The Work Marches Forward

We had our first opportunity this week to travel to a small town about 30 miles outside of Siena to visit a family that was just baptized into the Church earlier this year.  The Gori family consists of a mom and dad, and a 18 year old daughter.  Their conversion story is so inspiring.  They have been friends with another very strong family in the branch for over a decade.  This family introduced the Goris to the church 10 years ago, and they met with the missionaries.  But they weren't ready at that time.  They had, a few years prior, lost a young son to cancer.  The parents were always questioning why God would allow that to happen, and what, if anything, was happening with their son in the afterlife.  The mom would spend many hours at his gravesite, mourning her loss.

One day she and her daughter needed to shop for bread.  They never went to this certain store for bread, but on one particular day, they went to this store and who should be standing right in front of the bread area, the family who had introduced them to the church 10 years prior.  Sister Gori felt this was an answer to her prayers, and she was now ready to learn about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  The missionaries taught the family, and Sister Gori was ready from the start.  They came to Church, and they felt the Spirit of the Lord as they mingled with the other members of the Siena branch.  Brother Gori felt the Spirit too, but he had a few bad habits to kick.  A wise branch president challenged him to accept the Gospel and keep all the commandments, and he agreed.  The parents were baptized together in the cold waters of Siena's portal font (see prior post).  Their daughter was baptized a few weeks later surrounded by her Young Single Adult friends in the Firenze chapel.  (She wanted warm water!)

Although they, together with many Italians, are experiencing some very difficult financial times right now (the unemployment rate is high and the government taxes and fees are even higher), they are faithful members who are growing in the Gospel.  It is a miracle to see people change as they continue to live by the Lord's precepts.  Now that they know the true principles of the Lord's plan for all of us, they have a certain knowledge of what is happening with their son in the afterlife, and they are looking forward to being reunited with him as an eternal family, as they continue their preparations for the temple.

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to visit Spencer and Julie Nelson.  Spencer used to play basketball for Utah State, and he has been playing ball in Europe now for about 10 years.  His wife, Julie, just had their third child days before in an Italian hospital.  Everything went well.  Spencer had just dislocated his shoulder in a game after a hard pick set by George Karl's son.  So Spencer asked for a Priesthood blessing.  We took the full time elders back that evening and gave him a blessing.  They are a great family.

We took part of our P-Day to visit a couple of the hill towns near Siena.  It was an overcast day, but warm enough.  We visited Montepulciano and Pienza.  Some great old towns with wonderful architecture and beautiful vistas.

On Thursday, Darryl held his first Branch Council.  The members of the branch who help direct the affairs of its organizations are strong, and some travel 30 plus miles to come to these meetings.  And gas isn't cheap here.  We marvel at their faith.  All are committed to growing the branch.  The Florence district has a goal to become a stake by the end of the year, and we will do our best to help that effort.  While Siena will not have enough members or Melchezidek priesthood holders to become a ward for awhile, we will help get the ball rolling.

On Friday we needed to get some much-needed office supplies for our home office.  We had to go through the center of Siena for this, so we stopped for a moment to take a shot or two of the famous "Campo" of Siena where they have run the family Palio races for at least the last 500 years.

On Saturday, our branch genealogist (who is also Darryl's Branch Clerk and serves on the District Council and holds a few other jobs), planned a branch activity to publicize the Genealogy Center we have at the church.  We, of course, also used this as a great opportunity to introduce the Sienese to the church.  So we got a permit to put up a display in one of the busy town squares, and we handed out pamphlets about the program to whomever seemed interested.  It brought back great memories of working a street board as a young missionary.  Darryl seems to have lost a bit of his courage, but he was able to speak to a few people about the church and the program.  Bonnie, on the other hand, was not shy at all, and did all she could to get the word out, even with a few less language skills than she would have liked.  (But it is coming, slowly but surely!)  It is time to gird up our loins and invite all we see to hear the good news!!

Sunday is the best day of the week, however it can get a bit hectic and long.  Today was the Primary program.  At first we didn't think that we would even have one, because we only have one active Italian primary boy who is about 10, and he doesn't come every Sunday.  But with the encouragement of the District Primary President and the help of five American children who happen to be part of two families that are living in Siena right now and coming to our branch, we were able to pull it off.  Bonnie helped greatly with the music as the children sang four songs.  Our Italian primary boy gave two different scripture talks, and the two little American children (ages 3 and 5) sang "I Am a Child of God".  The other three American children, ages 7, 8 and 11, sang three songs and gave great talks.  Their dad had served a mission in Italy and is now heading up the Study Abroad program for the BYU students here, and he translated their talks into Italian as they were speaking.  Our branch primary president and our district primary president gave wonderful talks, and one of the young single adults from the BYU group played a violin solo.  All in all, the Spirit was strong and it was a wonderful meeting.

We are now preparing for a district meeting tomorrow in Firenze.  Bonnie is making her famous banana cake for the missionaries, and we will see what good news they have for us.

Highlight of the Week  Visiting members in their homes and hearing their conversion stories.  Also, feeling the spirit of the children of the branch as they share their simple and heartfelt testimonies.

Lowlight of the Week  Darryl came down with some kind of stomach ailment that slowed him down a bit, but things seem to be getting better.

P.S.  We love sharing our adventures with all who have a desire to read our blog.  We hope someone out there is reading it, especially our kids.  And we would love to hear from you too!  There is a "Comment" button below where you can communicate with us and share your thoughts.  If you have a desire to do so, we would love to hear from you.

First Sunday in Siena

We enjoyed our first Sunday with the Siena branch.  The District President came and installed Darryl as the Branch President of the small branch here.  It was Fast and Testimony Meeting today, since there was General Conference and then District Conference the past two Sundays.  Bonnie stood and bore strong testimony in Italian, and Darryl shared his as well.

We have about 25 young BYU students, all women, here in Siena for a study abroad semester.  They are studying art history, as well as Italian and cooking.  They travel quite a bit, but when they are with us on Sundays, as they were today, they triple our numbers.

Here is where our church meets, in the ground floor of this apartment building (above) and the entrance to the church (below).

Below are two views of our chapel.  We can seat about 40 or so, including those seated on the stage.

Here is our genealogy center, with some really outdated equipment.  Note the microfilm readers.

And here is Darryl in the branch president's office.  We won't be holding branch council in this space!

Here is our portable baptismal font in the back of the church.  When we have baptisms, we fill it up with cold water, baptize the person, and then empty it with buckets.

Our hallway which doubles as the branch library.

Another view of the entrance hall of the church.

Here is the piano area in the chapel.  Bonnie will probably see a lot of this view.

We had the two elders over for dinner after church today.  That is Elder Gneiting from Las Vegas, Nevada on the left, who has been in Italy just five months.  He was made a senior companion this week when he transferred into our fair city.  In the middle is Elder Young from Sandy, Utah who has been in Italy only three months.  He has been in Siena only 2 weeks or so.  We had two sister missionaries here until two weeks ago when they were pulled from the city because their apartment was contaminated with mold.  And the elders came in and moved into the same apartment.  Are elders less susceptible to mold issues??  We aren't sure, but we do know that the mission is working on getting two  new apartments in Siena, and we hope to move these elders into one and get a pair of sisters back as well.  The sooner the better, because the sister missionaries have been able to build a great rapport with the members of this branch.

But for now, Siena has to put up with four new missionaries; us and these two elders.  We will work hard to get to know the members and to move the work forward, but we seem to be simply trying to find our way right now and not mess up too much.  We hope we are succeeding with at least the latter.

But the church is true, so the work will move forward, despite the green missionaries who are now serving in this fine city.

Settling in in Siena - La Bella Toscana!

On Monday we spent half the day with Elder and Sister Capece, the senior couple that has been here in Siena for the last year.  Elder Capece was branch president of the little branch here, and they grew to love the city, the countryside, the sister missionaries who served with them, and especially the members of the Church here.  It was bittersweet as they said their goodbyes.  They are excited to return to children and grandchildren, but very sad to leave so many dear friends here.

On Tuesday morning, we checked out of our hotel in Siena and took the loaner car the Mission had lent us and delivered it to the Capeces.  We unloaded all of our stuff at our new apartment, and the Capeces loaded their belongings into the car and they took off for Milan where they would spend a day saying goodbye to friends up there, meeting with the Mission President, and then boarding the big bird on Thursday morning for their return flight home.

We began unpacking our stuff and making what had been the Capeces' home for a year, our new home.  We live on the 5th floor of this apartment building, which by U.S. standards is really the 6th floor, since in Italy the ground floor is exactly that, and then the next floor up is the 1st floor.

Here is our living room with a couple of love seats.  No sleeping on the couch for Darryl during his insomniac nights.

Here is our dining area.  Actually, the landlady that we rent this apartment from left some very nice furniture and dishes.  We probably won't use them, as we don't want to break anything.

Here is our kitchen.  Darryl and Bonnie have enjoyed cooking together over the years, but there won't be a lot of "togetherness" in this tiny space.  But, as we have learned, we have sufficient for our needs.

Here is the "master" bedroom.  We have two twin beds that have been pushed together.  Now there will be no arguing about who is on who's side of the bed anymore.

This is the second bedroom/study/laundry room.  But at least our friends and family who might visit us have a separate room to lay their heads.

This is the main bathroom.  Not much room to turn around.

Here is the second bathroom/wash room, with a shower that folds back against the wall.  Anything to save space.

And these are our wheels.  A small Opel that seats five, but just barely.  But it is sure fun to drive around all the roundabouts in this little gem!

Today, Wednesday the 16th, we spent at the local authorities where we began the lengthy process of getting our permits to remain in the country.  We still need to be fingerprinted and processed by at least three more agencies, and then, hopefully, we will be granted permission to remain in Italy for the duration of our mission.

This afternoon we had to drive to Florence to get our contract together for our internet service.  The office was right off the main square that houses Florence's famous duomo.  It was beautiful, but Bonnie didn't want to take a peek inside, because she had her heart set on seeing one of Florence's other big places of worship, IKEA.  Darryl swore he would never enter an IKEA, and he kept that promise while living in the States.  But he couldn't avoid it in Italy, as there just are certain things that you can't get anywhere else, at least here in Italy.  It wasn't that bad after all.

A few more days of getting our temporal house in order, and we will then focus on the more important side of our labors.  We have a new family that the elders will start teaching on Saturday, and they have asked us to go with them for the lesson.  We are looking forward to that.

Arrived in Italy . . . And Ready to Go!!

After just a few hours of delay in London, we finally arrived in Milan where the office couple and two office elders met us.  They were a great help with all of our stuff.

But what was most touching was that Teresa and her husband, Damiano, drove down from their home in Laveno Mombello (about a 2 hour drive) to meet us at the airport.  Teresa was a teenage member of the branch in Cagliari when Darryl served in Italy so many years ago.  Darryl worked with her as he and his companion taught a wonderful family of five girls.  Darryl got to be very close to that family, and even though the parents never joined the Church, they finally did allow their two oldest daughters to be baptized shortly after Darryl left Cagliari.  Eventually all five of the daughters joined the Church, and they and their families now form a very strong backbone for the Church in Cagliari.  We only got to talk to Teresa and Damiano for a few minutes, and then we were off.  We invited them to the mission home, but logistics didn't work out.  It was such a sacrifice for them to come and meet us, and we truly value their friendship.

We went to the mission office with the office couple, Elder and Sister Harman, and went over some things that we needed to learn and have immediately.  Then they took us to dinner and back to our hotel, where we crashed for some very needed sleep.

On Saturday, we packed up a small loaner car that the office gave us to use to get down to our assignment, went in to the mission office for some last minute instruction, and then set off for Pisa where the Florence District was holding a District Conference.  We arrived in Pisa in the afternoon, and there we met in person our mission president and his wife.  Darryl's first city as a young missionary was Pisa, and he met quite a few members that he knew from his first time there.  It was a sweet experience to see so many strong members, all of whom now have a bit more gray hair.

Elder De Feo, a newly called Area Seventy, presided at the meeting, and he shared inspired messages with all who attended.  After the meeting, we drove to Florence where the Sunday sessions of District Conference were going to be held.  On Sunday morning, we drove to the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center on the outskirts of Florence for the final session of conference.  Again, Elder De Feo gave a message of hope to the Italian saints; which is a timely message as the economic situation in Italy is dire and many members are discouraged and downtrodden.  It was a great meeting.

After the meeting, Darryl participated in conferring the Melchizedek Priesthood on a recent convert in the Siena branch, where Darryl will soon be serving as branch president.

Darryl and Bonnie also caught up with Elder and Sister Capece, a senior couple from Sandy, Utah that has been serving is Siena for the past year, with Elder Capece serving as branch president.  They are completing their mission on Wednesday, and we will be moving into the apartment that they are vacating.  They were kind enough to invite us to dinner in their apartment Sunday evening, where we enjoyed a great meal and discussed many aspects of the responsibilities we will be assuming as leaders of the Siena branch.

The apartment is nice, located on the outskirts of Siena.  There are two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a nice living/dining area, and a very small kitchen.  We believe that we will be very comfortable there, once we get settled in.

We met a number of the members of the Siena branch, as well as a few investigators, and we are truly looking forward to serving with these wonderful saints.

There is much work to do, and we hope that we are up to the challenge.  But as we know, with the Lord nothing is impossible.

Highlight of the Week  Finally arriving in Italy and getting our feet wet.  We have looked forward to this opportunity to serve for many years, and now it is time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Lowlight of the Week  Hauling 6 suitcases and other stuff from hotel to hotel, and living out of suitcases.  That will change tomorrow!

Four Days, Then Away . . .

After our first week in the Senior MTC, we were able to return home and spend conference weekend watching all sessions of conference with many of our Utah kids.  That was wonderful.

Here is a picture of our district of senior couples.  In this group, in addition to our service in Italy, we had couples going off to serve on military bases in Washington, Wisconsin and Georgia, and others going to support leaders and members in Australia, Chile, Russia and Florida  (That young guy in the middle was our instructor, Brother Lystrup.)

When we returned on Monday after conference, we received two and a half days of training from the Seminary and Institute Department, as we may be called upon to teach seminary or institute in Italy.  We had a little different group on those days for this special CES training.

On Wednesday afternoon, we completed our MTC training.  We drove to Brigham City and had dinner with Darren and Larynn and their two wonderful children, Reese and Jack.  As Darryl had done in the prior few days with our other four children, Darryl had the special privilege to give Darren a father's blessing before we departed for Italy.  After dinner we drove to a nearby chapel, where Darryl gave Darren a blessing and we said our goodbyes to this sweet family.  It was hard saying goodbye to such wonderful grandchildren.

After a great evening with Darren and his family, we returned home for one last night in our own bed before boarding the great big bird for Italy.  When we got home we spent a few minutes with Kara and Chris and little Olivia, who was sporting her first pigtails.

After a night of packing and a morning of final preparations, we spent some time with Bonnie's Mom and talked about how best to approach and teach those we meet in Italy.  She gave us some great counsel.

Daniel, Tara and Ellie came down to pick us up and take us to the airport.  We filled the whole bed of the truck with luggage, and we hoped that we could get all that stuff to the airport, on the plane, and in the cars or trains that would take us to Siena.  Before we left our home for the last time for about 18 months, we had to hug our two youngest grandkids one last time.  It was hard saying goodbye, but we know we are doing what the Lord wants us to do right now.

Daniel, Tara and Ellie drove us to the airport and dropped us off.  We got through the airport lines in good shape, and all of our bags got on the plane.  We took off from Salt Lake City at about 2:30 pm and flew to Dallas.  We had about 50 minutes to catch our next plane to London, and we barely made it.  When we arrived in London after an all-night flight, we had only 25 minutes to catch our final plan to Milan.  With the added security and the fact that we had to go to a different terminal, needless to say, we didn't make that last flight.  But, British Airways got us on a flight that left a few hours later, and we finally did arrive in Milan on Friday, October 11 at about 4:00 pm.

More about our first few days in Italy in the next post.

First Week in the Senior MTC

Bonnie and I reported to the Senior MTC in Provo at 8:00 am on Monday morning, September 30, 2013.  We joined about 58 other couples, and about 6 senior single sisters to begin our week of training.  We began studying the principles contained in Preach My Gospel and learned inspired teaching techniques that we will take with us to Italy when we leave next week.

We broke up into small groups and met our instructors, very bright return missionaries who have lived and loved wonderful missions throughout the world.  These young return missionaries have successfully implemented Preach My Gospel and are teaching us the best ways to teach the gospel with power and testimony.

We have had two opportunities to work with investigators in the Teaching Resource Center, who role-played some very realistic teaching scenarios.  Bonnie and I worked well as a team as we taught, and we think that we are going to be able to do this.

On Tuesday evening, we joined the army of young missionaries for an MTC-wide devotional where Elder Baxter of the Seventy explained clearly and succinctly why Mormons are Christians, notwithstanding what others may attempt to argue.  He made it very clear, providing wonderful support from the scriptures and history, why many of the accepted doctrines of most Christian churches, such as the Trinity, a closed canon and other principles, came from negotiation and debate among various post apostolic factions, and not from prophetic declaration from God's prophets.  Elder Baxter encouraged the missionaries to be respectful and kind, but at the same time to be bold and direct in calling out those "doctrines" that are not supported by Christ's teachings and the teachings of the Gospel writers and the epistles and letters of other Biblical authors.

Tomorrow we finish our first week.  We will return next week for some specialized training for our assignment to work with young single adults.  Then, on Thursday morning, we will board the plane for a long trip to Italy.  We fly from Salt Lake City to Dallas, then from Dallas to London, and then from London to Milan.

We are excited to join the missionary force in Italy to help further the work of the Lord in that vineyard.

Highlight of the Week - Being taught by a general authority and learning to teach boldly and with the Spirit.  Getting to know some very powerful and dedicated senior couples who are going out to all corners of the world to preach the Gospel.

Lowlight of the Week - Eating the food at the MTC cafeteria.  We are sure that the MTC tries its best to provide good food for the missionaries, and they do have hundreds and hundreds of missionaries to feed each day.  While the food is plentiful and there are a number of options for each meal, the food just isn't that good.  We are grateful that we are only here for 10 days, and not the 8 - 10 weeks that most of the young missionaries must endure.

Here is the classic photo by the big map in the MTC.  Elder Dean was Bonnie's Italian tutor, and he joined us for lunch one day to wish us well.