The girls arrive

Tuesday morning we did a bit more cleanup and setup for our guests. I went down to Conad to buy a bunch of fruit and a few things for their breakfast. I also ran over to the car wash and rinsed the car down pretty well. 

President Pickerd called with a bit of difficult news: the Paulsens, a wonderful senior couple serving as mission secretary and mission financial secretary, are going home for medical reasons to try to get treatment, so the Knieses are being trained on little notice to take over. It is unclear whether the Paulsens will be able to return to complete their time. That means that the Knieses cannot any longer fill in for us on Wednesday afternoons, nor can they continue to teach the Institute class in Naples on Saturday afternoon. I volunteered to take over that class to help out, starting this Saturday, so I will teach a lesson on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It will be fun for me, but definitely adds to the load. Another senior couple was supposed to arrive in Naples soon, but it turns out that their daughter just died, so they now have to raise their grandchildren and cannot come on a mission. They are all doing the best they can in difficult situations. I do not envy the President with all the changes he has to juggle!

At 11:30am we headed to the Institute, where I did a few things to help prepare for Taco Tuesday before leaving for the airport. The Ganziani also came by early to help out as we had requested, so I left things in good hands. Ugo showed up with cilantro that Dee used to make salsa and avocado that he cut up for everyone, and even some limes. Anziano Kimball was there to enjoy the feast on his final day before returning home.

The flight for  Marilyn and Lu (I call them "the girls") was running a bit late, which was good because driving to the airport from downtown is confusing and error prone, even with Google Maps. I missed one turn onto the freeway and had to go quite a ways to make a U-turn, then I had a hard time following the signs at the airport for short term parking, going around a couple of extra times. If I went to the airport more often, it would be easy, but not having Dee with me (due to Taco Tuesday duty) to spot signs was a detriment. Anyway, I finally got parked and into the terminal about the time their plane from Frankfurt landed.

It still took them quite a while to come out from security, because Marilyn's luggage got caught somewhere and she couldn't locate it. Here they are at last:

We drove home on the freeway fairly uneventfully, though it rained quite hard along the way, which is nice in that it has cooled things off. I tried to drive them by the temple site on the way without using the GPS, but turns out I don't know how, so we went around the freeway a couple of times and finally gave up, arriving at the apartment around 4pm. We dropped off their luggage and then drove into town. There the girls got to see Dee and Ugo (he knows Marilyn from past visits in Utah) and a few of our GANS.

Next the girls and I headed out to do a little sightseeing. One goal was simply to keep them awake so they would sleep well that night, to stave off jet lag. We went to see the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, and then the church St. Peter in Chains (this is not St. Peter's of Vatican fame), both pretty easy walking distance from the Institute. The art is stupendous in both churches, in particular for me the statue of Moses by Michelangelo at St. Peter in Chains. Years ago, it was allowed to get up close enough to the statue to touch the toes, but now you can only get about 20 feet from it -- still very impressive. It rained a bit more along the way, but fortunately we had brought some of the "extra" little unclaimed umbrellas from the Institute, one of which immediately broke and was tossed.

The girls inside Santa Maria Maggiore

Marilyn and I outside San Pietro in Vincoli

We returned from our jaunt and headed down the little enoteca/cafe downstairs for a light meal of sandwiches and quiche, plus a pastry or two. The owner, Signora Chirra, and her daughter were there and so we got to visit a minute with them. She recommended a good gelato place a few blocks away, which we thoroughly enjoyed. It is an Italian law that you have to eat gelato the first summer evening in the country. 😉

By then the girls were deservedly zonked, so we headed home a bit early and let them go to bed. This will be a very fun visit.

Marilyn generously brought a bunch of stuff for us from America, and I was delighted to have some new tops, my favorite face cleanser and some new KNITTING NEEDLES! She said her suitcase was still only at 32 pounds. She is amazing.

I made cookies with oil instead of butter and the recipe was an instant success. Ugo couldn't leave the butterscotch walnut cookies alone, and plenty of other people helped themselves. I wanted to try these because Anziano Papritz doesn't eat dairy. They are definitely a go-to recipe from now on. The elders were a big help, and we actually got everything ready ahead of time. Unfortunately, our turnout was very small. I forgot to take pictures, since that is usually Doug's niche. Attending: Fabrizio, Briant Kimball, Ugo, Alessio, Fabrizio's work colleague Francesca (for the first time). 
I also did a ton of dishes, and I'm sure that Doug was glad he wasn't the kitchen slave this time. Fabrizio and his wife really like the sour cream. It's not easily found in Italy, and when he heard we could get a big tub for 3 euro, he had us buy him one.

Chris Campos came for the first time in a long time. Ugo welcomed him and he copied my recipes for pancakes and those cookies. We had a nice talk. He's a friend of Margie's, and a really great guy. I hope we see more of him. He is a teacher and also plays guitar in a band, so he practiced on the guitar and piano here.

Ivan also plays piano and got recruited to play for the refugee gospel choir. He is 17 and doing great things. This will be a fine opportunity for him.

I am now supposed to walk with about 20% weight on my crutches, adding an hour a day. It's a lot faster and Doug is deliriously happy at leaving the scooter at home. But I can't carry anything with a crutch in each hand, so I'm looking forward to more freedom soon. I should be done with the crutches within a week. If I already wrote this, I can't remember  because it's almost midnight and I'm running on fumes.

Luckily we caught on that Marilyn and Lu had American appliances that cannot be used without a power converter. Our wonderful Sorelle loaned them a flatiron and a power converter, so we're all set. Lu brought a huge jar of jelly bellies which Doug has thoroughly enjoyed.