PISA, SAN MORENO, AND CORINALDO

Yes, we did go to Pisa way back in September.  We were asked to take Cristabelle Ekke over for some CES training.  We left on Friday the 12 and were able to visit Piazza dei Miracoli. which houses the leaning tower.  The first glimpse into the gate just takes your breathe away.  There it was-----the Learning Tower of Pisa.  Just like in the books!

Of course, there were tons of people there, the majority of which, were trying to hold up the tower.

The Tower is amazing!  Construction began in 1173 and was halted twice due to wars.  It ended up taking 344 years to complete.  It was built as a bell tower for the cathedral.

Construction on the Duomo began in 1064.  It's hard to realize that these edifices are that old.  They have all been well preserved.

The baptistry is just as magnificent as the cathedral and the tower.  The ornate architecture is unbelievable.

Here are two resting tourists taking a load off their feet and watching the many people there.

These are the walls that surround the piazza.  Very old.

The Arno River runs through Pisa and we were able to cross it and drive along it to see some of the sights.  We were actually looking for food and found a delightful shop where we found some quattro stagione (four seasons) pizza.

Ham, artichokes, mushrooms and olives.  It was so good.  I still haven't figured out why the olives are always whole.  I guess it's easier.

This was the view from our hotel room.  I love that Pisa is flat, unlike Ancona, where we live.

All day Saturday was spent at the Pisa chapel.  They have a real church building unlike many of the small branches here who just rent apartments and houses for their church buildings.

On October 22 we went to Rimini to inspect  missionary apartments.  We are supposed to make sure the missionaries aren't living like slobs, I guess.  Anyway, after finishing there we took a small detour up Mount Titano to visit The Republic of San Marino.  It's a country state that was founded in 301 A.D.  This armor was just outside one of the little gift shops near the bottom of our hike to the top.

The view from the gift shop.

The entrance to the walled part of the city.

This is one of the flower beds that we passed on our climb to the top.  There were many shops on the walk.  Many of them sell perfume, jewelry and some leather goods.

These are the towers at the top of the climb.

What more can you say?  We could see forever.  City after city and finally the sea in the far distance.  What a sight!! Well worth the hike.

When we finished, we ate at a little ristorante near our parking lot.  Of course, we ate pizza.  It's always cheap and easy.

And this is why Italian Pizza is so superior.  Wood fired oven.  Yummy!!

On Halloween a few of the members of our branch went to Corinaldo, a city not too far from Ancona.  They do a huge Halloween celebration every year to attract  many of the neighboring communities.  It's a family friendly affair.  I apologize for the quality of the pictures but it was dark and I only had my phone.  They can give you a little feel of the event.

Most of the entertainment we weren't able to see because of the crowds.  This was up higher so we did see some of it.

These are our local elders.  Elder Jacob, Beaulac, Pugsley,and Stringfellow  They are the best.  We love them.

Everyone had a good time.

Kimberly Aranas with her parents, Jude and Evelyn.

Marina and Paolo Giugliarelli

We would like to go back to Corinaldo in the day time and visit this city.  It has been well preserved and has many interesting buildings.

All about the Ancona Branch

This is the gated entrance to our building.  There are apartments to the right of us and apartments above us. The area behind the gate is all that we have for parking.  Anything else has to be done on the street. That's usually not a problem as only 5 members have cars.

There are two entrances and they both look like this.

This is what we see to the right of our parking area.  Above our door way looks very similar to this.

This is President Fleming, our branch president.  He lives an hour and a half from Ancona so only comes on Sundays and for baptisms.  He is 78 years old and has some difficulty with his legs.  Jesse serves as his 1st counselor and in that capacity conducts sacrament meeting each week and assigns talks for that meeting.

This is the Relief Society Presidency.  Center is Marina Guigliarelli our president.  I serve as 1st counselor and Rhoda, on the right, is the second counselor. They are both very dependable and diligent in their callings. I have a special place in my heart for Rhoda because she was the first person I met the first week at church.

These are some of the first Anziani that we worked with.  This was taken at a district meeting.  This is in the chapel area of the church, which serves in many capacities.  Elder Moa top right by Elder Fry lost his father very suddenly about a month ago,  What a valiant young man. He is from Hawaii and decided to stay here instead of going home.  He and Elder Orso (district leader) serve in Pesaro.

Several times we accompanied Elders Gomez and Berg to visit the Faustino couple.  They live at the very top of the city.  From here you can see all over Ancona.  Beautiful!!

I also serve as the Young Women's President.  It's pretty easy with only one Young Woman.  During the summer we had Rachel from the U.S. join us.  She was actually too old for YW but she loved being with us and being able to speak English.  She was here living with an Italian family trying to help the 11 year old daughter learn better English.  Kimberly is in the pink shirt.  She and her family are from the Philippines and have been here for about 14 years. She speaks very good Italian, Tagalog, and English.  She is such a joy to work with.  They don't come any better.

This was the first Branch activity after we arrived.  It was planned and executed by the elders.  In case you can't see tell, it was water balloon volley ball.  Some of the members had never heard of it.  Thanks to many phone calls the turn out was very good.  Everyone enjoyed the watermelon and other treats that were brought by the member.

This is Kimberly's mother, Evelyn, visiting with Marina.

I do need to tell  you about Anziano Hallulli.  He is on the right here.  He comes from Albania.  First time on a plane was to fly to the MTC in Provo.  While there, he not only learned Italian, but became fluent in English as well.  What an amazing young man.  We will miss him.  He just got transferred.

Pasta is part of every meal it seems.

On Tuesday Sept 9 we had a European Broadcast from the church.  It originated in Germany.  What a treat to hear from Elders Bednar and Ballard.  This broadcast was for the woman of Europe in 33 countries.  We invited the whole branch and had a wonderful meal afterwards.  Dinner hour in Italy is 8:00 pm. (or 20:00)  I'm trying to get used to that.

This is Elder Pugsley.  He was the newest elder until last week when they transferred 3 of the 4.  I will still need to get pics of the new 3.  It's called a white wash when they take all of the existing elders out and bring in new ones. We discovered, via our son Curtis, that Elder Pugsley's sister (who's going to BYU) was a dinner guest with Cameron (Curtis' son) who is also going to BYU.  Small world.

We had a Relief Society activity concerning sewing.  Rhoda,below, showed us how to make our own patterns.  She doesn't really make a pattern for herself, she just measures on the fabric and cuts.  Pretty amazing!!

Very good instruction.  Next month we will be cutting out our own dresses.  Rhoda is from Ghana and has been in Italy for several years.

Here we have the captive audience. Felicitas on the left is Kimberly's grandmother.  She is the happiest person in the branch.

The finished product being modeled by Marina.  Now all I have to do is find some fabric. Sometimes you will be lucky enough to find it at the market.