I have arrived in Italy

Ciao,
   OK it's been too long since I've been on the computer. And the Italian keyboard is odd so excuse the errors please.

   So last Tuesday I flew to Chicago then to London then to Rome! I went 32 hours without sleep besides the little uncomfortable naps on the planes. I met Pres. Kelly and his wife, super nice people who made us our first Italian dinner. Super good lasagna. That night we were all bobbing our heads trying to stay awake to receive our "golden ticket" of our first assignment! But we didn't even get it so we found out the following morning and now I'm serving in Crotone! It's a super poor area

covered in graffiti but people are super friendly and patient with my lack of language skill. Then again, they're speaking Crotonese, super sloppy so I find myself squinting my eyes, focusing on what they're saying. In the end I don't have a clue of what they are saying. My companion is native from Milan. So I hear northern accents and southern accents. I sure hope I'm a champ at the language after this transfer. It's been a week and I can only pick out words from what people are saying. Italians speak so fast it's unreal. Then they throw in hand gestures like crazy and I feel like they're practically yelling at me, haha.
   So the first member I taught was a man named Vincenso who is comparable to the Rocky Balboa of English. I didn't understand a single word he said to me except for when he said "no capito?" I understood him asking me if I didn't understand haha, not fair. For Sundays, we have about 30 members who come every week and some of meno active. Our chapel is so little! Hopefully I can help these numbers go up! Our branch mostly consists of women and one single guy. This guy was so close to becoming a priest for the catholic church that he just needed to say his vows or whatever but instead he heard what the missionaries said and was baptized. So a big part of his life was thrown out the window that day, I don't know how he did that but I'm so thankful for him, he helps us out a bunch!
    One last thing I forgot to mention, we teach an Ingles class 3 times a week which is how we get most of our investigators and I for once felt comfortable speaking since people wanted to hear me speak! My companion speaks inglese pero it's very limited. On a side note he looks like Luigi. Fun fact for you all. OK I'm going to try to send some pictures, love you mom love you dad and love you Reece, Robby and Caitlyn! (sorry I never called in England mom) Ci-ciao!

Alright It's 11am right now as I'm writing this but I think it's like a 9 hr difference between us? Our apartment is SO nice, it's one of the nicest in the mission from what I've heard. I look out the balcony and I see the sea, so nice. Then everything is white, white nice tile, white walls, makes me think of being in the temple actually. So last night was pretty cool, Anziano Sorgiacomo's father came to town to visit us. not quite sure if that was allowed. But he took us out for pizza and a walk along the beach. First off, the Italian girls were way too distracting so I don't think I'll be going back to the beach anytime soon haha. Felt like I was sinning just seeing them walk past me so I spent a lot of time looking at the ground while my companion and his dad talked. THEN the pizza was so so delicious, I wish you could have tasted that pizza...I remember what Fratello Gubler said about pepperonis in Italy so I figured I would ask to see if it was true so I asked my collega if they had pepperonis and he said of course! so he ordered it for me and they brought out a whole pizza with red peppers on it ha I forgot I asked a native. Nonetheless, I ate the whole thing and it was superb. My stomach felt odd but my taste buds were certainly satisfied :)

Here's my address if you want to google image me :)
Via Scopelliti, 5
88900 Crotone, Italia
my pdays are on wednesdays just so you know.
Ciao! Elder LaFaye