Today at the bus stop we were visiting with an African woman from Ethiopia. We couldn’t give her a pass-along card because she was Muslin, but she spoke very good English and we had quite a conversation with her. Italy is such a melting pot of different countries and peoples. We invited her home to dinner, but she wasn’t brave enough to take us up on that. Besides, it was only 6:00 p.m. and she thought that was way to early for dinner. The Italians eat “cini” much later in the evening.

The Roman Forum, the mission newsletter, is completed and run off for another 6 weeks. The missionaries look forward to receiving it, but it is sure a lot of work. Elder Kopischke, our Area Presidency counselor, is visiting the mission Zone Conferences this coming week. The Rome Conference will include Napoli this time and it is on Wednesday. We look forward to hearing from him.

Sister Bennion, our favorite missionary to date, has returned home after completing a successful mission. My, how we hated to see her go.

Friday night took us to downtown Roma, and we stumbled onto an outdoor music theatre with concerts nightly during the summer. The open-air theatre was constructed about 100 A.D. We will probably attend a concert a little later in the month.


On Saturday, at Venezia Square, I really wanted to go inside a certain church. We waited for it to open at 4:00 p.m. and when it did, there was a wedding party that arrived and went inside. Tourists were also inside, and so we went in and looked around, then watched the bride come in for her wedding. Before she came down the isle some young children were preceding her. The little boy leading the procession couldn’t have been more than 2 years old. He was well practiced and did very well. It was interesting that they played the old standard wedding march as the wedding party came inside and down the red carpet. We only stayed long enough to watch the bride come in, and then we felt we needed to leave.

We purchased some beautiful watercolors on Saturday. They are small, but have good detail, and are very well done.



Just a few flower pictures this week. This is what we see on balconies and along the streets everywhere. So beautiful . . . This is a beautiful country in many ways.

NOW THIS IS WHAT WE ARE ALL ABOUT!

Karol Brigitte Nunez Pacuri baptized 30 May, confirmed 31 May 2009.

Baptism of Karol

Sister Bennion and Sister Cheesman found Karol, taught her, Elder Ingersoll baptized her, and Elder Christensen confirmed her. We love her and greet her with enthusiasm. After her baptism, she bore a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are so very proud of her. It was especially sweet as Sister Bennion and Elder Christensen both go home this transfer.

On Wednesday, we were asked to drive to Pescara which is on the east coast of Italy to pick up two sister missionaries who needed to come to the Mission Home for a week or two. One of the sisters had burned her face and hands when some hot oil she was cooking with exploded in her face. She needed some mothering so Sister Acerson asked us to go and get her and her companion. While we were in Pescara, we decided to dip our toes into the Adriatic Sea.

The Beach

A picture of Francesco and us at our American dinner for him. Remember he had cooked a real Italian meal for us. Well, we returned the favor by inviting him to a real American dinner. Roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, tossed salad with Zesty Italian dressing (that you cannot buy in Italy), and banana cream pie. The sisters also have been teaching Francesco, but he actually lives within the Rome 3 boundaries so the elders there are now teaching him. He will be baptized. It is just a matter of time. He loves reading and understanding the Book of Mormon, and even his roommates can see the change in him.

Francesco, Sister Bennion, Sister Sommerfeldt, Elder Sommerfeldt

One last picture of our Saturday jaunt to the Mediterranean Sea. This fisherman caught this octopus. I ran over to him to see the octopus and I asked him: “Lui lo mangia?” “Oh, si, si,” he said. I just can’t imagine ever eating it, but hey, this is Italy!

Italian fisherman with octopus he caught

An octopus - ready to eat - yum - yum

Francesco cooking "Real Italian" in our kitchen

Two pastas - different than you have ever tasted - absolutely delicious

Leg of lamb, potatoes, done with garlic and rosemary

Delicious beef, bacon, cheese, rosemary dish with cherry tomatoes

I think all we do is eat!

Suddenly, we are getting all sorts of invitations to eat at member’s homes, and have investigators to our apartment for an American meal. One investigator, Francesco, came to our apartment and cooked us a several course real Italian meal. It was our first one and WOW – good stuff. I am taking Italian cooking lessons by helping him in the kitchen, and helping with the meal at the several members’ homes. Some of the meals are simple, and some are several courses. Pasta has a whole new meaning to us – no red tomato sauce, but very delicious food.

The members here are so totally dedicated to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It takes many of the families from 45 minutes to an hour and a half just to drive to church. (or take the bus, which many of them have to do) Friday night there was a talent show and dance (and of course food) at the church. It was so much fun and allowed us to get to know people in the ward better.

Tonight we are inviting Francesco to our apartment and serving him a roast beef, potatoes and gravy, salad, rolls, banana cream pie type of dinner. The Italians are just as interested in trying our food as we are in trying theirs.

We suggested last night at Vacarono’s house that they pray about a family that we could teach the gospel to. Then we suggested that we cook an American meal for them to try. They thought that would go over great. If anyone would like to invest in the missionary fund, send money for food – roast beef costs money. Jokes – kind of!

We will probably extend the same invitation to the Garcia family on Wednesday. I love cooking, everyone loves to eat, and that seems to soften up the hearing glands so the gospel can be taught. The young missionaries love it because we can’t speak the language well enough to go it alone, so they come along to translate, eat, and teach the lesson. We bear testimony and it seems to work well for everyone.

So, our more relaxed schedule has changed. Now we have scripture study in the morning, work at the office all day, coming home at noon for language study, and then are out in the evening to English class or at someone’s home. Or they are at our home. Missionary work is not for the faint of heart. But it is so exciting that we love it!

On the weekend, we traveled to Terni by car. This is a city to the north of Rome where we have missionaries living. It is fun to see the different areas. The drive was beautiful and we ate an interesting meal at noon at an outdoor patio type of restaurant. The travel is also good for us because we are in charge of train schedules during transfers, and as we see the countryside we are more aware of where the missionaries are traveling and what routes they need to take.

Field of wild poppies just outside Rome

Amphitheatre on way to Terni - 4th century BC - next to the ancient city of Sutri

Palace: Reggia di Caserta

In trying to keep up with the missionaries that come into the office with a full cookie jar, we decided to drive down to Caserta by Napoli again this weekend to buy baking supplies at the Naval Base. There is a missionary couple, the Warner’s, in our mission stationed there, which makes it convenient to get on base. They are very hospitable and allow us to sleep over when we go their direction.

On Saturday, we toured the Palace: Reggia di Caserta, which is a sister palace to the Palace of Versailles. The entry way is very impressive, but the grand staircase, where the Lord and Lady of the Palace greeted their guests, is amazing. In true Will fashion, the “hat” pictures by the lion are some of my favorites. The hat belonged to Elder Warner, but Will had a lot of fun with it.
We are including several pictures inside and outside the palace. We walked for two hours to see all the rooms on one floor inside. The rooms are full of murals, framed paintings, some period furniture, and some tapestry. There was even a theatre room. In it was a huge display for the Nativity. At first it really seemed overdone, but when you realized that the artists’ intention was to show everything else that was going on at the time of the birth of Christ, the congestion made more sense. This display – behind glass – filled the entire room.

"The witch, the lion, and the wardrobe"

Will / the hat/ the lion

What you see as you are walking up the grand staircase!

Above grand staircase

Entry way to Palace

Lord of the Palace crowned with victory

Painted Ceiling in one of the rooms

Nativity

The grounds were equally impressive, stretching toward the mountain about 1 km away. They included huge lawns, treed areas, statues, fountains, fish ponds, bridges, and a waterfall coming down the mountain at the end.

View from Palace into "back yard"

Karen outside of Palace: Reggia di Caserta

For all the grandness, it is all about show and not so much about comfort. We sure live a different lifestyle nowadays.

We have decided that Napoli is not our favorite spot in Italy. It is a dirty city and the air quality is horrible as they constantly burn their garbage, making the air smell smoky and you never really see the sun. Between the garbage everywhere and the graffiti, Italy leaves something to be desired in cleanliness. We are grateful we live in Rome. There is more to see here and the air and water are much cleaner.

We are sitting in on investigator’s discussions, trying to understand the Italian, and bearing testimony to the truthfulness of the gospel occasionally when the spirit guides us that direction. The work we are doing here is absorbing and varied, and that keeps life interesting. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true! We love to be working for the Lord in his vineyard.

Coliseum at night

Roman Arch at night

St. Peter's at night:

Sister Sommerfeldt, Sister Bennion, Sister Cheesman

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

Happy Mother’s Day to all the great mother’s out there!
Being a mother is a rewarding calling, and you are all doing a great job!

This week has been a very spiritual, very busy, very incredible week:

Monday we attended a great DDM – a meeting for all the missionaries in our district. The spirit of cooperation, learning, and love was very strong there.
Tuesday we enjoyed Rome Zone Conference. We were in charge of the luncheon part of the conference. There we heard from our mission president and his wife. The assistants were in charge and had a great teaching segment. As they spoke, I listened, took notes, and wrote this poem.

Trust in the Lord

Trust in the Lord!
Difficult? No – necessary:
A needful necessity
To know He is there.

He cares about us,
Truly, totally,
Unconditionally, amazingly.
Awake! Recognize His remarkable love.

Turn to the Savior.
His atonement is individual.
At one with Christ
For one – me! Incredible!

This mission is touching our lives for good. Our family members are being blessed. We love the Lord! You will never be sorry for following our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Wednesday we had received permission to take Sister Bennion and Sister Cheesman to Tivoli on their P-day to see that beautiful place. Sister Bennion goes home next transfer and she had never been there. We were grateful the president allowed us to take the sisters for this outing. We had such a great time with them.
Thursday an LDS couple from Kansas named the Littlewood’s visited the mission. Laurel and Michael wanted to see the temple site. As we took them there, we realized the gate was open as a worker was cutting grass there. We were able to onto the property and walk around. There is a fig tree, many olive trees, and umbrella pines. The temple site is on a rise of ground that will be very visible from the Porta de Roma mall and the GRA, a huge freeway that circles Rome. The Littlewood’s stayed with us on Thursday and Friday nights. Thursday night we took them to downtown Rome and saw Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and the Coliseum at dusk. We got some great pictures of these famous places lit up at night.
Friday we had a mini miracle in finding a referral that Elder Herrick had been looking for. Two numbers on his phone number had been transposed. It would have been easy to just say we couldn’t find the paper again with the referral on it. However, we looked and looked and finally did find the information we needed. Elder Herrick told me tonight they had been able to get a hold of him, and he is excited to have the missionaries come and deliver their message.
Saturday we went with Gesseppi, our Italian friend to the Borghese Museum in downtown Rome. He got us in free and we truly had the VIP treatment. This Museum is by far the most incredible museum we have seen. The sculptures and paintings inside are beyond compare. We were not able to take any pictures but we enjoyed it tremendously. It is mind-boggling what a true artist can do with a large block of marble.
Then, we attended the adult session of our Stake Conference in the evening. Elder Gerald Caussa – a native of France is now a seventy. He was speaking broken English, and being translated into Italian. At the end he said: “The future is as bright as our faith!”

outside of Borghese Museum

Homemade Ravioli

Sister Bennion in our Italy apron

Homemade Ravioli

Sorella Bennion and Sorella Cheesman wanted to make ravioli with a Chinese investigator we had all met at English class. We offered to have the missionaries cook the dinner and then teach a lesson to Lei Fon in our home. What a fun evening, and even though we only had a very poor rolling pin to use, we made delicious pasta. Some of the ravioli were filled with a spinach and cheese concoction, and some were filled with sautéed garlic, onion, and ham. We all helped with the preparation, cooking and definitely the eating. After the meal, the missionaries showed the DVD “Finding Happiness” on our computer, since we have no TV. Lei Fon was so excited to recognize Hong Kong in the DVD. We listened to it in Mandarin and then in English. The English version was filmed in the US. The church is so awesome! “It” cares about all people everywhere and encourages people of every language to find happiness and joy in the truth that the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches.

Friday was a holiday in Italy, similar to our Labor Day in the US and Canada. We finished up some work in the office, then went to eat Kabobs – so delicious – with the Pearson’s. A large pork roast is slow cooked on a vertical rotisserie. When someone orders a Kabob, the outside cooked meat is shaved off thin, served with lettuce, tomato, cabbage (green and purple) and hot sauce. In the afternoon, we had the day free so we visited Borghese Park for the first time. That is where the best museum in Rome is situated. We didn’t go into the museum, it was much too busy a day, but we walked around in the park and people watched while we practiced our Italian on each other. We are back to trying to study 2 hours a day. If determination means anything, we may get this yet. Even with what we know, it’s fun to be able to read signs, pick out familiar words in conversation, and make fools of ourselves trying to say something meaningful.

Saturday we had the car! Yeah! So, we headed north from Rome to Lake Bracciano, which we could see on the map. We ended up driving around the lake – which is quite large, but we got side-tracked as usual and ended up at Lake Martigano. There we hiked and sat in our chairs and people watched. It was a fun, relaxing day.

Lake Martigano

Lake Bracciano

Several members of the L’Aquila Branch, where the earthquake struck so hard, attended our ward today in Rome. The first sister to bear her testimony said: “I promise not to cry but it will be hard.” Then she started to cry. She had lost her home in the earthquake. They have been living in a tent city in L’Aquila. “Jesus Christ is our Savior. I love to nourish my soul with His teachings. Nothing is more important than my testimony of Jesus Christ and my family.” Several others added their testimonies that they had learned much through this terrible earthquake. In just a few hours, there was sustaining help from the church and the people of Italy. They bore pure testimony of the Savior.

Castle in Bracciano

Christmas in April

Picture of Savior in Office

"The Couch"

This past week we had Christmas twice. Then today we enjoyed a White Christmas!
1st: The President arranged for us to choose a framed picture of the Savior to put on our office wall. What a difference it makes to the atmosphere there.
2nd: The mission home purchased new living room furniture and it arrived Thursday. We had dibs on the old furniture and by Thursday evening, the assistants had hiked up three stories of stairs carrying the used furniture: a couch and matching chairs. Our bare apartment living room is suddenly full. Wow! And is it comfortable! What a blessing!
White Christmas: You guessed it – a baptism. It was a darling girl, just turned 8, in the ward. We were privileged to sit in on some of the lessons the missionaries gave to her. There were many family members there to observe baptism by immersion, which they had not seen before. Giada (said: Jaw-da) was the only one being baptized, and the program was very well planned.

Giada's family at her baptism

Even before our three Christmas experiences, we were involved in a full, exciting week. Missionary transfers happen every 6 weeks in our mission. Will and I coordinate travel arrangements for all who are moving to different areas. Sounds easy – it is actually much more involved than it sounds. This was our first time doing this totally by ourselves. The Lord made us equal to our responsibilities. 18 missionaries were returning home after serving honorable missions. We met with them at the Villa, had dinner, and said a fond farewell. The 5 new missionaries coming into the mission were also fed their first Italian meal at the Villa, then trained for our particular mission and found out who their trainer was for the next six weeks.

Friday morning, after that whirlwind of activity was over, we went to downtown Roma with the Pearson’s to see the flowers on the Spanish Steps. There are only flowers there for a couple of weeks in April. This year the flowers were crimson and white bougainvillea. Beautiful!

Spanish Steps - covered in flowers - only in April

We also visited Trevi Fountain without hundreds of people there - only because it was so early in the morning!

Kissing our coins before throwing them over our shoulder - a sure way to insure a return to Roma

As we spoke to the mission president this week, he indicated that the groundbreaking for the Rome Temple will very likely take place while we are serving our mission here. The temple plans have been drawn up and several government concerns have been dispelled. Thank you for all your prayers!

Water and fountains everywhere on the grounds of Villa D'Este

There are 100's of fountains at Tivoli

Saturday we drove to Tivoli and visited the Villa D’Este. The Villa itself is huge with painted murals on walls and ceilings. Many fountains inside are mosaic. There are literally hundreds of fountains made of marble on the grounds.

Fountains at Villa D'Este

Lane of 100 Fountains

Waterfalls at Villa Georgiana

The hell hole at Villa Georgiana

Mermaid Grotto

The Villa Georgiana is also right in the town of Tivoli. It has several beautiful waterfalls, a mermaid grotto and a hellhole in a kind of cave at the end where the water rushes over huge boulders and falls into a pit. So very beautiful!