Making Rice Bags with the Young Women

Sorella Jefferies helped Erica with a mutual activity for the Young Women.  She helped them sew rice bags.  You put these bags in the microwave, warm them up and then put them on your sore muscles or put them in bed with you to warm up your feet.  They had lots of fun using the sewing machine and making something useful to take home.

Francesco's Baby Shower

Maria and Paolo's little baby, Francesco was born in December.  Sorella Jefferies hosted a baby shower at our apartment on Thursday evening and several sisters from the branch attended and had a fun time together.

 Cute little Francesco.

 Maria holding the cake and all the guests gathered around.

Mila, the famous cake decorator, with her "work of art."

Mommies getting ready to feed their babies.

 Too bad the mommies were blindfolded.

 The proud grandmother, aunt and mother.

Maria with Francesco who had had enough of this party.

A Temple in Forli?

Every time we drive or walk past this building, Deanne says, "I can picture this as a temple.  I'm going to call President Monson and tell him that the Church should buy this building and someday make it into a temple."  It is only about four blocks from our apartment so we do see it a lot and it is for sale right now.

 These are our dear friends, Laura and Alberto.  They live a block away from our apartment.  We have been visiting them with the young missionaries and teaching them about the Church since we arrived in Forli.  Laura is a fabulous cook.  We have had dinner with them twice and they invited us to Alberto's birthday party.

An artist in Forli

The young Elders met a man while they were tracting.  His name is Otello Turci.  He is a sculptor and works in clay and wood.  He made the molds for a nativity set that he has been making and selling for several years.    We met him and he made a set for us.  For payment he would only accept an amount to reimburse him for the materials.  He said that God has given him a talent and he feels that he must share that talent with others.  He did a work in wood that he donated to Pope John Paul II and the Pope had a picture taken with him.  Turci gave us a book of some of his works and signed it for us.  We had been looking for an authentic Italian nativity so we were very happy to get this one.

Special Birthday

We found out that Erica Raveau's birthday is December 29 so we celebrated our birthday together.  We ate pizza and played some games.  Xavier made tiramisu and it was one of the best birthday cakes I have ever had.

Dinner on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

 On Christmas Eve, Brother and Sister Garcia invited the missionaries and some other branch members for dinner and games.  The Garcia's are from Ecuador but have been in Italy for about nine years.  They have three daughters in Ecuador and two daughters in Italy.  Sister Garcia is serving up the turkey while Anziano Smith patiently waits for his plate.

These are the Garcia's sons-in-law, Paolo and Stefano.  Paolo's wife, Maria, was not at the party because  she was at the hospital with her baby, Francesco, born that morning at 9:30 am.

 Anziano D'Addabbo and Brother Garcia.

 Daniela is the Garcia's daughter and is married to Stefano.

 Babbo Natale gave out gifts to everyone including Brother Garcia.

 Sorella Jefferies had been especially good all year.  After we ate delicious food we played some fun games.

Then on Christmas Day Brother and Sister Rossi invited the missionaries and some members from the branch to dinner.

 Brother Rossi is the cook for Christmas dinner.  He made tortelli which is similar to ravioli.  The little pasta squares are stuffed with pumpkin, potatoes and cheese and a ragu sauce is put on top.  It was all homemade from scratch.  Wow, this stuff is good!

 There was turkey, homemade bread, peas and carrots and here is Brother Rossi with fried potatoes.  Then there was fruit and cake for dessert.  It took about three hours to eat all the courses. 

Christmas in Forli

On Saturday, December 22, we went to downtown Forli in the afternoon to watch the community put on a huge production of the story of Christ's birth.  We got some pictures of the event.

 Joseph and Mary walking to Bethlehem.

 The shepherds in the fields.

 The angels announce the birth of Christ.  The little guy in the lower middle of the picture looking straight ahead is Giovanni.  We live close to his family and they are good friends of ours.

 The three Wise Men.

In the evening of the same day we had our branch Christmas party.

 Deanne put together the costumes for the Nativity.

 Brother and Sister Garcia sang Silent Night in Spanish and Italian.

 The kids decorated a Christmas tree and Babbo Natale visited.

 Even some of the older children sat on Santa's lap.  You can guess who Santa was.

 Of course there was lots of good food.

This nativity cake was the highlight of the refreshments.