Last Week, Final Sunday

Sunday, March 8 was the "Festa della Donna" (Holiday for the Woman).  This day commemorates the sacrifices made by women for the advancement of mankind; especially the work they shouldered on the home front during the Second World War while their husbands, fathers and brothers were away fighting.  We celebrated this holiday in church with the traditional Mimosa bouquets, as the Mimosa is the first flowering plant of spring.  Bonnie also made some delicious dipped strawberries to share with all our sisters in the branch.  There were even enough for the men to enjoy as well.

All our great sisters after Sacrament Meeting

Darryl with Diletta and her Mom, Franca

Darryl with Sonia

On Monday we had our last correlation meeting with our four young missionaries here in Siena.  They came to our apartment for their "Last Supper".  We have really enjoyed rubbing shoulders with these great, young servants of the Lord.

Sisters Rincón and Salmond, Darryl, and Elders Driver and Moa
See, Darryl actually does have a place at these many missionary luncheons

We held our last Family Home Evening as well.  Bonnie gave a great lesson about courage in the face of adversity.  We have a small, but faithful group that attends these FHE's in our church each Monday, and we believe these meetings have been a support for them.  We will miss these weekly gatherings with these fine Saints.

Our Family Home Evening group

On Tuesday Elder and Sister Fry, another Senior couple that is serving in Ancona, came to visit us and to pick up a lot of our furniture and other fun things that they can use in their apartment.  We showed them around Siena.  It was a beautiful, clear day to enjoy this marvelous city for one of the last times, at least for now.

Siena's magnificent Duomo

 On Wednesday we said goodbye to our Relief Society President.  She took us and our missionaries, along with Emily, our member from England, on a tour of the museum of her contrada, the contrada of the Goose.  This contrada has won the annual palio 66 times since its beginnings in the 1400's.  After this tour, we gathered all the small coins we have been throwing in a jar for the past year and a half and we discovered that we had more than enough money to treat all the missionaries and Emily to a gelato at our favorite gelateria.  Darryl got a big cone!!

Sister Eole Feri, a gem!

Sister Rincón, Emily, Darryl, Sister Salmond, Elders Driver and Moa

On Thursday we drove to Pisa for the first ever Zone Training of the new Pisa Zone.  Our mission president decided to split the Florence Zone into two zones.  Now we have the Pisa Zone that consists of the missionaries serving in Siena, Pisa, Livorno and La Spezia.

The new Pisa Zone

That evening Lucy and her daughter, Francesca, invited us and the missionaries to dinner at their home.  We had a great dinner and an enjoyable time with them.  The Sisters taught a lesson, and we gathered together for the obligatory group picture that we will cherish after we return home.

Sister Rincón, Francesca, Bonnie, Darryl and Elder Driver
Sister Salmond and Lucy in front

In between all these trips and visits, we have been hard at work cleaning the apartment and getting ready to leave.  There will not be another Senior missionary couple here in Siena after we leave, so we have to clean out the apartment and get it ready to turn over to the owners.  We have been busy with these tasks as well.

On Friday evening we took our Sisters to Poggibonsi and met with the Natale family.  Afterward, we went to the Limongi family who had invited us to dinner.  We had a great visit with Maria Limongi and her son, Alexander.  We will miss all these great members.

Sister Limongi and Alexander, Sisters Rincón and Salmond, Bonnie and Darryl

Today was our last Sunday at our wonderful Siena branch.  We both were privileged to speak one last time in Sacrament meeting.  This time we held it together fairly well as we preached our last sermons and said our goodbyes.

The branch, thanks to the coordination and hard work of our Sister missionaries, held a surprise farewell lunch for us after Sacrament meeting.  It was very enjoyable to spend time with all our great members, and with a number of investigators who came as well.  It was bittersweet, however, knowing that it will be a while before we will see them again.  But with FaceBook and Skype, etc., it will be easier to keep in touch.

Azzurra, Sister Salmond, Bianka

Bonnie playing Uno with our Primary kids

The whole group having lunch together after Sacrament meeting

Darryl and Sister Rincón with three investigators
Giovanna, the young woman in white, is getting baptized this coming Saturday

Darry with Daniela (who was baptized in October) and Sonia

Bonnie with Franca Viti, Maria Rosa Nigi and Giacomo Calamassi

Bonnie with Paolo, Sonia, and Azzura, who is holding her sister, Francesca

Bonnie with Brother and Sister Natale and their grandchildren, Miki and Sharon
Francesca Andreoni is on the right

The elders and Enrique have clean up duty!

We continued to do missionary work up to the end though, as Darryl conducted a baptismal interview after the luncheon for a young woman from Peru who has been in Italy for about six years.  She will be baptized this coming Saturday, one day after we return home.   The miracles continue to happen here in Siena, and we are grateful that we have been able to play our small role in the hastening of the work in this part of the Lord's vineyard.

Tomorrow our official missionary work will be over.  We are heading down to a small town near Naples to visit a man that Darryl baptized 41 years ago next month.  Salvatore has remained active in the church, serving for many years in the branch presidency in his branch in Caserta.  He has been to the temple and made sacred covenants there, and we are grateful for his friendship and continued faithfulness. 

After two days down south, we will return to Siena for one night, pack up our car and then head to Milano to meet with our mission president one last time.  Then we will head home to see our wonderful children, their spouses, and our fourteen grandchildren; five of whom we have only seen via Skype.  We are happy and grateful!!