Bozichs check out Italy

Craig’s sister Sarah and her husband Craig came to visit Sicily.  Their visit provided us one more opportunity to visit all of our favorite restaurants and the need to have gelato at least once a day sometimes twice! We tried desperately to cram in as much as we could to each day, Sarah reminded us daily “I don’t like to be rushed,” but we continued to go from city to city.  We really wanted them to see and experience all of the amazing things we have enjoyed! Every evening as we finally managed to stop for dinner, Sarah reminded us again the she wasn’t ready to leave yet and wanted to enjoy and absorb the moment. 

Elephant Square, Catania

The Catania Fish Market is older than America but the fish are caught each morning!

 

244 Steps each with a different tile pattern in Caltanssetta!

The Christian section of Randazzo

  The weather is always unpredictable, but this year seems to be full of surprises.  The annual Sahara Sand winds started early in the week and continued most of the week.  They blow sand all the way from Africa that appears like fog or smog hanging in the air.  It is horrible for allergies and worse on the lungs as you inhale the dust.  That was a wicked combination with the already existing Etna silt we always have.  There were a couple of days that it was difficult to see out the car windows!

Washing the car windows so we could see the sights!

 We did make one unfortunate choice, Thursday turned out to be Italian Liberation Day, a National Holiday, as we arrived at the Roman Mosaic baths in Piazza Armenia the crowded parking lot was the first indicator, as we got closer to the ticket venue the mile long line was the cincher.  This was not a good day to visit a UNESCO sight. We were able to compensate with an amazing lunch at the historic center of the city.

Outside lunch on a sunny day in Piazza Armenia!

 We continued each day and enjoyed the time we had together in spite of whatever else cropped up! That is the Anderson Spirit! 

Gelato Stop #1

Two-A-Day Gelato drills!

Bouna Pasqua 2019

Easter is a huge holiday in Italy, actually it lasts for a minimum of a week beginning on Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday and for some longer than that.  Easter Sunday Italians spend with their family, Easter Monday is a National Holiday and is typically spent with friends. The festivities include processions and religious services throughout the week and fireworks.  Traditional foods are artichokes, roast lamb, sweet breads and lots of Italian chocolate!  There is no Easter bunny it Italy!!!

Caltanissetta is in the central part of Sicily easily accessible and advertises a procession with floats.  It takes  about an hour and a half to drive to Caltanissetta but it takes most of the evening for non Italian speakers to figure out where to go to see the procession. The weather was perfect!  

The Last Supper along with the band that accompanied the float down the street to the Piazza.

The soldiers capture Christ outside The Garden.

Christ appears before Caiphas.

The Trial of Christ.

The judgment being read to Christ.

Christ carries the cross through the streets.

The Roman soldiers accompany Christ.

The Crucifixion.

Christ removed from the cross.

Christ prepared for the tomb.

So where did this coffin come from?

Although this was an amazing cultural event to watch, it was a refreshing change of pace to attend Easter services at the Catania Chapel this morning and again at the Sigonella Branch to partake of the sacrament and renew covenants made at Baptism; to refer to the New Testament events of the last week in Christ's life in Jerusalem, the Crucifixion and the most  important event of all the Resurrection. "He Lives" and "Because of Him" we all do. Please know of our love for each of you and our testimony of Him who we celebrate this Easter morning in Italy.

Catania Zone Conference April 2019

The Rome Italy Temple open house began in January and continued through March 12 with the dedication.  It altered all scheduled meetings in our mission.  President Pickerd was convinced that mission business would continue as usual even though a huge historical event was happening in Rome. “Fill the Rome Temple” was our quest! We all worked hard to make sure that came close to happening. We did have the opportunity to hold a separate Catania Zone Conference in Rome on the temple grounds. The Sorelle went to Rome early in January and the Anziani went the last week in February.  Every missionary was able to see and tour the Rome Temple.  However, we haven’t had a Catania Zone Conference together since December. Needless to say we were all happy to host the Catania Zone Conference in April!

Sorella Kaesler, Sorella Gonzalez, Sorella Dwomoh, Sorella Gisseman, Sorella Neff, Sorella Hardman
Anziano Hernandez, Anziano Nielsen, Sorella Ohran, Sorella Francom, Anziano Martin, Anziano Hahn
Anziano Andrel, Anziano Sabin, Sorella Chadbolt, Sorella Brock, Anziano Alder, Anziano Banning,

Anziano Bazan, Anziano Smartt, AP Anziano Huntsman, AP Anziano Wagstaff, President and Sorella Pickerd, 

Anziano and Sorella Anderson 

 And what do missionaries in Catania like for lunch????  A whole Pizza, Dr. Pepper,  A&W Root Beer topped off with a Bomba! Pure carbs and sugar!!!

Catania District "P" Day activity

Clearly they are all suffering from that high carb lunch!!!

Sigonella Spring Service Project

I have been working with Dr. Alberto Lunetta, the Public Affairs Officer at Sigonella to provide our branch with service projects the entire stretch of our mission.  He as proved to be a great resource to community involvement.  We want to be able to connect with the Italian Community around the base and provide service that is needed in their communities.  About 25 members of the Sigonella Branch gave up their Saturday to reach out to the Italian community of Carlentini.

Saturday Morning we landed at the “Parco Archeologico Di Leontinoi, which hosts the ruins of the Ancient Greek City dating back to 730 BC.  This was a spruce up, clean up, and exploration of the ruins kind of day.  The City Mayor came to thank our branch, hand out gloves and garbage bags to accommodate the clean up. It took us approximately 40 minutes to drive from our apartment to the location.  The weather was great and the location turned out to be quite an amazing spot on Sicily that I am sure we would never have found otherwise.  Another great benefit of service!

Kids are really the best at cleanup!

President Petersen with is broom is pretty fearsome!

Extra take home treasures can also be found!

The Sigonella Branch work crew!

Pizza, bread and oranges arriving for lunch!

Pizza arrived from the local Pizzeria, local oranges, local bread soaked in local olive oil.  But the best part of lunch was the sliced oranges served with a sprinkle of salt, a drizzle of olive oil and pepperoncini.  I would never have thought of that or even ordered it off a menu but it was such a nice contrast of flavors I served myself two or three!

Locals are always proud of their own olive oil!

Local Newspaper coverage of our service project!