Sun 12. Mother's day! Took some chocolate covered strawberries over to Alessandra and her dad before church. Lunch at Piccione's (Gemma's grandparents). The bus to Lama never came, so we skyped at the church.
Mon 13. Ettore's after district meeting. Lesson with Alessandra that afternoon. Her dad is a philosophy professor and after her mom died, he told her she was gone...all these terrible things. Talked about her mom, and we all made lists of the ways we know Heavenly Father loves and knows us individually. Throughout the lesson and then when she said the prayer at the end...the spirit was so strong. She knows.
Tues 14. Fireside in Statte for Festa Della Mamma. Cutest video at the end with all of the children of members and investigators talking about their moms, kind of followed the ''I'm a mormon'' theme: ''I'm Damiano Petruzzi. I'm nine years old, I'm a child of God, and I love my mom.'' ''Sono Damiano Petruzzi. Ho nove anni, sono un figlio di Dio, e amo la mia mamma.'' Made friends with all of the primary kids aferwards by arguing the superiority of pokemon over dragonball z. So much fun.
Wed 15. Lesson with Sergio. Lungo mare. Went to get pizza afterwards and met a kid from Romania who spoke english and knew the missionaries before he came here. ''I miss the missionaries!'' He said he would try to come to church and wants to meet with us again, so hopefully things work out!
Thurs 16. Raining all morning. Locked the keys in our apartment...thank goodness a guy in our ward is in charge of all the mission repairs and lives five minutes from our house. He didn't get back until later that day though, so we joined the anziani for a lesson in the church with Richard. (More about him later.)
Ven 17. Waited almost two hours for a bus to San Giorgio. One came right at school got out. All of the high school kids were going crazy...like it was the first time they had seen Americans. But they helped us figure out where to get off. We went to the Casti's for lunch. Sorella Vincent's boyfriend is serving in Australia, and their daughter was in his first city. While the Casti's were visiting her, Sorella Vincent got her call, and for Christmas her bf sent her a book of mormon with the Casti's testimonies inside. Then her first city is Taranto, where they live...small world. They told us their conversion stories, and I would kind of translate every few minutes to make sure they were understanding. But when Sorella Casti told about her baptism and the dream she had, Sorella Vincent and Rost said they were able to understand every single word. Such a cool day.
Sat 18. Giorgia's baptism! There are a lot of other kids turning eight in the next few months, and bishop wants us to teach them the lessons as well. Alessandra left before it started, having a really hard time still, but Sergio came. I love baptisms.
Sun 19. Lidia brought her friend to church. The lesson in gospel principles was about the millenium, so we went into the only empty room, the kitchen, and taught the restoration. I know we're supposed to try to have members present for lessons but sometimes...I'll just say it was interesting. Choir practice that night with all the RMs for the fireside we're having this Sunday. Hymn 202, Giuseppe Verdi...we just need Bill Bacon to play the organ or something. Sorella Vincent (piano performance major at the University of Utah) is awesome, following the director without even understanding the words she uses...music is its own language.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday... Normal, finding, went the the questura and did everything for the permesso di soggiorno. Everyone's legal now!
Thurs 23. Ate more than maybe I ever have at Sorella Delle Foglie's. Got all the recipes. Took the bus home loaded with all the food and fruit she gave us. Good thing Sorella Rost went to culinary school and knows what to do with all of it. Really, she knows her stuff.
Fri 24. Learned how to make pizza at Andrea Di Pietro's. Made the dough, everything. Of course we will never be able to replicate it at home...but it was so much fun. He is going to SLC in September to see about opening a restaurant. If all goes well he plans to move there with his family...I really hope everything works out!
Sat 25. Went to Mottola with the Franceschini's, a missionary couple assigned to serve in our zone. English course and then some doctrine from the bible. One of my companions may or may have not have fallen asleep...long day.
