# one video. The building across the street is getting a face lift. We watched the scaffolding slowly materialize. Piece by piece. The video shows how each piece, one by one is put together. We thought it was painstakingly slow  but it was completed in about a week. I was out on the balcony filming and the guy up top waved.
#2 video. With the scaffolding complete, the men are scrapping off the old plaster. One bucket at a time! It has been an interesting lesson for me to learn. Little acts, one by one, will accomplish big things. Each person has their role in the process of making this building look new and lovely. Each pole, each board, carried up makes up the scaffolding that supports the workers. Those who walk the planks carrying bucket after bucket have to depend on the work of others for their safety and the success of the task. Each team has their job and each group is dependent upon the group before and the team that comes after to complete the project.
I find missionary work is very much like this project. We have come in on the heels of many other missionaries who have been building the scaffolding; the structure of the church, chipping away at faulty traditions, and polishing up the new lives. The basic building is sound & strong, just like the  people are good and kindhearted.  Together we're polishing each other up. Stones rolling on stone smoothing out the edges and shine up the rest. Each act, one at a time, adds to the whole and ALL benefit.

We have finished our inspections this week and that involved a little travel, Very little time and no pictures on that trip. We took the Sorella's with us and left early to complete the house checks and then attended a expanded district conference. Once again the Future Looks Bright. We have some amazingly good Missionaries out serving.
We had to make a quick return because I got a call from the Promesso Office. I needed to go in again, some of the paperwork was not approved by Rome. We got back to Crotone with 10 min. to spare,  made our appointment on time, but there was the usual long line up. We went through the group, and waited inside the hallway. The Officers stand behind large glass windows and talk though cut out holes. We were very grateful the Officer who helped us before was there and when the line thinned out a bite he waved us forward(being tall and blonde HELPED). Not knowing what the problem was caused a little touch of the nerves. As it turns out my fingerprints did not show up well enough for Romes approval, and I needed to redo them. All is well now?? We hope.
We are slowly becoming acquainted with our neighbors. Saying 'Salve' to everyone is easy, remembering names and where they live is different. It is a work in progress.
Our English class grow a little more. One student works at the hospital and she has been encouraging some of the other nurses to come. She is over them, she says no arm twisting though. Another man showed up because he is out of work and felt the language skill would help him. Another man and his brother came, (we saw him at the Promesso helping other people by translating for them). So English will be a third language for him. we had 17. We had our bubble popped when we heard the town we visited this week has 2 classes with 20 in each.
One of the Parents from the class had their Baby Daughter last night, all went well. The Sister from Church will have 5 more babies to help get here safe this next 7 to 9 days.
We also have an appointment to return and deliver a Book of Mormon to her friend on Tuesday. So praying all those little ones make it safely here from Heaven.

Friday is Fresh Baked Gluten Free Day! We missed it last week with travel so we increased our  order. The smaller rolls are a little different and a lot better, if that is possible, they are both way yummy!

 We were out doing a visit and came across a car that was around when Presidente B was here back in the 60's. He was excited to see it in such good shape and have that fun memory.
If you notice the one side has businesses, the other side is one of the many ruins around not in use. Not sure the time frame but it is just a block away from us!

 Okay so here is the coin. It is the silver one with an elephant on one side. Which brings up an interesting question, ELEPHANTS in Italy?

 Yesterday we had another amazing day. We found our Man on the street, Outside our apartment. Decinzo. He was happy to see us. We visited for a short time, He was needing to get inside, seemed not to anxious to visit with us this time around. But we have his name and where he likes to spend his time! And gave him our card with the Church information and phone #.
We have finished the rough draft of the museum pamphlet and went back to walk though and make sure the information was correct. Well not so much since they have moved part of it,( some just gone) but did come across this interesting piece. Two angels fighting. Any guesses who ?

 We were invited to go to a final class for new mothers. A birthing class, and share our thoughts on family. The instructor is the member who asked us to come and talk to the lawyer also. Anyway it went much better than we could have hoped. Elder B . Thanked them for being willing to sacrifice to have a family and that they were wise to take the time to learn to be good parents.
I had a few words, just that Children are a gift from God, and a blessing. Two of the couples were very interested in us, we have had a HUGE family by Italian standards and we are still married. All of the men are excited to have children and 3 out of the 4, this baby will be their first. Three are older parents. They then wanted to know why were in Italy and Elder B got to tell about the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith. One men was uncomfortable, because one of the dad's to be, said "why should babies be baptized, they have committed no sin". Anyway 2 hours later, all left with smiles, hugs, kisses, and we promised to keep them in our prayers!

 Lab coat is our Missionary+ sister. When we returned to her home, they have a house, she gave us many food items, YES we tried to tell she and her husband we were fine. Anyway she gave us a bottle of olive oil from her uncles grove. He is 85 and grows the olives and presses them himself. Well I'm really glad she did. The taste is like the difference from margarine and butter. This oil will make us major snobs. Can't go back to the other.

 The rain and wind today was incredible. The Elders arrived at the church soaked!!their rain coats protected the top half , their legs were a different story! ( No bikes in our area.)

 Today we are Presidente and Sorella Bullock, We are wearing Dad's attire. The Tie is " Leland Wells Sons of Thunder" LWSOT and I have on the scarf "Sister in Zion Zealously Leading Eternally"  SIZZLE ! Thank you Dad and George, we will work to represent those Ideals.
Elder B was called to be the Branch Presidente.

 Presidente Kiser has done a marvelous job.  Can't say enough good things . Wow!

The old is  young and young is old. Strange, Elder B was a branch president when he was Elder Kisers age as well , serving in Italy. So old Elder B will be new at this call , and young Elder K will be old. Only in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints do you see a such thing!
(And after three plus hours his pants are still a bit wet. We missed the real bad rain by about 5 minutes.)

 This is the castle we visited. This castle is being restored by the Italian Navy. At one point they had over 600 men living at the castle, now there are 47. The castle is now showing the original stone.

 School field day. Haley could be part of this class. This part of outside of the building has not been restored. ( located in the upper courtyard)

This is our Tour guide, a Naval officer who spoke English. He was very kind and spent an hour and a half with us showing us all of the ins and outs of the castle, and stories behind them. It was really fun! The buildings on that side of the courtyard had been restored.

 This is the chapel, They discovered a deep well and several treasure under the floor.

 There was a soldier was found below the chapel as well, I am standing next to the cover that was over his grave .

 The most valuable item found , thus far is this coin. The silver one that has an elephant on it. This coin dates back to the time of Christ. That which is Caesar's pay to Caesar. This would have been the type of silver coin used to pay Judas for his betrayal of Christ. ( Okay it just disappeared when I tried to point to the coin. The coin will have to show up in the next post!)

 This is one of the many hallways we walked through. I quickly looked at the picture and saw spots and decided I had a poor shot and took another one.

 Can you believe all the circles!. We took pictures all through the castle and this is the only place this happened.

 This is outside the castle with the famous bridge. the bridge sides swing back to the wall, they don't lift up to let ships pass through.
The Hansen's are also serving , working with the Singles in Italy.

We went back inside to exit & as we went through we were shown this small room. This is the room of the 3 musketeers . For real. They were to guard this entry area!

Across the street a couple blocks away we ran into these Greece Ruins. Everywhere, HISTORY

 On the way to inspect some more apartment, we came across this grove of olive trees. These trees are old, hope to  find out how old but they are amazing.

 We meet up with another senior couple in Taranto  and on our way to visit a castle we we pulled over by the police to check our paperwork on the car. It was a stressful event. Mr. Bean where are you?

We have been praying about how to proceed and what we should be doing here. It sounds easy , just isn't so cut and dry. We had a inspection and spent sometime with the missionaries. We just visited and encouraged them. Many of their good deeds were brought to mind and we expressed to them those thoughts. While visiting the thought , Membership support and leadership, this is your calling. We then went to another members work to have him help with an order, online, to get a JUICER, Yes we found a juicer so we can have our favorite drink, carrot juice.  He made the order, you have to have a # , like our SS# . He made the order and we talked. We had not met his father or brother yet and they ( who are not members) came in during that order and we got to tell the Dad and brother how much we appreciated their son /brother , their Mom/ wife and sister/ daughter we have had the pleasure to serve with. There was a nice warm feeling. There have been some hustle feelings we have been told so it was, we felt, a very good visit. We stayed after the Dad and brother left and helped with some school research. Once again the words came Membership support and leadership. We left and then ran into  a couple from the ward we never see other than at church and visited with them. We thanked them for the many many good things they do for the branch. The words came again. It was a sweet powerful  way to receive an answer to prayer. By deed and example, the Lord held our hands through the day and showed us what He wanted us to do.

We were walking down the street  and came upon this add. , Elder B turned to me and said, John would love this class. They help you build and learn how to fly 8 propellers helicopter.
Come on over we'll sign you up.

We found Laura's MK car. It may not look pink , but it is. It has a pearl finish. So this is one of three of four pink cars here.

 Part of our assignments is to inspect the missionaries apartments. This is entryway to one of the Elders apartment. The rock, marble? was amazingly unusual.

 This is outside the on the steps. The Elders were tip top by the way, we check inside cupboards, drawers, under beds, you name it , it is on the check list.  They were so squeaky clean we felt like we brought in dirt as we walked on their shiny white floors!

 We are exploring cheeses, there are 7 different types in the photo. The circle is from the cylinder cheese, the slice in the tan box is from the drum cheese and the clear plastic container is what they call Buffalo cheese. It is cheese made from water buffalo. That cheese and mozzarella  cheese are packaged in a liquid, to keep them very moist. Sounds crazy, but crazy can be very good.

Cut-up the buffalo cheese and put it on the  tomato sauce.
We have not found our friend who we meet on the street yet. The weather has been wet and cold, so we hope to find him on a warmer day.
We had District Meeting today. I tell you, the world is in good hands, we have some truly dedicated missionaries out here.
 This talk by Elder Holland,-- Elder Power House Holland-- says it all, 24 of January 2013 Invest in the Work
"This is the generation when the work will not fail. This is the dispensation that will receive the Son of God as the Lamb of God, and we will hand to Him the Church of the Lamb."...
"So you've got to invest yourself in this for your sake, for the Church's sake, and for heaven's sake. The angels are smiling down on this dispensation and expect so much of you in order that the Lord can triumphantly come. There's a lot riding on your shoulders. We know that . We know you're young, but we don't apologize for that . God has chosen young people to do His work from the beginning of time, and He has chosen you."
What a blessing to serve with these energetic, sweet, humble, faithful and inspired missionaries.
It is no wonder the Lord LOVES them!

Valentines Treat

Sunday 7:50 Bells.

Sorella Olga walked to church this morning. We were shocked and scared at the same time. She is 85 and walking in her pumps, up and down the steep cobble stone streets, she is around a mile and a half away, depending on how she walked. She is usually picked up by a brother who takes several to church, he always stops by at 8 and then drops her off at the church. He  then runs and gathers the others. No one was at her home at the 8am, she waited, not wanting to miss church she left at 8:40. Her ride showed up at 8:50 and was worried. Sorella Olga arrived at 9:20 in good shape and sorry she was soooooo late.

 

After flowers we walked to a restaurant that specializes in GLUTEN FREE foods. The Chef had studied in England, but was Italian, He came out and asked what I would like. It had been years since I eat a good pizza. I asked for a pizza that had veggies on it. He was excited about what he thought he could make. This pizza had eggplant (a favorite veggie here) zucchini, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and spinach! It was so good! Ate the rest today. SO fresh made Bread on Friday from a gluten free store and pizza Saturday. And I will tell you this stuff is as good, if not better, than the real deal!

 The Bells were captured some bells. Saturday night we had gone to visit a member and his non-member sisters. They live outside of the city by a small church with bells that play songs. I wanted to run outside and record, but yes I used my good manners, and remained inside!

Saturday we did a Heart attacks in the apartment, early, run around and dropped off Valentines to many ward members. Outside one of the member’s homes we met an elderly man who was very interested in who we were. He held Elder B’s hand and arm. He said he see us every day. He held my hand and it felt comfortable, like we knew each other. We will seek him out again tomorrow, he is another man who has been placed in our path.

Elder B then had Valentines plans of his own. He walked me to get flowers. The Florist was so Italy, He is just talking but you think he is angry. The flowers smell wonderful!

Just to give you an idea of the importance of Cheese here in Italy I have taken some pictures of a Superette which is not a big store but bigger than some.  Cheese, pasta, bread, and salami are everything in Italy. The tastes are distinct and one of a kind. Each city and village has their own brand and receipes. Hard for Americans to imagine, but none the less it is true. All of the cheeses (as well as the pasta, bread, and salami) have a stamp on them that states what city the cheese is made from.

 Those drums are cheese.

  When you look over by the door that is also a long cylinder of cheese.

Cheese , cheese and more cheese

The over sized, lawn mower looking machine is our mailman's vehicle to deliver mail in. We have now seen the postman 3 times since we have been here. Once on our street, here at the corner of the block where our church is and in our own apartment! We were told it is very risky to have mail delivered, by the locals, but there are mail people.

I'm not sure I will ever get used to seeing the beautiful marble lining the streets, buildings, steps, floors, walls, and everywhere else! Note the curbs, that is white marble, amazing!

 This picture was taken by just turning around from where the postman was. Elder B is standing at the entrance to the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. Graffiti is a huge problem all over Italy. I remember it from our first trip here some 30 years ago. It is shocking to see it on everything, but the marble is just sickening( it can't be painted over it has to be scrubbed off). The grey along the wall is marble.

 This is the entryway to the church just 6 steps up, note all the colors of marble, floor, wall strips and walls.

And welcome to church! On the side of the door is a flyer for English Courses. We have gone up and down with attendance. The weather plays a large part in who shows up. Almost everyone walks to class, so the cold wind and rain do not encourage attendance. We have been told by those who attend, they will get an increase in salary if they can speak English. Tourism is a big source of income here in Italy. We also have students who are taking the classes so they can go and work in England. The European Union allows work anywhere but they do need to speak the language. We have a Guy who comes with his 2 sons, (maybe 8 and 10) so they can learn the language as well. His goal is to move to London to work. There will be better work and more opportunities for his sons, he has 3. I think I already told about him but the fact remains, there are few who see their future here. Another class member also travels back and forth from Italy to Germany and England for work. He will be gone for the next several months with his job to Germany. Elder B has been working with the Elders in the advanced class and they have been very impressed with the commitment and  efforts to learn and retain the information. 
Tonight is class again and so far the weather is not too bad!

Thursday 12 Feb 2015

It has been a wild few days.  It has rained some every day since Monday.  The wind has been very strong.  The gusts were in excess of 50 mph and perhaps even touching hurricane strength. The winds were out of the north and when I looked at some weather charts, my suspicion was confirmed; there was a low pressure center developing south of us in the Mediterranean sea.  It looked to be just slightly lower than 1000 mb so just an ordinary low, nothing too radical.  I wonder what things will be like when a deep low sets up in the same area.  The wind rattles the shutters and the French doors out to the balcony making it difficult to sleep at night.  The elders said they solved the problem by putting a pillow between the two.  The other problem for us is that the wind seeps through the door and it was cold…in the 40s.  So the house was pretty cold despite the best efforts of our heat registers.  I have to admit the weather was also pretty fun to watch; we had some thunderstorms mixed in and the convection produced snow pellets several times on Monday, what fun for an ex forecaster!

In district meeting yesterday I had the assignment for the miracle of the week.  Sis B thought all the little helps we had getting the car serviced qualified, but I thought that our prayers to find an investigator were answered quickly and in a way that qualified as miracle of the week.  One of the members, Sorella Tedesco met with a lawyer here in town on a work related matter (she is a mid-wife).  They hit it off very well and he asked her about her religion.  She told him a little about our church and said that there were missionaries here in town and would he like to meet them.  He was interested so she set an appointment for Wednesday afternoon.  This man is a well-known lawyer here in Crotone with many connections political and otherwise.  He is also a devout catholic and has some connections in Rome and with the pope if I understood things correctly; he does go there frequently as he is now 70 and retired, or perhaps semi-retired would be closer to the truth.  We met with him last night and had a friendly if at times a bit lively discussion.  He asked about polygamy and I don’t feel like I answered him as well as I would have liked.  Like many he asked what the difference is between our church and the Catholic Church.  I started in with modern day prophets and the story of Joseph Smith but he interrupted me right after I told him a little about the first vision, so I wasn’t very happy with the little bit that I got in edgewise thereafter.  I did tell him a little about the Book of Mormon and that the Savior had appeared to the people on the American continent.  We will give him a copy of the Book of Mormon and I am sure he will read it and want to talk about it, especially those doctrines that differ from those of the Catholic Church.  In talking about this experience this morning Sis B. had some great insights.  During our meeting she felt that family is very important to him (we did leave a copy of the proclamation on the family) and he would be very interested in the temple and how families are sealed together there.  She also had the best answer regarding polygamy that I have heard; I wish we could have shared that with him during our meeting, but we expect there will be another opportunity.  It did start me thinking about polygamy and I think I should write a short essay to capture those thoughts; in essence we need not be apologetic but bold in pointing out that the Lord accomplished his purposes in commanding the practice in our time.  Just as important is the advice that the mission president gave me that I should pray that Sis B can sense the things that I do not see or sense in our meetings with others; I did and the meeting last night was a fulfillment of that counsel

I suppose the other item to note is what a difference there can be with a senior missionary couple.  I have seen this several times already that people are interested in talking to us that do not seem to want to talk with the younger elders and sisters.  It is surprising and remarkable to me but it is certainly true here.  I suppose the opposite is also true, that there are some who will talk to young missionaries but not the tried and true set.  Oh well, to each his own.

P-Day

Monday 9 Feb. 2015

It seems we cannot win on Preparation Day! Every week we have been here it has rained on Monday. The wind had been beating the house all night but it had let up for a time and thought it safe to venture out.  We got up early and put our towels out and on the line. Thirty minutes later we were taking them off because it started to rain. Also the wind was blowing so hard we were afraid the towels would disappear. Several clothes pins had flipped apart, and were ‘Gone with the Wind’, yes pun intended.

 The clouds broke and it looked like we were over the storm. We got our sheets out, low and behold, the wind blow, the rains came and then the snow and hail! The sheets remain on the line and they are much wetter than when they went out. It might help to understand the effort it takes to get things clean here. I pre-soak and wash in the tub before putting them in the washer. The small drum holds little and washes some. After hand washing and machine washing they are ready to be put out on the line. Dropping them is part of the problem and blowing around on the line hitting all kinds of things, is another. So now that I know first-hand the struggle it is to look clean and tidy, I have to hand it to the Italians, they have mastered this problem! They look clean and neat.

Amendment to the last entry.

It was 2 euro for 2 boxes to powdered sugar, and the milk container is a litter so a little more than a quart.

We are hoping to get some shopping done when this crazy pelting stops!

 This is in the Village of Alberobello, a city set on many hills.

 A view from a wall looking over some of the village.

 We had to stop. We have a McDonald's in Crotone , just never went. But we did go in Taranto. It is much less money at Mc Donald's for shakes!! 1 euro !

 This little car was outside one of the members apartment, there are several PINK cars here in Crotone. None are Mary Kay though!

 Flour and gluten free, can you guess the difference? I had made cookies a few days before and they looked beautiful!! Sale is salt and zucchero is sugar. I put 2 cups of salt and 1t of sugar in the mix. I was so upset to have to throw all that gluten free flour away, I couldn't even laugh about it. Everything comes in very small containers. The prices are not too bad but it takes such effort to get enough and haul it up to your apartment, you understand why they shop everyday.

 Milk comes in these little boxes about 3 cups, this is cream and they are found in the store on shelves, not in coolers. Eggs are also on shelves 6 in a container. The oven is centigrade, we guess temps. Food is a little difficult as well, we thought we had bought plain yogurt, there is no sour cream, along with many other ingredients (we are using all kinds of alternate ingredients) anyway back to yogurt, I was making cream of potato soup and used yogurt , it was sweet. It makes for a interesting taste. But not as bad as you might think. We found a bottle of maple syrup it was 8 oz for 5 euro. We bought it and were excited to have it. We found powered sugar, there was one cup in the box. 2 euro. We eat little and know when we are invited to eat , they too are paying high prices to feed us so we eat little there. Fruit and veggies are cheap! that is what everyone eats.

Brother B's first hair cut in Italy. He is ready to have it done again. He said his barber washed , massaged, and trimmed his hair, then he washed it again massaged it and trimmed some more and a third time, this time with hair drying and curling irons to finish the look. They have barbers for men and saloons for women, no mixing!
Hair is important and we see very different hair styles all over the city. But all are attractive and well groomed.
We were told at zone conference to keep our shoes polished and in good repair. Shoes are a source of pride here. Italy is known for their beautiful shoes. ( While at Aberobello we came across a street market. one whole street was shoes!) The Mission President told us one of the members confided in him that he was embarrassed to take the missionaries to a friend he wanted them to teach because they looked untidy and their shoes had wholes, and scratches. Their shoes had not been polished and looked like beggars.
The President provided polish and asked everyone to clean up their act.
Just for those who are gluten free, we have a new discovery, We found a gluten free store one block east of us and gluten free restaurant one block west of us. I am in Heaven, this store is very reasonable so it a store of choice!

Sunday Feb. 8 2015

We have been to zone conference the theme was “FAITH” I kept thinking of one of my favorite quotes from Sister Hinckley, “First I will obey, then I will understand.” One story captured my attention completely. Sister Arnold shared an experience about her Senior Companion. Sister Arnold was engaged in personal study when her companion turned to her and said, someone is waiting for us to find her, we need to get out the map, pray and go to her. Sister Arnold was a new missionary and was a little dazed but obeyed. They found an area on the map they prayed about, it felt right and they went out. They had been tracking, (knocking door to door) for 2 hours. They came to a door and when the door was opened the Lady at the door started to cry. She opened her arms to the Senior Companion and they were welcomed in. This lady was someone the senior companion had taught in another city. This woman just disappeared and they could not find her. The senior companion had been transferred, moved to another city, and was sad they could not locate the lady. They had taught this lady at the church a couple of times and had no address for her or phone number, it had been 4 months since their last meeting. The story was impressive, this lady had been in a terrible accident and was in a coma for 2 months and moved to a different area for treatment. She had just been released from the hospital a short time before. She had been praying, because she was in a new city, that God would send Sisters to find her and teach her. She pleaded that God would do this thing because she did not know how to find them. She was overcome when the Sisters were at her door, God had heard and answered her prayers and much more, sent the Sister whom she loved and wanted to be taught by.

We had our interview with the Mission President and all is well. There are still some difficulties in the Branch and it will the end of the month before any changes might be made.

We had heard about a city called Alberobello, ( All-bear-row-bel- low) not far from Taranto, where zone conference was. We wanted to go to Bari because there is an Ikea there. (We had purchased lots of household kitchen items at the Ikea in Roma that were too big for our economy sized appliances here in Crotone.) Anyway the village of Aberobello was on the way to Bari and it is very unique. We stayed in an Tulli,( Too- lee) an unusual construction of a home. We stayed at a bed and breakfast. The pictures tell the story best, although the fact that they are made of 5 feet thick walls at the base and very cold inside is the other part of the story. The owners are a retired medical doctor and his wife, a retired school teacher and their oldest son. The shape is different and we asked the story behind it. The people who built them in the 1700 and 1800’s did not want to pay taxes so they came up with a way to collapse the roof quickly. If they had dwelling places, they could be taxed. When the tax collectors came they collapsed the roof and said “this is just a pile of rocks, NO DEWELLING place”. The place we stayed at had all been plastered in, but when you see how cleaver the collapsible roof is, it is amazing!

 Taranto Has a real building, large and spacious, I will take better pictures next time. We just don't appreciate the beauty of our church buildings in the states!

 This is the Tulli we stayed in, the small door is to the bathroom, the walkway into the bath is at least 4 feet deep, .

 The doors ways require lots of bending down.

 This is outside the Tulli, the square building in the back is the addition the owners put on.

 Hard to tell but the inside is a cone shape.

 There is another larger Tulli available to rent and the owner showed us. We thought of some of the senior couples. By the way this place is very much like Allen's in Lindon place. They have olives groves, vineyards, peach, cherry, clementine, oranges, lemons, limes,and pecan trees. We had his celementines for breakfast they had a different and delicious flavor from the ones here in Crotone. We asked him about that and he said every area has their our variety.( Just for those who know the movie 'Letter's to Juliet" the owner really looked like the older star who marries in the end.)

 The outside of the larger Tulli.

 Pool side.

Leaving the bed and breakfast, there are a few trees flowering.