Family History at home
Monday was an unusual day for us. Anziani Bellucci and Empey came to our apartment from Ostia, over an hour on the train and subway, to work on their family history here on their P-day. We figured this was the easiest place for them to get to, and our new fast internet also helped sway the decision over where to meet. They arrived at the Jonio subway stop around 10:30am, where we picked them up and drove them here. Anziano Bellucci just had ingrown toenail surgery and was wearing a boot on one foot, so he couldn't walk much. We spent a great hour or so. They were both very sharp and caught on very fast. Dee worked with Anziano Bellucci; she had done a bunch of Italian work on his side and shared it with him, teaching him how to extend what she had started. I worked with Anziano Empey. I was able to help Anziano Empey get back a couple of generations on his maternal great-grandfather's line, attaching a bunch of sources to his people and teaching him a good trick or two along the way.
They needed to get back home, and we needed to go to the Institute, so we had to end just one hour, albeit a very one. Dee had cooked some tuna pasta casserole, which they loved. We had them take a bunch of it home, which was a bit hit with them!
It had taken most of the morning to prepare all the food, plus some time the night before for the chocolate crackers Dee made. I had to make an early run to Conad to get some ingredients, and there was no line at all at 8:30am! I helped out as much as I could, including stirring, washing dishes, and shredding.
We then all drove down to the Institute, which they had never seen before. Along the way we pointed out a few landmarks, such as the catacombs and the Quattro Fontane statues that Dee loves. After they saw our "office", I drove them a few blocks over to the train station to save Anziano Bellucci from having to walk too much. On the way back, I may have ended up in a bus lane, which could give me a moving violation ticket -- we'll see. The lanes are so faintly marked that it's hard to tell.
In the afternoon I worked on my FHE lesson, plus did some reading and printed out materials for my Friday lessons. Dee made Rice Krispie treats and more chocolate crackers for FHE.
By the time 7pm rolled around, we only had one GANS present for home evening and we were starting to worry. But then the intercom started buzzing, and we ended up with a full table.
My lesson was on "unspoken" cultural and doctrinal assumptions in the scriptures. For example, in John chapter 9, where Christ heals the man born blind from birth, his disciples first asked who had sinned to make him be born blind: him or his parents. If there were no pre-mortal existence, the question would make no sense at all; instead Christ just answered the question, showing that they all probably assumed there was a pre-existence, as in LDS doctrine. I gave a number of examples from 1 Nephi where cultural assumptions behind certain details in the story line are middle eastern, certainly not from Joseph Smith's milieu. Most seemed to really enjoy it, though the three non-members may have been a bit puzzled by some of it. At one point, talking about Lehi in the desert (hat tip to Hugh Nibley), I asked whether Italy had any deserts at all. Sheyla looked around the room and observed, "we don't have any Italians here; how would we know?", which got a big laugh. Indeed, no one at the table was a native Italian; there were people from the USA, Philippines, South America, Central America, and Africa.
Afterwards everyone enjoyed my wife's treats in the kitchen. These deserts are not standard Italian fare, so everyone had questions about what they were as they munched.
Seven of us then played a couple of games of Cover Your Assets, which was a lot of fun. Three non-members were playing; they caught on real fast and were appropriately aggressive. It's a fun game, with good strategy involved. By the time we got home, we were tired but pleased with the good we had done this day.
