Switzerland

This week has been all about people. Italian people, German people, French people, Spanish people, English speaking people.
We arrived in Zollikofen, Switzerland at 8:00 on Tuesday morning, after a 13-hour bus trip from Rome.

Our rooms at the hostel were not ready for occupancy, so we stacked our luggage in the halls, and our new 19-year old friend, Danielle, traveled with us to Bern on the train to see that city. Danielle is an aupair (nanny) from Oregon working in Rome.

At the train station, we met Sarah,

who showed us how to purchase the ticket, validate it, and traveled with us on the train into the city of Bern. There we took a walking tour, where we saw many fountains,

famous clocks,


and the Swiss bank where 80% of Switzerland’s gold is stored.

The Aarne river runs through the city,

and Einstein’s house was somewhere down in this cluster of houses.

Everyone we talked to was very friendly, and most of them spoke good English.

Switzerland is very clean and the outside European markets abound and are delightful.


Will and I traveled into Bern one more evening and enjoyed the Christmas lights and decorations.

But the highlight of our trip, of course, was the beautiful Swiss temple.

And that is where we spent our time. The Swiss temple is the 9th temple built in these latter-days since the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth. It is beautifully appointed and the peace and tranquility of the spirit of the Lord permeates the inside of the temple and the temple grounds.

These are some of the special people we met there:

President Castellani, the temple president, is from Milan. He is a tall man, with a delightful smile, and an ever-encouraging word. President Castellani and his sweet wife are very easy to love.

Sister Edith Lehmann from Zurich. This lovely temple worker was so fun to visit with at lunch in the temple “cafeteria.”

Sister Giraud-Carrier, from France, who I first met in Initiatory, and then we worked with her husband doing Sealings.

Sister Koch, a soft-spoken assistant temple matron, with whom I had a long visit in the bride’s room while waiting for a session.

President Heber J. Grant – not really – but this session director looked just like President Grant – right down to his white beard - and radiated such a love and peace through his eyes. He invited us to be the witness couple during the session he was conducting. What a privilege and a delight!

Of course, we also totally enjoyed the members of our stake who were in attendance at the temple. We met Sister Celestini’s parents. Her dad was the sealer in one of our sealing sessions. The Guidara’s - from our ward. We were also invited to be the witness couple during our very first session by Brother Guidara, the session director for that session. Sister Squasrwa from Ladispoli. Jeffrey, the brother who was watching over the youth on the bus. Barbara from our stake who served her mission at Temple Square in SLC: graciously interpreted for us during the testimony meeting the last night of our stay. By the end of the week, there were many other familiar faces, but not names to go with each of them. We only knew we felt a great bond with them in doing this important work of the Lord.

We are so grateful that we were given this tremendous opportunity to serve for one week in this way. Our Heavenly Father continues to bless us abundantly and we felt of His love and presence in His holy house.

Occhiali e' Scarpe

Sunglasses and Shoes
What do you do when you have nothing to do in Italy?
You people watch and look at fashions! It is always a show!


Glass frames are getting interesting everywhere. But high fashion Italians are into glitter and glitz. The problem is – for both the shoes and the sunglasses – THE COST! WOW! Lots of style, but it doesn’t come cheap. It's sure fun to look though.


Anyone who knows me knows I love shoes. Well, take a look at my latest wardrobe! Jokes! They really look like missionary shoes, don’t they?



Boots are very popular here.

Particularly look at the heel. Imagine walking on cobblestones with this one.


Woops - my photographer is showing.

Oh, yes, we did host a Thanksgiving Dinner at our house for the missionaries in our district.

President and Sister Acerson and their two daughters were also invited and came and enjoyed the evening with us.

Raking Olives in Italy

I have been waiting for this experience for months: Raking Olives!
Today we drove out to Brother and Sister Guidara’s. The day was perfect!
On the top of every hill there is an old town. The gold’s and red’s of the autumn countryside, with the sun shining through the trees, was lovely.

When you rake olives:
1. You spread a net on the ground around the tree to catch the olives when they fall.

2. With a short handled rake, you comb the olives off the tree. Some of the olives are green and some are black. As you step on the net, you are careful to avoid stepping on the olives that are already on the ground.

3. When the tree is bare of olives, you carefully gather up the net, letting the olives roll into pile. Then you dump them into a plastic box.



4. When all the olives are gathered, they are taken to an olive press. There the olives are dumped into a machine where the leaves and twigs are removed and the olives are washed.

5. The olives are then mashed, the pit and all, into a pulp.
6. Finally the pulp is pressed enough to extract the oil. This oil is called virgin oil.

7. The pulp is used for other purposes.
Sister Guidara served us a delicious lunch after several hours of hard work.
At the end of the day, we went looking for knarly olive trees. Brother Guidara told us where to find a huge, old olive tree and we found it!
This tree is 2000 - 2400 years old. It is the largest olive tree in Europe. And, amazingly, it is still growing good olives.



Bigger olive producers use air rakes for a faster job, especially in larger trees. We saw one in motion. It didn't look nearly as fun as the way harvested the olives.


WHAT A DELIGHTFUL DAY!

Random Ways to Make Money in Italy

Italy is a melting-pot of nationalities. Because of the European Union, people from over 24 nations in the union, can travel freely from country to country and work there. It seems that many of the countries surrounding Italy are even poorer than many of the Italian people, and they do a variety of jobs (with lots of asking for handouts) to provide simple food and basic housing to survive.
Following are some examples:









Observe the can for coin donations
These are our all-time favorites. These two women live on the street by Termini where all the buses and trains come into Rome. They sleep on newspapers on the ground, and carry all their belongings in wheelchairs. They are a national landmark.

And this one isn't random - it's necessary!