We went to dinner at Carrie's house last night with all the missionaries from our branch.  She lives one block from the Mediteranean Sea in a darling town called Cappacio.  It's about 1/2 an hour from our town.  It's in our branch.  Carrie joined th church 1 1/2 years ago.  She is American and she married a neat italian man named Maximo. They have an 11 year old son who has been meeting with the elders.  Carrie and her son are going back to the states for a month to visit with her parents, so she wanted to have us all over to dinner before she leaves at the end of the week.  We all took a walk down to the sea to see where she was baptized.  How cool is that, to get baptized in the Mediteranean sea!  We had a great dinner and a nice evening.

Quick trip to Rome

 I read a cute story by Laurell Christensen in a book by John Bytheway, called 'Armour Up'.  
She said she was teaching a cute class of primary kids and they seemed to always be a bit concerned that she has never married and that she lives all by herself.
One day as she was teaching them, she thought she would ease their minds a bit.  So she said, "I know that you have been worried about me living alone, well you know, that I don't actually live alone.  I do have a room mate. ". They seemed interested.
"My roommate is the Holy Ghost.  I am never alone."
She said that the kids seemed satisfied and they went on with a lesson about the Holy Ghost. She said that later in the week, she realized that she didnt really get the right message across, when the mom of one of her students called and said that her child wanted to come over to Sister Christensen's house.  Her mother asked why she wanted to go, and the little girl said, " Because the Holy Ghost lives at her house and I want to meet him!"
Saturday, we went to Rome, for a day of lectures about various gospel subjects. We took the train there.  It was about a 3 and a half hour train ride, and then we caught the underground metro which is like a sub way.  We rode across town to the stop closest to the stake center and walked about 1/2 hour to the church.  We left home at 5:30 am and got home about 11:00.  It was a long day.  Unfortunately, as we  were walking to the metro station, my sandal caution on an uneven piece of cobblestone and I fell.  Luckily, I didn't break my wrist as I fell.  I hurt my shoulder a bit, and my pride! ...but I didn't hurt my knees...so I was just sore as I sat all day at the lectures. I am thankful I didn't break anything, so I think that Heavenly Father must still love me!  The metro was really crowded as we tried to get on.  I have a couple of pictures below.  Apparently there was a demonstration of some kind and a protest going on at the stop right after the train station, where we got on.  We were glad to get a space.

The lectures were all pretty interesting.  One was on Blacks and the Scriptures, another was on the Book of Abraham, another was on DNA evidence and the Book of Mormon, one was on Polygamy, another was on archeological sites and the geography of the Book of Mormon. The last photo below is  from his photo on the screen showing where he thinks Zarahemla was and also where the Jaredites lived.  He thinks it was in Mexico, in the narrow area above the boot shape.

 It was nice to see some of the other senior couples there again and visit with them as we ate lunch.

We had 10 investigators to church, 7 missionaries, and 18 members to church on Sunday.  

  
It is starting to be really hot.  I feel like the wicked witch of the east as she screams, "I'm melting, I'm melting." 

Dinner at Alfredo's house

Friday night, all seven of us missionaries had dinner at Alfredo's house in Salerno.  The sisters have had several good lessons with his family and invited them all to come to church, which they did a few weeks ago.  They invited them to read the Book of Mormon as a family, which they have been doing.    Alfredo asked us an interesting question that I never thought of before.  In Nephi 1:15, he asked us why did Lehi rejoice after seeing the vision that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed. We explained that he rejoiced because of the great and marvelous things which he saw, which were in addition to him seeing that Jerusalem was to be destroyed.  We had pizza and the sisters gave them another lesson.  We love him and his family and would love to see them be sealed as a family in the Rome temple.  Alfredo is the one who comes very week to play the organ for our sacrament meetings.  He drives 1/2 hour each way and is not even a member.  

Here are his darling two kids.

Here is his whole family

Alma 26:16

Ammon says it well in verse 16 of Alma 26. "Therefore let us glory, yea we will glory in The Lord, yea we will rejoice  for our joy is full, ...yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long suffering towards the children of men?  Behold I cannot say the smallest part of what I feel."

As a district and a branch we fasted Monday through Tuesday noon, for a family that we have been teaching.  They have had so many problems and they all came to a head when they were told this past weekend that they had to move and that the social department of their town wanted to take away their kids.  They were to appear before the judge in court on Tuesday morning.
Paul arranged for them to have a lawyer represent them and we fasted and prayed that The Lord would help them.  We got a call just before we broke our fast that the judge ruled that they could stay in their home until October, and that they could keep their kids.  He assigned them  new social workers who weren't prejudiced against them, and it was the very best outcome we could have dreamed of for them.  They want to be baptized. They have four kids and their kids would double the size of our primary.  We felt overwhelmed at the goodness of God answering our heart felt prayers.  We too can not say the smallest part of what we feel.

We went to Rome yesterday to have a lunch with all the other senior couples at the Villa, which is the name of the mission home.  Presidents and Sister Kelly are leaving in two weeks and they  invited us all to lunch for one last time.  We had a yummy meal and the best part was then testimony meeting afterward.  I wish we could be around these wonderful couples more than a few times a year.  I would like to get to know each one closely.  But we soaked up the spirit as much as we could and we brought it back with us to Battipaglia  to share with the members and investigators here.

On the return trip we stopped in Pozzuoli which is near Naples, to take some supplies to the Sisters and the elders there.  Pozzuoli is right next to Naples where people drive crazy and the roads are cobblestone with huge pot holes.  You are sure to loose at least one or two hubcaps each time you drive.  I have been rather calm and non jumpy as we drive most places in Italy now, but in Naples all my fears return with vengeance and I have to close my eyes and pray that we will arrive in one piece and alive.  We made it safely back home by midnight.  It was a long but a good day. I was thankful that we got  the air conditioning fixed in our car, as the weather has turned hot and very humid.

Anita's house

Anita's house is surrounded by roses and flowers and trees.  There is a rose arbor at the front gate.

Her mom was delightful and I know she must be a very hard worker because the yard and house were immaculate and beautiful.  Their whole yard was planted in flowers or garden.  They get quite severe winters up at their altitude.  I wish you could have seen her stack of wood.  It was so neat and perfectly stacked that it looked like  a sculpted piece of art.  Inside the house, they had so many unique and beautifully carved wood pieces.  I loved the walking sticks at the door entrance.  Her mom brought out her old record collection and shared it with us.  We ate a beautiful fruit torte that Anita made for us.  And they ordered pizza and we got to eat pizza for the second time in four days.  The sisters shared a Book of Mormon message with her entire family and they accepted a Book of Mormon and said they would read it.

Arcerno

We drove up to the mountain home of one of our English students, Anita, on Sunday after church.  We took the sister missionaries with us.  She lives in Arcerno, which is abut an hour away.  She is not a member, but we have been sharing the gospel with her a lot over the past four months.  We got a chance to meet her mom and her brother and sister and their families.  We took a delightful walk all around her little town.  There is a beautiful chestnut tree lined street that was perfect for a Sunday stroll.  Here are a few of the pictures I took to capture our day.

Sofias

Thursday night, we just had to take our new missionaries to our favorite pizza place, Sofia's, which is a few hundred yards house from our apartment.

New missionaries

Thursday we drove to Gricignano to the base to get the air conditioning fixed in the car.  And they fixed it and now we can ride in comfort now that the days are getting warmer.  On the way home we stopped by Salerno to pick up our two new missionaries.  We got a third sister and a new elder.  sister Mathews is from New York, and Elder Apple is from Salt Lake.  Here they are at the train station in Salerno.

After church Sunday

After church Sunday, I took a few pictures of our missionaries.  We had the missionaries all over for dinner after church.  We found out that three of our missionaries are staying here in Battipaglia, and one is getting transferred.  We are getting a third sister who is brand new.  So on Thursday we will be getting two new missionaries.  Here are pictures to remember what darling missionaries we have.

10 things I like about Italy

8. Flavia and her family have been a highlight to meet and visit with.   Her aunt Delia and her uncle Sabato, her cousin Amerigo, and her Nona are some of the best people in the whole world.  I am sure that we were friends in the pre- existence and we promised them that we would find them and teach them the gospel.  They are already so good and righteous, they don't see a need to have anything more yet.  But The Lord is patient and he wants them to have a fullness of his gospel so their family can be sealed for eternity.

9. I can't find a picture on my iPad, but one thing I love about Italy, is all the laundry hanging from all the apartment buildings.  I love to wash our clothes and hang them out there to flap in the breeze along with everyone elses clothes.  They smell so good and I just love it!!!!

10.  We love the members of our little Battipaglia branch.  I wish that I had a picture of each one.  I 

don't, but here are a few.  We love each and everyone of them.