A Mission Rememberance

I had to refer to journals to fill in a couple of bits of this account. Good thing we have those. Wish I didn't write like a 19 year old back then.

We had a mixed district in the LTM. Some of our guys went to Australia. A couple others went to different missions in Italy. So, only part of our district flew with me to New York, and then even fewer on to Milan with us. I do remember that I was the only one at the Salt Lake airport who didn't have family there to greet them.

I remember Alitalia counter attendants and flight attendants expressing benign, but somewhat annoyed, amusement at our attempts to speak any Italian with them.

The jet lag was horrible. That, accompanied with the first evening's session of tract-ing, I'm sure was designed to see if any of us would crack. None of us did. That first evening I was paired with Elder Ronald Manning. He was visiting the office because he was to go home shortly. He said to me, “I have fewer days than you have years.” I haven't seen him since. Throughout my mission I looked forward to being able to use at least a variation of that phrase with someone.

Later in the mission I made it a point to go back to the area we had visited that first night and take a picture of the dreary apartment building. I'm not sure how I found the place. I don't think I have the address written down anywhere. It must have been a missionary homing sense that kicked in.

My first city was Torino and I went to the apartment in Via Baiardi 2. Steven Smith was my trainer and Elders Jorgensen and Wallace were the other missionaries there. It was a great group. They probably helped facilitate a fairly smooth transition into Italian Mission life.

June and July in Torino were amazing. Torino is WAY further north than where I grew up. It was very interesting how late the sun set in the evening. It was still light when we would go home at 9:30. the squares during the late summer evenings would fill with happy, festive congregations. It was a party atmosphere almost all the time.

I also recall the pretty consistent afternoon thunder showers during this time. It's a good thing they (usually) occurred when we were inside the apartment for lunch.