breaking the ice without falling

Wonderful thing for Saturday & Sunday, 28 February and 1 March:

Sometimes it's a big challenge to decide on just one wonderful thing, especially when we're covering more than one day.

Shall I write about the beautiful drive to Siena Saturday, where I filled up the back of our car with treasures from the Lees' apartment, which is being closed out when they leave soon (and we are going to miss them!)?

  This brick person (It looks like a woman from the side, but the caretaker said it's a man) was erected a couple of years ago.  It stands atop the ruins of a 600-year-old castle that I saw from the road, then went to take a closer look.

Shall I write about the grace of an attitude adjustment that enabled me to enjoy going ice skating by myself (meaning, without Blaine, still not up to it) with the GANS - and to find out  that I still know how, after all these decades?

I am standing with the only two, of our party of seven, who were actually willing to skate, two of the finest young women I know, Rafaella and Cristina.

Shall I write about my first opportunity to interact with the Young Women ("Giovani Donne") of the Florence Stake, after having been called to serve as the stake secretary?  Yes.  And I'm sorry I don't have a pic.  I'm going to have to remember to snap photos more often.

We drove to Pisa for two reasons yesterday:  to be a part of the stake YW/YM activity, and to make a presentation about Pathway to the Pisa Ward, after the block of three meetings Sunday.  The YW/YM met in a separate room for Sunday School while the Pisa Ward met in the chapel for Sacrament Meeting, then switched to the chapel for their own Sacrament Meeting while we proceeded with our presentation.

Let's see...there were Veronica, Valentina (her birthday), Esther, Kimberly, Anna, Patrizia, Gloria, Eveline, Gina, Francesca, Letizia, our own Diletta, Virginia, Alessia, Jessica ... oh goodness!  I really did memorize all their names!... I think I'm leaving some out.  Beautiful, wonderful, lovely young women.  The YW presidency, minus Marianna who couldn't make it at the last minute, are also beautiful, wonderful, lovely young women, none of them married - unless Marianna is, I'm not sure - Jessica and Denise.

We brainstormed ideas for service as part of the theme for this year (https://www.lds.org/youth/theme/2015?cid=YS-M-youththeme&lang=eng), and shared personal stories of service.  I talked about opportunities to share the gospel based on D&C 4, and told about some of the experiences our children had when they were teens.  The girls gave ideas to visit the elderly, services for the homeless, putting on a show for children in a hospital, etc.  Here it's a bit of a bureaucratic boondoggle to do service projects, but there's always a way.

I'm looking forward to it.

Fun thing:

Yeah.  I skated.  I didn't fall.  I'm glad I persevered past the first time or two around the rink, during which time my feet and ankles were telling me I'd lost my mind.  Apparently I was asking things of those muscles that they'd long forgotten how to do.

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!