What I have learned in the first three months of our mission

One of the sisters in our branch sent this picture to Paul yesterday.  I am guessing she photo shopped it with a picture of us and a picture of the Battipaglia Castle.  I liked it though and was happy she sent it to us.
Elder Taylor is leaving us tonight and heading for Rome and then will fly out on Friday to go home. He is trying to pack and get everything in that is the most important to him. He is so sad to be leaving.  I think it must be much harder to leave the mission and all the people you have taught and loved and to think that you might not get a chance to ever see them again in this life. He has been here with us in Battipaglia for the entire time and he also served here in the first part of his mission, so it is extra dear to him.  he will be definitely be returning home with honor.  He is a really good missionary.  We will miss him a lot.  Elder Ostler gets to stay and his new companion is from Africa but grew up in Italy.  He speaks perfect Italian and English.  His name is Elder Bendiaky.  We look forward to meeting him Thursday, along with two new sister missionaries.
Today I was thinking of all the things that I have learned so far on my mission.
1.  I am overwhelmed constantly with the power of the Holy Ghost.  I have learned that the keys we hold as missionaries are very real and everyday, I witness that power in action.  This is the Lords work and we are just his tools, but he is very anxious for the Italian people to hear the gospel.  He puts people in our path.  We have to open our mouth and testify.  God does the rest.
2.  I am realizing more each day, that I married a very incredible man.  Paul is doing everything he can to serve The Lord here in Battipaglia.  He has so much more endurance than I do, and he is willing to go visit one more person at the end of a long day, when I am tempted to ask them, if we could come tomorrow.  I am getting a chance to learn from him, and i hope that I can be as patient with others as he is being.
3.  I am trying to speak more and more Italian.  ITS HARD!! I am able to at least say what I need to and I can express myself  a bit more.  I think that I will be able to speak quite a bit by August.  That is my goal.  I can understand most all church stuff and family and small talk stuff.  When people start talking in the dialects I get lost real fast!  People from Naples cut off the last half of most words. and they talk faster than they drive and they speak just as crazy as they drive.  Its really fun to listen to but not easy to understand.
4. I am learning to be more patient.  It is a virtue that I have not had in the past,  and as I have gotten older I have had less rather than more of it. But every day I get chances to practice being patient.  As I sit for hours on end and listen to Paul speak to branch members, I can either do it patiently or impatiently and patiently feels much better.  When my landlady comes by and barges into our apartment and starts telling me  should have her ugly couch covers on and that I should be sleeping in the one bedroom with the broken down twin beds instead of in the nice queen bed, I get another chance to smile and be patient.
5.  I have learned how to cook several Italian dishes and Paul really likes that.  They cook with very fresh foods and their food is very simple really.  Its just they like to serve a lot of it to us everytime we are asked to eat.
6.  I have learned that the Italians have a system to their crazy driving.  The cutting in and out is kind of like a dance and I am used to it for the most part now, and I dont freak out everytime we are out driving.  I have driven many times myself and I feel very comfortable doing so.
7.  I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to serve a mission right now when the Lords work is hastening forward at a speed that is hard to keep up with.  We are excited to have Sister Missionaries coming to our little branch.  With so many single sisters in our branch, I know they are excited as well.

Trip to Rome

We made a trip to Rome yesterday to take a cute sister in our ward to get her patriarchal blessing.  It takes about 3 1/2 hours to get there.  e left at 7:30 am and got back about 7 pm. Her brother came and we had a great chance to talk to them and enjoy them for the whole day. Many good teaching opportunities.  After the patriarch gave her her blessing, I felt the power of the Holy Ghost so strong still surrounding this girl.  They had the blessing upstairs at the church, and they came downstairs to the office afterwards and the spirit was still there... so strong, that I started to cry. Her brother felt it too.  I was able to testify to him, that what we were feeling was the Holy Ghost testifying that  her blessing was divinely inspired and given to her from God directly through the patriarch.
                   Afterwards we drove by the temple and saw its progress and got a picture.

We had lunch at a huge mall right across the  street from the new temple.  They chose to eat at a place called "The Wild West".  I felt like we were in Wyoming!  

2 Maria's

Here is Maria making these incredible rice balls.  She takes rice, eggs, cheese, salt, pepper and parsley and rolls them into balls.  Then she rolls those into bread crumbs and deep frays them in sun flour oil. They were very tasty.  We ate those as the second course of our lunch, along with fresh bread.  We ate the little cave pasta for the first course.  Third course was salad, collected from the meadow along with some other ensalata (lettuce).

2 Maria's

.ooo

There are two Maria's in our little branch.  Here they both are.  I hope you can tell how wonderful they are just by looking at this hug.  

The missionaries call her Mama Maria.  She cares for everyone.  She gives the best hugs.  She has only been a member about a year and a half.  I don't know anyone who has had a more difficult life than she has had.  She works so hard and is a really good cook.  I have to hide my plate under the table when I am full, because she keeps coming around and filling my plate up with more food.  I think 

Making homemade pasta and cooking it on a wood stove

While we were up in the mountains we had a treat because we got to learn how to make homemade pasta that looks like little caves.  Maria made the dough with flour, and pumpkin and a little water.  She kneaded it for a long time and then make long skinny ropes which she cut in about an inch or more lengths and then pressed each little piece in such a way that they curled up and formed a little cave.  The elders and I learned how to do it and here is proof.  We then cooked  them on a wood burning stove that reminded me of Noni Rae's stove in Big Piney, but it was smaller. I got a picture of Brother  Mondeli picking Arugula out in the field, for our salad.  It was a day out of a story book.  It couldn't have been better.

A Day in the Mountains

We went to the mountains yesterday to visit the Mondeli's in their  mountain home.  Elder Taylor is leaving next week and he wanted to see it.  All four of us missionaries went and we also brought Sister Delia.  What a delightful day.  It was about 1/2 an hour away from Battipalgia.  We were not sure where to go.  Sister Delia knew how to get to the town below.  We thought we would just call 

the Mondeli's then and get the final directions....but we couldn't get ahold of them.  So we found ourselves in the middle of the town square where they were holding a outdoor market.  Lots of people everywhere and the road was blocked so we couldn't travel any further in the direction we were heading.  We all got out of the car and Maria starts talking to a man that was just standing there, near our car and she asks him if he knew where the Mondeli's lived.  Yes he did and he said that he was probably the only person in the whole town who knew where they lived because they just bought the house a few years ago and weren't from there originally.  He worked with Brother Mondeli in Battipaglia until just a few years ago until he had a stroke.  But he jumped in the car with us and led us up mountain paths until we found the right place.  It was a piece of heaven and we loved every minute there.  It was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father that we met this man in the market place. 

Mozzarella di Buffalo

Here is an up close and life size water buffalo.  Their milk is what this wonderful array of mozzarella cheeses are made from.  This cheese factory is very close to the Greek ruins, and a member of our ward, Carrie, lives very close by.  elder Taylor baptized her about a year and a half ago, and she really wanted to show him around for one last time before he leaves to go home next week.  We had a very enjoyable day.  

Paul and I stayed in the area for several appointments we had that afternoon and evening.  We had two home teaching appointments and Paul had a presidency meeting also.  We didn't get home until about 10:30 pm.  It was a long day, but a good one.  

Here a a few pictures of two of the three primary kids in our branch.  I love them to pieces.  They give me such wonderful hugs every time they see me.  

Paestum

Wednesday, we went with the Elders to Paestum, where the really old Greek Ruins are.  There are three temples that were built around 700 BC and they are very well preserved.  Here is a picture of one that was built to Hera.  Later when the Romans took over, they changed the temples to be for their Gods.

The week of trips

Po

This picture is not really a video, but just a frame of a video I took of the Amalfi Coast.  It's beautiful.

This week has been the week of trips.  Monday we had our district meeting in Caselldimmare and  afterwards we went to Sorrento to pick up a few things for Elder Taylor before he leaves.  That is why we were driving along the Amalfi Coast.  He wanted to get a music box. So we went to this little hole in the wall place where they make these beautiful music boxes with all inlaid wood pictures on the  top.  It was hard to choose which one to get, so we stayed there a long time.  We met two LDS couples while we were there, and I think that we talked at least one couple to go on a mission.

District conference weekend

This weekend was District Conference in Naples.  This is like stake conference for branches.  We had a leadership training meeting Saturday afternoon, and the adult session Saturday night.  Paul and I each got our hair cut about 1 and then headed to Naples.  It was all in Italian, so I only understood part of it.  But I loved one story about tithing that I thought I would share.
     There was a 5 year old little boy whose family had a family home evening about tithing.  His parents taught him how important it was to pay 10% of what we earn.  This money helps build churches and temples, and our Heavenly Father has asked that everyone pay 10%.  This little boy had worked around the house and had earned $1.00 which his mom gave to him in change so he would have a dime.  That evening, before he went to bed, he knew he had to pay his tithing but he wasn't sure how to do it.  He placed the dime on his bed and knelt down to pray.  He told Heavenly Father that he just earned a dollar and that he wanted to pay his tithing.  So if God wanted it, he prayed that he would take it from off his bed.  When he finished his prayer, her opened his eyes, and his dime was still there!  He thought that God didn't want his dime.  He didnt tell his parents about what happened because he thought he did something wrong.  The next day at church, his primary teacher taught the lesson and afterwards said that she had a feeling that she needed to teach them something else.  She pulled out a tithing envelope and taught them about how to pay your tithing, by filling in your name and the amount and then putting the money in the envelope and giving it to th bishop.  He was so happy to know how to do it.  The little boy said that he never even thanked his teacher for her inspiration because he was so young and didnt realize that his teacher followed the prompting of the spirit and taught what one little boy needed to know that day.  He realized it years later what a miracle had occurred just for him.
I loved that story.
President Kelly talked about difficulties.   He said that they are opportunities to grow stronger.  He also said that there will be many times in our life when we feel that we have too much to bear and that when we pray we may expect God to solve our problem.  But most times he doesn't solve our problem, but he will make us stronger or will help us to find a way to solve it. In alma 58:10-12 we are promised that if we pray for help, God will give us peace to our souls  and great faith in order to be delivered from our problems.  Notice the word "great" before faith.  Not just a little faith, but great faith!
We were told to listen with our eyes and hearts.

When we read the Book of Mormon, we read the doctrine of Christ, when we read the Doctrine of Covenants, we read abut the kingdom of Christ.

We had a man from Milano who was just released as a 70 at conference time.  He was a very good speaker.  He spoke about the fact that Italians have a lot of dreams.  (we have noticed that this is very true.  Several of our new converts in our branch were convinced to join the church because through a dream they got their witness that the church is true.  We heard that when Lorenzo Snow dedicated Italy for missionary work, he said in his prayer that the people here would be brought into the church through their dreams. I have to research this to find out if it is really true.). Anyway, the speaker said that the Italians should not think the story of Joseph Smith strange at all.  They are quite use to people having visions.

We took a bus with our branch members and the branch from Casstldimmara to district conference today.  It was quite a bus ride.  There was a lot of excited talking and constant noise.  Everyone wanted to talk to Presidente Scherbel.  So he had quite a line of people constantly talking to him all the way there and then all the way home in the bus. I just smile and sit there.

A non member girl who comes to our English class, just stopped by and brought a bunch of fresh produce from her friends farm.  All the eggs were each wrapped in newspaper.  There are delicious strawberries and these beans that are at least a foot long each.  They look like green beans that jack in the beanstalk must have planted.  She visited with us for about an hour.  The missionaries came by to say hi to her and us.  We got the week planned for all our activities and appointements.

The Olive Tree

We have been working on the yard at the church quite a bit.  The neighbor asked if we could trim some of the trees that were encroaching on her fence.  Gino, (pictured below) came to help us.  There is a medium size olive tree up close to the church building.  I have been reading in Jacob about the allegory of the olive tree.  I can understand why he included it in the Book of Mormon.  There are olive trees everywhere in this part of the world.  Olive oil was used for cooking and for oil for lamps. It was used for medicines and was and still is the most basic item for cooking for every italian.  I have been chastised for buying cheap olive oil that is light and has no taste I guess.  I have not come to appreciate the full taste of quality olive oil yet.

Here is a picture of Gino in his little itty bitty Fiat that is ancient.  He is an investigator who comes to help us trim our trees at the church.  

This is a picture of Deco which is one of the grocery stores that we go to here in Battipalgia.  It has about four rows of food.  One row is of every kind of pasta that you can imagine. One row is full of cookies and sweets. One aisle is fresh vegetables, and milk and eggs. One aisle is full of olive oil and all kinds of bottled olives.  The olive is one of the most basic dietary items here in Italy.  There are olive trees everywhere.  We have one at the church.  They symbolize peace and at Easter people bring you an olive branch to wish you peace for the coming year.

It is spring!

Along the driveway, leading up to the church, there is a row of flowers that are just starting to bloom.  Here is a sample of what they look like now.  I can't wait till they open fully.  Each little blossom is a little star.  Incredible.  I have been over at the church this morning, watering and weeding.  Paul has been meeting with several branch members for different things.  While he does that, I can work on the yard.  I also got my scriptures read.  I read Omni.  Vs 25 is very meaningful to me as he says, " I shall ...exhort all men to come unto God, the Holy One of Israel, and believe in prophesying, and in revelations, and in the ministering of angels, and in the gift of speaking with tongues, and in the gift of interpreting languages, and in all things which are good, for there is nothing which is good save it comes from The Lord."
Vs 26 says ..."come unto him and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him."  I can really feel the  earnest request of Amaleki, who wrote this part of Omni.

The Yellow Hose at Church

This is the front lawn at our church.  In case I thought I wouldn't have to drag around a hose for two years, I was wrong.  I have a pretty yellow hose to water the grass and the flowers and the trees with.  

We have lots of flowers and several fruit trees.  There is our orange lime tree and we have several lemon trees.

Visiting teaching

Our small branch just got the visiting teaching and home teaching organized a few weeks ago. Paul has about 8 families to home teach.  I was assigned to go with Maria to go visit two sisters who live about 1/2 hour away.  One sister is Carrie who just joined the church a year and a half ago and the other sister is Stefania who was the past branch president's wife and she is the mother of the darling three adopted children from Mexico who are the only children in our branch.  I drove, and this was the first time for me to drive farther than just to the store, so that was an exciting experience for me. We found the right town and visited with Stefania first.  Maria does not speak any English, so I asked her to give the lesson to Stefania in italian of course and I would give it in English to Carrie who is American.  Maria is a convert of just over a year also.  And this was her first time ever going visiting teaching.  The lesson was on temples.  So Stefania mostly gave the lesson to Maria and had a wonderful chance to explain about temples. I was not sure how to get  to Carries house, so Stefania rode her daughter's little bike in front of my car and led the way to carrie's house which was just a few blocks from her house.  Since Carrie was a new member, we had a great chance to teach her about how to prepare to go to the temple.  She translated what I said in English, to italian for Maria, so both new converts were able to learn about how to prepare for the temple.  They are both so excited that the Rome temple is being built. Both sisters shared special spiritual experiences surrounding their conversions.   I felt very spiritually fed and very excited to have been able to visit teach for the first time here in Italy.

Not more than our faith can stand

I read a quote today by president Spencer W. Kimball, as part of his dedicatory prayer for the DC temple.  He said, "Bless this people our father, that they may prosper, but not more than their faith can stand."
I have thought about that a lot since I read it.  We really do tend to stop growing spiritually when everything is going great in our lives. What insight President Kimball had to ask for that specific blessing.
When we prosper we relax our intensity with prayers and with our dependence on The Lord.  When we have excess time, money, or any resource, I find that it is so easy to take everything for granted and not think about spiritual things as much.  An example of this is my Relief Society manual, The Teachings of President Snow."  I take 2 copies (1 English copy and 1 italian copy, so I can read them side by side and learn new words.) with me to church on the 2nd and 3rd Sundays and I love to read every word of my English copy.  I can understand every word and I hungrily soak up every drop of message.  Because the lesson is given in Italian, of course, I only understand about 10% of what I hear, even if I listen with every sensory part of me. I can understand about 50% of what I read.  I watch the body language and the gestures (Italians do a great job with talking with their hands) and listen as hard as I can.  I notice when the person I am sitting next to, is smiling or looking perplexed at the message. But working as hard as I can, I still don't get any deep meanings or interesting details.  I just can pick up on what the topic is and  then of course any scripture references.  In our relief society back home sometimes the teacher wishes there was more audience participation.  That is not the case here in Italy.  The problem is to try and curb everyone talking at the same time about something they have such a passion for.  I will hear 2 or 3 sisters all talking at once right in th middle of th relief society lesson.  Then I really loose what is being said.  Anyway, back to my manual, which I seldom brought to Relief Society, or ever read before Sunday, I love reading every word of it now.  Why?  The text isn't different.  But now, I don't get fed spiritually by the lesson, unless I read it myself.   I guess it is the old economics principle of supply and demand.  We tend to appreciate things more and value them higher when there is less.
I appreciate peanut butter, corn syrup, and jello more now since I can't get them here in Italy.
I wonder if that is why poorer people accept the gospel so much easier than prosperous people.
I hope we can all appreciate all the things we have and still keep strong in the gospel, even when we have so much.

I have loved the beautiful scenery here in southern Italy.  I keep thinking that there's still snow back in Star Valley.  I didn't realize that southern Italy is so mountainous and beautiful.  Here are a few pictures I like below.

Trip to Avalino

We had a good lesson around the kitchen table with Flavia, her aunt Delia, her grandma, and nephew Americo.  The elders had prepared a lesson to teach her family about the doctrine of Christ, which is faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  We read so many good scriptures together.  Elder Ostler has only been in Italy for two weeks now, and he gave several parts of the lesson.  He did a great job. Elder Taylor has only 4 more weeks before he goes home.  He bore a beautiful testimony at the end.  Americo hung on to every word.   But something is holding back the aunt and grandmother, we don't know what.  Americo wants to come to church with Flavia.  He is reading his Book of Mormon .  But his mom thinks he is too young and she does not want him to come.  They like us coming to visit and even to teach, but they don't want to change.
She fed us her special hot chocolate which is like warm chocolate pudding.  Yum yum

We left Flavia's about six pm, and Paul got a call from our district president, saying there was a meeting for all branch presidents at 8 in Casstldimmara. There was no way to drive home the hour and a half and then drive our own car an hour to the meeting, so the missionaries drove us to Casstldimmara . These distances between the towns in our district are a killer.  Just the distances for our ward boundaries are a long ways.  Paul had a funeral to attend a few days ago which was over an hour away.  He took three ladies from our branch who knew this sister who had passed away.  Apparently it was quite an experience being in the  car with the three of them.  They told story after story of people in their family who had died and of some who they were sure had been out in their caskets alive.  One casket fell off its stand at the church.  They felt it was because the person inside was still alive.  I think that the italian people are a bit superstitious when it comes to death.

Visit Flavia

Yesterday, we spent the  morning over at the church trying to get the TV set up for general conference.  Saturday morning session does not start until 6 pm our time Saturday evening.  Paul got our tv carried over there and his computer set up to it so he can stream it live over the Internet.  It all seemed to work. In the afternoon, the elders and us went to Avalino to visit Flavia and her family.  It was actually not raining, and the mountains were starting to bud and blossom out.  It was a beautiful day.  Flavia's aunt had decorated a large budding branch with Easter eggs and ribbons.  We took several pictures of us all in front of this cute tree.

Ooo

Obedience

As I was studying from Preach my Gospel this morning, I was studying chapter 6 about patience, diligence and obedience.  There are so many good scriptures to study on each of these virtues.  PMG also includes great quotes on each page.  I thought I would share a couple of the quotes that I really liked this morning.
       President Monson said,  "Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of a more serious nature.  There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all.  Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required."
      Elder L. Tom Perry said, "the discipline contained in daily obedience and clean living and wholesome lives builds an armor around you of protection and safety from the temptations that beset you as you proceed through mortality."

I read the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1-14.  He was the captain of the host of the king of Syria.  It describes him as a great man and honorable and very courageous, but he was a leper.  He finds out about the prophet Elisha from a little maid that was captured in Israel and brought into slavery and given to wait upon Naaman's wife.  And so Naaman goes to Elisha's house to see what Elisha can do for him.  Elisha sends a messenger to this great man who tells Naaman to go dip himself seven times in the River Jordan and he will be whole again.  Naaman is really mad that Elisha didnt come himself and talk to him.  He is really mad that they told him to dip himself in a river of Israel.  And so he went away mad. But the servants ran after him and said, "Wait, what are you thinking.  Don't you want to be healed?  If he asked you to do some mighty task, you would have done it, but this is so simple, why don't you do it.  A mighty miracle will occurs if you will just do this simple thing."  And so he did go down to the river Jordan and dip himself seven times, and "his flesh came again like  unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."

This story is a great reminder that we need to obey the prophet when he tells us to do the small things that seem just ordinary, like read our scriptures and pray everyday.  Since conference is coming up in a few days, I hope that we can all listen to what the prophet tells us to do.  Make a list of everything he asks us to do.  Write down what you hear and send me a list in an email.  I'd love to put up this list on my frig. for the next six months.

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter everyone.  Here, everyone you meet says Buona Pasqua.  I think it means happy Easter.  Everyone gives this greeting to us all week long.  Just like we would wish everyone a merry christmas or have a merry christmas, that is the focus of everyone's thoughts here this past week.  The Italians are thrilled with the new pope and he has made a great impact on  the  people here.
For church today, Paul gave a 5th Sunday combined lesson in priesthood and relief society, on the atonement.  He brought over our 32 inch flat screen tv that belongs with our apartment.  The branch does not have a tv that works with Paul's HMI hook ups from his computer.  So he carried it downstairs and put it in the car.  I was hoping our landlord wouldn't be looking out the window and see us.  He showed pictures of wheat and then of their special grain cake they make here for Easter and talked about the symbolism of the wheat in regards to the savior.  He told his survival story of being on solo in the Henry Mountains of southern Utah, where they were each given just a handful of wheat for each day.  He found a soda pop can which he removed the top with his pocket knife and then filled it with some water from the river and added his wheat and cooked it over the coals of his fire all night long.  In the morning he was looking forward to a can full of cooked good wheat.  As he picked up the can of wheat in the morning, it was still so hot, and he dropped it, and all the wheat fell out into the black ashes of the fire.  That was all he had to eat, and now it was all mixed into the ashes.  So for the next two hours he picked up each kernel of wheat from the ashes, one by one, and then went down to the river and washed off each and every kernel and then put them back in his can and ate them.  Each kernel was precious and was important to him.  Just as each of us are important to the Savior.  He died and atoned for each one of us individually.  Each one of us are precious to him.  His lesson was very good.
Sacrament meeting was so very good too.  Carrie, who we visited last week, spoke and her non member Italian husband and her non member son both came to hear her talk.  She gave it in English and then had it all written in Italian which Ivan read as she gave her talk.  She speaks italian very well, but I think that she gave it in English so I could understand all of it.  She started off by saying that she comes from a family of diverse religions, nationalities, and languages.  She said that in our church, we call everyone brother or sister because we all are brothers and sisters in the gospel.  But even our friends of other faiths are our brothers and sisters because we all have our father in heaven who gave us all our life.  She talked about the common thread of the Easter egg as a symbol of Easter among all faiths.  She described how American kids color eggs and hide them in the garden.  Her aunt lives in Greece where they dye their eggs all red.  Everyone's hands then are red from this process and that symbolizes the blood of Christ dying for us.  In Italy, the kids get giant chocolate eggs with a hollow center and a surprise inside, symbolizing the tomb that it was empty because Christ was resurrected.  She the bore her testimony of the atonement and the wonderful blessing  it is for each of us.
She ended her talk with a story she found from the Friend.  There was an Easter egg hunt and one little boy only fund two eggs.  He then noticed that there was a little boy close to him that had no eggs in his basket and he was so sad.  Then the boy noticed that the other boy was blind.  He quickly took out both of his eggs and put them very near to the little blind boy, who found them and was so happy.  Jesus Christ did something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves.  He atoned for our sins.
She gave us such a simple yet loving sermon, that her husband could understand, and she spoke with the Holy Ghost.  We all felt her love for her husband and son, and her love for the gospel and for the savior.
I love coming to church every week here and being among the saints in our little branch.  Whenever anyone comes into the meeting, they give the abbraccio (the italian  hug with a kiss on both cheeks)
to everyone in the  room. Even if they come in late they go up and down the rows greeting everyone. How can you not love everyone at church when you have received so much love from everyone.

Easter dinner in Italy

After the first and second courses, we had a plate of pepperoni and a huge bowl of mozzarella di buffala.  This was followed by what Americans would have as their total meal: meat and potatoes.  We had lamb that was delicious, and there was sliced pork as well.  For the fifth course we had green salad.  That was followed by a special Easter cake that is very traditional for this area of Italy.  It is a whole grain torte which is made with rice and wheat and egg which symbolizes spring and new life.  Then came the chocolate from the Easter eggs.  Wow.

 After lunch with the Barretta family, we picked up Maria Delia and took her to a neighboring town to visit her husband who is in the hospital with liver problems from drinking for so many years.  He is not a member.  Paul has had several good visits with him in the past though and he likes us.  Sister D'elia then had us in to her home and fed us some of her Easter cake which was just like sister Barrettas.  We are so full we can hardly walk.  Both sisters sent us home with leftover cake and pasta.

Easter celebrating in Italy

Easter is a huge deal in Italy.  It is like thanksgiving and christmas rolled into one long week of eating and more eating.  They start celebrating the Sunday before Easter, with Palm Sunday.  This involves a huge meal and its about 5-6 courses long.  All through the week, their is Holy thursday, Good Friday, Easter and then pasquetta on Monday following Easter which is called the day of the angel.  We were invited to the Baretta home for Easter dinner.  Oh my, now I have tasted the ultimate pasta.  It was called rondelli.  It melted in your mouth.  The pasta was home made and rolled out into three thin strips about 8 inches by 24 inches long.  These were overlapped so there was a 24x24 inch piece.   She spreads it with a white sauce, then parmasean cheese and then thin ham slices and then thin mozzarella slices.  Then she rolls it up like a giant cinnamon roll.  Then she puts a layer of red sauce in the bottom of her giant 24X24 inch lasagna pan .  She slices the rolled up pasta into 3 inch slices  and places them rolled side up in the pan barely touching each other and then pours some more red sauce over the top with more cheese and then bakes it.  It was way too good.

For the second course we had some interesting breads.  One was a round loaf that had three whole eggs in their shells which were cooked right in the bread dough.  Another bread had sausage and cheese cooked into it kind of like a quiche but it was a loaf of bread.