Fall is Here . . . and so is Halloween

Siena is only about 40 miles or so southwest of Florence, so we are in the Florence Zone and we have the opportunity to drive to Florence quite often, for many different purposes.  Our district of missionaries consists of the Zone Leaders and two sisters, all stationed in Florence, and our District Leader and his companion, stationed in Pistoia (about 10 miles east of Florence), two sisters who are working in the Montevarcchi area just south of Florence, and the two elders who are working here at Siena with us.  So, our weekly district meetings are in the Florence church building.  Here is a picture of the sisters in our district, and one of our entire district (minus Darryl who took the shot)!

On Tuesday evening we had the great opportunity to join our Siena elders to teach a first lesson to an Italian man who seems to be searching for truth.  The lesson went very well, and he agreed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it.  He stayed for English class at the church after his lesson.  And he came back to church of Friday for our branch Halloween party!

Bonnie was asked to head up a committee of three senior couples to prepare lunch for 76 missionaries as part of a multi-zone conference scheduled for tomorrow (November 5) in Florence.  Elder Texiera from the Quorum of the Seventy will be touring our mission, and he and the Mission President will be meeting with three zones in Florence for an all-day training session.  Bonnie is working hard on that assignment, and Darryl is trying to help out a little.  He is trying to convince her not to spend part of her budget on paper tablecloths, because the young missionaries won't appreciate that touch as much as they will appreciate a little more food on their plates at lunch.  Don't you agree with Darryl?!?  We will see who wins out on that battle of the sexes.

Notwithstanding all our best efforts to the contrary, our Internet at our apartment has been shut off.  So while in Florence we had to go the Internet store and try to get the Internet set up in our name at our apartment.  It isn't as easy as flipping a switch; someone has to come to the apartment and set it up, even though we have the modem and all the other equipment necessary.  So, we may be without Internet for another week or two.  Luckily, we have Internet at the Church, so we can struggle along.  Also, the Internet company has stopped taking credit cards from foreign banks (and they won't take cash either), so we had to work something out with the Mission Home to pay for our Internet.  We will see if and when we can get it all back up and running again.

Our little branch had a wonderful Halloween party on Friday, November 1.  Actually, Halloween in Italy is called "Tutti Morti", or All Dead day, and is on the 31st.  The next day is called "Tutti Santi" or All Saints day, and it is a national holiday.  Almost every day of the year has a saint attached to it, and that is your saint.  Darryl's saint is St. Luke, and Bonnie's is St. Francis de Sales.  If your birthday doesn't have a specific saint attached to it, then November 1 is your day of celebration, and your saint's day.  Lots of birthday's are celebrated on November 1.

Here are some photos from our little Halloween Party at our Siena branch.

Some of our BYU Study Abroad students making masks for the photos.

A few of our young members who were ready to put on a skit for us.

Brother Rotelli, the rock of the branch and, with his son Simone, Darryl's two right-hand men.

Simone Rotelli, with Elder Gneiting and Angelina, a professional long distance runner from Ghana and a current investigator.

Elder Young, Elder Gneiting's companion.

Enrique, another one of Darryl's assets.  Enrique takes great care of the church building.

Sonia, a member of our Relief Society Presidency, and a fireball.  We love her!

A few of the BYU students.

The leader of the BYU Study Abroad group, and his wonderful family.

Our Halloween spread, and this doesn't include the dessert table.  Bonnie made some very scrumptious cinnamon rolls, which everyone loved.  They loved them so much that Darryl only got a half of one.  Bummer.

The Halloween skit.

And all its characters.

We had a full house for the party, and we even had two or three investigators, and some other friends of members come to the festa.  It was a fun night, and we hope those that came enjoyed themselves and got to know the branch members better.

On one of our trips to Florence this past week, we took a few minutes to walk over Ponte Vecchio (which is the home to gold and jewelry stores galore!!) and visit the Duomo of Florence.

On Sunday our Primary teacher was late, so Bonnie pitched right in to run the Primary class until she showed up.  All of our Primary children were American, so it wasn't too hard.  Here is a picture she took of the five little kids, with some fun that Darryl had editing the picture.

All in all, the work is moving forward, we are meeting more members, and we are enjoying our service here in Italy.

Highlight of the Week  Teaching the gospel of the restoration to investigators, and seeing the light come into their lives.  Also, rubbing shoulders with faithful members of a small branch who want to see the Church blossom as a rose as prophesied by Lorenzo Snow when he dedicated this land to the Lord.

Lowlight of the Week  Losing our Internet service at our apartment, and having to wait a week or two now to get it back.  But, as they say, all good things come to those who wait.