Che Bella Vita: May 2018

May 8, 2018

Well, today marks our one-year anniversary of being on our mission. It has been a wonderful and most remarkable year. We are relishing what we are doing, fully adjusted and loving life! The Lord continues to shower us daily with blessings here in Italy and back at home with our family.

The Missionaries that Cynthia watches over continue to have their ups and downs, with every ailment you can imagine, or rather what they can think of. They have their P-day every Monday. A couple of weeks ago, one Missionary called her on Saturday and Sunday too sick to work and then called her on Tuesday, again to tell her that they were too sick to work. She did her typical “Mom thing”, baiting them a bit and then inquired as to what they had done for their P-day the day before. They responded with, “we went bowling”. As soon as the words fell from their lips, they realized what they had said and then, trying to recover, said that they only played 2 games. She advised them that in her opinion they were well enough to go back to work that day. The reality is that these are absolutely remarkable young men and women, totally devoted and dedicated to serving the Lord. It is our distinct privilege to be associated with them and in a small way support their efforts.

As we had previously reported, we have been working on our P-day (Saturdays) teaching a religion class in Napoli, which we simply love. It has however made it a bit tough not having a day off. Together we determined it important to find time each week to “take a break” and continue our exploration of Roma and the surrounding area. Today being our anniversary, we decided to resume that quest. We began our adventure by driving to Hadrian’s Villa outside of the picturesque town of Tivoli. The villa was built around 125 A.D. as a retreat for Emperor Hadrian and has been designated as a World Heritage Site. It covers an expanse of almost 350 acres and the buildings were/are massive, with incredible architecture. Considering the limited technology of the time, they had to have been smarter than we are today! We spent about 2.5 hours on a jaw dropping, self-guided tour. At every turn we were absolutely AMAZED! It is a 9 plus on a scale of 10.

Before leaving for our journey this morning, we met our Portiere outside our apartment. He is a dear man and we have fallen in love with him. He suggested that we include Parco Villa Gregoriana in our plans for today. We followed his recommendation and were ecstatic that we did. It is a beautiful park that sits at the feet of the city’s ancient acropolis dating back to 150 B.C.! We traversed a pathway that winded back and forth down to the bottom of the gorge. As we descended, we viewed caves, precipices and grand waterfalls. It was astounding and we both classified this glorious landmark as a 10! It was submitted in 2006 for consideration as a World Heritage Site.

A couple of weeks ago, with our Gans (young single adults) we participated in a service opportunity where we joined with other groups in providing dinner at one of the local refugee camps. We fed approximately 125 men that have sought asylum here in Italy. They estimate that there are approximately 600,000 refugees from Africa that currently reside in Italy. The event was wonderful, but very sobering. Every man was most appreciative and they all wore smiles on their faces. Reflecting on their plight again reminds us of the innumerable blessings God has showered down upon us.

Well, once again that’s it for now. Never forget who loves you…we do! Have a wonderful day in the neighborhood, because it’s a wonderful life! Ciao!

Love,

Anziano and Sorella Knies

P.S. The picture below of Anziani Knies e Balzotti is of the conquering hero's that performed surgery on the suitcase and brought it back to life. Anziano Knies purchased the suitcase for 35 Euros at a neighborhood discount shop, thinking it was a real bargain. We use suitcases to transport supplies to the Zone Conferences each transfer and the previous suitcase was worn out. After this suitcase's first trip, two of the wheels broke! Anziano Knies and Anziano Balzotti surgically removed two of the wheels from the "worn out" suitcase and successfully "transplanted" them on the "new" suitcase. Hopefully it will make it at least one more trip, thus bringing down the cost per use to 17.5 Euros per use! As the saying goes, "you get what you pay for!"

At one of the Refugee Camps the night we served them dinner

In front of the "Hundred Chambers" area in Hadrian's Villa where the servants were housed to help maintain the facility

One of the buildings with its amazing architecture

In the center of one area of buildings was Hadrian's "personal get-away" that only he could enter. It was surrounded completely by a mote.

Mosaic flooring with pieces of marble that were approximately 1/4 inch squared. Still there after almost 1900 years!

Housing for Gladiators, as the complex had its own Gladiator arena. Notice the mosaic on the flooring.

If you look closely you can see Tivoli in the background

In front of the "Large Baths" which was the spa area. HUGE! Lifetime Fitness pales in comparison.

Inside the "Large Bath"

Outside of the "Small Baths"

Moving on to Parco Villa Gregoriana

One of the falls within the park

Had to walk up and down 95 stairs to get to one of the falls. They classified it as "strenuous" and only to be traversed if physically capable. No problem for Cynthia. Fred struggled!