Normal

I can't stand the wind.  It's funny you'd write about it, Mom.  The other week it was super windy here in Reggio and I remembered how windy it gets back in Pasco.  Yuck.  They say it'll snow here during the winter.  I sure hope so -- I haven't seen la neve in Italy.  I had a dream it snowed.  My dreams are getting more and more realistic lately.  I wonder if that's good or bad.  It's sure boring.

It's really weird to think I'll be bilingual when I come home.  Er, I already am bilingual, I guess.  It's cute to read through my first journals.  All I ever talk about is how badly I want to understand and speak Italian.  Now, as long as the conversation stays in regular territory, I can communicate as easily as I do in English.  My dreams frequently feature Italian.  It's all the things I wanted in the first months, and now it's all so... normal.

That's one tough thing about the mission, I think.  I am living a literal adventure.  And yet, after doing it for so long, even the most bizarre experiences are like... "Meh.  I've seen it before."  And it's true!  I've seen so much crazy stuff out here and met so many people that everything kinda blends together.

That's not to say I don't love every minute of it.  Sure, the mission is hard sometimes and can be boring other times and is even scary or stressful, but what I mean to say is that right now it seems normal.  One day I'll look back at all this and say, "What?  I did all that!?"

This week is rainy and grey.  Yay!  We ate lunch at Roberto's house yesterday, one of my all-time favorite investigators.  Well, he's more of a friend than an investigator, but he recognizes the positivity we bring into his life.  Light.  Everyone needs it, and they love it when they recognize it.  He's a sixty something year old man with the mind of an Einstein and the soul of a six-year old.  I love him, he's the one who gave me a typewriter.  The food we eat at his house is to die for, and our conversation is lively and interesting.  He even prayed at the end of our meeting after we talked about the prodigal son.  It's beautiful to see people's faces after they break down and say a prayer, ha!  They surprise themselves, I think, with how real it feels.

Next week we'll go to Verona.  Yay!  Big things coming up for the Italy Milan Mission.

Love,
Anziano Burton