Rome in August

It’s been a very interesting, very busy weekend. Saturday was Festa di Lavoro, or Festival from Work. All the Italians take off work, except for some essential service people and some businesses in downtown Rome. Quindi . . . the missionaries are asked to clean their apartments from top to bottom and not to do any missionary work. We cleaned our office on Friday and our apartment Saturday morning. Even cleaning from top to bottom doesn’t take too long when you have an apartment as small as ours.
Friday evening we went to Downtown Rome to look for some pictures for another mission couple. We enjoyed the entertainment at Novena Square.
Saturday after cleaning our apartment we headed back downtown to St. Paul outside the wall.


The apostle Paul was killed by being beheaded by the Romans. Because he was a Roman citizen they couldn’t kill him inside the city, so they took him outside the city wall to execute him. Paul is most often depicted with a sword in his hand.


Peter is also depicted in Paul’s church and he is holding the keys to the kingdom. He was crucified upside down in Rome.

Something that we find really interesting is that in St. Paul’s Cathedral, in one place is this carving: Exaltation is the Celestial Kingdom.

In another place it says: Baptism for the dead and there is a baptismal font there large enough for baptism by immersion.

We have been finishing up some companionship study on another project, but then we are looking forward to moving to the Acts of the Apostles and the life of Paul.

Next we moved into downtown Rome to the Nationale Museum to see a fantastic jewelry display by Bulgari: in Rome from May to September. The most impressive jewels were several selections from Elizabeth Taylor’s private collection: featuring enormous emeralds and sapphires in magnificent diamond surrounds. We can take pictures in almost any of the churches, but ironically we were not allowed to take pictures of the jewelry.

By the museum was a typical water fountain outside. Will took a drink. The water runs non-stop 24/7.



By sunset time we were sitting on some high church steps over by Venetzia Square. Here are some of the pictures Will took.

There was a book fair going on by St. Angelo’s Castle. Families were enjoying food booths and shopping booths with lots of books for sale; along with family games and fun. We wandered around there until it was dark and then Will took some night shots of the Tiber River, the bridges, and the castle.

Yes, we are smiling BIG! We are going to be grandparents once again. We have been offering a prize for the 40th grandchild and Amy and Ty win the prize. Amy is expecting number 5 child the end of January. The only problem that I can see with this, is how in the heck can I be making baby blankets, taking care of kids, cooking for the family, and being there when Ty and Amy go to the hospital to actually have the baby, when I am in Italy. This is one of the sacrifices of going on a mission I guess. Anyway, we are super excited for them. By the way, we’re not sure what the prize is, but we will come up with something good.

This weekend we traveled north of Rome again: this time to a small island. They were preparing for a celebration so the towns were decorated with flags, bows, and banners. The Mediterranean: Some beaches are rocky and some are sand, but the Mediterranean itself is always lovely with a huge variety of blues, often with the sun sparking off the water. At one place, several boats were pulled into a secluded bay and the boaters were snorkeling in the clear water.

Now this is the height of luxury: the house, the pool, and the view. Awesome!

We saw our first golf course in Italy this trip.

We also stopped and saw a cemetery. All the graves were above the ground. You know this is the land of marble when you see the crypts. It was very interesting. When Will asked me why I wanted to go inside the cemetery, I told him I'd been waiting all my life to go there.

Here are olives, which are maturing. I picked one and took it apart to see which part was the olive. I’m really not sure if the spiny outside part falls off, or turns into the olive, or what. There was a smooth part inside and then the drupe or stone. We also saw green figs up close on a tree.


Houses built up the side of the hills, and fishing villages are the norm. Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are enjoying ours.

PS July was our highest month yet for baptisms! We love serving the Lord!

This past week included Zone Conference. Much of the conference was conducted and taught by the Assistants and the Zone Leaders. That is not only a good responsibility for them, they put a lot of thought and prayer into their presentation, and they were both enjoyable and thought-provoking. Below is a picture of our missionaries at Zone Singing. It's a great way to meet people and visit with them.

We want you to know this week that we know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in our day. We are grateful to have a living prophet leading the church under the direction of Jesus Christ.

We know that our Heavenly Father is watching over us and is pleased when we live His commandments. Our loving Heavenly Father has given us a beautiful plan – the plan of salvation to help us on our way in this earthly life. We lived as spirits before this earth was formed. Now we have bodies, and after the resurrection our bodies and spirits will be reunited again forever. Not only is all this true – but we know about it! How great is that! Add to that temple covenants and eternal promises and we have it all!

Everyone is on vacation! I took some fun pictures for the grandkids this week, but not much else. This picture shows a new money making scheme: braiding extensions into someone's hair at the beach.

Stay healthy, happy, and wise in your beliefs.

We love you all,
Anziano and Sorella Sommerfeldt

What an interesting and different week! On Thursday and Friday we enjoyed a first ever Couple’s Conference at the Mission Villa. President and Sister Acerson preempted a 3-month Conference with the other missionaries to have the couples in our mission meet together. At that conference, President Acerson challenged us to pray in Italian and to bear testimony as often as possible in Italian.

The second day we visited Paul outside the Wall, which contains the tomb of Paul of Tarsus. It is a giant church and a very beautiful one. We didn’t have a camera with us so we will include pictures of the inside another week. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the other mission couples better and the training we received.

Saturday included a day of watching sail surfers on the Mediterranean. They were very good and put on quite a show. I’m sure there were 50 or 60 guys taking up with their sails. They would lie back in a harness attached to the sail, while standing on a board, kind of like a wake board, and then the wind would pull them upright so they were standing on the board. It was amazing how much height they were able to get and how many tricks they could perform. One hot-dogger was turning 360’s and put on quite a show. When he came up on shore we clapped for him and then he was really out to entertain us. Will said it was ballet on the sea. With so many in the area, it was surprising they never got tangled up, but it didn’t happen.


A good friend of Paula’s from Logan, Utah, arrived in Rome on Saturday. We picked Debbie and her daughter Abby up for church. Francesco surprised us by showing up at church so we invited all three of them to lunch. Abby speaks Spanish and because it is similar to Italian, she and Francesco quite enjoyed speaking to each other. Afterwards, the Davis’ and us went downtown to sightsee. Deb spoke very highly of Paula. We love opportunities to show off Rome and Deb and Abby were real fun people to be around.
Debbie and Abby Davis

Abby and Francesco on the bus!


Yes, we do have another dinner appointment, with Francesco cooking Italian on Wednesday. This time I am taking charge of my own house. We will have only one pasta and one main dish, not a 6-course meal. We will provide a salad and gelato for dessert.

The heat wave has truly hit Rome. The hotter it gets, the busier the downtown area is, and the emptier the outlying areas are. The Italians move to the beaches and resorts, leaving the tourists to swelter in the sun. We enjoy our air-conditioning at the office, and our well-used fan at home.

Greetings from Italy

What to choose to show you? . . . . .

So many pictures . . . . .


This past weekend, when transfer week was finished, Elder Sommerfeldt and I headed up to Pisa and Florence (Firenze) for the weekend. Elder and Sister Olsen were very hospitable and showed us around their area. Quindi (so) . . . .

Firenze is probably best known for the David by Michelangelo which stands 17 feet high in all his nude glory. He sculpted David when he was only 26 years old and finished him in 1504.You can clearly see the muscles and veins (as well as other things), the work is done so well. There are several other works of art in the museum where he stands, but David is the highlight.


The other well-known landmark in Firenze is the Old Bridge. During WWII all the bridges were bombed except this one bridge. The apartments up over the top of the bridge on both sides are now jewelry and gold stores. In this picture you can see the other bridges which were rebuilt further down the river to be able to move around the city.

Pisa has the leaning tower, of course. It truly is leaning. Construction on the tower was begun in 1173 and was doomed to failure from the beginning as the foundation was poorly laid. As the builders were involved in several wars, the tower took many years to complete and in the interim, the ground settled enough so that the tower did not topple over. Our pictures where we are propping it up – yet another time - didn’t turn out all that great.


The other man-made feature we enjoyed seeing in Pisa were the aqua-ducts. These picturesque arches go on for miles. There is a large pipe in the top of the aqua-duct which carried the water to the city and the arches were so that you could still easily travel through them rather than have a solid wall.


On Saturday we decided to visit the Carrara marble mine. This was incredible. Once again the works of God surpass the works of man. When you first see the mountain from a distance, it looks like it is covered with snow, but actually it is white marble.

The marble mined on the outside of the mountain is a softer marble and what the great sculptures like Michelangelo chose for their work.

We took a tour of the inside of the mountain where the marble is much more dense. This marble would be used for buildings. After driving in vans about 400 meters into the mountain, we were in a huge cavern where the marble had already been mined. The ceiling of this part was 18 meters high. Over the last 12 to 15 years, the marble has been removed from the inside of the mountain. It is cut by a diamond chain saw and cables with diamond bits about every 2 inches along the cable. In this cave, rooms of marble are removed from the ground up, but columns or supports must be left intact so that the mountain will not collapse. They are only allowed to mine the marble to a certain height inside, with considerable space left untouched and then from the top down on the outside to within safe limits. We were literally standing in giant natural marble rooms. One other interesting fact that I enjoyed was that in different parts of Italy and the world, different colors of marble are mined. I purchased a black marble egg with gold veins in it that was mined close to LaSpezia. Since we have been to LaSpezia, that was very interesting to me. The base to hold my egg upright is white with grey veins in it and was taken from the mine in Carrara, where we were.


Then on the way home from Pisa, as we passed by Livorno, we saw an incredible view of the rocks and Mediterranean Sea. What a beautiful world we live in. Firenze, Pisa, LaSpezia, and Livorno are all cities in our mission where our elders and sisters are living and working.

The fields of sunflowers have replaced the fields of red poppies.


The week has been an eating week. The Italian way is to have about 5 or 6 courses at any meal.
Our courses this week included:

1st and 2nd course: Scone Night for missionaries and investigators. A fun casual get-together at our apartment! All the scones and honey-butter you can eat. Of course, that means that the next day will be cinnamon bun day as I always make up too much scone dough and it also makes great cinnamon buns.

3nd course: Our favorite Italian investigator cooked for us again and we all rolled out of the apartment afterward. This time the meal included 2 pasta dishes, pheasant – you had to watch out for the buckshot it was killed with - when you ate it, an egg and cheese dish with grated truffle in it, a stew made with beef, potatoes, red onion, and red pepper, and stuffed eggplant.



This black "thing" is called a truffle. Francesco said it cost $150. It was given to him by someone he had worked for. It is a kind of spice and he grated it into the egg dish he made. Once before he brought truffles too and then he grated it onto cooked spaghetti which was delicious.


4th course: A surprise birthday party for Sister Acerson, the President’s wife – featuring pulled barbeque pork, salads, a birthday cake, and a very surprised Sister Acerson. This was complete with balloons, and candles. 1 candle for each 10 years.



5th course: Fried chicken dinner for the assistants. Elder Rogers is going home this transfer and we will be sorry to have him go, he is so fun. He's the one in the front.


6th course: UVSO – Utah Valley Symphony Orchestra playing beautiful classical music as well as several LDS hymns with special arrangements by the conductor’s wife. That was a treat of a different kind, but definitely dessert.

On Saturday we played at Marina di Alabrese.


By the way, this is a picture of the apartment we will be moving into in September.


That puts us into transfer week this coming week, which is our biggest assignment in any 6 week period of time. We have played, and eaten, and taught, and listened. Now we work!