When in Rome: Two in One

WOW! That is all I have to say when I say, "WOW." What a busy time it has been. It started last week around Monday morning as we prepared for new missionaries to arrive - something that didn't happen last transfer. So we were really excited to have new life blood in the mission. We welcomed three native missionaries and one missionary from Uruguay on Tuesday. They were so excited to be here in the mission. We fed them at the mission home and then sent them out with a couple of companionships in Rome for the night. The next day we prepared for Anziano Sapio to go home. Then we went to the airport to pick up six new missionaries from Provo. Everything went great there, and then we met the four that arrived the day before at the mission home. We ate and we trained the greenies, and then President Kelly gave them their assignments.

The next morning, we started shuttling missionaries around Rome from station to station, making sure they got to where they needed to be. In the afternoon I got my new companion, Anziano Rappleye from Wyoming, and we drove one missionary to the airport to get him on a plane for Malta and then continued from there to take two new missionaries to the ferry in Civitavecchia. Then, in time to go to bed, we returned to the mission home with the missionaries who had finished and were preparing to go home. We slept at the villa so we could take missionaries to the airport early in the morning. Then we returned back, and we did some various chores real quick - whatever we could get done before we had to go back to the airport again.

At the airport, we picked up an Area Seventy from England who got it approved to come with his family. So we picked up the entire family there at the airport. We brought them back into Rome, and they stayed the night at the villa. The next morning, we went to the store to buy food to make a nice big breakfast, because we did not have any food. We ate nicely and enjoyed a little time to relax. It didn't last long, because then we went to the villa to prepare to take Elder Wright (Area Seventy) and his family to Napoli for a District Conference.

We got there in time to get President Kelly and Elder Wright to the church for the first set of meetings. Then we went on a failed attempt to procure some food. We had to return and take Sister Kelly and Sister Wright from the hotel to the church. We settled with some McDonald's. We ate with the Wright's family and then took them down to the church. It was a good Saturday session of conference. I enjoyed it a lot. Sunday was just as good and such a sweet time as most of the members from Castellammare and Battipaglia were there. It was a sweet reunion to see them. After the conference, we took the Wrights back to Rome. By that time we were best friends, and the ride home was great. We made a stop at St. Paul's Cathedral outside the walls. It was cool. Big church. Then we ate dinner with them at the villa with President and Sister Kelly.

The next day, we had to say goodbye to our new friends, as we took them to a hotel. They will be in Rome for the rest of the week. It was a really, really, REALLY busy weekend. But what would life be like if it weren't filled with fun things to do, right? Today we went to the Villa Borghese and rode around on Segways. It was great!

So things are sounding great at home. I saw my flight itinerary today also. YIKES. I can't believe that that time is just around the corner. So much to do, so little time. We still have a lot of things ahead of us. Zone Leader Conference is tomorrow. That will be great. I love you, Anziano Hatch