California night

Sunday morning was stake conference, held for the last time at a local hotel. Next spring it will be at the large new stake center next door to the temple, but we will be home by then 😢. I had slept fairly well after crashing the night before, almost nine hours, but I was still pretty tired. Fortunately, as the long day went on, I kept feeling better and better, almost to the point of saying that my cold is over. The conference session was very good, with several of our GANS recently returned from missions giving brief testimonies. They also called a new stake patriarch, Vincenzo Conforte, because the prior patriarch, Fratello Calabrese, has been called as a bishop. Brother Conforte served as a mission president twice (with only a one-year break in between!), starting over 30 years ago, and he still has a fiery testimony. We also saw Francesco's dad and were able to turn over the bag with all his soap-making equipment and supplies.

Most of the senior missionaries sat together, but we sat back a few rows among the locals. An older sister sat next to us, and I introduced myself. Her last name was Arcidiacono, so I told her that there were two Arcidiacono sisters in the branch in Genova where I served as a new missionary in 1975. It was her, and her sister was sitting just a few rows away! Her sister is married to Brother Malara from Rome, whom my wife knew on her mission. Small world. I want to understand those connections a bit better. It is always fun to see so many friends at conference, and it is sad to think we won't be around next time. 

The stake choir sang three numbers, including an incredible arrangement of  "Let Us All Press On", with an awesome men's section. We were sorry to have been too busy and sick to sing this time around. After the conference we drove two of the Sorelle home with us, including Sorella Maxfield who was with us in Rome 3 a few months ago and now lives beneath us.

We were home for just long enough to eat a quick bite, and then we headed down to the Institute so that Dee could prepare dinner for Anna and Roberto, who drove down to see us from Ronciglione. I was still tired and took an hour nap on the little sofa in one of the classrooms, which helped a lot. I also had time to print out all my lesson materials for this coming weekend. Dee spent the whole time in the kitchen, making enchiladas, Spanish rice, salad, guacamole, and dirt cups for dessert. It was amazing to me to see how she balances her time to get everything ready just in time for the 7:30pm dinner. This includes making the enchilada sauce, pudding and whipped cream from scratch.

 

 

We had an absolutely marvelous time together. Dee announced it as a California dinner, but of course with a strong Mexican flavor. We had salad first, which raised their eyebrows, since Italians have salad after the main courses. They loved all the food, most of which was new to them, and Anna wanted the recipes. My wife gets that all the time now, which makes her chuckle, since she has never been known for cooking.  Roberto's comment was that she had to come to Italy to learn how to cook American! They also brought some pastries and a local variety of fruitcake to share. Only a few of the pastries had alcohol in them, but they knew which ones and happily ate those. Anna also brought a huge skein of yarn as a gift for Dee.

Our visiting together was great. They are so nice and extremely sharp. Each time we are with them, we learn lots of good things about Italian language and history, and we all seem to hit it off well. We agreed to find a time to go together to the temple open house next year.

After dinner, we taught them how to play the card game Uno, which was new to them, and they absolutely loved it! As always, it is a lot of fun yet very easy to hold a conversation while playing. Our GANS have marked up a few of the wildcards with "special" instructions, such as "give your hand to the person on your right," which makes the game less predictable and more fun. Anna and Roberto left for home about 10pm with a one hour drive ahead of them, while we stayed a while longer to clean up. It was after 11pm when we got home and midnight before I got to bed, with Dee still up for a while after me. We just both kept smiling about what a nice evening it had been.

We had such a great evening together. They have already asked us when we can come over again. Anna bought her own Uno cards the very next morning. She came in an amazing capelet she crocheted with no pattern, and a gorgeous bracelet as well. She is incredibly artistic.

There is an Italian law we didn't fully understand that allows Anna to take two years off from her nursing job to take care of her mother. They all live together, and her mother is 90 is various vision and balance problems. So, Anna is there all day now. She wants to do it, but she says it's harder than working. 

We did the dinner at the Institute, because the kitchen is so much nicer. I love the induction cooktop. I showed it to Anna, who knew nothing about them. She was shocked that I only have one tiny oven for prepping dinner for 30 people. It's tricky, and I wish I had two.

We now have three Ginos in our Italian life: Gino the knee scooter, Gino the suit store owner, and Gino the butcher (for our Thanksgiving turkey).