Driving in Rome: Not for the Faint of Heart

We arrived in Rome on Saturday close to about Noon after an uneventful flight. We were met by the Stevens whose places we are taking in the office as well as two Italians elders who also work in the office. The Stevens drove us to our new home via the temple construction site and took a picture of us. Here it is here:

The bad news is the temple is not likely to be completed for another two years so any prediction that we would be involved with the opening of this temple is likely not to be. There have been enormous problems with completing this temple and those direcly involved are rather tight-lipped on those problems, but the good news is that work has resumed on it after about a 15 month period where no work was done at all.

We are so happy with out apartment. The building complex is pretty new and modern and the apartments they give the senior couples are very, very nice. Our complex even has a small weight/workout room and an outdoor swiming pool in the summer. I was pleased to find out that there are no rules against senior couples going swimming. Actually, the senior couples really don't have rules at all; we are pretty much self-governing. Anyway, here are some pictures of the apartment including our super deluxe balcony.

And our bedroom has an additional small balcony. 

We are part of the Rome II ward which is actually a fair sized ward with lots of young families and a young bishopric. They had their childrens primary presentation on Sunday which is always good fun. There are earphones for those who want the English translation of the talks and lessons (one of the elders does the translation over a radio microphone) but I chose to just sit in church and try to understand what I could in Italian. It wasn't a lot but perhaps over time.

One of the things we love is the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables because so much of it is grown here. It's a little thing but the fact that the oranges still have leaves on the stem delights me:

The Mission Office functions mainly in English which is not good news for my feeble Italian. I am the Mission Secretary and Hermes the Financial Secretary. The Stevens are training us until they go home week after next. One of my main responsibilities is to oversee that the missionaries get their Permessos which is essentially an extension of their Visas giving them permission to stay in the country fo a period of time. It is very complicated with lots of steps so I will have to be very much on top of things. I'll admit, it has me a little worried. Hermes has similar concerns about his duties but in time I'm sure we'll both be fine.

We were assigned a car which only Hermes has been driving so far because I haven't had the courage! Everywhere one goes in this city is like Rush Hour on the Deerfoot Trail times 10. If a driver hesitates for even a moment, a car will jump in front of them. The other day Hermes was attempting to make a left hand turn. There was solid traffic coming from the left and the right but still the cars behind us were honking away wanting him to push into the traffic anyway. There are speed cameras on the street disguised as garbage cans - sneaky, eh? Usually any tickets that come, will arrive at the Mission Office via mail. And parking is difficult. No matter what time of day, if we are pulling out of a parking spot, there's always someone waiting to take our place. When I decide to take a driving test, I have to prove I can do a parallel park, an essential skill in Rome. Fortunately, our car is small (most cars in Italy are small), and I usually find it easier to parallel park in small cars. And another essential tool for driving in Italy is the Tom Tom. Blessed be the Tom Tom. We couldn't manage without it.

We've met  many young elders and sisters (anziani and sorelli) most of whom are Americans but quite a few from northern Italy. I think it's fairly common for young people from the northern part of Italy (the Milan mission) to serve in the Rome mission and those from the south then serve in the Milan mission. It makes sense to have Italians serve in Italy since the Church is often perceived as only an American church. 

Quite a few of the Italian sisters we've met are originally from South American countries or their parents are. We met a young sister from Florence the other day who is originally from Peru. She is a convert and was baptized in Italy. She has a cool conversion story. She was invited to stay over at an LDS friend's house over night and to come to church with her the next day. While sleeping that night she had a dream in which she was trying to get away from a person who would harm her and then she ran straight into the arms of a  young man in a white shirt and tie who smiled at her and told her she was safe now. The next day whe she went to Church, she instantly recognized one of the missionaries as the young man in her dream. I'm told that dreams are a common element in the conversion of Italians; actually a dream was part of Hermes' conversion.

It is difficult for me to believe, given the climate we are living in, that Christmas is coming. I mean, the grass is still green, there are still leaves on the trees and, although the nights and mornings are chilly, the afternoons have been sunny and pleasant. Mind you, I'm not complaining! I'm looking forward to having two snowless winters (presuming that will be the case). And I'm also looking forward to seeing Spring arrive when Spring is actually supposed to arrive. 

Anyway, that's this week's blog/update. Arrivederci!