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.