It’s great to be back. What can I say. Italy is beautiful no matter where you go. Since leaving the mission field, I have had the opportunity to visit a couple of times. I always swore that no place could be more beautiful than Sicily or the Puglia. But when I toured my husband’s mission with him a few years ago (the Padova mission), I found a new Italy. Siena is beautiful and I think Firenze must be the most beautiful city I have ever seen.
Still, it’s good to be back in Sicily. Its personality has evolved some over the past thirty years. Some changes have been for the better, other lost elements will be missed.
What has gone the way of progress? Well, there are less buses roaming the streets. The missionaries in Siracusa don’t even take the bus; they walk everywhere. Routes have been decreased as car ownership has increased. Fortunately we have a car. I can’t imagine being even marginally productive today without one.
If you happen to take a bus, gone are the matriarchs wearing black clothing - in lutto (mourning). This sad tradition has fortunately faded with time and the older mothers and grandmothers wear bright colored clothing when the season permits. Dark colors are still popular during winter months. I remember teaching a 28 year old woman in Palermo. She had lost her husband and was left to raise four young children by herself. She always wore black - she said it was socially required, even at her age. I always felt so bad about that. I found her last summer. She is remarried and is wearing colors again!
The cities don’t seem to be as clean as they once were. I remember waking up early in the morning in Taranto to go jogging with my companion, and seeing elderly men dressed in black, out in droves, sweeping the streets with their handmade brooms. In some places, trash is not picked up for days and it piles up around the dumpster. Some say this is because Italy went to the Euro, which some believe, was not good for Italy. So there’s no money to pay for public service. Others say it’s because of government corruption. I don’t know which it is, but it is sad and I keep trying to think of ways to get people to clean up. We plan to hold a street party in our neighborhood and get everyone on our block to clean up our own piece of the world. Who knows? Maybe it will catch on. Panhandlers are everywhere, too. I only mention this because I think they can be part of the solution. Some will start washing your windshield when you're stopped at a light whether you like it or not; some try to sell you something; others just ask for money - going from car to car until the light changes. Last summer while we toured together, Presidente Gambarotto (my mission president) always insisted on giving them some change. Although I admire him for his charity, I would rather see these people at the side of the street - where it’s safer - picking up TRASH! I’d stop and donate money for that! Maybe they could designate one person to wear an orange vest and carry a sign telling motorists what they were working to do. He could collect donations that would be distributed amongst whomever was working. There is work everywhere! You just have to find it. Ok - I’m stepping off of my soapbox.
And the graffiti!!! It’s everywhere... on every sacred piece of antiquity in Italy! So sad. Teen unemployment is high and they have too much time on their hands. Put them to work scrubbing it off. I haven’t figured out the logistics of this yet.
Things I miss seeing... men wearing caps... almost non-existent. They don’t often carry borsas anymore either... or walk down the street together, arms linked. But in Sicily they do still greet each other with a kiss on both cheeks. Sicilians are as affectionate as ever. Decorated Sicilian carts are rare. I’ve only seen two since I’ve been here. The STANDA is all but dead and occasionally you will see an UPIM, but now they have Auchen, an Italian version of WalMart. I think we visited Auchen every day for the first ten days we were here. The supermarkets have pushed out some of the specialty stores. You have to hunt a bit for a panificio, macelleria, or cartoleria, and I have yet to find a latteria anywhere. We have found a great open market here though, and were excited to find (first by smell) a pesceria. We buy our fruit there from the fruttivendolo because it’s grown locally and costs less.
I love walking down the street and smelling MOST things - even bus exhaust has it’s sweet memories. There are no more boom boxes though. Of course not. Everyone has an mp3 player, but I miss hearing Italian music blasting up and down the streets or in the open market where vendors blasted tunes to advertise their black market cassette tapes. This was how I discovered Italian music (from the boomboxes, not from the bootleg tapes). “Gloria” by Umberto Tozzi is now an oldie, but it’s still played on the radio once in a while. Thankfully there’s YouTube and I can still find out what’s new in Italian music.
We can go to the beach :) Yes, we have been to Mondello in Palermo and to beaches in Taranto and Siracusa. Beautiful!!!
You will be happy to know that arancini, pizze, panzzerotti, foccacia, gelato, Fanta, etc, are as delicious as ever - even Nutella tastes better in Italy. They even have Pringles if it’s something you just can’t live without.
As for the work - we still hear “no c’e’ nessuno”. That one was always a puzzle to me.
The south is warm - in temperature and kindness. The members are awesome. Leadership is well prepared and strong. But there is still plenty of missionary work to do and it seems we are needed just as much or more now. Life’s experiences have hopefully taught us a few things about sharing the gospel. We are certainly more grateful to the Lord for the blessings in our lives and we are more at ease in sharing it with strangers - who hopefully will not be strangers for long. We love being here. We hope to do some good. The temple in Rome will push the work along rapidly and we will have the opportunity to participate in and witness miracles - I am sure.
Vi vogliamo bene! Hurrah for Israel!!!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
More Updates From Patti
Dear Family and Friends,
We are finally settled in Siracusa. Every morning when I wake up, I have to pinch myself... am I really here? We love our home, we love the work, and we love the people here. So far, our work is as follows:
We are working with the Young Single Adults and the Institute and Seminary Program. Our leaders are Maurizio Bellomo and Felice Lotito, Michael's Mission President. We had a training with both of them the first week we were here and have met again with Maurizio (Pres. Bellomo). Michael has been called as the institute Director for eastern Sicily. This includes Gela, Ragusa, Siracusa, Catania, Sigonella, and Messina. We travel a LOT back and forth and it is so fun to get to know the members in ALL of these areas. This year Italy moves to a daily seminary program instead of once a week and I will be teaching daily seminary in Siracusa. Wow, what a stretch!! Although I have taught seminary before, I have never done in in Italian! The language is slowly coming back, though. I hope it arrives before classes begin in September :) Michael will be teaching an Institute class. We will both be teaching the Old Testament. I am excited!
We are assisting in setting up an official Outreach Center for young single adults in Catania. The Franceschinis are the official head couple there, but they leave the mission field in October. Most of our time is spent in trainings, traveling between cities and YSA activities, meeting with bishoprics, and searching out inactive young adults. It is such a sweet experience when we get one of them to agree to come to an activity and be with the other young people.
We also find time to go out with the anziani e sorelle. There are two of each here in Siracusa. Last week we attended our first Zone Conference which consisted of Ragusa, Siracusa, Catania, Messina, and Reggio Calabria. About 14 missionaries in all - 16, counting us. What an amazing experience it is to be involved with this work again on a full-time basis!!!
Last week we had our first YSA activity in Siracusa. They have had them before, but this one put us on the path to an official Young Adult Center. The purpose is to provide a place where the young people can come together in an environment that is spiritually uplifting and gives them the opportunity to meet others of their faith. Too often they marry outside the Church and struggle to maintain activity. We are so impressed with all of them. They are strong and have burning testimonies. This is such a critical age and the Church wants to do all possible to keep them strong, as they will be the future leaders of the Church.
Today I am in the house with Katie. A trip to a beautiful beach here in Siracusa the other day resulted in some serious sunburn, so we are recovering a bit. :(
We love you all. Hurrah for Israel!
Sorella Patti Landes Adams
We are finally settled in Siracusa. Every morning when I wake up, I have to pinch myself... am I really here? We love our home, we love the work, and we love the people here. So far, our work is as follows:
We are working with the Young Single Adults and the Institute and Seminary Program. Our leaders are Maurizio Bellomo and Felice Lotito, Michael's Mission President. We had a training with both of them the first week we were here and have met again with Maurizio (Pres. Bellomo). Michael has been called as the institute Director for eastern Sicily. This includes Gela, Ragusa, Siracusa, Catania, Sigonella, and Messina. We travel a LOT back and forth and it is so fun to get to know the members in ALL of these areas. This year Italy moves to a daily seminary program instead of once a week and I will be teaching daily seminary in Siracusa. Wow, what a stretch!! Although I have taught seminary before, I have never done in in Italian! The language is slowly coming back, though. I hope it arrives before classes begin in September :) Michael will be teaching an Institute class. We will both be teaching the Old Testament. I am excited!
We are assisting in setting up an official Outreach Center for young single adults in Catania. The Franceschinis are the official head couple there, but they leave the mission field in October. Most of our time is spent in trainings, traveling between cities and YSA activities, meeting with bishoprics, and searching out inactive young adults. It is such a sweet experience when we get one of them to agree to come to an activity and be with the other young people.
We also find time to go out with the anziani e sorelle. There are two of each here in Siracusa. Last week we attended our first Zone Conference which consisted of Ragusa, Siracusa, Catania, Messina, and Reggio Calabria. About 14 missionaries in all - 16, counting us. What an amazing experience it is to be involved with this work again on a full-time basis!!!
Last week we had our first YSA activity in Siracusa. They have had them before, but this one put us on the path to an official Young Adult Center. The purpose is to provide a place where the young people can come together in an environment that is spiritually uplifting and gives them the opportunity to meet others of their faith. Too often they marry outside the Church and struggle to maintain activity. We are so impressed with all of them. They are strong and have burning testimonies. This is such a critical age and the Church wants to do all possible to keep them strong, as they will be the future leaders of the Church.
Today I am in the house with Katie. A trip to a beautiful beach here in Siracusa the other day resulted in some serious sunburn, so we are recovering a bit. :(
We love you all. Hurrah for Israel!
Sorella Patti Landes Adams
Thursday, July 14, 2011
We have arrived in Italy!!!!
Not only have we arrived, but we have been here for a month now. Our first post in Italy comes from Mike:
Ciao Tutti,
One month in Italy. The time has flown. Flight over was pretty uneventful, just exhausting. Two days in Rome (need at least 10 to see anything, but can come back); two days in Firenze (lots of mosquitoes); three days in Taranto; lunch with Salvo (the great young man who daniel baptized)in Crotone and on to our new home in Siracusa. Not much grass growing under our feet two days later, as we head to Palermo for our first training with our area coordinator from France. It was great to see my former mission president, Felice Lototo, and one of patti's elders, Maurizio Bellomo. They are both leaders over the program we have been assigned to and we will be working with them from here on out. I am now an institute director for the east side of the island. That’s good, right? I will teach classes. In Italian. I even took some of them, a LONG time ago. In English. The Lord qualifies whom he calls. There’s going to be an awful lot of qualifying going on around here, folks. Patti will be teaching seminary to the students in Siracusa. they are moving from once a week to five days per week.
We are getting settled in the apartment. Sometimes it seems like our calling is really to shop for the missing utensil in the kitchen, or straighten out the cell phone (lots of that). America has some kitchen tools we miss. We have had trouble finding a cheese slicer and potato peeler.
Cars are little here. A Chrysler PT Cruser is a big-ish car, and the occasional Dodge mini van is just in the way. No place to park it. Nearly everything is turbo diesel. 40+ mpg is normal town driving. And they still go 100 mph. Not that I have tried it or anything… We traded in the expensive Peugeot 5008 and are now in a FIAT Punto. Interesting info on Wiki, if that sort of stuff absorbs you.
We visited Messina today. Good people doing good things. The bishop is in his mid-thirties and a fireball. We went over the list of YSA and identified the active, less active, already married, about to marry, moved out, and other categories. A BBQ- beach activity was planned and institute (see above) classes discussed.
There is a similar couple in Palermo, the Norths. She served her mission a few years before us, and is doing well. Her husband knows Spanish and is coming up to speed quickly. They recently finished a mission at the Mormon Battalion center in Old Town San Diego where they had their two pianos shipped for performances. He sang in the Mormon Tab choir for years and she is a concert pianist. I can sing Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree if you give me a starting note.
The girls are still nervous to even go and buy something. Junae has had three years of us quizzing on vocabulary, and is just now feeling the pinch. We had a large YSA (Young Single Adult) conference this past week, and she was relieved to find many who had gone on English speaking missions and could converse with her at length. The kids downstairs from our apartment are great to make her feel at home and teach her vocabulary words. I hope she is picking it up! School starts soon.
Mt Etna has been a little active lately. Nothing we can’t run from. Yet.
Lots of windmills and photovoltaic panels here. We are way behind on that sort of stuff. Likewise, much more fluorescent and LED light usage here.
Patti and I go out finding daily. This entails contacting the YSA in their homes and friend shipping them first, then inviting to participate in activities and institute. The members here are much different than 31 years ago. In our day, we taught them to pray, the word of wisdom, chastity, etc. Today they run the wards and stakes like pros, but in a different language. The gospel discussions are mature and deep. The auxiliaries are run efficiently. The people are well versed. Still, they are happy we are here to lend a hand. We have been out tracting and finding less-active members. The responses from those who want to be left alone have not evolved in 30 years. And our desire to help them has not changed either. The Catholic church has a little less influence on them today (good and bad), but the traditions remain strong. But We’ll keep plugging away. Training and conferences and meetings and prep for teaching round out our time.
For pictures, see our individual Facebook pages. Anziano Adams (Mike)
Ciao Tutti,
One month in Italy. The time has flown. Flight over was pretty uneventful, just exhausting. Two days in Rome (need at least 10 to see anything, but can come back); two days in Firenze (lots of mosquitoes); three days in Taranto; lunch with Salvo (the great young man who daniel baptized)in Crotone and on to our new home in Siracusa. Not much grass growing under our feet two days later, as we head to Palermo for our first training with our area coordinator from France. It was great to see my former mission president, Felice Lototo, and one of patti's elders, Maurizio Bellomo. They are both leaders over the program we have been assigned to and we will be working with them from here on out. I am now an institute director for the east side of the island. That’s good, right? I will teach classes. In Italian. I even took some of them, a LONG time ago. In English. The Lord qualifies whom he calls. There’s going to be an awful lot of qualifying going on around here, folks. Patti will be teaching seminary to the students in Siracusa. they are moving from once a week to five days per week.
We are getting settled in the apartment. Sometimes it seems like our calling is really to shop for the missing utensil in the kitchen, or straighten out the cell phone (lots of that). America has some kitchen tools we miss. We have had trouble finding a cheese slicer and potato peeler.
Cars are little here. A Chrysler PT Cruser is a big-ish car, and the occasional Dodge mini van is just in the way. No place to park it. Nearly everything is turbo diesel. 40+ mpg is normal town driving. And they still go 100 mph. Not that I have tried it or anything… We traded in the expensive Peugeot 5008 and are now in a FIAT Punto. Interesting info on Wiki, if that sort of stuff absorbs you.
We visited Messina today. Good people doing good things. The bishop is in his mid-thirties and a fireball. We went over the list of YSA and identified the active, less active, already married, about to marry, moved out, and other categories. A BBQ- beach activity was planned and institute (see above) classes discussed.
There is a similar couple in Palermo, the Norths. She served her mission a few years before us, and is doing well. Her husband knows Spanish and is coming up to speed quickly. They recently finished a mission at the Mormon Battalion center in Old Town San Diego where they had their two pianos shipped for performances. He sang in the Mormon Tab choir for years and she is a concert pianist. I can sing Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree if you give me a starting note.
The girls are still nervous to even go and buy something. Junae has had three years of us quizzing on vocabulary, and is just now feeling the pinch. We had a large YSA (Young Single Adult) conference this past week, and she was relieved to find many who had gone on English speaking missions and could converse with her at length. The kids downstairs from our apartment are great to make her feel at home and teach her vocabulary words. I hope she is picking it up! School starts soon.
Mt Etna has been a little active lately. Nothing we can’t run from. Yet.
Lots of windmills and photovoltaic panels here. We are way behind on that sort of stuff. Likewise, much more fluorescent and LED light usage here.
Patti and I go out finding daily. This entails contacting the YSA in their homes and friend shipping them first, then inviting to participate in activities and institute. The members here are much different than 31 years ago. In our day, we taught them to pray, the word of wisdom, chastity, etc. Today they run the wards and stakes like pros, but in a different language. The gospel discussions are mature and deep. The auxiliaries are run efficiently. The people are well versed. Still, they are happy we are here to lend a hand. We have been out tracting and finding less-active members. The responses from those who want to be left alone have not evolved in 30 years. And our desire to help them has not changed either. The Catholic church has a little less influence on them today (good and bad), but the traditions remain strong. But We’ll keep plugging away. Training and conferences and meetings and prep for teaching round out our time.
For pictures, see our individual Facebook pages. Anziano Adams (Mike)
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