Letters Home - July 14, 2013

July 14, 2013

I'm happy to report everything went well yesterday.  The assistants took us shopping Saturday afternoon and showed us where a grocery store was.  We have several little tiny shops near us, but this one is larger and has more items in it.  We walked to the street market near the villa and purchased fruit and Buffalo di Mozarella cheese.  That's the cheese made from water buffalos.  It is a favorite here and I must say it certainly has been my favorite thing to eat so far.   For an appetizer we had Buf Moz (that's the nickname of the cheese), proscuitto (thinly sliced ham) and melone (cantaloupe)  Sounds weird, but it was very good.  I bought Italian bread at the market (it's the kind that comes in a big round loaf and is very crusty)--one regular loaf and one with sliced olives in it.  I made a traditional pasta salad with tomatoes, ham, onions, peas and pineapple.  Dad was concerned when I put pineapple in it, but I thought it tasted good.  It would have been better with some parmesan cheese sprinkled on top, but I didn't have any at the villa.  For dessert we walked to the end of the street to a gelataria and got gelato (after all "gelato is our motto").  The clerk spoke pretty good English (yeah!) and wouldn't let me have any pistacio gelato until I pronounced it properly--pis-tak-io.

I found plates and glasses and silverware to put on the large table in the dining room.  Sis. Steurer, from the mission office, called to see if she should make some minestrone soup to eat.  I told her no, because there were no spoons--lots of knives, dinner forks and salad forks, but no spoons.  I guess even General Authorities have to be exposed to the reality of living in a Mission Home.

We picked up Elder David Evans and his wife at the Trevi Hotel, in downtown Rome and took them to church with us.  (The hotel was right next to Trevi Fountain.)  Sis. Oaks (wife of Elder Oaks) had asked me to throw a coin in Trevi Fountain and make a wish that she could come back to Rome with Elder Oaks.  I tossed a coin in the fountain and asked Elder Evans to report I'd completed my assignment.

We had a pretty powerful Sacrament Meeting.  It was ward conference so the Stake President was there.  Elder De Feo, Quorum of Seventy, (Wendi and Brian know who the Seventies are)  lives in our ward so he was there.  On the stand we had the Bishop, Stake President, two General Authorities, and the Mission President.  It will be a long time before we see something like that again.  Our bishop is wonderful.  He has a powerful testimony of member missionaries and is giving his ward powerful guidance.  ( I wish every bishop and branch president had the same vision.)

After church we had the assistants drive us to the temple site where arrangements had been made for Elder Evans to do a tour of the new visitor's center that is under construction.  We had been told we would probably never be allowed to go there because it is kept very secure and only those with special permission from the First Presidency were allowed to go there--not even the Apostles.  We figured we would just have to sit in the car and wait.  Image our delight when we  were invited to tour the site,  We got to go inside the gates and have our picture taken in front of the temple.  (No pictures inside any of the buildings.)  We were then taken on a tour of every building there.  We saw the new Stake Center and the new building to house temple patrons.  And then we went inside the visitor's center.  We stood right in the spot where the Christus will be.  We toured the entire temple.  We saw the baptistry, endowment rooms, sealing rooms and stood in the Celestial Room.  It was an awesome experience.  We are so blessed.  (The assistants had to sit in a conference room at the construction sight, but at least they were inside the project.  They now have dust on their feet from the tempe site.)

After lunch we took Elder Evans back to his hotel, but we made it a point to drive past the collosseum.  We stopped and walked around for a few minutes.  We now have a picture of us with Elder Evans in front of the collosseum.  Last July it was Elder Holland.  This July it was Elder Evans.  I can hardly wait til next July.

It was a wonderful opportunity to spend an entire day with a General Authority.  Even more than ever, we are convinced this is where we are meant to be.

More and more we are feeling the vision of why we are here.  We love our missionaries.  We have had lots of challenges with health, car accidents and companionships that don't like each other, but those things are all temporary and life goes on.  I keep telling them that they need to buck up and learn to get along.  They are all here for the same reason and they are doing the Lord's work.  It's important for them to learn to compromise and work it out.  It will always be that way whether it's at work or in their family.

July 15, 2013

We are in Bari now for a Zone Conference.

Our first missionary has decided he doesn't want to be in Italy on a mission and is leaving today to return home.  It's the saddest thing.  My heart is breaking.  We have done everything possible to try to convince him that this is where he should be.  We traveled to the area where he is serving just to meet with him.  We met with him again at Zone Conference and went out of our way for him to have some wonderful experiences there.  We brought him to Rome and arranged for him to meet with a General Authority.  He refuses to let the spirit touch his heart.  We have prayed for a miracle that his heart might be touched, but it just isn't meant to be.  This is one of the hardest things I have ever experienced.   

July 17, 2013

We are back at the villa in Rome.  Finally!  It's been a hectic 2 1/2 weeks.  Now it's time to start preparing for transfers next week.  We have 22 new missionaries that will need to be assigned--20 elders and 2 sisters.  Only 4 missionaries will be returning home so it will take some major adjustments and inspiration on your father's part.  I'm confident he will be able to do it because Pres. Eyring told him he would be able to and he was given the keys when he was set apart.

We're having lots of medical issues with missionaries right now.  Today we are having problems with eye infections.  I've been on the phone with the doctor from Germany many times today.  The big problem seems to be eye infections.  He told me it's because of the heat.  When it's hot, bacteria grows rapidly and whenever the missionaries touch an infected doorknob or anything the bacteria really spreads.  It's the same with mosquito bites.  You should see my legs.  They look awful.  I have gotten several bites and they immediately swell up really big.  They itch and seem to last forever.  My arms and legs look like they have chicken pox.  I've been told the mosquitoes are called tiger mosquitoes.  I wish somebody would put them in a cage and keep them away from me.  The elders in the more southern area of the mission actually sleep with mosquito nets.  (And this isn't a third world country.)

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Hopefully I'll have more time later to write again.  I never realized how valuable time is before I found I never have any free time.  Having said that, I love being here and being part of this great missionary effort.  Never in my wildest dreams did I foresee myself in this position at this time.  It's awesome!

Luv ya - Mom