Today the police came to our new apartment!

We had been told that I should make a personal visit to the police station if I wanted to speed up the process and possibly find out a time when they would come (that way I would be sure to be at the apartment). So, I went yesterday (Tuesday). They had a rough, hand-written list of houses/apartments to visit, and my name was toward the bottom. However, the policeman asked if I could be home the next day (Wednesday) in the afternoon. Sure!

We visited our landlady to let her know when they planned to come and to see what we might be able to work out with her regarding actually being in the apartment. She simply gave us the keys to our apartment (not ready for us to move in until March 15) for the day. Thank you, God, for the simplicity!

Since I didn’t know exactly when in the “afternoon” (what hours does that encompass, anyway?) the police would come, I headed to our new apartment around 1 pm. I only had to wait until 2:45 pm! Big answer to prayer!

He asked a series of questions–some revealing that he knew more about me than I thought he ought to (i.e., The police knew I was connected to the “Pastorre in Sant’Angelo di Celle”–Frank DiBagno–though the officer thought he was my dad)–and took a quick peak around the apartment.

The next step is for me to register for our trash tax. In Italy, you pay a tax for trash pickup around the city (you take your trash to common trash cans*) that is directly related to the size of your home.

I plan to do that tomorrow–since that office is only opened Tuesdays and Thursdays for a few hours. 🙂

Then, I ought to be able to go back to the Comune for my certificato di residenca and my carta d’identità (also only open for a few hours Tuesdays and Thursdays–and Saturdays…though they say that none of “my things” can be done on Saturdays ;)).

God is still working. We’re meeting lots of people and trying to build friendly relationships with all of them. We hope that–down the road–we’ll be able to share the good news of Jesus’ full payment for their sin with them!

*As a side note on trash here in Italy, we sort our trash into 6 categories: glass, plastic, metal, organic, paper, and mixed/other.

–smb