Sorella Muçe is one of the missionaries joining our district, here early because she got to go to Milano the day before to finish paperwork for her Italian citizenship. She and her family are Albanian, but she looks and speaks like a native. We are delighted for her new status and happy to have her near us again -- she is just an awesome gal. At the end, Sorella Morley got quite emotional, having hoped to be here more than six weeks, but she will do well in Bari. We got a group photo, taken by Sorella Muçe.
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| L-R: Clark, Mayer, Morley, Yanacallo, Brock, Whitings |
After the meeting we went to Lidl on the way into town. I was tired and strangely a little dizzy, so I stayed in the car to rest while Dee shopped. She bought some bread that we then ate in the car on the way, and soon I was feeling better. (A lovely multigrain baguette.) When we got to the Institute just before 1pm, the Rome 2 district meeting was just ending, with about ten missionaries. We had given them permission as long as they were out by 1pm, but next time we'll ask them to be done earlier so we aren't colliding in the kitchen.
In the afternoon, Dee went to the dentist, where she finally got her implant finished, glued into place after at least ten trips! I went to Piazza del Popolo, as I like to do every time I go to the dentist. She is on a first name basis with all the staff there and has invited them to the temple open house. She got to be good friends with Anna there, who wants to take the English class near her home at Rome 1. I'll go with her the first time or two.
I did a bunch of lesson prep while she was gone, with our Rome 3 Sorelle studying in the other room (they had a meeting later at the train station). Maria Jose also dropped by with some food for our Ecuadoran food night and headed out to the international market nearby to buy the last bit. In theory, I shouldn't be alone with women here without Dee, but the alternative was to kick them out to the curb in the cold, so sometimes theory and practice collide. Fortunately, I am old enough to be their grandfather, but still it is a good guideline in general.
By late afternoon, Dee was back, along with Noemi and Maria Jose, who are originally from Ecuador and are wonderful gals. The two worked hard for several hours cooking churrasco, a dish with slices of fried beef, lentils, rice, fried plantains and eggs. I really like the fried egg on top of the rice and beans. The turnout was a little lighter than usual for these food nights, but all the more good stuff for everyone! It was a wonderful meal. Noemi and Maria Jose laughed hard at the end when the rice was burned black and stuck to the pan.
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| L-R: Dee, Maria Jose, Noemi |
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| Slicing plantains |
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| Preparing the beef |
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| Lentils and sliced plantains |
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| The kitchen is the heart of the Institute |
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| Frying |
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| The final product -- yum!! |
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| Eating |
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| Iliario and Maria Jose cleaning up |
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| Some of the rice did get a little burned! |
Grace got home after over a month visiting relatives in Peru and Bolivia. She met her relatives there, including her grandfather, for the first time. I told her I would help her with family history now :) She has been working on her mission papers, as is Maria Jose. Noemi is a returned missionary. Grace dropped by for a little while and was greeted very warmly by everyone. She and Dario had been engaged but have broken up, and Dario is now dating Noemi. From our perspective, there is not enough dating going on in general around here, so it is nice to see.
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| Grace and Jomar |
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| Maria Jose jumps into Grace's arms! |
The doctor has me taking an NSAID every day (Voltaren) and also a Voltaren patch on the knee. I feel no pain. It's great!
At the end of the night, we were all talking about language improvement. I was flattered when Sammy said I'm very good with the Italian consonants. But my vowels give me away, haha.
Only 99 days left. Today felt like it was two days long, but the time is still going too fast.