2 of September.
I arrived in Geneva! It was hard saying goodbye to the kids. I'm going to miss them a lot, and they really loved me too. But, after taking them home from school on Monday I went to the train station and headed for Geneva. I stayed with a couple, Peruvian wife and Swiss husband, who I met thanks to intervention from God. I had no idea where I was going to stay in Geneva and I had sent a couch request to everyone in Geneva on Couchsurfing but no one had responded, so I thought that I was going to have to sleep in the airport. But in church last sunday I sat next to a lady and started talking to her. It results that she was a Peruvian lady that came from the ward in Geneva to teach a lesson in Relief Society, and she offered that I come stay with them.
So I went out into Geneva to enjoy the night life of the city. Geneva is a beautiful city. Every time I come to Switzerland I'm blown away by how clean and organized everything is. It seems like it's just a perfectly functioning country in every way. Even the food is amazing. I had a sandwich in a bar, and it was the best thing ever. Geneva is also a very important city to the world because it's the home of numerous world banks and organizations. I stopped by to see the United Nations, which I have been excited to see for YEARS. It was SO cool to finally see the place that I had read so much about. I also loved one of the monuments of Geneva, which is a giant pillar of water shooting up out of the lake with green lights underneath it that illuminate it green. Very cool. Then I went back to this family's house and spent the night in their daughter's bedroom, because she's off on her mission. Then early the next day I headed to the Geneva airport for my flight to Rome.
3 September
AMOROMA! Oh man, I can't believe I'm finally here! After an entire month of having to really concentrate when people talk to understand them, which is exhausting, it's so nice to be in a place where I speak the language well! Italy just has something so homely about it that as soon as I got here it felt like I had never left. Or maybe that I had gone on a five month vacation to the U.S. but now I was home. I just wanted to run up to every Italian I saw on the street and start talking to them and hug them. They were all just walking past me on the street and had no idea how happy I was just to be among them.
I took the familiar metro ride to Re di Roma where my good friend Sharon lives. Sharon is the leader of the Filippino mafia in the Rome 3 ward. She was so excited to see me, and it felt so good to be in her house again just like old mission times. In her house was also Dexter, another Filippino guy that got baptized while I was here in Rome (I did his baptismal interview.) Man, the Filippini here in Rome are so awesome! We talked over lunch and caught up on life's happenings. I loved how even though I'm not a missionary anymore they still call me Anziano. Then the sister missionaries came over to teach Dexter a lesson. While they were here, I took the opportunity to tell them all about all of my old investigators and less actives that I was working with while I was here. We made some appointments, and I'm going to go out with them to recontact a lot of these old investigators. They are getting a TON of referrals from me this week! Oh man, I was so excited to be able to contribute to the work here. I miss the mission so much!
Then, after the missionaries left, I hopped on three more trains that took me out to the temple site. I wasn't going to see the temple, although it was awesome. I went out there to visit a very special family that lives close by... the Garcia family! They're an Argentine family that adopted me while I was here as their third son. I became really good friends with their two sons while I was here, but right now they're currently both on missions. But it was so great to see the mom, dad, and three sisters. I brought them alfajores which they were so grateful for, and we drank mate and caught up on life and its many problems and triumphs. This family is so special, really. They remind me of the family of Nephi. Brother and Sister Garcia are just like Lehi and Saria, always so spiritual and offering advice that's just what you needed to hear for the problem you're facing. Alan and Leandro, the two sons, are just like Nephi and Sam, the two best member missionaries and awesome examples of righteous young men ever.
While I was at the Garcia family's house, the Anziani came over! One of them was new that I had never met before, but another was Anziano Wolzl from Austria, an old friend of mine from the mission. He was totally shocked to see me there because he wasn't expecting me. It was super fun catching up with him.
Then I went home. It was crazy how, even the metro ride home, which is something that most people dread and only do because they have to, I enjoyed immensely just because it was so fun to reminisce on all the mission memories made on those metros.
4 september
I woke up and had breakfast with Sharon. I taught her how to drink mate, and we talked about our relationships and various trials of life. Then she had to go to work, and I got on the metro. While I was on the metro, I saw a group of missionaries get on. I let out an evil cackle inside because I could FINALLY do something that I've wanted to do since I was on the mission. I went up to the missionaries and started talking to them, pretending that I wasn't a member. They were on their way to the Vatican because it's Pday, so I walked with them all the way to the Vatican. I asked them questions about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Most of them were brand new and didn't speak Italian very well, and their teaching style was typical of someone straight out of the MTC, so it was great practice for them. I made sure to go easy on them, and I was the perfect golden investigator. They were so excited, and wanted to set another appointment with me to teach me another lesson. Then I finally told them that I was an ex missionary and was just playing around. One of them was really mad, but the rest of them just laughed and thought it was way funny.
Then I went to the mission office, because I heard that a missionary that I follow-up trained is the new assistant to the President. I went into the office and saw all the missionaries there, because today just so happens to be transfer day so missionaries were coming in and out. Most of them were new and I didn't know them, but there were a few old friends that were so excited and surprised to see me. We talked for a while and reminisced about good old mission memories, and then I gave them some referrals if they were going to serve in cities that I had been.
Then I went to the station where I met up with a sister missionary from Argentina who is a family friend. She arrived here in this mission right as I was going home. Then, finally, I went to go visit my great friend Maria Teresa. She's a member that lives very near where I used to live when I was here as a missionary. We made pizza and drank mate together, and talked about life and everything. I can't describe the joy that I felt to be with her again and catch up on life. It's so great to see old friends from the mission! We had so much fun. And her five year old daughter (who hated my guts when I was a missionary and would always kick me and steal my tag) decided that now she likes me and wanted to climb all over me practically the whole time that I was there. There in the house was another member from Brazil. It was fun practicing Portuguese with her, because I don't really know how to speak Portuguese, I just Portuguesatize Spanish and Italian words, and 90 percent of the time I'm right, so it's super easy to guess. Plus when she speaks I understand everything. Portuguese is SO similar to Spanish and Italian! It's ridiculous. As we say in Argentina, Portuguese is just Spanish spoken with your mouth full. If only French was that easy!
Anyways, today was way dang fun. I MISS THE MISSION!
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