The Most Memorable Baptism Ever: Part 2

We went back to see the family, after picking up the Elders, the very next week on the 7th of Nov.   This time, we were prepared with a psudo-flannel board and colorful circles to help explain the Plan of Salvation to the kids.  We also had mini-Twix bars to 'bribe' them into listening, and all together it worked like a charm.  The poor Elders, being kids themselves, were clueless as how to calm the masses, so they once again took the back seat to Jack.  He, being a natural-born teacher, caught their attention and soon had them raising their hands and participating.  We got Daniel involved with placing the circles on the board, and it was a good night of learning.  They all wanted to have a turn to pray, because it was a new experience for them, and Alecio promised they would be at church on Sunday, but they didn't come because the toddler got sick.

     Our main concern on our next visit was to wish Sofia a happy 15th birthday (with a big chocolate cake) and figure out how to help them get to church.  (Alecio's panel truck has no seats, and the last time he tried to take his family loose in the back, he got picked up by the police and fined.)  They have a DVD player and an old TV where everyone's faces are green, but we watched the Joseph Smith Story, in Italian, on a laptop.  With no speakers, however, the children had to huddle around close to hear it.  (You would be amazed at the electronic devices that even the poorest people have in their possession nowadays).  Everyone sat quietly through almost the whole movie, until Daniel made them all scatter when he passed gas!  He's the 'bomb' all right!

     On our next visit on Nov. 20th, we had visual aids to help teach the proper steps of a prayer, and the Elders taught about the 10 commandments.  Then they dropped a 'bomb' on us by setting a baptismal date for the girls for Dec. 1.  We were surprised, but the girls squealed excitedly.  Alecio hadn't stayed for the lesson, he'd gone with a gym bag to do some boxing.  Sofia blurted out the news that she didn't want her Dad to baptize her, and Sara said," He's not baptizing me either!"  Rosa was upset and said her girls don't honor their parents like the commandments say they should, and we soon said good-bye leaving chaos in our wake this time.  Jack and I had reservations 'big time' about this rush to baptism (then we found out that one of the Elders was going home the 5th of Dec. and it meant a lot to him to see them get baptized).  I brought up my concerns, but they countered with the girls' need to have the Holy Ghost in their lives to help them progress.  That made sense, but they also 'need' parental involvement, and will be hard pressed to find it with a mother who is overwhelmed, and a father who works hard, but doesn't relate well with his daughters.  Then, the Elders had to admit defeat after all, when none of the family made it to church on the 25th because their oldest son's wife had just had their first baby.

     I can't figure out their lifestyle.  I've never seen any signs of dinner being cooked.  They seem to exist on snacks and candy, which are plentiful and spread out all over the large round table (and onto the floor as the little kids grab and run with cheese puffs and chips and bon-bons of all sorts), and liter bottles of pop, guzzled without a glass by Daniel, and  I wonder if Alecio brings home out of date products for them?  The time Bishop Duez came to meet us there started out badly.  Ten year old Kelly was striking matches on the porch, then in the house (that tinderbox!), chasing her siblings all around with them!  Rosa wandered in with the baby on her hip and I pointed it out to her.  She distractedly shook her head, 'Oh those children', she sighed.  Jack called them all together and retaught prayer, and Sara gave a good one.  The Bishop showed up and will help Alecio get started on the papers he needs to become legal in France...step by step progress is being made.

     We were at another ward when the family came to church and met with the Bishop in his office.  A new date was set for the baptism, for the very next Saturday at 3 P.M., if Rosa felt they were ready.  We took the Elders out there on Friday night, and they were determined to get all the rest of the lessons taught that night.  Jack was beside himself...'You're going to do all those tonight and call it good?'  We sat back this time and let them handle things, but the girls were giggly, and Sofia sat by herself.  When they talked about tomorrow's baptism, Rosa protested that they weren't ready, but in the end she was talked into it.  Sofia is a question mark.

      We spent the morning baking banana bread and cookies when we got a frantic call from the Elders.  The Strecovitch girls had gotten wet and dirty from the floor of their Dad's van and were refusing to come.  Could we go and pick them up and smooth things over?  We had room for 3, what about the others?  They said they'd call Bishop Duez and see if he could help, and he was soon on his way also.  When we got there Sara was distraught that her good pair of jeans had gotten dirty (there was dried mud on the sleeve of her shirt also), so Jack said, "Come with us and we'll get you a new pair to wear!"  She was so surprised at that, she got right into the back seat, followed by Kelly and Indira.  Rosa looked nice in her long black skirt, dangling earrings and sparkly top, but her face had that usual worried look as Sofia was not to be found anywhere.  Jack said, "We're leaving now so we can shop for Sara", and we did.  We found a chic clothing store and our funny little band trooped in and found something suitable right away.  Sara tried them on and worried that it cost too much, ($14.99) but we grabbed them and got going again.  At church the girls were whisked off for their interviews, and the next time we saw them they were a sight to behold.  Kelly was in a ruffly dress, Sara in a 3 times too big jump suit, and Indira had on knee length trousers and a large white shirt that someone had knot-tied in the front showing tummy.   Bishop Duez had told Rosa last Sunday that the baptism would not be today, and she was relieved because "My girls aren't ready yet."   Someone mentioned that they should bring extra dry underwear, and she wailed, "My girls don't have underwear!" YIKES!  That's why she put up a fuss yesterday when the Elders told her it was set for today.  We didn't know any of this until after we talked to the Bishop, and he was 'misinformed' also.

     Finally, they got the program started at 3:30, with one glaring omission from the printed program; Sofia had refused to come with the Bishop no matter what he said to her, she said NO.  She said that her father and she had fought, and claims that he hits and kicks her. 'Why can he get away with such behavior and be a church member?' seems to be her question.  So, 4 sisters names were on the program, but only 3 young girls dressed in white on their baptismal day, Dec. 8, 2012.

     In  PART 3  you will find out what happened next.

The Most Memorable Baptism Ever: Part 1

 Back in early November was the first time we met the Strecovitch family.  One of the Elders in the ward recognized the father of the family, when he slipped into sacrament meeting by himself two weeks in a row, from the time he had met him earlier elsewhere.  In talking to Alecio, the Elder found out that he was a member, and had 7 children at home, 4 of whom had not been baptized yet.  If you ever want to make a missionary drool, just tell him that!  Their problem was that they live a good 30 minutes out of town, and transportation was the issue.  The Elders got out to their place one time, but found that they live in an enclave of illegal, ramshackle, pasted together hovels, where the kids run wild and they were unable to corral them long enough for any kind of lesson because of their undisciplined behavior.

     The Elders begged for help from us, not only to drive them there, but to help teach them if possible.  Our first look at their place was quite a shock, it had rained and the ground was muddy and strewn with hoses stretched across the width of their yard as we drove in.  The people there tap into the city's water supply that way, and also know how to string electricity to their places too.  We hear that the police raid this complex of several streets of shacks periodically, tearing out all their lines and hoses, but before long things are back in place and 'normal' for them once more.

      Alecio is Italian by birth, and found the church when he was a young man.  His wife is a Bosnian gypsy, born to that nomadic culture and way of life, and when they married she persuaded him to join in it also.  His family were so upset by this that they disowned him.  Somewhere along the line though, Rosa gained a testimony of the gospel and was baptized, to the dismay and chagrin of her own family with their traditional Catholic background.  Some of their children were born in Italy, some in Germany, and now some in France, and they all have language issues and speak quite the mixture of Italian/German/French.  The kids are struggling in school, where they stand out because of their slightly shabby used clothing; their language problems have some insensitive teachers telling them to 'go back to where you came from, we don't want you here'.  They don't go to school regularly, so keeping up is hard, but two of them are especially smart and determined, so there is hope for them.    
                                                                                                                        
      Their house is an amazing conglomeration of cast-off pieces of building materials, such as  french doors with glass squares, which make up the front wall, and Rosa's cooking area is a room off one side of their long front porch.  Alecio is industrious to the max and has created a huge living room space for them with wooden floors and a roaring fire in a make-shift stove made from a metal barrel complete with a fat pipe that leads straight up through the ceiling.  I was impressed by how shipshape the room was, with paintings on the walls, and couches and cupboards and a large round table and plenty of chairs.  He probably is a collector (with his large, white panel truck, with no seats), a scavenger of discarded items that people put out on the sidewalks and within minutes just disappear as if into thin air. Rosa is a sweet-faced earth-mother type with a lovely serene smile and laid back manner with the chaos all around her.....'Oh, these children', she would say to me over and over as they raced madly around, showing off to their four foreign visitors.  But then Jack took control, and before long had them seated, and mesmerized as he taught them about Joseph Smith's first vision.  The 8 year old, shy Indira, 10 year old wise-eyed Kelly, the deceptively quiet 12 year old Sara, and 14 year old Sofia who is just budding into young womanhood all listened intently, but the younger three listened best.  Sofia was easily distracted and hard to reengage, but we loved being with these kids, they are good kids, just clueless at how to comport themselves in an accepted manner.  There is also 6 year old Daniel, the instigator of all havoc in the house - literally bouncing off the walls and off his sisters with karate chops to the backs of their legs or boxing and hitting them whenever they weren't looking;  wow what a kid!  Jack even corralled him for awhile.  The other children are 3 year old Kristina, with deep dimples and a crush on one of the Elders which she showed by pummeling his face constantly, and 1 year old Samata Amela, big eyed with amazing dimples also, who was still nursing and was very insistant about it!  What a family...we went home happy, but exhausted, and hoped that they had learned what they needed to know about the prophet and what an important event the first vision was; and we left wanting to return again to see them again soon.

      Well, I had to set the stage, so if you are interested in the rest of the story you will have to wait for chapter 2.   ;)

Love to you all.........Mom  (Joanne)