How could such a romantic word as "caldera" have such a horrific meaning, anyway?

So there's an active volcano in our town.

Or, under our town, and the bay surrounding it.

Often in the morning, we smell sulfur.

On the upside - this place is so pretty!  And the First Century amphitheatre we see from our living room balcony attests to the staying power of this town, Pozzuoli, or Puteoli, as found in Acts 28:13-14.

Also on the upside, we're driving a hybrid, a Toyota Yaris, which augurs way less monthly expense.  We won't be driving the same distances either.  We're here to support the missionaries of the Naples zone, which includes Pozzuoli, Naples, Battipaglia, Caserta, and Castellamare.  We will probably be taking public transportation a lot; often it's a lot simpler than driving.  We've already seen the parking here is ... an exercise in frustration, at best!  After four trips to three offices, we do have a residential parking pass, though.  Another upside!

The church is a three story edifice that was originally intended to be a restaurant; don't know what happened to that plan, because before it was even finished as a building, it was acquired by the Church and repurposed as a real live meetinghouse.  Each of the three floors has a balcony that looks out over the Bay of Pozzuoli.  Another upside!  This information, btw, I obtained courtesy of Sorella Tempesta, one of my favorite member friends from when we were here as young missionaries 43 years ago.  Wow!

More upsides:  the people, of course.  First off, also of course, these wonderful missionaries, three sisters and four elders in Pozzuoli, four elders in Naples, and two sisters in Battipaglia.  There are more, we just haven't met them yet.  Secondly, the gracious members, whom we have only begun to meet:  Sorella Tempesta, the Romanos, the Parisis, the Trimbles, Stutzmans, Lassens, Warners, etc. etc.  Yes, there are a lot of Americans here, with the presence of two military bases nearby.  Thirdly, the "investigators", people who are showing interest in the message our missionaries carry:  Fratello Cono, Gerardo, Raffaele, etc. etc.  And lovely Vera, an angelic woman who understands the story of Adam and Eve better than some members, who is mother to three boys besides her one - who, when asked to read 2 Nephi 2:25, cried out with gladness, exclaiming, "I didn't know that!"

Volcano schmolcano.  We love this place.

Oh, It Is Wonderful!

Wonderful thing for Friday, 29 May:

One of the great personal benefits of being a Pathway missionary is that I get to teach the Institute class.  The students, Jenny, Elton, Melvin and Daniela, are wonderful; and the course, a new Religion course recently published, "Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel", is beyond marvelous.

Yesterday we talked about how important it is - and how much an example of the condescension of God - that Jesus be born of a mortal mother and of an immortal Father.  An utter marvel.

We talked about how our trust is confirmed and our faith grows as we realize that Jesus was mortal as we are -- and, on the other hand, how our trust and faith are strengthened by the fact that Jesus inherited the traits of his immortal, celestial Father as well.  Writing about it in my journal this morning, I kept setting my pen down to think about it, to ponder the significance of his suffering in the garden.

The garden... "For as in Adam [the Garden of Eden] all die, even so in Christ [the Garden of Gethsemane] shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22).

How perfectly He did and does His part:  "For this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39).

It has all helped me to be more committed to do my little planting, hoeing, dunging, nourishing and harvesting.  He "marked the path and led the way" (Hymns, 195, "How Great the Wisdom and the Love").

Fun thing:

In fact, we were just given a taste of the fruit yesterday:  the oldest daughter of one of our neighbors, who knew us in our most excruciatingly dysfunctional times as a family,  sent an email yesterday:  she is a member of the Church now!

She commented, "Bet you didn't know I was watching..."

The fact that she saw something, was testimony to the power of the Holy Ghost working in the lives of people desperately but prayerfully trying to weed their garden.

Hallelujah!

(our garden after 30 years of effort)