Taco Tuesday was fairly large, though not as crowded as last week. My wife made some wonderful Spanish rice to add to the mix, a favorite of mine. We had two visitors on vacation from Brazil, invited by Margie (of course!). Everyone seems to fit in despite all the language barriers.
Just before choir at 6pm, the Ganziani called to ask if we could cover for them at the 7pm English class, since they finally got an appointment to teach a family which they had been trying to set up for weeks, and this was the only time that worked. So Dee and I had a fun time winging it, with Arsene plus two new students, Carlo and Anna Maria. We concentrated on how to talk about time (e.g., I did that five years ago; it's been a month since I went there; I played the piano for ten years when I was a child) and verb tenses, which are used quite differently in many ways between English and Italian. We made them do a lot of the talking, and everyone seemed to enjoy the hour.
Dee writes: I got to sit with Jayno and learn a bit about him and his family. He's the only one so far to join the Church. His mother moved here from the Philippines with her two oldest children about 15 years ago, and Jayno and his younger sister came two years later. He has lived here for 13 years now. His father died in 2016. He is a good-hearted young man, a gentle soul. He used to come to Institute but not to Church, but for the last several months, he has begun going to his ward as well. He loves to cook for the elders, and makes some really nice meals at the Institute for them and a few GANS. He cleans up afterward -- our main requirement 😊
Dee continues: Ugo came a bit early tonight, so we got to visit with him, too. He is very encouraging to our youth, and gives them a lot of moral support. He's such a terrific Institute director. I asked him if we could buy a bigger crockpot and he very enthusiastically approved it. I cook a lot of chicken to shred for recipes, so it will be a big help!
Sorella Bryant downstairs, who is getting transferred away from here this week, has been having regular headaches for a few weeks, something new for her. We offered her some of our stash of Excedrin to try, which we brought in large quantities because you can't buy them in Italy. It turns out that medications here are not allowed to contain caffeine, which is Excedrin's key ingredient to help deliver the aspirin/acetaminophen effectively. This seems very odd to us since you can buy all kinds of coffee products here with huge doses of caffeine, but that's the way it is. Since I don't have regular headaches any more, we aren't using much of our Excedrin supply, and it seemed to work for her when she tried it. She was so happy not to be in pain! We gave her some more pills to take with her, enough for a few weeks, by which point Sorella Knies will get her some more from the military base in Naples. So I guess we are now dealing illegal drugs here?😉
Sorella Bryant is also stressing quite a bit over her first transfer, so she asked for a Priesthood blessing in the evening after we got home. Anziano Knies and I went down and administered a blessing, with him acting as voice. He is such a wonderful, loving man! There was a peaceful and powerful spirit as he spoke the Lord's words to her.
My father-in-law is now home from the hospital, and it seems things are going better. There are long-term issues we need to address, but for now they are happy.