Yesterday, Saturday, our P day, we wanted to just rest and clean up from Amy's family visit. We got up, washed clothes and cleaned the apartment and then went out in the driveway and washed our car; Myrna with a rag and me with the hose. When we came into the office the elders asked if we wanted to go with them to a baptism in Lampagiano, one of the three church buildings in Milano, which is about an hour north, by car. We were just there the day before, at a mission conference to meet and greet our new President and Sister Allen. We had met them earlier in the week, but all the other missionaries were officially meeting them in these conferences. It was a good 2 hour conference. They had prepared about an hour slide show, of them and their family in Idaho, so we got to know them, and they ended with their testimonies. From what he said, I assume he likes to fish about like I like to play the organ, and he is also a marathon runner. He and his sister ran the Boston Marathon this past spring. After that conference they were invited by sister missionaries to have dinner and attend a lesson with a man whose daughter is a returned missionary from Brazil (his wife is also from Brazil), but he has not joined the church, due to marriage issues. Anyway, we decided to attend the baptism yesterday, and took the two office elders in our car. It was of a man named Uber Suarez, who is from Perù. The family with whom President and Sister Allen had dinner the evening before was there, and the office elders, who also know them, asked them to join us for lunch at Steak and Shake, a chain from the US, I actually went to in Columbus when we were visiting Jeff. They were a delightful family, who showed us pictures on their cell phone with President and Sister Allen the evening before, and even asked us to come to their home for dinner. That should be interesting. Steak and Shake is like it is in the US, although they sell wine and are a little stingy with catsup. It is the first time in Italy that I have seen soda fountain where you can re-fill your cup, although I did not have soda. Myrna and I shared a chocolate shake, which was good, and I also paid €1 for 50 ml of carbonated water in a bottle, now my favorite Italian beverage. The hamburger was okay, but not as good as the ones we made Amy's family on the president's barbecue grill, which is still on our balcony from when we had a going away dinner for President and Sister Dibb. I downloaded the pix from my phone today and here are a few:.
Dragon fruit at the Metro store, which is like Costco.
The office elders helping us get ready for dinner with the Dibbs in our apartment (my organ to the left). We barbecued chicken, made potato salad, and Myrna made her crescent rolls for the dinner, and the elders made tiramisù, a classic Italian dessert. It is made by quickly dipping lady finger cookies (which sort of look like a lady's finger) in coffee, the elders used Italian generic postum, and marscapone cheese (it is easy to find here), heavy cream, vanilla, 6 egg yolks, sugar and milk, and topping it with cocoa powder, Traditionally it also has rum, but ours didn't have any. The word tiramisù literally means pick me up. I think it is pretty good, but an acquired taste if you don't like coffee flavor.
Myrna with her tiramisù dessert, which she is nice about.
Our "partners in crime," left to right, office Elders Osborne and Thompson and the assistants to the president, Elders Pesce and Barragon (the others were trying to keep a straight face).
Last Sunday as Amy was getting ready for church, I didn't have my camera handy, but I did have my cell phone and took this one of Rick ironing Amy's hair in our apartment. It worked well, she looked great.
This is one of the very large stained glass windows in the Duomo of Milano, which we visited with the Carters.
I would guess that each of the panels in the windows are about 3 feet by 4 feet high, so they are very large windows.
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This is the 9 passenger Nissan van that Rick and Amy rented for the week. It was big enough you could stand up in it and had lots of room in the back for luggage. They did have problems taking it back to the airport, the gas stations didn't take credit cards, it wouldn't fit in the Hertz garage and this delayed their return, causing them to be 20 minutes late for check in (mandatory 2 hours before flight) and Ryan Air (I believe that is the company I should badmouth) charged them 345 dollars late fee and then their flight was delayed anyway. I hope Amy was able to complain enough to get the money refunded.
Today is Fast Sunday. We are in our office, where it is cool because of the air conditioning, this afternoon. Elder Osborne just came in and said he has chicken in his fridge he needs to use and invited us to eat it with them. Myrna went up and got some stuff to marinate it and we will barbecue it and have dinner together with them later this evening. Tomorrow evening the APs will be with the Allens on their mission tour, so we will barbecue 4th of July hamburgers for the office elders. July 4th is certainly not a holiday in Italy. I just checked my Italian calendar, for which the weeks start on Monday, and the patron saint for July 4 is St. Elizabeth of Portugal, which is, I am sure, more than you wanted to know.
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