Sunday morning before church we got a message from Ugo, telling us that President Pickerd had told him that a new senior couple had received a mission call to replace us at the Institute campus here in March. We are delighted, having been praying for this for awhile. Apparently the couple knows Jenna's brother and the Benincosas, all of whom think that they will be wonderful. The Pickerds called us in the afternoon to discuss that and a couple of other things. They told us that they would put us in touch with this new couple once they (the Pickerds) had spoken with them. We want to help them prepare to come here, just as the Thackers did so kindly for us, and we hope to overlap with them for several days to give them a running start.
We took Gino, Dee's knee scooter, to church to give to the Peregos so their kids (and Ugo? 😉) can play with it. I had tried to sell it on eBay for a low price, but never got any nibbles. I was feeling pretty well, all things considered, and made it through church fine. There were a bunch of visitors, and the chapel was almost completely full. In Fast and Testimony meeting a whole bunch of people shared very nice testimonies. The two new sisters, Brock and Morley, each bore a testimony. They did amazing well, for being here only a couple of weeks. What courage! Ugo taught Sunday School on Isaiah 50-53, wearing some Bigfoot feet as a symbol for "how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring good tidings". It was nice to be able to just sit in the class for once.
By the time we got home, I was pretty tired, with cold symptoms coming and going in a way that is unusual for me. The rest of the (rainy and chilly) day was spent in our apartment. I read some more in One Candle, with the heater turned on in our living room. I also spoke with Anziano Benincosa, who had his wallet pick-pocketed a week ago on a crowded subway. Amazingly, he got the wallet back from the police, without cash and having already cancelled the credit cards, but at least he still has his driver's license and temple recommend. The police station charged him 9€ to give it back! The Benincosas will teach our FHE lesson Monday night about their self-reliance program, which we hope will help some of our kids.
The Balzottis called to tell me that we will now be inspecting only three apartments: the two for Roma 3, plus the apartment of the Ganziani. It is nice to have more senior couples around to spread the load, after having been short for months. Dee and I spoke with Jim about what is happening at home, including trying to donate the cars. Things are progressing, but slower than we might want.
I got to teach all the Primary kids this week. When they arrived, they found me with a white lace scarf over my head, and I said, "Welcome to Jerusalem". I gave them all scarves to wear, then led them to the low table and told them in Jesus' day the people sat on the floor by a low table. They had flat bread and grape juice while Monica and I told them about the Last Supper. They loved it, and Monica and Silvia were really into it, too. Then, we had Josh and Junior come with the Sacrament trays and go over the prayers with them. The kids said Amen every time Josh finished a prayer, which made him smile. Then I stayed with them in Sharing Time. Benedetta and Bruno came to sit with me and leaned on me. It was a sweet day. Levi surprised me with a hug, too!
They also had fun eating the witchy fingers that I brought, left from Halloween.
Monica will probably be gone for a month now, so I'll be teaching regularly. And they're about to start planning the Primary program. Yes, it's a late start.
I did some groundwork for Melchiorre on his family history, and he was very happy about it. He had told me he would bring lunch, and he did. Some special bread, cheese, fizzy mineral water, and olives. It was all delicious. Now I know Greek from Italian olives. We'll meet again next week after I do some research at our Campus family history center, since his records are locked outside a center.
A visitor named Brother Larsen also wanted help with his wife's Italian line. Doug worked with him, finding some questionable data in his records. He is going to come to the Institute to see me on Tuesday.
Sunday afternoon, I took a little time to chug along on Sam's Kraken mitten. I want to have them ready for these cold months.
We're happy the new couple is called, relieved and thankful. But we're also melancholy to have to leave these kids and our ward. We always wanted to serve a mission together, so this has been a dream come true. We'll hope to see these people again, but there is nothing like being with them day after day.