African Food! My Villa....

We are teaching Samuel right now who we love already.  He is such a sweet gentle man but if I didn't know him I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley.  He is from Nigeria(speaks English very well) --about 6' 4" and over 300 pounds.  He has such a strong faith in Christ and is a pleasure to teach.  The young elders (Chugg and Cannon) do most of the teaching..we just add our thoughts and testimony to the lessons.  Here is Samuel in the back seat of our car--on our way to an African restaurant.

So here a picture of the African food.  Rice, chicken?? plantain.Spicy tomatoes and peppers. The white circles are yam and there is an egg dish.  I wasn't sure that that was chicken because I have never had such tough chicken in my life!  Samuel said that if he had done the cooking it would have been much better.  They played Christian music in the restaurant....definitely different!  I told Samuel I was scared before we got to the restaurant because I'm not very brave about new foods.  He said it wasn't that different....just a bit spicy...It cleared my sinuses..

We pick up Samuel in Molfetta which is about a 30 minute drive from Bari.  It is right by the sea also.  Had to take a quick picture as we were coming into Molfetta.  Beautiful.

So there is a Villa that I am going to buy one day in my dreams.  We drive by it almost every day and it is pretty run down--just needs a bit of paint and a million other things but I've claimed it.  It's pink.  I make Chris slow down every time we pass by.  Hard to get a good picture when the gate is closed....

Nigerian students/John's baptism

From Left: Anziano Fitzner, me, John, Endurance, Emmanuel, Anziano Bellows, JJ and Destiny.

We have the great privilege of teaching Institute classes to these wonderful young men. They are all from Nigeria originally and all have very interesting faith filled stories to tell about their lives.  They are new members of the church (within the last 2 years)and all have left their families in Nigeria to find a better life.  This choice has been extremely difficult for all of them and learning a new language has been expecially hard for them so Anz. Fitzner is teaching Italian to them for 1/2 hour before we begin Institute class every Monday night.  

We were thrilled to be at John's baptism.  Anziano Chugg baptised him.  John asked that Anziano Cannon and I speak at the service.  All the missionaries sang "When Jesus Christ was baptised". At the end of the meeting John spoke and bore his testimony. 

 Here is Anziano Chugg with Destiny, Godwin, Endurance and John.

Anziano Cannon confirmed him a member.  We are teaching Samuel (on the end) and so we invited him to attend as well so needed to get him in the picture!  

New friends and always food!!

We have made so many great friends already here in Bari.  We were recently invited for pranzo with the sister missionaries to the Vianni home.  Sister Vianni was born in Indonesia and then her family moved to Holland.  She met her Italian husband there.  She fed us some Indonesian dishes and they were delicious.  Love these people--so fun and full of life!

 Here we are with the Vianni's, their son and Sorella Cueva and Sorella Ensign

Just last night we went to the Ricci home for a visit and Sor. Ricci fed us WELL!  Italians eat dinner late--at around 8PM.  We left around 10:30 and felt like we needed to jog home..  Here is Sor. Ricci in center with her husband behind her, her friend and her son and Ricci's daughter Angelica and grandma Sor. Casadibari.  Angelica is 9 years old and she played the pianoforte for us and did an amazing job.  She is the same age as our granddaughter Jayna so I showed Angelica a video of Jayna playing the piano.  Angelica is learning English in school so we had a little conversation about what she knew in English and what i know in Italian.  She made me count up to 30 for her in Italian because I made her do it in English.

She also showed me her huge collection of Barbie's--probably over 200.  Many are collectors editions which were in boxes. Then we got to see her dog, cat, guinea pig and 3 hamsters!

We enjoyed a meal at La Veronique where Fratello Santoro works. (a member of the bishopric in PoggioFranco ward)  We went with the Senior Couple from Taranto,the Lahaderne's who were here in Bari visiting with their daughter(behind me) from Great Falls and they invited some of the young single adults..Isaac,(back middle Ruben(right back) and MariaTherese(lower left)

Conny's baptism May 13/16

Had the pleasure of witnessing Conny's baptism in the sea at Bitonto.  She is 20 and a real sweetheart. It was wonderful to watch this ordinance being performed in such a beautiful location.  Anziano Colvalt performed the baptism.

Festa di San Nicola (St. Nick--Santa)

 When sailors from Bari saved the relics(bones) of Saint Nicholas from his resting place in Muslim controlled Myra, Turkey in 1087, they began a tradition which in 2016, celebrates its 929th anniversary: the Festa di San Nicola.  It is a week of non-stop festivities.  Historical processions with crowds of people lining the streets (we were in the middle of it!) downtown old Bari was all decorated and ready to be lit up at a certain hour ( we thought it would be at 9PM but found out later it was 9:30--we were just too tired to wait for it)  Ships come into harbour all lit up with a huge statue of San Nicola (Saint Nick--Santa--yes there are bones to prove he is dead...don't tell the kids!) The streets were all blocked off everywhere for days...This is a city of 300,000 and 116 square km's. with Edmonton being 680 sq.km's and 800,000.  Traffic is a  nightmare..The length of the harbour is one huge marketplace and multiple food trucks.  It was fun to walk it and get a feel for Festa di San Nicola.

We knew this would be beautiful when lit up but the SENIOR missionaries were too tired to wait for it.  I posted a picture at the end to show what it looks like lit up.  The crowd at the back are waiting on the street for the parade to start and it was only 8:45 with the parade starting at 9:30. 

Below is one of the food trucks--see the roast pig sitting out in the open air??