Social Media is Overwhelming

So I have at least been posting on Facebook, but some of my friends don't do Facebook.  I ought to spend more time on this blog...but I haven't been...Please forgive me.  I know I can manage my time better.

We are almost at the halfway mark of our mission.  I marvel to write that; I know in no time at all I'll be shaking my head over the passage of the entire 18 months.  Every day we have marvelous experiences sharing our faith and listening to the experiences and feelings of others.  Every day our testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ deepens, clarifies, strengthens, marvels.

These photos reflect just a small part of all this, but enjoy!

  On the left is just a corner of the  temple, but not too many photos are taken of the chapel/stake center that is also on the temple site.  The whole square is so welcoming and peaceful.

I selected these photos randomly; we love romanesco and artichokes - but right now both are out of season.

This and the next two photos are from the Jewish ghetto, in existence from the 1500s.  Today, it's a happenin' place.  Life is ... ironic.

One of many fun encounters we have at the Visitors Center.  I didn't recognize this sweet lady at first, but when upon hearing I grew up in Hailey, Idaho, she exclaimed "I'm from Carey!"  I knew immediately that she is a Murdock - though her name now is Peggy Merrell.  Our families were friends, and her dad and mine were in the stake presidency together.  Love it!

The next few photos help you conceptualize one of the reasons the temple site is so peaceful and welcoming.  Sometimes when I walk around it, it seems as if even the birds and the bees feel it.

Blaine carries his iPad around all the time - it has a wealth of information and pictures to share.  He also wears a hat outside to protect his face from the sun, having had several small cancers removed.  So some of the sisters went to the Lego store and made a Lego Anziano Hyde, and attached it to our locker in the break room.

In June we had a wonderful visit from my brother Steve and his wife Young Ju.  Here we are waiting for the metro, Rome's subway.

I think he had never had a birthday cake quite like this one!  Yum!

This is one of the best connections yet!  I was leaving the VC and two Asian brothers walked in.  We exchanged greetings and info.  When they told me they were from South Korea, I told them my sister-in-law was also from there.  Same city!  Wow, that's interesting.  Upshot:  they're dear friends!  Boise, Idaho and Taegu, South Korea, meet at the Rome temple!!!

The Italy Rome West zone, last zone conference for our wonderful President couple the Pickerds.  We've know them for two missions.  Welcome to the Smiths, just as wonderful!

On to a couple of fun Blaine photos:  

 his favorite:  pizza cappriciosa

This is how you rinse the shower after cleaning.

When the sister missionaries arrive before we do, they have to wait because we have the keys to the breakroom.

  In July our granddaughter Abbey and her friend Aitana came from Barcelona for a visit.  Too short!  But fun, and such a joy to have her here.

One of the four olive trees on the main piazza.  They are 400-500 years old.  They were transplanted from northern Italy, but there are olive trees around the perimeter of the grounds that are native to the site, and are 150-200 years old.

Children enjoying the puddles after a storm

My pack mule!

We got so tired of waiting for the bus that this is our new mode of transportation to and from

 the Visitors Center!

 

Aidan, Abbey's younger brother, came for a visit this month.  Boy did we have fun!

Celebrating a baptism (third person on the left).  Our friend Valter has come to the VC almost every day for three months.  We all feel a part of his conversion process.

Random Beauty and Daily Wonder

It's probably clear that I'm thrilled with poppies.   Color!  It touches the spirit.  It lifts and encourages.  Not just color, but also color contrast.  Symmetry.  Shape.  Beauty.  

We are often put off by how very seldom the empty lots and the curbsides are trimmed; but then on the other hand, we're greeted with random beauty everywhere we go.  

Or in the case of the photo below, random beauty and calculated ugly...

But then, speaking of gracing the landscape:

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I took the bottom photo...I may have...We never get tired of seeing and pointing out the reflection of the statue of Christ right in the center of the temple, as seen through the front windows of the Visitors Center.  And as for the stream, I believe I may have referenced Ezekiel 47?

For me, it really is "life-giving" to enjoy these views and feel these feelings of joy and peace, every single day while working here.

Couldn't resist taking this photo of the rearview window of a van.  We had just left an open market; we visited three on our Pday, purchasing artichokes, a potted basil plant, and some jewelry.

I know I've posted photos of Carlo before.  Blaine and his companion Jack Ward left a little card with the church's address on it at the shop where Carlo worked in Rome, forty-six years ago.  Now we're old buddies.  His sister-in-law Maria may or may not have been amused at Blaine's efforts to be on a par with her.  She is a great spirit and a great intellect, even in a small body.  

The young single adults of Italy had a conference last week, and spent a great deal of time on the temple square site.  Carmen is the daughter of some of our dearest friends in Naples, Nunzia and Salvatore Tucci.  Wonderful to see her and other YSAs from around Italy.

You may have seen this caricature of Blaine and me; I've added it as my Facebook profile picture.  It was drawn by one of our multi-talented sister missionaries, Sorella (Sister) Deschine.  We have singers, musicians, multi-linguists...they're amazing.  Many of them performed in the Easter Concert that was presented last Friday and Saturday.  Both were very well attended, by Italians as well as by American tourists and others.  We're portrayed as if we're singing, but I think it's supposed to be us "flapping our lips", as Blaine likes to call it.  No, really, I have to say, he is such a dedicated, prepared missionary.  He's always willing and ready to discuss any principles, to assist the sisters, just to do whatever is required.  I'm so proud of him.  And of his precious tablet!  (His IPad is chock-full of topics with relevant scriptures, videos, maps, you name it.  Johnny-on-the-spot).

I am SO happy to say that we do get a chance to communicate with family often.  Two illustrations:  Abbey in a cool coat she bought on their Semana Santa spring vacation in northern Spain, which she told me about as we spoke with them via Whatsapp, as they were traveling home, then sent me a photo; 

...and Slate's baptism, in Katy, Texas.  He's shown here with his bishop, and with Andrew.  I am so grateful that we were able to participate.  It was wonderful to be part of this milestone in Slate's life.

I've been thinking a lot lately about miracles vs. normal, everyday life.  For one thing, as Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge pointed out in this marvelous talk at BYU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSEsLtwKzvw), EVERYthing about mortal life is a miracle - it's just so "normal" that we don't realize how miraculous it is.  "The healing of the withered hand is not nearly as amazing as the existence of the hand in the first place. If it exists, it follows that it can certainly be fixed when it is broken. The greater event is not in its healing but in its creation."

There's a wonderful series of videos in our visitors center, called "The Storms of Life".  One of the many take aways that have come to me from watching several times, is that when "miracles" happen, it's not as if we "live happily ever after."  When the tempest and the winds were calmed, there was still a boat full of water, which had to be baled out; the occupants were still wet through; they still had to navigate to their destination, etc.  

In other words, "normal" life goes on.  The wonder and joy continue, if we receive them.  I wrote in my journal recently, "I love Walter Rane's painting of the blind man whose eyes Jesus anointed with mud [John 9].  It's very awkward-seeming; not a miracle done with a flourish, but just very human, a little odd.  We all expect (or at least I do) to act and speak as if we're filled with spiritual eloquence and grace 'at all times and in all places.'  Instead...awkward, imperfect, normal, human.  That's how most things get done."

(no copyright infringement intended)

May we SEE wonder in all things.  Alleluia.