Andrea gets baptized

Dee was up late Saturday and early Sunday to prepare her Primary lesson and a game for singing time. The game (thanks, Pinterest!) uses a subset of the Uno card deck, with each color for a different segment of the song, and each number or special card being a different action. The kids loved it: Levi even asked if he could take it home to practice the song! Dee was tired for lack of sleep, but it was worth it.

Our bishopric hasn't quite got the new one-hour Sacrament meeting thing down yet. For the second week in a row, we started late and ended almost 15 minutes late, which cuts into lesson times for the second hour. They had the Boscos and Monica Frulla speak, all of whom are moving away and will leave a big void. President Melone from the stake also spoke for a few minutes at the end. He was there to release Brother Frulla as ward clerk and sustain Gamal to replace him. All the talks were really good, just too long. However, nobody here seems to be ruffled by it, so we just need to roll with it. 

In the middle of Sacrament meeting, we got a message from Jim in South Pasadena. Since it was the middle of the night there, I knew without even reading the message that it was trouble. My father-in-law had fallen and hit his head hard in the bathroom and was unable to get up. Jim asked what to do. Dee suggested calling an ambulance to take him to the hospital, which is apparently what happened. We know that they admitted him, but we don't know yet all the details. Jim and Dottie came back home from the ER and collapsed into bed. It is a relief that Jim is there, and he is carrying a big burden for us. 

After the two hours, we had a farewell lunch for the Boscos and the Frullas. This is three luncheons in one month, always with a great quantity and variety of food. We love our ward! 

 

 

 

 

At my request, the FM folks just installed a new WiFi access point on the ceiling in the hallway, right in the middle of the church. It seems to cover every room in the place now, which is awesome! However, it still needs to be configured, but hopefully next week all the teachers will have WiFi access in their classrooms, which has not been the case here before. The current WiFi comes only from the far corner in the clerk's office, which barely reaches the chapel, let along the classrooms. With the recently installed fiber internet service, we will finally have a reliable and fast network at church!

We came home for just a few minutes and then headed out for the baptism of Andrea at the nearby Roma 2 chapel. I looked it up on this blog: he was contacted on the subway last February 1st by Anziano Waddell, on splits with Adrian. The baptismal ceremony was very nice, with talks by Jomar and Almendra, a wonderful musical number by Anziani McConkie and Anderl ("Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in Italian), and prayers by Grace and Sheyla. Here is the group of GANS who were able to attend:

Andrea right in the middle

Andrea is a freelance journalist, so he is slated to have a tour of the temple on Monday with the VIP groups. My comment to him was that I was delighted to know a VIP!

I had a blast making the Uno game. I also got good attention from my Primary class. I have three nonmembers in it now. Now I need to work on my Italian classes. Sister Canfield said the class members loved it and has offered me a bigger room. It's great to have them speaking and learning and smiling.

I've been so busy that I didn't cook anything for the ward pot luck. Instead, I brought asiago cheese, bresaola (air-cured beef, thinly sliced) and breadsticks. Every single bit was gobbled up.

Thanks to Jim and Lynn, Dad is staying in the hospital. It turns out he has some serious health needs, and will go from there to a skilled nursing facility for awhile. More on that later.