In the picture above, Flavia is sitting with her aunt, and her mother is in standing right behind her and her sister Vanessa is on the far right.
Flavia is now engaged to a wonderful returned missionary from northern Italy and they both are going to the university of Pisa. His name is Giovanni. He is studying to be a doctor like his father is.
She told us about a miracle that happened last week. Giovanni wanted to get her a wedding ring, but since he is going to school, he has no money. Usually, in Italy, couples are engaged for 10-12 years so that they can finish their education and then they need to find a job and save enough money for an apartment, and also save money for the cost of the big wedding. And then they get married. I am sure because of her Luekemia and uncertainty for her future health, they have decided to get married in one year. Giovanni prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help him find a way to get Flavia a ring. Then..........one day last week, as he was helping his father tear up the old floor tiles in their mountain home, he found a box that had Egyptian drawings and characters all over it. Inside the box, he found a tie clip, a gold money clip, a very old 100 Lira coin, and a beautiful gold wedding band! The ring fits Flavia perfectly. The coin is a symbol of good fortune, the tie clip, he can wear on his wedding day, and the gold money clip will hold the money he will make after he becomes a doctor! And now Flavia has a beautiful wedding ring! What a tender mercy. I know that Heavenly Father is so aware of them and their needs and wants.
They are so in love. It's wonderful to see her so happy.
They are both genealogy service missionaries, as they are going to school.
We don't get to see her very often now, because she is in Pisa, but she came home for a day and we ran up to see her, and took Tom and Paula to meet her too. Her Aunt and Nona made us homemade Pizza. They were sooooo good. They must have made at least 15 pans of different topping pizzas.
Nona is one of my most favorite Italian friends. I don't get to see her very often. When we taught Flavia the missionary lessons, she would sit right in with us for every lesson. But she is perfectly content with her Catholic religion and does not understand the need for priesthood ordinances.
She lived in Switzerland for 20 years when she and her husband were first married, so we have fun throwing around what German we remember. Then she returned to her home town in Italy, which is high in the mountains above Avalino. She works so hard in the garden and around the house.
This is a Zucca that she grew in her garden. It is like a pumpkin, but it has a more red squash like inside. It is yummy roasted, or put into soup, or in Risoto. I have enough here to share with all the branch!
We had mushrooms on the pizzas which she had picked from the mountain forests around their home. We had olives from their olive trees. The tomatoe sauce, which is called pasatta, they bottled themselves. They bought the cheese and ham. But these pizzas were truely a work of love from Delia and Nona. I think we ate them almost all gone.
Flavia gave us each a box of chocolates and she gave me a lovely bracelet. We had a marvelous visit. We hope we get to see her and her family at least one more time before we finish our mission. But I am not certain that we will. We would love to come back to Italy for her wedding. She is a celestial, eternal friend.
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