I'm Batman

Dear family and friends,

I'm not the missionary Vicenza deserves, but I'm the missionary it gets.

Our investigators sucked it up. We had only two investigators come to church on Sunday.. This is after Anziano Keller and I had tried to keep the 9 we had brought the week before and bring a few new people to the best of our abilities.. It really was a blow. So we may not do as well this transfer as I was hoping.. But one thing is for sure.. We are working with The best of the best. I kind of wanted to give up on the investigators who had not lived up to their potential.. But we won't.. Most of them still love us and are still doing well.. We shall see what happens. We hope for the best.

Transfer information.. Anziano Keller is going to

Genova to be a zone leader.. Anziano Davis is coming from Ferrara to be my companion. Which is in this zone. He is a pretty outgoing guy.. I will send some pictures that I already had of him before I knew he was my companion.. He used to be a skateboarder with long red hair. It should be a blast. Hopefully his outgoing skills will help the American ward etc. He has been a missionary 6 weeks longer than I have which is a bit funky because I am getting a bit older in the mission.. Sorrela robinett is leaving Vicenza. Everyone else is the same.

Sometimes if things that I had thought were going to go well and don't.. Put me into a shock and limit my ability to keep the high road of traveling. Need to work on that.

I feel like the dark knight. I rose up just to get knocked down way harder and I got rise up again. Why do we fall Bruce? To picked ourselves up. I need to pick myself up.

Anziano brooks has read over 50 books of star wars.. So this week I picked his mind on the classic genera. Star Wars now makes more sense and is cooler. One idea that I really like is.. Jedi failing to do their job. Anikan was kind of meant to be the chosen one.. Kind of like Sampson.. Sampson was supposed to free the Jews in a way.. But mostly in all honestly failed.. Just like how Anikan failed. While on the other hand obiwan kenobee I kind of feel like rose above his potential and did exceptional. That he used the power he had and made a big difference with it... Tying it into myself and the gospel I ask myself and you... What kind of a Jedi or person am I. Am I capable powerful Jedi.. am I a powerful out of control Jedi.. Am I weak Jedi who is not rising to what I should be.. Or am I a decent Jedi who is maxing out his stats to try to make a big good difference. As people we are powerful, strong, and make a difference in different ways than jedis... But the idea is the same.. What kind of Jedi or person am I? And how can I improve?

This guy came and attacked me in church on Sunday.. I hadn't acted super well in Italian class the week before.. I didn't act super interested or super enthusiastic (part of the reason being it is kind of a waste of time).. And this guys wife told him she was not impressed.. He talked to me about it.. Trying to protect his wife and also trying to help me out kind of assuming this was a big problem for me. I really like this guy. He is a really cool guy and I was eating up all this stuff he was telling me.. He told personal stories of his mission and stuff.. Lesson learned of if something is dumb or a waste of time and you got to do it.. At least do it well and give it some effort cause you got to do it anyways.. That was a my bad moment.. And shows a bit of my weakness.. I was impressed with myself how well I took the reprimand.. He was really nice about it.. But I was taking it like a pro.

So I was talking to a man from Nigeria and I was speaking in the Nigerian slang that Nigerians use.. And he asked me if my father was from benign.. Asking me if I was half African. I started laughing and he told me it was a serious question.

We were talking to this guy and he saw our name badges. He asked us why we were both named Anziano. I told him we were brothers.. And then Anziano Keller said we were twins.. The mans mind was starting to blow up.. He said.. You both are Anziano. Which means Elder in English.. Which most of the time means an elderly person.. We told him right after it was a title for missionaries.. But it was really funny for the 3 seconds he was buying it. I try to treat people like a friend still even though we are strangers.. And luckily most of the time people can handle being friends with a stranger.

I was talking to this girl from Nigeria.. I told her my wife would make me fufu everyday (which is an African food)... She then said..You will marry an African woman? I told her straight up the truth.. That I will marry an American woman.. But she will make me fufu everyday.. Funny stuff.

It turns out when I want to I have a killer American accent. I turn off my normal American accent when I am teaching Africans and sometimes others if we are teaching in English.. So they will understand better. On the scambio with Anziano pyper we taught this really intelligent African who graduated from university etc.. He told me that Anziano pyper had an American accent and just talked in that accent all the time.. But I dumb it down when I am talking in English.. That I use African English. He really like American accents and wants to get one.

That's about all she wrote.  I love you so much!  It's already November, can you believe it??  I am supposed to write a 1/2 page about you for the ward newsletter and I have a some questions for you that I would like answered please...

1.  Where is your companion from?  How well are you getting along?  He is from Utah.. He is a saint so I'd have to try not to get along with him.. He's a great guy.

2.  Do you mostly ride bikes or the train/bus? We are on pod racing bikes all day in this city.. Three of the four cities I have been in have been bike cities and the one a bus city.

3.  How often are members feeding you? We have been fed once these last 6 weeks. 

4.  What are some of the main meals you eat? Pizza.. Pancakes.. Tortellini.. Bread. (For lunch).

5.  How challenging is the language for you now that you've been out of a year? What does ciao mean? ;) it's not a problem.. I'm no where near fluent.. But I don't worry about it.

6.  How do members help most with the missionary work?  The most they've done is offer rides for people who lived far from the church that needed it. Really useful.. Now I know this isn't very needed in Utah.. Another thing some have done is let us know they are completely willing to help as they can when they can making us feel comfortable to ask for help if we need it.. So you can do that.. I have yet to receive a referral so maybe you could change that for some other missionary haha.

7.  What is the most challenging aspect of your mission right now? We put in a lot of work in finding new investigators.. Also showing a lot of love for the members for me is difficult. I gained the ability to show love for investigators and strangers on the street.. But for members it's elusive.

8.  How do you explain the success you are having? We thank the almighty.

9.  In what ways have you seen yourself grow? Too many.. It's kind of a joke. I recommend a mission to those deciding if they should go. If you let it.. It will help you in too many ways.. You will laugh at the joke.

10.  What advice do you have for someone who may want to go on a mission? Gain the desire to serve a mission and preach the gospel.. Repent and gain this desire now so you don't have to later. (Everyone should repent and gain this desire).

11.  Is there a spiritual thought you'd like to share? There is no spoon.

Have a great week..

My father... was from Salt Lake City Utah, and was a great man.

You be the Jedi,
Anziano Gridley