Rudolph is Italian

Dear family and friends,

You see me mowin my back lawn.. They laugh and point cause I'm so white and nerdy.

Two days ago we ran into Christian near our apartment.. I recognized him and we talked for a few minutes.. He still really likes us.. His phone stopped working which he had and was the reason we hadn't been seeing him. He had gotten a new phone and we got his number.. We met with him again and he said he still wants to be baptized.. He was one of my best back in the day.. So hopefully he won't disappear again. If he does make it though.. That's probably one of the reasons I stayed here an extra 8 weeks.. So I could recognize him and help him finish the journey into the church. Or not haha.

We also met with frank again. He likes to go to his church.. But we had a really good lesson with him in a cellar.. So hopefully he is going to come to church and what not.. He is so cute.. I hope he chooses our church. He really wanted me to buy him a phone and we told him I couldn't last lesson haha.

We are going to the mccbrides today to play board games.. He is competitive, I'm competitive.. Blood will be drawn. Hopefully we don't play any weird games. I also did p 90 x this morning. I haven't felt this alive in a long time.

There will hopefully be two baptisms with Saturday for Sylvester and boyobo.. We are as ready as we can get with Africans.. We pray for the best.

Christmas was really good. We went to the Clarks for an American breakfast.. They also gave each of us a gift.. They gave me a really nice tie.. and a Russian nesting doll from Croatia.. It was super nice and kind of them. We then went to the mccolums for lunch.. Godwin Ek and Godspower came.. They are all doing really well. The mccolums house was pretty spectacular.. We then went to the mohrs to skype.. Christmas Eve we went to the greens and had a very nice dinner.. She is just about to have a baby.. We then went to the marianis.. The branch president.. His kids were a bit hyped up and crazy while we were there.. He is pretty fantastic.. His wife is nice.. It was pretty fun.. We played a fun bingo game thing.. I tied in winning.. What up.

We had Splits on Sunday. It went really good. I went with brother leach to the Clarks and the holladays. Both lessons went really good. Brother leach is awesome.. I learned about the commitment process that they focused more on back in his missionary days.. And going into lessons with a purpose.

We went to the mall yesterday with the larsons the senior couple.. Anziano Davis got Christmas ornaments for his mom.. I almost got this sweet 50% off jacket thing.. Saldi has started.. Embrace the darkness. 50% off is child's play during saldi.. So hopefully if I really want it I'll get it another time and it'll get cheaper.

I got some new gloves for myself.. Hint hint nod nod. I remember.

She said shut up and dance with me.

My boy you day nice,
Anziano Gridley

I'll Be Home In America For Christmas. See You Soon.

Dear family and friends,

What does it matter to you he's just a friend.
I don't have many friends.

Yesterday Anziano Davis slept in until 12.. He was sick. We did get to see Boyobo and Sylvester though afterward. They both should be baptized next Saturday next year. Very exciting for them. Hopefully, we will have fufu to celebrate. I just need to help them buy it and let them make it. Hopefully, I can learn as well.

We ate at the Mccavoys, they had a Christmas party. They brought a friend that works with brother Mccavoys. The food was super good. The lady made nacho nuoves that instead of a taco you used chips. And there was these toothpick chicken wrapped bacon. Bacon:). Man, it was good. We did a good job of becoming pretty good friends with brother ms friend. But we should have extended the invite at the end for him to learn more. Scrub mistake. It's good to show him the light. So he can go to it if he wants.

On Sunday, we had a choir in centro. The first thirty minutes of the two hours was terrible. We just waited for people which was a bit silly. But then we got singing and it was great. Just American members came so we sang in English. Which may have surprised the Italians. I took one for the team and handed out pass along cards. It was pretty fun. Neil made cookies and hot chocolate. Right after that, we went over to the Mohrs. We had a nice dinner with them and talked.

We went and saw a man we met on the street a couple weeks ago. His name is Paris. He makes glass things for the tourists in Venice. He is really smart.. He speaks about 6 languages. He works on a bit of land he owns because he has a lot of energy. He is looking for truths and good things. He is extremely nice. He gave the sister missionaries he had never met before two necklaces. We should be meeting him again tonight. He is fantastic. He has a parrot that talks. He lives alone without a tv and computer. He said that people are on a technology drug.

The sister missionaries started speaking only in Italian. I super like Italian.. So this was great for me to get a bit more practical practice... Some missionaries don't like to speak Italian with other missionaries which baffles my mind but yeah.

A lady started to talk to us as we were handing out Christmas pass along cards. Her name is Enjoy. She used to be a member of the church for a little bit of time. She has a daughter here in Italy and is a fireball. She sang Christmas carols with us last week. She is selling jewelry in the market in centro. She is pretty funny. She told the sisters that Anziano Davis and I are good looking guys and that they should totally get their game on. Not many people say that even if it's true haha.

Well, this is my first Christmas back in America. We will be with Americans all of Christmas. So might as well be in America. Missionaries become the members best friends at Christmas time.

I should skype y'all around maybe 5-8 my time so anywhere from 10ish to 1 for y'all. Be ready :p

That is a terrible thing for you to say to me.

I greet you,
Anziano Gridley>br/>

I know for a fact that you don't like to party.

Dear family and friends,

Welcome back to who wants to be a millionaire!

Austin looking wise.

One of the sisters was at the church doing emails while Anziano Davis was still emailing and the computer wasn't working or something so I having pity asked her, "Do you want to get on the computer?" She said yes. And using my computer hacking skills had the computer working for her within a couple minutes. She then later couldn't figure out how to make a smiley face. So I having pity asked her, "Do you want a smiley face?" She said yes. A minute later ora echo (now behold) there was a smiley face. Anziano Davis got her a question mark. I just thought it was funny.

Christian and Martin went to Germany. So that makes sense. Hopefully Christian will still get baptized etc seeing as he was one of the best. It's a good thing as they will hopefully find work.

Anziano Gridley with Dennis

Dennis came to the Christmas party. We had a lesson with him and then we rode our bikes to the church. It was really good cause Dennis and I are already pretty tight. I spent basically the party with him getting even more tight and he's already super legit. We had another lesson with him yesterday and he was excited for us to come back which is great (we didn't see him for a month a bit ago). So hopefully he'll keep going upwards.
Also at the Christmas party I was one of the three wise men. Anziano Davis, Dan (shirts guy), and me were wise men that handed out goody bags. We looked pretty good.

The other missionaries were teaching two main other people Boyobo and Charles. Boyobo is from Nigeria and is super cool. We are trying to help him learn how to read. He has a really really hard time memorizing things so we are still working on the letters haha. He is a sweet heart though and is auto-sufficient in coming to church on his own without us baby-sitting so that's nice. Really nice genuine guy. Charles has some not exactly good for you items that he likes to take like wine and cigarettes. We are trying to help him to quit those. He is tired all the time which these don't exactly help with. He has quit before and he knows that he should stop so I have pretty good confidence in him.

Anziano Davis took his bike, Jenny, off some sweet jumps. He had me film for him. And after an hour we had filmed a short film of jblades bike-a-thon. In the deleted scenes not seen. Anziano Davis has hit a pole thing and nailed himself really good where it counts. That was funny. I bike a bit and look back and he's trying to recover and I realize he somehow hit himself while he was on his bike. And then recently he crashed himself and an old man on his bike fell trying to dodge the wreckage. I got there wondering why Anziano Davis had hurt this old man. (Having not seen what had happened).

We went to Asiago with bishop call. Asiago is a city north of Schio. They are known for their cheeses. Also the mountains there were spectacular. Bishop call is super cool. He's probably the one guy I know that's Dad's age and can bench more than dad can.

We ate at the Rayneys again. They made.. Wait for it. Stroganoff. :) it was super good. She has nothing on mom. But it was a nice different version. Mom was an interesting cook back in the day and was pretty reliable with the interesting being a good interesting. But the stroganoff was not a dish to be messed with. Btw I see the picture you took about a month ago and everyone looks pretty different. I dig the hair Jacob. Oliver and Sam look way bigger. Jonas looks like he still has a 6 pack. Mom looks like she has been running lots of marathons. Dad has a nice grass head and still looks young. Lucy looks like she has a mane of hair. Which is not bad. Isaac is looking mighty fine. Sam isn't looking at the camera haha. Guess things change a bit in a year and two years no matter how you flip the hamburger.
I'm doing a ok mother bear. A Gridley cub trying to be a man of God has nothing to fear and only has things to really be grateful for.

We had dinner with Ringo. Who is half Samoan, half Tongan. He works for the military as a civilian. He is a member and we ate with him and two of his friends. Ringo was one of the nicest men I've met in a long time. Extremely nice. He was egging us on in eating more. Islanders can eat a lot. Unfortunately, I can't eat as much as when I was in my prime. But I made the Gridleys worthy of becoming islanders. It was a super nice good night.



I was sickish on Sunday my throat hurt real bad. I tried to borrow some chapstick from the school nurse, but it still hurt pretty good for about three days. The first day I woke up in the middle of the night cause I had a painful headache cause my throat hurt. I kept sleeping for about 2 minutes and I'd wake up and do it again about 4 times. I would try to get contact information of people who were interested in the gospel in these two-minute dreams and wouldn't be able to get their information before I woke up. It was a frustrating nightmare. I then stayed up for about an hour reading and then fell back asleep. I probably sneezed about 111 times in three days. I'm feeling better now. We thank the almighty.

I knew the answers.

My boy you day flex,
Anziano Gridley

How much you want to bet I can break into our own apartment. Back in 82 those were the days.

 Dear family and friends,

Where are you Christmas? Where can I find you?
In Italy silly.


Tonight it was so funny. We stopped this lady named Giovanna. She was really nice. At first, she talked about how she had never really felt gods love and how there are so many bad things in the world. We talked to her about this etc.. Very nice conversation. The topic of family is brought up and she had a daughter in Ireland that is a sheep herder. She tells us that we are both very handsome. She then tells us that her daughter is tall and pretty. She then says she wants strawberry blonde blue eyed grandchildren. She then asks Anziano Davis to marry her daughter. After fifteen minutes he had won her blessing for her daughters hand. I was egging her on supporting her in this marriage. We then in a bit said a prayer. Halfway through the prayer, she tells Anziano Davis she wants to call her daughter and for him to talk to her. After the prayer he talks to her daughter. They had a nice conversation. Her daughter was a bit embarrassed. She has a boyfriend named Stefano. After the phone call, she tells us that her daughter is faithful. So hopefully when her daughter comes to Italy in January Anziano Davis and her will become well acquainted for after the mission. It was super duper funny. We got her number and she wants a Book of Mormon. Went really good.

I got really frustrated Tuesday. Sylvester was supposed to get baptized this Friday... But now he isn't. And so all my boys have fallen along the way and are not baptized yet if they ever will... It's hard to swallow when I put a lot of heart out there for those guys. Beh I'd do it again. Also, I broke my bike chain which was my fault. I wasn't clutch. But anyways.

Today we are going to have lunch with some of our African guys. We are going to make American stuff for them. I'm making Dad's pancakes and corn dogs. We also need to clean our apartment a lot because tomorrow the senior couple will come to check out the damage which will be resolved today we hope. Anziano brooks left on Sunday. He went to the office. He is in copia. So it will just be the same sisters and us here. I'm pretty happy about it cause I like Vicenza.

Milano this next transfer. Anziano Pyper is going to Trieste. One of the cities I want to serve in. He will be with Anziano Conway. They are closing that

Yesterday was a Catholic holiday. I believe it's the day they believe Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary. Beh. We went and saw happy who lives in Malo. Roland had work off due to the holiday so we got to see him. He was really cool just like happy. We got some pictures.

We went by the base for the first time a bit ago.. We met with a single soldier name Dan. He is super cool. He bought us dinner. He then got us peanut butter and corn dogs. He also got me two shirts I have been looking for my whole mission. I would have preferred to not have him do all that. But he insisted. I'm not sure if the Americans missionaries have this happen all the time, but here it's special. Anyways whenever I wear those shirts I will remember Dan and I'll be reminded to follow his example of being extra kind to missionaries.

I had an adventure breaking into our apartment yesterday. We took a video of it. Basically, it's fairly easy to break into our apartment which isn't the best way to look at it. I like to see it as we can get into our apartment if we forget the keys and need to get in without too many problems.

I'm glad grandpa Gridley is cancer free. I waited a few days for an email to let me know what happened.. And was fairly excited to know he was still alive when y'all let me know how it went. It is a great Christmas time.

A reward? You never mentioned a reward.

My guy you day gentle.
Anziano Gridley

Lord of the Rats

Dear family and friends,

Some people say that missionaries are invincible. We are vincible.
We have feelings.

We played football thanksgiving morning with the Americans. It was really good. I can still catch a football. The best part was when I intercepted the football in our in our zone. And ran it back for a touchdown. It was two hand touch. The ground was very slippery so that was fun. I was kind of done after I made that touchdown. I was pretty tired.

We ate thanksgiving with the Rayneys. It was super nice. They had all the good foods. America is missed. Pasta = The Enemy. An Italian lady came to their house and we got to talk to her a little bit about the gospel. Later we got dropped off at the church. Anziano Davis forgot his iPad. So brother Rayney brought his iPad from his house back for him. The true test of brother Rayney was completed. He is awesome. We then went to the Rowleys. I got to eat some good food. I had an awesome talk with brother Rowley. A lot of these American guys I admire a Lot.

We are going to Padova today for p day. It's a pretty big city that isn't too far away.

Transfers are next week. It is happening two week early because of Christmas... I have a feeling I am leaving. But I don't want to say anything because I'll look like a fool if I stay. Anyways.. I've left my last two cities after two transfers so we'll see if the tradition continues. Vicenza is really great, though.

Anziano Davis bought an Orzo maker. Orzo is a drink made with barley.. (Barley is encouraged by the church).. It is pretty good. They really like it here in Italy. When we tell someone to lay off the coffee. Orzo is a great alternative. I got to try it last night. It's the best.

I melted our strainer... I started to steam vegetables in an effort to be healthy. It lasted a few steam sessions and then melted into oblivion. You can not steam veggies with a plastic strainer no matter how bad you want those delicious veggies. I have repented of this transgression and now use a metal one that is held up by a distorted hanger. If I recall from Glen. Steaming is the preferred way to cook veggies. At least health wise.

I am really trying to think of things to write about to make this email longer. Ok thought of something.. There was a dead rat on the side of the road that was run over by a car. It was there for several days and then last night it was cleaned up. I came up with a story of how it was not there anymore... Do you know the piper rat story where he plays his pipe and all the rats come? Anziano Pyper. Looks like this super-hero guy. And he is this guy who plays his pipe and he is the king of the rat. He saves the world with the rats that won the Great War. After the war, Anziano Pyper starts eating the rats. That's what he eats. It's fine no one cares until he eats a certain rat named Stuart little. The family of Stuart little tries to get Anziano Pyper thrown into prison for eating someone in their family. He tells them they should have adopted a cat like any other normal family. Anyways.. This is how the rat on the side of the road got cleaned up.. Anziano Pyper ate it.

Have you ever been told that you look like a Lama?

My boy, you may try.
Anziano Gridley