November Happenings

November 18 found us traveling to Florence once again for a Zone Conference.  We are usually assigned to take 2 of our 4 anziani over with us.  The other 2 we drop at the train station so they can travel together by train.  The trip from Ancona to Bologna is partially farm land and sea scapes but from Bologna to Florence we see a lot of this.

We travel through the mountains so we are either passing over a bridge or going through tunnels.  This is the autostrada which would be equivalent to our freeways.

This zone meeting is for the Florence zone and the Rimini zone, which we are a part of.  The anziani and sorelle are always excited to meet together and visit whenever they get the chance.  They are some of the best.  We appreciate them so much.

These are the Lees.  They are serving in Siena where he is the branch president. They are in the Florence Zone.

 The Hydes serve in Prato, which is only about 15 minutes from Florence.  Sorella Hyde was in charge of the dinner which was provided for the missionaries.  She is amazing and had some great help from Heather Evertson and the rest of us helped once we arrived.

 Sorella Dibb, Sister Fingerle, Heather, Sorella Hyde and me.  Elder Fingerle is from the area  seventy presidency and they live in Germany.  They came to help Pres. and Sister Dibb instruct the missionaries.  They are always so inspiring and give those missionaries that little extra boost.

  President and Sister Dibb.

  This traffic jam almost made several us late for the meeting.  We were all trying to exit the autostrada through the toll booths and for some reason nothing was moving.  What should have taken 5 minutes took an hour.  The Hydes who live so close in Prato were also caught here.  It made for some real hustling to get the dinner ready in time, but we did it.

 The church building is right in town but as you look out the window of the chapel we see this fine community garden.  Things were still growing in the middle of November.

Here is Heather Evertson working her miracles in the kitchen. I think she was Sorella Hydes right hand gal.

 She and her husband moved to Italy 6 years ago with their 6 children.  He owns a business in Europe but doesn't do business in Italy.  They just live here.  They came here neither one knowing any Italian.  The children are fluent and she says that she and her husband get by with the language.  She had some good tips on Italian cooking.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this toddler seat in the bathroom stall.  I know they must exist in the states but I had never seen one before.  Very convenient.

The zone conference was on a Tuesday.  So we were back on the road Saturday for Stake Conference in Prato.  The Stake Center is Florence but there is no building to accommodate the Stake membership there.  This conference they rented a conference room in a Hotel in Prato.  Here are some of the members gathering for the Saturday night session.  We would not have made the drive but our branch president was speaking and he wasn't sure of the roads to get there.  We offered to drive him if he could come to Ancona.

The choir was rehearsing before the main session while the Priesthood leadership meeting was taking place.  They sang one hymn that isn't in our hymnal but is in theirs. I really liked it.  The accompanist was late due to missing a train.  Turns out it was Heather Evertsen so we had the pleasure of visiting with her again.  Sunday session was held in Florence at the ward building and fed via internet to our separate buildings so we were able to stay in Ancona.

Preparation for Thanksgiving dinner went pretty well considering we found jello at a Chinese food store and marshmallows in the candy section of Dico, a local grocery store.

We had plenty of goodies and 5 satisfied customers.

Anziani Jacob, Stingfellow, Fry, Beaulac, and Pugsley.

Last but not least------I had to show you what else was happening in November.  The Relief Society has a service project of making these owl key rings.  I have no idea who would want that bulky thing for their keys but non-the-less we are making them.  They are for a children's hospital here and will either be sold for additional funds or given as gifts to the patients.  It looks as though it will be an ongoing project.  I think I've made about 40 of them.