30 April 2016

We were invited today to meet Anziano Gianfranco and Sorella Trudy DeAngelis, who live in Santhià, between Vercelli and Torino, to go with them and a friend, former mission president (Catania, 2002-5), Sebastiano Caruso, to Torre Pelice, where Lorenzo Snow dedicated Italy in 1850, and where Ezra Taft Benson re-dedicated it in 1966, when I was on my first mission here.

We drove on the freeway, which is a toll road autostrada nearly all of the way, through rice growing country.  They had planted the fields, and the rice was up about an inch, and some of the fields were being flooded with water, which is apparently the only way to grow rice. The fields are rectangular and not very big, but there are many of them and they have banks to retain the water. There are a lot of rivers and streams, from which they get the water for the agriculture.  We drove around the outskirts of Torino, where we picked up Bro. Caruso, and I could see a couple of familiar sights in Torino which I had not seen for 50 years, but recognized.








When we finally reached the Pellice valley, the road became very small and windy.  Here is a crossing of the Pellice River.  Torre Pellice means the tower at Pellice, but we did not see the tower, if there still is one.










This is the first sight we saw of the famous (among Mormons who have a tie to Italy) of the outcropping of rock known as the Rock of Prophecy on Mt. Brigham (also known by Italians with different Italian names which have nothing to do with Mormon folklore or history.)








A closeup of the outcropping on the top of the mountain climbed in 1850 by Lorenzo Snow, from where he dedicated Italy for the preaching of the Gospel to the mostly protestant (Valdesian) inhabitants of this mountain valley. He also prayed here for Divine intervention to help heal a little boy, which softened the hearts of the parents and the people who knew them, and made it possible for baptisms during the time this mission was first organized, and continued for about 17 years.  About 175 people in all were baptized during that 17 years and most of them moved to Utah, among whom were the Cardon family, of which a descendant (Craig, a little younger than me) has been an Italian mission president and is now a member of the Seventy.



The missionary couple Hoopes, who work in the mission office and have adventures like this on their Saturday P days.  During 1966, Ezra Taft Benson re-dedicated Italy from this place, but he did not climb to the top of the mountain--in fact, no one knows exactly where Lorenzo Snow did it, they can only guess, and that site would be a 2 to 3 hour not very easy climb up the mountain.  Lorenzo must have been a good hiker to get from town to here and up the mountain.





The former mission president, Sebastiano Caruso, explaining, in Italian, the Mormon history of the area.  He was a wonderful tour guide.  He told me, while holding my arm while we were walking down the street (Italian style--men sometimes walk arm in arm), and after hearing that I like to play the organ, that all of the religions and churches have some truth, like keys of the organ, but ours is the only one that has the full keyboard and can play all of the music.




The pix above I cut and pasted from Google showing the Valdesian church, school (in front of it) and Mt. Brigham in the background. Our weather was rainy and you could not see the mountain from the Valdesian church, in which Lorenzo actually preached, until they realized he was there to baptize their people.

Addition from Sunday, May 1, 2016.  This is a national holiday in Italy, Labor Day.  It is raining. We went to fast and testimony meeting and the other meetings this morning. When we got there the executive secretary told me the girl who plays the piano would not be coming and asked me to play the piano, which I did.  While I was playing the prelude one of the assistants to the President, who attend our ward, as does the President, when they are in town, came and whispered in my ear that I should confirm Danilo Peralta, who was baptized on Tuesday evening.  Myrna and I attended the baptism in the church in Milano (Naviglie Ward), which is our ward. I assumed that he was asking me to stand in the circle of the confirmation--I don't hear well while I am playing. The APs taught him.  He is originally from somewhere near the Phillipines (but he does not speak Tagalog, although he speaks Italian well, he is single and about 35 and lives in Milano with his mother.) Anyway, after the opening hymn and prayer, the bishop looked at me and said I would confirm Danilo, so I went up and did it, in Italian, with no time to even think about it.  The high priest group leader, a former bishop, who is also a high counselor, stood next to me and whispered some of the pertinent words to me.  Had I known, I would have studied and practiced, but it went fairly well.

After sacrament meeting the high priest group leader gave me a slip of paper with four names written on it and asked if Myrna and I would home and visiting teach those 4 families. They are the bishop and one counselor, a sister whose husband may not be a member, and a sister from Ireland, who is married to an Italian, who came for the first time today (at least since we have been here).  I got their addresses and phone numbers and made appointments to visit them next Sunday afternoon. I also visited after church with a visitor, from Norway, who served a mission in France, whose English is excellent, but who does not know Italian, even though his wife is Italian. There is another guy, who arrived about the same time we came, who is attending a university in Milano.  He said they teach in English, although he served a mission in a Spanish speaking country. His course is over at the end of May.  Another interesting day at church.

    
The smiley guy on the right, sitting next to me at a party we had at the ward building a few weeks ago, is Danilo Peralta, whom I confirmed a member of the Church today.

It was another wonderful day in Italy.
Ciao for now.

24 April 2016

This was an interesting week, in some respects.  We got back from our trip to Venice and were still pretty tired from all the walking.  We need to do more.  But 25 miles in one weekend isn't just around the block. On Wednesday we took the metro into downtown Milan (total of 4 hours start to finish) for Myrna to see a specialist dentist found for us by David  The endodontist teaches at the dental school and the first thing he said was your son called and spoke me and told me take good care of his beloved mother.  We had gone to another dentist in Milano (an English guy the mission always uses, probably because he speaks English, but the new Italian dentist speaks good English.) The first one wanted to drill through a crown to get rid of infection, but said it may not work and he would need to open up her jaw. The new one, who if he operated would use an operating microscope, took two x-rays, although without digital equipment.  Anyway, he said it is a wait-and-see thing, he would not drill/operate at this time, so we think that is a tender mercy.  We pray that it will just get better, and he did not want her to take another round of antibiotics.

Yesterday, Saturday, our P-day, we drove down to Pavia (in the light rain) yesterday knowing we could go to a large mall and Myrna could find some almond extract to make goodies (muffins, cinnamon rolls) for the missionaries. We have an office meeting at 9 am. Interestingly, Italy produces a lot of almonds and almond things, but they do not sell large bottles of almond extract, or almond milk reasonably priced, for that matter.  On the way down to Pavia we stopped another little country church, so I could see the organ.





Little pipe organ in the back, no one there to ask if it plays, but I suspect not because behind the main altar (other end of the church) was a small electric organ in the choir area.  There are really very few old organs in Italy that work we are finding. and instead of getting them restored, they buy electronic organs.







Today, Sunday, after church and lunch, we went back to Abbizia di Ciaravalle, the abbey where St. Bernard (who wrote the words to "Jesus, the very thought of Thee" in the 1100s) founded.  It took about an hour. Last time we went there most of it wasn't open and I didn't have my camera. It is a remarkable place, a little smaller than the one north of Pavia, but still quite remarkable.  They didn't have any problem with my taking pix either.  At the one in Pavia a monk yelled at me for just taking out my camera.






Choir seats in the very large church at Ciaravalle, compare this with the few choir seats at the little church on the way to Pavia that we saw yesterday.










The old pipe organ in the abbey is high above the main floor and probably sounded wonderful as the music floated around the massive church.  However, sadly, it probably does not work, because they have a fairly large electronic organ on the floor near the choir.  (This form of pipe organ above is found in nearly all of the ancient churches we have seen and is the same type I play on Hauptwerk).






Choir seats, beautiful woodwork but they don't look very comfortable.  I suspect you sit on the little half moon (catch the irony there) and sing your heart out.














One of about 10 side chapels in the large church, these are little chapels where mass can be said for a few people a a time.  I like to remember the term "a capella" which literally means in the chapel, has come to mean without accompaniment, because the big organ cannot be heard in the little capellas,








It was fairly dark in the church itself, so the pix of the large fresco paintings on the walls didn't turn out very well, and they even had the lights on today.  They were painted between 1100 and 1500 AD by various painters, some famous and some not so famous.  They are all pretty dim, and perhaps will be restored some day.







The front of the abbey church from the entryway.  It is really a large building, and there were hundreds of Italians out for their Sunday afternoon strolls, some eating gelato, which the monks sell a their store.  We didn't see any American or other foreign tourists, this place is apparently off the tourist trap. There aren't any entry fees, but there were several beggars with their hands out and baskets for donations to restore the church.







This is the road we drove on to get home, Myrna took it while I was driving.  Traffic can go both ways, and Italians drive fairly fast, but the tunnels under the bridges are only wide enough for one car, so they have a stop light so you don't run into someone coming the other way.  The plants in the fields are up about a inch now.

18 April 2016




But first back near St. Marks, which is near the boat docks. This is the famous bridge of sighs.  The courthouse is on he left and the prison on the right and the prisoners would sigh as they were marched across the bridge to their cells.  How romantic is that!












Lady making lace items by hand to sell to the tourists.  She said I could take the pix, but most would not let me,









Our senior group at lunch, which was in a pleasant restaurant run by a family.  They were very friendly and the food was excellent and not any more expensive than elsewhere we have eaten. Again, pasta, pizza and salads are the norm, and since they are carbs, I am gaining weight.
Some of the homes in this village are painted colorfully, which reminded me of Mexico, also they call the streets calle here too.  There are no vehicles in this village, the policemen ride bikes.




This is the island of Burano, which is much like Murano, but here they blow glass at many different foundearies and sell it in many stores.  We spent the morning at Murano and the afternoon at Burano, they look very similar and neither have vehicles.











They are very strict about not letting you take pictures of glass blowing or of things made. This is not a very good example, some of the things they make are breath taking.











This street in Treviso is near a water way, and in the old days carriages drove down the right side, under the portico, but now it is only for walking.


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Well, it is time for bed (9:45) and I am still tired from the weekend.  Since we were gone on Friday, I had double my work to do today.  We started at 8 am and finished work at 8, went up and ate dinner and then came back down to finish up this blog, while Myrna is working on entering baptisms.  She just started being the baptism recorder for the mission today.  Another day in the life of a mission office couple.

17 April 2016
This weekend we drove about 3 hours so we could tour Venice with the other senior couples in the mission.  We left about 1 pm on Thursday and stopped on the way to a little touristy town on Lake Garda, called Sirmione. We had a late lunch and toured the town, including a castle, then went to an old city, called Treviso,  We went there instead of to Venice. The hotels in Venice are several hundred dollars a night, even bad ones, and the one we stayed at in Treviso, is only 85 euros and includes a very nice breakfast.  We walked over to the train station (about 5 minutes) and a ticket was only 3.35, and it took about a half hour to get to Venice.  The trains are very clean and nice and don't go clickity clack like they used to.  We went together as a group of 16 senior missionaries in our white shirts and sorelle dresses and name tags, which people always stare at.  There are, of course, many people from all over the world in Venice and there are no cars, you either walk or ride boats (water taxis are about 20, water busses, we bought a one day pass for 20, and gondolas, which start at about 80.




This is the only way to get into the city, only one car (this one a Porsche) at a time.  Most people just park and walk over.  Sister Salatino wears a bracelet that counts her steps and puts it in miles.  We walked about 6 to 10 miles each day, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and about 4 on Sunday as we walked from our hotel to (LDS) church and back.  Of course, you see a lot of cool things walking.






Inside the city, me getting a drink from the city well.  The water was cold and good.  The castle, where the king (of this city) once lived, in the background.  We didn't go in because of time.















This is lake water around the edges of town.












We were studying the menu in this pix; we had the young elders who work in Treviso with us.  It's like going to dinner with 16 grandparents--fun!











First of 120 churches in Venice.  Of course, there are tourists milling around all the churches with their cameras (many churches won't let you take pix inside), and there are off-limit places within the churches.  Sadly, for me, we didn't go in all 120, but our tour guide told us there are 120 still functioning churches in  Venice, and many which have been turned into museums.  There are also many synagogues in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice.





In Venice all the streets are waterways, some famous, and some not so famous, like this one where the folks hang their laundry and take their little boats to where they want to go.  Of course, there are no cars or other vehicles in Venice.








This guy was our tour guide.  There are many like him, and they are free.  They take you on about a three or four hour walking tour, and let you stop in the middle for a rest and meal, and at the end they say they get paid in tips, so they probably make more this way than by advertising up front. We gave him 15 euros, and others gave less or more, but we really liked him.  He is Italian and speaks really good English and has lived near Venice all of his life.  His specialty is he takes you through the back alleys and tells you things you could only learn about if you read many books.






You walk on sidewalks and cross bridges to get to the other side of the street.
This is the only one without sides.














Other groups crossing the street in gondolas.












There are, of course, many shops selling different things to the tourists. I went in this one and bought an apron, so when I cook with my white shirt and tie on I don't get it dirty. She was writing, free hand with the sewing machine Giovanni (John).  This is the only touristy thing I bought all day.








We have crossed a bridge so you can see the Grand Canal, with St. Mark's, the duomo or cathedral, in the background.  Our guide left us here at the end of four hours.









Anziano and Sorella Hoopes in front of St Mark's.  This cathedral was built as a replica of St Sophia in Constandanople (Istanbull) because that is who was ruling Venice at the time.  We were not allowed to take pix inside St Mark's, and we had to pay to get in. We also paid to climb the stairs (4) to the roof, where we could see the entire square including the graduation ceremony going on at the other end of the square.






Up on the roof of St Mark's showing the 6 famous horses, which were brought back as booty during the Crusades from the middle east.  Actually, these are replicas of the bronze horses, the real ones are inside and it costs (again 4) to see them, which we did. We also paid 4 to see behind the alter, which is pure gold, about 10 feet by 8 feet with lots of jewels, called the pala d'oro.

At the Certosa di Pavia, I bought a copy (about 18x24 inches) of this page of ancient music, which they were selling at the gift shop of the monastery.  In the old churches they have the choir seats and because they couldn't print music before the 1400s, they wrote it on large pieces of sheep skins, and then they greatly embellished each page, which were bound in a large book. The pages of the book were about 18x24 inches, the same size as the copy I bought.  They put the book on a large stand and all the monks could sing from it.  This is a page about the birth of Jesus and the music notation is shown on the 4 lines, the square notes show how to go up and down, and the words are in Latin. This is how Gregorian of chant was written and it is still being sung. In the old abbey Mirasole, the French monks still chant every day, several times.  As I have written, two sit on one side of the church and one on the other, in the choir seats.  Two sing and the one on the other side answers the chant, and they are usually the only people in the cold dark church, illuminated by candles.

10 April 2016

On Thursday we drove to Milano for me to present a half hour training to the new missionaries and their trainers on how to use their money, and Myrna did lunch for 24. On Friday we rode the metro (subway) to Milano to the office for foreigners to get our permessi (what Myrna spends her time helping the young missionaries with.)  We had an appointment and were a half hour early, took a number and waited an hour and a half in a large room with at least 100 people and their children, etc., literally from all over the world.  When we finally got up to one of the 18 windows, our fingerprints wouldn't work on their machine so they gave us another number to wait to go in a small office in the back to have them done on a special machine.  We were the only ones in that room with the official, who after looking my name tag, asked me how our church is different from the catholic church, and I was a little hesitant to tell him much, because I didn't want him to cause problems with our permessi (if he was a good catholic offended by our church), but I think he was sincere and interested, so I told him quite a bit as he was taking both of our hands with his gloved hands fingerprinting us. When he asked if we pray to the Madonna, I told him we only pray to God in the name of Jesus, because they are different people. (He responded that makes sense.) This was all in Italian. He said they will call us within 15-20 days to get our permessi, which I hope will be easy.

Yesterday (Saturday) was our P-Day.  We got up and started cleaning the apartment and washed our clothes and car, actually like a mini-van, an Opal Meriva with a diesel engine.  It was very dirty because it rained and then dust got on it.  I drove around looking for a car wash I could see on Google maps, but apparently it has moved, so we washed it in the driveway of the mission office.  Myrna used a rag with some mild dish soap and I squirted with a hose as she washed. Took less than 10 minutes, and was easy enough we'll do it there again. The car washes take tokens and you can't buy just one, must buy about 20 euros worth, at least that is what the office missionaries told me when the asked for 20 euros from petty cash.  We have to pay for our own car washes. I also ironed my 6 white shirts.  Then I came in and was going to make salsa with the cilantro (coriandolo in Italian, which they don't use in Italian cooking) I was finally able to buy from the little fruit and veggie store around the corner,(he had to get it when he went to the big market) but the little food processor in our apartment blew a breaker in the kitchen. I turned on the beaker switches in the hallway, as the electrician informed us the last time it happened (with the microwave), but the power did not come back on.  So I came down to the office, looked up the number of the landlord (who lives in Rome, although his mother used to live in our apartment), and within about 15 minutes the electrician showed up.  He took me to the basement of the building, in which I have never been, and showed me another set of breaker boxes, and which one to throw, and then we had power.

After eating a sandwich (no salsa) we drove down to Pavia, hoping to play an old organ I saw on the country road previously, but there was no one to ask. The paroco (priest in charge) was out in front in the parking area speaking with some people.  He seemed happy to lead me inside, turned on the lights for the organ (from the altar side of the church) and we went up the narrow rickety spiral staircase to the organ loft. The church was beginning to fill with old ladies.  I threw the switch, which was a large one (like a breaker switch) on the wall going up.  The organ bellows made a loud growl as air filled the leather bellows, which could still be pumped by hand.  (Myna stayed in the car.)  The organ is similar to the one from the duomo of Brescia (antique Italian organs are all very much the same) that I play all the time on my computer, but that one has more stops, but has not been tuned for about 40 years and so at least the reed stops are pretty out of tune.  But I had a nice time, although the priest said mass needed to start in a few minutes,  although he didn't seem hurried. He said I could come back and play all I wanted, and to ask for the sacrsitano.  I took a few pix on my cell phone, which I can't get to upload, and I did not take my regular camera.

We then drove down to Pavia, where we went last Saturday, and went to the mall which has a very large supermarket called Carrrefore.  Myrna wanted to buy a barbecue, charcoal and lighter fluid, but I thought we should ask if we can light it on our balcony, although we saw the people below us with one. (We can't light candles in our apartment.)  Myrna had bought 3 geraniìum plants, with red flowers, and we planted them yesterday in the planter boxes of our bedroom balcony, which looks on to the street.  On the way home we stopped at a very large plant nursery, with more and prettier flowers than we have seen in the US, but they aren't cheap, so we didn't buy any, yet.  We went home and I finished cooking some beans (borloti, which cook like pinto) and made burros, and made enchilada sauce with some red chili powder I found at the Carrefore.  It was very red powder, but made the most yellow sauce I have made, and was a little hot, but better than no sauce.  We made 4 extra and took them down to the office elders and the APs.  Myrna also made them some brownies, which she even frosted.  We got to bed at our usual 10 pm, after reading our scriptures together, as we do every evening before we go to bed.  Yesterday we also removed the foot board from our bed and I hope my big toe on my right foot gets better, it was being pushed by the bed because I am longer than the bed.

Today we got up and went to church in Milano.  We couldn't find a place to park so we ended up parking on the sidewalk in front of the church (a member of the bishopric parked just behind us after we did).  Today was fast and testimony meeting, and was very good.  Italians do a good job with their testimonies, no one gives travelogues as they do at home. One of the American sister missionaries bore her testimony (in Italian), and Myrna was able to understand that she was grieving because a friend in the US committed suicide.  She said she has been reading the scriptures and praying and the Lord is blessing her.  This is a hard time to be young, have raging hormones and Satan is working hard on them.  Our lesson in Sunday School was on about the allegory of the olive trees from the Book of Mormon. One of the sisters, who actually lives in Opera, drew a very detailed and fairly large picture of the olive grove, including the master and servants, as described in the scripture.  Italians may not have an upper hand on understanding allegories from the scriptures, but they certainly know their olive trees. I was very impressed, I even took a pix of it with my cell phone.  For high priests, the group leader, who is a high councilor, and who has been the bishop, took me and the other former bishop (all the high priests who were there today) in with the young priests, and gave us an excellent lesson.  I am very impressed with him, he is very distinguished and has snow white hair (also wears baby blue reading glasses), I haven't seen many better in the best of wards in the US. I played the piano for priesthood meeting; they especially like "if you could hie to Kolob", which we sang today.

Tomorrow our auditor, who is from Birmingham, England, comes until Wed, for an audit of the financial records.  We haven't had one for three years; they only have them before the mission president goes home.  I am happy that my excuses will be that I haven't been here very long to have messed up very much, although I have done some dumb things, out of ignorance, although I am learning.  I have no accounting skills, and wished I could use Excel better, it would certainly make my life easier at this time.   Sorry there are no pix this week, and this is more detail than you probably wanted to read.  This has been a good week and next weekend should be interesting. We are going with the senior couples to Venice, and so I probably won't post until later in the week, because we are coming back on Sunday after we go to church here.

Saturday, 2 Mar 2016

3 April 2016

Yesterday, Saturday, was our regular P Day.  It was also general conference, but the first session didn't start here until 6 pm. During the morning we drove, in our car, with the Salatinos. We drove about 20 minutes south to the Cetosa di Pavia, which is one of the largest monasteries in Italy.  It is in a very small town about 10 minutes north of Pavia, which is an old city, actually an old Roman city, about 30 miles south of us.  Anyway, the Certosa was started in about 1000 ad and is still, sort of, being used, although I suspect there are only about 4 or 5 monks there, because that is all we saw.  The one who took us on a tour was from Ethopia and spoke very good Italian. We had to park a long way from the front gate, and walk.  The only thing we had to pay for is parking, which was 4 euros for the 2 hours we were there. But we were not allowed to take pictures in the very large, very old, and beautiful church.  One of the altars was about 12 feet high by 6 feet high and was made with ivory.





















The old moat around the monastary, although we didn't see any crocodille











Past the inner courtyard is a large porch, with the church in the background.  The church is very large and very impressive, but they forbid me from taking any pictures inside.  In fact, I was yelled at by an old monk, when he saw me take a pix on the outside.  I may have been drawn and quartered if I would have use the camera inside. Some other people were taking pix when he wasn't looking, but I tried to be obedient.









Entrance to the university of Pavia, one of the oldest in the world, started in the 1300s.  During the 1800s one of the professors of physics was a Dr. Volta, after whom the volt (a measure of electricity) was named.











Large doors into large houses, (you could drive your horse inside) but the small doors are for people to enter through.  As you can see, they were made small to make it more difficult to enter.









The duomo dome, one of the largest in Italy (only one larger is the dome on St. Peter's in Rome) in the background, we didn't go inside, because it was closed for the afternoon, it closes about 11:30 (for liesurly lunch and nap) and opens again at 3:30 pm.












Some of the streets in Pavia are pretty narrow.














Outside of the castle walls, it would probably take about a half hour to walk all around it. It was a city in and of itself.









We went back home and watched the Saturday morning session of conference, which started at 6 pm, on the large TV in the president's house across the street from the mission office. We watched the priesthood session at our desks in the mission office from our computers, which worked well too. Sister Dibb made spaghetti and salad, with gelato and cookies Myrna quickly made for dinner. The Salatini ate with us.  President Dibb's brother married President Monson's daughter, who we saw with him at conference.  Her husband sat on the front row.