Torino uprising, foosball, and eggplant

 This is us at the ward lunch. It was really delicious but worked a little differently. Everyone had to bring their own food and then you could kind of share and sample other peoples plates if they let you. Unfortunately I was absent for that announcement and so I just went and took food from everybody. Luckily Im a missionary so people were glad to feed me. 

This is a picture with Anziano Colemere playing foosball with some of the kids in the ward… almost every church in Italy has a foosball table and they are all ridiculously good at foosball. Even these kids could beat me on a good day. 

This week has been a little crazy this week... The work has dropped off a little bit thanks to it. And Anziano Colemere was really sick. (sad)

I dont know if they have been reporting this on the news or anything, but there has been a bit of an uprising here in Torino. On monday it started. The sisters called us and told us they saw people marching in the streets at about 7:30, but they went away and we decided to do district meeting.

 Many people were standing in the roads, blocking of cars and yelling angrily. Nothing too violent, but a lot of people were out in this protest thing. We had to drop the Torino anziani in the other ward off and were blocked off at a couple streets so we made some detours on the way home. The other Anziani saw bonfires in the streets near their houses. I have also heard from a couple people who went in Centro that it is (was?) a full out war. People fighting and shooting bombs and other crazy stuff. I don't know.

 The sisters saw some strange colored gas outside their apartment, and we saw someone almost get run over, a car just pushed him down. It was crazy but we got through it. Now the stuff in our area has calmed down but Northern Torino there is still a lot of stuff going on I hear.

 We were able to have appointments yesterday but not the day before. So thanks to that, its been a little harder to do missionary work, all we can do is go visit people, we cant really go out the street and do contacting. Even this morning I was up doing exercise and saw 20 or 30 people gathered together yelling and things. Im surprised you all dont know about it! I think its only really affecting Torino Napoli Rome and maybe Milano, but other cities are either really quiet or doing mild protests with signs and flags and things. 

In the other areas, I am feeling really great these days as a missionary. Its been really difficult to find new people to teach, but I know once these riots and things start calming down we are going to see miracles. We were able to see our new member Charles after a period of time and he is doing great. His wife was there with us so we took the opportunity to talk about eternal families. We also gave him his baptismal picture in a frame and he loves it. 

For Christmas we are going to get him a white shirt and tie so that he can pass the sacrament once he gets the priesthood! Im excited for that.

The last is a mutant eggplant (aubergine as the brits call them I think) that I bought to make today. Italians love using eggplant to cook stuff. So much more than Americans. Eggplant doesnt taste good unless its cooked though.

All in all its been rough, but I'm excited to start working soon.

Anziano Day 

News Note from Mom- the riots are protesting the current terrible economic condition.  The riots preceded a Government confidence vote on Wednesday,  and the current coalition survived the vote despite opposition protests.  Activity was seen throughout Italy but was more active in Torino (Turin) :

 from gbtimes.com Tues Dec 10th 2013 

"As Italy entered the first day of a national mass protest which is trying to cripple the country, riots broke out in Turin, while parades and road blocks caused trouble in many regions on Monday, with more unrest expected today.

The protests were led by the “Pitchforks”, a movement originally created by Sicilian farmers which then spread to the rest of the country, bringing together truck and taxi drivers, the unemployed, students, workers on income support and peddlers. They are united by the wide range of grievances: too high taxes, unemployment, damaging rules and laws, corruption, austerity measures and the common currency.

Even strategies were different, with protesters occupying railway stations in Genoa and Turin, the railways in Rome, orbital roads in Bari, Florence and Genoa, or simply parading. Riots broke out in Turin, where far right football supporters and far left squatters joined the protest.

In the Piedmont’s capital, anti-riot policemen took off their helmets in a conciliatory gesture : “We share the same exasperation and frustration as of the peaceful protesters because of the high taxes and the spending cuts”, said a police officer to Corriere della Sera."