Christmas, Sickness, it's the time of the year...

Another Pordenonese week over here for me! How is everyone doing?
For those lucky enough to Skype me on Christmas, you can tell me on
Sunday! I am extremely happy to have a mission in a country where
celebrating our Savior's birth is a big thing!
Last Thursday we went to a Mission Conference in Modena (home of
Balsamic Vinegar!) and met with Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy.
It was by far one of my favorite conferences! He is a very intelligent
man, and a very good teacher. I was able to walk away at the end with
ideas on how to serve better here in Pordenone. Of course, the office
had bought our tickets home, which means everything was ill timed. We
ended up getting home from Modena at 11:10pm...exhausted, and tired of
trains.
Friday was less appealing. We did visit Renato in Aviano. But the
rest of the day was phone calls. Saturday was finding and showing the
Christmas video on the street. Then I made phone calls to prepare for
Sunday.
And kaboom, Sunday worked out perfectly. We had a wonderful sabbath
meeting, and a new move-in inactive named Daniel showed up, (the main
calls I made on Saturday were to him). Afterwards he was happy and we
took Luca (a strong new convert who hopes to move to the U.S.A soon)
to visit Daniel's new home and get to know him. He hasn't been active
for almost four years, but was extremely impressed with every member
he'd met and wanted to take baby steps to becoming active again. It
was a really good visit. After that, we had a delicious dinner with
the Senior couple Rusts, and Luca. (Sesame Chicken, just like my
mom's)!
Monday I was sick. I think it was food poisoning, but my stomach
was NOT ok. Darn that Chicken. It's the only thing I can openly blame.
Anyway, Monday night was also the Ward party for the Italians. We
went, and it was a really good experience, there were a handful of
non-member youth that came. (And some how I beat them all in Foosball)
Yesterday was just our normal meetings, with District meeting, and
Correlation with the Ward mission leader, and the Family Home Evening
thing we did. But different than normal, we had a service project from
8:30-11 in the morning. Lifting all the furniture tore some of my
muscles, and I'm pretty sore now. But everything is ok.
Nobody expect me to return with massive bulging muscles, cuz it's not
going to happen. Even with all these furniture movings up flights of
stairs and the morning exercise, I seem to only get weaker.

Well. Sorry. That was a lot to read. Love you all! I know God's
kingdom is here on the earth! Do what you can to build it!
Arrivederci
--Anziano Benge
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