Today we said good bye to Anziano Nessen  We also celebrated his birthday which is next week.

 Elder Williams will also be transferred and we celebrated his birthday which we will miss by one month!

 We will loss Sorella McFarland (in black blouse) , Nessen and Williams from our district. They will be replaced by one greenie and two main stays!

 Last District meeting together !

 Last night we had a GESSO--- You all go to one location and meet people and invite them to English class or to Learn more about the Gospel- have a lesson.

 The Sorella will have a lesson with one of the few English speaking people I met. She went by twice and I stopped her the second time. She is here from England and has been teaching English in the British School. She is not working right now, but she has learned about the MORMONS from a U-Tube made by a family is Idaho. She has been following them for 5 years! And she wants to know MORE!!!
I gave out another Card to a man who was here from Iran. He said he would give the card to his friends because he was leaving town. Well tonight three men showed up to English class, all three were his friends. One from Pakistan and 2 from Afghanistan. They were very nice and so VERY happy to be able to speak English. One spoke very well and made comments about the number of Americans in his country. He was positive about the protection they offer. One said he had been in Crotone for 8 months and we were the first people he had been able to speak English to! They are 20-25 years old. The 20 year old said it is important to speak English because English is the Universal Language. They are here trying to get their paper work so they can live in Europe. American is their goal but any place other than their countries is desired! They are all trying to get their families out as well.

 Who wouldn't want to do a Gesso by the Sea!

 Anziano Nessen took out a foot ball and started to toss the ball around, he got lots of attention!

 The Plastic table cloth acts as a blackboard and we wrote ENGLISH COURSE on it with our stick figures !

 When we got this rug it was rather dirty, and now Anziano Bullock has cleaned and scrubbed and cleaned some more and it likes beautiful!

 We located a jewelry who do all their own work.  We went in for some Crotone symbols and they had a new one the son had made. Anziano Bullock said we will take it----- No he never says that!
The Dad is wrapping up like it is the crowned jewels!

 Here is the Artist and his work. It is silver and gold with the Greek Symbol of Crotone!

 The whole City is showered in colorful sprays of flowers! just a couple of bushes we see everywhere!

Anziano Morgan's last Pizza Night , hosted by our English Student, Gracella, Gracella went to another place and brought me chicken and veggies to eat! She is not just generous but very thoughtful!

 We are celebrating Anziano Morgan's birthday, he will head back home on Saturday! He has been a great English teacher and is a gifted linguist! We will miss his ability to communicate fluently. 

 We also had a Guess where transfers will take our District! The Sorella's brought Kinder Eggs, This was new to me--- They look like chocolate egg shells and when you crack them open, there is a plastic container that looks like a egg and inside that is a toy!! Pretty fun. it is a mission activity which we didn't know about! The toy predicts where they will be headed. We also did our balloon guess----- Anziano Williams blew his balloon up so big, a hour later it popped!
Anziano Morgan got a DRAGON!! He kindly gave it to me and I added it to the Dragon collection. Sorella Waddoups sent 4 new pictures of Dragons she found in Roma! It was a Dragon week for sure!

 We will see who stays and who goes Saturday!

 We went on a finding trip. We have a record of a member who was baptized some 43 years ago. Her records showed up some time ago but no one knew her. We went to see if she is still around. It was an hour and half drive up to the mountains. 20 miles from this mountain top town. 

 We stopped to ask if anyone knew this lady and the first place we went was the town museum-- They knew her. This is a field of fruit trees some in blossom , look like apple. 

 This is a cherry tree. Cherry trees were all over the mountain sides!!!!!!!!!! We think we may have been about 4 thousand feet above sea level

 We were not sure about how big this town would be so we asked the Anziani to join us and we could start at each end of the town and find her. Our first stop told us where she lived. She and her husband run a good sized hotel. She is in Japan visiting family right now. But we will be back! And the lost was found!

 This lake was beautiful, the hotel is up the road a quarter of a mile, so a prefect location! There were about 20 buildings in the area so no need for the Anziano , but we all loved the drive and beauty of this area!

Another lost item found! The name tag was lost before we left for Roma  around 4 weeks ago. I had ordered a new one hoping it would be ready when we got to Roma. Yesterday the Anziano got to the Church and found my name tag on the door knob! Someone dropped it off . It is banged up a bite but amazing that we have it back at all!

Just wanted show our Kinder Eggs! President Bullock got the Polar Bear with a machine gun and I got the Hello Kitty with a magic wand and wings!

He said you get to fly around and sprinkle magic and I get to be the enforcer!

 Okay it is all backwards now this should be after the video, but this shot is of the Order of the Knight's Templet?, like in the movie "National Treasure" the parade is headed up from the sea to return the picture to the Duomo. 

 The Priests were singing a chant, rather chilling, beautifully done, just something unsettling.

 The Priests in Purple lead the parade down to the sea earlier.

 There it is the picture of the madonna. This picture is not the real one but it is gold with real diamonds in the madonna's crown. Sorry we couldn't see it from our view point.

You have now seen the festival of Crotone!

We arrived before 7:50 pm and watched a steady flow of people walk down to the sea for the fireworks and the arrival of the madonna for the next hour and 30 minutes. There is a parade down to the sea and then another big parade to escort the picture back up to the Duomo. When the fireworks went off, they announced the arrival of the madonna, all the people just stopped in the streets to watch the fireworks. There were thousand and thousands-- amazing for this little town. Our host said there are Americans who come to this every year???  It was a bite weird to see this big event for a picture.

 We are headed down to the festival of the Madonna. The sea is at the end of the street. The yellow 4 story building is where we will be watching from directly in front of Brother b( In the first floor). The Madonna is carried out to the Old chapel where is came from and then returned by sea. This Framed picture--- NOT a statue --is the miracle of being preserved from fire and being lost at sea and found undamaged. AT 1 am that morning the madonna was carried out for  a sunrise service and now it will return at sunset.

 The frame will be carried up the street to the Duomo. This frame is not the real one. The real one is only brought out every 7 years , we are told next year will be the 7th year. 

ON our walk we found the tree the fruit with the stones/pits came from. 

 One of the African booths, pots, woodcarvings, baskets and who knows what else??

 Purses Purses and more Purses. The most numerous and popular booths were Purses.

 The booths lined the docks, this just showed how close we were to the yachts harbor. The flowering bush was shockingly pink and poured over the only fence. 

 We bought flowers from this man, he said the flowers we bought were handmade, they looked surprising similar to the ones sold by the Chinese Stores, but he was fun to visit with.

 One of the few entrances to the street fair.

 It is hard to see BUT this cottonwood is popping forth with tons of fuzzy white puffs of allergy enjoyment! 

 The Roma Italy Mission's answer for , BASKETBALL! The buildings have only enough room for meetings and classes. We have seen only one building with a GYM. That was not in Roma!  

 This is our DRY CLEANER , He yells out to every customer 'Buon Giorno' ( depending on the time of day) . You are to greet   every time you enter any place. Church , classes, stores, it is rude not to say something! In the middle of class we have people walk in and say a greeting! It doesn't matter, even Sacrament Meeting! It has taken me a while to figure out I was just being rude not to! Big stores, little stores you either greet the air or a person, but you say something.

 Okay Mom, this is hand blown glass, a collectors item, and no longer made. That is gold and the best value as the owner is selling at rock bottom prices, All three of these pictures are collectors pieces.

I like these pieces but they do not hold the same value. Anyway you asked about blown glass and your birthday is coming up. Any favorites, the owner will ship!