Small Towns and Used Cars

Hi!

TALK SOON. So I'll start off with the news you want to hear: I can Skype around 7 p.m. my time on Mother's Day, so just in time for y'all to swap in and out talking to me as you make grilled cheese sandwiches in the back :D I'm looking forward to the call...and then to maybe 4 weeks later...

NEW AREA. Anyway, other big news to keep you awake at night: as Dad noted, Merate is a small town. The ward is spread out over 15-20 towns in the area, which just happen to be centered at Merate. So to help us cover the area, this area has a car! And I'm the designated driver!

digeridoo

The first few days of being here, we were without a car, and waiting some for Elder Richardson's recovery. He was concussed from a car accident, getting T-Boned 6 weeks ago. The car was finished. And Richardson was pretty fried too, from staying inside for 6 weeks. (My 1 week I had to stay in the house from pneumonia way back when, was bad enough.)

But now we have a nice, secondhand silver Corsa by Opal. Fortunately, it is automatic. We took a train to Milan to pick it up and watch a Driving Safety video. I hadn't driven in 22 months, and it was nerve wracking to get behind the wheel again. But I did, and I have survived a couple of days of freeway and country driving. City and bad weather, not yet. But it's all coming back pretty well.

NEW MISSIONARY COMP. So, my companion Elder Richardson is a "nerd" -- Dungeons and Dragons, Magic, Star Wars, LotR, Chess, video games, fantasy. Everything I had heard from Anderson, who also served with him. He also wants to join the military. And right now, he's still on some restriction from the doctor due to the concussion, but I'm here to figure out where the work was headed before the accident, and iron out the schedule to get Richardson used to doing full-time service again. He was only supposed to be out of the house for 3 hours a day, for the past 6 weeks. Understandably, he has really bad Cabin Fever. So apply some of my specialty: organization and calls. And apparently driving. Yay, I'm useful!

Also, we went to Milano for P-day today. I've never been there for a full day, outside of conferences, so it was quite the experience! We saw the duomo, the Scala, a castle and gardens, various shops (a puzzle and a comics store), and ate at a solid Italian restaurant. One of the best pizzas I've eaten.

real Italian pizza

Have a great week!
Anziano Whitesell