Rainy Wednesday

By law, in Italy you apparently have to put snow tires on your car during the winter. It's not exactly clear where the law applies -- I doubt it is required in Sicily for example -- but it is necessary here. So the office set up an appointment for me to take in our car to get the tires switched. I assume we'll do this in reverse next spring. The tire shop isn't too far away, but it is hard to describe how to get there, so I followed Anziano Balzotti over there in the rain through heavy traffic. With all the normal cutting in and out of cars here, it is difficult to follow anyone closely, but fortunately he has a red car which is easy to spot, and I never let more than two cars get between us. Once we arrived at the entrance, we had to go down a narrow and very steep driveway to the shop, then make a sharp, narrow turn. With all the rain making things slippery, it was pretty exciting. Once we got down there, we had about three inches on each side to maneuver. They had told us I could wait while they changed the tires, but when we got there they said it would be at least 90 minutes, so I said I'd come back. It turned out they called four hours later to say it was done, so I made the right decision. I helped Anziano Balzotti pair his phone with his car on the way back, so he got something out of the trip.

Dee did a bit of local shopping, including pizza bianca, which we both are pretty much addicted to, as well as getting some passport-style photos at a booth on the street for our permesso application appointment Friday. I went down later and did that too. 

This evening there was a memorial service for a young man in our ward, Sebastian, who was killed in a car accident one year ago. I think it's kind of a Catholic thing, not usually done in Mormon churches, but it turned out very nice. We went there directly after being dropped off to pick up the car, complete with new snow tires. Sebastian had 25+ friends show up, plus family. The young missionaries sang "I Am A Child of God", his favorite hymn. A number of people gave remembrances of him, including his mom who was awesome. He had had a premonition that he would die young, and right before his death he and his mom had shared with each other what they would like to happen at their funeral. After the remembrances, Bishop Perego (Ugo) gave a masterful talk to the mostly non-Mormon audience, explaining our beliefs about the "Plan of Salvation". He encouraged everyone to serve and lift our fellow beings, just like Sebastian did. It was an enjoyable and memorable event. Of course, afterwards there was food for everyone -- our ward seems to specialize in that!

Missionaries from Rome 3 Ward

As we were leaving, we asked Anziano Fuller about his transfer to Sardegna tomorrow, and he said he needed to go the mission home tonight so they could take him to the airport in the morning. He was trying to figure out how to get there from their apartment near the church, but far from the mission home. My wife realized that we should do it, since we live near the mission home, so we dropped by his apartment to get his luggage, which barely fit into our small car with the three of us--Anziano Fuller is about 6'4". We then drove through the traffic and rain and arrived just fine. The mission president called, looking for us, just as we pulled in. It was nearly nine o'clock. Traffic was terrible on the way! They unloaded his stuff and waved goodbye, then closed the gate on us, so we had to call back to ask them to re-open it. 

The letters with PIN numbers for our new credit cards came in the mail today, so we should finally have separatee chip-and-PIN cards without transaction fees!

An interesting and unusual day. It basically rained all day, fairly hard for much of the time. The plan was generally to stay home and take it easy, particularly for my leg, which is doing somewhat better.  But instead we got to partake of the wonderful spirit in the memorial service tonight, and we're glad we didn't miss it.

Leg pain

My leg really flared up Monday night -- I could hardly walk to bed because of the pain. It's pretty inflamed. Tuesday I iced it a lot and tried to stay off it, plus I took some naproxen. The pain comes and goes, but fortunately it isn't as bad as the previous night. Hopefully the inflammation will diminish. Due to my leg, Dee drove to and from the Institute. She's doing quite well at the wheel -- a bit too timid perhaps for the other drivers here, but it's nice that she can get us around.

We had our usual sized crowd for Taco Tuesday, except the missionaries had to go out of town for the day, so there was a lot of taco meat left over! Not everyone is shown in the photo, but the food was very appreciated.

In the afternoon I worked on my lesson for Friday and did some computer cleanup, as well as printing some sheet music for the choir class. The printer at the Institute is a really nice color laser. Maybe I'll have to get myself one when I get home.

Choir was fun tonight. The group is small, but we did have all four parts covered, and the harmony sounded good.  We're working on two Christmas pieces: "What Child Is This?", translated into Italian by our choir teacher, and "Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle" ("You Come Down From The Stars"), a lovely traditional Italian carol. Our choir teacher Lorenzo is a professional musician and teacher. He served in the Rome mission the same time Dee did, but they never met. He is extremely talented as a composer, director, and pianist, and is well known in the community. We got to visit for a while Tuesday  evening after class and enjoyed getting to know him better.

We got to come home a bit early because the evening English classes have shifted back to the stake center, which had been under construction since we got here. It was nice to have some time at home before bed, making some calls to the US to take care of some family business.

Braided apple strudel

We are both getting better: a lot less coughing today, but it seems to hang on forever. It was cold, dropping down to freezing overnight and a high of only 11 degrees C (52 F) during the day. Fortunately our apartment is reasonably warm; the heating during the day seems to help overnight. We are getting pretty comfortable with centigrade temperatures, including programming Alexa and Google Home to give temps in centigrade. In the morning we went to Lidl to do some food shopping, both for us and Institute, then got downtown a bit early. 

My knee has been hurting me a fair amount the last few days, and today it was much worse. There's a bump on the front of the tibia about a two inches below the kneecap, sore to the touch and painful when standing up and sitting down (not too bad just standing or sitting). Very odd, because there is no muscle or fat there, just skin and bone. Hopefully it will pass. I've been taking a bunch of ibuprofen to try to keep the pain and any swelling down.

Dee is awesome in the kitchen! She spent the afternoon on a wonderful treat for FHE tonight: apple strudel. She bought the dough and prepared the apples, then braided the dough by cutting and folding it just right. Pinterest is her best friend these days.

Of course it was all devoured. 

A couple of sister missionaries from out of town (Terni) came by the Institute for much of the afternoon. It was their P-day, and they got warm, had internet access, and enjoyed some chicken soup my wife had just made. We made some friends today.

About half a dozen kids showed up for FHE, which is typical, followed by two rousing games of Cover Your Assets, the final one of which was won by my wife.

My lesson was on Eric Liddell, the Scottish sprinter who was the main character in the movie Chariots of Fire. These kids are too young to know the move or the story, though a few of them had heard of it. What makes the story special to me, beyond the wonderful devotion he showed to his faith by refusing to run in his favored event at the 1924 Olympics because the final was on a Sunday, is that in the late 1980s I became friends with a man from England who had known him. After the Olympics, Eric went to China as a Christian missionary. When WW II broke out, the Japanese captured that part of China, and Eric spent the war in a brutal prison camp, where my friend was a youngster whose parents were also there as Christian missionaries. My friend (I don't remember his name now) cried as he told the story of how Eric was his hero: Eric was always encouraging and counseling the kids, and he gave most of his food to the kids. He ended up dying of a tumor brought on in part because of his malnutrition, in effect sacrificing his life for the children. I have read a biography of Eric Liddell, and the way he gave his life to Christ is very inspiring.

Tonight missionary transfers were announced, and our two Ganziani are staying for at least another six weeks. We are delighted, as they are very good missionaries and easy to work with. The missionaries in our ward are being cut back from two sets of elders to one pair, as fewer new ones are arriving this week -- the numbers in the mission go up and down a bit throughout the year. There will still be a pair of sister missionaries in our ward. A transfer is quite a logistical and financial exercise, with almost 60 missionaries out of about 200 moving later this week. The mission office staff (senior couples) arranges most of the air/train travel because the mission is so large geographically. Fortunately, we senior couples don't get transferred!

Full Sunday

The busy weekend is now done, and we survived! Coughing continues mostly unabated here. My talk in Sacrament meeting on gratitude and optimism (with lots of good stories) went quite well, though the clock on the wall wasn't working so I had to try to guess when to stop. Then my Sunday School lesson on continuing revelation in the church got a fair amount of participation and good comments from a number of people. Dee taught during third hour in Relief Society and said she got a lot of good participation also. Then we came home for lunch and a blessed bit of down time, with me catching up on some paperwork.

In the evening we went to the Institute to watch the recorded Face-to-Face broadcast from last week with Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard. About a dozen kids came, including three BYU students here on a quick two week break; they attended our ward and I gave them the Institute address, which was two blocks from their hotel. We had one room listening in English and one in Italian.

Ugo brought rolls and the rest of the porchetta, so afterwards we had sandwiches and finished off the dessert leftovers from Friday night. I didn't get to watch the broadcast because we were preparing food in the kitchen the whole time.

When we arrived, the place was still dirty from Friday night, with four big bags of trash not taken out. The cleaning service we use hadn't been there yesterday as they are supposed to do. They have not been doing a good job, so we may need to hire somebody else. They apologized when we called to complain, but this isn't the first time.

This next week promises to be a lot less hectic than last week, which will be a welcome change, but it has been wonderful.

Baptism

Saturday, P-day: we both slept in -- very well deserved after such a busy week. I walked down to get a few things for us at the grocery store, plus make copies of the new key for our external apartment door, which they re-keyed yesterday. At the little farmers' market right outside our door, which is only open three mornings a week, I also bought some pizza romana, a luscious local pizza-style bread with salt and oil, fresh and warm from the oven. Otherwise we were home all morning and most of the afternoon. It was so nice to have time to clean the floors and do a big bunch of laundry. Dee even cut her own hair, which was a feat without a back mirror view. We both worked on our lessons for tomorrow, and I polished up my talk, which involved translating a lot of quotes and stories into Italian.

This evening we went to a baptism for a GANS-age girl, Ylenia. She has been coming to some things at the Institute for a while, and meeting with the sisters for nine months. She is sharp and seems like a real sweetheart. Her parents aren't supportive at this time, but hopefully will be softened by the love of the ward.

The turnout was pretty good, and it was a nice ceremony. When she came out of the water, she slipped and fell! Marble floors and water are a bad combination. It wouldn't have been too good if she didn't survive her baptism! Anyway, she was a good sport about it and recovered quickly. During the baptism meeting, two GANS girls gave the talks, and Ylenia bore a brief testimony after her baptism.

We spent the evening working on our lessons/talks for Sunday. Hopefully our voices will be strong enough, and our coughing under control, that we can manage to present our stuff well. I love preparing talks and lessons: the process of studying, praying, and reflecting on the topic is always wonderful for me.

Thanksgiving feast!

Wow, what a long and wonderful day we had Friday! My wife didn't sleep very well, so she was quite tired but did a yeoman's job getting the dinner together all day. I ran out in the morning to do some shopping for the day, including rolls, bread, and needles for turkey surgery. My wife got the bread for the stuffing dried out in the oven and then left overnight to get a little stale.

We left early for the Institute, getting there by 11:30am. The turkey legs went into the oven immediately to finish cooking while my wife prepared the stuffing and put it into the turkey, then sewed it shut.

The turkey went into the oven at 1:30pm. 

We then realized that we didn't have a baster, so I ran around with a printed photo of a baster syringe to two grocery stores, two hardware stores, and a pharmacy to find one; no luck, but I did get a nice walk out of it. Meanwhile, my wife found a basting brush and made that work. The turkey was really too heavy for my wife to handle, particularly once it was hot, so I got to lift it in and out to rotate and baste a few times.

Once the turkey was cooking, it was time to work on the rest of the stuffing, the sweet potatoes, and everything else. I taught my Seminary lesson at 4pm (on faith and repentance), and people started trickling in about then.  By the end of the evening we had four crockpots running: two for sweet potatoes, one for turkey legs and extra stuffing, and one for mashed potatoes (made by Trevor). 

My wife had made it clear on the WhatsApp Institute group and that there was no room (and in particular no oven time) available for anyone else, so if they wanted to bring things, which we encouraged, they had to be brought ready to eat. So, of course, around 5pm four different people showed up asking for counter space to prepare their food offerings. My wife, who usually doesn't do well with surprises like that, took a big gulp and welcomed them all in. It worked out great, though the kitchen was crowded! We got a tuna/corn salad, mashed potates, zeppole (from Alessio again), porchetta (a deliciously salty Italian cold ham for sandwiches), pumpkin pie, apple cobbler, and several other desserts.

The sweet potatoes went into the oven at the very end, covered with sliced marshmallows which we roasted to perfection. There were also two cans of cranberry sauce, which was very expensive but worth it.

The Balzottis showed up to help us out. They had volunteered, and we particularly wanted them to help with portion control, which ended up being critical. They were amazing. They love Thanskgiving, and Anziano Balzotti is quite expert at carving turkeys. We figured out how to get traffic flow working fairly well, rearranging the kitchen a bit. Then the Balzottis and I scooped out helpings of everything, pacing the portion sizes pretty well. Everyone got to try everything on the first round (we ran out of mashed potatoes on the last customer), and then we opened it up for seconds of turkey, stuffing, and sweet potatoes. There were a bunch of takers, and everything was soon devoured.

 The Institute lesson ended early so we could start eating, and there were about 30 kids who showed up by the end of the evening. All the rooms were filled to capacity, and the kids were having a blast, including a room full of karaoke participants. There were several non-members present as well, and they seemed to fit in quite well.

There are far too many photos (well over 100) to post here, but you can go see them all here if you wish, including a few brief videos. We took a lot more photos of prep than of the event, because we were so very busy once it kicked off. Many of the food items were unknown to the kids, but they all had a taste. My wife noticed that none of the discarded plastic plates had any food left on them, which is quite different from what usually happens at home. However, there were desserts left on the sweets table, which again is probably different from the USA!

Anziano Waddell showed up a bit late, with his companion on an exchange. The blissful expression on his face when he saw the full spread was heartwarming!

The Balzottis were also awesome at cleaning up; he washed all the dishes, with me and a young GANS drying. We were actually done and on our way home by 10pm, earlier than I had feared. The party was still going on when we left 😊. We made a list of things to do better next year. We were exhausted but very delighted with how well it had gone.

Thanksgiving prep

Thursday was mostly spent on food preparations for tomorrow night's feast. I did call my mom and sister in New Mexico to say happy Thanksgiving some time before they were going to eat. In the morning we went to the butcher to pick up the whole  turkey (8.1 kilograms), plus four huge turkey legs. He was very pleasant and helpful. We will go there again.

When we got to the Institute with a ton of things to carry in, the elevator was already partially occupied with a mop and bucket, which was strange. It was apparently from a guy washing the (marble) stairs.

So my wife fit in with most of the stuff, while I walked up a couple of floors. It's tight enough when the elevator is empty!

During the afternoon and evening, my wife worked on sweet potatoes, stuffing, as well as cooking the turkey legs and planning for tomorrow's logistics.

Sweet potatoes coming out, turkey legs going in

Modern art: stuffing fixings, laptop, and Nutella

We taught the advanced English class tonight, and my wife was the star, showing them our Thanksgiving food prep and explaining how it all works. So many things are unknown here, such as cranberries and sweet potatoes. The class was quite interested in it all. In talking about Thanksgiving in America, we also somehow got onto the topic of sports: first American football, then soccer, and baseball. Italy just got eliminated from the next World Cup qualifying tournament, which is a huge embarrassment and disappointment for everyone here -- it hasn't happened since the 1950s.

I worked a lot on my talk for Sunday and a couple of upcoming lessons, in between doing some dishes and odd jobs for the boss of the kitchen. We only had a few kids in during the day -- Thursdays are generally slow, but it's actually nice to get to visit with the kids one-on-one.

Day at home

Wednesday being our day off from the Institute, we stayed close to home. In the morning I walked down to the bank on the corner to try to open an account so we could get a Bancomat (ATM) card. No luck -- they require a permesso di soggiorno, which we won't have for months to come. So there are certain automated payment locations, including many gas stations, where we still can't buy anything. Bummer. While out, I also bought a few small things at the Chinese store for our Thanksgiving meal: aprons, trivets, and a potato peeler.

With heat being on during the day (mostly when we are not here ;), the laundry is drying much faster than before, which is nice. However, the lack of a dryer has another unfortunate impact for me: my wrinkle-free white dress shirts are chock full of wrinkles after hanging to dry. So I am getting pretty good at ironing, usually doing two or three at a time. 

In the afternoon I ran out to fill up the car and wash/vacuum it (only 1.50 euros at the do-it-yourself place).  Here is the reading from the gas pump:  17.85 liters at 1.57 euros per liter, which is over 7 dollars per gallon.

On the way home I went to Lidl to buy a small list of food items for Friday. We did a taste test on three different kinds of Lidl rolls for the meal and decided which one we liked most, which also happens to be the cheapest: 12 cents each, in the center of the photo. They're called little milk mouthfuls (bocconcini di latte):

I made some calls to the US to talk about rolling over my 401(k) account into an IRA, since Exar, my former employer, got bought this year and is closing its account next month. It fortunately appears to be a fairly simple transaction, with just a bit of paperwork.

Other than that, I was here all day. My cough still hangs on a bit, but overall I am feeling pretty good, including exercising in the morning. I worked on my talk for Sunday, translating quite a bit of it from a talk I gave a few years ago, with some Italian twists added. Tomorrow I'll work on the two lessons I'm teaching this weekend. It feels like we have been serving here forever, in a good way. We love what we are doing.

Dee writes: On Tuesday night, Alessio (the pizza maker) was laughing with Oscar about the way that Americans ask for the recipe for spaghetti and meatballs. He said it's not a recipe; it's a way to use up the leftover meatballs from the meat course the night before :)

A majority of the GANS are recent converts of less than two years, and the only member in their family. The Institute is a great blessing in their lives, allowing them to learn about the gospel, give service and socialize with other members. They're opening up to us more and more. It's difficult to get a job in Italy, and many of them are a bit stalled due to financial difficulties that are out of their control. We pray for them a lot.

A few things I love in Italy:

• The massive buildings
• The quattro fontane statues we pass on our drive each day
• Amazingly tasty produce
• Dish drainer over the sink

Food, glorious food

We went shopping at Lidl in the morning to get a bunch of stuff for home and for Thanksgiving. Then we went in to the Institute for Taco Tuesday.

A former missionary who had served in Rome, Anziano Kelly, showed up with his mom to see Jayno and Jomar. Jayno's mom had prepared a bunch of wonderful Philippino food (rice,  chicken, vegetables), so everyone had plenty to eat.

Afterward, my wife wanted to make a trial batch of a stuffing recipe with sausage, so she spent much of the afternoon preparing it. It turned out quite well, and everyone finished it off quickly. The trial was a success!

Alessio, who is a pizza maker by trade, then brought in some flour and stuff to make zeppole, which are kinda like donuts, covered with sugar or chocolate powder or Nutella:

They were wickedly delicious. We ate really well at the Institute today! All healthy, of course 😋. Sometimes it feels like we are on a culinary mission here -- life is tough.

I ended up teaching the advanced English class again and enjoyed it. There were five guys in the class, and one of them started asking me about how I knew there was a God, and whether science precluded belief. We had a very nice philosophical/religious discussion, in which I explained my beliefs and the church's position on science (hint: we're all for it!). Normally the English class isn't really about religion, but they were asking all the questions. Everyone contributed to the conversation and I think they enjoyed it too.

Turkey ordered, FHE feast

In the morning we ran around to several local supermarkets (Coop, EmmePiu) looking for whole turkeys, to no avail. So we went back to the butcher and ordered one, to be picked up Thursday. It's expensive, but it'll be fun for these kids to see what an American Thanksgiving meal is like. The fixings are coming together. My wife finally decided that the poultry she bought over the weekend was indeed chicken, not turkey, so we'll keep it frozen and use it for future dishes.

My wife walked from the Institute to find some local stores where they had jewelry pieces that she will use to fix a necklace (for one of the sister missionaries living below us). She found a bunch of the little brass rings she needed for under one euro, and she already has her jewelry tools from home, one of her many craft skills.

The afternoon was very slow, with no kids coming in, so we prepared for upcoming lessons and talks. Things picked up as FHE approached. My wife gave a nice lesson using some things from Marilyn Faulkner's book on the Book of Mormon, about how to prepare before we ask for things in prayer. Then we had cinnamon rolls (from Ikea) and finished off the casserole from last night. Several of the GANS, including the Ganziani, were really excited about having so much food! There was one extra cinnamon roll left, so we played a game of Uno for it, and Anziano Waddell won.

 

We got home a few minutes earlier than usual. It was fairly cold today, and I wore my new heavy jacket, which worked quite well. My cough has been fairly subdued all day, but still isn't gone.

Chilly Sunday, with potluck

It was fairly chilly today, but the sun was out, which helped. Church was very enjoyable, with some good talks and lessons. There was a young family from Utah with two small kids, visiting Europe for a couple of months; they stayed for the whole time, which was quite impressive since there wasn't English translation for the last hour. We sat with the younger Perego kids during Sacrament meeting since their mom is out of town; as a result, we missed some of the talks, but it was fun.😊

I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting next week, which will be enjoyable for me, with a topic of my choosing. My wife will speak in a few weeks, since she's already teaching Relief Society next week. We're a bit surprised it took this long for them to ask us, given how small the ward is, but we are delighted to take our turn.

My cough seems to be pretty tame today, though perhaps my wife is coming down with it. If she gets it, it will probably last two or three hours. That's how she is. I'm jealous. 

I spent much of the afternoon working on my talk and lesson for next Sunday. My wife was in the kitchen, preparing a ham and cheese pasta casserole for a senior missionary potluck dinner at the mission home this evening.  The dinner was very enjoyable, getting to know the folks better, including some people who work full-time at the temple construction site. They had us and the Balzottis introduce ourselves, since it was our first time. There were lots of laughs and lots of good stories all evening.

Funeral

Saturday was our P-day. Lorenzo Perticaroli, a long-time member of the church here in Rome and one of the early branch/ward leaders, passed away of cancer this week. My wife knew him and his young family in the 1970s when she was here, and I had met them a couple of times over the years -- wonderful folks. The funeral was this morning across town, and I was going to attend along with my wife. Unfortunately I forgot to take my cough meds last night before bed (because I hadn't been coughing much), so I woke up coughing for a good while in the middle of the night and wasn't feeling well enough to attend. If you know my wife, you know that she loves a good funeral. She got to see some people she knew from way back when and enjoyed it all quite a bit, though it took a good part of the day.

When she got home, we went out to Conad to do some shopping for us and for a senior missionary potluck dinner tomorrow. My wife saw a real deal on some turkey legs and bought a bunch to freeze for our meal next week. When we got home, the printed labels said chicken, not turkey. Since she had never seen any chicken legs that big, she assumed it must be turkey! Having tasted it now, we're fairly sure it's turkey, so that's the story we're sticking with.😋

In the evening, the Balzottis came over to use our printer for their Sunday school lesson because theirs isn't working. We had a great time -- they are so nice and so funny, with a really entertaining way of telling their stories. We just laugh a lot when we are together.

It was nice to have a relaxed day. Hopefully my cough will be more tame overnight. We are looking forward to being with our ward in church tomorrow.

Two lessons and two casseroles

Friday was several degrees warmer than past days, which was a welcome change. I had energy all day and my voice is almost completely normal, so this this illness is nearly over after a tough week.

In the morning we went to a local butcher shop, recommended by Sister Knies, to ask for a whole turkey. The customer service was great, but it turns out that turkey is much more expensive here than at home, so my wife wanted time to think it over. We'll probably go back tomorrow and place the order. She then found some sweet potatoes at the open market, and Sister Knies found her some (expensive) cranberries at an international market, so the Thanksgiving dinner is coming together. Cranberries are not well known here; the word is translated in Italian as "red American blueberries".

My wife drove to the Institute, so she is getting a bit more comfortable with driving around. I spent most of the afternoon preparing my lessons, while she heated up some frozen cinnamon rolls from Ikea for my Seminary kids (only three today) and worked on the two big tuna casseroles for the Institute dinner tonight. Lots of stuff went wrong with the latter -- she had made it before very successfully, but somehow every thing went sideways today, so the dinner was a bit late after the lesson. Fortunately, the kids had a great time hanging around visiting, and then they ate everything up once it was done.

My Seminary lesson was on the atonement of Christ, and it went well. The kids are pretty comfortable with me, and they are happy to share comments and experiences. My Institute lesson also seemed to go ok, on 2 Nephi 25-30, which has some favorite scriptures and fun quotes. The class was a little smaller than normal, but I was able to get a fair amount of participation from the kids in discussing how this all applies in our lives today, which is always my goal.

We got home late due to the food delays, and the kids didn't want to leave, which is a good sign. The radiator heat turned off just as we walked in the door, but the apartment is very comfortable with the heat on.