Friday was a nationwide strike day, including Rome buses and subways (and planes!), so we cancelled Seminary and moved the evening Institute class online, unsure how well that would work. In the morning Dee and I went to the mall on the way into the Institute, as it had been long enough that our lists of things from Auchan and Ikea had grown. We weren't sure what to expect traffic-wise due to the strike, but it was basically non-existent, both on surface streets and freeways. We got our shopping done and arrived early at the Institute.
I spent most of the afternoon working on my lesson for the
evening. Since it was to be online via Zoom, I needed to prepare a
PowerPoint presentation, which is not my usual style. I also worked on my talk and lesson for Sunday.
We expected almost nobody at the Institute all day, due to the strike, and we weren't too far off. It turned out that the subway was running during the day despite the strike, so Almendra, Samuel, Ivan, Junior, Andrea, and the two new Roma 3 Sorelle each showed up for a while. Among the latter was Sorella Yanacallo, who used to live here in the apartment underneath us. We kicked everyone out as the 7pm lesson neared. They had a hard time believing that the subway and buses were really going to stop at 8pm, since they had been running all day. However, we didn't want to take the chance that they would be stranded downtown with no way to get home, particularly since we are not allowed to give them rides in our car.
Dee spent some time with Samuel as his "speaking partner". Pathway wants their foreign students to spend an hour a week talking with a native English speaker, and Dee was happy to oblige. He is really trying hard and making good progress. We don't know if he will pass this first semester, but it is wonderful seeing someone with such drive, setting goals and working hard on them. His computer skills are still weak, but far better than just a few weeks ago. He has almost nothing, but that isn't stopping him. The speaking partner topics were about goals, and it was touching and humbling to hear him talk about what he is trying to do and has already accomplished. He is working hard and not complaining, which is a good lesson for all of us.
Also, Ivan from Milan came back for the day. He was really tired and had been through an emotional goodbye to a missionary he is close to. He is now talking about going on a mission himself.
My online lesson, covering D&C 26-29 (some great topics in there!), probably wasn't very good. Because she didn't have to cook, Dee was sitting there listening to it and participated a bit. Only five kids joined via Zoom, and they were all on mute most of the time. It was really hard for me to get participation in such a small group, particularly without being able to see them and have them interact freely. Hopefully there will be no more strikes anytime soon, as this has really messed with the momentum we had going at the Institute. It also shows that the wonderful food Dee cooks is an integral part of what we offer!