Eating Habits, Companion Switch and English

Hello!

EATING HABITS.  In answer to your question, Dad, yes, I eat healthy.  I eat a variety of foods, with many pasta-based and rice-based dishes.  Today I made Chinese Sundaes.  I can't claim to cook amazing food, but I can cook pretty well.  I'm going to try making pizza this week.  There's a recipe for it in the mission cookbook and it involves yeast...maybe it was because we had a bread maker, but I never learned how to bake with yeast.  Maybe once, in that 7th grade cooking class, but I haven't since.  So we'll hope for the best on this pizza!

I have fruit to snack on, and I have eggs or cereal or cereal or French toast or regular toast with jam for breakfast.  I don't usually eat dinner, just maybe an evening snack.  And my companions have cooked well enough that I haven't had to fill in any leftover lunch space.  I still weigh 135-140, just like when I left, and I do exercises each morning.  Nothing amazing (there are some missionaries who have P90X memorized, or other fitness routines), but it's a good start to the day.

Senior companion isn't anything different than what I've done before.  I just lead planning and companion study, and handle most of the phone calls (which I would be doing anyway, since I know the area better than the new companion).

TEACHING ENGLISH.  We've actually gotten a lot of calls about English class, since we started putting up fliers around town.  Seven new people came to it yesterday!

I'll just keep on leading, planning, and moving along.  I was thinking about it the other day, and in addition to the spiritual experiences, from a mission you get good responses to job interview questions: When was a time you led a group of people? What was an experience where you adapted well to change?  How well do you work in teams or in pairs?  Etc.

Even with church membership in the teens here, there are still a lot of connections.  We ran into a lady who married an American who works with Brother Moon in NATO.  And there was that tourist a few weeks ago, who served his mission here 20+ years ago.  And occasionally, we talk to someone and they say, "Oh, you're missionaries from Brother so-and-so's church."  It's a small town, but also a small world.

TRANSFERS.  Let's see, in this mission, 4 transfers (=6 months) in an area is not uncommon.  The surprise comes from 4 transfers with 4 different companions in one area, like I have now for Ferrara.  That is very uncommon.

My new companion is Anziano Davis, from Phoenix, Arizona.
He is a look-alike of Conan O'Brian... and Brother Boyer.  What have I learned? I have learned about asking questions to break the ice, with someone you're going to be with 24/7 for 6 weeks.

GOSPEL LESSON. We taught 3 friends of one of the church members on Saturday.  The lesson went well.  They didn't have many questions, but 2 of them came to church the next day!  That made for a new record: 24 people in church (including those 2, and us 2 missionaries).  And they would like to keep taking the lessons.

This past P-day was pretty boring.  I waited in the Bologna Centrale (the train station) for a few hours, for Anziano Davis.  The rest was pretty normal.

Love you!
Anziano Whitesell