This week in Puglia

Our final district council of the transfer always means the "chair photo."  Can't believe we've been here 10 transfers, but it's true.  

Sister Cannariato's pulled pork sandwiches were a hit at district pranzo.  

We enjoyed a wonderful training meeting with seminary and institute faculty and stake and ward leaders from the Puglia stake.  We have come to love the great members that live in this stake.  

Finally, we were invited to a branch FHE at Brindisi Monday evening.  We shared some of the church's resources on mental health as well as Sister Cannariato's best brownies.  

September 15 - Somebody had a birthday!

My sweet companion celebrated her birthday in beautiful Bari with flowers, lunch, some gifts from me and well wishes from around the world!  So happy that I get to serve with her.  

Not only did our favorite florist, Vito, make up a beautiful bouquet for me to give to Dawn, but he also made up another one for her "on the house." 

We had lunch at Mamapulia and it was fantastic.  Dawn had prime rib and my swordfish was as good as any I've ever had.  YUMMY!  

A couple of gifts for my companion. 

A cute butter dish that says, "Squeeze the Day" and a lovely red patent leather purse (that she's had her eye on for sometime now). 

Senior Couples' Retreat - FANTASTIC!

We are so grateful that all the senior couples were invited to Rome for a weekend conference.  On Friday, we played some get to know you games, attended a temple endowment session and then dined as a group at Brando's, near temple square.  

Saturday morning was choose your own adventure.  Our group went to the Galleria Borghese where we saw some of the most famous sculptures and art in the world.  Another group toured the catacombs and a third group did an Italian cooking class.  

Saturday afternoon, we all met up at Ostia Antica for a tour of these extensive ruins of the former seaport city that served ancient Rome.  We concluded with dinner at another restaurant, then gelato after.  Sunday we attended the Roma 1 ward where members from 5 continents participated.  Special thanks to the Weeds, who hosted us at their apartment.  Wonderful weekend! 

  

Special P-day at Ostuni - Book of Mormon Video Filming

We had a most memorable p-day today. We drove with the Bari sisters to Ostuni, where we met the Statte and Lecce sisters. We then drove to a large olive vineyard outside Ostuni, Antica Masseria Brancati where the church’s movie crew was filming the Book of Mormon video of the allegory of the olive tree, from Jacob chapter 5.

 

We were invited by Sister Kathy Williams, whom we met during our covid delay. From time to time, she would call us to give us an update on the status of our call and to make sure we hadn’t “slit our wrists.” Her husband, a retired BYU professor of ancient scripture, works on these movies.

We met two of the producers who gave us an incredible tour of the vineyard showing us trees between 2,000 and 3,000 years old, explaining how olives are grafted in, showing us wild and tame trees and walking to the “nethermost part of the vineyard.” 

We took lots of photos and videos of this once in a lifetime opportunity. What a blessing to us and the six sister missionaries.  Below, I'm standing next to a tree that is purported to be 3,000 years old!

Here's Dawn and me in front of the tree they used as the "mother tree" in the video.  

We then visited the set where they were shooting a scene with the master of the vineyard planting a new tree. We then got to visit with cast and crewmembers for a bit and take photos.

In the picture below, I'm standing next to the man who got to play Moroni. Note his beard and also he wears in a small ponytail, just like in the movie. His “regular job” is art director for the movies. He designs stuff like shields and armor for the war scenes, flags for the armies, etc.

Finally, we went into the vineyard buildings, still a working olive farm, and the producer gave us a sneak preview of the 3 Nephi video of the Savior’s appearance at the temple in Bountiful. Pretty cool!

 

 

 

 

 

Another GREAT Zone Conference

This is our second with President and Sister Morris.  We were well-instructed by the zone leaders and sister training leader, our assistants and of course, the Morris's.  We love being together with the missionaries and the focaccia lunch and gelato for dessert are always a big hit.  

Young Adult Conference - Rome

We had the blessing and privilege of attending the all-Italy young adult conference held Tuesday-Saturday last week just outside Rome.  300 young adults spent 4 days together.  While most were Italian, we had YAs from France, England, Germany, Switzerland, the US, Georgia (the country) and about 15 from Ukraine.  

Attending the temple together was an amazing experience.  President and Sister Pacini led a fireside afterwards.  

We had 14 YAs from the Puglia stake in attendance.  We were so pleased to see them.  

Lots of great activities, service projects, firesides, etc. 

Of course, dances, a talent show and games were a hit. 

We loved seeing former sister missionaries like Sorella Dioquino from Alessandria. 

Here's Sorella Rosa, from Padova and Sorella Dioquino

And Sister Lavanda from Monza. 

One of our favorite young adults, Giovanna Pereira, from Cosenza. 

Here is part of the assembly line which complete 2,300 hygiene kits for humanitarian aid.  Also that day 100 young adults donated blood. 

Our stake YA rep, Lele Leone hard at work.  

Group activities for one and all.  In the striped shirt, Gaia Giannini, who has her mission call to Leeds England. 

Getting balloons ready for human "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" What a fun game. 

What a privilege to work with other senior couples from Italy, Germany and Georgia.  

Helping prepare sack lunches for our "choose your own adventure" day was just one of the ways we kept busy.

There were 4 different options, downtown Rome sight seeing, a swim at Lake Bracciano, a water park, or as seen above, going to Magicland, a roller coaster theme park.  

Here we are in front of one of the rides, Olandese Volante (the Flying Dutchman)

Here we are with the Perry's, who serve in Georgia.  

It's not Mickey or Minnie, but here's the park's mascot. If you would have told me when we got our call that we'd be going to a theme park and riding roller coasters as part of our mission, I would not have believed it.  But it's true!  

Veronica and Sabrina are two of our favorites from Taranto. 

Here we are with the Hockett's, who serve in the Milano mission.  They were in charge of making assignments to the senior couples. Their enthusiasm and energy were contagious.