As Adam was the First Man . . . He Was Our First Family Visitor

As Christmas quickly approaches, we had the opportunity to serve the missionaries in our Florence Zone for the Mission President's Christmas Zone Conference.  So that means cooking for a bunch of hungry missionaries.  This time we teamed with one other senior couple, and we prepared an Italian feast that was capable of making the hungriest missionary cry "Uncle" and beg it to stop.

We fed our missionaries the following courses: (1) Antipasto plate with four wonderful selections; (2) homemade lasagne; (3) roasted turkey and beef with mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes; (4) oranges; (5) tiramisu; (6) and a selection of homemade Christmas cookies.

Bonnie hard at work on the Christmas cookies!

Getting ready to make special packages for the missionaries. 

Don't they look scrumptious! 

Setting the tables for the Christmas Zone Conference Feast!

Last year our branch in Siena decided to have what is called a "presepe vivente".  Translated that means a live nativity scene.  So on Wednesday we went down to the church to build the set, which included a stable, cutout animals, and even a star.  Of course there were no directions on how to put it back together, so we had fun figuring it all out.  But we finally did get it up.

Then, on Saturday evening all the branch members came to the church and many dressed up as the characters in the Christmas story.  One of our members read the Christmas story as the actors walked through the story.  During the "scene changes" the actors and the audience sang some wonderful Christmas carols.  We had a great time.  And, as you can see, our sister missionaries took the roles of Mary and Joseph.  Sister McCann makes a great Joseph, don't you think?

As the title of this post hints, we had our first visitor from the family.  And since Adam was the first man, it is only fitting that he should be our first visitor.  Luckily he had business that brought him to Italy; so he extended his return by a day so that he could spend a day and half with us. 

Bonnie and Adam in front of the Duomo in Florence.

We first showed him around Florence, and then we brought him to our wonderful medieval city of Siena.  We then drove him through the beautiful Toscana region as we took him to the train in a nearby city.  Even though he didn't bring Kathleen with him this time (but he did promise to bring her when he comes back), he did bring us a care package that Kathleen had lovingly put together with some things that we just can't get here.  The package included natural peanut butter, pumpkin pie spice, beef, chicken and turkey gravy mix, Four Seasons Italian salad dressing mix, and wonderful American candy like Skittles and Starburst.  It was a great early Christmas gift.

 

The nativity inside the Duomo.

The dome of the Duomo.

Darryl had the opportunity to conduct another baptismal interview for the Mission President for a convert who attends the Prato branch.  (Prato is just a bit north of Florence.)  It is a great blessing to see the humble seekers find the truth, accept it, give up longtime habits, and embrace the gospel.  We are so fortunate to be a small part of this great stone that is rolling forth all throughout the world.

Of course, driving in Milan and even Florence makes us more grateful for the assignment that we have here in Siena.  We love our small town with its beautiful walls and vistas, its strong members, and the diligent missionaries that serve here with us.  We now have two sisters and two elders, and we will find more people to accept the truth.

 

Traffic in Florence.  Two inches between us and the cars and trucks around us!

On Sunday when 9 am rolls around, the church seems rather empty, with just the missionaries and a small handful of members present.  This Sunday we started Priesthood with just the three male missionaries and Darryl's first counselor, an Italian returned missionary who speaks English.  A few minutes later Spencer Nelson, our American member who plays professional basketball showed up, so we thought we would just do Priesthood meeting in English.  About 10 minutes later a few other members showed up, so we switched to Italian.  And then the miracles started happening.  One of our members who has been struggling showed up, and he brought a non-member friend.  Then a few minutes later the father of the family that came to our fireside with Spencer Nelson came in, while his wife went into Relief Society and their 6 year old daughter went off to Primary with Bonnie. 

We had two different sets of investigators in church!  It was great!  Our missionaries taught lessons to these investigators during the Sunday School hour, and they all stayed for most of Sacrament Meeting!  We hope to see the fruits of our missionaries' labors as we continue to find and teach people about the restored gospel.

After a very productive and spiritual Sunday block, we had all four of our missionaries over for Sunday lunch.  They devoured Bonnie's pasta, Chicken Parmagiano, salad and cookies.  We love these wonderful servants of the Lord.

Elders Robb and Gneiting, Bonnie, and Sisters Hunter and McCann