Two more Ganziani ties

Friday morning we got to spend mostly at home. Dee walked to the Chinese store to buy a whiteboard for the Ganziani, which gave her a nice excuse to take a walk. I spent time on some paperwork for my in-laws and did some lesson prep. We had a bunch of stuff to carry to the car when we left, and we forgot that we had parked on the other side, so we ended up walking out to the wrong street before remembering.

In the afternoon at the Institute, Matteo and then his brother showed up early. I worked some more on my lessons. My Seminary class ended up being nine kids, even though there were several home sick. It was a bit more rowdy than usual, but we still had a good time. Before playing bingo, we discussed the translation of the Book of Mormon, including the Urim and Thummin and the seerstone and how that has not been well represented in church artwork. I pointed out different ways that the Lord has given revelation, such as a burning bush to Moses and a still, small voice to Elijah (not the fire, earthquake, or wind). Matteo came up with some good questions on other topics that I will address next week. Dee had made a bunch of Hello Dollies (Magic Bars), which are too sweet and rich for most Italians, but they seemed to like them. I used most of my stash of coconut and sweetened condensed milk.

 

As it got close to Institute class time, three different pairs of missionaries showed up to teach lessons to three young investigators. That is wonderful, except that we only have three rooms, so they ended up kicking our GANS kids out of all the rooms. We need to find a better way to coordinate. It is great to have missionary work going on at the campus, but not to the extent that we can't do our classes. I was able to get into my classroom just barely in time to set up. Another pair of Sorelle showed up to teach Flavia during my lesson. The place was very full, but our class wasn't all that large this time, once we subtracted out the ten missionaries!

Our lesson was on D&C 89-93, splitting most of the time between the Word of Wisdom and the incredible doctrines in section 93. There were a number of good comments, and people were paying attention pretty well. I always have supplementary quotes, usually from www.gospeldoctrine.com, which I put in dual-column format (English on the left and Italian on the right). Most of the kids here don't have access to that type of material, so it is always fresh for them. 

At the end of the lesson, I called up the two new Ganziani and presented them with their ties, which they were delighted to receive. The kids know the tradition now and started smiling and laughing when I called them up, enough so that Dee was able to detect the "ceremony" and look in to share the moment. We now have only one tie left from our original batch of twenty, and this design is no longer available, so we estimated pretty well.

Dee made her pasta casserole, with chicken, cheddar, ham and bacon, which everyone loved. There was plenty, and several had thirds, including Anziano Faletti who couldn't stop raving about how wonderful it was. She made two big salads, as well as putting out the Hello Dollies. Everyone had plenty to eat! We even had a lot of leftover casserole to bring home for our four guest Anziani here Sunday night for Zone Conference. That will save Dee a bunch of time, which is nice, though it was a challenge to fit everything into the elevators at each end of the trip home. I was glad I had chicken and ham and grated cheese made ahead of time.

Joyce helping serve casserole

 

 

 

By the time we got home, there was plenty of news about my in-laws from South Pasadena. Every day now brings something. Dee was up very late working on convalescent home issues and logistics for family members helping out.