Feeding 80 Hungry Missionaries . . . With Food and the Spirit!

On Tuesday of last week, Bonnie had the assignment to head a committee to feed the missionaries from three zones, the mission president and his wife, and a visiting general authority and his wife.  Undaunted as she always is, she rolled up her sleeves and eschewed the tradition of buying a bunch of pizzas and throwing them on the table and calling it good.  No, she planned a wonderful sit-down lunch with fresh bread filled with ham and cheese, freshly-cut carrots and celery with ranch dressing dip, chips, and bowls full of fresh fruit.  She had another sister on her committee make each missionary a piece of homemade pizza, and then they topped it all off with a piece of homemade tiramisu.

Bonnie wanted to adorn the tables with flowers or something similar to "beautify" the surroundings, but Darryl didn't think that was in the budget.  Not to be denied, on one of her morning walks before the conference, she gathered pine cones, berries and Fall branches, and she made a wonderful bouquet to brighten the head table.  What a talent!

Here are some pictures of Darryl, Bonnie and our District President, Pasqualle Fiorelli, bringing down the dessert to the hungry missionaries.

And here is a shot of Elder Texiera shaking hands with some of our missionaries.

The missionaries were well-fed both spiritually and physically, and they left the five hour conference filled with new ideas and full stomachs.

The following day Bonnie and Darryl had to take care of more temporal things.  They had to go the Italian Questura (which is an arm of Italy's state police and immigration services) to continue the process of obtaining their Permesso which will give them permission to remain in the country for the duration of their mission.  Not only do you need a passport and a visa, you also need this Permesso di Soggiorno or you can be kicked out of the country.  Hearing stories from other missionaries that they had to wait all day to complete this process, they took some reading material and ventured off for this experience.

All in all, however, it only took most of the morning.  We did have to go to two different police stations, and at both stations we were fingerprinted.  At the second one, we had to climb to the third floor and present ourselves to the Italian Crime Lab, where we were analyzed, fingerprinted, and where every aspect of our physical appearance was put into the computer.  After taking a couple of long looks at Bonnie's hair, he decided that it was blonde, and that made her happy. Luckily we don't have any intention to commit any crimes.  Now we wait for another month or so before we get our actual Permesso card, which we will have to carry with us at all times.

Walking back to the church from the second Questura (which is in the heart of the old city right next to the famous Duomo), we took a few different streets, and we were blessed with these amazing views of our environs.

That evening we had the elders and three of our young adults (and one non-member spouse) to our home for snacks after they played basketball at a park near our apartment.  Bonnie made an apple crisp and we had some bruschetta and other snacks.  It was a fun time, and an opportunity to meet one of our member's husband in a "non-threatening" environment.  We are trying hard to build trust with the members and their families.  All are children of God, and thus we are all brothers and sisters.

Bonnie got her first haircut in Italy, and even though the stylist didn't speak any English, they communicated well and he was quite expert at his craft.  However, it did end up a bit shorter than she had hoped, but it looks good.  And the great thing about hair, it does grow!

We spent Friday and Saturday visiting members, both in their homes and at the church.  Some members live quite a distance from Siena, and many don't have cars.  Public transportation is iffy on the weekends, and some members work.  So, our attendance on Sundays isn't where it should be, so we need to take some of the gospel goodness to the homes of our members.  We are also visitings members who haven't graced the church with their presence for years.  We are just trying to get to know them, see what service we can provide, and try to rekindle inside them whatever embers of testimony might still be burning.

While our Italian members attending church is not where we would like it, we do seem to fill the chapel.  We have about 20 BYU students still studying in Siena, but they will be leaving at the end of the month.  And this past Sunday about 12 tourists, all from the Danville area of northern California (near where Darryl grew up), showed up for Sacrament Meeting.  It was good to see a full chapel.  We wonder what it will be like when the BYU students leave, the weather turns cold and the tourist stream is reduced to a mere trickle.  But we must remember that wherever one or two are gathered in His name, His spirit will be there.

We are still working with the Internet company to get the Internet back up and running in our apartment.  We have a wireless key that will get us through the next couple of weeks, and then we hope to have it all back up and running.

We are enjoying our mission and we marvel at the strength of these Italian saints.  They don't have the luxury of being surrounded by hundreds of other members and gaining support from them.  They must be strong and carry a large responsibility, with the active members fulfilling three or four callings in the branch.  We are hear to buoy them up and let them know they are doing great work.  It is an honor to rub shoulders with them.

As Thanksgiving approaches, we are very thankful for our testimonies, for our health and strength, and for all our family and friends who love and support us.  We draw great strength and peace from that knowledge.  Thanks to everyone who keeps us in their prayers, and know that you are in ours.