Ride along

A few people have asked us if we are really having as much fun as it seems in our letters. We want to be careful not to over sell it, so we will just say... YES!!!  Oh my goodness, it is sooooo much fun! Seriously, even better than we imagined. We can't believe we are allowed to do this. The missionaries are so kind and constantly spoil us.

This past week we both had the blessing to 'ride along' with the younger missionaries. Laura had the unique opportunity to spend her birthday doing splits with the sister missionaries in Monza. They started the day by studying together and then taught a lesson about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost being three separate beings. They continued the day by going out in the sweltering heat to search out those who might be interested in listening to a message about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they found 8 people. Finally, they ended the day by attending two baptisms. Laura came home exhausted but inspired by the enthusiasm and hard work of these dedicated servants of the Lord. 

Steve had the privilege of being asked to baptize a new member who lives in Piacenza which also happens to be the first city Steve served in 32 years ago. He was humbled to feel the testimony of this sweet man and amazed by everything the sisters had done to prepare him for this special day. We are in awe after having spent just a few hours in their shoes. 

Invitation: 

• Pay it forward to the missionaries in your area / life. Invite them over for a meal, make them some treats, write them a nice note, or just give them a brief reprieve from the heat.
• Join us in celebrating National Ice Cream Day today with some ice cream (or better yet, gelato).

Happy to report that anyone smart enough to invest in the Italian gelato economy when we arrived has seen great returns over the past 6 weeks.  

Laura met these two "angels" while taking a solo trip to meet up with the Monza sister missionaries. Sofia and Dani Piacentini helped Laura change trains when her previous itnerary was cancelled. This did involve a sprint between connecting trains

During our district council our Zone Leader Anziano Wilcox surprised Laura with a chocolate cake, 2 candy bars and then had the whole zone (22 missionaries) sing to her. We are still dusting off our Italian but the missionaries already speak her love language... chocolate.  Yes, she did share some of the cake.    

The office couples celebrated Laura's birthday in downtown Milan.  We feel honored to be learning so much from these great people.

Our humble Zone Leader Anziano SimonCello from Brazil noticed Steve's shoelaces were loose and immediately bent over to tighten them. It reminded us of Jesus Christ washing the feet of his disciples.  We are not worthy to be around these young missionaries

If you build them IKEA furniture you give them a desk.  But if you teach them to build IKEA furniture you give them a house full of cheap furniture for life... and you get a nap.

Laura has been thrilled to be able to use her cosmetology training frequently as a missionary. Our sweet landlord (don't let his shirt fool you) is also a hair stylist (don't let his hair fool you) and took us to a 'professionals only' warehouse full of hair products where Laura was in heaven.

We returned to the church in Monza/Muggió where Steve served towards the end of his mission and where we visited during our honeymoon

We found Steve's first apartment in Italy while we were visiting Piacenza this week.  He pointed out the addition of air conditioning in the apartment since he served there. 😅