What a privilege

F'naaaaaaaa, we're so busy. Okay, I'm gonna type fast:

Monday, Tuesday, and today are all taken up by one word: MOVING. Which is awesome. I'm not sure I talked about it yet, but the apartment we were living in here in Ancona is a tiny, old thing tucked into a corner riddled with filth and cockroaches. Anziano H the clean-freak of the apartment (who I love), did a good job at making the place at least halfway livable for the time we've been there, but now we're moving, and we've been moving for two days already. There's a lot to do.

 

It's all just so much fun

Yay Audrey!  Called to serve among the descendents of the Lamanites.  That is amazingly fun, and Spanish will serve her for the rest of her life.  Congratulations, and prepare well!

This week was a good week.  I'm in a super happy mood and just feel really loved.  I'm getting to know the members better, they're giving referrals that we get to go visit, and I'm contemplating a lot about what all has happened in my first year in Italy.  That's right, one year ago today I was in a plane headed across the ocean.  A lot has happened, and while I can easily pick out little details from all across the board, it's great to look back and consider this first year a really positive experience.  I've grown a lot, and I just have more to learn.

Good Ideas

I feel like there's so much to write, so I'll just dive in and hope it makes sense:

Ancona is a port city, and the port is its coolest feature in my opinion.  It's so massively huge, and when viewed from up high--like by the duomo--it's pretty awe inspiring.  I can hardly believe we've built such gigantic boats and cranes and platforms for how amazing small we are in comparison.  Makes me think of how much a little guy like me can affect the world, for good or for bad.  What you do matters.

No Matter Where

It's amazing that it's already March.  On the 20th I'll hit my year-in-Italy mark.  I remember snippets of my first days here, walking through the Centro of Milan, riding my first train across the country to Padova... wow.  Weird to think that was a whole year ago.  It goes so fast.

Ancona is treating me well.  We're having some really interesting experiences here.  We ate at an old Italian couple's this week for dinner.  The wife had dear missionary friends about 20 years ago, and now she sees us about once a week.  She's had some really tough experiences, losing children to freak accidents, but she still believes strongly in God and his goodness.  She's the first Catholic I've ever met here who actually loves God the Father and doesn't think He's out to destroy mankind.  Beautiful to see such love in people.