2 weeks in Italy

Friday, February 15, 2013

We did a lot of visits today.  We had an appointment at ten this morning to visit with Guido Falcone who is a single gentleman in our ward who serves as the ward clerk. He lives in Paestum, which is a cool town with Ancient Greek ruins from 700BC.   He is a retired Economics professor. He has a very crippled body but he is so strong and valiant in spirit.  I can not even imagine how he even gets across a room.  Every step is so painful and painstakingly slow.  He walks with two braces.  He is very independent and does everything for himself.  His apartment is so full of books, it could be a library.  His apartment was not heated, and although the day was sunny and nice outside, his apartment felt like it was about 40 degrees.  I hadn't brought a coat, and I had a skirt on with bare legs that got colder and colder the longer we stayed.  He and Paul talked excitedly for more than 3 hours.  I know he loved having company.  I doubt he gets anyone to talk to ever except at church.  I still don't understand most of what I hear so it was a long 3 hours for me.  We came home for a quick bowl of hot soup and then we got a call that a ward member needed a blessing.  So off we went to a sister's home who had 5 dogs and four cats!  We stayed about an hour and a half, and finally gave her a blessing with the help of our ward mission leader, then we left for Salerno to visit with a non member family there.  It was raining like crazy as we drove there. We couldn't find anywhere to park but finally did.  We had to use our gps walking guide to find his apartment.  But we finally found him and had a lovely visit with the man who plays the organ in church for us every Sunday, even though he is not a member.  His wife was so sweet and their two children were as nice and polite as could be.  Oh how wonderful it would be to have their family sealed in the temple.
We got home safely which is always so nice.  I am warm and happy to rest tonight.
I decided that Paul and I are having two very different experiences here in Italy.  He gets to talk for hours in Italian to members and non members alike, while I sit and smile for hours on end.  He gets to
be Mario Andretti as he drives like all the other crazy italian drivers, weaving in and out of traffic and being very aggressive as he drives so that he can get in and out of intersections.  I, on the other hand am sitting in the passenger seat, helpless with fear at every start and stop.  Prayer is my only help.  I am trying not to be so fearful, and I am trying so hard not to gasp every other second!  Anyway, those two things are my main challenges so far, along with the bad smells from my kitchen drains.  I did find a huge cockroach today in the kitchen.  I am sure he has many friends and neighbors who are hiding.  Yikes!  I will work on finding a good spray for them all tomorrow!