Be a Llama - 4/21/16

Anziano Hansen and Anziano Ridd in front of the Provo Temple

Anziano Ridd and Anziano Boscan

Hey fam,

*This morning I woke the the smell of tri-tip steak and the sound of freshly popped bottles. I walked outside wearing my t-shirt (made in China) and saw a bald eagle perched on a tree. I felt the cool breeze of justice against my face, as I tasted true freedom...for one of my last mornings for...2 years. 

So, yeah...I got my travel plans this week. Here is the gist of it. I leave Utah at 8:35am on Monday morning, then get to NYC (JFK) at 3:10pm. I am there for 3 hours and leave at 6:05pm. Then I get to Rome at 8:40am on Tuesday. I will be at the SLC airport for awhile...I leave the MTC at 3:50am to get to the airport. 

Anziano Boscan and I did just great with lessons this week. We had an amazing Skype TRC with a guy in Milan. He was awesome, and his crisp northern Italian accent was incredibly easy to understand...BUT I'll be in the south and they all speak differently. I can't wait!

The language was super awesome this week. I feel like I learned the most this week and I love the language. This is good because I have to speak it all the time...BUT that will be really hard as well. I am really excited to see where my first area is. FORZA ROMA.

A couple days ago one of my teachers who was close to my heart left the MTC for good. Fratello "whale"den... you will be missed. I will send a pic probably.

We got new Italians in the MTC yesterday. That was super cool.

SO, the devotional this week was pretty great. It was a member of the Seventy. The best part was the devotional review however. In the devotional he talked about being sheep and being shepherds. Well, in the devotional review we were discussing how we can do this. Anziano Boscan is the mostly logic-minded person that you can ever meet. So he raised his hand and said, "We can't be sheep if we are supposed to be shepherds...and we can't be shepherds if we are supposed to be sheep. It is impossible to be both. So, which one do we be? The answer is llamas. Any good shepherd has llamas in his flock...but why? Because llamas look close enough to sheep that the sheep follow them. Now, there is one BIG difference between llamas and sheep. When wolves come, sheep run. But llamas - llamas CHARGE. And when the llamas charge, so does the whole flock of sheep that are following the llamas. So the wolves get hit by a tidal wave of wool." 

SO yeah. Be a Llama.

I love you all!

Anziano Ridd

*Evidently Anziano Hansen's dad sent him tri-tip steak and 2 dozen bottles of root beer this week...sounds like it was much-loved! 

Anziano Ridd (middle) with teachers Fratello Sloan (left) and Frat Whale (right).
They are great!

(l-r) Anziano Ridd, Elder Dugquem (going to Thailand) and Anziano Hansen