Ciccio, come here!

Tuesday morning we got to stay home. It was very strange when we left for the Institute: we had no bags of groceries to carry! Not sure when the last time that happened was, but we had stocked up on recent visits. Even coming home we had no bags, but don't worry -- Wednesday we have a huge grocery shopping trip planned 😀 for the Peruvian dinner event that evening.

The crowd for Taco Tuesday was fairly large, without many new faces. I was washing dishes after lunch, and Joyce saw me there at the sink. She called her (very serious) boyfriend Francesco -- nicknamed "Ciccio" -- both from our ward, saying "Ciccio, vieni qua [come here]", making sure that he saw that I, a man, was doing the dishes. Everyone got a good laugh out of it. There was a lot of energy at the campus all afternoon and evening, which always makes it fun, with many of the kids staying through the day.

After lunch we had a great student council meeting. There were five female council members in person, plus the Ganziani and us, and then Ugo on Zoom. Joyce continues to delight. She had everyone participating more than in any meeting we have ever seen. The girls were really excited about all the things going on, and we mostly enjoyed their enthusiasm and energy. We were able to plan for activities up through the Christmas break. Marlene and Noemi are new to the group and both had plenty to contribute. Marlene is a lot of fun, somewhat of  a force of nature, always full of good ideas and laughs.

L-R: Noemi, Dee, Marlene, Maria Jose,Joyce (Sheyla had to leave early)

During the afternoon, Dee made up more pre-packaged bags of spices for her wonderful Spanish rice that she makes each week for Taco Tuesday.

Sheyla, our of our regulars who has a new job with hours that make it harder for her to come here much, is from Peru and was really pleased to help plan the Peruvian food night, though bummed that she can't attend. She couldn't stop dancing she was so excited! Manuel and Almendra went out shopping at the international market nearby to get some of the ingredients needed for the plates they have planned. Several of the kids mounted the favorite scripture cards on the wall near the bulletin board. The cards had been sitting for a few weeks, so it is nice to have them displayed.

Maria Jose, Ciccio, and Joyce

 

In the evening, Ugo was not able to make it into town for his online Institute class on Eternal Families, with his wife Jenna in Greece for the week. So he taught from home, and I set up my computer to log in. Noemi and I participated remotely in the class, with about 20 kids from all over Italy. I took roll for Ugo, which was hard because kids kept dropping out and back in due to internet issues. The Zoom video still works amazingly well.

Kids logged on during Ugo's class

Noemi is a great gal, just returned from serving in the Rome mission. Her English is amazingly good.