Yesterday I received an email from President Nudo. He is the president of the Sicily stake and will be directing our work in Italy. He has made all of the necessary arrangements for our VISAa, which I understand, have been approved. There has been a lot of work done on our behalf there in Sicily to make this happen for us. Grazie, Presidente Nudo!
This week Junae's registration for Italian public school was approved. The school is very near the sister's house where I lived when I served as a missionary there thirty years ago. We chose the neighborhood because the school is a very good one and the area seems conducive to families. We are grateful to Giuseppe Abbenante, who has been a tremendous help there. I met Giuseppe while serving in Palermo. He was a newly returned missionary from the Rome mission and was assigned to assist us missionaries. The thing that always impressed me about him was that he WAS always there to help, especially with baptisms. He would help fill the font, make sure the water was warm and that there was clean baptismal clothing, open the chapel doors early, and stay after to close up. He was always in the background, waiting to help. I know the Lord appreciates that kind of help... when we quietly serve without a lot of fanfare (not to be confused with enthusiasm, which is so necessary). We reconnected on Facebook and he has been a blessing to our family.
Speaking of which... Junae received several Italian grammar tools for Christmas this year. She is doing quite well and last week she finally mastered counting. Yesterday Giuseppe was calling me on Skype so that he could update me on her registration. She is normally shy about talking to him, but yesterday... "Mom, Giu' is calling. Can I answer?" I tried not to show my surprise, "Sure, Junae..." When I came in a few minutes later, he was teaching her more counting and they were communicating comfortably. After she left the room I asked him about their conversation. He told me she asked how he was doing, and among others things, he was able to find out what she had been doing, what she had for lunch,and a few other things. "She'll do just fine in Italy..." he told me (in Italian, of course). Wahoo!!! I really want her to enjoy this adventure.
This was a big week. My International driving permit arrived as well!!! I can legally drive in Italy! :) :) :)
Michael, Junae, and I are taking a Missionary Preparation class Wednesday evenings, at the Ephraim Institute. I am enjoying it immensely! Elder Winkel is our instructor and there is a trememdous Spirit in our class. Last week he asked us to stand before the class and share what we are doing. It is always a pleasure. I hope it gives others the idea to serve. There are always creative ways accomplish what we want to do. It is also great to hear from the young people in class. They are so strong! I am amazed at their level of understanding and grasp of the gospel. They inspire me to study harder. The mission field throughout the world is in good hands.
Till next time... Ciao
PS - Daniel's Homecoming is scheduled for Easter Sunday. I hope you can all come.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Onward & Upward...
January 9, 2010
The days are flying by. We have done much to get ready, but there is still much to do. I have installed a countdown application to my iPhone. As of this moment we have 21 1/2 weeks; 150 days; 3,603 hours, and 216,210 minutes until we depart. The day may change slightly as we get closer to leaving, but the scheduled departure date is June 14th.
Did I say Katie and Junae are BOTH going with us? Katie is our twenty year-old daughter, Junae is ten. Katie hopes to take some classes and learn the language. Junae will be attending Italian public school.
Christmas was great this year. We had Jessica, Jared, and Zoe with us and Jordan came up from St. George. We also had our foreign exchange students Vittorio (from Italy) and Murillo (from Brasil). A friend of mine from my mission is staying with us, too, and it was nice to have her here. The area presidency gave the missionaries permission this year to call us on Christmas Day, using Skype. What a treat that was to hear AND SEE Daniel, our missionary son serving in Italy. He is doing well. We were also able to meet the young man he recently baptized.
A few days before Christmas we went Christmas caroling with the sister missionaries. On Christmas Eve the Sisters and Spanish speaking Elders joined us for dinner. Later that night, Michael shared the story of Luke 2 and shared some extra insights about the story which he had acquired from a good brother in our ward. It made the evening very sweet.
A few days later we traveled to St. George to see Bryan, Toni, Jordan and Katie. Toni is growing so big and learning to read.
On New Year's Eve, we decided to trek up to Ikea, a home furnishings store in Salt Lake. The store has locations all over the world, including Italy, so we plan to buy much of our furniture there. We invited our good friends, the Claysons, to join us. Pauline is Italian and Justin served in the Great Italy Catania Mission. Here is a photo journal of our fun day choosing our mission furnishings at Ikea:
I'm not sure what he's measuring here...
Mike's new favorite chair... a "must have"
Table for ten! It will be so fun to share our table with friends in Italy.
Even Zoe seemed to have a good time.
Did you know you can save on square footage by stacking your sofas on the wall? What a concept! :)
Junae likes this one!!
Justin Clayson taking a rest. This was HARD WORK!
They had everything... including my new kitchen sink :)
The days are flying by. We have done much to get ready, but there is still much to do. I have installed a countdown application to my iPhone. As of this moment we have 21 1/2 weeks; 150 days; 3,603 hours, and 216,210 minutes until we depart. The day may change slightly as we get closer to leaving, but the scheduled departure date is June 14th.
Did I say Katie and Junae are BOTH going with us? Katie is our twenty year-old daughter, Junae is ten. Katie hopes to take some classes and learn the language. Junae will be attending Italian public school.
Christmas was great this year. We had Jessica, Jared, and Zoe with us and Jordan came up from St. George. We also had our foreign exchange students Vittorio (from Italy) and Murillo (from Brasil). A friend of mine from my mission is staying with us, too, and it was nice to have her here. The area presidency gave the missionaries permission this year to call us on Christmas Day, using Skype. What a treat that was to hear AND SEE Daniel, our missionary son serving in Italy. He is doing well. We were also able to meet the young man he recently baptized.
A few days before Christmas we went Christmas caroling with the sister missionaries. On Christmas Eve the Sisters and Spanish speaking Elders joined us for dinner. Later that night, Michael shared the story of Luke 2 and shared some extra insights about the story which he had acquired from a good brother in our ward. It made the evening very sweet.
A few days later we traveled to St. George to see Bryan, Toni, Jordan and Katie. Toni is growing so big and learning to read.
On New Year's Eve, we decided to trek up to Ikea, a home furnishings store in Salt Lake. The store has locations all over the world, including Italy, so we plan to buy much of our furniture there. We invited our good friends, the Claysons, to join us. Pauline is Italian and Justin served in the Great Italy Catania Mission. Here is a photo journal of our fun day choosing our mission furnishings at Ikea:
I'm not sure what he's measuring here...
Mike's new favorite chair... a "must have"
Table for ten! It will be so fun to share our table with friends in Italy.
Even Zoe seemed to have a good time.
Did you know you can save on square footage by stacking your sofas on the wall? What a concept! :)
Junae likes this one!!
Justin Clayson taking a rest. This was HARD WORK!
They had everything... including my new kitchen sink :)
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