Christmastime in Puglia

We are so grateful to spend Christmas as full-time missionaries.  Especially now that we are not limited by pandemic restrictions.  We have enjoyed many activities during this past week.

Christmas stockings for our Bari district

Walkin' in a winter wonderland. 

District council, lunch and gift exchange - Taranto district

With Annarita from Lava Subito.  

Christmas Eve at our apartment with Bari district.

Christmas pranzo at the DeSantis home. 

A nice gift from Sister Viterbo.

Merry Christmas to...

...each other.  

Christmas dinner at the Santoro's. 

A Mission dream fulfilled

Congratulations to one of our favorite young adults, who was set apart as a full-time service missionary on Saturday.  Sister Viterbo has been working toward this goal since we arrived in Bari 17 months ago.  We are so proud of her perseverance.  

Two-Ward Christmas Party - Festa di Natale

Sister Cannariato was pleased to be asked to serve on the planning committee for the two ward Christmas party.  Here's the flyer that went around.  We had over 100 people attend.  

All the full-time missionaries were expected to wear elf hats.  I think they looked pretty good.  

The Christmas pageant was very well done.  

The girls on the right aren't angels, they are clearly Stars!  

Sister C and I had the assignment to man the gingerbread cookie decorating table.  It was fun!

Transfer Week - Always Bittersweet

How we miss those who leave us for home or for other areas.  How excited we are to welcome those called to serve in the Puglia Zone.  

Sending Anziano Garrity to Catania.

Anziano Warner is a little sad. 

Notice Anziano Garrity's potato pin on his shoulder strap. 

Sister Ivie departs and Sister Beus arrived. 

Sister Hopkins arrived and Sister Revill heads to Sardegna

Here's the newly constituted group of Bari missionaries.  

"Stack the chairs" for the last time!

At the end of each transfer, as part of our last district council meeting, we chronicle how many transfers (six-week periods) we have completed. For us, we held up 12. This is likely the last time we'll be doing this.  A fun tradition, for sure. 

Young Adult pizza and panettone night!

While we often have Young Adult activities at the church, last Friday we opted for a pizza and panettone night at our apartment. We also celebrated Sister Huggard's birthday. 

We set a record for our apartment with 15 in attendance.  It was squeezy, but very fun. We had a nice mix of GANS, missionaries and friends.   

Carmen is a faithful attender, seminary teacher and temple worker. 

Stefy has just received her service mission call and will be set apart on December 18. 

Giuliano is our over 40 "young" adult. He has a great heart and loved our recent temple trip. He is the pianist at Liberta` ward. He plays by ear!