Buses, Kids and Speaking Assignments

REACHING THE BORDER. Well, I'm now in Torino, one of the largest (2nd? 3rd?) cities in the mission.  There are 3 districts in my zone, which covers from Cuneo, Torino, Novara and Vercelli.  It goes out to France, so one day I'll take a picture on the border of France :D

It's been a good, busy week this far.  We take the bus everywhere, so I'm working on talking to people on the bus.  The other guys in the apartment are Anziano Huessner in his 3rd transfer, and Anziano Thomas in his 9th transfer, from my district in Bologna.

IN FRONT OF PEOPLE. We had a conference yesterday, a Zone Training, so P-day got moved to today.  Again, though, as zone leaders we had to do all the preparing, and a 30-minute presentation.  So I got to work on my presenting, and group teaching skills.  I'm presenting to 20-30 people now instead of my district of 6, but it's the same idea.  I've had lots of public speaking opportunities as a missionary, as well as in the church (talks, skits, presentations...).  But I enjoy it.  And having a companion makes it easier.

We will be Skyping on Christmas Day, probably from a member's home, in the evening.  We're finalizing details on Sunday, so I'll let you know next week.  At least we don't have to make it fit around odd church times this year.

INFLUENCE OF CHILDREN. We're working with a 9-year-old boy who has a neat story.  His mom was less active, but when he turned 8, he wanted to be baptized.  So she started coming back, and now he'll be baptized in a few weeks.  So, happy ending.

I'm stoked to Skype in a week!  I got a package yesterday, which was nice.

 I haven't opened it yet, I'll wait for Christmas.  The manila envelope didn't get to me at mission conference, to I expect it to arrive this week and they'll bring it to me at our next mission conference, Jan. 4.

Love you!
Anz. Whitesell