I'm finally here!!! hahaha wow I can't believe it!  We left Tuesday
morning, I couldn't believe it I spent 2 and a half months at the Mtc
so it was the the wierdest thing to leave.  So everyone in my zone got
on a bus and headed straight to the airport!  Everything happend so
fast it seemed like a blurr but we then got on our plane and flew to
Chicago.  Chicago has a huge airport so we had to do alot of walking
to get to our gate and I was able to make some phone calls which was
nice.  After 3 and half hours we got onto Luftuanza!!  Oh my best
airplane service ever really I couldn't believe it. Like they had hot
towels great food and just snacks the whole way there I loved it! When
we got on the plane I saw people from all over the world.. and I
couldn't understand what they were saying they weren't speaking
ENGLISH.  I then realized that I really was leaving but was so
excited!  We landed in Frankfurt it was incredibly foggy.  The Germans
were funny I saw alot that had a narly beard like DIRK 41.  But we
stayed in Germany for about 1 hour.  After we headed for Milan!!  We
got on another Luftuanza plane and it took us and hour and a half to
get there.  The plane ride there was amazing!  We got to fly over the
Apls which was an incredible sight!  We landed in Milan finally after
a day of traveling!  Once there our mission president was there and he
gave us a huge hug!  Once we got outside the first thing I noticed was
the cars made for hobbits.  It is so different from Mesa where all you
see is SUVs and Trucks haha these were all a bunch of cars as small as
the smart car.  Lucky we had a van for our mission which was great!
Once we got in another thing I noticed was that I was going to die in
Italy!  The people here drive so crazy there's one lane roads and
people are just breaking laws and it's not like in mesa where the
streets go north south, east west they go everywhere!!  Anyways we
made it there in one piece to the mission home! That nice Sister
Wolfgramm cooked us lasagna! So good!  We had dinner together told
about things we liked at the Mtc and then went to our hotels!  The
next day we met our companions!  Well my companion is Anziano Betsold
from Washington state!  He played baseball and football and was RB on
his team!  I'm getting alone with him he knows what he's doing and I
am so thankful for that he's helping me become a better missionary!
Also I found out what city I'm going to: Ravenna!  I love it here so
small and so Italian!  So anziano betzsold and I took off from Milan
and it took us 3 hours to get there by train.  Once we got there we
walked to our appartment and it is acctually pretty nice!  Warm
showers and thats all I care about!  Also  I forgot to mention we got
to be apart of a baptism!!!  His name is Phillip he's from Ivory coast
and speaks English!!  We teach alot of Africans which is great
probbaly more that Italians!  The baptism went great we had a portable
font so that was alright and anziano betzsold did the baptism and I
was one of the witnesses!  Sunday I met the Branch of Ravenna which is
about 30 members Strong and the're amazing!  They feed me so much!!!
I've probably never been this cold in my life but I'm getting used to
it today it snowed about 4 inches and we've been falling off our bikes
it's soo slippery! I love Italy really this whole week has been the
best and I really am loving every moment of it!  Today we went to a
members house and helped him paint 2 rooms the fed us haha so good.
In my first week I've had so many amazing expeirences!  Thank you all
for you're prayers I can't explain it but I really can feel like
someone is always praying for me to stay positive and to be safethanks for everything!!  Ti voglio bene! -Anziano Thomas