Peter and Maxwell showed up early, and they started calling the others to get them to come. Sunday and Christian showed up before we started, followed by Mac and Aike (two new guys for us) shortly after we started. Our lesson on Luke 19-21 was a lot of fun, though it is definitely different teaching about rich vs. poor and the widow's mite when the students are all very poor and have almost nothing. Several times I had to bite my tongue and change how I was going to present something. Dee jumped in and helped out a few times as well. We just love their sincerity, great questions and comments, as well as their incredible knowledge of the Bible. We started with the story of Zaccheus; I asked them if they knew it, and they started spouting off all the details, correctly! At the end of the lesson, we sang a very rousing version of "Put Your Shoulder To The Wheel". These guys love to sing; apparently it is a cultural thing. They are all in! Dee and I loved it.
 |
| Front: Sunday, Peter, Christian; Back: Mac, Maxwell, me, Aike |
We also talked about the upcoming schedule: no class next weekend, then two more classes to finish the book of Luke. In two weeks we will take them out to an early dinner before going home. At first I suggested pizza, but Maxwell said it has no taste. He suggested a sandwich shop nearby that he likes, and we said ok. Then he asked if we like African food. I replied that we had never tried it, but I had heard that it was very spicy, which doesn't work for me. He said, "it is not all spicy", to which I replied "I don't believe you", and they all laughed really hard! We will probably give it a try. 😰
Dee was able to walk all the way there and back from the station in Napoli without any problems, in her tennis shoes. She is doing so well! After arriving back in Rome, we walked together the ten minutes to the Institute. We passed an African immigrant from Senegal on the sidewalk who was selling wooden sculptures of various types, and Dee was interested. He ran around the corner to get just the piece that she wanted, and we ended up buying three items. Lu would have been a much better price negotiator, but Dee got a discount and was happy. Note how the plate pops up to become a bowl!
After that we drove to Metro to buy some sour cream and a few more things, as we were almost out. We got home about 8pm. I then worked on my temple prep lesson for Sunday.
Sometime during the day, Dee came up with a truly inspired idea: to check whether her cousin Lynn from Fullerton might be available to help out with Dee's parents. We have been struggling to find somebody or some agency to go in there a regular basis to cook, run errands, etc. Lynn took care of her mom,Betty (my mother-in-law's sister) until she passed away recently, and Lynn knows my in-laws quite well and cares about them. When Dee called her after we got home, it turned out that Lynn had just quit her low-paying retail job and was about to take a job as a caregiver for the elderly. She was thrilled at our offer! We will pay her more than she would have made through the agency, and my in-laws also liked the idea, which was not a given. If this works, it could take a great load off our mind.
I spent the evening talking with Lynn, my parents, Donna and Wendy. It looks like the arrangement with Lynn will work out well for everyone, and it's a big load off my mind. We have eight more months here, and I'm so grateful that Lynn will be going there to help.
We were both pretty sleepy, dozing on the train. We've been up late and very busy, but it's worth it to have Wes and Alyssa here.
The doctor told me to take three Advil at a time, three times a day, for a couple of weeks to help the swelling in my foot. That's a whole lot of Advil and hard to fit into my waking hours. The alternative is a prescription called Feldene, but with Wes and Alyssa here, I didn't want to take a chance on a new med.