Good Samaritan

Friday morning we went to Metro for some bulk food purchases, because it was the only time in the next week or so we could easily figure out how to go there. Dee navigated the huge store (think Costco) on crutches, and afterward it took me three trips upstairs from the car to carry everything in at the Institute. They had almost everything in stock that we needed, except for sour cream, so we may need to run by again sometime.

During the afternoon I finished preparing for both my Luke lessons. Dee spent the whole time preparing a marvelous dinner, with her ham and chicken pasta casserole with ranch and cheddar. In addition, she made a carrot cake. I forgot to bring the cream cheese, but they liked it just fine without frosting.  The pasta dish was particularly great this time, kinda crunchy on top, and everyone raved about it. I was able to streamline the prep, which made cleanup easier as well. Elder Papritz doesn't eat dairy, and he was delighted to have a chicken salad sandwich in a tortilla, toasted in our panino press. He is easy to please. 

Elder Wijesundera's birthday is coming, so I asked him if he had a request. It was....salad! So, we'll have salad next Friday.

I had ordered a new small/tall table from Amazon to use for teaching. In the US, the ward buildings have a nice rolling tall table that I like to use to hold my notes when I teach. Here we only had a big folding table, which was both too large for the classroom and too short for me. So we found this nice table online, not very expensive, 43" tall (at first it seemed too tall, but it worked great), and doesn't take up too much room in the class. The night before, we got a great parking spot right in front of Paolo's office, so when he messaged me that the package was here, I just carried it about 30 feet and put it in the trunk. Very nice! The table went together easily enough, and it is a winner for me.

The girls returned from France, taking the train in from the airport and then doing some shopping in the neighborhood before returning to the Institute. They had a great time in Paris. They decided to do one last bit of sightseeing in the afternoon: visiting the Church of the Bones in Rome. It is a weird thing, but strangely compelling: a nearby monastery for centuries took the bones from skeletons of deceased monks and decorated a bunch of rooms with them. There is a room for skulls, a room for femurs, a room for shoulder blades, etc. It is only one subway stop away from the Institute, so I ran them over and dropped them off. Later they came back, printed out boarding passes, then headed to our apartment on the subway to start packing to fly back home on Saturday.

My lesson on Luke 10-11 went really well. We had four English-only speakers, including Christina and Noelle, so the two Ganziani translated for them in pairs. Everyone ended up participating in a good discussion, in whatever language, mostly about the parable of the Good Samaritan, finding different ways of applying the parable to us. At times in our lives, each of us can be found in various roles in the parable. I shared one interpretation used by the early church fathers, which interested them quite a bit. It was fun to have the interplay of languages going back and forth, and there was a wonderful spirit there. Next week I get to do that lesson in English in Naples.

Ready to go into the ovven

 

 

 

 

We got home earlier than usual on Friday, mostly because we had each done a bunch of dishes ahead of time. I can do dishes now that I can stand up more. The Sorelle came home in our car. We enjoyed some good visiting with Marilyn and Lu while they packed. Everyone agreed that their visit had been a smashing success, and we will miss them.

Noelle asked us what to do with the beggars. There are so many here in Rome. She didn't want to turn her back on them, but was overwhelmed by their numbers. Doug said he gives them his loose change, and reminded her that she is also helping the needy with her fast offerings.

Martine came early and we got to talk. She is trying to hard to get a job and was discouraged. She has no family support, and really needs to find a job soon. Life is tough for so many of our young people.

My foot is doing well, and I can walk with a more normal gait with the crutches. I'm getting faster and Doug is so happy about it.

It was so much fun to visit with Marilyn and Lu. They are amazing guests. They did dishes, brought us goodies from America and bought gifts for us here. They never ceased to tell us that they were having a good time. They also brought me some earrings from Paris, which I like very much.