Ballard, Diaconia Valdese in Torino, Monza Municipality, Oxfam in Florence

Natalie thought we should have 'photo-bombed' this one.  We were lucky to be right behind them as they arrived at the chapel and posed for this photo.  DeFeo, Ballard, Pickerd, Clayton.

There is nothing like sitting in a room full of 100 plus missionaries signing, "Hope of Israel".  The Spirit goes right through you like electricity.  I never appreciated that song until I sang it with a roomful of missionaries! 

Never think your mission is too hard.  Think about what you have to offer these people and who your represent.  Through you they can come to know Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, the Plan of Salvation, etc.   What a privilege it is to be ordained to teach these things.   

Learn from these experiences.  You will go on after your mission to become leaders in the Church and in your home.  Some of you will get PhDs, but you will never learn more about life than you will learn in these two years.  Take full advantage of this opportunity.  Enjoy it.  You will look back on these days the rest of your life.  

He told of being with the First Presidency in a hotel as a newly called Seventy when they invited him into their room to pray with them before they went to bed.  They kneeled together and President Kimball gave a very simple prayer where he said, "We have done our best today and we hope our efforts of this day were acceptable to thee".   Elder Ballard said, "Don't go ordering the God of the Universe around asking Him to do this and that and bless so and so.  Keep your prayers simple just like President Kimball."

He talked about miracles and how they have not ceased.  Elder Clayton had talked before him about being a missionary in Peru when there was only one Stake.  Now there are 100.   We have no idea of the future implications of what we do.  We are here in Rome at an exciting time with the temple coming.  It is a miracle. 

Elder Clayton - Bring your best to every occasion.

Elder Sabin - You will only be as happy as you are grateful.  I really love that one. It is true!

Elder Da Feo - Being ordained to the Priesthood is the power to teach the everlasting gospel (D&C 79:1).

Love Dad 

We visited with Steffano Bertuzzi of the Diaconia Valdese in Torino.  Our first stop in Torino was at the Social Point called 'Il Passo'.  Here they have Italian classes,  Arabic classes, they offer day care for the working families , they also have a gynecologist come to consult with the women.

This was a cool mural of photos.  Each photo was intended to capture the international gathering on tram #4, which is the tram that runs from the west suburbs through the center of Torino and to the east suburbs.  They were able to capture the depth of variety of people all riding the same tram.  

Here we are with from left:  Yagoub Kibeida, the vice president of Mosaico.  Next is a guest under their protection and currently a 'tae kwon do' champion, and then Steffano Bertuzzi with Diaconia Valdese and Tom.  We are hoping to partner with these groups as we move into Labor Integration for the refugees.  Another resource that we were able to pass onto this group was 1)volunteers from BYU who want to assist in translation for several months and 2) volunteers from BYU who want to have 'phone-friends' much like pen pals in the old days.  It is important for the refugees to have a friend who checks up on them daily or at least weekly, to keep up with how they are feeling and have a place to just chat with a friendly person!

Our next stop was to Spazio 37 in Monza, a suburb of Milano.  This group of people gathered are Tom, the Stake President of Milan East Stake President Paolino, then Marco who is the 'champion' of the Monza Municipality, and then Monia Vismara the Stake Public Affairs director.  For this project we funded computers to be used by the refugees for obtaining documents, etc.  There will be one computer for each facility, this is only one of the facilities.

We toured the facility of Spazio 37.  Here is the medical room.  Everyone that works here is a VOLUNTEER.  Marco is the only paid employee.  They house 25 people each night and provide clothes, food, showers, and medical treatment (3x a week from volunteer doctors)  We have 10 members of the church that volunteer here on a regular basis and that is how we found out about their needs.

Outside of the facility.  It used to be a bus depot.  The building for the housing was at one time used for office space for the bus office.  The actual 'garage' for the buses now houses the donations that come in from the community.

Monia and I were in the back seat of the car.  She is proudly showing the article that she wrote for the Liahona about Spazio 37.  She shares the Liahona with all those people that are part of the projects:  the director of the municipality, the volunteers, the doctors, etc.  Fantastic!

Here at the electronic warehouse we were in the process of purchasing the laptops.  When it came to actually using our credit card to make the purchases, the card was refused.  Hmmm.  We actually left the shop when we got a call from Frankfurt that the purchase exceeded our limit.  All we had to do was to split the purchase into 2 segments.  We go back to the shop, and viola!  It worked.  Hooray.

Our last stop on this trip was to visit with Oxfam in Florence.  I love their motto.  Oxfam is a world-wide and a high profile organization that does a lot of good in all the places that the humanitarian arm of our church is located.  It could be a huge partnership if that was pursued.   We discussed potential projects in which LDS Charities could partner with them.  There is no lack of potential here.  The only question is how much does the church want to become involved.  One statement during our meeting that we both liked from Alessandro Bechini (pictured and with whom our meeting was with) said, "We don't talk about donors, we talk about partners.  We want to work together."

There are Frustrations

Okay, you need to know that there are frustrations.  Let me whine just a minute.

1) I have been working on a donor agreement for seriously two weeks.  First it has the wrong address from our church (no longer from Germany but now has to be the one in Italy)  ok.  Next problem is that the signature has to be from Angela and not from Steve any more, so change that.  ok.  Next problem is the wrong address of the beneficiary.  ok.   Change that.  Then one person can't open the document.  Another change.  Then the beneficiary signed the wrong project (it's 595 not 265.  duh!) so do that again.  ETC  ETC  ETC.  Got an email from the financial man in Frankfurt, 'please send the updated donor form so I can send the payment.'  I want to do that, believe me.  I really really want to do that....but let me slit my wrists first!!!  AArgh.

2) We have a BIG activity on Saturday, basically intended for Italian National Service Day.  We have two shipments of goods arriving to two different locations in Rome.  One shipment to Rome 3 and one shipment to Rome 1.  Simple, right?  Well, first of all the shipment information is crazy detailed:  combs (wide tooth or fine tooth)  underwear (briefs or boxers and what size and how many) fleece blankets (heavy or light and what size and how many).  Well it makes sense you have to be that detailed but the problem comes when they send in their requests and they don't have these details and it takes forever to get them!  Then what address to mail them to, what date to have them sent, who will accept the shipment and what is their phone number and address, and we need a second contact as well.  OK!  But that is only the beginning of your troubles.  So the first shipment made it, hooray.  The second shipment?  GET THIS.  It was sent to Alessandria Italy to a chapel there!  And somebody was there to accept the shipment and sign for it(what??)....in the meantime, Tom and I are waiting at our chapel in Rome Italy because we got a call that it would be delivered.  We wait, we call (it's coming!) but nothing.  We go home.   We call Frankfurt who finds out that our shipment was sent to the WRONG chapel in the WRONG city.  Oh, and your activity is in 2 days.  Ooops.  Frankfurt finds a company who will go back to the wrong chapel and pick it up but they can't find anybody who speaks English who will go to the chapel and open it for the company to collect the goods to bring to us.  Conclusion?  There is no conclusion other than I will never ever want to do this again!!!  You will find me at the beach sipping a stiff drink!

3) BAML.  I don't even want to go there.  Just know that if every number, every transaction, every code isn't done perfectly and in triplicate, it gets flagged and you do it all over again or your card gets blocked.  And it's complicated because every transaction has it's own personality whether it's a straight charge, a reimbursement, a cash withdrawal, a finance charge, etc.  You want to hear a lot of grunting and sighing and grrrrrring, just hang around while we tackle BAML.

4)Volunteers, Journalists, and Film-makers.  Now you would think these folks would be an asset.  And I suppose they are, BUT here is the frustration.  Example:  Film maker wants to make a film of Abraham (story on my blog).  We get Abraham all psyched to tell his story, which is not an easy thing to recount and remember, but he is ready.  We have many people involved.  After much work and arranging, the film maker CANCELLED.  Why?  Their paperwork wasn't all in order.  We then have to tell a sad and confused Abraham that it is not going to happen.  It sucked.  Another example:  a journalist wants to interview refugees.  Can I set that up?  I do.  This journalist also enlisted other people to help and in the end there was myself, my boss, a couple in Frankfurt all contact this same person and same organization with the same request.  Holy smokes, that organization/person will never want to deal with us again!  Last example:  volunteer asks for information, I dig around to help and set-up something.  Thanks, found something else.  Great.  Oh well, it's all good.

5)Last whine for today.  We often get calls saying they need this or that....and could you do it right away.  It's usually because a 'big shot' is coming into town and everyone goes into hyper mode.  Or some 'big shot' needs this for a meeting that is tomorrow.  OR even we have had a 'big shot' ask for a meeting to be organized for the next day requiring lots of sacrifice on people and time, etc.  Our latest request was fulfilled by Tom, for which I am very proud of him.  Well, he did all the logistics and I provided a little help.

But guess what?  I wouldn't trade this mission for ANY OTHER.  It's perfect in our opinion.  So there.  All that whining is just fluff.  The rewards way out weigh any of the inconveniences and frustrations.  In fact, I have written it all out today just so I don't forget that this wasn't a perfect mission,  just nearly perfect.  Now this post would be perfect if I could add a photo, but how do you capture frustration in a photo???

PS.  I double parked today for 2 hours.  Literally parked behind two cars that could not move if they wanted to because I was parked behind them.  I had a hair appointment and I parked there and went inside to see if they could tell me where to park.  "Oh, they will honk if they need to move".  Alrighty.  Since it was just in front of the salon, I figured I could run out and move the car when needed.  I never had to move the car.  The hairdresser said, 'now you are 1/4 Italian'.....I have moved up the ladder.  You should be proud of your mother!  I admit it was a great feeling to block in two cars and have it be perfectly legit.
Oh and today I saw 4 guys watching as 1 guy drilled a hole.  Very typical.  Moral support is essential for sure.

Intersos Official Opening

'Project realized thanks to the contribution of LDS Charities'!  And our logo in Italian.  This is on the back of the INTERSOS van.

The van with our logo and recognition.  Pictured with Valentina who is the coordinator of the camp ,which is for minors and women and the van is used to pick up the minors/women from the streets of urban Rome.  They collaborate with the grass root groups who are on the streets.  This protects the vulnerable migrants/refugees so they are not left on the streets and in bad situations. 

We were singled out by the Secretary General of INTERSOS (the head shed) who came to thank the church personally for our support in this project.  He is Greek and his name is Konstantinos Moschochoritis.  

The new building which will house the minors/women has been renovated and the outside murals were painted by a street artist.  All the paintings were done as a gift to the center by this artist.

This official opening was held on Oct 11, 2017.  Tom is standing next to the sign which advertises the sponsors of this project.  We are very pleased that the church is part of this project.

Cesare Fermi, the director of INTESOS Rome Migration is speaking.  He is the man with whom we have been doing all of our 'negotiations' and we think very highly of him.  Very professional, very kind.  He is opening the ceremony.  Press was there and a very good turnout.  Earlier they held an opening for the local community so they could see what the center is all about and hopefully that helped the community to accept and embrace those who will be housed here.

Cesare and Tom discussing ideas.  We really like this organization and feel that they are doing some awesome, hands-on, getting the job done type of work.  We are very pleased to be able partner with them.  When we first met them we had a really good feeling about combining our funding with their operations.  It hasn't always been so clear who is 'good' and who is just pretending to be 'good'!!!

We  have our district over for dinner each transfer, and transfers are on Monday.  This group is lots of fun.  From left is Sorella Rhodes (from Heber Utah) and Sorella Palmer (military family so she has no home) Sorella Gleave (only one transfer left.  She signed up for classes at BYU at our house b/c we have internet) and Sorella N'Zougani (Italian).  The Anziani Alexander (Phoenix) and Young (Utah) are the zone leaders and district leaders.

MEDU has been partnered with LDS Charities from the beginning of the refugee crises.  You hear a lot about them.  Alberto(the director of MEDU) and Francesca (one of the employees)invited us to lunch just to say 'thanks'.  This is a cool (and applicable) drawing in their office..

After lunch they wanted to go to the bar for coffee.  I guess you normally don't sit down, but just stand at the bar and drink your one sip of expresso.  While at the bar, there was a mirror and I couldn't help but snap this photo.  Not posed, they were just standing this way and I thought it funny.  Notice I am still wearing sandals and capris, while Francesca is in jeans and closed toe shoes.  It's still warm here to me but not to the real Italians!

Sports Brings Religions Together

We had the opportunity to go to Florence to have an official hand-off of Soccer uniforms and sports bags that LDS Charities donated to the camp that is run by CARITAS, the Catholic charity arm.  This is the group of Mormons that were able to attend:  Us and Rocco Ianni who is the 2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency, Bishop Ferrini, and Enrico Morelli.  (the guy in the sweatshirt was a visiting relative)  The celebration was held at the San Lorenzo Basilica.

Here we have the ArchBishop of the Catholic Church, attended by several other clergy as well as the CARITAS director.  The feeling in the room was exceptional because it was a rare time for the Catholics and the Mormons to be working together on the same team.  

Bishop Ferrini with the Arch Bishop.  Now get this.  Bishop Ferrini served his mission in Brussels Belgium under President Harrison!  He remembers us and said Dad was his Bishop.  He was happy to be part of this celebration.  After the meeting he invited us to his place of work:  The Pitti Palace Hotel where there is a terrace with a great view of the city.  We decided to eat dinner there and Bishop arranged for us to get a 20% discount.  Nice guy and fun to talk to about old times.  He is now married with 3 children.

The uniforms all have the LDS Charities logo as well as the CARITAS logo.  Talk about working together!  The 'team' has already played in the official city league, however they haven't won a game yet.  But just wait!  Of course it will be a revolving door as far as the players go because it will depend on who is staying at the refugee camp.  The best thing is that there is an integration of the boys in the camp and the Italian boys in the city league.

This player said that he was a professional soccer player in his home country:  Ghana.  When he left Ghana his Mother said, 'why are you leaving?' and he replied, 'I have to.  If I am successful I will bring you to Europe.'

The sports bags also had the CARITAS and the LDSCharities logo on them.

This was to show my badge and his arm patch:  the same!

The ceremony was held at San Lorenzo Basilica.  This was the upstairs terrace.

Team Photo

This is where the ceremony was held.  We took photos on the top terrace and the ArchBishop had access to a hall just for our celebration.  It was cool.

After the celebration we had time for some strolls in Florence.

From the Ponte Vecchio Bridge

This is the view from the Pitti Palace Hotel that Bishop Ferrini works for.  We stayed for dinner and enjoyed the view and very tasty food.  Be sure you stop in next time you are in Florence.

 

Living and Witnessing the Border

We attended a conference in Palermo that was promoted by Mediterranean Hope, FCEI Migrant and refugees program.  It was a two part conference with several days of meetings and workshops in Palermo and finished with a trip to Lampedusa to commemorate the 4th year of the tragic loss of life on the Italian waters of 364 migrants and which event started the whole refugee 'crises'.  We didn't go to Lampedusa because we needed to get back to Rome.
The conference was very much 'University Style'....meaning mostly lectures.  The one workshop that I enjoyed very much was where we broke into groups to introduce ourselves, share our experiences and talk about 'the reception on the border'
The conference attracted people all over the world:  Greece, Spain, Sweden, Germany and the US.  The attendees were all religious people attached to some church or other:  Iglesia evangelica espanola (Alfredo Abad who hopes we hook him up with the LDS Church in Spain because he wants the Mormons to join in the community of believers for religious freedom!)  Betania evangelical foundation (Lutherans which run a hospital in Naples)  World Student Christian Federation (pilot project called 'school on the run' matching young students and refugees) FCEI, federazione delle chiese evangeliche in Italia (Diaconia Valdesa).  Those are just the ones we met.  There were many others of course.  There were Lutherans, Waldensian and Methodists, Presbyterians, Reformed Church of Hungary.  Our church was well represented with ourselves, the Scovilles (Sicily LDS Charity couple) as well as the Sicily Stake President and his counselor!
We had some 'famous' people come and support the meetings:  The mayor of Palermo, the Archbishop of Palermo, Claudio Paravati who is the Editor of Confronti magazine (Rome), the President of Sant'Egido, Archbishop of CARITAS.   There were journalists, reverends, historians, sociologists.  And of course, Senior missionaries from the Mormon church!!!

Paolo Naso, Political scientist professor at Sapienza University of Rome, and the Med Hope FCEI coordinator, next to him the the Archbishop of Agrigento and President of Italian CARITAS

Journalists, Reverend Ciaccio of Waldensian Church of Palermo (we met him in Scicli), and artist who drew all the refugee drawings.

The artist of the drawings, Francesco Piobbichi

We had one day of full meetings at a Villa on the outskirts of Palermo.  This was the chapel on the grounds of the Villa where we held our meetings.

Mayer of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando.  He fought the mafia and won.  Now this mayor is taking on Europe over migrants.  Every time a ship with rescued migrants enters the harbour of Palermo, the mayor goes to greet them.  "Welcome," he says to them.  "The worst is over.  You are citizens of Palermo now."  Leoluca Orlando first became famous not as a defender of migrant rights, but for fighting the mafia in the 1980s and 90s.  Born into a privileged family, pursuing a career at Palermo University, in 1980 his friend was killed by the mafia.  He became active in politics.  Today the mafia still exists, but they no longer have political power in Palermo.  (long story but that is the gist of it)

The Archbishop of Palermo, President of FCEI, Anna Ponente who is the Director of the refugee housing in Palermo, and Marta who is with Med Hope.

This is the Villa where we had meetings for a full day.  The chapel was where the meetings were held, but we were allowed to tour the other rooms of the Villa (photos below)

The program

The library in the Villa.

The sitting room in the Villa

The second floor veranda of the Villa

We flew into Catania so we could meet up with the other Refugee Senior Missionary couple, the Scovilles.  On the way from their home in Catania to Palermo, we drove past this hilltop town, Enna, and took an hour to sightsee.  This view was from the tower of the castle grounds.

All views from the castle tower in Enna

Anziano Scoville and Anziano Herway

Ventimiglia projects

The computers and internet were donated by Doctors without Borders.  LDS Charities provided rent for the Info Point for 6 months.  There was a parish in the area which was shut down because the neighbors complained, and that was the focal point, but now this infopoint has taken the place of the parish.

With such a need to use computers and phone charging, you have to make an appointment!  Here is Farouck hard at work.  He is a refugee and works the desk.  I believe his salary is 80 euros/month.

Phone charging for the refugees.  They are in transit so having access to electricity is something that is really needed.

The lawyer donates her time, 3 times per week and lives near Genoa!

Clothing donations.  From this room they can accept donations and well as distribute the clothes to those in need.  Sarah is the driving force behind the whole project:  Progetto 20K. She is 20 years old and is a college student!  LDS Charities provided the rent for this space which includes the computers/phone charging/lawyer space.

Our boss:  Gilles Francois.  We are touring the now disbanded complex of Don Rito, Caritas Priest.  The wooden house in the background was funded by LDS Charities to provide a space for the TDH (Terre des hommes) lawyer to give advice and counsel.

Don Rito (Caritas Priest) and Federica, who is the Terre des homme Head of Advocacy and with whom we discuss our TDH projects with.  She lives in Milan and has 2 children.  Her husband restores old cars.  You work with these people enough you really get attached.

Don Rito is the priest here, which was once a thriving living complex for women and children.  The neighbors didn't like it and the police were forced to shut it down.

Touring the Red Cross Camp with Terre des hommes.  TDH focuses on women and minors.  They are also in Sicily at the hotspots.

She was sweet and happy and was excited to practice her English!  Her name was Sarah and she is 8 years old.

These two men are from Iraq.  One had lived in Finland for 2 years, the other in Sweden.  They have to be in Italy to process their papers because this was their country of embarkment.  They live in the Red Cross Camp.

Red Cross Camp.  Some get to sleep in trailers of 6 people.  These unlucky souls get the huge tent with what seems like an innumerable amount of beds.  No privacy here!

Oxfam, WeWorld, Chiesa Valdese.  All working in the streets with the transitory refugees.

WeWorld was setting up a radio station direct from Sudan.  The boys were anxious to hear news from home.

The migrants that are in transit live under the freeway.  No toilets, running water, electricity.  They only stay a few days because they try on a daily basis to get across the border into France.  How?  Walk through the mountains mostly, but there are police and drones making sure they don't make it.

They figure that right now there are about 200 living under this bridge.  As I said, daily they try to cross into France.  Most get caught and sent back to Italy.  So sleep and try again when you wake up!

This lady refused to go to the Red Cross camp because her husband had left two days earlier to cross into France and told her to wait for him.  So there she sat, waiting for him.  

Intersos is also a group we work with.  Here is one of the workers taking down information.  One of the boys was a minor and was trying to be unified with family in England.  The other boys have no family anywhere.

Home sweet home.  It does break your heart.  It seems so hopeless.  How will it all end.  Or will it ever end?