As I was putting it back together on at the side of the road, a woman flagged us down frantically. She had pulled into a parking spot all wrong and was about 2 inches (5cm :-) from another car at an odd angle, on a slight incline. Her car was a stick shift and didn't have a hand brake, but a button, so it was difficult to let the brake off slowly. She kept saying "mio marito mi amazza!" (my husband is going to kill me). I tried to help but ended up getting her car an inch closer. We needed a few guys to push her car, but nobody was around. She was freaking out, and finally she decided to call the police to help, because we had to go and there wasn't much else for me to do. That delayed us a good ten minutes more. Once we got to the Institute, I hit my head pretty hard on the door as I leaned out to bring in some of the many bags of food we had brought. I had to ice it for a while, but fortunately no big bruises. Anyway, we got delayed again.
Then my wife forgot what we were making, so she started with the wrong recipe, including sending me to the store for something we didn't actually need (bell pepper) but not for what we did need (kidney beans). It was a comedy of errors. With all the cooking and tortilla making and misadventures, we were over half an hour late with lunch, but everyone loved it! The tortillas were very warm and soft.
Many days I send out an invite to all the kids on our Whatsapp group for whatever activities are occurring. My signature line at the end is the phrase "santi venite!", which is the opening phrase of the hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints" in Italian.
In the evening, Fiona Givens came in person as a guest teacher for the online Institute class. She and her husband Terryl have written some awesome books, including The God Who Weeps and The Crucible of Doubt (which we had translated into Italian for the saints here). We have known the Givens for some time, since they live in Richmond, Virginia, my home town, so we have some common friends. We also spent a week with them here in Rome in 2015 when they spoke at the FairMormon conference which we helped organize with Ugo. They are about to publish a new book in the series, The Christ Who Heals, and she spoke about the nature of the Godhead and how the restoration of the gospel helps us understand things better. It was all in English, with no translation, but the kids seemed to follow it well, based on their questions at the end. It was a wonderful lesson, with a few touching and insightful points that we'll need to reflect on. The spirit was strong.
Afterwards, we went to dinner nearby with Ugo, Fiona, and her daughter. It was great to catch up, but we were out a bit late -- don't tell our mission president! Unfortunately, we forgot to take any photos all evening :-(
The scriptures mention many different and wonderful spiritual gifts, but I seem to have received a new one: the gift of parallel parking! I knew I could parallel park, but usually at home it takes me several attempts. Last night I put our car into a spot with less than one foot at each end, on the first try. I have yet to require two attempts here. Wow, there must be a God! <g>
On other thing that I don't think I wrote about, going back to my collapsing on the plane almost three weeks ago. One of my wife's first thoughts, after being told her husband had collapsed and flatlined was not "Oh, no, I may be a widow. I will miss my husband". Nope, not my unstoppable woman! Her thought was "maybe they will let me continue on a mission as a single sister." That's true love.