The Final Closeout

It is always difficult to make changes in your life, whether you elect to change something or the change is thrust upon you. Some research tells us longevity is dictated by the way you are able to make changes. Changes are coming our way as we change from serving a Military Affairs assignment in the Rome Italy Mission to returning to civilians back in the U.S.  Some things will be difficult; some things will be welcomed.

Top of the list of difficult will be people!  President and Sorella Pickerd are among the finest, spiritual giants I have known. We have had the great blessing and honor of meeting and working with amazing missionaries both senior couples and young Anzaini and Sorelle, Catania Ward, Sigonella Branch and military personnel on NAS Sigonella. We had the great privilege of serving military families through the USO, The Red Cross, MWR, and the Sigonella Base Library.  We never say, “goodbye “we always say, “see you next round” in the military and I certainly hope that become my reality. 

NAS Sigonella Branch May 2019

We worked with and taught four people in part members families assigned to Sigonella, who were baptized along with one child of record baptism. We actually used the Base Chapel Baptismal font for one, it was an interesting combination of an infant baptism font and adult baptismal font all in one, to suit the needs of all faiths represented in the Base Chapel, one was a beach baptism in Aci Terreza, twins and a 22 year old in the baptismal font in the Catania Chapel.

We were the only senior couple on the island of Sicily; we did apartment inspections in 20 apartments every six weeks.  While that sounds like drudgery, we tried to make it an adventure.  We always took an American treat from the base commissary to each set of missionaries.  It seemed like Christmas as we delivered Dr. Pepper,  A&W Root Beer, Pop Tarts, Twizzlers, Doritos, Reese’s peanut butter everything, cake mixes, bathroom spray, all kinds or cereal, any random item was always much appreciated.  They were so delighted and fun to watch. Sometimes we found appliances at the Base Thrift Shop that military families couldn’t return back to the U.S. so a toaster, blenders, sharp knives, crock pots, things we always take for granted were delivered to missionary apartments.  They always knew there would be a surprise! We loved it.  On the flip side we drove and experienced all the wonders of the entire island as we traversed for apartment inspections.  Our favorite was crossing the Straits of Messina with the car on the ferry to Reggio Calabria.  That was always a mystery and a little intrigue as that was a Mafia controlled business.

The Apartments on Sicily

P-Day Zone Conference with the best missionaries ever!

It will be difficult to change from fresh farmer’s market produce to the shinny produce section in most American grocery stores that have been on a boat, sprayed and stored before they every make it to the consumer.  We often just pulled off the road to a truck or stand and picked up garden fresh fruits and vegetables daily.  Italian food is amazing, but it can be credited to “food genealogy.”  Every ingredient is carefully selected every day fresh. The known quality is understanding where the cheese is made, where the bread is baked and what type of flour is used, where the produce is grown and whose farm it came from, whether pesticides have been used. Food preparation begins with the shopping in Italy and each ingredient is carefully selected fresh each day.  That is going to be a difficult change.

Gelato, granita, cannoli and bombas are in a category of their own and the main reason we needed to go to the gym every day!

The NAS Sigonella Base Gym became our regular entertainment.  At the end of the day wherever we were we always tried to swing by the base gym.  We always carried or gym clothes in the trunk of our little Yaris just in case we had extra time. It was a great facility and we became first name friends with the gym attendants.  We were never asked for our ID, we were always greeted with a smile.  It was a delight!

Navy Awards for the Optometry Clinic

Carrying water and groceries four floors will not be missed! Although we did count that as part of our daily exercise. Carrying garbage down four floors daily will not be missed. No garbage disposal will not be missed; no clothes dryer will not be missed. Italian drivers will not be missed, horns honking constantly will not be missed.

I consider it among the blessings of my life to have lived and served as Military Affairs Missionaries in the Rome Italy Mission assigned to Naval Air Station Sigonella. That experience will certainly be missed.

The Monday Night Crowd

Monday nights have been spent with this amazing group of eleven year olds around my table. Leonardo lives on the first floor of our apartment building with is parents. His mom is from Latvia and speaks English, she wanted Leo to speak English so she put together a group of Leo’s friends and I started an English class. Leonardo Bruno, Iulian Navalici-Valentino, Luca George Mitrache and Stefano Mihail Zibrava thundered up four flights of stairs each Monday. They teased and joked with each other in Italian but once they set foot in our apartment it was “English only!” All four of the boys had studied English at their local elementary school so they had a basic foundation to start with.

Monday Night English Class

Pronunciation again was the difficult part. It seems like once they have the first English class from a non-English speaker the speech patterns are set. Most of our time is spent in conversation to change those pronunciation patterns and some phrase and vocabulary were added to their war chest. The NAS Sigonella Base Library became a great resource. When they thinned out their outdated kids magazine section and I became the recipient of the throw away magazines. National Geographic, Animals and Highlights became a favorite with my Monday Night Crowd. They loved to read the stories in English, so that became their homework, to read English aloud to their families.

It was a pretty good combination, we spoke conversational English on Monday night class and they read English magazines during the week. They have made reasonable progress, their moms are very pleased and excited!

Missing Loenardo at the dentist office.