Back to work

After a long and busy holiday weekend, we were back to the Institute on Tuesday. It felt very odd to have missed Monday there.  The weather was sunny with the high temperature hitting 70F, so spring is definitely here, and it is very welcome. 

We had a smaller group for Taco Tuesday than in recent weeks, partly perhaps because folks were exhausted from an all-day stake service project cleaning the beach in Ostia on Monday. Several of the kids showed up quite sunburned. 

We had a new visitor from the US: Natanya, who will be living in Rome as an au pair for three months. Her mom Connie, who served a mission in Milano in the 1980s, was also there. They fit right in. We exchanged contact info and filled them in on all the activities available at the Institute. After lunch, Dee walked them down to a local Chinese store to buy a plug adapter and phone charger. Dee writes:As you would expect, the mom is a little worried about her daughter, even though they're both excited about the opportunity for Natanya to live in Italy.


Choir was quite fun. The group was small, but Lorenzo said that he wanted to teach the kids how to direct music, not just sing. So he had Matteo and Margie each give it a try in front of the group. Both of them know music quite well but had never directed before. They both did great for a first time! Matteo started out with some confusion, but caught on remarkably quickly. It is much harder than it looks. Margie in particular was immediately in charge of the group, and they both smiled a lot at the learning experience. Ugo brought a chocolate lamb cake, which was very well received.

Dee writes: Jhamil, a young single from our ward (originally from Bolivia), came in to sign up for Pathway. It was the last day and he had to pass the English qualifying test. Pathway is an online program to get a college degree through BYU Idaho and a great opportunity for these young people to get an education at low cost.

Grace, one of our singles, got robbed on the metro and lost her phone. Lorenzo, the choir teacher, also got his phone stolen. His wife had it in her purse on the bus and someone bumped into her. The bump was actually a distraction to steal from her. Jhamil told us he witnessed an old woman get beat up by two men on the street in Bolivia, in the middle of the day, as they stole her purse. He was just a little kid when he saw it, and it left a big impression. The nice part is that some neighbors saw the robbery and chased the guy, retrieving the purse. This was all a good reminder to us to be more careful. Wednesday I'll be on the bus to the dentist, so I appreciate the wake-up call.

In the evening there was a small group for English class, plus Ugo's class via Zoom with a few students in person. We got to leave a bit early and were home by 9pm, which was nice.

Monday evening the missionary transfers were announced. We are losing Sister Ricks below us after about six months, going to Cagliari in Sardegna. Anziano Osmond is heading to Lecce, and our DL Anziano Ferrara is going to Napoli. We have loved these wonderful young missionaries and will really miss them, but their replacements will be awesome as well.