Merry Christmas!

Midnight Mass?

President turned the Midnight Mass down this year. :( Needless to say we are all a little sad... Bernie, the book store nun, asked for our address because she said she is sending a letter with something very special inside. I hope it is not those tickets we asked for :(... We should get the letter today.

This week we did go caroling at Piazza Del Popolo right on Viale Del Corse (the shop with all the super nice shops like Armani, Max Mara, Gucci, and what have you). We did it with a bunch of missionaries and young people. It was a super good Christmas memory, especially because the streets there are super decorated with lights and many people are shopping.

Caroling at Piazza Del Popolo

What was coolest thing you saw this week? 

This week we visited a member who was excommunicated about ten years ago and dropped off the face of the earth. But a bunch of things have happened in his life that have made him want to find God again. So he called us up. He was a really good guy and really seemed sincere in all his questions. But the cool thing about this guy was his home. Wow. It was a very nice home that was on in the penthouse of a building right next to Aqueduct Park (A large park... Very large, nice park... That has this huge aqueduct running through it). I have not had that good a view of Rome since maybe climbing Castel Sant Angelo. It was incredible. We are going to try to meet with him regularly to help him come back to the faith.

What was the best thing you ate this week? 

Yesterday, my goodness, we ate lunch at a member’s home. This member loves to cook and she had been preparing for 3 days because a former missionary from Austria and his family was coming to visit as well. So all of us went over there and it was such good food! Pasta alla Bolognese, some super good meat, parmigiana, spinach roll things, mozzarella di bufala from Campana, and many other good things. Then we went caroling with a member to a few houses and at every house they gave us more to eat and at the last house they made us stay for dinner. It was another huge meal with pasta, meat, salad, potatoes, and mozz. 

What was the hardest thing you did this week? 

So we had to send a package home for Anziano Budd and we had to wait at the Post Office for hours. The Post Office here is pretty much a joke anyways, but during Christmas it was terrible. We eventually get to the counter and try to send this package (It was super small that had a few letters in there) and he said that it was too heavy to send and that the system would not accept the weight. It was super, super light! Then we complained a bit and he reentered the info and then said it should cost about 17 bucks to send. Ridiculous. So we chose a different package much bigger than the previous one and sent it for like 4 bucks. I think the post man was trying to hustle us if you ask me. We left right after that. 

What was your miracle of the week?

This week we went with a member named Billy to go visit the Young Men. Billy is from Nigeria and is the Young Men’s president. He is awesome. Does not speak much Italian. He is very scatter brained, but he loves the young men that he serves and he always tries to help them. I have seriously learned a lot from Billy. But we went to go visit the young men this week and I really saw how much of a difference a good Young Men’s leader can make. Billy lives way outside of Rome but still comes in to see his young men very frequently. He can’t communicate with them but you can tell how much he loves them. I don’t think the YM really appreciate him now but his example is going to stick with them all their lives. Billy.

Merry Christmas!