Let's Hasten the Work in 2015!

We closed out 2014 with a New Year's Eve party for our branch.  One of our main goals for this activity was to give our four full time missionaries something to do after 5:00 p.m. rather than sit in their apartments.  Because New Year's Eve in some Italian cities can get pretty wild, our Mission President instructed all our young missionaries to be in their apartments by 5:00 p.m. that evening, unless the ward or branch had an activity and someone would be available to accompany the missionaries to their apartments at 9:30 p.m.  Who wants to ring in the New Year staring at the four walls of a small apartment without a TV to watch the ball drop at Time Square?

So, we invited all who wanted to come to the church for a movie and dinner.  We gathered at 6:00 p.m. and started the evening watching "We Bought a Zoo" in Italian (with English subtitles).  In Italian, the titled the film "Our Life is a Zoo".  We popped popcorn and watched this delightful movie.

Then, Darryl made a big pot of spaghetti and his special carabonara sauce for everyone to enjoy.  We cut some great Italian bread, Bonnie prepared a salad, and we sat down to a nice dinner.

Darryl cooking in the kitchen

After dinner, everyone enjoyed way too many treats; but oh well, it was New Year's Eve after all.

As mentioned above, the missionaries still needed to be in their apartments by 9:30, so we didn't have time to play any games or do much else before we had to take them home.  And after we took them home, the party sort of fizzled, so we cleaned up and got home ourselves before 11 p.m.  We did stay awake until midnight, because we didn't have much choice with the fireworks going off right outside our window.

To start the New Year right, we, together with our full time missionaries, decided to do a thorough cleaning of our branch building.  We gathered on Saturday morning and washed windows, cleaned floors, and made everything pretty for Sunday!  We appreciate all the support and help we receive from the four great missionaries who are serving with us at this time!

Sister Salmond handling the floor cleaner

Elder Moa taking out the garbage and Elder Johnson cleaning windows

Sister Remund taking a break from mopping the floors

On Sunday we had just as many less active members at sacrament meeting as we had active members.  That is a good sign; now we just have to increase the number of both!  We had a joint Priesthood and Relief Society Meeting where Darryl introduced the three-prong plan of the Europe Area.  All the stakes, districts, wards and branches in Europe will be focusing of three main goals in 2015.

            1.         Double the number of active members in attendance at church.

            2.         Become self sufficient, both spiritually and materially.

            3.         Find your ancestors and take their names to the temple.

Simple goals, and ones that we can all work hard to accomplish.  We will now begin the process to structure our branch goals around the Area's goals as we move the work forward in Italy.

On Monday evening Bonnie taught another wonderful FHE lesson, driving home the importance of having an example or model to follow as we live our lives.  She asked each of us to draw a horse.  After we all tried our hand at doing so, some more successfully than others, she then put on the board an example of a well-drawn horse, and asked us to try again.  Once we had a model to follow, we all were better equipped to follow that example and draw a much better picture.  She then taught us that in our lives we have an example or model to follow, that of our Savior Jesus Christ.  If we simply look to Him and follow in His footsteps, doing the things that He has asked us to do, the end product of our lives will be much closer to what He wants for us, than if we simply walked blindly.

This week we visited Lorena, a dear member who will be having her first baby in just a week or two. We have loved to help her through the process, giving moral support and "tips of the trade" to keep her anxiety level down.  We both miss our grandkids a lot, and this has been a good substitute and helps us keep in the groove!

Lorena ready to pop, and Bonnie ready to help

Even though it is January, and the dead of winter, the Toscana is always beautiful.  As we were returning to Siena one evening, we marveled at the beautiful vistas of this medieval city.  It is a wonder to behold, and we will surely miss it when our service has concluded here in God's country.

Siena the beautiful

Darryl had the great opportunity yesterday to spend most of the day with the Second Counselor in our Stake Presidency, visiting some families in the branch that need some extra care and counseling.   In the end, it is the one-on-one time that we spend helping others that counts.   And the pure love of Christ is the elixir that calms and cures.  It is our hope that we may we all go forth with faith, applying that balm in our daily interactions with all our brothers and sisters.