In which Doug leaves the apartment

Sunday morning I awoke after a lot of coughing during the night, but I had a reasonable amount of sleep by recent standards. My cold symptoms were feeling good enough that I felt I could make it to church on our last Sunday -- really didn't want to miss! I took extra cough syrup and some Excedrin to help me make it through.  Other than my doctor appointment on Wednesday, it was the first time I had left the apartment complex in ten days. We headed out carrying a bunch of bags of food and things for Primary, getting help from FrancescoM to carry it in when we arrived. The weather has been really nice, sunny and warm during the day -- a huge contrast from last winter when it was cold well into April.

It was a wonderful testimony meeting. Bishop Magnanti started crying when he read our names to release us. There were a lot of testimonies, almost all quite short. I got up for a minute to say that we had come on our mission expecting to love our GANS kids, but we never expected to get so close to our ward here in just 18 months. I blamed them for making my wife cry every day, which brought a laugh from the congregation. Then I bore a strong testimony of Christ and sat down. Several others had kind things to say about us, though Ugo warned that "it isn't easy to get rid of the Whitings -- they have been following my family for 42 years!"

After the end of the meeting, Silvia, the Primary President and Dee's good friend, came up with the great idea of getting a group photo of everyone in the chapel. I suspect that a few folks were missing, but it was still nice to have a memory:

Dee had a final Sunday teaching in Primary, and she had a great time. The kids each drew a picture and wrote a note to her. She has really connected with that little group.

A number of our GANS kids were there from all over to wish us well, enjoy the meetings, and eat lunch! I was feeling quite week and a bit dizzy, so I mostly stayed seated and just enjoyed all the wonderful people.

The lunch started just before 12:30pm, with plenty of food of many types for everyone. A few more of our GANS showed up afterward to join the fun.

 

 

 

Most of the GANS at Roma 3 for the da

The Simoncinis dropped by to say goodbye

Us with the Cadenas: Jair and Silvia

Then Sheyla and Jomar showed up

Dee had to drive us home, since I wasn't feeling up to it by then. By the end of the day I was starting to come around. We got home by about 2:30pm, a nice long day at church, with lots of hugs and laughs and tears.
 
Dee went to packing her suitcases, right up until we headed out to have our exit interview with the Pickerds at the mission home. It was quick and low key. They are great folks and have a heavy load, and they are very appreciative of what we senior couples do for the mission. It is so hard to believe that this whole thing is over for Dee and almost so for me. We have loved every minute of it.