Codice fiscale and mall trip

Monday morning I got up a little earlier than usual and left just after 8am to take the Willeys and Sorelle Millet to get their codice fiscale. I had no idea how long the line would be, so I told them to dress warm in case it went out the door. Instead, there were only a couple of people ahead of us. Each of the three got a number, and we then sat waiting for the numbers to be called. It was only about half an hour before they were each sitting with an agent. Having done this several times before, I expected no issues, but this time two agents each asked why we had filled out the local address section (with the mission office address), since their US home address was fine. So next time I will know not to do that. Sorella Millet's visa photo that the Thackers had copied for her was a problem, because they have served here before and the copy was of the old visa! Fortunately the lady was very nice and said that she would copy the correct one. Then it turns out that Sorella Millet already had a codice fiscale from last time, which is what I had suspected. The agent just printed a fresh copy for her to keep. The Willeys sailed through. 

We then dropped off Sorella Millet back at her home and went to the mall. The Willeys each bought an Iliad SIM card, after I had explained the pluses and minuses to him. Since we were there, I offered to take them to Auchan, which is a huge store like Target. They were delighted, since they needed a few things for their apartment. I got to show them the layout of the store and predicted that they would be spending a lot of time there in the next few weeks. Then I dropped them off at home to wait for a repairman coming to their place. We got a lot done in less time than I had thought, and they were very grateful for the time I gave them. There is nothing like having done something before to make it easier. I really like them; he is a get-it-done kind of guy. He served in the Milano mission two years before I did, but we were not able to figure out any connections there.

I got home just after 11:30am. Dee had already left for the final shot in her knee at Dr. Giorgini's office. First she went to Conad to get some food, mostly produce for me and for Taco Tuesday. I made my lunch, did the dishes which had piled up, and took out the trash. Then I headed downtown. The plan had been for Dee to arrive at the Institute by 1pm, but the doctor ran late. I left home a little late and hit traffic, so we each arrived about 15 minutes after 1pm. The problem was that a family from up north had called a few days earlier asking if they could leave their luggage at the campus while they did some sightseeing. Their hotel was apparently out on  the edge of town, and they had come to see the dad get his bachelor's degree in economics. He had spent an afternoon here a few months ago waiting for a train. We said ok, not knowing that we would be late, but they waited patiently for us to arrive. We thought it was just two of them, but instead it was an extended family of seven. I chatted with them while they each used the restroom. They were introduced to the Church in 1980 by missionaries knocking on doors. Now they have an extended family in the Church, which is wonderful for them. Anyway, I enjoyed the visit, but it set me back a little to spend the time with them.

Sam came by the Institute for the afternoon to work on his Pathway classes. Finals are coming up, but he didn't ask for any help this time. There were also about 14 missionaries there during the day. It was P-day, and we have a natural and accessible gathering place with WiFi for their weekly emails. However, we probably need to limit the number of them here at one time, since it tends to overwhelm the few GANS who are here on Monday afternoons.

During the afternoon I put up some coat hooks from Amazon on the wall in the hallway. We have had just one standalone coat rack in the entryway, which gets overwhelmed for big activities in the winter. The walls here are very different from in the US -- not studs with drywall. Instead it is a kind of mortar requiring expansion bolts to hold things. However, this wall seemed not very strong to me, so I hope that it holds. We really need the extra hooks.

Dee made zucchini bread with nuts and chocolate, with a streusel topping. She made a three loaves, plus a bunch of muffins. They were a wonderful dessert after home evening. We also shared Ugo's egg nog with everyone: just enough for a small taste each. It is not well known here at all -- only one of our kids had ever tasted it before, and most of them seemed to enjoy it, though some definitely didn't want seconds. One girl said it tastes like zabaione. I didn't know there was a non-alcoholic version.

 

 

 

My lesson was on Christmas traditions and the power of repetition on our lives. I used one of my favorites lines, from a woman who complained that "in our family we don't have Christmas traditions; we just do the same thing every year!" I asked each person in the room to share a Christmas family tradition or memory, and we enjoyed some good stories. I closed with saying that we need to take time to ponder on the great gift of Christ, which we traditionally remember each time this year. After the lesson, Riccardo, Krista, Chris showed up, and we had a good time as a group visiting and enjoying Dee's dessert.

Halfway through my lesson, the family came back to get their luggage, unfortunately needing to take Dee out for the rest of my lesson, which I was not very happy about. They had said that they would  be back soon after dark but were much later. Next time someone asks for something like this, we will have to ask more questions up front and do a better job of setting clear expectations. We want to help others as much as possible, but we also don't want to interfere with our lessons and activities.

After we got home, I went down and got some stuff from the Balzottis that Dee had requested and gave them our remaining windshield wiper fluid. I ordered SD cards from Amazon for two of our young missionaries who could use them for their photos on their phone or tablet, having told them that Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) was coming. One of my personal missions is to make sure that they never lose their photos. Having lost our mission slides in the fire, we are very sensitive to the issue. I also ordered some printer ink cartridges for the Millets. Soon the Willeys will have their own Amazon Prime account here, so we will not be the only online option for the other senior couples. That is good since we have only three months left, but it is sad for us.

Junior said a tech store went out of business and he had ten printers and computers he wanted to donate to us. We're curious about them! It's very nice of him.

On behalf of the friendship center, I asked the group for help teaching classes in English and Italian in January. Five kids offered, so Sister Canfield is doing a happy dance.