The date March 4th is a meaningful one for me. I finished my mission in 1977 and came home on March 4th. My dad had a small gathering, with invitations saying "March forth on March fourth". The funny backstory is that when I went to my last interview with my mission president, I learned that my Dad had been trying to get me released early, and the mission president had grudgingly agreed. When he told me about it in the interview, I was horrified because I loved my mission so much, and was hoping to EXTEND by a couple of months, not cut it short! My Dad's style is to always be early, but I sure didn't want to apply that trait to ending my mission. So March 4th was the date I ended up with, giving me an extra two weeks as a missionary. I don't think anyone was allowed to extend for two months.
He always phones me on March 4 and we reminisce about that day. It was a treat to get his call this year.
Sunday morning, leaving for church, we had to laugh at a very Italian moment. The night before, returning from the stake conference session where we sang, we got a nice parking spot right next to a driveway entrance. There was a line painted on the road showing where the parking zone ended, and I carefully adjusted my position a couple of times to ensure that our car wasn't blocking the driveway. When we returned in the morning, there was an orange car parked next to us, halfway blocking the driveway! The rule here seems to be that you can park in front of almost anything, as long you leave an inch or two on each side for others to get through. Sigh.
Church was wonderful, as always. It was fast and testimony meeting, and we now know folks well enough that there is extra enjoyment in hearing them discuss their trials and blessings. Ugo conducted the meeting and gave us a good chuckle up front. In August there's a ward temple trip -- 14 hours on a bus each way to Switzerland! This is a long-standing tradition around here, though when the Rome temple finally opens (who knows when? -- we don't!) the practice will almost certainly disappear. Anyway, it's quite cheap: 150 euros apiece for the bus and five nights in the patron housing in Switzerland. Ugo suggested to members of our ward that they might want to start making down payments to the ward to cover their trip ahead of time so that it's not one big lump sum due in the summer. Our ward isn't very well-to-do, so that is good advice. He then added, "or you can pay us 75 euros, and we'll just leave you up there!"
Cristiano, the first counselor in our bishopric, gave a wonderful testimony. He is a real character, lots and lots of fun. Saturday he was driving and realized that he was in the left turn lane but needed to turn right. Being Italian and having a car with a powerful engine, he decided to gun it when the light changed and cut across three lanes to turn right. In doing so, he cut off an older lady in the far lane, who followed him for a while and finally pulled in front, blocking his way. She got out and started yelling and cursing at him. He admitted to us that she was right, and he just stood there silently and took it from her for a while, as a crowd gathered. He said that he learned some new words and phrases as she went on and on! Finally, not knowing how to get her to stop, he reached into his car and pulled out a Book of Mormon from the front seat, apologized to her and gave her the book. She immediately became quiet and the tension evaporated. After a minute of silence, she said "how did you know that I used to be a Mormon?" She told him that she left the church because she had such a bad temper and couldn't control her emotions, so she felt like she didn't fit in. He invited her to come to church again and gave her the address of the chapel nearest to her; she said that she would consider it. Cristiano's closing comment was, "I'm going to make sure that I always have a Book of Mormon available in my car in the future, and drive better, too!"
My Sunday School lesson on Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac, seemed to go pretty well. I was tired, so I'm not sure I was at my best, but Dee thought that it was very good. There were some nice comments from all around the room. I started with an old
joke of mine, related to the topic, which I carefully explained was a joke before starting. The question is "How do we know that Isaac wasn't a teenager when Abraham was asked to sacrifice him?" The answer: "Because if he was a teenager, it wouldn't have been a sacrifice -- his father would have been happy to do it!" At first there were some puzzled looks, then a couple of people started chuckling, and then everybody got it and burst into laughter. After that, I made the lesson was much more spiritual.
From church we went directly to the Institute, taking with us some lunch to eat there to break our fast. I also changed clothes from my suit to warmer slacks and an overcoat. The reason for all this was a GANS activity: going to the national museum Castel Sant'Angelo (Castle of St. Angelo), which is near the Vatican. It's an impressive fort which was home to a pope in the 1500s. On the first Sunday of each month, most museums in Rome have free admission, so this is a good way to do something cultural without spending money. The activity was not without its problems, but we had fun. First of all, it rained almost the whole time. When we selected this spot, we thought it was an indoor museum, but almost all of it was outdoors. Fortunately, we were covered most of the time, and umbrellas helped the rest of the time. Second, the entrance line was very long, what with it being free and all. Third, most of the kids were really late, like 90 minutes or so, so we didn't get to meet up with everybody as hoped. Thus, we went in with the Balzottis, Maria Jose (who planned the activity) and her nephew Luis, two of my students. The views from the top were wonderful, with St. Peter's Basilica not far away. Dee loves the guns and swords because they fit in with her love of steampunk.
After we left, a bunch of the kids went to the Institute for a while on their own, including Andrea, the investigator. It's wonderful that they enjoy being together so much.
At home, we found a parking place very close (it's always an adventure finding a spot, particularly after dark), but it required parallel parking. I nailed it, again! Not sure how or why I can do that so well now, but I'm not complaining. 😊