Esther's baptism

Saturday we stayed home in the apartment all morning and afternoon, which was nice. Dee did a bunch of cleaning, in view of the young Anziani coming to stay with us for Zone Conferences the following weekends. In fact, next weekend they are coming from far enough away that they need to arrive Saturday and stay two nights. We each worked on our lessons for Sunday a while. I made Facebook posts on the Institute group for two of our big activities the week before, with a bunch of photos. 

On the Facebook group for my Italy Milan Mission era, they are planning a reunion here in Rome in September to see the temple. We have attended a few of them in the past, always in Salt Lake. Dee and I agreed that it might be fun to come back to Italy later in the year while we are still fresh in people's minds, but we won't know for some time whether that could work.

Samuel called with laptop WiFi problems, which made it impossible for him to complete his first Pathway homework assignment for the new semester. He got a C grade on his first semester; not bad for a first time, especially with his background. I tried to help diagnose the problem over the phone, but between his accent (very difficult for me to understand), lack of technical terminology, and a bad phone connection, I quickly gave up and just told him to bring his laptop to church or to the Institute. He said that he would do so.

My father-in-law's church ward in South Pasadena is reaching out to help. Our old friend Laurie visited him last week, and his new ministering family is trying to go see him. We asked if someone could take Dottie to see him over the weekend while Lynn isn't around , and they will try to organize something. We are truly grateful for wards who really try to serve each other.

In the evening, we went to Esther's baptism at the Roma 2 chapel nearby. We only know a little bit about her fascinating story. She barely escaped Nigeria with her life, leaving one daughter at home with her mom; her other daughter died somewhere in this process. Anyway, she first showed up at the Friendship Center with a hopeless countenance and attitude, but she has come alive as she has been taught the gospel. The Canfields do a wonderful job of loving these immigrants, who have lives far more difficult than we can imagine. The ceremony was in English, and it felt odd to sing the hymns in English instead of Italian. Anziano Kane and Sammy gave very nice talks, and the Roma 5 Sorelle sang a beautiful arrangement of "I Am A Child Of God". It was Anziano Mansell's first opportunity to perform a baptism.

Canfields with Esther

Esther with a bunch of missionaries