July in Sicily

Here is a picture of the lastest group of missionaries to leave us (including a picture of Sorella Hunter who had to go home a a few weeks early for medical care). What an amazing group of missionaries! We love them and wish them well!














A new group of 14 excited, wonderful missionaries came just hours after our other missionaries departed. The first evening they were in Sicily I took them on a "fieldtrip". We walked up the hill into Santa"Agata to a spot where we could see the lava flow down the side of Mt. Etna. It was great fun! Looking at this photo though reminds me of Mr. Popper's Penguins. . . .

On our way back to the mission home we stopped for gelato (yum)! We also made a new contact with the people who ran the gelateria. So this served several purposes: 1) to keep the missionaries awake, 2) to have gelato, 3) to do missionaries work, and 4) to see Mt. Etna and real live flowing lava!!!

It is Hot!

These are the fine group of scouts that gathered above Siracusa for scout camp. The temperature was 45 degrees C. (that is over 100 degrees!) They did have a stream, some tents, a grove of trees, mosquitos, and watermelon. That's all you need for a scout camp isn't it??










We brought them ice cream to cool them down! Did I mention it was a hot day. . . !













Diane got a day at home. Since she was 6 months behind on her scrapbook, she worked all day to catch up--in the cool basement!

July in Italy

Jim takes the couples (Stinebaughs and Eagars) to a local ice cream place (Ernestos). We taste all the vanilla flavors until we find just the right one, and then we order glasses and make rootbeer floats with real A&W rootbeer! Happy 4th of July!!














You don't think you can get away without another shot of Etna, do you? Etna continues to "leak" from one side. If we are in the right spot in the evening we can see the orange glow of lava coming down the side. This was at sunset. A beauty!



Diane is having a "shoe shining party" with the missionaries. Their shoes were looking a little gray. . . .

Food, Fun and Scenery

Torontos made Tacos for dinner for the Foggia Anziani. They were so excited with the event they took pictures of the food before they ate it.











The missionaries from "the continent" at the maxi conference in Taranto. It is always lots of fun to get them altogether.














The scenery along the Lungo Mare in Catania.
Notice Mt. Etna in the background and the lava
that flowed right to the sea.

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Diane with her friend and Italian teacher, Roberta. Don't get your hopes up too high. I keep working on Italian, but we only get a couple of hours a month to work together! My Italian stinks!

The missionaries after the maxi conference in Taranto.

The Tarantos fixed tacos for the Foggia house. They were so excited they took pictures!

Another Transfer

This was just an informal discussion with the missionaries in the mission office. We love to hear comments from missionaries that show some real thought about life in general or about the gospel. We are blessed with top-notch missionaries. They are eagar to be obedient and serve to the best of their ability.











Ahhhh, another group of wonderful leaders from our mission depart. This is by far the hardest thing to do. I love new missionaries coming, but I sure hate to see the other ones go home. I am comforted in that a good portion do go to the Y or live in Utah. So we will have a chance to see them again in the future.

Anziano Tilini (from Hawaii) is the new assistant. We are thrilled to have him here and to serve with him. He and Anziano Belforti will do great work together.

Life Around the Mission

I see this "spontaneous conversation" happen all over the mission. Two missionaries stop to talk to each other and in the process put an arm around each other. Pretty soon another missionaries joins the group and then another. I love to see their love and concern for each other.
We have "mold issues" here in warm southern Italy. Here you see Anziano Allen with an invention to help with the situation. He taped a spray bottle (with a bleach solution) to PVC pipe and attached strings to the "squirter" part of the sprayer. Then he simply points the spray bottle in the right direction and pulls on the strings. Amazing--now he doesn't have to get out the ladder to tackle the problem!! It is a science project in the making!
Directly outside our driveway there has been a dead palm tree in the middle of the road--until yesterday. Yesterday the "tree crew" from the city came and cut the tree off and then proceeded to cut it into pieces to hopefully be carted off at some future time. It has been in a problem spot because it makes it difficult to back the car out of the driveway. Now the tree is gone, but the stump is still sticking up about 18 inches out of the ground. So we will still have to be careful about backing up--but at least the tree won't fall on us in some wind storm!!