caught up in the goins-on

Wonderful thing for Thursday-Sunday, 12-15 Feb:!

Any time there's a zone conference, it's pretty much a shoo-in to be my wonderful thing.  Forty people in the same room, all just so fervent about one thing, makes for a mighty spirit.  We got great training about "Decisions Determine Destiny", "Share the Love," the "Teach to Find" model, and many other wonderful pointers.   Our own Sister Johnson did the "Share the Love" segment.

We were also privileged to watch the "Meet the Mormons" movie.  We were touched and inspired by it.  We are excited that it has been translated into Italian and will be coming here in May!

For so many days, there has to be at least one other "wonderful thing", and that would be the GANS Multi-stake Conference.  We have been in on the planning of it for several months.  Enrollment was slow up until the last couple of days and had us all on the hot seat; then at the last minute it swelled to over 150 attendees.

There were presentations on Family History, the progress of the Rome Temple, and Self-reliance on Saturday, followed by Pizza and a dance.  I met many fabulous young people, principally from our mission of Northern Italy (Siena and north), but there were also some from Rome, Sicily, and I don't know where else.  They were just full of sparkle and joie de vivre.  Ten of them spent the night in our apartment - six boys in the living room (some on the floor in sleeping bags), and four girls in the spare bedroom (on the bed and on the mattress we took off the sleeper sofa).

The next day we had Sunday School taught by President Caramia of the Stake Presidency; then Sacrament Meeting, during which two recently returned missionaries from our stake spoke, as well as the Andersons, who are over the GANS for all of Europe and had come down from Frankfurt, and then our stake president, Pres. Fiorelli.  We were all encouraged to strive not merely for testimony, but for discipleship, through living what we know to be true.

The Andersons met for a couple of hours with those of us who work with the GANS after the meetings and the final meal.  It feels wonderful to be a part of this great group of people, working to strengthen these wonderful young people who are the parents and leaders of the church in the near future.

fun thing:

For breakfast Sunday morning I fixed bread pudding with caramel sauce, which is American, yes, but not traditional for breakfast...unless you're a Hyde.  We decided years ago that bread pudding was perfect for breakfast - after all, it's just glorified french toast.  It was a hit!