Sunday Skype with our kids

Sunday morning before going to church, it occurred to me that we should ask the Knieses if we could use their fiber-based internet for our Skype call with our kids in the evening. Doing it from our apartment instead would give a very unsatisfying video experience. So I called to ask, and her first response was classic: "We have a really good IT guy who helps us; you should talk with him!" But of course they were very willing to help out.

At church, I gave the bishopric some foam microphone shields that I bought for a few euros on Amazon, without being asked. The mic in the chapel tends to have issues, including lots of pops when speakers use certain hard consonants, so the shield should help. They had just recently cobbled together a shield with a flat sheet of green foam and electrical tape (shown below), so they were delighted and surprised to see me show up with a nice looking black one that fit perfectly!

 Cristiano d'Elia and Stefano Bosco and frankenmic

In Sacrament meeting, they had Anziano Bentley bear his final testimony before returning home this week. They also had testimonies from two former missionaries, who had served in the ward a few years ago and later ended up marrying each other. It was all very touching. The former elder was Alessando DiCaro, son of Marco DiCaro, whom I knew in Monza in 1976. Marco and his wife were also there. We have met them a number of times over the decades, including many years when they lived in Pavia, one of our favorite haunts. I have mentioned Marco's dad, Enzo, in a previous blog entry; he was a wonderful man. Alessandro's wife is American but speaks Italian very well. Her accent is almost perfect, it was amazing to hear her. Alessandro is good friends with Ugo's younger brother Alessandro, and both of them are now at school at BYU in Provo. Marco had us take a photo that he could send to his mom, who hopefully remembers me and my wife.

My lesson in Sunday School seemed to go quite well. There was a fair amount of participation, and when I read a significant portion of the Orson Scott card parable, the room was silent and attentive. It really makes you think. I believe that my on-the-fly translation was adequate, with an occasional lifeline to the English speakers in the audience (e.g., how do you say "title to a car"?). Everyone seemed to love it, and a few folks asked me for a copy. I gave the printout to Marco, who said he wanted to translate it into Italian, so hopefully I can get that from him once he's done with it. I also got Marco's updated contact info, so we can stay in touch.

After church, I helped Sorella Manning install the new 64GB SD card in her tablet so she can have a removable copy of her photos at full resolution (Google Photos downgrades the quality a bit). Next Sunday I'll make another backup copy onto a flash drive for her, as she is likely to be transferred the following week. I also figured out what Sorella N'zoungani needs to do similarly for her tablet and will get the parts this week.

The ward clerk's new computer cannot seem to get the church MLS program running, which is a problem. I got the login info from the bishopric and will go over there some weeknight (when the church tech support phone line in Utah is open) and try to have them walk me through an install. It's rewarding and enjoyable for me to use my tech skills to help out.

In the afternoon I took readings of the gas meters for the two missionary apartments in our building, plus our car odometer, for our monthly reports. I also caught up on a number of things, including reconciling my bank accounts. My wife made some lovely soup that we enjoyed for dinner.

At 8pm we went over to the Knieses, who graciously gave us their living room for our Skype call. It was wonderful to see our four kids, plus Wes's girlfriend Alyssa, all at our home in Carlsbad. They are so fun and clever, and we're delighted that they really like to be together. We didn't talk all that long, less than 30 minutes. Afterwards we helped the Knieses with a few tech support issues, so it was a fair exchange!

Fireworks started going off in earnest here about 5pm, and there were some very loud explosions nearby. We'll see how well we can sleep! This coming week off is probably busier than we had thought, but it's all good stuff. 2018 will be a year entirely spent in Italy, and we are delighted to be serving here.