I wanna know...have you ever seen the rain?

Cari Miei!
 
I hope this letter finds you all well.
 
It's been a good week here in Prato. Sunday...what a glorious day. It rained here in Prato for the first
time in 4 months. And when it rains, it pours. It really came down and there was even a thunderstorm...but it only lasted from about 7:30 to 11:30 and then the sky was cloudless. But...It cleared out the air...of everything. IT took all the heat out of the air, it took out most ALL of the humidity, also all of the gunky air that is here in Prato (The garbage here stinks really badly in some places) So it was just a miraculous day, and ever since then, It has been very nice weather. It feels like a cool fall day at times....SOOOOO nice. I don't have to shower 3 times a day now... This was probably the best thing that has happened (Temporarily) in a LONG LONG LONG time.
 
This week has been really good. We set a Baptismal Date and it is exciting. Also there is an Investigator here in Prato.  She has been meeting with the missionaries for months now, she really really wants to get baptized and comes in church every single week and is basically a member, so things should work well.  Anziano Frustaci and I planned out some P-days for his last transfer, this week we are staying in Prato and taking care of some business. For week 2 of the transfer we are going to Sienna, week 3 we are going to Firenze again to see the last of some things he wants to see, and then we might go to Cinque Terre with Anziani Sanders and Gibbons in Pistoia. They want to go and they want us to come with them. So I might head back for round 2....but, we will see. Also we are going to go to Pisa for one P-Day, It is a required Pic to take....OH, also, this week I discovered a really good Gelato place on the other side of our apartment building. Also we have a pizzeria that I really like across the street from us, and they are finally back from vacation. So....it will be a good week. I bought a USB and am collecting a lot of music from other missionaries, and Also I obtained 17 Miracles and The Emma Smith Movie...I'm also going to try a few new cooking things and I agreed to try and go running in the morning with Anziano Frustaci...I told him I would try it for a week and then we would see....
 
This transfer we are going to SYL (Speak Your Language) for the first, third, and fifth week. So we are currently in the thick of things here. We speak all Italian all the time. It is actually really fun.
I'm learning a lot of new words and also, thankfully, at the level where we can just chat about things, so it's not super boring. I finished the Book of Mormon out loud in Italian about a month ago actually, and so now I'm chewing through other materials in Italian and trying to eat up every bit of Italian that I can. I am not really sure why I want to learn the language so well. One of the benefits of being sent exactly where you wanted to go on your mission and learning the one language that you wanted to learn more than any other I guess...I still can't believe I got called here. I am so lucky....
 
Miss you all,
 Hope to hear from you soon
 And In case I don't see ya, Good afternoon and Good night!
 
Love,
 Anziano Memmott

Catching up

Ok, the post will contain 3 seperate parts of his letters. I have dated them according to the date I recieved them. sorry again for getting so behind.

8/8/2012

We had interviews this week with President; He answered a few questions I had so that was really good. He is a really wise man. Anziano Frustaci is a really good companion and keeps me working hard. There have been several times this week where I didn't know what to say and he came in and saved me.

Time is going to fast and I'm really really happy to be here in Prato
and just serving a mission in General. President Wolfgramm asked me in
my interview how I felt my mission was going. I responded with many
answers, but the sum of it being that my Mission means everything to
me. And it really does. So glad to be here, learning and growing and
helping others.

Today we woke up at 5 in the morning to catch a 3 hour train to Cinque Terre. (Pictures will be sent) It is hands down the prettiest place I’ve ever been. I really don't think there is anything in the world that will be cooler to see or more beautiful. So here’s the 411 on how it works. there are 5 little villages, terraces...or terre...they are about 5 minutes apart from each other in train. But there is a really really cool and beautiful hike that you can take that takes you from 1 to the next...it takes you about 5 hours to do the hikes/see a bit of each terre/stop and breathe it in.
I had no idea that the hike would be that difficult though...from the 3rd city to the 4th city and the 4th to the 5th....those are some demanding hikes...you basically climb huge steps for about 15 minutes straight...but you get the most ridiculous view I've ever seen in my life....absolutely unequivocal to anything I can describe....I have the pictures but they don't do it justice, not even a bit. And the whole time, you are on the cost. The sea there is just SOOO blue. Just
really really really pretty.

8/15/2012

Cari Miei,
 
I live on the sun...fact. It is SSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
hot.....I cannot find words adequate enough to describe how hot it is right
now in Prato....Yesterday was probably the hottest day I’ve ever lived
through in my life. I had a free sweat going on while I slept and woke
up with my sheets all nasty and they even had salt stains on
them....And I had a fan directly on me the whole night at the highest
setting...SOOOOOOOOOOOOO hot....at least for this Utah boy who hasn’t
know such a hot humid climate in all his life.
Also it’s August and that makes things really slow. Because all of Italy shuts down in August.
Everyone goes on a month long vacation and nobody is around...This
makes it hard to work...because nobody is home, the ward is about
twice as small for a month and just the mentality of August in Italy
gets to you and makes things hard. BUT! We are keeping busy, and at
least we usually don’t have to do TOO much finding work outside in the
heat. We mostly have appointments with our investigators in the Church
which we keep nice and cool. (It also has a water cooler) and or in
their houses or at the houses of Less actives, new converts, or
members. We are finally starting to get to know a few of the members
here in Prato a little better and I can see some good relationships
beginning to develop. To be honest we haven’t really met half the ward
because they have been in vacation since we got here. The Branch
President was here the first Sunday we got here then left for Vacation
and gets back this Sunday....So we have done the whole transfer
without him....and half the ward. So we hope things will get more
lively (and a bit cooler) as we head into September.
Well, I hope that everyone has enjoyed the last bit of summer...I
begin to see like Jacob of old °° that the time passed away with us,
and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream°°  Time
is going so quickly, one day comes and then it’s gone so fast. I hope
that you all never let a day pass away without prayer and scripture
study... Please take the time to pray as a family, each of you as
able... I love you all and hope that you are all doing well.
 
8/22/2012

Cari Miei!
 
Hope that this E-Mail finds you all well, Also! I hope you got my postcards!
 
This week has been kind of a slow week...
 
We have been making progress with our investigators.  
 

Beautiful Italy

This Picture is of Dustin in an extremely beautiful place. He is currently serving in Prato which is in the Florence area of Italy. He has been to Florence and Siena on splits and has seen some amazing sites. He has sent several postcards lately of the places he visits and I am working on scanning them in so I can post them. I miss him so much. Sorry to all for the large gap in posting. Life happens and it has been a bit crazy lately. I wanted to get this picture on, but I am posting later tonight with a large post that sums up the last three weeks of his letters.

little red corvette

Cari Miei,
 
Good News! I got a new bike! It is very nice. It's very sturdy, nice tires, nice brake, even has a functioning light (Tail-light and Headlight) And the best part about it, (as said the Bike salesman) ...it’s red. Ha-ha I admit it is a very stylin bike. But he told me that the best part about it is that it is red, because if someone is stealing my bike, I will be able to "See it from a distance, and know that they are stealing my bike. “Everyone Else's bike is black and grey but yours will stick out, you will know when someone is taking your bike." He didn't mention however that it being red would stop it from being stolen, only alert me to when they were stealing it...ha-ha Italians.
 Anyhow, the week has been good; I did 2 scambi with Anziano Sanders who goes home in 9 weeks and Anziano Reusch who goes home in 3. Anziano Frustaci also goes home in 9 weeks, so as you can see I'm surrounded by dying missionaries....It can be hard to focus myself sometimes. However, the work is going really well here in Prato, we have a couple baptismal dates and hopefully they will come through.  Not too much to say, things are really good here in Toscana, I ate the best pizza I’ve had since coming here yesterday in Firenze. It's still REALLY hot...I'm very tan; I will probably never be this tan in my
life...ever again...ever. And yeah. I'm healthy and happy and missing you all still. Today we are going to run some chores in Prato and then see what there is to see here at Prato. Hopefully, if I’m not too
tempted to sleep, I can write some letters to people.
 Love you all and I really loved getting the pictures from everyone, really loved hearing from you all and hope this letter finds you all well.
 Love,
 Anziano Memmott.

Some days are like that... even in Australia

Cari Miei!
 
I hope this letter finds you well.
 
This week has been a week with lots of fun. When I got here to Prato the bike that I inherited was...in interesting condition and I knew that soon it would die. So when it finally went the way of all the earth this week, I wasn't surprised. So after some minor inconvenience, we made it to a bike shop close to our house. I found a bike that I thought was decent, but I didn't want to buy it until I had checked out another place or two. So we walked about an hour to another place that was a warehouse type store for sporting goods and found some bikes there. They are really nice though, and the lowest one cost about 130 Euros...Keep in mind that this is the first bike I have to buy in the mission, and so I have to purchase it with my own money. So after sleeping on the decision for a night. I decided to buy the first one I saw for 60 Euros, It was pretty decent and for 60 Euros I was content with the purchase. That is until I started riding away.... The tires were wobbling from side to side and the back tire made the bike thump up and down.... but we were already late for an appointment so we kept on going; we had to go back Monday to get the receipt anyhow. So we continued throughout the day and as we were traveling to do some casa near the Church, the bike chain broke...like the chain didn't fall off...it broke. Snapped, severed. And the tire got shifted so that it was pressing against the rim... This was when the store had already been closed on Saturday night...I would have to wait till Monday to do anything about it. So we walked it back to the house and the next day we borrowed a Members bike to get to all our appointments. (His bike was also a...fun bike...You had to put in about 1000 percent of the effort to travel 1/10 of the distance of a normal bike...anyhow, different story that there.) So Monday we took the bike back to these guys they got it fixed, replace the chain and straightened the wheel. They did it for free so I had no complaints. Then after riding 100 Meters...the tire started rubbing against the back frame again. The tire was popping out of the metal frame of the bike. So we took what I now so affectionately call "The Lemon" (It even has a yellow accent painting) back to the bike shop. They put on a new tire...still a little wobbly buy the bumping had stopped...the chain was fixed... and they did it all for free as I thought was just...now...after that the bike was just fine. Minor wobbling but I couldn't complain. Until...last night when I was riding it, the back tire started again to pop out of place...and then after much much prayer and traveling. (My bike was upheld by the Grace of God at that point.) it was about 8;00 the bike had been deteriorating all day. And it started clicking really bad...don’t know what was clicking and also the tire was making this puffing noise...so It sounded like I was riding some contraption that ran on steam and coal from a scientist movie from the 1860's...It was worth a good laugh...So now I find myself in a pickle...I don't care much for that bike. Tomorrow we are going to take it to see if they will give me something back for it...highly doubt it. Then we are going to buy a new bike...for 130 Euro...My fault for not inspecting it well enough, not taking it for a test drive, and not being smart at all in buying it. Sometimes you have to burn your hand on the oven before you learn it's hot...
 
My catchphrase for all this (Whenever my bike broke down) has been, "I bet they don't have days like this in Australia." no one gets the reference to a favorite childhood book.  Other than all that fun stuff, the week has been normal, we are finding people and teaching people and having fun. Anziano Frustaci and I are getting along really well and I'm liking the Branch here.
 
Love you all so much and hope that you are doing well; I have to go because I'm running out of internet time and only have a little cash on me. Love you all so much!
 
Anziano Memmott
 

Life in the new area

Cari Miei,
 
I hope this letter finds you well.
 Well, let’s get started.
 We got to Prato and got settled in, the apartment is good, it’s about 3 times as big as the Alessandria apartment, but it is lacking in the Kitchen and the shower is...fun...just really...not easy to use. But, I really am liking it more and more as the time goes by. Anziano Frustaci and I are getting along really well. We will be good friends by the end of the Transfer. Also since the time we got into Prato, we have set 5 baptismal dates and things are really rolling along, it is really really beautiful in Tuscana. We actually drove down from Milano with Sienna, they have a car. They dropped us off in Prato, so I got to see a really beautiful drive. I really like the Branch President and the Branch is really good, we had about 70 people in church. So not as big as Alessandria's 110...but still decent.
 So a certain Wife of my brother will like this next thing a lot. Guess which city is in our District...yeah, Sienna. And so Anziano Frustaci is our District Leader and that means he has to do a Scambio with everyone in our district. That means I do a scambio with everyone in the District and so, yesterday, I went to Sienna for a day. It was REALLY beautiful and I saw more or less all of the Touristy sites, we just walked around the center of the city and did some street contacting all day, so I saw everything in Sienna (All the main attractions at least) 4 or 5 times. So it was a really really great day. Super excited to go back down, because my camera battery was dead and I got 0 pictures. So the next time I will be better prepared. Anyhow, it was ridiculously cool and I'm loving Tuscany.
 
Which brings me to where I'm sitting at this moment. At an internet point in Florence, we are going to go the huge market after this and see some sights. So within the first week I've already seen Sienna
and Florence...I'm so happy that I came to Prato. There is in the Market, 2 Euro Ties...they are famous in the Milan Mission. It is a must go for every missionary, I will be heading back to Prato with 15 additional ties today... Also there is a rumored Subway here in Firenze. (Florence, But it is Firenze for me) So I’m super excited. Things are going really well.
Anziano Frustaci is a really great missionary, like I said last time he just got done being one of the Zone Leaders in Torino, so he is really good. I am super excited for this transfer. We are already doing so much good work and with the help of a really great missionary like Anziano Frustaci, I know we will be baptizing soon.
 OH yeah, my mission call has been changed, I’m now in the Milan, Italy,  Chinese speaking mission...Prato is about 30% Chinese people....There is one street in particular, I will take a picture, but it is just in Chinese...all the stores and signs they have the Italian name and then the Chinese translation...it is just infested with Chinese people...So, I will be learning Chinese...So far I only know how to say Jesus Christ.
 Anyhow, I love you all and you should see some postcards soon. Hope you are all doing well, I am doing VERY well.
 I miss you and love you,
 Love,
 Anziano Memmott

transfer

Cari Miei,
 
I hope this letter finds everyone well.
 
As for me, I'm leavin, on a slow train; I don't know when I’ll be back again. Yup, I'm leaving Alessandria. We found out this last Monday that I’m getting transferred. I will leave and Anziano Mendel stays here. We are both very sad, (Anziano Mendel and I) because we both really enjoy the company of one another. ALSO the work just accelerated here...so much...we found....11 new investigators this week...5 have baptismal dates and we fully believe that before the week is over another 3 or 4 will have dates....so yeah....there was just about to be lots of work to do... oh well. That's the way it works I guess. I will tell you one cool story about 2 of our new Baptismal Dates...well two of the Baptismal dates for Anziano Mendel and his new comp. so... So this Sunday we got Blitzed, this is where the Zone Leaders come and do a one day scambio with you and your comp, both in your city, so instead of 1 set of missionaries doing work in Alessandria, 2 sets are for a day. So Anziano Mendel went with Anziano Frustaci (Remember that name) and I went with Anziano Sciaretta. (Both Americans with Italian last names) anyhow, Anziano Mendel and Frustaci.  
Weird feeling to be leaving this place. I knew that one day, certainly, I would have to leave. But I never really realized fully that I would be leaving. It almost felt like I would be here my whole mission. There will always be something special about Alessandria. It is my first City in the mission so of course. But it really does feel like, in a smaller way, that I'm leaving home again. We ate Lunch at the Family Senigagliesi yesterday and said goodbyes. I love that family SOOO much. And Andrea (Fratello S.) said that there is always a place to sleep and free Pizza's for me and my Family, should I ever be back. Also that Night we went to Sorella Loti one last time, we ate with her and Gabriel Zito. Also two of my favorite people in the Ward. It was like saying goodbye to people I had known my whole life. Really a crazy thing to say goodbye to people that I never imagined I would be caring about this much. Friendships I didn't think I would make. It's bittersweet.
 I bet you are wondering where I am going...be patient,
 Things with me are going well, as always, I'm very happy and the work is...was...for Alessandria...is picking up. These last couple days we have been doing nothing but running from one appointment to another. The finding work is minimalized...we are teaching more than finding. This makes for a very very happy missionary. Ha-ha. Also something worldly but something very cool. SALDI STARTED!!! It is that time of year were the "Fashion" changes. So all the stores dump their clothing from "Last Season" for super cheap. Everything in the city (Clothing wise) is 50% of or very minimum 30% off...it's beautiful... I’m buying some ties today for cheap and maybe something else. Anziano Mendel only has 1/6 a year left so he is buying some real world clothes for super cheap...plus these clothes are 8 times more fashionable and higher quality than in the US...The things of the world are really good here in Italy. So instead of coming to pick me up...in the winter...let's just save our money and come back at this time in the summer when there is Saldi and everything is more beautiful anyways!
 
Well, I have a lot of packing to do and we want to get out shopping. Also I need to say goodbye to a few more members and get some addresses. So I guess I will let you all go and have a good time. Hope everyone is eating a ton of Cafe Rio for me (the only thing I will accept to eat for the 1st week I return) and reading your scriptures!
 Well,
 Love you all and mi...Wait what? I didn't tell you where I was going...oops silly me.
 
I have been called to serve in the city of Prato! What's that you say? No Idea where that is? It's in freakin Tuscany!!!! It's about 15 minutes in train outside of Firenze (Florence for all you Americans!  ;) )!! I’m going to Tuscana! So...Super excited. My companion will be Anziano Frustaci. He just got done serving as Zone Leader in Torino. So here is the thing. We are doing something called White-Washing that is when they take both the missionaries from the city and send in 2 new ones...not sure why...yet, usually means the work is low or a problem with the ward or morale...not sure. But we will fix whatever it is. So neither of us will know the city, neither of us will know the branch...only a branch there. New adventures abound and await in Prato. We go to Milano tomorrow and it should be about a 4 or 4 ½ hour train ride down to Prato...Longest one yet. Alessandria to Milano is about an 1 and 20 minutes. Super Excited. Oh, I’m also killing Anziano Frustaci...He will be going home in 2 transfers so he will Die in Prato. Finally I’m getting my hands dirty. So!! I will send you the Address of the Prato apartment next Wednesday. Hold off on mail till then!
 Hope you are all ready for some SICK pictures and awesome stories about the best part of Italy.
 
Miss you all and love you all so much!
 Prato or Bust!
 Love,
 Anziano Memmott