Baptism and Linger Longer

Bari Liberta` ward welcomed Chiara as its newest member.  The sisters have been teaching her with a member for a long time.  It was a lovely service.  

Sunday after church Liberta` ward held a linger longer.  It was the first time they had gathered in the church to eat together since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.  Dawn's cheesecake was a big hit!

Stelvio is BACK! And just in time for transfer week

Our fervent prayers were answered Monday when we got our dearly beloved Toyota Corolla Hybrid Stelvio back from the dealer.  The front stabilizer bar bushings were replaced and no more noise!  We love our car, we love our car, we love our car! 

And we got Stelvio back just in time to help with transfers.  Here's our schedule. 

We get pretty attached to our missionaries and it is hard to see them go.  Elder Myres is off to Palermo.  He has been a great district leader, and will serve as a zone leader in his new area.  Sister Prettyman has finished her mission and heads home to Oceanside, California.  We love these great missionaries. 

Here we are with Sisters Hamilton, Dioquino and Mueller, on their way to other places, but stopped over to see us in Bari. 

Everything went smoothly during the three days of transfer travel, until Friday morning.  While helping Sisters Hamilton and her new companion, Sister Pearce board their train for Lecce, we were unable to get off before the train pulled out!  Not the first time this has happened to missionaries, we understand.  But we had a 1/2 hour ride to Monopoli, the first stop.  Then we had to buy two tickets to get back to Bari.  At least the conductor lady didn't give us a "multa" fine for not tickets from Bari to Monopoli.  

P-Day Around Town

Even though we are presently without our car, we find plenty to do here in Bari on P-days.  Recommended by one of our young adults, "Albero Che" is a Tex-Mex place very close to our house. The chips were hot and fresh, and our burritos were very good.  

Along Corso Cavour, in front of the Petruzzelli theater, we saw these lovely landscaped islands.  Of course, the signs said that both humans and pets are forbidden from walking on the grass.  

It is easy to forget that we are on the beautiful Adriatic.  This spot is about a 15 minute walk from our apartment.  

Nothing quite like an Italian church wedding.  This one at San Sabino Cathedral in Bari Vecchia.

The black Maserati makes for a great "get away" car.  

NO CAR - NOT FUN

We have come to rely on our mission car to do so many things.  It takes us to all 10 cities in our zone, helps us shuttle missionaries to appointments in places where public transportation is difficult, gets us to the "big stores" for major purchases, etc. 

We have given our silver Toyota Corolla hybrid a name, Stelvio, like the switchback mountain pass in Northern Italy (also the name of my bicycle when I was a young missionary).   

 

Stelvio developed a suspension noise a few weeks ago.  We let the office know and they suggested taking it to the Toyota dealer. 

They confirmed the problem and we left our car with them.  That was nearly 2 weeks ago.  Not only are the parts not here in Bari, but neither in Rome.  They have to get them from Toyota Europe in Brussels!  And no offer of a loaner or courtesy car while we wait.  

We are sad.  

District Councils Are Fun

We always enjoy our weekly district council meetings with all the Bari missionaries plus the two Elders from Foggia.  Since that's 13 of us, we now hold our post council luncheons at the church.  

Singing L'Inno di Roma is a tradition that ends each district council meeting.  

Once each transfer, we "stack the chairs" to memorialize how many 6 week transfer periods we have completed.  

Puglia Zone Conference

We've commented before on how much we enjoy zone conferences.  This is the last one for President and Sister Smith as they finish their mission the end of June. This conference may be our favorite.  Not only were the training sessions wonderful, the food great and the association fantastic, but we had a zone soccer game at the end.  

Since there were 3 teams, and only 2 could play at a time, Sister C lead a Kahoot game in the chapel for the team that was not on the field.  She had asked for unique/special things from every missionary in the zone and it made for a fun activity.  

Our Bari sisters bought shirts for all the sisters in the zone.  

One of the best things about this conference is that Sister C and I have visited face to face with EVERY missionary, except one set of elders, during this transfer.  We feel so much love for these great missionaries.  

As always, President and Sister Smith made time to go to dinner with us.  We have come to treasure these get togethers and will really miss them when they head home.  Here we are at Le Veronique where the Poggiofranco EQ president, Mino Santoro is the head waiter.  

May Day celebration at the park

Even though May Day was Sunday, Bari started the celebration on Friday evening at Parco Due Giugno, perhaps the largest urban park in town.  We met young adults as well as our missionaries and enjoyed the evening.  Of course, we had to sample some of the wonderful food options.  The cannoli were outstanding!  

P-Day at Castel del Monte

Completed in the 1240s by Frederick II, this two story, octagonal castle with 8 octagonal turrets sits atop a hill in the middle of the countryside, about a 50 minute drive north and west of Bari.  We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch on the grounds after our tour.