week as well. thats an adventure in itself haha. besides that we go out and give as many lesons as we can, and try to contact people however we can, but its hard here. no real houses only appartments so door to door is had through an intercom. we really get most of our lessons from referells. without those we would be dry! but the work continues! so now let me tell you about my first experiences teaching they are crazy. so my first lesson in italy was crazy! we had two investigators show up at the church at the same time, one band new and one has been interested in the hcurch for years! so we split up and i had to teach a lesson on my own. i got the new investigator for some reaon haha so her name is claudia and she is from africa somewhere. she speaks portugese, and italian but it is with the thickest african accent ever. so we start and i do my lesson par and i ask my first question and he goes off! for like 10 min, i literally have no idea whatshe said! i just nodded my head and smiled haha then i tried to teach more, probably totoally off topic what she was talking about. so this wen on for like 20 min, so i ran out of things to say so i naturally just ask her to follow the example of jesus christ and be baptized on the 25th. for some crazy miracle she said yes! she talked more and i didnt understand a thing! not one thing! but i knew she said yes haha. it was a miracle! we have taught her twice since then and is our strogest investigator to this day! its great! if the church isnt true then this lady is just crazy haha but no i dont know how it happened, but it did! boom miracle! there are other stories of some drunk italians and other weird things, but those arent important haha. but the people here are so great! i cant wait to speak italian, and more importantly understand what they are saying! please keep praying for me, i really appreciate it! this work s hard... but i came here to do hard things! so onward i go! I love you all so much, i miss you and keep you in my prayers. 

ci ve diamo!

Anziano Miller