Gelato in Genova

Years ago when we were on vacation in Florence, we were passing by a McDonalds and in front of it were some American tourists eating McDonalds soft-serve ice cream. Mere steps away was an Italian gelateria which is, of course, where we went. As I happily enjoyed my gelato, I looked at those tourists, and all I could think was, "Are you crazy!!!! Why would you settle for McDonalds ice cream when this is right here???" I still can't figure that out, but since then, I've decided that in the next life, people in the Telestial Kingdom will eat McDonald's ice cream, while those in the Celestial kingdom will be eating Italian gelato. I don't know what those in the Terrestial Kingdom will eat. Baskin & Robbins perhaps?*

There is nothing in the world like Italian Gelato. It is one of the things I most looked forward to having when we returned to Italy.

Coming back to Italy was like coming home for me. Yes, the traffic is crazy and I know the country has economic and political problems, but for me Italy makes me feel young. Heck, I even had an acne breakout the other day - that's how young I've become. And don't say I broke out because of the gelato. Heaven forbid, it's not that.

Our flight itinerary into Italy from Salt Lake City changed at the last minute and we ended up flying to Milan via Detroit and Rome. What a great feeling it was going through the Rome airport. I was thinking, " I know this place. I know this airport. This is familiar. This is home."

We were welcomed in Milano by our Mission President President Allen and his wife, Sister Allen, as well as the two APs (Assistants to the President). I was pleased to see that one of the APs was a young man from Sciacca which is down in southern Italy. We had a very nice couple of days meeting them and also getting to know the office couple, the Griffiths, who are pretty much doing the same jobs for the Milano Mission as we did for the Rome Mission. The Griffiths were former Mission Presidents in the Scotland/Ireland mission. He served a mission in Italy as a young man and ironically has both Italian and Scottish ancestry so his and their missions have covered it all. They said that they were always so grateful for what their office couples did for them in Scotland and going on another senior mission was their way of giving back.

On the Thursday after we arrived, we were driven to Genova (called Genoa by English speakers) by the Griffiths where we met the Halls, whom we are replacing, handed the keys to the car and the apartment and given some brief training before they departed. This is our apartment building, by the way.

Genova is a beautiful city but perhaps more confusing to drive in than Rome because of it's geography. It's a long thin city squished up against the mountains and coming down to the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. The city moves up along the mountain sides and because of that, the roads wind back and forth and up and down. The freeways tunnel a lot through the mountains so we're getting used to driving through tunnels a lot.

The main central shopping area is really nicely decorated right now with suspended umbrellas over the pedestrian-only streets.

Our work here in Genova is called Member Leadership Support or MLS for short. There are two LDS wards (congregations) in Genova, each meeting at different sides of the city. Genova 1 meets in an office building not far from the old city. They have one office space on the first floor (in North America, we would call it the second floor; the main floor in Italy is referred to as Floor 0) where the chapel and classrooms are, and the second floor above it has a Young Adult Centre where Institute happens and social activities.The old city nearby is really very nice and has the birthplace home of Christopher Columbus:

Being the birthplace of Christopher Columbus is one of Genova's claims to fame. Just up the walkway from this home is the old medieval gate for the old city. It's pretty impressive too. You can see the towers quite well from the Genova 1 church meeting space.

The Genova 2 ward has their own building on the west side of Genova and it's a very nice little church. Ironically it's a converted strip club (I kid you not). I have to say, they did a good job of changing it over to a church because you really can't tell!

We are just beginning the process of getting to know the young adults in the two wards as well as the leadership. Hermes is still daily coaching me on my Italian and I sit in meetings with leaders picking up a little bit of what they say and totally missing other things. I went to the store the other day by myself, and when I was asking for a grocery bag, I asked for a borsina (I should have said borsetta which means small bag). The cashier looked at me blankly and said "Saccheta?" which means "Sack?" and I said "Si, si." I hope Francesco, my Italian teacher back in Calgary, would give me brownie points for trying.

We've had the opportunity of exploring the countryside a bit. The region around Genova is called Liguria and the Ligurian mountains are absolutely beautiful. They're nothing like the Rocky Mountains by our home in Calgary. They're smaller and covered with lush green forests.

We stopped on the side of the road the other day near this lake and noticed these two horses and three mules all wearing cow bells around their necks. I was wondering why they were wearing cow bells and the only thing I can think of is they must like to run off and the owners are always looking for them. Here's a short video clip I took of them. I hope it works for you.

We also took a short walk up a beautiful little path with a waterfall going down to the lake.

So this is the start of our latest Italian adventure. We are happy to be in Genova, to be able to eat wonderful Gelato as well as other good food, to see some of the most beautiful places in the world, but it's knowing the people and finding ways to serve them that will give us the greatest joy. 

*If you don't know what I mean by Telestial, Terrestial and Celestial Kingdoms, go to Mormon.org and you can get an explanation on the LDS beliefs of where we come from, our purpose of life and where we're going after this life. It was just a joke about eating Gelato in the next life (but you never know!)

The MTC: Sort of like Star Fleet Academy, but better

During our week at the MTC (Missionary Training Centre) in Provo Utah, my husband made the joke that the place was a little like Star Fleet Academy. Unless you are a Star Trek fan, you might not get the joke. But when I think about it, the MTC really is training the young people to figuratively reach for the stars... they just don't wear those spandex uniforms.

On Monday, May 7th, our first day of training, both of us were feeling a little restless, perhaps even a little cranky. After all, we had been there for the "same" training in November 2015 and we felt impatient to just get on with it and get to Italy. By Tuesday, however, we became very happy we were there. There is a spirit there like no other. And there are such good people to meet. And we discovered that we really did need the "Preach My Gospel" training again.

Our hearts began softening on Monday evening when we had the chance to view the video of a devotional given by the apostle David E. Bednar on Christmas 2011. We had seen it before in 2015 and it was one of the most memorable speeches we had ever seen. In fact, this video has pretty much become MTC required viewing and is only available there. It's called "The Character of Christ" and teaches examples of how Christ always looked outwardly, and never thought of himself first. It is probably the finest discourse that Elder Bednar has ever given and is a speech I could see over and over again.

There were about 90 senior missionaries who did that training that week. Many were "at-home" missionaries who would be working with their local church leaders with various needs. Some were facility management missionaries, who would be working for six months over the summer maintaining the grounds and facilities at Church History Sites. Others were going to various locations in the U.S. to either work in the mission offices or doing "auxiliary support" (I asked what that was and she said she really didn't quite know yet).  And then there were those doing what we are doing: MLS which stands for Member Leadership Support. There was a couple going to Hawaii (poor them!), a couple going to Sri Lanka, a Canadian couple from Red Deer going to the Ukraine, a couple going to Slovakia and so on and so forth. Most were married couples but there was a group of older Single Sisters there too. 

We were divided into small groups of eight people and our group had four couples. Here's a picture of our group with our morning and afternoon teachers in the middle:

Two of the couples were doing Facility Management missions, one to the Priesthood Restoration Site in Pennsylvania:

• https://history.lds.org/article/historic-sites/pennsylvania/priesthood-restoration-site/what-to-expect-when-you-visit-prs?lang=eng

and the other to a historic site I'd never heard of before, Cove Fort.

• https://history.lds.org/subsection/historic-sites/utah/cove-fort?lang=eng

The remaining couple were doing an at-home mission somewhere in Brigham City, Utah. They were the most grandparenty couple you could ever meet, especially her. She was the kind of person you knew must always have a jar of cookies ready to give away to anybody she thought needed one.

The training was a bit different than what we'd had in 2015. There was more emphasis on using technology and I learned some new tricks for using the LDS Gospel Library app that I didn't know before. Also, there is another app I didn't know existed called LDS Media.

We were specifically taught about getting to know people and then listening to the spirit, or inspiration of the Holy Ghost, to figure out what message might most help the people we taught. Unlike 2015, there wasn't anyone pretending to be an investigator of the Church, we were teaching each other. We were paired with a couple from the group next door to teach a few times and they teach us. The first time we met them, Hermes and I both felt like things had fallen flat and that it wasn't going to go well, but it all changed on our second time meeting and getting to know them and after that we felt very connected with them. Here is a picture of us with them at the famous MTC map pointing to where we're going:

There are two new buildings at the MTC which were only just be built when we were last there. One of the buildings has murals using photos from the church produced Bible Videos. If you've never viewed those Bible Videos, you really ought to. They are wonderful!

• biblevideos.org and also available as an app

The other building had gigantic murals on each floor, some depicting Book of Mormon scenes (might have been from the upcoming Book of Mormon videos), others more Bible scenes (there is an incredible one showing the children of Israel crossing the parted Red Sea) and a few Church History murals. I took pictures of many of them but due to copyright, I can't put them up on this blog. I wish I could!

Outside of classes, we got to the Temple three times. The first visit was the Provo City Centre Temple which we had never seen before. This temple is unique because it used to be the public Provo Tabernacle building where many conferences were held but unfortunately the Tabernacle burnt down and left only the outward brick shell. The Church decided to convert it to a Temple preserving that outside shell which was quite the undertaking. This is a fairly famous photo showing how it had to be put on stilts and dug under in one of the early stages of construction:

You can also watch a time-lapse video of it's construction and finished product on YouTube here: 

It has now been open since 2016 and on the inside is rather Victorian and quaint in it's decor. I really think it's a beautiful temple.

I guess there is one scripture that sums up how I felt about our time in the MTC and how it inspired me to do better in my life. It's from the Book of Mormon, a book that never fails to inspire me:

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

2 Nephi 25:26

That is truly how I felt at the end of our week: rejoicing in Christ and rejoicing that I have the opportunity to go serve the people of Italy. Life doesn't get any better than that.