Billion Graves

At a conference a few weeks ago with the Senior Couples in the Italy Milan Mission, Jodie learned about a program called Billion Graves from another Senior Couple serving in our mission.  

(https://video.billiongraves.com/en/What%20is%20BillionGraves%20SD.webm)

Billion Graves is the worlds largest resource for searchable GPS cemetery data.  This program is similar to one called Find a Grave which you might be familiar with.  The idea is that as you visit cemeteries you can capture images of individual headstones (with GPS tags of the location) and then upload them directly into Billion Graves, without requiring them to be stored on your phone.  Billion graves shares them with Family Search.

It is interesting that in Italy they only allow graves to stay in cemeteries for 30 years at which time they remove them and make space for new graves.  We thought it would be helpful to help capture some of this burial information before the next cemetery change out.  What better place to start than Zambla Bassa, where the Balsi’s are from. Balsi is the surname of Jodie's maternal grandmother who has Italian heritage.   In Zambla Bassa they spell it Balzi rather than Balsi.  The change is probably either an attempt to Americanize Balzi, or it was a simple change in the immigration process – we don’t honestly know at this point. 

 On Father’s Day  we decided that we’d take a drive up to Oltre il Colle so we could visit the cemetery in Zambla Bassa and try out the Billion Graves program.  Before we left, we downloaded the Billion Graves App onto our phones and then headed off on our afternoon adventure.  We visited Oltre il Colle and Zambla Bassa in February while in Italy on vacation and it was beautiful.  Now that it is summer, we were anxious to go back and visit again.  From our apartment in Alzano Lombardo it takes us about an hour to travel to Oltre il Colle.    Once in Zambla Bassa we started taking photos of the headstones and markers in the cemetery.  Between us, we captured about 350 images and completed photographing all the headstones in the whole cemetery. 

View of the Cemetery in Zambla Bassa, Oltre il Colle 

View from the Cemetery in Zambla Bassa, Oltre il Colle 

View from the Cemetery in Zambla Bassa, Oltre il Colle

A sampling of the gravestone markers (with nice graphics) that we loaded into Billion Graves

While in the cemetery in Zambla Bassa, we met a couple of men who are likely relatives through the Balsi line.  Their grandmother is a Balzi.  Their parents were born in Zambla Bassa and moved to Argentina.  These brothers were both born in Argentina and lived there until the older brother was about 26.  They have been in Italy now for about 36 years.  

Blake, Jodie and the Rizzi brothers

As near as we could tell they were about 62 and 60 years old.  Because they speak Spanish and Italian, we were able to have a broken conversation in Spanish, Italian and a few words on English.  Thank you Google Translate.  Once again, a tender mercy or miracle that we were able to find more relatives here in Italy.  Jodie is going to dig into the records and see if she can’t determine just how they are related.  They asked us to find them next time we visit Zambla Bassa.  These Italian connections are really a blessing and a miracle.  The spirit of Elijah turning hearts of the Fathers to the children and the children to the Fathers is alive and well in Italy. 

 We are hoping that this Billion Graves documentation can be an additional service that we provide while on our mission.  We both find it interesting and rewarding.  It is helping us become familiar with writing styles and typical names that we’ll continue to encounter here in Italy. 

As we were transcribing images from Zambla Bassa, we encountered a headstone for Maddalena Balzi, born in 1877.  

Headstone found in the cemetery at Zambla Bassa, Oltre il Colle, Bergamo, Italy

A Balzi born in Zambla Bassa in 1877 … that has got to be a close relation to Jodie’s great great grandpa Angelo Balsi, born in 1866 in Zambla Bassa.  So we  jumped on Family Search and looked into this a little bit more.  While we haven’t determined/proved the exact relationship just yet, we did find that we’d found a Maria Maddalena born in 1877 in the marriage records we took pictures of in Oltre il Colle earlier this year.  Maddalena has a brother named Giovanni Antonio Balzi born in 1866 as well.  Angelo’s grandfather is named Giovanni Antonio Balzi and he was born in 1793.  Likely Maddalena is Angelo’s first cousin; however, we need to fill in a few gaps before we will know for sure.  Nonetheless, it is fun to see a headstone that lines up nicely with the written records that we have found, particularly one that has a family relation. 

This week we were able to participate in the Quarterly Worldwide Family Search meeting.  It was great to get a better vision for how Family Search provides records with names so that others can connect these records to their ancestors and eventually be in the temple providing ordinances.  

A screenshot from the Family Search Quarterly Meeting 

This is apparently the stock slide that Family Search uses when they make presentations to the Brethren about Family Search efforts

 Combined with the Family Search efforts of supporting the digitation process and creating and delivering digital reading rooms, we really feel like our efforts in Billion Graves will also nourish temples with names. 

On Friday afternoon and evening we went back to Oltre il Colle to capture the cemetery in Billion Graves.  We were also able to capture images for all of the headstones in that cemetery.  While in Oltre il Colle we also visited the Bar Pizzeria Carrara where we had pizza for lunch with Ken and Pam King in February.  We ate their pizza again.  So far this is our favorite pizza in Italy.         

       

Pizza from Bar Pizzaria Carrara

While capturing images in the cemetery, Jodie noticed that Luisa Maurizio had passed away in May 2024.  Louisa is the woman that showed us the birth and marriage records for Oltre il Colle from 1816 to 1867.  We were saddened to see that she had passed away.  

Photo of Louisa’s grave marker

Oltre il Colle is sure beautiful this time of year.  It was very pleasant in the evening..  We had quite a ride over the hill to get there but it was well worth the trip.  

The cemetery in Oltre il Colle

Looking back the way we came at the pass near Selvino 

Screenshot of a portion of our route to Selvino on the way to Oltre il Colle 

Looking ahead to our decent from Selvino 

View on our decent from Selvino 

Our combined efforts documenting headstones in Billion Graves has produced some pretty exciting results.  We’ve uploaded 718 images and so far these images have helped 168 people in their family history research.  It is exciting for us to see that our efforts are helping others in their family history research. 

Making these connections and linking families together is fun and very addicting.  Our experience so far with Billion Graves is a nice reminder to us both just why we're are serving a Family Search mission and a testimony to us that our Heavenly Father has placed us in just the right place at just the right time for us to make these connections.   

 a quote from President Henry B. Eyring

It's not good or bad, it's just different

June 21, 2024 by Jodie

One of the missionaries shared this statement below with me and I have been trying to adopt it. It helps me as I am learning and get so frustrated at times. I am trying to be patient with myself as we adapt to new things. 

Not speaking the native Italian language has it's challenges and is good for a giggle or a little cry...but don't worry there are more giggles that tears. Adopting new practices and habits is getting easier as we are now one month into our mission and 3 weeks in Italy.

"It's not good or bad, it's just different!"  

Elevators

The Elevators in Italy are tiny...we have some giggles as we try and negotiate being in there together with our hands full of reusable bags of groceries or my new flowers for our deck or supplies for our missionary apartment inspections and fix it projects.  Italians fit 3 or 4 people in this tiny elevator and don't think a thing about it and they all face each other.  Now that's different.       

We take the stairs when our hands are not full.  AND....There are 90 stairs in our building to get up to our apartment.  That last set of 18 are still a little rough for me going up because my thighs start screaming at me.  I told our friend and manager Monica and her husband Samuele who were willing to share their elevator ride with me to our 4th floor apartments that I wanted to take the stairs to earn my bread and pasta and gelato.  

   

Going down the stairs, I feel like a champion!  One of these days I will do my "Rocky" dance when I climb up the stairs at a quick pace without stopping and panting!  

In Italy they have a "0" floor so we live on the 4th floor here in Italy but it would be considered the 5th floor in the USA.  Their bottom floor the 0 floor is called "T" for Terra or ground.  

Garbage

Check out this garbage collection schedule and the amount of garbage bins we have here!  5? 

My biggest learning curve... 

I do love to recyle in the USA and have always been a big supporter of the idea even saving our recycleable things and driving to the places to recycle when they were not available curbside.  However, here it's nerve wracking to me.  I have been scared of the garbage police.  We have 3 days a week that the garbage is collected before 6 am.  So we leave it out the night beforehand.  There are different colors of bags for each thing we collect and the colored bags are different in each city.  For instance, we live in Alzano Lombardo, a "suburb" of Bergamo, and the garbage collection and colors of bags are different at our church building which is in Bergamo than in our apartment building and even different for our missionary district and their apartments which we help oversee who are in downtown Bergamo, Brescia, Lecco, Merate, and Treviglio Italy.    

Umido=Humid garbage disposal for food waste and used tissues etc. 

Vetro & Barattolame= Glass and Metal 

Imballaggi in Plastica= Plastic

Carta e Cartone=Cardboard and Paper 

Rifiuti or Indifferenziati= anything that is different than all of the above

Cooking/Baking

Baking and cooking have been fun and rewarding yet different.  Yes, I brought some of my Demarle at Home/BonCOOK items from home.  I would really be paralyzed without my cooking tools.  I wish now that I would have brought more of my favorites items.  Look at the size of the packages of sugar, powdered sugar, cocoa, and flour.    

Our kitchen is small, lacks counter space, but it is functional.  Note the drying rack up above the kitchen sink where I load the dishes to dry.  It has a tray to catch the water that I empty when the dishes are dry.    

We have small quantities of the ingredients and small appliances and of course all the labels are in Italian and the measurents are in the metric system of milliliters and kilograms. Google is my friend!

 

This box cake was so delicious, I added an extra 2 tbsp. of lemon juice and then little lemon slices on top of each slice to squeeze onto the cake as I was serving it.  In addition to the powdered sugar shown here for presentation we put whipped cream on top.  The missionaries seemed to love it after our district council.  How fun to make desserts for the missionaries!  I love it! 

  

Ah, I forgot to get a finished product photo.  I was in a rush to get out the door for our district council.  My first tarts in Italy are my favorite ingredients in tarts ~ and they are available here!                      

Brie Cheese (Formaggio Brie), Apricot (Albicocca) Jam, and Almonds (Mandorla).  We tried them with both puff pastry and regular pie dough and we liked how they looked and held up with the pie dough the best.  Blake was a super willing sampler as well as the missionaries for our first district council!

Brown sugar, molassis, corn syrup, sour cream, baking powder, vanilla and mint flavoring are things that are hard to find here.  This makes baking cookies a challenge.  I am going to give it a go tomorrow!  I need to practice for an upcoming special visit by Elder Anderson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles who is visiting our mission in July.  All the senior couples are asked to provide 4 dozen cookies.    

Laundry

Blake has been such a handy and handsome helper.  Here he is pictured giggling over trying to read an Italian Washing maching manual.  We have learned many things.  An interesting fact is that the dryers here have no vents to send the air and humidity outside so they have this water collection drawer which we have to empty after every 1-2 loads of drying our clothes.  We empty it into the bidet.  We also use the drying rack in our extra bedroom.  Decifering error codes on the washing machine and the dryer is a real challenge, but so far we've figured most of them out.  At the moment both are still functioning.      

Washing and Drying Clothes in Italian machines that are in a different language and function differently has been so interesting.  Repeat after me, "It's not good or bad, It's just different!"  

Bathroom

Yes, our bathroom is very European.  We will not confirm or deny the use of the bidet.  I hear it works well to soak my feet.  I'll let you know...  

Our shower is installed in a new direction so that's different. 

  Just remember" It's not good or bad, It's just different!"  

  

SLC to Milano, (5/27/24 through 5/29/24)

 Monday, May 27, 2024 (Memorial Day)

Our day started by attending a Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony with Jenna, Carson, Milly and Leo in Eagle Mountain, Utah. 

Leo, Blake, Jodie and Milly

Jodie, Leo, Blake, Milly, Jenna, & Carson

After the ceremony we said goodbye for now to Carson and the kids.  Jenna drove us to the airport to drop us off. It was fun to have our daughter drop us off at the airport - kind of a switch from the normal way things go.  Thank you, Jenna, for being our chauffer.  

Anziano, Sorella and Chauffer Jenna

Anziano Blake & Sorella Jodie with luggage at the airport

Anziano Blake, Jenna, Sorella Jodie

Watch out Italy, here we come!

We boarded our flight from SLC to CDG (Paris) only to sit on the plane for about an hour and a half delay due to some computer system issues with the navigation system.  To remedy this issue, the pilots selected a previous flight path that was in the computer.  The end result of the delay was that our flight from CDG to Milan (Linate) was already boarding when we landed.  After checking with the airline, we were rebooked on a flight later that evening but to Milan (Malpensa) and had about 10 hours to wait for that flight.  

Our flight path from SLC to CDG went north over Canada, Greenland and Iceland.  This time of year, at 37,000 feet, the sun didn't go down.  It seems that we had a day, a night and a day as if it were one day - literally.  

Tuesday 5/28/24

Fortunately for us, we were traveling with the Gardanier's who were also headed to the Italy Milan Mission.  We decided to take advantage of the layover and took a taxi from the airport to the Eiffel Tower.  After seeing the Eiffel Tower, having lunch and walking around a bit we took a taxi back to the airport, retrieved our carryon bags from a luggage storage business, found our way through airport security and then waited for our flight to Milan (Malpensa) which left about 10pm.  

Anziano & Sorella Rindlisbacher with 

Sorella & Anziano Gardanier in Paris

Sorella & Anziano Rindlisbacher in Paris

We arrived at Milan at about 11:45pm only to find that our luggage hadn't been transferred to our flight and would be arriving the next day around 1pm.  The Mission had arranged for hotel rooms for us but hadn't noticed the change in airports.  We therefore took a taxi from Linate to Malpensa.  Because it was about 1am by the time we left the taxi driver was driving 90+mph (I'll add a screen shot from an app on my phone showing 92.4 but that wasn't his top speed).  Nonetheless, it was a fast wild ride.  

Note the 92.4 mph speed in the taxi

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Upon arrival at our hotel, we found that they also had had some computer software issues and only had one room left at the hotel.  In order to keep us together they rebooked us at another hotel about 30 minutes away.  By the time we loaded everything back into a taxi and went to the new hotel, we climbed in bed at 3am.  We were pretty much exhausted at this point.  

The Assistants (Moore and Tanner) to the Mission President picked us up at 9am and took us to the post office so we could register ourselves with the government to live in Italy.  We then went to the Mission Office where the office Elders (Alcorn & Youngberg) helped us with phones and a car.  The Office Sr. Couple, the Nielson's, gave us a brief orientation, took us to lunch at Rossopomodoro (a favorite local pizza spot) and then sent us on our way.  

Anziano & Sorella Gardanier and 

Anziano & Sorella Rindlisbacher 

in front of the mission office

 Anziano & Sorella Rindlisbacher 

in front of the mission office

Our mission car, a hybrid Toyota Carrola

The mission office 

Via Antonio Gramsci, 13

20073 Opera, Milan, Italy

Our next stop was the Milan (Linate) airport to retrieve our luggage.  After that we travelled to our apartment in Alzano Lombardo, Bergamo to settle in.  We arrived at our apartment around 6pm-ish.  

It turns out that not having our luggage arrive was a blessing.  The Gardanier’s had 4 large bags and two small bags.  Adding our two carryon small bags and a couple of backpacks the taxis were completely stuffed. So, if we would have had our 4 large suitcases as well, we would have had to book 2 taxi drivers.  Once we retrieved our luggage the following day, we were again thankful that we only had 4 large bags, 2 small carry-on suitcases and a couple of small carry-on bags.  We completely filled our Toyota Camary hybrid mission car.  

Sidenote: packing your life into suitcases for a mission is difficult.  It was suggested that senior couples only bring 2 suitcases and a carryon.  We were considering just paying the hefty fee of having 5 large bags between us when we left home.  Getting each bag under the 50 pound weight limit was a whole other concern.  In the morning of our last few days in Utah, Jodie felt strong promptings to get our luggage under compliance with the mission recommendations.  After seeing the space in the taxi's and in our mission car, we were so thankful that we listened to the promptings.  

Toyota Corolla hybrid, mission car

our luggage just barely fit!

It goes without saying that we were exhausted, but yet excited to finally arrive in our apartment around 6:30pm!  We love the apartment and have some beautiful views. 

Via Provinciale, 182 4°

24022 Alzano Lombardo,

BG (Bergamo), ITALY  

4th floor (Italian) = 5th floor (US)

Italians have a zero floor 

our apartment building

we are on the top left w/ a balcony

our apartment building and mission car

view from the apartment

view from the apartment