Happy New Year!

Hey champs! How was your New Year? Mine was the best! So we had curfew and had to be in the apartment by 7 but that's okay because we ended up making a scripture reading chart for Juana and Claudio's family and the Tacunans. It took forever but it will be worth the effort. Haha. Sorella Orr and I were both so tired so we didn't do much. Poverina was sick and coughing up a storm. At 12 I was woken up by the sound of fireworks but I was too tired and couldn't pull myself out of my warm bed to go see them haha. Kind of sad? I was perfectly happy. So Italians have a cool tradition of eating a big meal at midnight or a big meal at least the night of New Year’s Eve. I think that this tradition should be adopted.

Other than that, my new companion Sorella Orr is great! She went to Skyline High School. I picked her up on Thursday and sending Sorella Nielsen off on her train was sad. I kind of just got that nostalgic feeling but knowing that she will be alright. She is an amazing missionary and will be a great blessing to the people wherever she serves. Man, I love that girl!

So then this past weekend a lot of our plans fell through so we ended up doing a lot of pass bys and finding. It was sad because I wanted her to meet everyone so she could see how amazing everyone is. Plus, she was feeling sick but she trooped through it all with a smile on her face. We got the opportunity to talk to lots of different people as usual. We met this one guy and he told us he had been smoking since he was 13! He had been smoking 2 packets of cigarettes a day for a few years before he was finally able to stop. It is crazy to me because I can't imagine a 13 year old walking down the street smoking a pack of cigarettes. We also met some awesome older ladies. They had been friends for their entire lives and it was so funny to see them together. It reminded me of the movie "Steel Magnolias". They were a crack up. We tried a new approach in talking to people. We just ask them to practice our Italian but it's inevitable that the reason we are here gets brought up because they always ask why we are here in Italy. You meet some really great people and start to wonder how you can care so much for someone who is practically a stranger.

We saw the Gabancho family who are from Peru. They haven't come to church in forever but are a great family. It was fun seeing them and getting to know them better. The daughter, Georgette, is about to finish personal progress so props to her!

On Monday, we saw the SeClen family and they are great. They have a resolution to come back to church by mid-February. He just has to figure some things out with work.

Tuesday we had lunch with the Reyes and also a new couple to the ward. It went really well! We went and said hi to Marzia because it was her birthday. After, we went to see Grace and Massimo. Massimo is still so shy and doesn't talk much. Good thing Sorella Orr came with some fresh ideas because I'm definitely running out.

As for the people of Muggiò, I would say they are doing pretty awesome. The work here was a bit slow during the holidays but it will pick up now that New Years is done with. We have a lot of members who are willing to help.

This week I've been thinking about goals. It's so easy to get into a routine on the mission but a mission is anything but routine. So I set some goals to help me. I really just don't want to waste a minute. It's going by so fast. But I have to follow through with the goals I guess. That's always the hard part.

Anyways, personally I love goals. I love planning. I think that we seriously grow when we push ourselves to reach our goals. It doesn't matter what we do if we don't know where we want to go, what we want to do, or who we want to be. When we have an idea we can continually push ourselves and make adjustments.

So Happy New Year everyone!

 Me and my Cousin Josh Chapman

He just arrived in Italy and we are also in the same zone!