They announced a change whereby they will now combine Elders Quorum and High Priest groups in each ward, which wipes out Ugo's brand new calling. So we kidded him that he can't seem to keep any callings these days!
I had downloaded the Saturday afternoon session in English and Italian, but the Priesthood session wasn't available for download yet in Italian, so we watched it streaming. The internet connection at our chapel is very slow, so that was a concern, but it seemed to work ok. At noon, we had a three-hour potluck lunch plus barbecue provided by the ward, including a bunch of our GANS whom Ugo had invited. We all ate a LOT! Dee writes: I love the Italian cakes in the shape of a lamb or a dove. They have a topping of almonds and sugar, and sometimes a cream filling. And Elia's artichokes are amazing, made with an herb called Mentuccia, which I've never heard of. It's called Lesser Calamint or Lemon Balm in English. I brought peanut butter bars, which were a big hit. We don't know why peanut butter is so pricey here, but it's rare. The Italians love it and the Americans crave it.
One of our young singles, Junior, is learning about the Church. It's really touching to see him studying. And, he came to the whole Sunday gathering. He is a really nice, thoughtful guy.
We also had two other investigators at Church, both middle-aged men who have been studying with the young missionaries. They're both getting baptized Saturday! Russell works at a bed and breakfast and about three months ago, two couples stayed there. They told him it would be better for him to stop drinking coffee, and invited him to learn more about the Church. So, he did. Now he wants to come to Church every week, so he wants to get a different job. His wife is also starting to show interest. The other man, Fabrizio, is also blossoming in the Church.
I got to meet Davide Brando, one of my online students. He is the husband of Dalila Vardeu. They're expecting their first child and she is studying for her degree in family history through BYU online. Her BYU profs don't quite know what to do with her, since they want to teach people to find their ancestors in the USA federal censuses. But she is quite bright and managing it all. Her husband is also terrific, and I loved getting to talk with him.
At 3pm, being very full, we watched the Saturday afternoon session, using my downloaded copy in Italian in the chapel, while streaming English in the bishop's office and French in the clerk's office for a sister we have from Congo who only speaks French. No one dozed off after the big lunch, vbg. Surprisingly, the internet worked well enough for two simultaneous streaming sessions. However, when it came time for the live Sunday morning session (6pm our time), we tried doing three live streams in Italian, English, and French, and it started buffering a lot. So I took my phone and had our French-speaking sister watch in low resolution, using my data plan (only about 400MB for the two hours), which allowed the other two streams to work ok.
For the little kids, it was a great event, with lots of time to run around barefoot and play with their friends. Church is more relaxed here as far as children are concerned.
Everyone was excited to hear from Elder Massimo De Feo, a Seventy in the European Area Presidency, who was the first stake president here and is very beloved. He gave a nice talk in English, though we only heard the translated version. Overall there were some wonderful talks during the day. I will later read them all in English and probably get a lot out of it. 😀
The Magnantis got the news mid-day that her 89-year-old father had fallen and broken his femur, so they had to leave to go see him in the hospital. Dee and Jenna were in the kitchen with Elia when she got the news, and she was understandably a bit shaken. She and my wife are now good friends; She asked Dee to offer a prayer, which helped calm her down.
Our son Rich emailed us to say that he had bought a dog named April, and that he would send us more details and photos once she stopped using his phone as a chew toy. For just a second we each thought "Whaaaa?" but then we realized it was April 1st. Good one!
I also got an email from RogerK, my penultimate mission companion, in 1977 in Pavia, along with some photos which brought back memories. We lost our mission photos in the 1996 wildfire, so it was awesome to get copies:
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| Me with my trusty steed (Pavia 1977) |
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| Pavia Elders, March 1977 (Roger and I on the right) |
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| Me tracting (Pavia 1977) |
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| Roger and wife with the Giusto family (Pavia 2017) |
Next week we plan on only being in church for three hours, but this was definitely one of those wonderful Italian days: lots of food and the spirit, friendship, and no hurry.