Today was Thanksgiving. It didn’t seem like it since it isn’t celebrated here, although I must say we did manage to do a decent job of observing the holiday on our own. Many of the Missionaries in Rome (not all, some went up to a separate shin-dig in the mountains) got together for a feast. Our apartment brought two big turkeys, gravy, pumpkin pie, and about 8 kili of carrots. The other guys brought a ton of food also, and we all heartily chowed down together. It was an awesome spread of victuals. Everyone ate to their limits – we all had turkey and stuffing coming out of our ears. Personally, I felt like I was going to explode. I should add that the feast was not without sacrifice – we stayed up until about 2 am the night before, waiting for the turkeys to cook and playing Monopoly. It has been a while since I stayed up that late, and I was feeling it – my body isn’t used to that anymore, but it was all worth the price. I guess it was even worth the literal price…about 10 mille apiece, ouch.
After the feast we had permission from the Prez to go to the EUR elders apartment to watch “Back to the Future,” but Greening and I couldn’t go because we had a 7 pm appointment at the church. We were fairly certain that we would be bunged, and we were right. I was a little miffed at Greening for making that appointment when he knew there was going to be a party, but really I knew it was the right thing to do. After our bunged appointment, we decided to go see this dude named Shawn. He is a guy that Gale and I met on the street a long time ago. I wrote about him earlier – he is the guy I referred to as the “Vagabondo.” The events that followed will require some explaining, although I’m not sure I have a good explanation.
So anyway, here is the story…Somehow this guy, Shawn, aka the Vagabondo, got in touch with Elder Schuler and Elder Webb and said that he had lost our telephone number and that he would like to talk to us. So they gave him our number and the next day he called and he told me that he had been reading the Book of Mormon and that he had a lot of questions. Great. I made an appointment with him for the following evening at 8 pm. The next day when we went to his address, he evidently wasn’t home because no one came to the door. It was a little strange, because we could hear the TV inside and it seemed like someone was home (OK, so that actually happens to us a lot, but not necessarily when someone specifically asks you to come over). So I was feeling a little annoyed because we were there at his request but he still felt compelled to bung us. Furthermore, it was very odd that the apartment where he evidently lived was very nice. By his appearance, you would think he was either homeless or lived in an armpit. So, fast forward to tonight – we stop by his apartment and it turns out he is actually home and answers the door. We do our greetings, I shake his hand and start to walk in. Greenig shakes his hand and tells me immediately to wait. I look back at Greenig, and he has this completely serious expression on his face. It freaked me out a little a bit, then Greenig said “let’s go” and I was thinking yeah let’s get out of here, so we both quickly walked away leaving Shawn standing speechless on the doorstep. He did not say a word. Afterwards I asked Greening what happened and he told me that as soon as he shook Shawn’s hand he knew he wasn’t supposed to enter his apartment. I can’t say that I really had the same knowledge, but I was sufficiently spooked by Greening that it seemed like leaving was the right thing to do. Actually I have no doubt that the Holy Ghost told us not to go in there. I wonder what Shawn thought? I hope he wasn’t too offended, then again, I hope he didn’t have a secret torture chamber built-in the basement just for Mormon missionaries. Another thing I remember is that he was wearing a necklace with something weird hanging from it, like a vial or something. I really have no idea what that was about. It was all maybe nothing, but it was definitely really strange and a little scary.
Undaunted, we looked up an address that Greenig had received doing sondaggio. Unfortunately it turned out to be a bung address. Yes! That makes 4 bungs in a row. The only good thing to come out of it all was that we met two studly old guys on the bus. There were very excited to meet us. One of them had just returned from the US and he was one of the Vatican City General Commandos in charge of cultural relations (or something like that). He said he would come to our church, not this Sunday, but next Sunday. That would be cool if he does. So, that is about it for tonight. Tomorrow I need to write a letter to Mom and Dad. I didn’t really have any time today. There are also a ton of other people I need to write. tonight I was feeling like I don’t really want to get transferred out of Rome, even though it seems like Greening and I don’t get along very well. I feel like the work is really going to explode here. Ciao!
