Brett Garcia

My wife Suzanne and I have two boys--Lincoln (5 yrs) and Grayson (2 1/2 yrs). I've been working in sales and marketing for the past 5 years. Suzanne has been working in the medical field as a physician assistant. This past summer I was finally able to return to Italy. Suzanne and I visited London, Paris, and several cities in Italy. It was a wonderful experience we hope to return again soon.

I recently accepted the Dean of Admission position at Southern Virginia University, where I've been tasked with increasing both the quantity and quality of students here. Making this change was both exciting and challenging, but Suzanne and I both felt strongly that there is much good for us to do here at SVU.

It is great to hear from you; let's stay in touch. Please send Presidente our love.

Brett Garcia

Daniele Ioanna

Subject: Notizie da Anziano Ioanna

Carissimi Presidente e Sorella Clegg,
dopo più di 10 anni trascorsi dal mio ritorno a casa dalla missione, volevo fare una piccola relazione di come sta andando la mia vita.
Mi sento davvero tanto benedetto dal Signore per la Sua infinita misericordia verso di me e verso la mia famiglia.
Da quando sono tornati molte cose sono accadute:
- mio fratello minore si è battezzato, ha servito una missione a tempo pieno e si sta preparando per sposarsi al Tempio con una brava giovane anche lei ex missionaria;
- mia madre domo molti anni è stata riattivata e la scorsa settimana è andata al tempio per la sua propria investitura;
- Per quel che mi riguarda, dopo essermi sposato con la migliore figlia che il Padre Celeste aveva per me, abbiamo avuto la benedizioni di avere due splendidi figli (Melissa e Mattia);
- da quando sono tornato dalla missione sto lavorando e il mio lavoro mi gratifica molto e mi permette di mantenere me e la mia famiglia lasciando che mia moglie stia con i nostri figli;
- Potrei continuare ad elencare le tenere misericordie del Signore ma non ho il tempo e lo spazio per farlo, quindi mi limito a dirvi che sono felice.

Vi auguro il meglio, grazie per tutto quello che mi avete insegnato nel tempo che abbiamo avuto di servire insieme.

Vi voglio bene
Anziano Ioanna
--------------------

Michael Hornberger

Ciao Sorella e Presidente!

Well, it's been a while. I wish I could have made the reunion last summer but couldn't. I now have 3 children, Amanda 8, Ethan 6, and Ivy 2. Ivy was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate but after 3 surgeries is doing very well. I finally graduated from Washington State University Vancouver with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and am working for a company called LifePort Inc. We design, engineer and build advanced life support, patient loading, and other systems for aircraft, (fixed wing and helicopters.)

Jaymee and I are the activities committee chairs for our ward here in Vancouver, WA and love to attend the Portland, OR temple. I've attached a picture of the family.

Sarah Weiland

Ciao tutti! I served in Torino Monterosa, Milano 2, and Genova Sestri. I was in Italy from November 1994 to March 1996. After finishing my mission, I went back to BYU and taught at the MTC. What a great way to come home--spending every day teaching and training others who were just as excited as I was about the church in Italy! I finished my BS in Psychology, moved home with the fam while I worked and took a few courses towards an MPA from the U of U, and eventually met my husband--Gavin.

We will celebrate ten years of marriage in March 2010. Crazy!! In honor of that, we went on a 10-day Mediterranean Cruise this summer--disembarking from Civitavecchia (Rome) exactly ten years from the day we first met (on a blind date). We spent a few days in Rome before the cruise, and travelled to Croatia, Greece, Turkey, and Sicily, then returned back to Rome. Before flying back to our kids, we also visited Pisa, Florence, and Venice. It was an amazing trip, and the second time I've been back to Italy since the mission. No matter how much my life changes, nothing takes the place of being in Italy. I love it there, and always will.

My husband is finishing up a radiology residency in the Army. We live in Washington, and he works at Madigan Army Medical Center (Fort Lewis). We'll be here until July 2011, then wherever the Army sends us. As of right now, there is not an Army radiologist in Italy--DARNIT! We have three children--Aubrey is 8, Lincoln is 5, and Jace is 2 1/2. I am blessed (and cursed some days--hee hee) to stay home with the kids.

I've run three marathons as well as multiple half-marathons and 10Ks over the years. I recently placed 2nd in my age division in a local triathlon. Staying active keeps me sane--both physically and with the gospel. I currently serve in my ward's Primary presidency as a counselor.

I hope everyone is doing well and staying strong. I am thankful for the Cleggs and everyone else who works so hard to keep us connected and keep the mission alive in our minds and in our hearts. Thank you!!

~Sarah Weiland Arnett

Paige Stovall and James Cahoon

We look forward to our summer fly-fishing trips in Montana.
This is on the Big Horn River in Eastern Montana.

Hello Milan Italy missionaries! We are so sad we were not able to make it to the Mission Reunion with the Cleggs. You may remember Stephanie Smith… (How couldn’t you?) We will be attending her wedding in Whistler, BC Canada this weekend. We are very happy for her; she is marrying a nice guy named Sven Christensen.
As for us…we are living just outside of Seattle Washington in a sweet little town called Snoqualmie. Stephanie and Sven actually live less than a ½ mile away from us. We have lived in WA for the last 6.5 years and we have really enjoyed it.
James is working as a sales manager for a homebuilder, and I think he is a fabulous boss! He is great at seeing the big picture and keeping everyone calm and collected.
Paige teaches 9th grade physical science, and loves her job. She loves her kids and what she teaches, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t love having her summers off!
When Paige is not teaching school in the summertime, her full time job becomes planning time for "fun with Paige and James." Some of our favorite activities we do together include: Biking, Golfing, Walking our dog Stanley, Fishing, Traveling, Eating out, Dining in, Hiking, Camping, and Going to Movies.

Paige was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 and underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. We thought it was gone, but in 2008 it metastasized into her bones. The good news is she is doing great and receives super care from her oncologist and medication, and she is managing life with cancer with minimal impact on her day-to-day life. James has been her biggest support and best friend. We feel fortunate and blessed to have each other. We plan on her living for a very long time, and are hopeful to try to start our family with a little help from LDS family services through adoption!

Paolo DeVita

In this picture it’s me and my wife on our honeymoon in Venezuela, we got married this past May( YES I finally made it), so my new life has just begun!
It’s very hard to choose among the many memories I treasure in my heart about the mission, I find extremely hard to describe the feelings and the atmosphere during the zone conferences, I remember perfectly when in every conference around the mission, I was used to say to the missionaries that with their efforts and love for the Italian people they were building the future Italian Temple, and that one day they would have felt proud to be a brick of that Temple.
Time has finally come that the House of the Lord is going to be built in this marvellous land, and I must thank all of you for your hard work, prayers and dedication.

Rebecca Morgan and Michele Bressan

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.