Dee to the rescue

Wednesday morning I got up after almost no sleep again. My sinuses were completely blocked, making it hard to even swallow. In the morning, however, each of my nostrils cleared for a while, giving me a sign of hope, but it didn't last. Sorella Millet set up an 11:30am appointment for me downtown with Dr. Bacci, a GP whom she knows and likes. I took a taxi down there, not feeling alert enough to drive and too weak to take public transit. Meanwhile Dee and the Balzottis headed out to Lidl for food for Friday night and then to the campus. It was my first time out of the apartment door since the prior Thursday morning. Sorry to go into all this detail, but you have to understand how desperate I am feeling after so many days with very little sleep.

Dr. Bacci looked at my records, examined me, asked lots of questions, and then said that the house-call doctor on Sunday had done a good job, prescribing basically what he would have recommended. Nice to know. While talking with him, my sinuses were again squeaking/honking, which I pointed out. He looked startled and said that he had never seen/heard such a thing before, and he is older than I am! I feel so special. He added a decongestant to the antihistamine, plus prescribed a steroid nose spray to help with the swelling in the sinuses.

The taxi ride back home, like the one there (round trip fare 50€), was smooth and relaxing. Not! This is Rome. The good news is that all the jarring from the bumpy roads may have loosened some mucus in my sinuses 😀. I had the taxi driver drop me off at the pharmacy down the street from our apartment, where I attempted to fill the prescriptions, but neither was in stock. By then I was exhausted, feeling a bit feverish and unable to breath, with my teeth and my sinuses hurting. I almost  had a "fruit salad" moment, which refers to a story from our family lore where my mom burst into tears at the end of a tough day when her waitress announced that they didn't have the fruit salad my mom had ordered -- the straw that broke the camel's back.

But I kept it together, stumbled back to the apartment, took some Tylenol and Advil to try to relieve some of my symptoms, and had a bit to eat. I called the young Sorelle below us, sending them a photo of the prescription (such things are fairly lax here) and asking them to buy the stuff on their way home for lunch. They were angels, very happy to help, but one of the items was not in stock either. They dropped off what they had bought and I paid them. As the afternoon went on, I kept feeling worse and worse. I called Dee to see if she could pick it up for me. I even asked her (only half jokingly) if she would check what the Delta luggage policy was for urns of funeral ashes: check, or carry-on? She sensed how out of it I was and immediately made the call to close the Institute for the rest of the day and come home to take care of me. Turned out to be a very good thing. The Balzottis were out at a doctor appointment of their own, so she left them to make their way back  home on the subway, after she bought some stuff at the pharmacy around the corner. She overbought for me and for some things for her to bring home, but that was all good.

By the time she got home, I had taken my daily antibiotic which seemed to have calmed things down a bit. That has been the pattern: feeling worse until I take that pill, so apparently it is hard at work against the forces of evil. She cooked for me (another goose omelet -- maybe that's why my sinuses honk? 😉), got me to down some warm lemonade, and had me try a machine she bought that vaporizes a saline and steroid mixture into a mask to open up the sinuses. Not sure whether or how much that helped, but by evening I was feeling much better. I was very grateful to her for coming to my rescue.

Ugo got involved, asking if there was anything he could do. He is very concerned, and he was supportive of Dee's call to come home. The activity would have been small that evening anyway. We really don't want to end our time here together limping like this, but we are doing our best.

Our daughter Chiara sent us a report on her visit to her grandfather in the hospital on Tuesday, together with Dee's sister Donna. He was very sleepy and disoriented, at one point authorizing her to pay up to $900 to repair something in one of his apartments. She had no idea what he was talking about, but he loves to be busy fixing things. Poor guy.

Conatti returns

Tuesday was the sixth day at home in a row for me. This stuff seems to be getting better, but far too slowly. My cough has largely subsided, with occasional small flareups, but now it is just congestion keeping me up at night. I finally decided to stop fighting it and try to sleep while breathing through my mouth, since my sinuses are completely clogged anyway. It feels kinda like drowning, but I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep that way. I showered but didn't shave -- still haven't done both on the same day for almost a week. Taking the antihistamine in the afternoon didn't provoke as much activity as prior days, so maybe that is progress.

President Pickerd called me and Dee. We have a farewell lunch planned with them for Wednesday, but we'll  see if it actually happens.  In the late afternoon, I was feeling pretty cruddy, but in the evening it seemed like maybe I turned a corner. Let's hope so.

It was a very busy day at the campus, with 16 GANS-aged kids. Dee had no free time, but they were able to leave a little early. She got home before 9pm, not even having had time for dinner yet.
Dee home somewhat early, famished. Anziano Conatti, a Ganziiano from a year ago, returned to visit from Brazil, and I really hated to miss that!

Anziano Contti in the middle, with his brother on the left

Taco Tuesday crew

Dee alone at the Institute

Sunday night to Monday morning was a bad night. My sinuses were very full and roiling all night, as if there were a big battle going on in there, but at least it wasn't painful. I had weird and fitful dreams about sleeping in different locations with different pillows, but I couldn't have had more than 2-3 hours of sleep total, yet again. By morning, it felt like things were calming down in there, and briefly my left nostril even cleared up. So perhaps this is a good sign, but I still felt cruddy all day and never even showered. To add insult to injury, our smoke alarm decided to go off on its own in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason. It kept chirping, and I finally just broke off the kill tab, so I will need to get a new one. These non-removable batteries have real downsides.

The Balzottis were still in Napoli, having driven down Sunday with the Burns, and they would do some cameo shopping at the De Paola factory there, arriving back at the train station about 9pm. That left Dee  to go down alone to the Institute on the subway, which she is very capable of handling. I certainly wasn't going anywhere. She picked up some tortillas at Todis on the way to the subway,  since we were a little low.

During the day I was able to rest a little bit and started to feel slightly better. The Sorelle below us bought me some of the Ricola cough drops that I love; I repaid them with change in a napkin so that they didn't have to touch anything I had handled recently. Sorella Millet brought by some Italian decongestant to try, as well as a saline nasal rinse kit which she uses every day. I tried it and it does seem to clean things out somewhat.

At one point, I actually had enough energy to call Delta airlines and see about recovering the Comfort+ seating funds that we had spent originally on our March 21st return date.  Unfortunately, they told me that I could have used those funds to buy Dee's ticket, but not to upgrade the seats. Having already purchased the tickets, it was too late. Bummer. Maybe I can use the money for another trip after we get home. I was able to get an exit row (leg space, for free!) on my flight from Rome to Atlanta.

Dee gave the FHE lesson and made the dessert all by herself. I had hoped to video in by Zoom, but wasn't feeling up to it. 

She met the Balzottis at the train station just after 9pm, taking the subway and walking home with them. We worry about a cute little lady walking home alone in the dark, so that was nice. I was already out for the night when she got home.

Gurgling sinuses

Sunday morning I woke up after another bad night and started to get ready for church and for my talk. Dee listened to me coughing for a while and declared, wisely, that I was too sick to go to church or anywhere. She ended up driving there on her own, the first time she has driven that far since she broke her foot last May, but my woman is fearless. She gave her talk and they somehow arranged around mine. I was very bummed not to speak, since it would be our last regular Sacrament meeting in the ward. The bishop decided that they will have a ward lunch for us after our meetings next week. Dee spoke about the Beatitudes, but I haven't heard her talk. Several of our GANS came to listen and wish us well: Grace and Franz (brother and sister), and Francesco, back from Milano along with his parents. They gave Dee some fresh eggs, including (huge) goose eggs from their farm, which was very thoughtful.

Francesco with his parents

The goose eggs on the ones on top

I just stayed home and rested, but it didn't seem like things were progressing. Dee came home after teaching Primary, having visited (and cried) with a bunch of friends after church, saying that Elia, our bishop's wife, suggested a doctor house-call service, Guardia Medica. We looked into it: it's not cheap, but they seem to have a good reputation. We hope that our insurance will reimburse it, but I don't care! Sorella Millet, our mission nurse, offered help and a blessing. She was going to get me to a doctor on Monday, but I decided to go ahead with the house call.

The guy showed up about an hour after we called, young and sharp. He took my vitals, asked some questions, and prescribed some antibiotics, liquid cough drops, and an antihistamine (which we already had). For 180€, if it gets me on the road to recovery a day sooner without having to leave the house (not up to that!), I am all for it. My wonderful Dee walked up the street a few blocks to the around-the-clock pharmacy, where she got the stuff, as well as some things she needed. I took the antibiotic, the antihistamine,  and some of the liquid cough drops, dissolved in water.

Soon, weird gurgling and squeaking sounds started to come out of my sinuses, just sitting there. It was very odd and would go on all evening. Never heard anything like it before. Even Dee could hear it from across the room. I took it as a good sign that something was happening, though I didn't feel any better yet. She made us a nice goose omelet for dinner, which I enjoyed -- it was good to have an appetite for the first time in a while. Anziani Millet and Thacker came by on the way to the senior missionary dinner, which we skipped for obvious reasons, and they gave me a blessing with consecrated oil. Maybe things are looking up. In the evening we calendared for our last week together in Italy. Sounds  strange to say that.

Dee to temple with Anna and Roberto

Once again Saturday I never left the house, after a bad night. My usually dependable cold meds are not working, leaving me sleep-deprived and almost delirious. I can't breathe and have violent coughing attacks. This has got be get better soon! Dee had stayed up late again and slept in; not sure how she is doing it.  I did finally get a brief nap in the early afternoon, which helped a little bit.

Dee walked down to Conad in the early afternoon and picked up some food for our place and for the senior missionary dinner on Sunday. About 3:30pm, she left for the temple without me to meet Anna and Roberto, taking a taxi. They apparently had a very nice visit. Roberto was very bummed that I wasn't there as was I. It was cold and windy outside, according to Dee, and she got back almost four hours after she left. Apparently the extra day of Open House was not as heavily attended as prior Saturdays, and it was mostly Italian nonmembers.

In the evening we worked on our talks for Sacrament meeting on Sunday. I am hoping for some kind of minor miracle to allow me to be well enough to go. Dee also had Primary to prepare for.

Me home again, Dee dancing

Thursday night Dee stayed up until almost midnight, which was great for her jet lag, and she then slept 9 hours. I had a very fitful night, coughing and unable to breathe well. The meds that usually work for me at night -- Afrin and Delsym -- seem to be failing me. As a result, not only am I sick, but I am sleep deprived and feeling very out of it. Suffice it to say that I stayed home all day. I have almost no appetite these days, forcing myself to eat a little bit. My cough can be downright violent at times, and I am unable to lie down on my back without coughing.

Lisa from church travel made reservations for us, on the dates we had requested. My flights look good, but Dee's on KLM leaves Rome at 6am, which isn't very good for us. I booked her own ticket on Delta, using the same route as last time, leaving at noon. It costs a bit extra, but we will get reimbursed for most of it..

Dee went with the Balzottis to Lidl and then to the campus. They bought stuff for the party that night, and then they cooked the Sloppy Joes that the Balzottis had defrosted the day before. I stayed home and tired to rest, but could not get to sleep. In the late afternoon I finally showered after two days, but never shaved.

During the afternoon I had a Skype conversation with Anziano Mott about tech issues here at the apartment and at the Institute. I later sent him some documentation on how things work. He was able to install the SmartLife Home app and turn on and off the light in our living room, so he is good to go.

Dee dropped off some stuff here on the way to the GANS party at Roma 2 at 7pm. She and the Balzottis were there for the evening, and everyone was happy to see her again. As far as I can tell, she isn't suffering from jet lag! She is understandably getting a little weepy these days, as almost every encounter now is a final one for her. She got out and danced with Rhenald.

By the time she got home, I had just taken my cold meds and hit the sack, hoping for some sleep.

She's back!!

Thursday morning I woke up much worse: coughing heavily, weak, dizzy. You know, the typical way a cold hits me. Bummer. It was immediately obvious to me that I was not leaving the apartment that day. I told the Balzottis, who were fine with it. They would later come to get the car keys and head downtown. I never even showered all day. Early on I also decided to cancel Seminary on Friday, because, even if I was somewhat better, I didn't want to share my germs with them.

The Balzottis got to spend the entire afternoon and evening at the campus. Somebody came to replace the toilet seat. I had bought a universal one at the nearby hardware store, but it kept breaking, with the screws coming out and the seat falling off. So I asked the church facilities folks to get a good-quality one, but the guy showed up with an entire new toilet to replace the old one. Anziano Balzotti let him go ahead, but called me. By then it was too late; the deed was done. Oh well. You should know that, unlike in the US, toilet seats here are not standard sizes -- each manufacturer has its own slightly different size and hole pattern, so maybe it was easier to replace the whole thing than just the seat.

I tried to take a nap in the early afternoon, but ended up just resting, because I couldn't quite stop coughing. It was definitely the right decision to stay home. At my request, Dee bought some Delsym liquid cough syrup in LA which really works well for me, so I was anxiously awaiting its arrival.

I cancelled the AirBNB reservation that we had for the week of overlap when the Motts arrive, and we will receive a full refund. The lady was very understanding about the reason why, telling us to take care of my father-in-law. It somehow feels sad and very final to be making all these changes, and indeed the end is much sooner than we had planned.

Dee's flight landed a little early, just after noon. She had refused repeated offers to pick her up, because she likes getting around on the public transit. She took the train downtown, thinking maybe she would stop at the campus for a while, but on the way discovered -- surprise! -- that she was really tired. I think that all the walking on uneven Italian sidewalks with two suitcases was harder than she figured, but she made it home by about 3:30pm. She stopped to buy some food along the way, since I hadn't even tried to venture out to pick up what she needed.

With my illness, I just waved at her from across the room. Hopefully we can actually hug each other sometime soon! It is good to have her home. I was feeling pretty sick and was in bed before 9pm. Dee did a good job staying awake, which is important for getting over jet lag the first day here. She decided to sleep in the back bedroom, anticipating a fitful night for me.

In which Anziano Balzotti drives to and from the campus

Wednesday morning my cold was getting worse again 😞, which was a bummer after needing no meds on Tuesday. I walked to Conad for a few things in the morning. One of the tapparelle (wonderful metal rolling shutters) in our bedroom has been broken for some time. The strap can no longer be moved, and it is stuck in the down position. I looked online for tapparelle repair places and found a bunch of them, calling one and setting up an appointment for Thursday morning. We hope to leave more things working for the Motts, and our time is getting short.

Anziano Balzotti drove us into campus this time. Having served here as a young missionary, he knows downtown Rome somewhat, so he was pretty comfortable with me giving directions. Once there, the three of us reviewed the schedule for the next few weeks, beyond when we go home. They are already way along the learning curve and should be able to transfer lots of knowledge to the Motts. They are great with the kids and are really excited to have this opportunity to do something different.

It was a very light afternoon at the campus, typical for Wednesdays. The evening activity was giving out cards for the English classes at Palazzo del Popolo. Three kids -- Jomar, Joyce, and Nelson -- went along with the two Ganziani, breaking up into two groups.  Meanwhile, the three of us stayed and watched Benventi al Sud, a hilarious Italian comedy (shown with English subtitles), which plays off the regional prejudices here in Italy. The subtitles are necessary even for me, because so much of it is in dialect. The Balzottis loved it and want a copy. About 8pm the kids came back, and we set out some cookies and cake for them to eat. They finished that off and then set themselves to playing games. Nelson, from Milano, enters the MTC in England next month to serve here in Rome.

L-R: Balzotti, Rouse, Jomar, Joyce, Faletti, Nelson

 

I spoke with Dee twice during the day, once in her morning, when she was heading up to see her dad in the hospital. The second time was as she was heading to airport to fly back here. Donna arrives in LA on Friday to take over. It's not like things are great there without Dee, but we think and pray that they can get by. Her nonstop flight from LAX to Rome would leave at midnight Rome time and arrive at noon Thursday.

I sent in a request to church travel for different flights home: Dee to LA on March 4, and me to San Diego on March 12 (after the temple dedication). That should all get set in the next day or two, and then the question will be whether I can somehow recover or reuse the extra funds we had paid to upgrade my seat to have more legroom on our prior flights. If not, I will pay for it again (it is cheaper than knee surgery after a long flight in regular coach 😉), but Dee insists that she doesn't need it.

With Jomar there with his keys, we were able to leave a little early, arriving home by 9pm. Anziano Balzotti drove home too, so now he knows the way, more or less. I picked up Anziano Willey's MiFi device, sent home via the Thackers, and configured it again (properly this time, I hope!) to enter the SIM PIN automatically. It will get sent back to him via the Thackers in the morning.

By then I was exhausted, took my cold meds, and hit the sack, hoping for a full night of sleep.

New companionship

Tuesday I kept feeling better, without needing any cold or cough meds all day, except some Afrin nose spray to sleep that night. Sorella Balzotti had a minor medical procedure in the morning that kept her at home for the day, so Anziano Balzotti and I were a companionship for the day, kinda like splits! 

In the morning I got an email from Anziano Sanchez in our ward, announcing that they were bringing six people to Taco Tuesday! So I asked who they were, explaining that it is not appropriate to invite immigrants from the Friendship Center to a free lunch; if that word got around, it could overwhelm us (and our budget). Sure enough, he had invited a bunch of immigrants, so that got squashed. I felt bad for him, but we have limited space and resources, and our Institute is really for our GANS kids, their friends, and serious investigators, not just for people hoping for a meal. He was fine with it, and they later showed up with one nice kid from South America.

Anziano Balzotti and I did all the Taco Tuesday prep between us. He is very good in the kitchen, as we knew from Thanksgivings past. He chopped the onions and tomatoes, and then I had him cook the meat and add the taco seasoning, so that he could learn the secrets of our trade. We were ready in plenty of time.

We ended up with a fairly big group for tacos. There were not enough chairs to hold everyone, and we had to pull out extra meat -- a very fine thing. Here is an early photo before everyone got there:

Right after lunch, someone range the intercom asking if this was the Mormon church. I invited him up. His name was Gustavo, a young Peruvian studying in Edinburgh. He had already eaten, so he refused tacos. He is not a member, but came to Italy looking for his Italian roots so that he can apply for Italian (and thus EU) citizenship. I helped him on the FH computer for half an hour or more, while Anziano Balzotti finished the dishes without me even asking. Unfortunately, his Italian connection is back in the 1830s or so, and he doesn't know an exact date or place, so we couldn't find anything. I told him that he needed to work back from his parents and grandparents, finding records with names and ages and places of each prior generation, in order to have any chance. He is not in a rush and asked if he thought he should return to Scotland for now. My response was yes, until he had more details, at which point he might know where to go in Italy to look for church records, since there are few civil records in those decades. We spoke in English, since his Italian was not good. He was sharp and extremely grateful for the help, though a bit disappointed at not finding anything. I suspect that, knowing Dee, she would like to try to help him at some point, but she is rather busy right now!

At 3:30pm we had our student council, with Joyce, Sheyla, Maria Jose, Marlene, Ugo (on Zoom) and me, plus the Ganziani at first to talk about missionary work. With those four girls, the meeting is always lively and productive.  Everyone was very sad about the news on Dee's dad and that we thus would not stay as long as we had planned. They even got a little teary eyed. We love these kids.

Anziano Balzotti took a long walk to pick up his wife's purse which she had left at the doctor's office near Circus Maximus, and he got back for the last few minutes of the meeting. Afterward, while chatting, the girls asked us for advice in picking a spouse, which was very nice, and they seemed genuinely interested in the response from two guys each married over 40 years.

Ugo normally comes into town for his Tuesday night Zoom class, but his train got cancelled at the last minute. So he taught from home, and I set up my laptop for Noemi to participate, the only in-person student that night.

Linda showed up late on her way back from an interview in Milano with Disney about a one-year internship at Disney World Orlando. She had a friend with her, who also interviewed for the job. Seemed like a nice enough guy, with decent English skills, having studied in Boston for a while.

It was nice to chat with Anziano Balzotti throughout the day, about life and our missions. It seems amazing to both of us that time has passed so quickly. We really like those Balzottis!

I spoke with Dee a couple of times. They had to take her dad to the hospital in the morning in an ambulance again. They found him on the floor in the hallway, unable to get up and very disoriented. It was unclear to me for a while, between phone calls, whether Dee would be able to come back here at all with this development. Actually, however, having him under care at a hospital or nursing facility for a couple of weeks -- which he clearly needs -- will  make it easier for her to come back long enough to pack up calmly here and say some farewells. The church travel folks can change our return flights for no fee, so we will try to figure out real soon what the plans are.

With the Balzottis at the Institute

Monday morning I awoke after a fitful night, feeling dizzy, weak, and with clogged sinuses. At least I didn't have chills anymore. If Dee had been here, I would have just stayed home in bed, but the Institute needed to be opened, so I made it through the day, feeling better as the day went on.

I spoke with President Pickerd, who gave us permission to come home slightly earlier, just 2-3 weeks from now. Now we have to see about working out the flying arrangements, but it was a US holiday so I couldn't talk to anybody in the church travel department.

The Balzottis accompanied me to the Institute for the day. The plan is to train them in what we do, so that they can pass it on to the Motts when they arrive. It is always fun to be around them, and they will be great in soaking up this knowledge. The afternoon was pretty light, as is typical on Mondays. At one point I joked whether they could handle the busy pace of our assignment, but they were fine with having some down time after standing up all day at the temple for three weeks, after almost 18 months of fixing cars and apartments.

ChrisE came by to prepare for a big interview on Tuesday, and I gave him two sandwiches. In the early evening the Benincosas showed up to coach him some more. Jomar came by to sing karaoke. Alessio came by for a while in the afternoon, but left and didn't return for home evening.

I spoke with Dee a couple of times at her parents' house. There is a lot going on there, and her dad is running a fever and has been delirious at times. At one point he said, "This place is no fun. Tomorrow I want to go home." She bought a Verizon SIM card to bring back for me later this week, so that I will have phone access when I travel home.

Our home evening group was the smallest in quite a while: only Jomar and Junior. We watched the full video of Jomar with David Archuleta taken by the Ganziani -- you can watch it here. Anziano Balzotti did the quote, and my question of the week was "who would you love to have dinner with?"  The answers are always fun.  Mine was Glady Knight, but Anziano Balzotti took top honors by saying "my wife".

My lesson was on perseverance, continuing when times get difficult. I shared an experience from playing chess in high school, against our team adviser (Mr. Lamison, a history teacher, known as "Lammy"). I had a passed pawn, which can become a queen, and each time I just moved it up one square, even when he was preparing to attack my king. With each move forward of my pawn, Lammy erupted with a "damn!", with increasing intensity as I got closer. Finally he had to abandon his attack to try to stop my pawn. I learned that going forward with something that you know is right will eventually pay off. Both GANS shared some kind of similar life experience.

Sister Balzotti cutting fudge (so I wouldn't share my germs)

After the lesson we had packaged cookies and Dee's Oreo fudge with white chocolate. Then everyone played Cover Your Assets, which was new for the Balzottis and Ganziani. Everyone had a lot of fun. Anziano Faletti said that he would buy the game as soon as he got home! I think that the Balzottis' first day at the Institute was a big success 😀👍

Indexing and lunch

Sunday I woke up with a very froggy voice and a runny nose, but it would not stop me from teaching my lesson. I took some DayQuil, which helped quite a bit. Our Sacrament meeting was overflowing again, but not as bad as the other (more central) wards: Roma 1 apparently had over 550 people at their meetings. Some Americans sat by me, but we ran out of wireless translation headsets, so I translated for the grandma of the group, who was very grateful. The ward probably should have adjusted and done alternating speaking/translating over the microphone, but this is all rather new to us here and will probably not happen again.

Sergio gave me a bag with some pants in it for my wife to hem for him. His Italian is difficult to understand because he uses so much French, but I thought he said that he had already talked with her about it. Nope. She will gently turn him down, unfortunately, because she has so little time left and so much to do.

My Sunday School lesson, on the temptations of Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well, had lots of participation, including a guy from the UK making nice comments which Anziano Sanchez and I translated into Italian. After the two-hour block, there was a scheduled indexing event, which was the biggest yet. Too bad that Dee wasn't there to enjoy it. There were a bunch of youth, plus many adults, and even some of the Americans stayed. I helped Melchiorre and Vincenzo dip their toe into the indexing pool. It is nice that we have fast internet now at the chapel, with so many people online. Once they configure the newly installed access point, the WiFi coverage will be really good; right now is it weak.

The youth indexing crew

The others

After the indexing, we had one of Roma 3's patented lunches, which was wonderful. Our ward knows how to party!

The youth group, about to dig in

No fear of running out of food!

 

A number of the young missionaries in our ward are going home this week, after having extended three weeks for the Open House. So I took some final photos of our big district. Anziano Sanchez will be staying on until the end of the transfer, when he goes home too. We love these wonderful young people!

L-R: Castro, Ferrara, Ashton, Muce, Harmon, Yanacallo, De La Rosa, Crook, Sanchez

After getting home, I spoke with Dee. Her sister Donna is coming to California again later this week as Dee heads back to Rome.  Dee strongly feels the need to go home (for good) to help her dad a couple of weeks after returning here, when Donna leaves, which means that she would miss the temple dedication by just a few days. That would also be only a few days short of 18 months since started our mission, so it's not really going home early. Also, it means that we wouldn't overlap with the Motts, which we have been looking forward to. And of course we will be sad to miss those last couple of weeks that we had extended for. I talked with the Pickerds, who were very supportive and said it would not be a problem. He suggested that we have the Balzottis take over from us, since they have basically finished their Open House assignment and will go home a few weeks after us. They will be great, and they can then orient the Motts on how we do things. Of course, the Motts may decide to do many things differently, but at least they will understand the framework. Details are yet to be worked out. I am asking permission to stay a few days longer than Dee so that I can attend the temple dedication -- that would be nice, but not essential.

The Willeys dropped by after their church so that I could configure their new Iliad SIM card in their hotspot device. Their fiber internet stopped working for some strange reason, and they have been using the hotspot as their home internet for some weeks. Iliad gives them better price and more data, but you always have to configure the device to insert the SIM PIN automatically, which isn't easy to do for most people.

By late afternoon, I was having chills, and it felt like I was running a slight fever. I kept the living room really warm and wore a sweater and a jacket, but whenever I would leave that room I started shaking. We don't have a thermometer in the apartment, but fortunately the Sorelle below us did. My body temperature was only 99.1, so that was ok. Sister Millet, the mission nurse, told me to drink warm fluids, which helped a little, but I was still cold all evening and felt very wiped out. Finally I turned on the electric heater in our bedroom to make it toasty there and went to sleep with extra covers.

Home alone

Saturday morning my cold hit hard. I was scheduled to volunteer at the Open House in the evening, but my energy was way too low to even think about it. For a couple of hours during the night I was awake, but was finally able to get to sleep again and woke up around 8am. The morning was spent doing housework: washing dishes, emptying trash, doing a load of laundry, and ironing six shirts. When I went around to collect trash from the various wastebaskets, it was sad to see the one in Dee's bathroom completely empty. After all that, I was exhausted and tried to take a nap, to no avail -- it is often hard for me to get to sleep in the middle of the day, unfortunately.

Apparently the final day of the temple Open House was the busiest yet, with about 7500 visitors. Because of the good turnout, the local leaders got approval to do one final day: next Saturday, Feb 23. Dee will be back then, and it will give us a chance to take Anna and Roberto, who were too sick to go this week. I should be over my cold by then too.

In the afternoon I spoke with Dee. Her dad is really not doing well: sleeping much of the time, in pain, can't hear, can't remember, and can barely walk with the pain. This is much worse than she had understood he was doing, so it is good that she is there to see it in person. She is struggling to find in-home care that her parents will like and accept. Her sister Donna will come back to LA earlier than planned, right after Dee comes back here this week, and then we may need to return home early. Stay tuned for what we figure out, as there are a lot of moving parts to consider in all this.

In the evening, I worked on my Sunday School lesson (Matthew 4, Luke 4-5, John 2-4), and also did some bookkeeping work for us and for my in-laws. My father-in-law had fallen behind on paying some bills, due to his memory issues no doubt, and I have been able to transfer control of those accounts (that I know about) to us to manage.

David Archuleta!!

If you thought that having Victor Ludlow come to the campus was cool, wait until you hear about Friday evening! But let's start in the morning. I seem to be coming down with a cold, with a slight sore throat, runny nose, and low energy. Let's hope for the best on that front. I walked down to Conad to buy some salad fixings for the evening dinner, plus stocking up on a few other things. Dee called me about noon, which is 3am her time! I was surprised, but apparently she took a 5pm nap and slept 9 hours. Jet lag can be a real pain, especially when you are as busy as she is.

Her dad is home, and a nurse and social worker came to assess the situation. They made several recommendations, including that he has to use a walker, since he is not steady or strong enough. That required clearing out some space around the house, which took some doing (and some convincing, since her parents don't think they need help). We will see whether her dad will actually follow their suggestions.

I reserved flights and the hotel for a trip to Provo in August for the annual FairMormon conference. I have been attending since 2006, and was joined over the years by Dee, my mom, my sisters Marilyn and Karen (and her husband Dave), plus some other friends. We enjoy the conference and the mini family reunion. The Marriott website apparently wasn't working, but it turns out that it just refuses to give me access because I am in Europe, without even giving a nice explanatory message. So I logged into my laptop in Carlsbad and made the reservations. In other tech news, I had to reset my network drive in Carlsbad, which had detected a disk error. Fortunately it seems to have been transient: everything works after running the diagnostics. Now Rich can continue to scan pieces of mail for us.

I left early for the Institute. On the way, I got a call from some YSA girls from the Netherlands, in town for the Open House. They asked about the Institute, and I invited them to come to class that evening. Unfortunately, they wouldn't make it. The Ganziani taught some "refresher" missionary lessons to a Nigerian member from our ward in the early afternoon. Sorella Canfield brought by three chocolate cakes for dessert for Seminary and Institute. She had volunteered to do it since Dee was gone, and she is an awesome cook! I had to put a sign next to them on the counter to prevent grazing. 😋

"Do not eat!!"

We had twelve kids at Seminary, with the lesson about prophets as spokesmen for the Lord, using the D&C 1:37-38. We played the game of trying to apply a strange photo to a scripture which each kid was randomly assigned (via their bingo card).  In this case, it is a catfish with a big ball stuck in its mouth, unable to disgorge it or submerge; a fisherman ended up puncturing the ball and saving the fish. It is always fun to see what they come up with! Hat tip for this game to Kelly Miller, my long-time Seminary coordinator. We then played bingo. There was plenty of cake for all.

In trouble

Saved

Post bingo photo

Hanging and eating cake

Sorella Canfield made plenty!

About half of the kids soon left, and then the intercom buzzed. Anziano Waddell, who was there for a while after exchanges, answered "chi è?" The response, in English, was, "Is this the Institute? This is David Archuleta." Yeah, right. Not like we believed that, since often the kids will joke with us on the intercom. But a minute later, who should show up at our door but the David Archuleta, a very famous American Idol contestant and LDS singer. He happened to be in Rome, and somehow through a friend of a friend, Jenna Perego told him to come to the campus. He is a very humble and unassuming guy (and still a GANS), and he offered to do a devotional if we wanted him to. He had to leave by 8pm to meet some friends, but, after a quick check with Ugo, we decided to postpone my lesson and substitute him -- no brainer! I sent out a photo of him with an announcement of the change of plans, and the campus WhatsApp group exploded with everyone expressing disbelief and amazement. 

David Archuleta in our library

He had been walking all day sightseeing around Rome, here for the first time. It was relatively warm, and he apologized several times for being a bit dirty and sweaty. We got a photo of him with the remaining Seminary kids, all of whom were excited. He was so down to earth in just talking with them.

David went into the classroom with the piano for a while to prepare his devotional. Soon Jomar showed up. He has a great tenor voice and loves to do karaoke, but is rather timid about it. I went in and asked David if he would be willing to make Jomar's day by singing with him, and he was very happy to oblige. I introduced the two, and Jomar started almost hyperventilating. David asked, "Jomar, shall we sing together?" It took some convincing for Jomar, but everyone encouraged him, so the two of them did a song together ("Perfect"), with the entire small group looking on. David was so cool, singing harmony with Jomar a few times. At the end, David gave kudos to Jomar, and the group exploded with applause and shouting! It was really a special moment. You can see some brief video clips here, here and here.

David sang the first verse, Jomar still not believing what was happening

 

Jomar does his verse, with David harmonizing lightly

The two hug after their awesome performance

The Ganziani finished their new Institute "business card", which has a list of our weekly activities on it. The mission paid for them to print 5000 cards, which will be very helpful when trying to invite people to come visit us.

Meanwhile, there was a big piece of missionary news: the First Presidency announced that young missionaries can now call or video home every week on P-day with their families (not with friends). This replaces the long-standing policy of doing that only twice a year, on Christmas and Mothers Day. The reaction was interesting. Several of them did not like it at all, saying how distracting it would be for them. I can see their point, as a mission is all about focus on the work, which they love. President Pickerd sent out a followup email with details and asking them to be wise in not going overboard. It will be interesting to see how it works out. 

After our announcement, lots of kids started arriving. We had a number of visitors from out of town (Milano, Genova, etc) for class -- they really lucked out! A number of kids on WhatsApp expressed grief at not being able to come. I would later send out a message, only slightly tongue-in-cheek, saying "this is why you need to come to Institute class, on time, every week!"😉😀 It would be our biggest day at the Institute in a while, with over 40 kids signing in.

We started on time for once, because David had to leave by 8pm. I made some brief announcements, followed by the opening prayer, and then I turned the time over to David. The kids had carried the piano into the big room for him to use. Alessandra did a great job of translating: for him when I was talking, and for the group when he was talking.

David gave a very spiritual and touching devotional, telling his story, how his life changed dramatically at age 17 after coming in second on American Idol. His career was really taking off, but the spirit kept telling him that he should serve a mission. His advisors and manager told him that he was crazy, and even many of his family members felt that it would ruin his career. Finally he decided to go with the spirit and put in his mission papers. He sang a song about that experience, "I'm Ready", in which he says to God that he is willing to put everything on the line to follow Him. You can read the lyrics here, and here is a YouTube version. He ended up serving two years in Chile, so he can understand a little Italian. He went on to talk about difficult times and decisions in his life, stopping to sing a related song a few times. The entire audience was paying rapt attention. We didn't record it because he said that he would need permission from his agent, but it is an evening we will never forget.

He finished just before 8pm. After the closing prayer, everyone wanted a photo with David, and he was very gracious about it and seemed to genuinely enjoy being with the kids. He stayed longer than he should have, with kids surrounding him. Then Ugo drove him to his hotel, with Ugo's sons Joshua and David going along, which certainly made their evening!

The group photo

Krista, David, Riccardo

Maria Jose, David, Grace

 

 

With Dee out of town, Ugo had made pulled pork sandwiches, and Alessio helped me cut up and toss the salad fixings ahead of time. There was plenty of food and dessert for everyone. Among our visitors was Claudia, back from England for the Open House. I gave her a big hug -- what is the mission president going to do to me at this point? 😉😀 Francesco was back from Milano, with a girlfriend from St. Petersburg, and I gave him a big hug too. Linda arrived after her class, not knowing that she had missed a great show, but she drowned her sorrows in pulled pork.

Ugo's dinner

Claudia reuniting with dear friends

Marlene, Sheyla, and Maria Jose served the pulled pork

 

 

 

Claudia's UK roommate on the left

We miss Claudia!

Natalia, Francesco, me

Dinner and fun in the library

Group karaoke

Several of the kids gave a video greeting to Dee, which you can see here. Another group did it too, but I pressed the wrong camera button and missed it. You can see a short video of the group karaoke here. It was nearly 10:30pm when I got home, still glowing from the wonderful evening. My lesson can wait.