Sunday would have been my aunt's Elma 101st birthday. We miss you, Elma! At church we had a one-hour program, organized by the Hubers. There was narration and a number of different groups each coming up to sing a carol (youth, men, women, kids), as well as a number of congregational hymns. Anziano Clark did almost all of the accompaniment, including a violin descant, which he did without any sheet music. His musical talent is amazing; he becomes one with whatever instrument he plays. After "only" one hour of church, we all hung around to visit and eat cookies provided by the youth. It all seemed too short, and our ward likes being together.
I gave out three SD cards to young missionaries to put in their phone or tablet to back up their photos and videos, just telling them "Merry Christmas". They tend to store their photos on the internal storage, which fills up quickly and is harder to back up. Sorella Yanacallo had only a 16GB card on her Samsung tablet, which is almost full. I had an extra 64GB card which I tried to install for her, but it didn't work. Later I learned that her tablet is old and apparently cannot support cards larger than 32GB, so I ordered one of that size for her. I also gave a copy of my gospel choir concert videos to everyone, which they copied off my USB flash drive.
Dee has not driven since before breaking her foot, so it has been at least 8 months. On the way over to church, Dee brought it up, and said she wanted to start driving here again just so that she will be accustomed to driving when we get home. On the way home, we pulled into a parking lot by the Lidl in our neighborhood so she could take it home. She was a little unsure at first, as evidenced by the fact that she actually asked me for help and suggestions, but she did fine.
It seems that every day now we have to think about something dealing with going home. For example, I offered to give away the wired microphone, which I bought a year ago and rarely used, to our bishop, for the ward and/or his guitar playing. Similarly, we have an extra suitcase that we are filling with stuff for Chiara to take home for us. Dee already managed to fill it up before I got to put much in, so we will have to negotiate a bit 😀. We always feel sad about leaving, but preparations are underway for March. Sad to leave, but glad to be able to be home with our family and friends again.
I started timing my reading of the Other Wise Man story, and it seems that it is too long for the available class time next Sunday. Dee suggested getting an Italian to read it, since they would do it faster, but first I will try to edit out even more of the text without losing the story line.
After a nice afternoon at home, including reviewing our travel and sightseeing plans for the week, we headed out at 6:15pm to pick up Chiara at the airport. We were able to track her flights online, all of which went smoothly and on time. Traffic was light on the freeway until we actually got to the airport. The last mile or two of the freeway had hundreds of cars parked on the shoulder, many with their flashers turned on. It was confusing, but we think that they were effectively using the freeway as a cell-phone waiting lot, since the airport doesn't have one. Once we got to the terminals, it was bumper-to-bumper, with the parking structures full. I somehow managed to find a parking spot, probably illegal but with dozens of partners in crime, letting Dee get out at Terminal 3 and walk back a few hundred yards to meet Chiara at Terminal 1. I stayed with the car in case somebody came and asked me to move. That didn't happen, and Dee was able to find Chiara easily enough, returning within about half an hour. Chiara connected to free airport WiFi and got in touch with us via WhatsApp, which was a lifesaver. It was great to meet and hug our daughter, who seemed to have done pretty well on her flights.
The drive home was pretty easy, especially because I had parked close to the exit of the short-term parking lot. When we got home, Chiara was hungry and tired. Dee had prepared more of her tortellini dish in the crock pot, and we all enjoyed some. We had the Sorelle beneath us bring up our extra set of keys for Chiara. She unpacked a bit, giving us some loot that we had ordered and shipped to her to bring. She also brought white non-iron shirts for a friend. They're so excited about it. She hit the sack around 10pm. Having her here is a great Christmas present, and we will enjoy the coming couple of weeks.
I greeted Chiara with a big hug and kisses on both cheeks, which prepared her for Italians. It is sooo great to have her here with us.
I gave the downstairs sisters some clothes and shoes for their dead closet. They were excited. I hope something works for them.