Zone conference

President and Sister Kelly were there and all 24 missionaries in our zone which includes two senior couples.  The first thing we did just before the meeting was to start was to do a flash mob song for sister Kellys birthday.  The zone leaders started singing "I love to see the temple" and then another set of elders joined in and by the end of the first verse everyone was singing.  Then as they began the second verse they all walked up to the stand and surrounded sister Kelly.  They ended by singing happy birthday to her.  It was fun to see that.
President Kelly spoke first and gave such good advice for all of us.
He asked everyone to take notes when prompted by the spirit.  But take notes like Nephi's small plates, not the large ones so you won't miss out on being led by the spirit.
There will be 94 brand new missionaries in our mission  with in the next  4 transfers.  There are a total of 120 missionaries now and we are loosing 40 so our numbers are growing.  There will be 50 new sisters by June 12th.  There are only 30 now.

He told us to not take our blessings for granted.  He asked us to picture everything that we love and have today, and then imagine that it were all taken away from us, but then given back to us the next day.  Wouldn't we really appreciate everything we have so much more?

Go and do like Nephi did. Don't worry if you and your companion don't seem to have a lot in common.  Learn from your differences. Serve each other and think how you can bless each other.  He said he and his companion have been together for 320 transfers now and even though they are very  different from each other, he still learns so much from sister Kelly.

We had pizza and I brought Shelly's maple syrup pecan and apple green salad.  The zone leaders gave us a great training after lunch.

All the new missionaries gave their testimonies, including Paul and I.  The new missionaries are only in the MTC for 6 weeks now.  Their language is amazing though.  Most of them have a good start on their italian.

We love being missionaries.

Zone conference March 29

We had our second zone conference Friday in a town near Naples called Potsuoli.  The church there is one of the nicest in our mission.  It has a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea.  It even has a baptismal font.  It has lots of class rooms and is so nice.  None of the church buildings look like churches from the outside.  They are in apartment buildings and usually cover two or three levels. 

A beautiful day in the mountains

From up in this mountainous region you can see down to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea by Acropoli.  The views were breathtaking and the drive up all the switchbacks reminded me of the road to Hana in Maui.  This first house we saw had so many cool things to take pictures of.  I loved it.

These old stone steps all covered with moss were just inside the double front doors.

I even found this handsome man around the back of the house!

We drove to her house and got the computer.  Across the street from her house was a little old church and 100 steps up to the town square.  I took a picture of the town grocery store.  It was no bigger than my bathroom at home.

Perdifumo

This morning we got up early to visit a little town in the mountains named Perdifumo.  Sister Barretta, from our branch has a house up there that was her grandparent's house.  She wanted to get a computer and printer from the house, that she could use for the genealogy library that she has been organizing at our church. As we got up into the mountain area close to her house she pointed out the old house that is pictured above.  She said that when she was very young, before she turned six, they lived in this house.
I have no idea when it was built, but it had to have been many many years ago, or as they say in italian :
"Tutti anni fa"

 

The house was set up on top of a hill overlooking fields of green dotted with yellow and purple flowers.

Saturday we went to Paestum to visit Carrie who is a new convert of about a year. Here she is on the roof top balcony porch, with her husband Maximo and son Mario and our new missionary, elder Ostler from Salt Lake City and of course there is elder Taylor and Anziano Scherbel.  The missionaries are starting to teach her son.  She is an American who came to Italy for an archeological dig in Pompeii and met max and married and had Mario.  She investigated the church for three years.  I thought she was a lifetime member.  She is darling.  Their house is on the top floor of the apartment building, and overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. There are gorgeous views of the mountains to the south.  

1000 egg Fittata (omelette)

While we toured the monastery, we peeked in at the kitchen which is pictured below.  We heard the story of the 1000 egg omelette, which was prepared in  1553,  by the Carthusian  monks for the emperor, who was Charles V. There are bright yellow painted tiles all around the kitchen, (which you can see in my picture) that  seemed like they could not have been the original color.  Our guide said that they were painted that bright yellow, many centuries ago because it was thought to attract flies, and the flies would all go to the wall and not on the food! There is a big celebration very year on grandma and grandpa Minson's anniversary, August 10th, to celebrate this 1000 egg omelette.

The buildings and grounds cover 2,250,000 square feet.  This monastery is sometimes called a charter house.  And it is not a huge tourist place because it is so far up in the mountains and way away from everything else. It was a delight for us to go visit it.

Paul and I in a garden in Padula

Some more pictures of the monastery

 

This is the outside yard that was used in olden days by the town to sell vegetables and food to the inhabitants of the monastery.  Paul is going up the steps to the monastery. It is called La Certosa di Santi Lorenzo.  It is one of the largest Convents in Europe. 

Below is a picture of  a huge inner courtyard that is called the Great Cloister.  The  monks would walk and meditate in this area.  At the entrance portal there is a sign which reads:

" Here peace is guaranteed, here is the entrance to Heaven.  Remain here in tranquility, true peace awaits.  We are in the zone of strict enclosure, the place of meeting with God."

There are 24 rooms surrounding the big open space ( which is so big that if it were 10 meters longer it could fit the colleseum in it.). Each the the rooms surrounding this open yard would house  four monks.  The town of Padula is up on the mountain right above the monastery as you can see in the picture below.

I want to take pictures of gates

As I was reading in 2nd Nephi I found a scripture that made me want to take pictures of Gates here in Italy.  Today I found the perfect picture to illustrate  2 Nephi 9:41

O then my beloved brethren, come unto The Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous.  Behold the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of  the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for The Lord is his name.

Trip to Padula

We drove two sisters to a little town south called Padula, today.  They love genealogy and they were meeting with a man who has a small museum for italian surnames.  I wasn't too excited to go but Paul wanted to help them and he said that we would enjoy seeing this little town way up high in the mountains.  It was the prettiest day of the year so far.  Blue blue sky and lots of sunshine.  We first stopped at a monastery that was built in 1304.  It was in such a beautiful setting and I loved taking pictures of everything.

We toured it for a couple of hours and then went to lunch up on the  mountain side overlooking the monastery and the valley.  Here is a picture of the valley below and another one of  Paul and I.

English class

Here is a pictured of all the kids who come to English class each week.  None of them are members except the girl in the orange scarf.  She is a member of our ward and she teaches the beginning class. Paul and I teach the intermediate class and have 4-6 students each week.  Each of the kids are really sharp and would make such good members of the church. They stay for an hour of English class which starts with a prayer and ends with a short gospel principle as well as a closing prayer. I Bring cookies which they all seem to enjoy and which they eat afterwards.  Then many of them stay to play ping pong and or fussball out in the garage of the church.

 Transfers came in this week and we are loosing one of our wonderful elders.  I can't say which one because his mother would find out from me instead of him.  We are so sad to loose him.  Both these elders are tops.  It is our lose and another's gain.  He will be terrific though wherever he serves.

Today was another very busy day.  I cleaned the church for 3 hours this morning.  Our workers have finished with painting and repairs and so the floors needed mopping and everything had a fine coat of gesu (chalk) dust on it.  There is still lots more to do tomorrow, but I got a good start on it.

This afternoon Paul and I went to visit a lady in a nearby town, named Christine.  She is about my age I guess.  Her husband is not a member.   Her son use to be the branch president maybe 12 years ago, but he has moved north.  She said she didn't come to church anymore because she helps take care of her mother who has Alzheimer's.  Although her mother does not live with her.  I mostly just sat and listened to a sister (we brought with us from the branch who wanted to visit Christine) and her talk.  Paul asked her if  she would like him to give a blessing to her mother.  She agreed.  We all went out into the pouring rain and drove  five minutes to her moms apartment. We met her sister and her uncle who were there taking care of the mother who was sound a sleep.  They kept trying to wake her up and tell her that the president had come to see her.  Her mother wouldn't wake up.  After about ten minutes they finally got the mother to wake up, but she didn't  really acknowledge anyone or say anything.  After another ten minutes Christine asked her mother if she would like a blessing from the

 President.  (The Italians love to call people by their titles and the Branch president is pretty important to them.)  the mother didn't  say anything, so they took that for a yes she would like a blessing.  I had been feeling not that interested in Christine or her mother or sister up until this moment.  The sisters were all talking fast and I couldn't understand hardly anything of what was going on.So I was just sitting there trying to be patient.  We had another sister we were suppose to visit afterwards and it looked like we were going to be late for our appointment with her.  Paul asked Christine if she would offer a prayer before he gave a blessing to her mom.  Something incredible happened to me as I heard her pray.  Even though I could not understand her words, the Holy Ghost filled my heart so full that I thought it was going to. Burst.  Tears started running down my face so hard that I was almost sobbing.    After the prayer, her sister went out of the room and came back to hand me a Kleenex.  Paul then gave her mother a blessing, which was very spirit filled.  Ad then Christine started talking about how she felt the spirit so strong and she came over to me and just hugged me a d hugged me and said that I felt it too.  I don't think that I can describe how strong the spirit was in that room.  It shouldn't amaze me but it does.  I went from feeling kind of restless and impatient to being overpowered with the spirit.  

As we left, the sister went to th other room and brought me out a lovely black coat that she wanted to give to me. Ad Christine told me three times that she would see me on Sunday at church.  .

Yummy enchiladas

It was a good Sunday. I had a funny thng happen in Relief Society today.  At the beginning, when the president was giving the announcements, I thought she asked me if i could bring a jello salad to a branch party they were having the day after Easter.  I nodded my head and said, "si,si.". She looked very happy and nodded her head and said, "si,si". Then  she went on with some more annuncements.  I leaned over to ask a younger sister, who speaks a little english, what I had agreed to.  She said that Maria asked me if I could crochett something for someone!  Oops, I cant crochett worth beans. i asked Rita to tell her that.  I learnd not to say "si, si" if i really dont know what they are talking about!

We had a good Relief Society lesson on Emma Smith and D&C 25. I love verse 1 where The Lord calls Emma by name and says, "Hearken to the voice of The Lord, while I speak unto you, Emma Smith, my daughter;". The Lord know me too and if I liken the scriptures to myself, he could be saying , " hearken to the voice of the Lord, while I speak into you,  Geri Scherbel, my daughter;" It is wonderful to know that I am his daughter and he knows my name too.  I found several verses in that section that could apply to me in my relationship with Paul who is serving as branch president here in Battipalgia.  Verse 8 says he shall lay his hands upon thee and thou shalt receive the Holy Ghost, and thy time shall be given to writing and to learning much.  It was interesting that Paul did lay his hands upon me today to set me apart in my new calling which is the building coordinator.  ( I will organize the cleaning of the church each week, just like Bart and Rhonda Johnson do in Star Valley.  Up until now, the missionaries and the branch presidents family are mainly the ones who clean the church each week.  Paul wants all the branch members to take ownership and responsibility for their church.  So I hope that I can help call and remind people to come help.  Plus  I can mow the lawn each week and that will make me very happy.  We have a really nice grass area that is about 1/2 the size of a football field.)

The rest of verse 8 in section 25 applies to me as well. I feel that my time will be spent in Writing and in learning much.  I am amazed at how often The Lord gives us what we need to know or do, through the scriptures.  This lesson was tailor made for me
Our high councilor Broer Collins, and his family came to our ward today.  He spoke and gave a good talk on keeping journals.  This  blog will be my journal for the next two years.
After church, I got set apart, and then the Collins family, who are Americans, came over for lunch.  Their father, teaches Spanish at the military base  in Casserta.   I made two new enchilada recipes and they both turned out really good.  I made Sarah's refried beans in the crock pot.  I will forward the honey, lime chicken enchilada recipe to anyone who wants it.  Everyone had seconds or thirds.

This week we have a full calendar already set up with appointments or visits all week long.  One girl from our branch offered to help me learn Italian.  I am excited about any help I can get.
It is already late at night, so I will hurry off to bed.  I am thankful for the chance to be a missionary even though I get frustrated about not being able to say too much yet.  I will be able to soon!
Thank you to all of you for your support and prayers.  We need every bit of help we can get.

Rain rain go away

Today is Friday and it has been raining since Tuesday when I finished mowing the lawn.  Luckily, I got it mowed before the torrents and winds came.  Yesterday was the worst.  It rained all day and was so dreary.  I was fine in the morning, but for some reason had a mini meltdown in the afternoon.  I felt like I would never learn Italian and I was feeling a bit sorry for myself, I am sad to say.

We talked to Christy last night, who is a lucky duck and gets to be in Hawaii.  She made me laugh and I felt much better, just getting to talk to her. She said that they had been to the beach to do some snorkeling at Napili Bay.  The waves were quite big and kept knocking her down and rolling her back toward shore as she was trying to go out to snorkel.  Finally she didn't fight it any longer and just let herself be rolled over and over right up to the shore.  She was laughing as she told us the story.  I could just picture that happening.  It tickled my funny bone and made me forget feeling sorry for myself.
She also told us about the night before they left for Hawaii.  She got home from work and was alone down in their basement apartment.  She heard someone crying upstairs and didn't think too much about it, supposing the girl upstairs must be babysitting someone.  Then it kept getting more and more distressed and she could tell it was someone just sobbing and sobbing.  She got an urgent feeling to get upstairs as fast as she could.  She didn't even take time to put her shoes on.  She knocked on the front door and no one answered but she could hear the crying really loud, so she just went in.  The girl, who is about  Christy's age, was lying on the couch drenched in sweat and was crying uncontrollably.  Christy kept asking her what was the matter, but the girl was unable to make any sense or speak.  Finally Christy heard the worded " blood sugar too low" and she ran to the frig and got some soda. The girl was almost in a coma .  Christy had to cradle her head and force a few drops at a time into her mouth.  So she finally came to and could talk and said that she was diabetic and also was pregnant and had been vomiting so hard all day that her blood sugar levels must have fallen way too low, & too fast and she could't think straight and was trying to call her mom but couldn't remember how to. They were finally able to call her mom, who came over and took care of her.  But it was such a miracle that Christy came home when she did and that she heard her crying and followed the promptings of the Holy Ghost to get upstairs before it was too late.  A great example of following the promptings we get from the Holy ghost.

Tuesday night and Wednesday night were spent at the hospitals with different ward members.  One hospital was 1/2 hour away + half an hour to find a parking spot, and the other hospital was an hour and a half away to the south and a half an hour to find the hospital after a wrong turn, and then an hour to find where in The hospital this branch member was.  There were no information booth



M. s with patient information.  We took a sister from our branch with us, who is her friend, and she must have asked 20 different people where to go.  She finally asked a doctor if he knew where this lady ppwas and he had no idea, but a lady overheard the name, and said, that's my mom, I know where she is.  So we found her with another tender mercy from The Lord.
There use to be a branch down in her town, when she joined the church about 20 years ago.  Her husband had died before she was baptized and all of her kids were grown.  No one else joined in her family.  The branch was closed and the missionaries were taken out of the town due to persecution from the town.  So she is a member of our branch now.  But unfortunately we are so far away
 and she is in her 80's and can't make it to church on her own.  I know that she was so happy to have us come.  Italian hospitals are certainly different than we are use to.  There are about six patients per room.  No dividing curtains when the doctors come in to check you.  The word privacy doesn't exist in italian.  From 6-8 pm  are visiting hours.  It must the the social hour of the day.  Every room was overflowing with visitors.  I bet there were 20 visitors in the room we were in.  Everyone is talking as loud as can be and it all sounds like italian to me!  One patient in the room had just gotten our of surgery and was still very out of it.  The patients family sees to a lot of care that nurses normally help with in the states.  I really don't want to have to go to the hospital at all while I am here.  I am adding that to my list of things I pray for, along with the "gift of tongues"
Paul went over to the church at 6:30 this morning to try to fix the printer there.  He worked and worked on it, and finally got it fixed!  He is now working on one of the computers there.  Sister Baretta wants to have a genealogical library at the church.  Paul is trying to get 3 or 4 old computers fixed that were up in the top floor attic of the church so they can be used for genealogy.
We visited with a family from ur branch this morning.  The mom is the Relief society P

Yeah! I got to mow the lawn at the church today!

We got a call this morning from Gino, saying that our lawn mower was fixed and that we could pick it up.  There was an 80% chance of rain today but it was sunny this morning.  We got it and brought it back to the church.  We found some gas in one of the utility rooms, outside the church.  It started up and I got to do what I love doing.  I got to mow the grass.  It's not my wonderful ride on mower, but I got to be outside under a blue sky, and I got some exercise as I mowed the grass at the church.  We have quite a nice bit of grass.  The members love to play soccer outside and after it was mowed, it looked  a bit nicer.  The rain clouds came as soon as I finished and now it's raining and watering our nice lawn.  I couldn't be happier.
I received a great letter from Jonathan today.  He shared some advise for his missionary parents, (which I just loved!). He suggested we read Alma 17:10-12.  When I opened up my scriptures, I realized that these were the exact  verses that we went over in district meeting yesterday.  I am sure that I need to read them and really internalize these verses.  Out of all the scriptures that we have, I think it is a tender mercy from god where he is telling me what he wants me to do through these exact verses.  Thanks Jon for being inspired and sharing.
We see tiny miracles each day.  It is wonderful to be a missionary!  I love it!!

Here are the elders who are in our district.  Elder Bryant from Las Vegas is on the left.  He serves in Casttledemmare with Elder Bailey on the far right.  Our Battipalgia elders are in the middle.  Elder  Carr is second from the left and he is our district leader.  He does such a good job organizing and leading our district meetings each Monday.  He has been out about six months.  You can tell that he comes from a great family.  He has many other brothers wh have served missions.  He follows the spirit and testifys of the truth often.  Elder Taylor is short in height but is a giant in enthusiasm and spirit.  Elder Taylor is from Idaho Falls. He goes home in two months. We really like both of our elders and hope they both get to stay after this next week's transfer.  Elder Taylor has a younger brother who has just left on a mission to Washington state.  That reminded me of a couple of our boys who didnt see each other for almost four years. Roland and Mike, and Dan and Tommy.  Elder Taylor said he has been to Afton's Fourth of July parade many times.  We showed him the YouTube of the Star Valley welcome home to our girls and boys basketball teams who both won the state championship last week.  The fire engines going down main street with all the cheer leaders and team players riding on top, was fun for us to watch.
Congratulations to all the kids from Star Valley.  We are very proud of you!
On the way back from Casttledemmare we stopped for a picture of the Amalfi coast.  It was kind of rainy and so these pictures are a little dark.  I will try to take some more another day.  A man came up to me as I was taking pictures.  Paul spoke with him for quite a bit.  I ran back to the car and got a Book of Mormon out, to give to him.  When I offered it to him, he quickly said no that he didn't want it.  I felt bad that he didnt want it, but Paul talked with him another ten minutes or so and they had a good exchange.  So here is a picture of the person who I tried to give my first Book of Mormon to.  I am sorry it didn't work out, but  I did try.

Here are a few more pictures of the pretty town right on the coast below us.

Alfred's party continued

One other unusual ingredient on my favorite pizza pictured in the previous post was finely grated potatoes that tasted like they had been cooked and mashed and put through a sieve or something.  Anyway they were deliciously.
Here is a picture of Stefania showcasing the pizzas.  There were two others behind her.  Even though I couldnt understand most of what was being said, it was a very fun evening.  These are such good people who are our brothers and sisters in the gospel.  They enjoy being together and laughing and telling stories and eating good food, just like we do.

The Organist's Birthday Party

We were invited to come for pizza on Wednesday night at Alfredo's house.  He is the non member who comes every Sunday to play the organ for sacrament meeting.  We didnt know it was for his birthday party.  He invited a couple other families to come as well.  The past branch President, Marco D'Andolfo and his cute wife Stefania + their three kids came.  Here is a picture of them.

Stefania said that she is 10th generation Napalotano.  But unlike most people from Naples, she speaks very clearly and does not drop all the endings on her words.  She is our gospel doctrine teacher and is such a fantastic teacher.  She uses lots of hand motions when she talks and if I can't understand the words, I can often understand her gestures.
The Mondelli's came too.  Brother Mondelli is from Naples and I can not understand anything he says.  Everybody laughs while in conversation with him, because apparently he is very funny.  He is at the head of the table.  Alfredo is standing up on the right.

Here is a picture of the cute pizza boxes.  They are about half again as long as a large pizza from Pizza Hut. They are called "pizza al metro" because the pizzas are about a meter long.  We had five of these for the party.  My favorite one was the one with bitter broccoli and sausage on it.  The bitter broccoli is real stringy and has very few flowerets on it.  It tastes more like a bitter spinach I would say.  I have had it one other time and didn't love it cooked and put on my plate so I had to eat it, but on the pizza with whatever magic they put on it, it was yummy.

The lawnmower miracle

Today, we had several meetings scheduled for tonight, but our main goal was to check out the church's lawnmower and figure out where to take it to get repaired.  We also needed to get the trash at the church divided up properly to get it recycled and cleaned out of the kitchen at the church.  At the beginning of our walk, we let the repair guys into the church.  They have a punch list of about 70 items, and so they came all last week and will be there all this week too doing little repairs and getting the church in better shape.We have to open up the church and let them in each morning.  The lawn mower looked in bad shape and so we left it and continued on our walk.  We stopped at the gas station, to ask the guy who owns it, if he knew where to get lawnmowers fixed.  He showed us a possible place on google maps and we were happy to have an address.  As we were looking on his computer at the google map, a customer comes in the station and says, "I understand you are Americans.  I speak English and I know where you can get your lawn mower fixed. " His son also came in with him.  They both spoke very good English.  We talked for a while about who would take the lawnmower where.  Then he asked why we were in Battipalgia.  I said that we were missionaries, and he quickly said, "not for the Mormon church are you"?  I said yes we were and his son said they knew all about the Mormon church.  They had been there many times.  Then the father said, "haven't you heard of me? ".  We said no we hadn't.  And we asked him his name.  He told us and we laughed and said that we had heard about him, just last night.  The missionaries said that he use to always help them get the lawnmower fixed, but they hadn't seen him come to church lately.
What are the chances that when we are looking for a place to take the lawnmower that the very man who knows, comes into the gas station, at the very minute we are there asking for help.  We all knew it was a tender mercy from God, even though it was just about a lawnmower.
We got directions to his house and we took th lawnmower over there this afternoon.  We had a pleasant visit with his wife and son.  His wife is from Wales and that's why they all speak English so well.  The man would like to get baptized but does not want to give up smoking and drinking.  He knows the church is true and so does his son.  They really  like the church.  They have entertained missionaries at their house for years and years.
Paul is at the church now, meeting with the past branch president about his new calling.  I will head over there by 7 for English class tonight.  The day has gone fast today.  I did get one large bag of trash all separated from th church and I guess I will put it up with my trash tomorrow.  We have to put it a different kind of recycle trash each night.  It's really a pain, but not too bad.
Our hot water heater keeps needing to be reset.  It is one that is a on demand type.  It's fuse keeps switching off so we have to go outside and hit the switch by sticking a matchstick in the hole and it finally hits the switch that needs to be pressed in.  I am thinking that we need a new switch.  We will see.
I am happy that it has been sunny and a little warmer.  My living room is bright and light now that I moved out all the huge plants that filled up the glass doorways out to the porch.  Here is a picture of our living room now.

Continuation of long day

After  we got home from district meeting,  I got some personal study time in while Paul continued to talk on the phone and try to finish our pass along cards.  At 7 we had an appointment to meet with a less active man and his girlfriend.  They live in northern Italy but were down here visiting family for a couple of weeks.  He has a cd of him playing his guitar and singing songs he has written.  He gave us one of his CDs last week and told us to listen to it and if we liked it we could pay him 10 Euros.  Paul listened to it and said he wanted to come over and get a personal concert tonight.  When we first got there, Paul pulls it a 10 Euro note and asks for a pair of scissors.  He cuts it in half and writes Marco's name on one half and Marie Angela on the other half.  He then told them that when they get married they can tape it together and spend it however they want.  She said that she will never spend it but wanted to frame it.  Paul told them the story of pampa meeting Connie at the restaurant in Afton and thought she was so cute, so he cut a $20 bill in half and gave her half and wrote Scott's name on her half and then he gave Scott the other half with her name and phone number on it.  If they ever got together they could spend the 20 on a date.  That never worked out, but how amazing was it that she ended up marrying his youngest son Marlowe.
After that, Marco gave us a two hour concert.  He was really good and I loved all the songs he sang.  He sang many in English for me, some Bob Dillan, some Beatles, and many I have heard but didn't know well.  Toward the end, his mom joined him and th both sang some famous italian songs that they had probably sung before a hundred times.  Pretty soon, his dad and a friend and his girlfriend joined in with his mom and with him ; all singing loud and really well together.  It was a delightful night.  We hope and pray that he and his darling sweet girlfriend will get married and that she will join the church.  e walked the mile to their apartment and back home again.  I got enough walking in for one day, since we walked a couple of miles this morning together too.
I will sleep well tonight.

Ciao ciao :)

A Long Day

It was a really good day and we got so many things done.  With Paul being called as branch president to our small branch here in Battipalgia yesterday, he had a lot of phone calls with details he needs to know and learn.  I got 4 loads of laundry done and all of it hung out to dry.

 

I try to hang up all of the dark things on the outside lines.  I hang up garments and whites inside on the drying rack.  

I got the car washed because it was such a nice sunny day.  Our landlord brought me a pot of soil and I got some of my basil planted.  He saw my little basil plant that I bought a few weeks ago and told me that I can just break off the top leaves and stick them in soil and they will root themselves and make a healthy new plant.  I told him I didn't have any soil and so he brought me a pot of dirt and left it outside my apartment door this morning while Paul and I were on our walk.

We had our weekly district meeting at 11:00 in Casttlemmari with the elders in our district.  We made it back by 3.  Paul worked on getting some cards made that look like business cards with our name and the churches name on it and info about meeting schedules and such.  

Beginning 2nd Month in Italy

It has been a wonderful week.  Yesterday was Flavia's baptism.  There were about 14 non members there from her family and friends.  They came from the minimum of one and a half hours away, to 5 hours away.  All of them are so supportive of her.  There were about five non members from our town who have come to support her as well.  So we had about 40 people there, which is about twice as many that come on Sundays.  Today they all returned for sacrament meeting to see her confirmed. We had testimonies afterwards which were very inspiring.  One  12 year old boy who is a non member but is the grandson of a new member, wrote his testimony out and  asked the branch president to read it today because he was too nervous to give it out loud himself.  But you could tell that he had thought about it all week and had planned it a head of time.  I couldn't believe how wonderful that was.
Just before sacrament meeting a councilor in the area presidency drops by our brand, and asked if he could talk to Paul and I upstairs.  He then calls Paul to be the new branch president.  We were both so sad to not have our current branch president continue in his calling.  He is so wonderful and is so dedicated.  He and his wife have the only children in The branch.  They adopted them 2 years ago from Mexico.  He became the branch president right after that and he has done such a great job.  He doesn't have any councilors  and so I am sure he is overwhelmed with his responsibilities and his ready made new family. He lives about a half an hour away from the church.  We are just right across the street but we were hoping to be a councilor and support him.  This is pretty overwhelming.  There are only about four priesthood men in our branch + the two young elders and Paul, making 7.  I guess that is better than one branch here in Italy that had just two males in the ward and one was only  two years old!
Paul is now reading the branch president handbook which is all in italian.  Even though his italian is ally good there are so many words he doesn't know so he h his dictionary right next to him and he is learning lots of new words as well as his new duties.
I got called as a visiting teacher today and i get to go with a darling lady that I love already.  No one has ever done visiting teaching here before, so this will be a good chance to help.
We had all of Flavia's family here yesterday before the baptism for lunch.  I cooked all day Friday and I think that all of it turned out pretty good.  They liked the orange jello the best.  Italians don't have jello.  They were amazed that it had bananas in it.  One person was brave and tried it first.  Everyone asked his opinion.  When it was positive, a few others tried it and then a few more until everyone had some.  They all liked it, I think.