One of the highlights of my mission was having my mother as a companion/threesome for two weeks. It was a special, spiritual experience- one of which had many events, led by the hand of the Lord, that testified of his involvement in the work: how a friend offered unused round trip tickets to Milan, the fact that President felt impressed to let my mother come, the timing of the visit (I was sick with bronchitis and trip to Poschiavo), the fellowshipping and teaching mom was able to do, the return of her German and missionary skills, the ground that was broken in Poschiavo, Switzerland because of her maternal wisdom and German speaking abilities...........so many, many miracles that occurred during that time and so many seeds planted. Thank YOU, THANK YOU President for being so in tune with the spirit during that time.
This is an experience that my mother and I treasure. "Afterwards, Tuesday night (Christmas Eve), we went (with permission and encouragement) to the midnight Christmas mass at the Duomo. It was very BORING but VERY COOL! The music was beautiful. There were the boys voices and the boy soloists were great. Their music was probably the only spiritual thing. They had the cathedral lit with electrical lights which is very abnormal and above the manger they had a big star that they lit when Jesus was set in the manger. It was freezing. I had to keep my coat and gloves on. The whole mass was broadcasted on the radio and TV. In fact, I saw a man with his portable TV, in the Duomo, watching the mass. Outside all of this spiritual stuff there were "giochi di natale" or fireworks going on outside.
"During the mass Anziano Barratt leaned over and said, 'Think of the significance. You're sitting in the middle of Italy, Christmas Eve, in one of the biggest cathedrals in the world, watching a Christmas Mass!'
