Come mai - pronounced "ko-may my"

wonderful thing:  Sister missionaries who give us wise counsel.  Sister Reni (pronounced Rainey!  it's a jolt when people say her name) and Sister Gregg are wonderful.   We just stood by our car this afternoon, after a discussion with Diletta, who will be baptized soon, and had our own discussion about the challenges we're having here.  It seems as if our efforts to visit and get to know people usually end up going nowhere.  Sister Reni, who has been out for about a year, made the observation that when you call ahead a few days in Italy, all they can think is, "Oh no, I have to work that day!  I can't stay home all day and clean the house and fix a big meal!" so they say, sorry, we won't be home. We're used to the courtesy of calling ahead, but maybe a bigger courtesy would be to just call a couple of hours in advance and ask if we can come over for a few minutes.   We talked about how cultural differences can really throw you for a loop, and about how wonderful it is to have a man like President Monson at the helm in a day of such intolerance.  His message is always to overlook things and to love and serve.  And that's the message we're getting here.

fun thing:  And when you call a couple of hours in advance, tell them you're bringing brownies!  Sister Reni says Italians love American sweets.  Come mai???  That's Italian for "HUH?"  In the land of confections, they love sugar-filled, fat-filled, American ... I ought not to use the word "crap"...  Well, anyway, I'll look into that.  It's really hard to find vanilla and baking powder, though.  One of the sisters who had visited the States last summer asked for the recipe for Apple Pie - she and her daughter raved about it.  So I googled "best apple pie ever".  I figure that oughta do it!