Vodafone challenges

Thursday morning I folded and put away most of the linens, all fully dried. I still need to make the two beds in the back room, but it is nice to be caught up on laundry. I left early for the Institute so that I could walk to Termini to talk with Vodafone. They provide our internet at home, as well as two SIM cards, and it was unclear how all this worked. In particular, the cell/internet bill I just got was somewhat higher than expected -- some things are the same everywhere! With the Motts coming next month, I needed to figure out how to transfer the account to them and lower the bill. I thought that I would need to cancel at least one of the SIM cards, so I went with a bunch of questions. The gal at the store was almost hostile, telling me that I couldn't transfer the account and just giving me some forms to snail-mail in to cancel. I asked several questions, but she didn't really try to understand what I wanted to do, which is basically to not have any down time in our service for the Motts. I left feeling more confused than when I entered.

Mariela came by to pick up the five dress shirts for Daniele and pay us for all the shirts we have gotten for them. She was very grateful, and we chatted for a while.

Later in the afternoon, I put one of the Vodafone SIM cards into my phone and called their support number. This woman was very helpful, listening carefully to my questions and concerns. What a contrast! She emailed me a form to fill out and mail in (via a certified letter) to do the account transfer. She also explained that both SIM cards were free, included with the home internet service. One is a 1GB/month data-only SIM, to be used as a hotspot if the home internet ever goes out, which has only happened once in a year. I had paid extra to increase that amount to 10GB/month and used it in my tablet, which was helpful in particular before we got fiber internet at our chapel, but she removed the extra data and monthly cost. The second SIM is for a phone, with a reasonable monthly plan  (especially for "free"): 1000 minutes, 1000 texts, and 5GB. It isn't as good as Iliad, and I recommended to the Motts that they each pay the 7€ per month for Iliad's better plan, but ultimately that is their decision. In any case, I had much kinder feelings toward Vodafone after the phone call than earlier in the day! I sent a long email to the Motts explaining all this, and we exchanged some messages back and forth on various topics. They have a busy few weeks before entering the MTC, as we well remember.

I also emailed President Pickerd to try to schedule the time we need with the Motts for those few days we overlap. He will want time with them as well, but I outlined what times we felt that we needed to be with them and for what reason. He was fine with it.

Dee called in the morning her time, and we got to catch up on things. She is fighting jet lag as well as challenges with her parents. Her dad is home, which makes him very happy, but he is weak and their home is not very accommodating for the elderly. Since it was Valentine's Day, I went online and ordered a vase of flowers to be delivered to my beautiful bride in California. They arrived within a few hours. The internet is good stuff.  

Thursday is a pretty light day, and this was no exception, giving me time to work on my lessons for Friday.  Chris Erhue came by to meet with Anziano Benincosa to prepare for a job interview he has coming up. After he left, Anziano Benincosa was very pensive, saying that it is hard to talk about a job when Chris said that he didn't know where he would sleep that night, with temperatures dropping almost to freezing.

There were three kids for English class in the evening, plus Riccardo for the self-reliance class with Anziano Benincosa. I was able to leave a few minutes early, but only after a nice discussion about Mormon history with Riccardo. He is very intelligent and well read about religions and finds them fascinating. It has been nice to have him participating at the Institute, as he has become very close to us and the other kids, but he really isn't much of a believer. The Institute is nice in that we provide a safe and welcome space for anyone who is willing to respect our standards.

Upon getting home, I dropped off the extra copy of our apartment keys with the Sorelle living underneath us. We had taken them back for our visitors the last three weekends, but it is good for the Sorelle to have a copy just in case. Sorella Dwomoh is fighting a cold and can barely speak. I offered her cold meds from our stash, but she said she didn't need anything. It was nice to get to bed earlier than in recent nights.

Steve and Linda

Wednesday morning I woke up too early again and would be tired most of the day. I am almost caught up on all the laundry, after my fifth load of sheets, not to mention towels and clothes. My 9-to-noon shift at the temple was pretty uneventful, with only a few groups and individuals coming through. My role was to be background help, with Italians doing most of the greeting and directing visitors as they entered the stake center. With the light traffic, I wasn't needed much, which was fine with me. I did see a few of our GANS coming through, including Martine (who moved from Rome some months ago), Simone, and Ludo (who was volunteering).

From there I drove downtown, arriving by 12:30pm. Chris Erhue came by to scan some documents for some applications (job, apartment). With his wallet being stolen, he has no ATM card, and they apparently won't give him a new one without his documents, which were also stolen. Bureaucracy here is taken to an art form. There would be no other young visitors all day, not unusual for a Wednesday afternoon, and I closed the campus for the evening.

Steve and Linda showed up about 3pm, after having checked into their AirBNB from the airport. Linda served in the Padova mission soon after we served in the 1970s, and she has stayed connected to Italy and kept up her language well. They brought the five wrinkle-free white dress shirts from LandsEnd for Daniele to take on his mission, after the prior set was stolen from Claire and Jims' car last month. I gave them the hairdryer we had bought online for their trip, and then I installed the new Iliad SIM card in a phone that a friend loaned them to use here. Because it was an iPhone, it took me a while to figure out how to configure everything, because the menus are all different from Android and they were in Italian. However, they departed with a working phone which they can hotspot to their US phones. Steve was pretty sleepy from the overnight trip and nodded off at one point. Been there, done that.

Two of their sons, Carson and Derek, were also joining them here in Rome, and they invited me to dinner with them. First I checked with Ugo and the GANS before accepting, but it all worked out. The Institute activity for evening was for the GANS to attend the Open House again, so I just told everyone that I couldn't make it and closed up the campus. Claudia was back in town from England to take her family through the Open House, and she got to see Jomar at the temple. I hope to see her Friday night at class.

Jomar and Claudia hamming it up for a selfie

So I took the subway to their AirBNB near the Vatican, and we ended up walking to dinner at a place a few blocks way. Steve had left his sweatshirt at the Institute, and I brought that to him. Derek's wife was there was well, with their two very cute young children, but she skipped dinner to put them to bed. It was good to see everyone and visit. We each ordered something different and cut it up to share, which was great. Carson arrived from the airport after we got back from dinner.

Dress shirts for Daniele, finally!

L-R: Linda, Steve, me, Derek

After dinner I took the subway back to the campus and drove home, arriving after 10pm. Dee and I had talked briefly during her morning. She was very busy getting ready to bring her dad home, so we haven't talked after that happened.

Dinner with the Ludlows

Tuesday morning I had some time at home, after waking up way too early. It is frustrating to be so bad at sleeping. Dee called briefly after she got to her parents' home just before midnight in LA. Everything went well on her trip. The customs agent in New York just waved her through -- nothing to pay even though she told them that she was over the $800 limit. Nice. She said that there were many LDS folks on her flight to New York, coming home from the Open House. She even met the Lawlers. A taxi ended up being the best way home from LAX, as neither Lyft not Uber worked, for different reasons. Of course she had been up for over 24 hours by that point -- although with some sleep on the plane -- so she was ready to rest. There were no sheets or pillowcases to be found for her bed at that hour, but that was not about to stop her from sleeping. 

I did some laundry, and I also tried to open up Anziano Castro's dead tablet, having failed in all my non-intrusive ways to get the photos off. This model (Samsung Tab S2) is definitely not made for repair-ability. The online videos showed how difficult it is, and I failed miserably, cracking the screen after getting about half way around detaching it. Tiny glass shards went flying; I hadn't realized that he didn't have a screen protector, which would have helped. So I had to chuck it and clean my work area carefully. He knew that it was unlikely to work and had given me permission to try.

I left plenty early for Institute, stopping at Lidl on the way to get some stuff, mostly for home. It is now to the point where I am counting boxes of cereal, milk, etc., so as not to buy more than we will use before leaving. I arrived at the campus by noon, and Jomar was already there to help prepare for tacos, joined soon by Riccardo and Krista. At FHE the night before I had asked for help, but didn't expect this much support. The Ganziani also showed up early but weren't really needed. With all the helping hands, we were ready half an hour early. It simplified things that I just used most of the frozen leftover taco meat, defrosted the day before, and that I didn't attempt to make Dee's delicious Spanish rice. We also had Dee's carrot cake for dessert. Ugo was there as well, and carrot cake is his favorite. 

L-R: Riccardo, Krista, and Jomar in aprons preparing food

Jomar crying as he cuts onions

Three cooks in aprons forming a greeting committee at the door!

Not enough seats around the table

Anziano Waddell had flown down to Catania for the day to get his permesso renewed, so former Ganziano Wijesundera (his comp) was there and had tacos for the first time in many months. A girl from Utah, Mckayla, who is working here as an au pair for a few months, joined us for the first time and seemed to enjoy being there. She stayed to play cards with the kids after lunch.

After cleaning up, I finally found some time to sit down and work on a few things. Iliad at last got my name corrected so I was able to activate with SIM card with only a few more steps. I also did a little bit of lesson prep for Friday. 

Riccardo had a 6pm job interview on Skype for a position with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico. Our internet at the Institute is better than his at home, so we were happy to accommodate him in the library. It would be great for him to get a job, and he is excited at the thought of living abroad.

Ugo's class Zoom class was interesting. They are studying Isaiah this semester, and Victor Ludlow, a retired BYU prof who has written books on Isaiah, happened to be in town with a tour group returning from Israel (he was one of the guides). Ugo doesn't know him well, but he did take an Isaiah class from him years ago. Anyway, Ugo learned that he was in town through the tour group, with whom he is also working. Ugo went to his hotel, found him, and asked him to come teach the class on Tuesday. He and his wife were happy to do so, and they spent the evening here in class.

Institute class with Ugo, the Ludlows, some GANS in person and many online

Then Ugo took me and the Ludlows out for dinner afterwards at a place nearby. They are delightful folks. As we entered the restaurant, there was a big table of Americans. They recognized my name tag and said they were LDS. When they learned that it was Victor Ludlow with us, several of them were excited, being big fans, so they took a photo of us. One of the women teaches part-time at the LDS Institute at UNLV and came over to ask a bunch of questions about our Institute here. After that, we had a nice dinner. I ate only a little bit of the appetizers, as it was late (and I cannot eat late like Italians do).

We had several visitors from around Italy in class, here to work at the Open House. They were hungry, so I pulled out the leftover crack chicken and Sloppy Joes, which everyone happily finished off while we were out at dinner. One of the visitors was Melvyn from Pavia. He was in our group at the September GANS conference, and he knows our dear friends from Pavia, the Giustos, so I took a photo to send to them.

By the time I headed home, it was nearly 10pm and I was really tired, looking forward to sleeping in. Then my phone rang on the car Bluetooth. It was Anziano Balzotti. They got permission to go to Florence for the day with their kids in town, and he needed a sub at the Open House from 9am to noon. There went my sleep, but I was glad to do it for them, since they have been so helpful to us.

Dee and I talked again briefly before I went to bed. She was with her mom, enjoying several of the creature comforts of home (i.e., fluffing wrinkles out of clothes in the dryer). Wednesday is the big day to bring her dad home. I did one quick load of sheets and hit the sack.

Dee on a plane

Monday morning Dee said that she had only four hours of sleep after getting up really early to shower before the Anziani. All four of them were showered and fed and ready to go by just after 7am. I woke up before my alarm (and so would be sleepy all day); I just threw on my workout clothes and drove them to the temple for their tour. Getting home, I had time to eat and shower, and then we headed out for the airport at 9am. There was very little traffic, so I dropped Dee off at the curb in plenty of time. She had two big suitcases, with her carry-on strapped to one of them, plus her shoulder bag. I was back home before 10:30am. Between Dee and me, we ran three loads of laundry in the morning, with still many left to catch up on linens. Our washer only holds sheets for one bed at a time, and we had five beds worth to wash. I also walked down to Conad for a big load of mostly produce.

There was a ton of stuff to carry to the Institute, so I missed Dee yet again. I arrived plenty early, giving myself time to walk over to the Termini station and buy a new SIM card for our friends Steve and Linda from Carlsbad, who arrive Wednesday. Linda and I exchanged a bunch of emails on various logistics in preparation for their arrival. I bought the SIM card but later found that I had mis-typed my last name as "Whitig" on the touchscreen, which is easy to do with no tactile feedback. Unfortunately, that meant that they didn't accept my ID (passport and codice fiscale) because it didn't match. So I called their customer support to learn that the only way to fix the name was by filling out a form and submitting via either FAX or snail mail. Since I need it soon, I had to go downstairs to the copy store and spend 2.50€ to FAX two pages. Then I learned that I had misinterpreted a field on the form, so I got to fix that and do it again, for another 2.50€. Sigh. All my fault, but still it should be easier. By night they still hadn't fixed the name, so the card couldn't be activated. Hopefully it will happen Tuesday, or I may have to give my SIM card to them when they arrive.

There was rain with sporadic (but strong) thunder and lightning throughout the day. Six young Anziani spent their P-day afternoon at the campus, doing their weekly email and enjoying some rare down time.

For home evening, we had a big group. It was Dario's birthday, and he invited several nonmember friends. At my request, the Ganziani gave the lesson, talking about Christ and his resurrection and using a church video. Luca, one of Dario's friends, selected the quote from our book. Our question of the week was someplace that each person would like to visit. It is really fun to see what folks come up with. Ugo dropped by before and after FHE, downtown for some meetings.

Everyone asks how Dee is doing. There wasn't much to report, though I did track her flights online all day. Near the end of the transatlantic leg to New York, she learned that the onboard WiFi was free for WhatsApp, so we were able to message a few times. The new Verizon line that I set up on our family account, using an old SIM card from before our mission, apparently worked right away off the plane, which was nice for her. She has her Italian phone for WhatsApp, and my old US Verizon phone for calls. It will be slightly painful for a week, but that is definitely a first-world problem to have!

Dee had made a carrot cake for dessert for FHE, but we didn't use it because Grace and others prepared a feast for Dario: chips, tuna dip, peanuts, chicken, potatoes, cake, etc. We all ate a lot. 

Krista and Riccardo preparing tuna dip

FHE filled the library

Grace and Krista preparing the spread

 

 

I got home by 9:30pm, leaving with the campus still humming with activity. There was time to run one more load of sheets before bed. I hope to be all caught up by Wednesday.

Death testimonies

Sunday morning our chapel at Roma 3 was overflowing again, with a bunch of visitors from all over for the Open House, including many Americans. We didn't have enough headsets, so they had missionaries translate the talks into English by sharing the microphone, which slowed things down, but we still ended on time. Sorella Muce, who is not a native English speaker, did an awesome job when it was her turn to translate! It was a nice Sacrament meeting, followed by a good Priesthood lesson. 

Dee had some fun games for Primary, all from Pinterest. The first was "Primary Punch", where she attached some plastic cups to a large piece of cardboard, covering the opening of each cup with aluminum foil after putting something inside. The kids got to take turns punching a hole in a cup and getting the thing inside, which was something that had to do (like singing while standing on a chair) to help learn a song. They loved it! She usually has 6-8 kids, so the nine cups seemed like plenty, but with visitors they had 11 kids. When Jasmine realized that she didn't get a turn, she bawled loudly for ten minutes! Her other activity was a fishing game where they got to cast a fishing pole to get clues that taught about Jesus. She stayed afterwards for a Primary presidency meeting of sorts, since she will not be here next weekend. She wants to start letting the other leaders try what she is doing -- having fun activities -- which is normal in the US but not well known here.

Dee had been up late getting ready the night before, and so she took a nap after coming home from church. The news from LA was that her parents were again scheming and demanding to have her dad come home. Dee got to talk to her dad and walked him off the ledge, but it won't last. Fortunately she will be there soon enough.

Dee spent a bunch of time packing, including going over my pile of stuff and some of her things to make sure that she brings the right things home. Her suitcases are well under weight, but she still has two big ones plus a carry-on and a shoulder bag. We also set up the back bedroom for our four visitors that evening, with two bed and two mattresses on the floor.

Adjusting the linens

Ready for company

In the evening, we went to our final Zone Conference, held at the stake center on the temple grounds. The audio system was not loud enough, but apparently it was at max volume; too bad -- it will need tweaking. The projector is built-in, directly below the podium, so the speaker cannot speak into the mic while the projector is being used. Those two issues seem like rookie mistakes, especially since the church builds so many chapels. But in any case it was a wonderful meeting, with a lot of talking about how to be good missionaries and faithful after our missions too, including using the temple as a constant reminder. Everyone feels very fortunate to be here now as the temple is being dedicated. There were three zones present, and for a while we broke out into zone groups. 

At the end, the departing missionaries each gave their "death testimony" (meaning that they are about to go home, which is called "dying" in missionary parlance), including the Balzottis and us. We only had 3 minutes apiece, so it was quick. Dee said that we hope to serve another mission, and that I wanted Milano but she was pushing for Rome again, which got a laugh. I told a story from Pavia, about taking the Giustos as a young couple to be sealed in the Swiss temple in 1977 on my way home from my mission, and how those covenants and that sealing have blessed them ever since.

We got a photo of all the senior missionaries present, in front of the Christus statue, as well as zone photos (which the Pickerds haven't posted yet). We will really miss all these great kids and seniors.

Old folks

I drove four young elders home to stay the night with us: Mansell, Anderl, Bacon, and Cagnacci, while Dee got a ride with the Thackers. The Anziani loved the sloppy joes and crack chicken that we had for them, each eating 3 or 4 sandwiches, plus salad and dessert. They got to bed late, but they were full!

L-R: Bacon, Mansell, Anderl, Cagnacci

I got to bed about midnight after cleaning up, and Dee was up even later than me. Because she is flying Monday, being sleepy isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Seeing friends at the Open House

Saturday we were both very busy. Dee started packing, as well as cleaning for the four Anziani to spend the night Sunday after Zone Conference. She also went to Conad for some food for them, and we also changed our sheets but didn't have time to wash/dry the old ones. I will get to do that while she is gone. We will truly miss Italy, but having a clothes dryer again will be nice.

In the morning I walked to the hardware and Chinese store, buying a new shower head and hose for the Roma 3 Sorelle, as well as some replacement light bulbs. The Chinese store also has luggage, so I bought a nice 29" suitcase for Dee to take and leave in LA -- only 40€. Maybe it won't be durable, but we don't care, as long as it lasts for at least one trip. I also started a pile of my stuff for her to fit into her two suitcases: some clothes, two summer suits, and some electronics. We are glad to get a bunch of stuff home to make packing and traveling easier next month.

I spent from 2 - 9pm volunteering at the temple Open House, which was very busy. My first two-hour shift was putting plastic booties over the shoes of the visitors. They have a nice system, with a bar for the visitors to hold onto and seats for us, making it easier for everyone.

When I got there, Anziano Lawler from my mission was at that station, and I got to visit with him and his wife for a few minutes. I sent an unlabeled copy of the photo to EricB, to see if he would recognize his old roommate after all these decades:

Ugo led a tour including a old acquaintance from Richmond, Bianca, with her husband David. They served a YSA senior mission in Milano a few years ago, and they know Ugo. Bianca is good friends with my sister Marilyn.

Me with Bianca and David

My second shift involved opening and closing the big temple doors, letting tour groups in and out. I was entrusted with the heavy responsibility of running the clicker, counting heads as everyone entered 😉. By 6:30pm, we were at about 5000 visitors, which meant that we would probably slightly eclipse last week's total of 5500. For part of the time, Anziano Lillywhite from my mission was there with me. 

View of the visitors center from the temple doors

After that shift, I took a few minutes for a snack, also putting on my sweater and scarf. It was a lovely day, but by nighttime it got  chilly, so I was glad that I had thought to bring something warmer in addition to my coat. My final shift was in the parking lot by the entrance, just pointing people where to go to start their tours. People just kept coming past, even somewhat past the (soft) 8pm deadline. By then I had been on my feet for four hours, and my feet and back were tired. At 8:30pm I was able to head home.

It was touching to see how many volunteers were working there. Many had come from the US or other countries just to serve. Some of those had connections to Italy, including a number of former missionaries, but not all. One American family living in the UK had come for a month, with the dad sitting beside me at the bootie station. Everyone just pitched in wherever they were assigned, happy to be helping. It was also great to see so many Italians, including our GANS kids, whom we know and love.

While I was gone, Dee had done a lot, also starting her customs list. With my items purchased here, we are over the $800 limit, but hopefully they will discount the items we have used for over a year. In any case, we agreed that it would be worth paying something to get all that stuff home ahead of our final return. Adding the second big suitcase costs us 85€ on Delta, but it is worth it.

Anziano Lawler

Friday was a very full day, as is typical now. About 9:20am I left to work two hours at the guard gate again at the temple. It was much busier this time around, with volunteers entering and a lot of guests show up in the wrong place, so I was able to direct them to where to park down the street. One volunteer from the US talked with me for a minute from his car, then saw my name badge and said "Anziano Whiting! I'm Bill Lawler." He then got out of the car and we hugged. He was a freshman roommate of EricB, my good friend from Richmond, and he served his mission in Milano. We were in Genova at the same time starting in late 1975 for a few months.  He and his wife came to Rome to volunteer for a few days at the Open House. I didn't think to get his phone number, but I did send him a Facebook message. Maybe I will run into him again Saturday evening when I volunteer again.

After only 45 minutes, someone came to relieve me. Obviously the assignments got mixed up, but I was happy to come home and work more on my lessons. Despite sleeping very well, I was tired all day. We left early for the Institute, stopping at Todis on the way for some buns and flat bread. Dee wanted to prepare two meals: one for this week and one for next week (Sloppy Joes, which freeze very nicely). She also made more fudge as well as two carrot cakes, one for after dinner and one for Monday night at FHE. She is really planning ahead here to make my life easier.

Matteo came early from school as usual. He needed help with his English literature class, so I got to help him write a summary of a passage from Romeo and Juliet ("a rose by any other name") -- as if I were some kind of expert on Shakespearean English! ChrisE also came by. He is in a tough fix and it is not clear what he will do next, but I encouraged him not to ignore the experts who are telling him his kids are at risk. The life of immigrants everywhere seems very difficult.

For Seminary, my lesson was on plural marriage in church history, using several family stories that I really like. It is so hard for us to wrap our minds around frontier life and thinking from the 1800s. They had a lot of good questions and comments. Class is harder recently because two of the kids (the grandsons of the Canfields) do not speak Italian, and I forget sometimes to translate into English. There was no time for scripture bingo this week. Matteo seemed very hung up on the fact that God could change commandments to adapt to the circumstances, even though I and the kids pointed out a number of examples from the scriptures. After class he and I had a long discussion about it. Finally I understood that he was trying to apply Greek philosophy to the problem, in which God is an abstract being outside this world, not ever needing to change based on the circumstances of his children. He is a very sharp kid, and ultimately I think he understood my points. I forgot to take a picture of the group this week, but we had about eight kids. Dee's fudge was very popular with everyone. Dee made the new batch with Valentina, who doesn't eat sweets but loved learning how to make it.

Institute class started with only three kids, but by the end it had filled up quite a bit. We had visitors from Milano (Nelson, who is coming to Rome on his mission in April) and Malta (two girls we met at the YSA conference in Assisi in September). My lesson was on D&C 94 - 100, talking a lot about the temple, sacrifice, endowments of power, and speaking by the spirit. It is really good to get everyone involved in the conversation. Christian was in my class for the first time in a while, and he seemed to be really with us; maybe the temple visit helped him want more spirituality in his life. Dee's dinner was very popular, although the flat bread was a bit dry compared to last time we used that.

 

Anziano Blake, who served in Rome about the same time was we served (we overlapped a while in the LTM but didn't remember each other), was there with his wife for the Open House. Ugo brought them by, and he and Dee had a good time trying to make connections. Linda came on a Friday, for the first time (I think), because she usually goes home to Battipaglia for the weekend. She has applied for a one-year job at Disney World in Orlando and hopes to get it. We drove her home again.

The Ganziani showed me a possible layout for a new "business" card for the Institute that they can give out to GANS-aged kids when they meet them around town. It has contact info, plus a list of our regular activities. It looked pretty good, but I suggested some small changes that they liked. Next step would be to get the mission to pay for printing, which Anziano Willey seemed to be willing to do if I approve the design. Dee gave a package to Anziano Rouse that somebody brought from his family to the Open House, and we gave a bottle of jalapenos from Metro to Anziano Faletti, who loves them!

We got home late, about 10:30pm. I went to sleep fairly soon, but Dee stayed up as is her wont these days with everything going on. She spoke with some folks back in LA, including her dad's bishop, who had some nice things to say. He called my father-in-law the most memorable person he had ever met, to which we all can agree: if you have ever met him, you remember him! He also said that often the problem, when a ward member is in the hospital, that they struggle to get enough people to visit, but in her dad's case they are worried that too many people will visit him! That is a real testament to how much he has loved and served his congregation.