Michele, Rebecca, Giordan, & Christian
Sorella (Rebecca) Morgan left the missionary field in October 1997 and returned home to the rainy state of Washington. Anziano (Michele) Bressan left the mission field just a short time later in December of that same year to his home of Udine Italy. By the first of the next year Rebecca returned to Italy and worked as an Au Pair for a military family stationed at Aviano air base near Michele Bressan’s home. One thing led to another and by September 1998 the two were married for Time and all eternity at the Bern Switzerland temple.
A university education was a priority from the first and the economy in Italy proving difficult the couple weighed their options and made the decision to move to the Washington State. For the first year and a half Michele and Rebecca worked and built a base earning money and for Michele learning a new language (not to mention jumping through INS hoops and filing mountains of paperwork). By August of 2000 Rebecca and Michele were ready and enrolled fulltime at Washington State University in Pullman WA. For the next six years the university life dominated their existence. Rebecca eventually earned a Master’s degree in International Security.
By 2003 at the tail end of her studies the small family was expecting their first child, a boy they named Giordan, after Michele’s own father Giordano. In addition to having a baby and completing a master’s degree all in the same year Rebecca had a promising job offer from a important government agency. The chance to earn “real money with benefits” was tempting, Michele however was only half way through his program and after some serious reflection the couple decided to remain in Pullman.
In May of 2006 Michele graduated from the college of engineering with a degree in Civil Engineering and the family moved to Western Washington where Michele had accepted a job for the bridge and structures office with Washington DOT. So they packed a van and moved across the state, checked into a hotel while they waited to move into a house, Michele started his new job, and two days later baby boy number two Christian was born-three weeks ahead of schedule. It seems the family can’t welcome a new baby into the world without the addition of other life changing events. This may explain why there have been no other children since the traumatic experience of baby number two….Happily the family did manage to move into their new home-of course that was after Rebecca seriously strained a leg muscle and was on crutches for two weeks with a two and half year old toddler and new born baby in a small hotel room-Thank goodness for the willingness of family near by to lend a hand.
These days Michele works three jobs, bridge engineer for DOT, father extraordinaire (not to mention persecutor of back yard moles) and Elder’s Quorum President. Rebecca luckily puts her education to work everyday; honing her threat assessment, conflict resolution, and diplomacy skills each day as she manages and soothes the ceaseless demands for justice by two opposing parties. For those who mock the choice of a stay at home mom, Rebecca simply replies that everything you learn in college does have a practical application in the real world even when you least expect it to. The couple loves their post university life and is finding joy in new hobbies such as landscaping and gardening. If they were to say anything about their times as missionaries they would say that the mission brought not only temporal blessings to their life but eternal joy as well. Someday they hope to serve additional missions in the future and look to the example of their mission president and his family for inspiration. For now they are saving for their own future missionaries who are growing very fast. Their greatest desire is to obey the commandments and serve the Lord in what ever capacity that might be.
Till we meet again,
The Bressan Family.
