First Full Week in Italy

Hi Mom!

I have safely arrived in Italy, and I did receive your letter.  I will start with answers to your questions:

The church here in Udine is fairly small, just about 30 people in Sacrament Meeting.  I think there are more coming later in the year though: August is called Ferragosto, and most people take the month off and go places.  There you have it.  So I am expecting 40 people in Sacrament Meeting once August is over.

My apartment-mates are Anziani Gibbons, Kendrick, and Anderson.  Anderson is cool because he has been in Udine for awhile, and knows the area really well.  Kendrick is the district leader; he is nice and pretty funny.  Gibbons plays Magic (did not bring cards with him, it's okay) and cooks very well.

I speak some.  When we talk to people, I add in a few sentences, but mostly listen.  When we are talking about the gospel, I can pick up most of what is said.  Otherwise, I understand general ideas of what is being said, and a small part of the actual language.

Italy at night

As far as meals, I have not bought anything until today.  Anderson bought groceries last week in preparation for me arriving, and he just bought some eggs, juice, cereal, vegetables, milk, bread, some other stuff.  I made pasta with mozzarella cheese cubes, bacon bits and diced tomatoes in it.  The mozzarella cheese melted, and it tasted pretty good.  Each person makes one meal a week for the group, and that was mine. (Anderson bought the ingredients for it.  I bought his groceries this week, so we are even.)  Otherwise, meal schedules are weird here.  We have breakfast, go do stuff, take two hours for lunch/language study, then do not have dinner until we get back, around 9:30.  So I had eggs, cereal, and milk for breakfast for a few days.  It was not bad.  (INTERJECTION: I didn't find the apostrophe until now.)

For dinner I have a croissant, some bread with Nutella or jam, and some juice.  We've been fed twice, which was nice.  I don't know about being super-hungry. I've eaten well. It just doesn't sound like much.  I spent 18 Euro on groceries, which seems pretty cheap.  We have basic cooking stuff, so when I go back next week and am more settled-in, I'll look at more complex recipes.  The meal I have planned for this week is mac and cheese and sausage.  I also bought more fruit, different cereal, some yogurt, basically breakfast foods.  I can't explain well, but I'm eating fairly healthy and I'm not hungry so don't worry.

Suburban areas of Udine

rainy day

I was going to transcribe some of my journal, but I forgot it.  So sorry about that.  Next week.  The first day, we got into Milan and found that 9 suitcases were missing among 7 people.  Mine was one of them.  We still went to the mission home, and all 9 miraculously showed up the next day.  President Dibb has never lost a bag, I don't think.  We did some orientation, but went straight to Milan central to proselyte a bit, on the first day.  It was all right, we found we could talk better than we expected.  Like they told you, we stayed in a hotel the first night, then shipped out on trains on Thursday.  I was sad to say goodbye to my district and zone from the MTC, but excited to head out.

most of my zone

I'm in Udine, (OO-din-nay) by the way.  It's in the northeast.  We then traveled for two hours by train, stopped in Venezia for a few minutes (dropped off an area cell phone that a companionship had accidentally brought with them to the transfer meeting), and hopped on another train.  Oops, the wrong train!  We then spent the next several hours finding our way back to the Udine train.  It actually got so late that we called up the missionaries in Pordenone and stayed at their apartment for the night.  Interesting first day in the field.

Train Station

The next days were more normal.  It's a biking mission, so we bike all around.  We go to the park and to the river to talk to people, and we talk to some people for awhile, while others just brush us off.  We have had a lot of meetings, usually 1 or 2 a day.  The rest of the time is traveling by bike or studying.  It's pretty cool.

From a train

The picture I sent was of me at Ann's house.  She's Australian and was baptized last week.  She's really cool, and we have taught her twice.  I have found I really like Aussies, from the few I've encountered on my mission.

Welcome treat from Aziano Scott

Other stuff...church was good.  I bore my testimony and gave a prayer, since it was a small branch.  I'm having fun and learning quickly.  I still have a ways to go with the Italian, but I enjoy learning and practicing.

Oh, and the picture is of a candy bar attached to a note: "To Anziano _________" from Anziano Scott, the last missionary who was here.  It was a nice note, with some tips for the mission and the first few weeks.

Love, Anziano Whitesell

First Area and Companion

Ciao!

(from David's mom:) Today we received an email from the mission office in Milan.  They also sent a photo of David and (I assume) his companion Anziano Andersen, with President and Sister Dibb, the mission president and his wife.  (The photo is blurry.  It's not your eyes. I can at least tell that it's David, but it's not a great picture.)  Here is the letter:

Dear Brother and Sister Whitesell,

Sister Dibb and I are happy to report that your son, David Franklin Whitesell, has arrived, received a warm Italy Milan Mission welcome, and been sent out to the field.  His first city of labor is Udine and his companion is Elder Andersen.

My primary concern as the mission president is the well-being of each missionary and to help them realize the purpose of a mission call, to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end (Preach My Gospel, page 1).  I invite you to join me in that effort.  Through your prayers, encouraging letters, and support of mission rules, you can help your missionary in this challenging but wonderful experience.

A mission is a life-changing experience for both the missionary and those he teaches.  It requires faith, spirituality, discipline, obedience, physical stamina and great effort.  Early in a missionary's mission, the task ahead can seem overwhelming.  However, with persistent effort and faith in Jesus Christ, a new missionary can achieve great things and do all that is necessary to become a great servant of our Heavenly Father.  Throughout your missionary's mission, but especially in these early months, I encourage you to write letters expressing your confidence in him and the inspired calling he has received.

Parents often have a variety of questions about mission life and policies.  To help answer some of those we most frequently receive, I have attached some information that I hope will be helpful.  I encourage you to read it carefully and save it as a reference while your missionary is here with us in Italy.  I am also attaching a photograph of your missionary with Sister Dibb and me.

Thank you for all you have done to prepare this wonderful missionary to serve our Heavenly Father and the people of Italy.  Please let us know if you have any concerns or if we can be of any help.

Un caro saluto,

Italy Milan Mission
Bruce L. Dibb
President

Travel Days and a Phone Call Home

Six weeks in the MTC were busy and productive, and seemed to go by quickly.  From emails we had with David, it seemed like he had a good experience in the Mission Training Center.  His district of 7 people were very strong and supportive people.  They all spent a lot of time learning and teaching together (and eating meals of course). They got to know each other and became good friends.

The morning of August 5 arrived, and it was the beginning of the Travel Marathon!  The missionaries going to Rome, Italy took another flight path, so the Milan missionaries said goodbye to them.  Then all 21 missionaries, who were headed for Milan, luggage and bags in tow, went to the Salt Lake City airport for the first leg of the journey.  British Airways flight #1827 took them from Salt Lake City to Chicago.

Then David was able to call home!  We waited awhile since his flight into Chicago was delayed a little. But he called, actually as he was boarding plane number two.  He said it had gone smoothly so far, and he would miss his instructors at the MTC.

His second flight, British Airways #294, took them all night into London, and the third flight went from London to Milan.  They arrived in Milan August 6.

Our friends Darsi and Mike Dowling have a son Blake who was just finishing his mission in Milan.  They went to pick him up and to visit Italy, and they knew David would be coming the same week Blake was leaving.  They knew, from Blake's experience, that the brand new missionaries went to the center of Milan on their first day there.  So Mike and Darsi looked for David, and found him!  They surprised us with a photo from the first day there.  Now it's on the laptop as the background photo.  Love it!

Downtown Milano, right next to the Duomo

I also got a phone call from another missionary, in the mission office in the afternoon of the 6th.  They said our son had arrived, safe and sound, and that they would eat dinner (all 21 of the new missionaries!) in the mission home, and stay at a nearby hotel that night.  Then, the next day -- 7th -- they would head to their apartments and get to work :)

David's 1st area is Udine, just northeast of Venice.  His companion is Anziano Andersen.  There are 4 missionaries in Udine, and they are all in the same apartment.  No sisters (sorellas) are there right now.

One Day Before we Fly to Italy!

Anziano Whitesell flies to Italy on Tuesday, August 5!  They'll fly from Salt Lake City to Chicago, then to London, then to Milan.  I asked him 3 questions about the MTC.  Here is his email from the night before:

I'll be able to call home around 4:30 p.m. your time on Tuesday, from Chicago.  I'll just call the home phone, so maybe if you're home around that time, that would be nice.

(question: who has been your favorite instructor and why?) My favorite teacher has been Sorella Oakes, who you may receive an email from at some point.  Then again, maybe not: she's getting  married soon.  She gave our district wedding invitations!  Even though we won't be able to go.  It's in about a month.  But when she teaches, you can tell that she cares about us and wants us to succeed.

(question: what will you miss most about the MTC?) I'll miss having food prepared for me, I suppose.  And having my district around all the time.  I think we get districts out in Italy, but I won't be with them for 7+ hours a day.

(question: what will you be happy to leave at the MTC?)  I'll be happy to leave...I don't know. It's nice here.

Packing has been weird.  I don't have all that much stuff, but I have to make sure that neither suitcase goes over 50 pounds.  Also since I have 2 checked bags, I have to make sure that everything makes it into my satchel, the only thing coming onto the plane with me.  Anziano Blazzard is our travel leader, so he gets to stress over all of us being on time.  People have been going around collecting each others' contact info for during (between Elders OR between Sisters) and after the mission.  A lot of people will be in the Utah area for school, at BYU, U of U, Weber, Utah State...popular area for RMs, it seems.  So it's cool that I'll see people again afterwards.  Also apparently I'll see the Milan people at mission conferences, during transfers sometimes, and more frequently during the mission than I previously thought.

Sorry about not many pictures.  I'll get more at the airport and in Italy; I just didn't think the MTC was particularly interesting for photos.  It looks like college dorms and classrooms.

Hope to talk soon.

Love,
Anziano Whitesell

5th Week in the MTC

(I sent Anziano Whitesell a box, including some items he asked for: "P-Day" and exercise clothing, including 2 tshirts and 3 pair of shorts, also nail clippers, socks, pillowcase and a favorite recipes book. We also sent their district -- 7 missionaries he's been taking classes with, who will all go to Milan together -- 7 CTR rings in Italian, and some Articles of Faith cards in Italian. The sisters were very appreciative :)  We received 3 very nice thank you notes, the best part of which was their praise of Anziano Whitesell.  He's working hard and they think very highly of him.  He was able to give Sorella Palmer a blessing.  She's from Australia and very far from home.  Anyway those thank you notes were highlights of my week!  Always nice for parents to hear good things about their kids from someone else.)

Here is his response about the box coming, and his comings and goings for the week.

Excellent!  I've been wearing a Polo shirt and khakis for P-day, and I feel like IT Personnel rather than P-day.  I'm pretty sure that's all I'll need.  I don't know what, if anything, I'll send home, but I packed fairly light so I shouldn't need to send anything back.  There will be a few charges on the credit card over the next week from picking up a few things at the bookstore and from checked bag fees, but we got a nice information sheet about travel information so I know how much weight I can carry.  Anything else I need to know can be DearElder'd, and I'll check my email one more time the night before I fly out, so I'll get in a quick message if anything unexpected is going to happen.

This past week the Germans left.  They were in the classrooms across from ours, and on the dorm floor below us.  They had a lot of leftover candy and food that they weren't taking with them, so some of us Italians went and got candy from them.  Fun stuff.

for comparison: the Elder on the far left is 6'7"

I managed to climb down the length of the hall, so attached are a few pictures. It's not the Matrix picture TK wanted, but I did my own thing and got stronger at wall-climbing.

We're learning about the future tense in Italian, after having learned and Imperfect and Conversational Past, but before Subjunctive and Conditional.  It reminds me of Spanish, but we're learning faster.

The devotional last night was by an Emeritus General Authority, which I learned means retired.  The movie "The Other Side of Heaven" was based off his mission.  Which of course I haven't seen.  But he gave a nice testimony, and then we talked about it at the district devotional review last night.

I got a nice DearElder from Angela, so thank her for me.

I play soccer and volleyball during gym time.  I can't think of all that much that happened.  The food here is still good.  People are still receiving large amounts of food, so that will either be sent back, thrown away, or if they have extra weight, taken with them.

Just after our temple trip today, we read a sign that said "missionaries needed to help in laundry" so we helped in the temple laundry room.

Love,
Anziano Whitesell

4-Week Mark

Hello, Family and Friends!

Here are a few pictures...you can click on them to enlarge.

This week has been pretty good.  I was called as a District Leader, which means I run district meetings and go to leadership council and that sort of thing.

Language learning is still the same.  I haven't gotten my flight plans yet, but they should come in today or tomorrow, and then I leave in 2 weeks.

Anziano Keller, Anziano Blazzard, me

(Side note: Carter is our neighbor...his mom was David's seminary/scripture study teacher.  Carter will serve his mission in Reno, Nevada) Carter is coming to the Mission Training Center today, so I'll look for him among the new missionaries.

me, Keller, Blazzard,
Sorellas Russell, Friedbaum, Palmer, Maples

We had Brother Ellis of the Seventy speak to us yesterday at the devotional...as well as 8 of his 9 children, all of whom had served on missions (the 9th is currently on her mission in Seoul).  It's pretty cool to hear of a family that strong in the gospel, all serving missions, all in Brazil, Portugal, and France.

We've just learned conversational past in our Italian studies.  At this point we've covered the lessons in Preach My Gospel in Italian, so we're working on more general-use speaking skills.  I think we'll do imperfect and future next.  I still need a lot of vocab words to be functional in day-to-day activities, but I'm progressing well at gospel topics.  Aunt Kathi and Kim sent me DearElder mail, which was nice; I got your message, too.

me, Blazzard, Keller

It's amazing how much food gets sent to the MTC.  Those missionaries right out of high school are getting packages with candy and cookies and all sorts of sweet stuff!  I don't know what they intend to do with it at the end of their time.  I've run into a few people I know from BYU, though Spanish-speakers are all on the West campus of the MTC.  An elder from the Ultimate team is going to Mexico, another is going stateside, an elder from my self-defense class is going stateside and an elder from my math class is going to Taiwan.

Hope everybody is doing well.
Love,
Anziano Whitesell

July in the Provo Mission Training Center

This is part of David's email to us this week!  Frank had asked him a few questions which he answered throughout the letter.

On learning Italian: Yes, we do Speak Your Language (SYL). Not 100 per cent of the time, but if we know the word in Italian we're supposed to say it in Italian.  And we look stuff up all the time.  I used "Duo Lingo" at home; the mascot was an owl.

I got your letter from the reunion.  That was nice.  Cool that everyone could get together.  And I got Mom's package (cinnamon rolls and some things for him and his district, in Italian).  Thanks Mom!  The way it worked out, I opened it in the classroom with my district after the devotional.  It was sort of like a birthday present, and then there were rings for everyone, and Article of Faith cards in Italian for everyone, and there was much rejoicing!  I didn't realize the large box had cinnamon rolls until I got back to the dorm though so I'll bring those in to class on Thursday.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but people in the district are like family here.  I can't access external drives (like for photos) here, but we're taking a group picture and I'll send it snail mail to you.  We spend 6 hours a day together classroom time, and another couple of hours together for meals and during language study, and at the end of language study we have family prayer to close out the day.

Here is my district; 3 Elders including me ("Anziano"), and 4 sisters ("Sorella"):
*Anziano Blazzard, from Las Vegas, NV, District Leader.  Has 3 older siblings, likes making up beats, graduated HS my year, has been working at a grocery store for the past year.
*Anziano Keller, from Menden, UT, has 3 older sisters, very good at pronouncing scriptures, just graduated from HS
*Sorella Friedbaum from Provo, UT, has 4 siblings, went to BYU at Heritage last year
*Sorella Russell, from St. Louis, MO, some older, some younger siblings, super energetic
*Sorella Maples, from Westhaven, UT, 7th of 10 children, looking at BYU next year
*Sorella Palmer, from Australia, older and younger siblings.  Has scuba training, going to U of U when she gets back

They're pretty cool. And our zone (the people learning Italian and Romanian) is pretty cool too; usually there is a cluster of Italians at a mealtime table, or mixed Italian-Romanian cluster.

I miss you guys but I keep busy over here.  We're going to the temple for the first time today, since it's been closed for maintenance the last 2 weeks.  Looking forward to that.

Sincerely,
Anziano Whitesell