New apartment - new adventures

Photos of Jeff buying fruit
Photo - first gelato
Photo - Claudette in front of fountain filled with plants in front of our apartment.
Photo - small bathroon and washing machine.
Photo - kitchen with lap top on table
Photo - living room with marble floors
Photo - our bedroom with drying rack in front of window
Photo - view from our living room balcony.


We are settled into our apartment on the 4th floor of a 6 story building above a Ford Auto Shop. We have a small kitchen with double doors that lead out to a balcony, a living room with double doors that lead out to another balcony, a small bathroom with a washing machine, and a bedroom – everything we need and we’re quite comfortable. We are on a busy street, so we hear the traffic of cars and buses but it doesn’t keep us awake – ear plugs are a great invention!

We are enjoying cooking together. The fruit and vegetable vendors are plentiful and we enjoy lots of fresh food from a stand just down the street from us. Twice this past week as we prepared our evening meal (with the double doors in the kitchen open) we heard the beautiful singing of Andrea Bocelli playing from someone’s open window. Combine that with the aroma of garlic sautéing on the stove and I know I’m in Italy and must pinch myself!

You may be interested to know that the church here has received more interest because of the fame of Stephanie Meyer an LDS author, whose books are just as popular here. Interesting how the Lord works to bring about his purposes. By the way, last Sunday I sat next to a teenager who had Breaking Dawn in her lap – when I told her I lived 3 hours from Forks, her eyes lit up. Rome is 3 hours away from Volterra - a location in the book.

Yesterday was our Preparation Day

• Did laundry for the first time in our small front load washing machine. It takes about 2 hours to complete one load. There are few dryers in Italy. Everyone uses drying racks.
• Swept and mopped our marble floors.
• Attended a funeral in which we were asked to participate. Jeff gave the opening prayer and I was asked to select and play the music. The man who died was an inactive member, as was his family. We arrived early enough so I could play prelude on the electric piano/organ. The coffin was placed on a table in front of the podium. Fresh flowers were brought in but never unwrapped out of their cellophane coverings. The family was dressed mostly in black. A member of the bishopric conducted and gave a brief talk on the purpose of life and what happens when we die, quoting from the book of Alma. There were about 5 members of our ward that attended besides the family. The service was simple and yet the Spirit was felt.
• We enjoyed our first gelato from a wonderful gelato shop, just down the street. I sampled 3 kinds before my eyes lit up with pesca (peach) YUM! Jeff got the fragola/banana (strawberry/you know the rest).

Today, I had a heart stopping experience before Sacrament meeting began. A member of the bishopric came to me and asked if I would give the opening prayer! When he saw my shocked expression, he told me I could give it in English. As I sat there with just minutes to prepare, I was kicking myself that I hadn’t worked on memorizing my prayer language better. I decided that I would say it in Italian and it would be the simplest, shortest prayer they had ever heard. The opening hymn was over way to fast. I walked up to the podium, bowed my head, waited a few moments and then prayed, “Caro Padre Celeste, Ti ringraziamo per questo giorno. Ti chiediamo di benedicici con il tuo Spirito Santo, nel nome di Gesu Christo, amen.” Translation: Dear Heavenly Father, We thank Thee for this day. We ask Thee to bless us with thy Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. As I walked back to my seat, the Bishop's wife crossed her arms in front of her chest, put both thumbs up and beamed at me. I could have kissed her face (which they do a lot here) but instead touched her hands and whispered “grazia” as I passed her.

Today was the special fast for the Rome Temple to go forward. The ward’s testimony meeting was special. I have yet to hear a “travel log”. All the testimonies were filled with the Spirit. It was a delight to see that the first to get to the podium was a young girl about age 6 and her brother, maybe age 9, who both shared sweet simple words of love and testimony. Another boy, maybe age 11 shared how his father had helped him this past week to have greater faith in Christ, his voice trembled and his eyes shown as he shared his love for Jesus Christ. I thought, “There is the future of the Church in Italy!” A young married man shared how he often had dreams at night about the temple coming to Rome. He had a detailed dreamed just the night before, of seeing a beautiful large temple on the temple site and seeing many people he knew and many he did not know. He saw a stairway ascending into heaven and angels coming and going via this stairway. He encouraged us to pray every day for the progress of the temple in Rome so that our families and ancestors could receive the blessings waiting there. I heard all of this translated through my ear phones. I long for the day when I can communicate freely with these lovely people.

Until next week,
Love, Mom, Claudette, Grandma