Dec. 29

It is not raining and not as cold today. We went to the forum area, although not down into the forum because the line was really long.


We did go to the Mamertine Prison, where Paul was almost certainly kept and where Peter was also imprisoned, at least according to Church tradition. It is not nearly as certain about Peter, though. I did not go down into the cell, having been down there before and not liking the small space and the cramped stairwell to get there.

We intended to go into the forum next, but the long line led us directly to the park, where we met some Kurdish refugees from Afghanistan and a refugee from Sudan and one from Guinea. The guy from Sudan said he spoke a little English, but it was very good English, although I had to listen closely and watch his face to understand him. He was in the army in Sudan for eight years, but left when the government sent him to Darfur because he did not want to kill Sudanese people. He said he is Christian. He would like to have a place to live here and a job but says no one will give him one even though he has his documents. Because he has his documents, he also cannot go anywhere else in the EU without getting sent back here. He also speaks Arabic and can talk to the Kurdish guys from Afghanistan. He said they are friends, and they must be because one of them rolled a cigarette and gave it to him.

There were also some guys from Afghanistan who speak Farsi. We still have lots of material in Farsi from last year (when we had a Farsi speaker with us and met no one who spoke Farsi), so Rudy gave some of them a Bible and some tracts in Farsi.



Playing hackeysack in the park:



We went grocery shopping then and stopped for lunch and then came back to the apartments, where some people have started cooking and some have started sleeping for a bit.

After naps, we all went to headquarters (one of the apartments) to help make sandwiches and cook, but there really wasn’t room in the kitchens for most of us. Scott and I went to the free WiFi place, but it was closed.

We went to the train station with soup, fruit and sandwiches. There weren’t a lot of guys at first, but they trickled in and we ended up with around 35 or so. That’s a wild estimate. We also gave out long underwear, hats and gloves and Bibles and Gospels of John in Farsi. Before we started handing out any of the literature, three guys came up to Scott and asked if he had an engine. Or at least that’s what he thought they said. They pantomimed book and then repeated and he understood they were asking for the Injil, which is what Muslims call the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). So he asked what language and started going through them: Farsi, Pashto, etc. They spoke Farsi, and we have lots of John in Farsi from last year when we were ready for Farsi speakers and met none. One guy took it, another asked for Pashto, which we don’t have so he took Farsi because he speaks it, and the third guy wouldn’t take one. He came back a few minutes later, though, and asked for one for himself.



Then we went to the guys’ apartment, met and had some soup. Then we went to La Piazetta for dinner at about 10 p.m., apparently dinner time here. It was pretty busy. Since I had eaten two cups of soup, I just had chocolate mousse with zabaglione. It was very, very good.

Then it was bedtime, so we went to bed.

Random photos:

This is what was the Fascist Party headquarters in Piazza Venezia. Mussolini used to make his speeches from this balcony.



This is the headquarters apartment, where Albert and Cindy stayed. Selena and Kevin were also supposed to stay here as it has enough beds for four people, but none of them are in closed-off rooms.



This is a view of the loft in the guys' apartment. It was a nice apartment.