When we got home from church, our front door had been "heart attacked" by the sisters below us. Wasn't that nice?
In the afternoon we spent some time at home, but also some time out helping other senior missionaries. I went to the Benincosas to help them configure their portable wireless printer, as well as with a gasoline gift card they bought. That is called faith, because they don't have a car yet! I also tried to set up a Google Voice number to forward to their old US cell numbers from T-Mobile, with a goal of ultimately porting the number away from T-Mobile to Google Voice, using Groove IP as the back-end app. That is a mouthful! Unfortunately, I used a very old phone with their SIM cards, which takes full size SIMs, but I didn't realize it, so I pushed the nanoSIM completely into the body of the phone. At that point it was impossible to extract, so I gave up and went home with the phone and SIM. Meanwhile, Dee went to help Anziano Balzotti with his Italian family history for a few hours, one of her favorite activities and best skills.
After getting home, I took the old phone apart with help from YouTube, extracting the SIM card. I was then able to get most of the setup done for Google Voice, except that I had Sorella Benincosa's T-Mobile SIM, but with his email account info, so I kept having to call him to get him to approve my accessing his account. Finally I gave up and told him we would do it some other when we we could both be in the same room.
I worked on the Powerpoint for my presentation at the GANS conference in a week in Assisi. We both did a lot of messaging and planning for our upcoming busy week. It was actually overcast and not hot for the day. When it came time for bed, we didn't even need to turn on the AC in our room.
I've been too tired to keep with the blog on our Switzerland Temple trip, so let me catch up here. I did add some things to the days that were already published (Full Day at the Temple, Tacos with Spanish Rice, Five Languages, Home Again). I hope you'll look at them. I added some fun photos, too.
Monday:
Wonderful people: there was a woman who spoke French, from
Iceland/Greenland. She had come alone. I wonder what her story was? She spoke enough English for me to help her get situated a little.
Tuesday:
When we went shopping at Aldi, I needed some oil for my salad. There was a small bottle that was inexpensive and looked nice. It turns out it was linseed oil, which although edible (it's also called flax seed oil) is also used in paints and the manufacture of linoleum. It tastes terrible. I quickly got something else.
We had a devotional in front of the Temple at 9pm. They did it every night, but I only made it to Tuesday and Doug didn't go at all. It was fun to hear our Bishop speak in English to Simeon. I didn't know he could do that.
Wednesday:
The man who asked us to be the witness couple on Tuesday was Brother Certa. Certa is a name in my Sicilian line, so I was intrigued. He spoke only French. In fact, he had to use a headset in the Italian session. I told his wife I had Certas in my family, and she was polite but noncommittal. Perhaps she didn't understand me. My french is from high school, so I didn't understand her too well, either. Later in the day, I had Caterina Certa's name card. She got really excited when she saw it. Then it happened that Brother Certa was involved in our Temple ceremony on that occasion, too. When he saw the name, he followed me up to the Celestial room, very excited. His Certa grandfather was from Sicily, too! We exchanged emails and will write to each other using Google Translate. I am so touched by his experience. He told me even if we're distant cousins, he is so glad we have met. I'll see if I can find a connection.
I met a German woman named Brigitte. She told me that she lives 600km from any Temple, because the one near her has been closed for repairs for two or three years. So, she decided to come to Switzerland. However, she was really sick, driving all that way. She stopped to vomit now and then as she drove. She finally felt bad enough that she called a friend to ask for a blessing when she was near the border at Basel.He gave it to her over the phone! She hadn't been able to reach the hostel to reserve a spot, but she came anyway. And it turned out there was one bed left, for exactly the two nights she needed! She lives by the promptings of the Spirit. She told me she had been prompted to go to the Netherlands Temple at Den Haag and to stay in a youth hostel and stay in the big room (not part of the Temple property). She would never have chosen this crowded situation. And by "coincidence", a young LDS lady bunked just above her! She needed help, and Brigitte was able provide it. Amazing.
I helped Sandro and Silvia print some name cards, and then Jenna showed up and we sat and talked for an hour or so. It was great to talk and get to hear what she's thinking about. I wish we had more time together. It was also terrific to be with Raffaella and Alberto Perego. They mean so much to us.
There were two sisters in their early sixties who work at the Temple. They live in Florence and serve here for a few weeks at a time. They have never married and live together, even sharing an email address. They were both very lovely. Doug did a Temple name for Victoria, and when Frieda admired my earrings, I gave them to her. It was a little pair I had made, with silver hearts and a coppery bead. We think we'll see them when the Rome Temple is dedicated.
A fun part of making the rice was that AJ liked it. He is recently 18 and we'd love to have him at the Institute. I told him we do it every week at Taco Tuesday....
Thursday:
The Bishop arranged the Bern trip schedule specifically so I could go to the yarn store. That was extra nice!