One of the over 12 missions in Europe that I worked with the most was the Italy Milan Mission. The COVID pandemic began in Europe in this area. Northern Italy was very hard-hit and our missionaries and their leaders were so faithful in dealing with the isolation and finding new ways to fulfill their callings to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Joanne and I were invited to travel to Milan, Italy and join President and Sister Browning in a five-day Zone Conference tour of the mission. We jumped at the chance to spend some time with these missionaries and their leaders that we had grown to love.
I was asked to offer some instruction and counsel on healthy use of technology and warn them of the dangers of misusing the power of technology. I spent about an hour in each of the zone conferences which started in Florence, Italy.
It was so special for me to meet in person the missionaries I had only seen via video call on my phone as I counseled with them. The love and appreciation offered by them to me was so heartwarming.
It was wonderful for Joanne to actually meet some of the missionaries I had been meeting with for so long.
At the conclusion of each zone conference the zone would gather together and sing the mission song in Italian. I hummed along.
We had a very limited time to be tourists in Florence before we need to drive with the Brownings to the next city where a zone conference would be held the next day. We didn't have time to see any of the famous sights but instead walked around a bit and did some shopping before heading to our next city.
Joanne found some scarves and ties for our children and grandchildren in the street market.
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