Last evening our wonderful stake president, President Clark, came by our home to set us apart as full-time missionaries, so we are official! He first visited with us for a while, trying to learn details about our mission assignment and sharing some advice from his time as mission president. Then he gave each one of us a long and detailed blessing, with lots of specific promises, which we look forward to seeing fulfilled.
I've never kissed my mission companion before. Life is good. <g>
As promised, I was able to get rid of all our old food and a box full of papers by "sharing" space in our neighbors' trash bins this morning, thanks especially to Marilyn & DaveC. We are still scurrying around packing and putting things away before heading to the airport in a few hours.
Saturday, September 9, 2017
Friday, September 8, 2017
No car, but plenty of trash, etc...
It has been a very busy week, as you might imagine. We leave tomorrow afternoon, flying up to Salt Lake City to enter the MTC in Provo, where we officially report Monday morning. It wasn't possible to arrive there from San Diego on time leaving Monday, so we opted to stay a couple of nights early in the MTC, which will accommodate us. That schedule will certainly make for a more relaxed Monday.
Yesterday I packed my two large suitcases (29") and my carry-on, working from a list prepared over the past few months. It took me over four hours, and I was exhausted. It's interesting to trade off what you can fit in the weight and size limits, particularly for 18 months. In addition to lots of (missionary) clothes, we are bringing a fair amount of tech with us; not that we can't buy most of it in Italy, but over there it's more expensive and we won't have much free time. We also each have 18 months of prescriptions that our doctors (and the church's international senior missionary health insurance) helped us obtain without much hassle or cost. When I went on my mission in 1975, I had only one suitcase and a large briefcase -- not sure how that ever worked! The airline penalties for being overweight are pretty severe, so we are checking each suitcase to make sure it is less than the 50 pound limit. Dee is packing today, so we won't be bumping into each other in the closet, which is good for marital harmony.
On Wednesday, we transferred title of my Camry to our son, so that he can have it on his insurance policy (we paid for his premium increase) and drive it a bit while we're gone. When we get back, he'll transfer title back to us, or so we hope! <g> Today we sold Dee's 2004 Honda Odyssey van for blue book value to an old friend, VinceH, who will also use it to drop us off at the airport tomorrow. Dee will buy a new car when we get home. I will cancel our auto insurance policy once we get to Italy. It's the first time in forever that we don't own a car.
In going through our kitchen pantry, Dee found a whole bunch of food -- mostly canned goods -- which had long since passed its expiration date. Instead of giving it to a local food shelter as planned, we now had to throw it away. The problem is that our trash bin was already going to be quite full for some reason. Fortunately several friends kindly agreed to let us put some stuff in their bins (thanks ClaireS and CamilleH!). Tomorrow morning is when the trash gets picked up; it's usually Friday but is delayed because of Labor Day, which is too bad given our schedule. Anyway, don't be surprised if tomorrow morning finds me scouting out free space in the bins of our next-door neighbors to slip in some extra stuff! It's very odd to walk into a pantry and open a fridge that are mostly empty, particularly with a wife whose family DNA dictates overproviding wherever possible, especially where food is concerned.
On Wednesday we each got our final vaccinations: Hepatitis-A for me and Dee, and TDAP for me. I've had about eight shots as part of this process, and Dee roughly the same number. The local CVS Minute Clinic has been great to work with, since they allow us to make appointments and then show up with a wait of only a few minutes. There's a surprising amount of medical stuff to take care of in preparing for a senior mission, and everyone has been very helpful to us in getting it all done.
Tuesday night I went to a St. Louis Cardinals game versus the San Diego Padres with three friends -- BillG, DickM, and MikeV. Many of you know that I'm a diehard Cardinals fan, and each year I try to see them when they are in town. It was also my final baseball "fix" until the 2019 season, as there isn't much baseball in Italy. However, there is a town called Nettuno, just south of Rome, where American GIs taught the kids how to play baseball during and after WW II. Nettuno calls itself "the city of baseball", and the game is still very popular there, with a small league of teams playing each year. You can read about it in a fun book called Baseballissimo by Dave Bidini. I doubt I'll make it to any games there, unfortunately, although maybe it would be fun outing for our YSA kids?
Yesterday I packed my two large suitcases (29") and my carry-on, working from a list prepared over the past few months. It took me over four hours, and I was exhausted. It's interesting to trade off what you can fit in the weight and size limits, particularly for 18 months. In addition to lots of (missionary) clothes, we are bringing a fair amount of tech with us; not that we can't buy most of it in Italy, but over there it's more expensive and we won't have much free time. We also each have 18 months of prescriptions that our doctors (and the church's international senior missionary health insurance) helped us obtain without much hassle or cost. When I went on my mission in 1975, I had only one suitcase and a large briefcase -- not sure how that ever worked! The airline penalties for being overweight are pretty severe, so we are checking each suitcase to make sure it is less than the 50 pound limit. Dee is packing today, so we won't be bumping into each other in the closet, which is good for marital harmony.
On Wednesday, we transferred title of my Camry to our son, so that he can have it on his insurance policy (we paid for his premium increase) and drive it a bit while we're gone. When we get back, he'll transfer title back to us, or so we hope! <g> Today we sold Dee's 2004 Honda Odyssey van for blue book value to an old friend, VinceH, who will also use it to drop us off at the airport tomorrow. Dee will buy a new car when we get home. I will cancel our auto insurance policy once we get to Italy. It's the first time in forever that we don't own a car.
In going through our kitchen pantry, Dee found a whole bunch of food -- mostly canned goods -- which had long since passed its expiration date. Instead of giving it to a local food shelter as planned, we now had to throw it away. The problem is that our trash bin was already going to be quite full for some reason. Fortunately several friends kindly agreed to let us put some stuff in their bins (thanks ClaireS and CamilleH!). Tomorrow morning is when the trash gets picked up; it's usually Friday but is delayed because of Labor Day, which is too bad given our schedule. Anyway, don't be surprised if tomorrow morning finds me scouting out free space in the bins of our next-door neighbors to slip in some extra stuff! It's very odd to walk into a pantry and open a fridge that are mostly empty, particularly with a wife whose family DNA dictates overproviding wherever possible, especially where food is concerned.
On Wednesday we each got our final vaccinations: Hepatitis-A for me and Dee, and TDAP for me. I've had about eight shots as part of this process, and Dee roughly the same number. The local CVS Minute Clinic has been great to work with, since they allow us to make appointments and then show up with a wait of only a few minutes. There's a surprising amount of medical stuff to take care of in preparing for a senior mission, and everyone has been very helpful to us in getting it all done.
Tuesday night I went to a St. Louis Cardinals game versus the San Diego Padres with three friends -- BillG, DickM, and MikeV. Many of you know that I'm a diehard Cardinals fan, and each year I try to see them when they are in town. It was also my final baseball "fix" until the 2019 season, as there isn't much baseball in Italy. However, there is a town called Nettuno, just south of Rome, where American GIs taught the kids how to play baseball during and after WW II. Nettuno calls itself "the city of baseball", and the game is still very popular there, with a small league of teams playing each year. You can read about it in a fun book called Baseballissimo by Dave Bidini. I doubt I'll make it to any games there, unfortunately, although maybe it would be fun outing for our YSA kids?
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Visa application drama
We just got back from the Italian Consulate in Los Angeles, where we applied for our visa. Most of the paperwork had been done by the church missionary travel department and sent to us to present in person. There were two stacks of documents, one for each of us. Yesterday we drove up to LA, first visiting Dee's parents and sister in South Pasadena for few errands and a final farewell. Then we checked into a hotel in west LA near the Consulate and were able to attend the LDS temple in the evening.
The unpleasant surprise/drama came last night when we checked online and found that the Consulate had automatically cancelled our appointment this morning, because we "forgot" to check in between 3 and 10 days before. We had made the appointment in late June, and this was the earliest date they could give us. Somewhere deep in the fine print on the original confirmation email was the fact that we had to confirm in that small time window just before our appointment, but they never sent any reminder or notification that it had been cancelled.
It was panic time! Fervent prayers were offered. The next available slot was in October, long after we are supposed to be in Italy, although one slot did open up on Friday morning, probably due to some poor soul who got cancelled like we did! Because we had no desire to drive up to LA and back again on Friday, we were there when they opened the doors at 9am to plead our case. At first they were a bit gruff ("dumb Americans!"). However, we were listed on their printed appointment sheet as a "cancelled by the system", so we suspect that this is not an uncommon occurrence. Anyway, we filled out some paperwork asking for an exception, and then they got us in almost immediately, before our original appointment time. Everything went smoothly, and we were on our way home before 10am, arriving here in two hours, which is amazing traffic-wise.
They kept our passports and promised to send them to the missionary department next week, along with our visas, making us sign a waiver relieving them of responsibility if the passports get lost. We are uncomfortable not having our documents in hand, so it's a minor worry, but apparently this is common practice.
The unpleasant surprise/drama came last night when we checked online and found that the Consulate had automatically cancelled our appointment this morning, because we "forgot" to check in between 3 and 10 days before. We had made the appointment in late June, and this was the earliest date they could give us. Somewhere deep in the fine print on the original confirmation email was the fact that we had to confirm in that small time window just before our appointment, but they never sent any reminder or notification that it had been cancelled.
It was panic time! Fervent prayers were offered. The next available slot was in October, long after we are supposed to be in Italy, although one slot did open up on Friday morning, probably due to some poor soul who got cancelled like we did! Because we had no desire to drive up to LA and back again on Friday, we were there when they opened the doors at 9am to plead our case. At first they were a bit gruff ("dumb Americans!"). However, we were listed on their printed appointment sheet as a "cancelled by the system", so we suspect that this is not an uncommon occurrence. Anyway, we filled out some paperwork asking for an exception, and then they got us in almost immediately, before our original appointment time. Everything went smoothly, and we were on our way home before 10am, arriving here in two hours, which is amazing traffic-wise.
They kept our passports and promised to send them to the missionary department next week, along with our visas, making us sign a waiver relieving them of responsibility if the passports get lost. We are uncomfortable not having our documents in hand, so it's a minor worry, but apparently this is common practice.
Monday, August 28, 2017
Farewell Sunday
Yesterday we gave our "farewell" talks in Sacrament Meeting at church. Lots of friends and family came from all over. Our ward clerk said the attendance was about 100 above average, and we probably get the bulk of the credit for that. It was so touching for us to see friend after friend walk into the chapel. We were very busy visiting with and hugging everyone both before and after the meeting -- not enough time to visit! Our talks seemed to be well received, with laughs and tears interspersed, which is appropriate for such an occasion.
It was really hard saying goodbye to family that evening, particularly our kids and our parents. March 2019 seems like a long time away at this point.
Here are some photos with old friends at church and family at home:
It was really hard saying goodbye to family that evening, particularly our kids and our parents. March 2019 seems like a long time away at this point.
Here are some photos with old friends at church and family at home:
Farewell Saturday
Two weeks to go! We just finished a wonderful weekend, with family and friends gathering from far and near. Saturday we had a family dinner, which was followed by a gathering of some long-time friends at our home. Everyone wore a name tag because many different groups were present. There were lots of hugs and laughs, with plenty of goodies to eat.
Thanks to the photographer, our brother-in-law DaveH (who was drafted to do the job at the last minute), there are way too many photos to post them all, but here are a few just to give an idea:
Thanks to the photographer, our brother-in-law DaveH (who was drafted to do the job at the last minute), there are way too many photos to post them all, but here are a few just to give an idea:
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Upcoming farewell
We will each speak at our "farewell" Sacrament Meeting at 1:00pm on Sunday, August 27, in the La Costa Ward chapel, 3450 Camino de los Coches, Carlsbad. Please join us!
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Mission call 2.0
We submitted our mission application papers on March 25 and three weeks later received our call to serve for 18 months in the Italy Rome Mission. This is something we have dreamed of doing together for decades -- we are still both fluent in Italian from serving in Italy just over forty years ago.
Our mission assignment will be to work with the Young Single Adults (YSA, or GANS in Italian) at the Institute center in downtown Rome. Generally we will be serving/teaching at the Institute every weekday from 1-9pm. We will be known as Sorella (Sister) and Anziano (Elder) Whiting.
On September 9th we depart for the LDS Missionary Training Center in Provo, finally arriving in Rome on September 22. Our son Rich will be staying in our house and taking care of things here. We should return home in March 2019.
The scripture we selected for our missionary plaque is Mosiah 16:1 -- "The time shall come when all shall see the salvation of the Lord; when every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to eye and shall confess before God that his judgments are just"
As you can imagine, there's still a lot to do before we leave!
"No other success can compensate for failure to visit Rome"
Our mission assignment will be to work with the Young Single Adults (YSA, or GANS in Italian) at the Institute center in downtown Rome. Generally we will be serving/teaching at the Institute every weekday from 1-9pm. We will be known as Sorella (Sister) and Anziano (Elder) Whiting.
The scripture we selected for our missionary plaque is Mosiah 16:1 -- "The time shall come when all shall see the salvation of the Lord; when every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to eye and shall confess before God that his judgments are just"
As you can imagine, there's still a lot to do before we leave!
"No other success can compensate for failure to visit Rome"
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