living quarters. He introduced us to our apartment,
after which we went through it to see if we had
everything we were supposed to have. We were
missing a few things, which he got for us. A few
things needed to be fixed, but it seems so many
people are so busy that they haven't had time to
get to us. No big deal though. Bro. Millet said he
wanted us to teach him to read English better,
because there is so much to read about the Church
in English, compared to French. But he's so very
very busy, both with his regular job at the temple
(temple planner, a big job) plus his being "dorm
father" and "handy-man" here at the apartments,
that he has no time for anything else. A humble
man, but rock solid! We are proud and blessed to
know him and his wife.
Bro. Venet below. See a picture of him and his wife
posted earlier. These pictures were taken in the
basment of the MAB (Missionary Apartment Building)
which serves as a general meeting room for all
16 couples, plus a storage area for our empty
luggage. That explains all the luggage you see.
Through the door you see the other room.
Lorenzo and Lorenza Perticaroli below. Just very
very nice people. Lorenza has composed a song,
but doesn't know how to write music, so Alice
listened to it, wrote it down and also composed
an accompaniement for it. Lorenza was elated.
Lorenzo speaks some French, but my Italian is
improving daily, and so we speak less French
together. They really want to be close to us, but
we all have different levels of skill in French and
Italian, so we're not spending as much time
together as they had hoped we would.
Last night, Monday Feb 23, we had a combined
Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras celebration,
which explains all the balloons and streamers.
It was held in the "bunker." I don't know if I
told you earlier: In the basement of the MAB
is a "bomb shelter." Just like some of us had
in the 1950's and 60's. All cement enclosure!
Probably 400 sq. feet or more! Two rooms.
Our luggage is stored against the walls of 3
sides of one of the rooms. In the other (larger)
room we have about 10 tables and 30 or so
chairs. Enough for all of us. We had the "party"
in the big room, and the food for the party
was on long tables in the other room. See
picture of table of food, above. Of course since
we are about 1/2 French, 1/2 Italian, there
is a tendency to divide the groups along linguistic
lines. Looking across from us, you see most
French against the other wall, Perticaroli's on
the right side, and the head of Bro. Christiansen,
the only monolingual (and American) in the
group. Well, his wife is the same. This is not
easy for them!
Below: Close by, some Italians. Further away,
some French.
Immediately to my left, the Italian concentration!
From left: Sis. Bisi, Young Bro. Gavaz, Old Bro.
Gavaz (his father). Across the table: Sis. Di San
Sebastiano, her daughter (on visit from Italy),
her father ("speak no evil") and in a pink blouse,
Maria Sacco.
Dark coat standing: Pres. Castellani welcomes everyone.
Standing to his left, in blue shirt, his counselor, Pres.
Savian, who translates into semi-fractured French.
Between them, barely visible, Sis. Castellani.
To the right of Pres. Castellani, the Perticarolis. To
their right, the Brouillets. Bro. Brouillet is the other
counselor, a native French speaker, but he knows
precious little (little!) Italian. I don't know how the
presidency functions, because President speaks Italian
and English, Savian speaks Italian, French and some
English, and Brouillet speaks basically only French.
Here are the two work-horses, the team-leaders:
Savian and Brouillet (left to right). We're in Savian's
group, which is mostly Italians.
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