Say 'No' to New Years Resolutions

Dear family and friends,

I promise you'll enjoy the show.

Paris is really awesome. We ate some pasta with him at his house. He is a man with lots of energy that is very tired deep down. Jesus is there for those who are tired in this way. He talked a lot to us. About lots of different deep topics. He did most of the talking which isn't so good because we couldn't help him with things as we could have. I let Anziano Davis do most of the talking because I knew he could handle it. I also liked listening because sometimes he'd say something really profound. As well as Paris was talking a lot. It wasn't a waste of time. Hopefully, something sunk in.

Sylvester and Boyobo were baptized. It was a very special spiritual day (and the day after). Thank you for the prayers that were done in their behalf.

Christian became super legit so that's really exciting. He came with us to the baptism and to church. I think he mainly didn't like walking an hour to church. Now he just rides a bike with us to church. I'm super happy for him and the progress he is making. It's just a bit extra special because he's one of my originals, I've spent a lot of time with him, and I thought that something had happened to him. And now things are going fine.

Martins is back here in Vicenza. He went off to different places for a while. The bad news is he can no longer stay in his camp. He is technically homeless. Right now he is staying with some other friends at their camp. It's an interesting situation because is a solid member etc. He just made a mistake in going away without telling his camp. He will be taken care of. Things are just a little more tricky for him now. We spent most of New Years with him trying to help him figure things out. Also, he now has more time so he can study Italian more and be with us more. So maybe it's a good thing in disguise. I don't know.

I won the board game we played with the Mcbrides. I don't know what the sister missionaries were talking about. That game was a sick version of ticket to ride and settlers of Catan mixed together. Brother McBride came up to us in church and started commenting about how I shouldn't have won. Haha. You could tell it had been on his mind, at least, a little bit. Mission accomplished. It was a pretty fun time. They made this really good stew. Their kids are really fun. Brother Mcbride is pretty awesome. There is stew in my boot haha.

Victor gave us a call. He said he maybe wanted to come to church. So we set up an appointment to see him. He is ok. But I was hoping he'd be more interested in baptism etc. You can't win em all.

No, Mrs Clinton isn't getting even with Bill by having an affair,
this is a customary greeting in Italy.

We went and saw Godwin the other day. He doing really good. The Gans (young single people) went to Verona and spent time at a hotel doing activities for a couple of days.. I kind of wanted to go. They got to spend time in hot tubs, dancing etc. He, Ek, and Godspower had a great time. All three of them met girls which is good for them. Ek said hetouch cheeks and then turn your head and touch cheeks again. It's like a handshake Italian version. It's not an unusual thing at all etc. So Ek lost the man points he had had for just a moment.
kissed a girl (also using the expression he pecked her). Come to find out they all just bached them. Which is where you

Godwin's friend Victor was there.. He has known the missionaries for a while.. He is Godwin's good friend.. (We played soccer with him). Godwin told him about the fun conference. And Godwin said that victor had said he would like to come next time and be baptized. Which we took and ran with. Hopefully, we will continue to help him etc. You don't tell missionaries that you want to be baptized. Or any phrase of the kind. It's blood in the water for sharks. Not good. Victor has some things to figure out if he is going to get baptized and we just met with him once as missionaries so who knows. But Godwin is a great support system that could be the crutch necessary. (Anziano Brooks and Pyper wanted to start teaching Victor so this was good).

I need men who will perform the tasks that are assigned to them. I can't stand it. I won't stand it.

You day nice now,
Anziano Gridley