Foggia (4th stop on the taste of Italy tour)

We spent most of the next day traveling to Foggia. Our train arrived 30 minutes late, but luckily Alessandra was still waiting for us. Alessandra is a lady from the ward who graciously let us stay at her house for two nights. She has two daughters. Dalila is 11 and Mariangela is 19. Her husband is not active in the church and isn't home much so I didn't get to know him very much. Anyways she promptly took us to get a gelato at the best place in town on our walk home. It was great to be back in Foggia and to still all the familiar streets, people, and shops. After 4 years it seemed like nothing had changed. When we got to Alessandra's we just relaxed and visited for awhile while Katelyn called Randy Lords from Madison Jr. High. It was fun to watch Katelyn talk on the phone and find out that she had gotten the job at Madison Jr. High teaching English. We were both excited and I know that she will be a great teacher. The rest of the night Katelyn helped Alessandra make a lasagna and tiramisu.


Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures while in Foggia but here are some from my mission. Left to right - Alessandra, Dalila, Mariangela, and Sis. Rizzi (almost 4 years ago).

The next morning we got up and went to church. It was great to see all the members and even a few that I didn't know. It was weird to see all the little kids who had grown up. Luckily most of the members remembered who I was. Katelyn survived Relief Society because there was a girl from the ward who had just gotten back from going to school at BYU. She translated for her the entire time except when the old ladies went into Foggiano (dialect) and were arguing about stuff. In sacrament meeting they had Katelyn and I bear our testimonies. After church Katelyn and I got to experience a real Italian meal with Alessandra's family. We had the lasagna and tiramisu that they made the night before.




After lunch we relaxed for a few hours before we took a walk around the town. I was really disappointed when I knocked on an investigator's door and no one answered. This investigator, Anziano Mario as we called him, was probably my favorite person from the mission so I had to try again. We did an hour or so later and boy was he shocked when he saw us standing at the door. He was so excited and so was I. Of course I then proceeded to kiss him (on the cheek). It was sad though because he had lost a lot of weight due to the removal of one of his vocal cords. This made it difficult for him to eat or to speak loudly. His voice was raspy and sounded like President Kimball's after he had a similar surgery. Yes I know I am not old enough to remember President Kimball, but I just got done doing a school project on him. It was great speaking to him in both Italian and English since he was our most advanced English student. He was very positive about his circumstance and was determined to be able to speak normally again. It was also good to hear him say that he wanted to breathe the air at our church again. For me that meant he remembered feeling the spirit while we taught him and knew that it was good. I still believe that one day when the time is right and his wife is more open to be taught that he will be baptized.



Some photos of Mario and his family from the mission.

We then returned to Alessandra's where she fed us again. She spoiled us so much and was so nice. She has a great capacity to love and serve. As evidence of this I don't think we had one meal where there was not at least one visitor. Once it was a cousin who got kicked out of his house for making fun of his grandma and most of the other times it was Diop, a Muslim refugee from Senegal who sold shoes on the street. It seemed like Diop showed up at the door just in time for every meal. On Sunday he did give her flowers for Mother's day though. Diop was a way nice guy we just couldn't understand him. Partly because of his religious beliefs, but also because he would intermix his French, Italian, and English while talking to us. We had a great time in Foggia and really want to thank Alessandra for everything. On the mission and while we were there she really was a mom to me. This was fitting since it was Mother's Day. Speaking of Mother's Day we also were able to surprise our Mother's and call them. We are both very lucky to have such wonderful mothers who gave up so much for us.

I stole this picture from Alessandra's facebook page. Us with Diop and Alessandra.