Elder Peter Goode: Week 21 - Happy New Year!

Well this week was quite interesting! It snowed all over Italy this week and about 7 inches here in Bitonto, which hasn't happened in ten years! Also this week was New Years which was exciting! I have never seen so many giant fireworks that weren't at a legitimate firework show haha! There were a ton of fireworks going off all day! This week we had to travel down to Reggio Calabrio for my companions permesso, which was a nine hour train ride, it had snowed there too! Sitting on the train for that long was quite boring and I read everything I had about three times! But, the train ride was super beautiful once we got down to the southern coast! It was the first time I had seen any type of wave in about five months! The view from the train was so beautiful that I could hardly let myself sleep because we were in the most beautiful parts of the world! In Reggio we stayed the night and could see Sicily! It was amazingly at night! I totally forgot to take good pictures though! On the way back I sat next to a man from Gambia, who spoke English pretty well, he told me all about his village he comes from and his family of two kids and no wife I guess. He saw that I had a magazine in English and was reading so he started trying to read it. It was a bit tough for him being the Liahona magazine with all church talks in it but he said he would try to read it. I gave it to him as a gift and he held on to it like gold. He didn't have a house or a place to sleep but he was happy that he now had something to read at least! I have learned on the mission that the basics are the most important thing! I love my time in the morning for prayer and scripture study! They are essential for the nurturing of souls, both old and young, and to help feel of the spirit! My days are more based off of spiritual connection than anything else which is awesome! I was just assigned to talk in my branch on January the 18th. My topic is missionary work which should be easy because that's all I do anyway as my job pretty much hahah! I am hitting 5 months in the mission and the next ones are just going to get faster! I hope I left as an example to everyone and will come back an even better one! This is my calendar year as a missionary, where I will be out the whole time!!! I'll make it good one! Well that's all for this week. Happy New Years to everyone back home!
Love Anziano Goode