Musical Sunday

Sunday morning I woke up to some wonderful news that made me smile and almost shed a tear. Elder Keith Draughon was my "greenie" missionary companion from North Carolina in Monza in 1976 when we first knocked on the Peregos' door. He was the one to baptize Ugo's mom, after I had been transferred away. We have kept in touch over the years and had a delightful visit with them in Alabama last June. Dee & I have visited the Peregos many times since our mission, but Saturday was the first time in over 40 years that Keith was able to see the Peregos, who are in Provo for their son Alessandro's graduation from BYU. Alessandro is Ugo's much younger brother, and he will be starting grad school at BYU in the fall. We attended his wedding a few years ago in Utah. Here is what Keith's wrote to me about the meeting:

Words cannot adequately describe the joy I felt tonight! Thank you for keeping in touch with the Peregos all these years so I could experience this happy reunion!

Draughons and Peregos

 

 

A few days ago we received a Valentine's Day card in the mail from our daughter Wendy, who loves making and sending cards. It took well over two months to arrive here. She kept asking whether we had received it. Usually things get here in under two weeks, but we were delighted to have it at last.

At church, my Sunday School lesson went quite well, with a lot of good participation. Dee's presentation in Primary also went fine, helping the kids to set some rules for behavior and reverence. She is really good at keeping little kids interested and entertained (teenagers, not so much :). It was nice for her to model some of the techniques for the local leaders who are challenged by some very rambunctious kids.

Joshua Perego just turned 16 this week, so after church he was ordained a priest by his dad.  We had attended his blessing as a baby in 2002 in Utah, and it was neat to be able to participate in the ordination. I have a long and interesting history of being present for Perego family events.

We got home in time for a little lunch and quick nap for me. I am feeling much better: I was only slightly sleepy this time, not wiped out like most of the week. Then we headed out for stake choir practice, which is called prove in Italian -- that word always sounds like "tryouts" to us, but that is the word they use for a practice. At 3pm we had practice by sections, so I got to learn my parts in the basement of Rome 2 with the basses. At 4pm-ish we started the big practice, with quite a large choir in attendance, maybe 50 people. It went on for almost two hours, as we are learning four pieces for stake conference in a couple of weeks. It is fun to hang with the Italians and get to know them a bit.

From there we ran across town to a guitar concert by Larry Green, a BYU music prof and long-time friend of the Herways. The Herways explained a bit about what they do with LDS Charities, and then Larry gave an incredible guitar exhibition for over half an hour. The finger work was most impressive. His wife and Anziano Herway joined in to accompany him vocally for the last couple of numbers; apparently he and Anziano Herway were in a band together when they were teenagers. There were probably about 50 people in attendance, including a lot of our GANS.

Sitting near us was a little girl listening to the concert, and for a while she was moving her fingers as if playing the guitar. It was sooo cute!

We got home by about 8:30pm after a long day, but with smiles on our faces. At 10pm we talked with Wes and his girlfriend Alyssa via WhatsApp video. We recently learned that Wes will be speaking at his graduation ceremony at Cal State Fullerton next month! They are coming here in July and we are trying to figure out where her mother's family comes from in Sicily so we can all go there together. It was fun to chat with them.