Happy New Year!!!
I am almost in shock that it is about to be 2015. I never thought it would come. I imagined that I would just live in Italy forever and that it would always be 2014. My life is moving so fast. Just three short weeks and I will be back on American soil. I don't plan on leaving it anytime soon, for anyone who may be concerned.
Christmas was wonderful. Christmas, in many ways, is quite different here than in the States. There is way less commercialism. In fact, on Christmas Eve, all the stores were closed by 7pm. It's definitely a family event. And the majority of Italians celebrate Christmas Eve more than the actual day. Christmas Eve is when the whole family gets together, no matter how far away they live, and they eat a big dinner together, they light up their Presepe (Nativity) and their Christmas tree, and they spend time together. Christmas Eve is definitely a holy night. Christmas Day instead is a day of rest. The city becomes a ghost town and you can hear a pin drop from several kilometers away.
We spent our Christmas day in the church. It was a lot of fun. One of the largest families (that makes up almost half of our ward) set up a "festa" in the chapel. We ate a bunch of food, played some games, and hung out together. One family brought a computer to Skype their sons who are on missions in Colorado and South Africa. They let us use it to Skype our families as well, for which we were very grateful. It was great to see my family, and especially to see how much my brothers have grown! I almost didn't recognize Owen's voice!
Tonight instead we need to be in early. New Year's Eve gets very dangerous after dark. An Italian tradition is to throw things off of balconies (everyone lives in an apartment, so it's pretty universal). The idea is "in with the new, out with the old." Some go so far as to throw microwaves and refrigerators off balconies, although I suspect alcohol may have some involvement in that stupid idea. To avoid any dangers, we are ordered to be in the house well before dark. Another Italian tradition for New Years is to make as much noise as humanly possible. Last year in downtown Milano I could hardly my own thoughts at midnight. I thought a war might've erupted with all the loud blasts and flashes of light! Here in Merate I imagine that it will be a little more tranquillo.
Here's an interesting story. It made flashback to a similar experience in Pesaro, my first city. We returned home one afternoon to several wailing alarms from inside our apartment building. As we approached our front door we realized they were coming from our house! Our carbon monoxide detectors were blaring. After consultation with the office, we called the Fire Department. The operator was slightly antagonistic and did not really make me feel very safe. He seems to doubt that there was anything in our apartment, but begrudgingly sent us a few men to check it out. After a sweep of the apartment they found that our hot water heater was indeed leaking some fumes. Nothing at all serious, but something to fix nonetheless. As we sat in the living room filling out some paperwork, one of them started asking about what we were doing in Italy. Two Americans in a decently plain apartment with pictures of Jesus and a few old men in ties, and a bunch of blue books in different languages... That would probably invite some questions! We talked for a while. The older man asking the questions wasn't too open, but he listened just the same. The younger man that was with him seemed genuinely interested and listened intently. We were able to teach about the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon. At the end, we gave each of them a copy of the Book of Mormon with the invitation to read it and pray about it. "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you," right? Of course right. It was a wonderful, yet unexpected finding opportunity. We never know when prepared people will be put into our path.
There's my spiel for this week. Hopefully you enjoyed it. We didn't watch our allotted Disney movie on Christmas, so we're off to our apartment (so that no refrigerator crosses our path) to watch the Incredibles! I already quote the movie all the time, so it should be a blast.
Talk to you next year! Love, Anziano Simcox.
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