Lifting Spirits with Basil

March 11, 2016

Sometimes missionaries just need a basil plant and a hug.

Missionaries in Battipaglia

August 29, 2014

We drove to Battipaglia, a small town, near Naples.  We ate pizza with the missionaries serving there, 2 sorelle, 2 anziani, and a senior couple. (I opted out of the pizza and ordered a caprese salad instead.  It was probably the best one I have ever eaten.  Yum, yum, yum!)

Donna Sophia's for Pizza

April 11, 2014

We met the missionaries at Donna Sophia's Pizzeria for pizza.  One of our missionaries was celebrating a birthday and the sister's brought an investigator with them.  It was Napolitani pizza at it's finest.  It sounds really bad, but the best pizza of the night was a pumpkin pizza with nutmeg.  Another interesting one was panna with corn.  It doesn't sound good, but it really tasted good.

Happy Birthday

Water Buffalo

April 11, 2014

Buffalo mozzarella or Mozzarella di Bufala in Italian is a mozzarella made from the milk of domestic water buffalo.  Cheeses made from buffalo milk are higher in calcium, higher in protein and lower in cholesterol than cow's milk.

Buffalo mozzarella is a fresh, soft, semi-elastic textured cheese.  The process of making pasta filata cheese includes heating the curd to a point where it can be stretched and formed into various shapes. This gives the snowy white mozzarella a mild yet slightly sour taste. The texture is soft, moist and somewhat granular. It is coated with a thin edible rind and brined for up to a week when sold in vacuum-sealed packages.

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One of the senior couples living in Battipaglia has made friends with the owners of a water buffalo dairy.  It is birthing time at the dairy and we got to see several new baby buffalos.  We had some extra time before meeting with the missionaries and took advantage of the time to enjoy the sights and wonders of Italy.  Italy is wonderful! 

Mozzarella di Bufala

Battipaglia English Course

April 10, 2014

We stayed in Battipaglia on the way to Reggio di Calabria and attended the English Course with the missionaries serving there.  The English Course always ends with a  spiritual thought from the scriptures.  I loved the way they did this spiritual thought because they took a story from the bible, made simple costumes to go with it, and had the class participate in reading the thought.

Church in Battipaglia

We attended a Branch in Battipaglia one Domenica (Sunday).  The members were so excited because they had record breaking attendance that day.  The goal was to get over 50 people (members, visitors, and investigators) to church.  It's tourist season and there were visitors from Germany there.  Michael and I and one of the assistants was there.  They had some investigators there.  All in all, 56 people attended that day.  They were so excited.  Two weeks later that tiny Branch had 7 baptisms in one day. That might be a record.  I have a testimony that "The Hastening" is real.