Trash transport; Ikea run

Thursday morning Dee went out to the open market for more sweet potatoes and sage. On the way into town we filled up the gas tank, which had gotten lower than usual. As usual, particularly this week, we had a ton of bags to carry to/from the car, including a big box with the Balzottis'  crock pot, which will be needed on Friday. We already have three, but Dee has a plan to have all four in action.

As we drove past Piazza Repubblica near the campus, there was a huge protest of some kind that partially blocked access. Fortunately, we were able to get through. It seemed peaceful enough, but we had no idea what it was. Looking it up online later, apparently it was the national group of charter bus drivers, protesting a law which makes their life much harder. They currently always have to return to their home garage after each trip before starting a new one, which can be a real pain if there is a long one-way drive. In Italy you just get used to protests and strikes all the time.

When we arrived, we learned that Riccardo had successfully defended his master's thesis and has now officially graduated. There was a flurry of congratulations on WhatsApp, along with some ribbing. For example, we learned that he is a twin, so I remarked that his twin sister was much better looking than he is. He replied that he is beautiful inside😀.

Christian has misplaced his new prescription sunglasses and contacted us, hoping that they would be found at the campus, but no luck. During the afternoon, the Benincosas came by twice to meet with a couple of immigrants (Billy, George) from our ward to help them with their resumes. The Benincosas really love what they are doing, having already helped a bunch of folks find work. It is quite different from our mission in many ways, one being that they don't have to dress up. Anziano Benincosa always seems to be wearing jeans, while I always have on a white shirt and tie, which by now feels very normal to me. There are many ways to serve!

Dee baked the new sweet potatoes, filling the whole place with a wonderful aroma. We each sampled the result, and it was delightful. She also cut and prepared all the different ingredients for stuffing, so that they will be ready to go. 

 

I spent a bunch of time on my Friday lessons and now feel more or less ready to go. There was a ton of WhatsApp discussion about the upcoming New Year's conference for the YSA kids, as well as signups for the temple open house. Some days things are relatively quiet online, but other times you can easily get dozens of messages behind in just an hour or two.

With things as ready as they could be for the big day of cooking, we left early during English class to go to Ikea. Along the way, we dropped off a big bag of our kitchen trash. The garbage bins in the courtyard here are pretty small, and we were concerned about overflowing them after Friday's event. Thus we took a very full trash bag with us in the car and stopped on the roadside a few blocks away, tossing the bag into one of the ubiquitous large bins.

Having given our twin bedding to the local Anziani last week so they could host other missionaries for the conference, we now needed new bedding for our guest bedroom, with our daughter Chiara showing up in a few weeks. Our schedule has been too busy to go shopping there in the mornings, and we feared that that mall would get real busy with Christmas coming. So this timing worked out well, arriving there around 8:30pm after some traffic. The store was almost empty, which made shopping very pleasant. We bought a folding chair (10€) for the kitchen, as we always need seating but the fixed chairs tend to get in the way when not being used. We also looked at smaller tables for the kitchen to see whether we could fit a second fridge, but nothing looked good to us. Dee came up with a clever possibility: buy a larger island with seating space and storage, instead of having the table against the wall. It might not work but is certainly worth some study. We bought all the bedding (sheets, pillows, blankets, duvet covers, etc), putting it on the mission credit card because sometimes we host missionaries. We got back home just before 10pm. Dee actually had some energy left even after a long day, so she is definitely getting stronger every day after her miserable weekend.

Legs and thighs

Wednesday morning it was pretty cold outside, so I wore my heavy jacket for the first time this fall. Dee was really tired for some reason; maybe it was left over from being sick last weekend. We left home a little early for District Council so that we could pick up four huge turkey legs/thighs at the butcher shop on the way. In the US, turkeys are cheap -- often free -- around Thanksgiving, but not so here. Despite the detour we arrived on time, and still had to wait for the Sorelle to arrive. I was able to finish the new fiber modem setup, moving the AC adapter into the tech cabinet so there is less wiring visible.  Our district council meeting was great, with lots of good interactions and discussions. Anziano Clark did a very nice on the training, using various scriptures and analogies. Unfortunately the meeting ran past our 11:30am cutoff, so we had to leave without hearing the end of his lesson. We really enjoy being with these wonderful young missionaries.

On the way in to the Institute we stopped at the nearby Lidl market. At first we thought it would be a small load, but as often happens the cart was overflowing by the time we checked out. The car was completely stuffed, including bags we brought from home. When we arrived at the campus, we carried our first heavy load to the elevator. Right then a bunch of Rome 2 missionaries came down the stairs, having just completed their district council at the campus (with our approval). They kindly offered to help and carried everything up the stairs, eschewing the elevator which was too small anyway. Instead of two big loads, we were able to do it all in one trip.

During the afternoon I worked on my lessons. Dee started cooking the turkey right way. Her plan is to have it in a crock pot Friday evening to supplement the whole turkey.

 

She also tried to help Rodolfo, an investigator from Peru, with his family history. One of his great-grandfathers was from Italy, so he can apply for Italian citizenship. They weren't able to find much yet, partially because FamilySearch wasn't behaving well, not giving access to the blocked records which should be available to our "official" site. At one point, Dee wanted to print a document, but the cyan toner cartridge in our laser printer was out, so I went to replace it. Usually the color on the little knob that locks the cartridge into place matches the color of the toner, so I carelessly put the new cyan cartridge into the first slot that had a blue handle. Instead, it was the yellow cartridge, so I got some cyan mixed in with the blue before realizing my mistake. Silly me. It will probably take a while to get the blue hue out of the yellow.

The Benincosas came by for a while to help Rhenald with his resume for an assistant gardener position at the temple, which is now hiring to fill positions. It would be nice for Rhenald to have a regular job and income, which is difficult to come by here for any kid, much less a refugee. The Benincosas are doing awesome work helping people find jobs and are  really enjoying their assignment. I am particularly impressed and touched by Sister Benincosa, who is so enthusiastic. She could be wistful, negative, overwhelmed, or in denial but instead she is all in.

Our Wednesday evening event was to send packages to missionaries serving all over the world from Rome. I went out to buy the small shipping boxes, but had no luck at the local stationery store or the post office. We desperately need an Office Depot here! Dee suggested padded envelopes, which may be how we go. The activity was supposed to start at 7pm, but nobody showed up for the first 45 minutes. Dee & I were thinking that it was a complete bust, when the intercom started ringing. Claudio, Linda, and Junior all showed up. We decided to punt until Friday and have kids write notes to the missionaries after class. Instead we played a card game called Exploding Kittens that Claudio had with him. It is always fun to talk and laugh while playing. I almost won the game, but instead Junior pulled it off at the last minute. Linda is going home Thursday to work for the holidays, having arranged to skip her last couple of weeks of school here. We won't see her until the end of January when the next semester begins. She has become quite attached to us, and as she was leaving she gave us a big hug.

We stayed late for Dee to finish her work in the kitchen. Arriving home, we gave a bunch of stuff to the Thackers and the Balzottis to help them prepare food for our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. It is nice for Dee to have more help this time around, as even so she has already been terribly busy.

I made some pie crusts for Sorella Balzotti. Linda was really interested in the magic of food processor pie crusts. She even did the steps herself. Fun!

I have been so very busy, and I'm worried about getting my parents' insurance updated during open enrollment, and Rich's too. In addition, there are reservations for the Temple open house and Christmas shopping. The California contingent is holding Christmas before Chiara comes to visit us.

I'm wearing a knee brace. At first, it fell down, but now it's terrific. My kneecap is very loose, so it helps with that as well.

When I went to the dentist on the bus, I was more attentive. Google didn't have the stops written correctly. That's why I missed the stop that day with the huge rainstorm and flooded streets. 

I also had an MRI of that knee. The clinic was large and beautiful. They asked me if I spoke Italian and when I said I did, they nevr tried again to speak to me in English. I was there for 2.5 hours in all, half of it waiting for them to give me the results. The patient gets all the films and paperwork, so I had to wait. Now, Italy has rampant privacy laws, so imagine my surprise when the doctor discussed my results in the waiting room instead of his office! Privacy is a big thing. In fact, names and addresses disappear in front of your eyes from a computer screen.

Dr. Giorgini wanted to know my 2016 MRI results, which I had in Evernote. It is a lifesaving app.

Doctor, tacos, dentist

Tuesday morning Dee left at 8:30am to take the subway to get an MRI, ordered by Dr. Giorgini before getting any knee treatments. She arrived there fine but it took about 3.5 hours to finish everything, far longer than we expected. I would end up doing most of the prep for Taco Tuesday on my own, with some vital last minute help from Dee and Sammy. My ability to slice tomatoes and lettuce apparently needs some work, so maybe I will have to practice more in coming weeks. Before she left, she had the Sorelle living below us try on some short thermal underwear that works well under a skirt. It is getting cold here, and Dee wants to order some for them like she did for our Roma 3 Sorelle. We try to take care of our local missionaries.

I was at home alone most of the morning. I sent a bunch of tech ideas and suggestions to the Millets after our success on Monday. We agreed that we need another tech support call there to help them out. By late morning we realized that Dee was not going to make it back from the doctor, so we agreed to have me go start things at the Institute with her joining me there when she could. We were supposed to pick up some turkey legs and thighs at the butcher to prepare for Friday's big Thanksgiving dinner. The plan is to prepare them ahead of time and then cook the whole turkey on Friday; it is  small-ish by American standards because it is all we can fit in the oven at the Institute. I was in the car heading out when I talked with Dee on the phone, over a horrible connection with her inside the hospital still. We decided to pick up the turkey pieces on Wednesday morning instead because time was running short. After carrying out two very heavy shopping bags of stuff to the car, I  realized that we had forgotten the lettuce and tomatoes for tacos, so I had to go around the block and find another parking spot, then run upstairs and get those items. By then it was running late, so punting on the turkey parts was the right decision.

The group for Taco Tuesday was large, with not enough room for everyone to sit and eat. We cooked only one new package (1kg) of beef instead the usual two, but then defrosted about a kg more that we had frozen leftover in prior weeks, freeing up space in the freezer for the big meal on Friday. After lunch, some of the kids played games for a while before heading over to the gospel choir practice at the Friendship Center.

 

At 3pm we had our student counsel meeting, which Joyce is now holding regularly -- awesome! It was rather long but productive. The Ganziani give their report on how missionary work is going, asking for help from the kids. We also discussed at some length how to get more people, including GANS, to sign up to serve during the temple open house. Thus far the temple committee has not done a good job publicizing and explaining the need, so they haven't had many sign up. Also, there aren't all that many members here (6 wards in the Rome area, compared to 15+ stakes in San Diego 25 years ago, for example). It is really the case that the Rome temple is larger than what the church would usually build in an area with our stats, but it is an intentional stretch due to the history and cultural importance of Rome. We also went over the activities for the rest of the year.  Maria Jose made up a flyer for the big Thanksgiving dinner on Friday:

Dee had to leave the meeting early to go to the dentist to try yet again to match the color of her new implant. No luck, yet again! She ended up spending six hours out of the home and office doing doctor and dentist stuff. When the council meeting was over, Samuel was there for help with Pathway. He needs to do an assignment using PowerPoint, but didn't have any idea to use it. I showed him the basic idea, having him create new slides, enter text, and insert clip art. He got the biggest grin, as if this was an exciting new adventure! It felt great to help him.

In the evening there was a large group for the missionaries' English class, plus Ugo's online Institute class. Dee baked some sweet potatoes, which filled the entire place with an awesome smell. Everyone wanted to know what it was. Linda De Martino came by, and we gave her a taste of sweet potato with butter and salt. She only wanted a small piece because she had never tried it, but she really liked it. Dee had to make some pie crust dough for Sorella Balzotti's pumpkin pies for this weekend, using her wonderful food processor recipe. It is fascinating to watch the dough come together almost instantly at the end, and Linda really got into helping. 

 

We stayed a bit late to finish all the dough, dropping it off for Sorelle Balzotti to get started on Wednesday, though we still owe her our stash of canned pumpkin that Dee got months ago at the base in Naples. Dee continues to feel better and better and seems to be over the nasty bug now.

Two medical visits, one tech support call

Monday morning Dee was up early because she had an appointment with Dr. Giorgini (who helped with her broken foot) about her knee, which has been giving her pain. She took her first shower in three days. She was hoping to get a cortisone shot, which helped a lot when she got one last year soon before leaving on our mission. The doctor however wanted to get an MRI before doing anything, so that got set up for Tuesday morning. The doctor also told her to get a knee brace to help control the swelling by holding it better in place. Dee went from the doctor directly to the Institute, walking to the subway, which seems to help her knee. She still wasn't feeling very well and told me that she would go home once I arrived there.

Meanwhile, after a morning at home, I went up to the Millets' apartment to be there when the technician arrived to install their new fiber internet modem. We had about six big bags of stuff to carry into town, mostly from our Friday night trip to Ostia; it took me two loads to get it all down, completely filling the trunk. The technician time slot was from 1-3pm, and he showed up around 2pm. While waiting, I had a nice visit with the Millets and did a bunch of technical support and teaching. Both of them had had the stomach flu similar to Dee, so I kept my distance. I was able to explain to them why WhatsApp is so crucial here, as well as helping them learn to use the features. They were really excited as they grasped how nice it is. The technician was in and out quickly, saying that the internet would be activated within a couple of hours, so I headed downtown, arriving around 3pm. Later in the afternoon Anziano Millet was delighted to confirm that the internet was working: 130 Mbits/sec download and 20 Mbits/sec upload -- I am jealous!

By the time I arrived, Dee was feeling a lot better, not needing to go home to rest anymore. In fact, she headed out on the bus to a store to buy her knee brace. There was a long line, but she finally got it and arrived back just in time for FHE. Since she hadn't had much free time, I offered to teach the lesson, and she seemed glad for that. The group of kids was different from Friday's, so I re-used part of my lesson from Friday night, talking about accepting callings. Dee chimed in with some great personal examples of when a church calling that she didn't really want initially turned out to be a great blessing. The group was rather small, but we had a nice time. Given Dee's health and lack of time, we just had store-bought cookies, but everyone was happy. Afterwards we played a good game of Cover Your Assets.

 

I also shared the "Old Church Choir" song on YouTube, and everyone enjoyed it, especially Jomar. I expect to hear him singing it karaoke style soon. Our new Ganziano, Anziano Pedroza from Alpine, Utah, was there for the first time. He seems like a nice kid, though unfortunately he doesn't speak Spanish. It was a good day, and very nice that Dee is feeling so much better.

I took a taxi in the morning, and the driver, Stefano pulled out a Thomas guide-type map. I was a little worried he would take longer, and he certainly didn't follow any route I was checking on my phone, but we got there just fine and in about the same amount of time. I found out how difficult and expensive it is to get into being a taxi driver in Rome. Learning the roads and the historic sites is a life's work in itself. He has been to the west coast, including Utah. It would be fun to take a tour of the USA with an Italian group. I gave him a card to arrange for a tour of the Rome Temple.

I went to M.A.S. for the knee brace, where I was number 9 in line. When it was my turn, a woman took me all the way into the back of the huge store and measured me. Then she brought out about eight leg braces for me to try, with no sign of impatience. A man also joined her, and everyone was super nice. Good customer service is not a given here, so this was a pleasant surprise. The bus went right past Piazzale Porta Pia, where the Church was located in the seventies when I was here before.

Still sick at home

Sunday morning Dee woke up and tried to get ready for church. It didn't last long before she was back in bed. Having the stomach flu is apparently a good diet, though not sustainable. Anyway, I went to church alone, with everyone asking where she was and giving best wishes for a quick recovery. Somehow I seem to have missed this illness, knock on wood! Dee would be at home all day again, feeling somewhat better as the day progressed, but she still hasn't showered since Friday morning. 

Sunday mornings while I am getting dressed in the bedroom, I have started asking Alexa to play gospel music. She always seems to come up with something new that I like, though usually I have to skip through several songs before finding one that works for me. I already mentioned Casting Crowns, of which I am now a big fan, having now downloaded a bunch of songs using the free and legal service www.freegalmusic.com via our LA Public Library accounts. This time it was a fun song entitled "Old Church Choir" by Zach Williams, which has some real boogie and good lyrics; here is a version from YouTube for you to enjoy. Later in the day I was able to configure our Google Home devices to listen and respond in Italian. Unfortunately we haven't figured out how to do that yet for our Alexa devices, which would be nice for the kids at the Institute where one of our Echo Dots resides. Often during the week I use Alexa to play tech podcasts, keeping up somewhat on the outside world. We do love (and use) our tech. I do my listening on my phone with a headset instead, mostly while cooking. There are so many great things to listen to, both on the gospel library and on podcasts!

At church, it was nice for once to just sit and listen in class, but next week I am looking forward to teaching again, this time on the book of Daniel. After church, I went into the clerk's office to check the status of the VoIP phone land line, which comes as part of the internet package. Finally the old phone service via DSL stopped, so I sat on the cold tile floor in my suit for a while to switch the phone line over to the new fiber modem. After a couple of tries I got it right, so then I was able to remove the old modem, freeing up some space in the tech cabinet under the desk. On the way home it was raining pretty hard, but the weather has not been very cold, especially compared to last year, with light jackets still sufficing.

In the afternoon, I did some lesson prep for next weekend. I also finished a letter for incoming senior missionaries, with suggestions for things to do and bring (and not bring) in preparation for serving here. The document is nine pages, single spaced. Dee edited it, with us iterating together over the contents for a while (six versions) before emailing it off to the Motts, who were very appreciative. I will also send a copy to the mission secretary, Sorella Thacker, to share with other new couples. We then wrote an email to the Skoubyes, the directors of Institute senior missionary couples in Europe, with a description of what we do at our campus. Our setup is different enough from most other such couples, so they had expressed interest in understanding our weekly routine. They would like to increase the usefulness and usage of institutes in other countries.

By dinner time Dee had been out of bed for over six hours, which is a good sign, but she still couldn't eat much. She spoke on the phone with her cousin Jim (living at her parents' home in LA) and our daughter Wendy. We also watched some Andy Woodhull clean comedy, which is good for the soul. By about 9pm she was done. Hopefully Monday she will feel even better.

Sick and tired -- no turkey

Saturday morning Dee slept in a while, having had a very bad night with a stomach flu. We had a big day planned, going up to the Guidara family's home, about an hour away, for a full Thanksgiving dinner. Dee knew the Perticarolis (Silvia Guidara's parents) back in the 1970s, and we have kept in touch with them somewhat over the years. Brother Perticaroli passed away last year, but his wife is still alive and was to be there. Unfortunately, we had to cancel due to Dee being sick. She spent almost the entire day in bed, without even showering. I went out to the pharmacy in the early afternoon to get some meds to help with her digestive system issues, as well as some soft bread for her to eat. All she had to eat all day was a small slice of toast; in her family, not having an appetite is rare! In the evening, Sorella Balzotti informed me that at least ten missionaries came down with similar symptoms after Thursday's conference, but we don't know who the Typhoid Mary was.

So I had the entire day at home to do paperwork and take it easy, which was welcome. It has been crazy, and I was a bit behind. For example, in addition to my normal bookkeeping tasks, I had to calculate some annual shared costs (insurance, property tax, etc) for Dee and her sister to reimburse their dad for their portion of the family rental properties. 

My dual-SIM Motorola phone has been having issues. The Iliad SIM, which I use only for data, has recently been unable to connect reliably on an intermittent basis. Unsure of where the problem was, I swapped SIM cards around between our various phones and discovered the issue follows my SIM card, not the phone. A tech support call had them admit (almost) that they are experiencing some network difficulties. For now I switched back to an old Vodafone SIM card for data. I also applied the latest Android update to three phones, which took a while.

In the late afternoon I walked down to Conad to buy a bunch of produce, and I called my mom and sister. I also helped Dee by hanging up some laundry, freezing leftover Sloppy Joe, etc. It was definitely a lost day for her, feeling bad and staying in bed without the energy to do anything else. Hopefully she will get better quickly, as the upcoming week is another busy one.

Institute on the road

I woke up Friday morning after well more than eight hours of sleep, which felt great. We each went shopping for a bit before leaving for the Institute. I walked up to Todis looking for more hamburger buns for Sloppy Joes in the evening; no luck on that, but I did stock up on tortillas. Dee walked to the big covered market a few blocks away to get a bunch of sweet potatoes for upcoming Thanksgiving meals. They are not usually available in the regular markets, not being well known here. She bought a huge bag of them. 

We got to the Institute at the regular hour. Sammy showed up right away, before heading over to the Friendship Center for the Benincosas' self-reliance class. He and Dee visited while I worked on my lessons, and she ended up a bit behind with her cooking. We both agree that spending time with the kids is the most important thing we do, but there are times when we just have things to do. Matteo, Donatella, and Valentina also showed up quite early for the Seminary class, but they entertained themselves. 

Dee had Sloppy Joes to prepare for the evening meal, as well as cooking some of the sweet potatoes for our Thanksgiving dinner appointment with the Guidara family on Saturday afternoon. She only had time for the former, which would be enough. 

There was a big group of kids (10) for Seminary Doctrinal Mastery, plus Marlene at the start who graduated last spring but wanted to play one game with us. Our lesson was on Christ's key role in the plan of salvation. We made a quick list of all the main points and events in the plan, then discussed how Christ played a critical part in each of them. After that we did a few scripture games, finishing as always with their favorite, bingo. Dee just put out store-bought cookies for them, which made them happy. Then we had to run them out the door because we needed to get on the road. It was too bad, because they really like hanging out together after class.

With our site council, we had decided to hold our Institute class and dinner in Ostia (Rome 4 ward) this one time, about 20 miles from downtown. Only a handful of kids attend the Institute campus from there, so we thought some outreach might help build connections. It is a huge effort to take a dinner on the road! We had done it a couple of times before, but sometimes you forget. The car was stuffed full, with a crock pot full of Sloppy Joes between Dee's feet, plus buns, chips, salad, plastic ware, serving utensils, printed scriptures, cleaning supplies, plus the huge bag of sweet potatoes which we carried all over Rome.

The traffic was horrible, perhaps not surprisingly at that hour, and it took us over 90 minutes to get there. Both we and Ugo were late for our own class. His comment was "this is why we have a campus downtown!" It was all on surface streets, which means lots of crazy twists and turns and opportunities for wrong turns. Ugo says that even Romans hate driving in Rome, and I can see why. No two streets ever seem to come together at right angles, often with multiple streams of traffic merging from all directions. Google Maps can only help so much. At one point the traffic was so slow that I took a different turn and let the GPS redirect me, which perhaps helped a bit. Below is a screenshot of one of the suggested directions on my phone -- that kind of thing happens a lot here!

Because of the distance (it would have been much faster taking the train, but we had too much stuff for that), only a handful of our kids made the trip, joining about eight others from Ostia. It ended up as very nice evening. My lesson was on D&C 50 - 56, spending most of our time on teaching by the spirit and also on the importance of accepting callings even when we don't understand why the Lord is asking us to do it. We have observed something very odd (to us) here: the kids from Rome really do not want to go serve in the Milano mission -- it is too close to home,while for an American that would be exciting. By contrast, Daniele here just got called to Arizona, which is very exotic for them but could be rather ho-hum for an American missionary. We talked about that contrast, and that we are called to people, not places. I read a favorite Orson Scott Card article "It's a matter of how, not where, we serve", as well as the well-known poem:

Father, where shall I work today?
And my love flowed warm and free.
Then He pointed me out a tiny spot,
And said, “Tend that for me.”

I answered quickly, “Oh, no, not that.
Why, no one would ever see,
No matter how well my work was done.
Not that little place for me!”

And the word He spoke, it was not stern,
He answered me tenderly,
“Ah, little one, search that heart of thine;
Art thou working for them or me'

Nazareth was a little place,
And so was Galilee.”

We had a very nice discussion on both topics. After the lesson everyone enjoyed the dinner -- many hadn't ever tasted Sloppy Joes. There weren't people enough to finish everything off, so we would bring much of it home. The kids were helpful in carrying the stuff to and from the car, which was fortunately parked just across the street. At the end we played a fun memory game which I had never seen before.

 

 

While everyone was eating, I got to hold 5-month old baby Mathias, the son of Fabrizio and Joselyn. Sooooo cute! He was hungry, so his mom gave me the bottle and I fed him until he fell asleep in my arms. There is something wonderful and satisfying about having a sleeping baby in your arms.

On the way home we ended up missing a turn that would have taken us onto the freeway, despite both of us watching carefully. The signs are not lit at all, and Google isn't always great when there are two options that are only a few degrees apart. Unfortunately, the road we were on then had no way to exit or turn around for miles, so instead of the quick and well-known route on the freeway, we got to drive through downtown Rome again, never my favorite thing. I also don't like not knowing (at least roughly) what route I am taking, usually scouting out the routes ahead of time; by contrast, Dee is very happy to let the GPS just tell her everything to do. We got home about 11pm, both quite tired and Dee not feeling well at all. Even though we enjoyed the evening, we agreed that taking our show on the road is probably not in our future again.

Eight Ganziani with ties

Thursday we were up early to leave just after 8am to go across town to the Rome 1 chapel for a conference. My phone had a strange day. The time was off by 50 minutes for some reason, which meant my Pebble watch was also off. Not sure if it was the phone or the cell network, but finally it got back in synch. Dee's phone had no such problem. We drove Anziani Castro and Kane, who live across our piazza, and the traffic was horrible. It took us almost half an hour just to go a mile or two to get to the freeway, which was then also backed up. We still arrived in time, just barely, but not early as we had hoped.

Anziano Castro is from Milano and we enjoy talking with him because we can ask lots of Italian language questions. His companion is a greenie and was thus probably left out of most of the conversation, but that's how you learn! The favorite phrase we learned was "fifty fifty", which actually is understood by Italians -- there are so many American phrases adopted here now, which seems very strange to us (and probably to many Italians). We almost hit a pedestrian who darted out between cars to run across the street to catch a bus. That happens a lot here, with pedestrians rarely looking before going out into traffic. They have the right of way, but I like to say that it doesn't help to be "dead right." Fortunately traffic in town doesn't go fast, or there would be many more casualties.

The event for the day was a mission "tour", with Anziano De Feo visiting. He was the first stake president in Rome and is now in the Seventy, serving in the Europe West Area presidency. The conference ran from 9:15am until 4pm, with some more activities afterward. It was a great day, very uplifting. Most of it is aimed at the young missionaries, but we enjoy listening in. Anziano De Feo was wonderful, speaking, teaching and interacting with the crowd of over 100 missionaries for hours without using a single note. His opening comment was a very emotional "questa è casa nostra" ["this is our home"] . At one point he said that the Italy Rome Mission was the greatest in the world, which he assured us he doesn't say to every mission he visits -- both he and his brother served here 😉. The Pickerds also had short messages to share. Missionaries came from all over the mainland, plus Sardegna and Malta, with the Sicily conference held in Palermo the day before. There were two awesome and touching musical numbers by different groups of young missionaries, double quartets in each case, with a violin added to the second one. These kids are so talented.

Almost everything was done in English. Anziano De Feo's English is wonderful. He worked for the US State Department here in Rome for his entire career. Anziano Castro did translation using the wireless headset system for those handful of missionaries who don't speak English. At one point, Sorella Simoncini, sitting next to Dee, leaned over and said "sometime I want to serve a mission where nobody speaks English!", which gave us a  good laugh. This is their third mission together, and they always are the ones having to use headsets. It might have been nicer to go fifty-fifty during the day. 😀

At lunch time we got eight current and former Ganziani together from around the mission, each wearing their Ganziano tie. Yes, that took some planning: it wasn't spontaneous, but it was incredible! We love seeing so many friends at these events, with lots of hugs, handshakes, and smiles.

L-R: Papritz, Thacker, Lewis, Fuller, Waddell, Mansell, Smith, Whiting

After the conference ended at 4pm, they started giving flu shots to all the missionaries. We senior couples got to go first, followed by the young missionaries who had to leave for the airport or the train station. Meanwhile, they held a testimony meeting for the missionaries who are departing at the next transfer in early December. A huge group is leaving this time, 28 missionaries in total, of which 19 were present with us in Rome. We would have loved to hear their "death testimonies", but it was getting late and we needed to get over to the Institute. Jomar, Noemi, and Marlene had opened the campus for the afternoon without us, which was great. It ended up being a good move to head out right away, because the traffic was heavy and getting worse, with dusk making it tough to see. We made it in just under half an hour, while the Balzottis and Thackers had to wait for everything to end, at which point it took them two hours to get home in traffic!

We then spent the evening at the the Institute. Often Thursdays are very light, but a fairly large group showed up during the evening. At one point early on, the three who opened the Institute were singing karaoke in the big classroom. Jomar has an awesome tenor voice and does this often, which we thoroughly enjoy from the other room. When they starting singing a song we know, "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You", I went in and joined the group, surprising them. In a minute Dee came in too, wearing her apron, and we really hammed it up, kissing each other at one point, which they loved. Dee also held court in the kitchen, talking with some of the kids, teaching a cooking trick or two. She made pie crust in the food processor for Sorella Balzotti, who is bringing a pumpkin pie to a Thanksgiving meal Saturday with some members. Linda De Martino showed up for a while; she likes to visit with us, and we always feed her. It just feels good to be there with these great kids. 

We learned that Anziano Smith will be leaving Friday on an "emergency" transfer to Lecce, and a greenie (here in Italy only a few weeks) will be taking his place at the Institute. We will miss Anziano Smith. He has really connected with a few kids who could use some spiritual support. Krista, Riccardo's non-member girlfriend, made a special trip to the campus on little notice just to say goodbye to him.

Sara (Krista's friend), Krista, Riccardo, Smith, Mansell, Jomar, Noemi, Marilene, Junior, Tobia

A few Peruvian friends of Almendra showed up a bit late. It was the first time there for two of them, and Dee gave them a tour. They ended up staying to play a game with the group, including Tobia, a nonmember who came to English class again after a while. It has been great that Jomar has keys, since he often keeps the place open late for the kids. Our Institute group is very welcoming of new folks, which speaks highly of them.

New Lidl route

Wednesday morning we got to stay at home mostly. I did walk down to Conad and got some produce for home. Then at 11:30am we went grocery shopping at Lidl on the way to the Institute. Usually we have done that at the Lidl near home, which is a different direction from the Institute, so we tried the other one downtown, which is more or less on the way. It worked out well, having figured out how to enter the parking lot correctly this time, and we like that store much better. It is bigger and fresher, with sharp employees, and it has well-lit underground parking with two nice elevators. We will make this run more in the future. Our big cart was completely filled with a bunch of stuff for upcoming meals, as well as stocking up on staples such as flour, sugar (white and brown), eggs, butter, etc. It took two full loads up the elevator with each of us carrying several bags.

I spent a bunch of time on lesson prep. Friday we are going to Ostia to hold class there, and I want to make sure that my lesson is extra good. We are trying to attract the kids from there to come to the Institute more often; it takes them an hour to get here on public transit. 

Dee worked on dinner for Friday and for our upcoming Thanksgiving meals (three in one week, as you will see, but none on the proper day). It was P-day for a number of the missionaries, because they had been asked to help at the temple on Monday, so we had some of them at the campus during the afternoon. Our location is central, with WiFi and a bathroom, so it works well for them. Three other pairs of missionaries came by to practice a musical number for the mission leadership conference (MLC) on Friday, and they sounded really good! Two Sorelle also came to teach a missionary lesson to Chiara, a friend of Franz, who is investigating the church.

Our Wednesday night activity was to watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which none of these kids had seen. I bought the DVD set of the whole series (four movies), and we used Italian audio with English subtitles. I had ripped the movie onto my laptop which I used to project onto our big screen TV in the library. The group was smaller than we expected, so we may not do movie nights much in the future (last time there were even fewer kids). However, we all very much enjoyed the great movie, which has a fun mixture of adventure and humor. We put out popcorn which got eaten happily. 

From my WhatsApp group "ad" for the movie

Linda, Dee, Vincenzo, Joyce, Francesco, Junior, and Alessio

Dentist twice

Tuesday morning Dee got up very early to go to her dentist, trying to get the implant to fit and match color, which has taken too many visits. They can't seem to match the color because she doesn't smoke or drink wine or coffee, so they have apparently never seen teeth so white here! The technician said my tooth is the color of his wife's pearls, and he would just use of those, haha. He is frustrated and mystified because he can't find a color sample to work from. He has been a good sport and willing to keep trying. She had to go back a second time in the afternoon, after Taco Tuesday. This time it was raining cats and dogs, and she got soaked. The road was flooded up to the level of the curb, so I had to backtrack a couple of times just to cross the street. The roads are frequently uneven and broken.There was also heavy thunder and lightning. I tried to encourage her to take a taxi, but she loves being on the public transit. So if she catches pneumonia, it is all on her! And yes, she still needs to go back again next week. The good news is that the dentist and his staff are really interested in the Temple open house. 

On the first outbound trip, I decided to go a different way, without thinking it through. So, I had to get off and turn around at one point. The metro was so crowded at that time of day that I literally couldn't get on and had to wait for the next train. Also, I missed my stop on the outbound trip both times, so I did a lot of walking. My purse got so wet that the Metro entry gate couldn't read my ticket. My tote bag was entirely soaked, and made puddles wherever I set it down. My clothes were even wet in the back. The second time I went to the dentist, I entered with a swimming motion and made fish lips. Paola at the front desk got a kick out of that. It was so nice to get home into something warm and dry, but I didn't mind at the time. I really like walking around and finding my way. I like to see the different neighborhoods and feast my eyes on Rome. I also got to talk with a woman on the bus who hadn't heard of the open house yet. Red hair, 100% Italian, and spoke with a heavy Roman accent. On the way home the second time, one side of the metro entryway had to be closed off due to flooding. 

Meanwhile, I stayed home in the morning with a ton to do. I snaked her shower drain again, and hopefully this will work better. I also walked up to Todis and got a bunch of tortillas, hamburger buns (for Sloppy Joes on Friday), and plastic cups. We received four Amazon packages the day before, which I was able to pick up from Paolo. I also got a call from Infostrada to set up an appointment to install and activate the internet at the Millet's apartment next week. He gave them my number because he doesn't speak Italian, and I will be there at their place when the technician shows up, for which they are very grateful.

I drove alone to the Institute with a fair amount of stuff. Dee had already been there for a while when I arrived. Somebody (Jomar, we later learned) had set up the tables for Taco Tuesday, saving me some time and effort, which was very kind.

Our Taco Tuesday group was a little smaller than usual, but everyone had a good time and plenty of food. The Benincosas showed up to give a pitch for their self-reliance training. They enjoyed the tacos and showed a brief video. Several of our GANS want to have a class with them, but they haven't set a time yet.

 

I also ordered some more adhesive labels from Amazon.it for Sorella Thacker. With some help from me, she was able to search for what she wanted herself this time, and I just placed the order. They are printing thousands of labels for the temple open house, to go on the back of business-card-sized photos.  While on the phone with her, I discussed our flight home in March. She will work with church travel to make the reservations, and I requested that she start a bit early so that we can try to get the "premium" seats with a few extra inches of leg room, which I will happily pay for. We also will have an extra suitcase of stuff to check, which the church will reserve and we will pay.

We moved the desk from the Family History computer into the kitchen to see how a smaller table might work. There would be room for a second fridge, but it is tighter than we had hoped. When I checked online, the fridge probably wouldn't be here for our Thanksgiving dinner on the 30th if we ordered it immediately, so for now we decided to punt on it.

At 7pm I hosted Ugo's Institute class online again. He was up north, driving, so he listened in, but I directed things. Two of the kids taught the topics, and I contributed a few thoughts, but it was basically all them.

When we got home, the Anziani who now live on our piazza came by to pick up extra bedding for two missionaries in town for the mission tour (a fancy name for a large conference, with missionaries coming from the northern half of our mission) later this week. We have extra, but they don't, so we happily gave ours to them and will buy new ones for us on the mission credit card. All four of them showed up, including ex-Ganziano Lewis (now in Cosenza), which was a delightful surprise. He got  a big hug from me and a hearty handshake from Dee.

Rearranged kitchen

Monday morning was drizzling and chilly. I had a teeth cleaning at 11:45am, so I left an hour early, not having been to this office before. Turns out that it only took about 15 minutes to get there, but then another 15 minutes to find a parking spot and walk back in the rain. So I had plenty of time in the lobby to do some catch-up messaging on my phone. Dee had gone there recently, and the office lady gave me her x-rays, which apparently here the patient is supposed to keep.

The hygienist was a delightful lady named Assunta. When she heard I was from California, she first complimented me on my Italian, then she volunteered that she had two cousins living in the US. Both of them had married Americans who served in Italy as Mormon missionaries. Assunta didn't know that I was LDS until I told her, and then she said that her cousins' kids had all served missions, including one currently serving in Rome. Turns out it is Anziano Grover, whom we know a little bit. Small world. I gave her the website address to get tickets to the Temple Open House, and she was delighted. My teeth are also in fine shape, and my next dentist visit will be back in the US. 

Dee had gone to the Institute on the subway, while I drove down from the dentist. We both arrived just a few minutes after 1pm. She had hit a couple of Chinese stores on the way, buying a plumbing snake for me to clean out her shower drain (again), as well as two covered glass bowls that I use for my lunch, which keep breaking for us.

I spent most of the afternoon working on my two lessons for Friday as well as the FHE lesson in the evening. Dee got the itch to look at redesigning our kitchen to try to make room for a second fridge and oven. Now that we aren't apparently moving anytime soon, if there is something easy/inexpensive to do to improve the kitchen, it may be worth it. I helped a little bit, but she ended up moving the fridge and microwave cabinet around herself. Turns out that, if we get a smaller table, we can apparently fit two fridges side by side, and there is then also a nice place to put another oven with overhead cabinets on the far wall. The oven would take some approval and possibly an electrical service upgrade, but the table and fridge we could do easily on our own for under 500€. We'll see what happens, with Ugo checking his budget. Some of the kids were shocked and disoriented when they saw it, but they all said it felt bigger and more open. 

New layout, with the current (too big) table

A number of kids got there early and played games for a while, and elders came to use the internet for Pday emails home.

For FHE, my lesson was on changing our desires to be in line with God's love, not for fear of punishment nor for desire of blessings. I used some nice quotes to stimulate a great conversation on the topic. Afterward a number of the kids wanted copies of the quotes, which I had done in our usual side-by-side style in both English and Italian:

“O God!  If I worship Thee from fear of Hell, burn me in Hell, and if I worship Thee in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise. But if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, withhold not Thine everlasting beauty!”
    -- Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya of Basra (died 801 AD)

There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.
    -- C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
   -- Romans 6:16

Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis,that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

   -- Alma 34:34 

 

After the lesson, we had Dee's wonderful chocolate chip cookies. She calls them Papritz cookies, because Anziano Papritz's intolerance to dairy helped her seek the recipe that uses oil in place of butter. Fortunately she put some cookies aside for Tuesday, because the ones she put out got devoured.

After we got home, I ordered some white dress shirts for Daniele's mission from LandsEnd, to be delivered to our daughter who will bring them here next month. We weren't quite sure which fit will work best, so we got him two different types and will see what he likes best. There was a good sale and free shipping, so it was a nice deal.