This weekend we awoke to a new email from Presidente Nudo. After much prayer, he feels that our first assignment should be Siracusa, not Palermo. I have to admit that at first I was a little disappointed. Palermo was my first city in the mission thirty years ago and there are several people I taught back then who are no longer in the Church. I had hopes of working with them while there. However, we told Pres. Nudo that we would put everything in his hands, as he would be directing our work, so I am grateful that he has been prayerful and has made this decision.
So... Siracusa. Although it was an open city while I was serving there, I was never assigned there. Everyone who did serve there enjoyed it immensely! Strangely, Michael has felt for over a year that we would be serving in Siracusa. We will discover the city for the first time together, and that will make the adventure all the more exciting.
We will be working with the YSA program there. It is called GANS in Italy (Giovanni Adulti Non Sposati). We will find young adults to teach , reactivate, assist the younger missionaries in teaching young adults, support the center where they will congregate, and assist in planning activities that will help them serve in the community and grow in friendship. It sounds very much like some of the work we did at Deseret Academy. We held service projects for the high school students once a month and conducted three-day younth conferences twice a year. The experiences we had there will help us trememdously in Italy.
I leave for Italy March 12th and will be there for ten days. I will use the time there to find a house and enroll Junae in school. A dear friend is traveling with me and it will be fun to show her Italy.
I am enjoying my calling here in Manti so much. I am a ward missionary and am learning so much from the great people I work with. Terry Bradley is an incredible ward mission leader. I wish we could take him with us to Italy, but I plan to take as much of his enthusiasm with me that I can. We love our life here in Manti... our family... the good friendships we enjoy, the caliber of leadership in our stake... it will be difficult to leave this for two years. We will miss you all!
Prior to leaving for Italy, we will be speaking in Sacrament on May 29, at 12:50 (they are not called farewells anymore). We invite you all to come. Jessica's baby girl will likely be blessed that day, too. We look forward to seeing you!
