The tops of the mountains

Wonderful thing for Tuesday and Wednesday:  I cannot say enough what a huge blessing it is to be here, and what a huge privilege it is to serve; it's always a marvelous thing to see that we actually manage to do good!  This observation doesn't come from anything earth-shaking; it's just how we feel at the end of every day.  We visited a young man last night, who isn't really interested in any kind of committed life right now because, a punto, he's young.  Frankly, he just wants to have fun.  We shared some experiences and observations that were failproof; he said, "I know.  I just don't want to be involved."  We told him we weren't going to give up and he also replied to that, "I know."  Sweet, sweet kid.  Just needs a fire - I was going to say, "lit under him", but what he really needs is a fire lit inside him.  Persistence.
Today, as you know if you've seen FB, we took the sister missionaries on their P Day, and went with our friend Heather (our guide) to Carrara, where Thorvaldsen's Christus and Twelve Apostles are being painstakingly reproduced for the Rome Temple Visitors Center.  Some things about Italy are so insistently real that nothing I can say really puts a handle on it; this is the case with the Apuan Alps, where Carrara is situated.  It truly was otherworldly, to ascend into those mountains and to be granted that view.  From (almost) the summit, at close hand one looks into the quarries to see the amazing process of peeling pure marble out of the mountain.  This process has been going on since 1,000 years before Christ!  And the volume of marble still in the mountains is not even dented.  The white you will see in the pictures - when I post them - is not snow, it is marble.  The mountains - and I have seen many amazing mountain peaks - are something truly above this earth.  Beyond all that, we were privileged to see the sculptures and learn of the process (fascinating blend of age old artisanal work and the latest 3-D technology) behind these awe-inspiring figures.  Wow.  Feeling truly awed.

Fun thing:  I'm loving whatsapp; I've been able to text Matt, Jesse, and Amy (who is with Lawton in Spain, finding a place to live for their move in Jan/Feb) in the last couple of days and get up-to-the-minute family info.  I love my family.