Ok, I would like to start this letter by saying that I made the best meal that I have eaten while here on the mission. Yes, you read that correctly. I MADE the best meal EVER;)! On Thursday, I felt like treating Anziano Rowbotham to a good meal so I made this Rosemary/Lemon chicken over a good pasta with fresh tomaotes, grilled onions, and roasted garlic on top!!! I was in Heaven! I really outdid myself and ALL the Italians with that meal...oh ya...I said it;). lol I wish I could experiment more with food here, but we have limited funds and all;). haha I like to cook and it is fun for me! Maybe if the whole baseball/dentist/sports therapist thing doesn't work out, I could be a professional chef;)? haha!!
Friday was an awesome day:). We did quite a bit of finding and there were two really awesome instances that happened. We started the day with a lot of rejection which is normal, but as we were nearing the end of the morning, we came accross a couple sitting on a bench so I said to Roby, "They're mine:)!" So, I began to talk with them. At the beginning, the woman did not want anything to do with us. She had had an experience in the past with some missionaries (from another religion) that only wanted to argue with her and told her beliefs were wrong and that she was going to go "down under" (no mom... Not Australia) for thinking the way she does. I then assured her that we thought totally differently and began to just talk to these two people to try and change their attitudes a bit. Guess what? IT WORKED!!!! By the end of our conversation, I placed my copy of the Book of Mormon and made sure that I left them with a good impression of the church! This woman was from Georgia (the country) and said that she would try and find the missionaries there when she went back (if they have them there)!
I have had quite a few experiences like this over the past few weeks and the next one is nearly just the same.
We were just about to start heading home from our day of finding and we past by out favorite Gellato place Cesare! One of the workers called us in and said, "Hey. My daughter is outside and wants to change religions." I could tell that he was totally messing with us, but I called him out on it went outside to speak with his daughter. I walked out and said, "Hey. Does your dad work here in this shop?" "Yes," she responded hesitantly. "Well he said that you would like to change religions." By this time, her father had walked out of the shop to see how she would react and she shot him quite a dirty look as if to say, "I hate you!" Instead of talking religion, I just created small talk by talking to her kids in the back, asking her where she was from, what she did for work, and eventually, she just opened up:). She began to ask why we were here serving this mission, how our families were, and where we were from. When she found out that I was from Vegas (everyone marvels when I say that! It is quite the conversation stater:) ) she said, "Ok, once you are done with your mission, come back here and then we can go back to Vegas together." Jokingly, I said, "Absolutely!...you are paying for it though:)." We laughed at that for a bit and I eventually brought the conversation back to the gospel and I placed our other copy of the B of M!!!! It was a great day on Friday and I will always remember it!!!!
Sunday was _______'s birthday and it was really fun! They danced, sang, laughed, ate, and then the gifts! Nearly every gift was pig related. She has over 310 pigs around her house now and of all different sorts. Ceramic, stuffed, piggy bank. You name it, she has it! lol I got her a stuffed big that says "Ti voglio bene" on it and she absolutely loved it!!!!!!
That woman it so great! She is so awesome to everyone!!!!
I am loving the mission. I am nervous for this transfer call because I don't want to leave Reggio! I love this city! I have so many friendships with so many people here and I don't want to just say goodbye to all of them. It is going to be horrible when I have to. We will receive the call on Saturday, so you will know next week what the outcome is!!!
Well, I love you all so much just like always!!!!!! Don't you ever forget it! (I will send pictures this week:).)
Love,
Anziano Layton
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