Dee walking all over Napoli

On Saturday, Dee went with me to Napoli for the first time to teach the Institute class. I dropped her off at the train station to minimize her walking, then parked at the Institute and walked over. From there on, she walked the entire rest of the day, which was well over a mile. She was wearing her boot, using crutches as walking sticks, and going way faster than she ever did before breaking her foot! She said it all felt great. I loved being able to move! Here she is walking down the street from the chapel in Naples.

 

It certainly makes for a long day, well over 8 hours away from home, so there is stuff to catch up on, but it was wonderful. Dee gave hugs to each of the guys there the first time she met them, and they loved her chocolate-chip cookies. These guys are so sincere and full of the spirit, and they know their New Testament! Each of them lives in a refugee camp, so their life is very tough. Dee had some very nice comments during the lesson on Luke 14-15. We all had a really good discussion about the parable of the prodigal son, similar to the one the night before in Rome. They had never really noticed the famine part either. They had some really insightful questions as we discussed some of the difficult things Christ asks us to do as Christians. We all came away from the lesson feeling very uplifted. They love to sing, so we always have an opening and closing hymn. This was a terrific experience.

Peter, Dee, Maxwell, Sunday

 

When we got back to Rome, Dee was feeling good and walked with me to the Institute. From there we drove to Lidl before going home, filling up the basket with a bunch of stuff for us and for the Institute. Arriving home, we left some non-perishables in the trunk to take directly to the Institute on Sunday, which allowed me to carry the rest up to the apartment in only two trips. We are both delighted at how well she did with all the walking, though her feet were quite tired after getting home, as were mine!

Dee called Ashley, a GANS from Utah who is here as an au pair for a couple of months to try to teach English to a child of her host. Dee told her about everything we have going at the Institute, and Ashley wants to come. President Pickerd had met her at the airport when she was getting picked up by her host family.

My mom and three sisters were in St. Johns, Arizona, to bury the ashes of my aunt Elma, who passed away last fall just before turning 100. They sent a photo, and I called and got to chat with them for a bit. It would have been nice to be there, but at least I got to participate indirectly.

After that I worked on my temple prep lesson for Sunday. It was hot, so I turned on the AC in my back office for a while. We were both pretty tired after a long day, but we look forward to Napoli next time.