February in the Bella Toscana

On Saturday, February 1, we took our sister missionaries out to Roccastrada, a small town about an hour outside of Siena, to meet with one of our members, Doris Scappaticci.  Doris is from Peru, but she came to Rome when she was about 20 years old with her sister.  She met the missionaries in Rome, and joined the church there.  She later met her husband, a good man from this small town of Roccastrada.  They married and then had a son, Daniele.  While Doris has not been able to attend church because of the distance to church and because she doesn't have her own car, she has become very active in Institute, which she attends during the week via Skype.  But how her 3 1/2 year old son now needs the Primary and the teachings of Jesus that will help him through his life.  We have given Doris some Primary materials and she is teaching Daniele at home.  We hope that when the weather turns a bit warmer, she and Daniele will be able to take the bus to church on occasion.

On that same day, we and the Sisters visited an inactive mother, Maria, and her 6-year-old son, Alexander.  We had a very good visit with this sister, and believe that she has a desire to come back into activity.  She and her husband were active in the Florence branch years ago, and they even went to the temple.  They are separated now, but Maria still seems to have a spark of testimony.  We need to fellowship her and help her see how the gospel, as well as the church's organization, can help her and her son be happier and more fulfilled.  Again, this little 6-year-old really needs the basic teachings of the gospel upon which to build a strong foundation in order to face and overcome the trials and tribulations that life brings to all of us.

Sisters Hunter and Boscia, playing against Alexander

Sister Boscia, Maria, Sister Hunter and Alexander

Our missionaries have been teaching Angela, a single woman from a nearby town, on and off again since we arrived in October.  Angela loves America and spent quite a bit of time there.  She speaks English quite well, and she and Bonnie have become good friends.  Angela has some very strong opinions about religion and the injustices of the world, and she loves to expound on these topics.  Thus, it has been hard for our young missionaries to teach the gospel in any orderly way.

Sisters Hunter and Boscia, Bonnie and Angela

 Bonnie has felt the Spirit encourage her to reach out to Angela.  Bonnie called Angela last week and they spoke on the phone for quite awhile.  Bonnie set up an appointment to meet with Angela at the church, and she invited the Sisters to join us.  We spent about an hour and a half with Angela, and the discussion, for the most part, was quite positive.  We bore testimony to Angela that our Heavenly Father knows each of us, and that he does hear and answer prayers.  While the answers are not always the answers we want, they are the answers that we need.  Angela expressed some very personal feelings, and there were tears shed during this lesson.  We don't know whether Angela will eventually take the steps necessary to read, ponder, and pray to know whether she should be baptized, but we do know that we have shared important and eternal principles with her, and that she can improve her life and find more happiness as she comes to understand and implement these eternal truths.

We are also working with another inactive couple that has a very precarious family situation.  They are taking care of not only their two grown sons, who suffer from some medical problems, but they are also the caregivers for two grandchildren.  The sons don't work, and this couple tries to keep everything together by working very hard, but the financial situation is such that the company the grandfather works for is failing, and workers are sometimes limited to 8-10 work days a month, which places a great burden on everyone's shoulders to simply survive.  The branch is helping out where it can with the temporal needs of this family, and they are now disposed to try to come to a few of our branch activities.  Again, we long to reach out and help these two grandchildren, and we wish they could come to Primary and be taught what Jesus wants them to learn.  As they say in Italy, "piano, piano" which means "slowly, slowly" we hope to make progress with our less active members.

We keep our spirits up and energized by rubbing shoulders with our four young missionaries and the active members in the branch.  Bonnie uses her musical skills to bring the Spirit into our meetings.  Darryl asked the missionaries to sing in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday, so Bonnie and the four missionaries got together to practice a few of their favorite hymns.  We move forward, even though the middle D on the keyboard (and a few other less important keys) doesn’t work.  We get by with what we have.  We finally got a small table that our young Primary children can sit around, and a CD player for the Primary.  We are very grateful for these things, many of which we take for granted at home.

We had a good Sunday.  As a branch council, we have decided to plan a trip to the Bern temple.  We decided to plan it for September so that we have the time to work with some of our members who have let their recommends expire, and those newer members who are preparing to go the temple for the first time.  We want to work with each member who desires the blessings of the temple in their lives to assist them to prepare for this trip and be ready when the time comes.  If, as King Benjamin instructed his people, we gather together as families and keep our tent doors open and always pointing toward the temple, we will be instructed from on High and know the road we must take to allow Christ's atonement to have full effect in our lives.

Sunday evening as the rains let up and the sun began shining, we took an evening "passaggiata" within the walls of the old town.  We walked down streets that we hadn't explored before, and enjoyed a pleasant evening.  We went to the large, gothic cathedral of San Francesco, and reverently walked through its naves.  It is stark and cold; nothing like the warm and beautiful Duomo of Siena, but it has its own unique grandeur and splendor.

Yesterday was a very wet and rainy day throughout the Toscana.  Luckily for all the missionaries in this Zone, it was Zone Conference, so they were able to spend the day with our Mission President, his wife, the Assistants, the Sister Training Leaders, and the Zone Leaders in a day of teaching and training.  The missionaries received some very good training that, if implemented, will greatly assist them as they continue to find, teach and testify.

Zone Conference in Florence

Our Mission President, Bruce Dibb

The Sister Training Leaders, Sisters Stewart and Jameson

Even though we are still in the middle of the rainy season, this winter, at least here in the Bella Toscana, has been very mild.  No snow, no ice, and we've only had to scrape the windows of the car twice.  And even though the leaves are gone, the fields remain green and we see buds of spring all over.  We know that it is still a few weeks (or maybe a month or so) away, but spring is coming!  And with the spring, newness of life is ready to explode.  We are anxious to see the wildflowers, the vineyards, and the olive groves burst into being.  With the newness of life that the spring always brings, we hope that we can bring the hope and light of new beginnings into the lives of some of our members who have chosen other paths.  

Oh how much we can all learn from Lehi and Nephi's vision of the tree of life!  That great and spacious building is getting more and more crowded with our brothers and sisters who have chosen other paths and who now look down on those holding fast to the rod of iron and pressing forward toward the tree of life.  May we all keep our eyes and hearts focused on the love of God that is sweet beyond all earthly delights, and not give heed to the mocking and laughing voices that rein down all around us.  As we strive to live the gospel of Christ, may we reach out to all our loved ones and invite them to take the road that is becoming less and less traveled, and see if that road can bring us the happiness and fulfillment we seek.