Daniele and Nausica Poli have been married for about the same time as us. Both of them are so much fun and we have spent a lot of time with them driving to and from different places, eating great food with them, and talking Italian/English with them. They have this heart shaped pillow in their car that Taryn fell in love with too. When we first arrived, Daniele translated talks and lessons for us. He works as a translator and knows English, Spanish and Italian.
RoseAngela was literally and Angel. Offering car rides so we wouldn't have to ride the bus, offering her mother's snow boots so I could run my errands during the winter and keep warm, and always giving giving giving!
Hermana Espinosa spoke Spanish, knew a little Italian and moved here to be with her son and his family. She was grateful to have Tyson to speak with each Sunday. She rode the same bus we did to church and always wore a smile. She is a great example to us of how much you can rely on your testimony of Christ during hard times in your life.
Irene Ramondo, who I co-taught nursery with. She has the sweetest heart and the most contagious laugh. She wrapped her arms around me and helped me along the way as we taught the three little boys the Nursery lessons in Italian. I will never forget how much love she had to share with those around her and how she was always so happy.
RoseAngela and our little family
Our friend Jun who was recently baptized and is a student at University Of Bologna
Sunday was our last day of attending our Ward (members of the church that live in a certain geographical areas) in Bologna and it was an emotional one. We have been blessed to know so many great people here and have made wonderful friendships with so many. I am constantly amazed at how much the members of our Bologna Ward have given to our little family, helping and reaching out to us. Just like Tyson said today, "Our time here in Bologna would have been a lot harder if we didn't have the church" and all of the lovely people who have taught us so much.
The bishopric asked us to bare our testimonies today and I gave mine in Italian. I get very emotional and loose track of my thoughts very easily once the tears start flowing so I jotted down some words before I headed to the pulpit (Elder Strobelt confirmed that what I wanted to say made sense before I went up and helped me remember some vocabulary- so helpful) The Bologna ward has truly been "our family away from home"
Once our meeting finished, the ward presented little books of remembrance to us. I started crying as one sister pointed out the Italian letter she wrote and then the English words her daughter had translated about an experience we had had a few months ago. It was at that point that I was overwhelmed with what I have learned from these beautiful Bolognese. My life has been enriched and I have grown so much. I couldn't hold the tears back- tears of happiness for our time here and tears for sadness that we will be leaving these wonderful people. Many asked us to return in the near future to visit and I hope that we will.
There are so many people that we weren't able to get pictures with and so many more people I could mention who have touched our lives.
* If you notice Taryn's lips you'll see that they are BLUE! Taryn was chewing on a little book that our neighbor had just given us. She was sitting on my lap and I spotted her blue fingers and when I turned her around, Tyson and I just laughed at her blue mouth. The blue dye from the cover got all over- sadly it got on her sweater too- hopefully it will come out! The blue on her lips and fingers disappeared by the end of the day but we caught it in all the photos!
No comments:
Post a Comment