Italy

    The drive from croatia to italy was long hot and loud. We spent two nights on the beach swimming in the Adriatic Sea and a long exhausting, but wonderful day getting lost in Venice.  The water is clear , a perfect 70 degrees , the sand is soft and white and people here wear their clothes and that's comforting. We then drove another 3 and a half hours to lake Garda. The drive was grueling . The friendship that I have so longed for my kids to develop has blossomed like a tulip on a spring day. Be careful what you ask for. They are such pals they played non stop the entire drive and made so much noise I was ready to dive into a pool of grappa by the time we arrived. 

   So here we are in beautiful lake Garda italy. We are staying in a safari tent this time. It's an upgrade from the regular tent.  It has a wood deck and beds with cute frames, a Mosquito net draped over the queen bed, with a wooden trunk at the foot of the bed, night stands and lamps, teak kitchen table chairs and everything needed to cook including a fridge, BBQ, stove and dishes. In many ways it feels more luxurious than the mobile trailers we usually stay in. The campground is situated on an old olive grove so we are surrounded by beautiful olive trees and are right on the lake so we can swim in the clear cool water. It's hot, very hot. 

    The disadvantage to the tent camping of course , is not having your own toilet, so the first thing I do is check it out to see what I'm dealing with for the next several days. The toilet closest to us is only a minute walk. That's good. There are two stalls, I'm perplexed when I see the sign shows it as being for both men and women. Oh no. Here we go again. I open the door. There is a toilet seat. That's good the bandits haven't struck here. It's not a hole in the ground that's even better. Only one problem no toilet paper. One stall has the girl sign, the stall right next to it has the boy sign, neither stalls have paper, maybe they are out. It took me a while to discover the toilet paper is not in each stall but hanging on the wall next to the sink. Now this causes me some anxiety. First off all I'm not a fan of sharing toilet rooms with men, second of all, there is some serious decision making going on here. How much t.p. do I take? I like a lot. But if I take to much it's going to look like I have issues. If I don't take enough then I've got to watch the stall, make sure there's no feet and make a wobbly run for it to get more, all the while in a shear panic that a man will walk in. Knowing my luck, it won't be any man it will be George clooney. And there I will be caught with my panties around my ankles frantically grasping more toilet paper. I think I will invest in more shoes that way if I get caught in an embarrassing situation I won't be recognized by my feet. Do you think other people would have so much anxiety over this?  I was glad when I found a farther walk away there are larger bathrooms that you don't share with men. The toilet paper is the same, hanging by the soap, but at least you don't have to worry about George dropping in. I've decided that's where I will go for my morning business. 

   When we checked in we spent a few hours at the pool then cleaned up and drove back towards Verona to attend an English meeting at the Kingdom Hall. The Kingdom Hall was a double hall with the Italian speaking people upstairs and the English downstairs. It felt so good to do something that we normally do at home. We made it just in time to meet only a few people before the meeting began.  The first song was sang and the loudest most beautiful music poured from the brothers and sisters . I looked around and felt overwhelmed by a sense of unity and so happy to be singing along with my new friends, I sang with all my heart, loud and proud, I may have the voice of a frog. A dying frog. But according to the bethel in Croatia it doesn't matter as long as you do your best. My best still sucks but you would never know it, it was drowned out by the melodious symphony around me. The congregation is made up of many people from Africa. ( hence the beautiful singing) Nigerian people immigrate to italy, they speak English and are hungry for the truth from the bible. Hence there is a need in italy for English speaking people to go to italy and help with the preaching work there. It was very interesting to listen to all the variety of accents in the Kingdom Hall. None of them American. People from Germany, Australia, England, italy of course, and Nigeria and Ghana . What a beautiful variety , it was like a garden of flowers of all kinds growing harmoniously together. After the meeting it felt like everyone lined up to say hello. So much love and warmth. People reached in for the kiss on the cheek and I still blew it every time and ended up head butting them, then grabbing them and hugging them as hard as I could. Such a hospitable congregation!!! Such an impression on the kids to see firsthand our worldwide family. 

   A cute Italian girl named Francesca offered to show us around Verona. What an amazing city, gorgeous, colorful old buildings with statues and carvings and marble streets , a caste wall , fountains and people bustling about late at night enjoying the break from the melting day time heat. One of the prettiest cities I've visited and we had our own personal tour guide who showed us the meaning and stories behind many of the buildings and historical features of the city. She was a darling girl and we hope she will come visit us in October, so now we have a new friend. We have made arrangements to go preaching with the friends there in Verona on Saturday at the open market. Francesca currently is conducting 9 bible studies. She says the territory there is so productive to preach I'm looking forward to that very much. In the end we stayed out till 1 in the morning got back at 2 in the morning and found the most interesting mystical wind picked up and blew so hard it blew an olive in my face and I thought I may have a black eye. The wind was mysterious and fun in our tent, we could hear the waves of the lake splashing. I wondered if our tent would blow over, but I awoke this morning, the wind was gone the tent was up and it was getting hot again. 

   Well what adventures await? I'll keep you posted.