My Big Fat Italian Wedding

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, what a week! Monday and tuesday were good and filled with a lot of Finding. In the two days combined we had 8 lessons that were canceled on us... haha pretty funny huh?  But we had a good English Course on Tuesday. Italy was playing in the World Cup so only 3 people showed up, 1 in my class (advanced) and 2 in my comps class ( basic) The lesson was on banking and saving money. Seeing as I only had one student we went and watched a talk from our dearest Anzaino (Elder) Bednar. It was about Tithing, the one given two conferences ago about the Windows of Heaven. Yes..... I watched a talk about tithing with a non member but I was prompted by the spirit to do so. He agreed with everything, especially at the end when he explained about how the church uses the funds. This guy is really awesome. He has seen EVERY Mormon message the church has put out. He shows us the new ones. haha. The Anziani in the past taught him and, like they are supposed to, they invited him to baptism. He kind of got scared and asked them not to teach him anymore. But he still comes to English Course so we will still work on helping him!

Then Wednesday! Well we had a wedding here this week. I'm surprised that I didnt tell you guys about it before. The Bride is one of the 15 members we have here in our branch. She is part of the 8 person family here called the Ranieri family! Because the Elders and missionaries are soo close here, they asked my comp to play the piano at the wedding. Which means I was along for the Party ;) haha We had to get permission from just about every person in the mission (or at least it seems like it). Its because it was pretty crazy haha. The wedding was in the BEAUTIFUL beyond description Ancient castle! Inside it was pretty new (except no AC when it was SCALDING HOT with a Suit on.  Here they get married in public and then they go to the temple later in the week. It was great, but then there was the party!

We were driven to this restaurant that was super nice. We had our table with the missionaries and Fratello Mortenson who served a mission here 3 years ago and was my teacher in the MTC. It was super great to see him!! Then they started the party.. haha ( I'm glad we got permission from tons of people or I would have felt super apostate haha) They brought out like 8 different courses, and if you think the Italians eat a lot normally, you should see how they eat at weddings. WE ATE SOOOOO MUCH!! And it was all super good. Lots of Sea Food. 

The dad of the Groom was CRAZY!!!!!!!!! He was just like yelling in Calabrese (the dialect here) like the whole night and just kept steeling the microphone from the DJ. haha It is hard to explain it all in an email but I hope you all know it was crazy and fun and tiring. It was really cool and I don't think I'll ever do something like it again. We got home at 3 in the morning... and yes we did wake up at 6:30. But don't worry we had permission to do this :)

Anyway, the week was good and crazy. On Saturday we helped out and older women with her house. Other than that it was a lot of finding but it was good. We are doing well. I hope everyone is doing well and has a great week!! 

Love

Anziano Passantino