Seminary starts again

Friday morning I spent entirely at home, working on my lessons. Dee walked down to Conad and the Chinese store to get a few things. The weather is really nice. I am wearing long sleeves again, but it would be comfortable either way. 

I also spent a little time reviewing the mission cell phone bill. With each missionary having a phone now, the monthly cost is very high, but it would appear at first glance that there are some things we can do to lower it. For example, the senior couple plans apparently include the ability to call anywhere in Europe, but we never use that feature at all, so why pay for it? The president and Anziano Knies asked me to look it over and make some suggestions, which I will write up once I get more detail. The cell phone plan landscape here has changed dramatically this year with the advent of Iliad, lowering prices and raising the number of GB available, so it is an opportune time to review our services and what we pay.

When we arrived at the Institute, it was full of young missionaries. Two districts, Roma 2 and Ladispoli, had decided to hold their district meetings there. However, nobody had asked us permission, which is a rule we have. We would probably have said yes, especially since it was before the normal operating hours, but we need to know what is going on to avoid conflicts. So we made it clear that they need to do so in the future. Then we fed everyone with the hot dogs and buns left over from recent activities, becoming very popular with the missionaries while clearing out some space in the fridge! The real downside for us with all the missionaries being there was that much of the time we had budgeted to lesson prep was taken up working with them. Anziano Misa, who served here as a Ganziano for three months starting in October, was there from his new location in Ostia. And Anziano Waddell is here in Rome again! We were able to giveAnziano Misa his Ganziano tie, which they all seem to think is really cool. Here is a photo of us with the two former Ganziani:

Waddell, Dee, me, Misa

I was able to restore the FamilySearch computer image from a few days ago, and now it seems to work! Apparently they simply hadn't yet activated our center. There is still some testing and checking to do, but Dee in particular is quite excited have access to all the FamilySearch records now.

With school back underway, it was time to restart my Doctrinal Mastery class for seminary students (high school age) across Rome. It is really fun for them to see friends from the different congregations, and our downtown location is easily accessible to all of them. Last year I started with two kids and built up to nine at the end. The first class this time had seven kids, with at least three more who couldn't make it this time but will be there next week. We added a couple of younger siblings of my prior students. Our lesson was on "fake news" -- how to recognize the spirit to discern spiritual truths in a very noisy world. We had fun with that, and then we played games to help them learn their scriptures. After the one-hour class, Dee provided her chocolate popcorn, which they really liked. Overall, it was a great kickoff to the year!

 

 

Samuel came by to pick up his laptop. I was able to spend about 15 minutes with him, giving him some usage tips. Dee donated her laptop backpack, which she bought when she broke her foot but doesn't really need anymore. We also had a used USB mouse that I gave him, so he is set. We are now at the point where we are starting to give things away rather than accumulate more, and it is a strange feeling. Going home will be very sad for us.

At Institute class we started out with the classroom half empty, but kids kept streaming in. By the end of the lesson, the room was completely full, all seats taken, just like last week. Eleonora came! She works so much that we rarely see her. The lesson was on D&C 6-9, 13, and 18, using stories from Olivery Cowdery on how to recognize the spirit, get answers to prayers, and the worth of souls being great in the sight of God. There was a lot of good interaction, with kids having comments and questions. Translation was going on into English and Spanish.

After class they quickly finished off Dee's two wonderful chicken casseroles, with sides of melon, cookies, and chips. A whole bunch of kids were still hanging out when we left before 9:30pm, pretty early for us on a Friday.

 

 

 

 

Dario, Francesca, Joyce and Margie all offered to help with dinner. Dario is very good in the kitchen, and Margie and Joyce took over serving. Francesca is the nonmember daughter of our bishop, home from BYUI. She helped, too, and we had a nice visit.

Ugo spent the afternoon here too. It's always good to have a chance to hear from him. He told me a lot of useful things, and also has a positive impact on the young people. He is a great cheerleader for Pathway and BYU online. These programs can improve the kids' future.

The business card design continues. It's a great start, and Ugo gave some good input. 

I walked to Upim, something I've wanted to do for months. It's not that far away, but with the broken foot situation, I just couldn't. Now I'm fine. Upim was around in the 70s, so I wanted to see it. It's basically a small Target. I used new insoles for the first time. They have pads at the heel and arch and they were terrific!