Who is this Gene E. Alogy anyway?

Hello all! Hope you are happy, wealthy, and wise!

You know what's cool? GENEALOGY WORK! So Mormons are huge on genealogy work. The short explanation is because we believe that we are all literally part of the huge human family and those familial relationships last beyond this life. Even if we die, we will still be the children/parents/brothers/sisters of our loved ones in the next life. And genealogy work helps us identify and serve our distant family.

Anyway, genealogy work is even COOLER in Italy because most of the people that are members of the church are new converts and none of their genealogy work has been done. They get to go back even a couple generations and find out some pretty crazy stuff about the not-that-distant past (like the aunt that they never knew that they had, or the fact that their grandfather was born a twin). It's exciting to catch the spirit of the work and want to do it for your own family. And we have this extra cool new missionary plug to talk to people about their family history (the LDS church has a huge, free database and other services for genealogy work): familysearch.com, baby! It's pretty great.

Also, we made t-shirts again this week. For those that think I spend all my missionary time making tshirts, FEAR NOT, as I do all of this in the free ten minutes I have right before bed. I realized that designing is still how I destress. Also STENCILS ARE AWESOME! And spray paint. I'm never going back to another kind of tshirt design again. Anyway, to explain the tshirt design... we have a mission-wide goal to get 20 baptisms in a month (I can hear South American countries laughing, as that is probably a biweekly goal in other parts of the world). So I made a tshirt that says one of the mission mottos "Aspettati un miracolo" (EXPECT A MIRACLE) in the shape of a 20. It also says "La Missione di Roma" (The Rome Mission). In case we ever forget.

PHOTOS!

...075: Capri Sun knock off! Hahahahaha

...087: The tshirts!

...112: You know who's awesome? Our Sierra Leonian members, Albert and Isha. If you ever think you've had a hard life, listen to their story and THEN hear about their faith in God and how unbreakable it is. Pretty great.

...125: Our African investigator, Michael AKA Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He has steps and a pretty strong language barrier. It's hard for me to try and communicate, but if anything I'm learning patience. He personally requested this photo.

Letter shoutout! When it rains, it pours and I have received a whole sack of mail! I will do my best to respond in the upcoming weeks, but seeing that I'm already behind, I will just write a quick response...

BROOKE! Did you know I started composing you a letter in the MTC, but I never had your address? Hahahaha. Anyway, I'm grateful for the life updates. Also, tell Rob "hi" from Messina and Palermo. Especially the smells in Palermo. 

MEISH! Thank you for the Star Wars deets. They were much needed! And the unsolicited advice! Just what the Spirit doctor ordered...

KAYANNA et al (aka Kremlin): MARRY CHRISTMAS! Thank you for the beautiful bracelet and Christmas card. You are DA BEST (around! Nothin's gonna ever bring ya down).

KYLE: You always send the best postcards -- I smile every time I see them. SAY HI TO ARIZONA!

Y'all are wonderful. I'm sorry this email is just kinda lame, not life changing stuff. But hopefully all your lives are changing without me!

LOVE EVERYONE

Annie