Gingerbread Houses

Sorella Jefferies has now introduced her famous gingerbread houses in Italy.  They aren't really gingerbread, they are graham cracker houses but the activity day primary kids loved making them.

 Sorelle Andromidas and Jameson were there for the first part of the activity and gave a spiritual message about the light of Christ.

 Chiara, Michael and Valentino start decorating their houses.

 Valentino and Ruth get serious with their roof work while Erica looks on.

Their completed houses.

Merry Christmas 2013

We want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.  As we reflect upon the birth of our Savior, our thoughts turn to His life, example and atonement.  May His peace be with you now and forever.

All our love, Elder and Sister Jefferies

Branch Christmas Party 2013

We had our Forli' Branch Christmas Party Saturday evening.  The program included members playing the parts of Isaiah, Samuel the Lamanite, Elizabeth, Angel, Shepherd, Simeon, a Wiseman, Joseph, and Mary with Baby Jesus, each explaining their perspective of the birth of Christ. We sang carols and the children decorated the Christmas tree.  The Sister missionaries gave a message about keeping Christ in Christmas.  We then had a pot luck dinner.  We had about 40 in attendance.

 Sorella Jameson leads us in singing Away in a Manger.

 The Priesthood brethren sang Silent Night in four languages.

 Elodie helped decorate the tree.

 Michael and Valentino also helped.

While their parents ate dinner, I got to be Grandpa with Francesco and Celeste.

A Sad Tale of a Pony Tail

Sorella Jefferies started fixing her hair a couple of days ago and her curling iron wouldn't work, it died.  We went to four stores to replace it.  Each store only had two or three curling irons but over a dozen straightening irons.  It didn't dawn on us that Italians, for the most part, have naturally curly hair.  The curling irons had small barrels, not big fat ones like Sorella Jefferies needs.  We went on line and ordered one from Amazon UK but because it is so close to Christmas, we won't get it until the end of December.  Sorella Jefferies has to go with a pony tail for the next couple of weeks.  I think she looks young and cute.  She thinks she looks gross.

Rimini Christmas Zone Conference

Today we had Zone Conference and we got to have it in Forli'.  That was because Sorella Jefferies was asked to prepare the meal for the zone.  She fixed tacos and Mexican rice.  The missionaries absolutely loved the meal and I heard President Dibb say that Mexican food was one of the things he misses most about being in Italy.  So the conference and the meal was a huge success.

The tables looked quite festive.

Laura helped in the kitchen.  She and Anziano Christensen were happy to see each other again.

The food line.

Sorelle Jameson and Andromidas enjoyed the food.

Sorelle Gjika and Palumbo are from Albania and Italy respectively and this kind of food was new to them.

These Anziani seem to be enjoying the tacos.

Laura made tiramisu cups and Sorella Jefferies made these cookies for dessert.

These were the December and January birthdays.

Laura and Sorella Jefferies cleaned up after the meal.

Sorella Palumbo is from Sicily.  I knew her mother, Rosaria Costa, when I served as a missionary in Palermo in 1969.

This is the Rimini Zone with President and Sorella Dibb on the left and us on the right and the super missionaries in between.

Senior Couples Conference in Milano

The senior couples met in Milano for a conference.  The first day we had meetings and then in the evening we all went to Roadhouse Grill for dinner.  The next day we went to see The Last Supper, the Duomo, La Scala and the International Fair.  It was a fun and uplifting two days.

 Left to right:  President and Sister Dibb, Durand, Harmer, Savoldi, Keefer, Tonon, Molinari, Jefferies, Arbogast, Mackay, Burger, Lee, Mann, and Simoncini.  I included this photo to show the growth of our mission.  Last year at this meeting we had 6 couples serving and this year we have 13 couples.  Last year we had about 140 young Sisters and Elders and right now we have 237.

 This is Umberto Simoncini and his wife, Elisabeta.  When I was a young missionary in Palermo as branch president, Umberto was a 17 year old member of the branch.

 Roadhouse Grill is like a restaurant in the United States.  Anziano Ackerman is sitting next to Sorella Jefferies.  He is an office Elder and served as interpreter for the three couples that don't speak English.

 I really enjoyed this hamburger and fries.

 This is only a replica of Da Vinci's masterpiece.  No photos are allowed of the real one.

 The Duomo.

 The baptistry in the basement of the Duomo.

 As we were walking to La Scala, we saw this beautiful courtyard.

 At the international fair in the Spain section, we found these shoes made of chocolate.

 We bought this purse in the Vietnam area.

This lady in the Germany section was making lace.

Primary Leadership Meeting

Sorella Jefferies attended a leadership meeting for the Primary of the Forli' Branch.

 Sorella Jefferies is the 1st counselor and the nursery leader, Maria Jose is the teacher and Erica is the Primary President.  How could you concentrate on your meeting with those cookies staring at you?

They controlled themselves and waited until after the meeting to enjoy milk and chocolate chip cookies.