Winter is Coming . . . But the Work Moves Forward

This past week has been full of visits with the members of our branch, both near and far.  But on Wednesday, which is the young missionaries P-Day (and we try to squeeze in a little P-Day from time to time), we took our first venture into Siena's weekly open market.  We entered the open market and found ourselves in a maze of shops that zigged and zagged throughout Siena's ancient walls.  Bonnie is in search of some warm boots for the coming winter, and there were many vendors willing to sell her whatever her heart desired.  And as you can see from these pictures, it wasn't just boots that she was interested in looking at.

In addition to clothing galore, the open market sells fresh flowers, fresh food, fast food to eat while you explore the many shops, kitchen items, pet items, and almost anything else one might want to buy.

Although we were there for a couple of hours wandering around the market, and even though Bonnie tried on a few pairs of boots, miraculously we escaped without spending a Euro.  Now that has to be a record!  But, unfortunately for Darryl, it also means more shopping for boots elsewhere!

We are trying to get to know the members of our branch on a more personal, intimate basis; so we are slowly inviting them to our apartment for dinner.  This week we had the Rotelli family over for dinner on Wednesday evening.  We prepared pasta primavera, chicken cordon blu, and green beans.  We also made an apple crisp with fresh whipped cream.  They said they really liked it, and they did eat it all, so we hope they did.  We spent some quality time with them and learned their conversion stories.  It is also so inspiring to see the many different ways that the Lord touches lives, and brings the prepared souls into the Church.  They have two sons, raised properly with the gospel.  Their oldest son served a mission in Italy, and he is now my first counselor in the branch presidency.  Their youngest son is 14 and was just ordained a teacher.  The dad has been the branch president here, and now serves as my ward clerk, as well as executive secretary to the District Presidency and a member of the District counsel.  The mom is from Cagliari on the big island of Sardegna, and she was baptized about 10 years after Darryl served as a missionary in Cagliari.  She knows many of the members that Darryl had the great privilege to rub shoulders with when he was there.  The entire family is wonderful, and they are pillars of our branch.

We visited members in many small towns outside of Siena, such as Colle Val d'Elsa, Montepulchiano, Certaldo, Sinalunga, and Roccastrada.

On Saturday we took the elders to visit a sister and her young son in a small mountain town about an hour outside of Siena by car.  (The elders were going to try to take public transportation out to visit her, and that would have taken more than half a day.)

This wonderful sister is from Peru, but she came to Italy as a young adult, lived in Rome and met an Italian man who lived in Roccastrada, this small town outside of Siena.  They married and now have one young son, Daniele, a smart and vivacious 3 1/2 year old.  Because she lives so far from Siena and because her husband is not a member, it is very difficult for her to come to church.  But she was ecstatic to see the missionaries and have us in her home.  She has a strong testimony of the restored gospel, and wants to be closer to the members.  She does have the Internet, and my first counselor teaches an Institute class every week and has many members who participate on-line, via Google, and this sister wants to join them.  That will be wonderful for her, and will bring the gospel into her home more often.  We will be her home teachers, so we will try to visit her in her home every month.  We simply have to try different ways to bring the gospel into the lives of our members that can't make it to church every Sunday.

This wonderful member and her cute little son, with our elders.

The views from her piazza.

Her apartment is back in the corner, right next to the catholic church and up some very steep and very old stone walkways.  Bonnie will now make sure she has some flat walking shoes in the car at all times, so she can hike these cobblestoned pathways.

As we were driving back to Siena after our visit, we were stopped by the Caribiniari, the local Italian police.  Here in Italy, if the police want to stop you, they typically don't do it with flashing lights and a car chase.  No; what they do is stand by the road with a little, round, red stop sign, and as you are barreling down the road, they stick it out and expect you to stop.  The one with the sign has a companion, and that guy is carrying a short, but powerful Uzi machine gun.  We doubt they shoot you down if you don't stop, but we didn't want to risk it, so we stopped when they put out the little red sign.

As Darryl rolled down the window, the Caribiniari asked for his license and registration.  After looking at those, he asked who we were.  We told him we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  They looked confused.  Then Darryl told them, the Mormons.  The guy with the Uzi (who appeared to be the boss) said something like "they're OK, let 'em go."   With that, we were off and running.  Thankfully they didn't ask us for our papers, as one of the elders had left his at home.  Without your papers, you could be spending a few hours, or more, in the custody of the Italian police.

On Friday night we had a branch activity, where we all got together and watched the Disney movie, Cars.  We popped popcorn for everyone, and had an enjoyable time.  A member that hasn't graced the church's doors for over a decade has come out for our Friday activities twice now, and that is a good sign.

The BYU students will be leaving us soon, so we had six of them give short talks in Italian in Sacrament meeting this week.  They did such a great job that they didn't leave any time for their director to give his message.  So we will try to give him a chance this week, if we have time.

We had the BYU director and the elders over for a good old American dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad with ranch dressing, etc.  They loved it!

Yesterday, after a Zone Training meeting in Firenze, we returned home and prepared a complete meal for a newly-baptized family that lives about 45 minutes outside of town.  The mom isn't feeling well, so we decided to take dinner to them.  Darryl made the pasta (mushroom, onion and shallot cream sauce over linguine) and Bonnie made Chicken Cacciatore and her famous banana cake.  It was a hit! We didn't get home until after 11 pm, but as senior missionaries, we don't have the same schedule as the youngsters.  Thank Goodness!

All in all we have had a busy week, and we love serving these great members here in Siena.

Highlight of the Week  Seeing the light of the gospel shine in the eyes of a sister who we visited, who lives too far away to come to church.  And arranging for her to participate in Institute so she can have weekly contact with the Saints.  Also, dining with such wonderful members, who are so strong even though they are few in numbers.

Lowlight of the Week  Getting stopped by the Italian police, but that actually worked out OK.