Glory

Wonderful thing for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, 9-11 February:

Pathway, what hast thou wrought with my life?  Ah well, GOOD things are coming to pass, so it's okay that I haven't had a spare minute to blog.  I guess that's the wonderful thing - good things are coming to pass!  How awesome is that.  Everywhere we go to make a presentation, enthusiasm for this program abounds.  Folks, we have a stake in Florence.  That means, all the priesthood keys to carry forward the work of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ are here.  in Florence.  Within the next year or so, we will have a temple.  in Italy.  http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormonism-in-pictures-beauty-purpose-mormon-temples.      

I am reminded of the live action Peter Pan movie - I know, that's odd, give me a minute.  Peter Pan, Wendy, her brothers and the Lost Boys, are all in utmost peril on Hook's pirate ship.  Wendy is permitted a moment to say good-bye, and she takes the opportunity to present Peter with " the hidden kiss."  This changes everything.

So it is with what's happening right here, right now, at least that's how we feel about it.  A stake.  A temple.  Pathway.  This changes everything!

If there were the words to describe what it's like to be me, to be us, here, now, doing what we're doing, perhaps you would feel how...BIG it is.  The scripture that comes to mind is when the Nephites are visited by the Resurrected Savior in 3 Nephi 18; they partake of the bread and wine of the Sacrament and are "filled".  There is purpose, there is meaning, there is delight; there is heartache, there is disappointment, there are conundrums.  It's absolutely glorious.

Every now and then, in my prayers, I sneak in a little "Hallelujah!"

fun thing:

Yesterday was "P Day" for the younger missionaries.  We took one, too.  Sisters Johnson and Gregg drove over (they're the only sisters in the mission with a car) and we drove two cars to the drop off spot at the foothills of Prato on the east side and left our car.  Then we drove several miles west and parked their car near a trail head, albeit along a busy city street.  Off we went for three fun hours of minimal climbing and great views.

We saw:  a dilapidated and crumbling textile factory with scaffolding still up around a "new" part, and accompanying outbuildings; a cave; lots of olive orchards; purple daisies and smaller white daisies, both of which smelled...nice!; villas; dogs guarding villas; other hikers and bikers; a real farm, with chickens and geese, and somewhere - cows, given the sound of cow bells; at another place we saw and tried to communicate with a very stout horse and a very stout pony; blue skies - glorious after several very cold, wet, windy days...

All of this, too, was glorious.  We stopped and ate a sack lunch prepared by Blaine.  Approaching the first drop off point, he suddenly realized that he had carefully under the back seat of the sisters' car, his wallet...and his keys.  He probably doesn't want me sharing this.  Oh well!  He had planned everything perfectly, he couldn't conceive of this colossal snag having occurred.  We all hooted.

Eventually, we thought to call Andrea, who came to pick us up and take us to the sisters' car.  Blaine tried to swear her to secrecy, but we'll see how many find out about it!

I'd post a picture...but I forgot my camera.  The sisters promised to share.