{Survived}
14 years ago
Monday, April 6, 2009
This past week has been very different. Last week Will was asked by President Acerson if he would be willing to fly back to Utah with an elder who was ill and needed to return home. Of course Will said he was happy to help however he could. It was all a little vague and we weren’t sure if it would happen or not. Then, Tuesday evening, about 9:30 the assistants showed up at our door and said that Will would be picked up at 6:30 the following morning so he could be taken to the airport. We had been at English class at the Church and also our cell phone wasn’t working. As it turned out, the elder had a seizure the next morning and so even though Will was picked up at 6:30, I still wasn’t sure if he had left for the states until I arrived at work.
The flight home was a little insane as Will and the other elder had to change planes in New York. City. Actually they had to take a taxi to New Jersey to continue on their flight home. The other elder was so weak when they arrived in Salt Lake that Will wheeled him out in a wheelchair to meet his family. His mother burst into tears when she saw him. This elder, a super missionary, is 6’1” and weighs 95 lbs. He is a very sick young man.
Will didn’t fly out of Salt Lake to come back to Italy until Saturday morning. Needless to say, he has been a bit tired since his return. He was in Utah just long enough to try and get his internal time clock changed to Utah time and then flew back across the world. He was able to talk to Bret on the phone and see several of his own children and grandchildren. In fact, they had a traditional family Easter Egg Hunt on Friday. Will was also able to attend an endowment session at the Draper Temple with Jim and Maray. No one was more surprised to see Will than our sweet little neighbor Norma, who lives across the street from us in Draper.
While Will was away, I had a P-day and Cam Ballantyne was in town with some friends. Cam is Peter’s brother. These four young adults were good enough to put up with my company during Saturday. As I traveled downtown to meet them, I was kicked off the bus twice because there was a Communist demonstration going on downtown. When I finally did meet up with them, we took a tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. The tour guide was very informative, even though you had to listen pretty closely as he was speaking fast, broken English. It is really warming up here and the day was a gorgeous one. After treating everyone to gelato at the end of the afternoon, rain clouds were sputtering and I rode the bus home while Cam and his group returned to their lodgings for a nap before their night rendezvous.
Sunday morning, Will arrived about 8:30 at the airport. He slept on and off a good part of the day, trying to get turned around the right direction once again. In the evening, we invited the other mission office couple over to the house to watch the Saturday morning session of conference on the computer and have dessert with us.
Then, early this morning, about 3:30 we experienced an earthquake here in Italy. The epicenter was about 70 miles from us in L’Aquila. Our missionaries there were not harmed, but many lives were lost and much damage sustained. We felt our entire apartment building swaying back and forth for about a minute.
So you can see that we do not lack for adventure. Hope you enjoy the pictures and are maybe even checking out a little Italian history.
Love and Hugs,
The Sommerfeldts
The flight home was a little insane as Will and the other elder had to change planes in New York. City. Actually they had to take a taxi to New Jersey to continue on their flight home. The other elder was so weak when they arrived in Salt Lake that Will wheeled him out in a wheelchair to meet his family. His mother burst into tears when she saw him. This elder, a super missionary, is 6’1” and weighs 95 lbs. He is a very sick young man.
Will didn’t fly out of Salt Lake to come back to Italy until Saturday morning. Needless to say, he has been a bit tired since his return. He was in Utah just long enough to try and get his internal time clock changed to Utah time and then flew back across the world. He was able to talk to Bret on the phone and see several of his own children and grandchildren. In fact, they had a traditional family Easter Egg Hunt on Friday. Will was also able to attend an endowment session at the Draper Temple with Jim and Maray. No one was more surprised to see Will than our sweet little neighbor Norma, who lives across the street from us in Draper.
While Will was away, I had a P-day and Cam Ballantyne was in town with some friends. Cam is Peter’s brother. These four young adults were good enough to put up with my company during Saturday. As I traveled downtown to meet them, I was kicked off the bus twice because there was a Communist demonstration going on downtown. When I finally did meet up with them, we took a tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. The tour guide was very informative, even though you had to listen pretty closely as he was speaking fast, broken English. It is really warming up here and the day was a gorgeous one. After treating everyone to gelato at the end of the afternoon, rain clouds were sputtering and I rode the bus home while Cam and his group returned to their lodgings for a nap before their night rendezvous.
Sunday morning, Will arrived about 8:30 at the airport. He slept on and off a good part of the day, trying to get turned around the right direction once again. In the evening, we invited the other mission office couple over to the house to watch the Saturday morning session of conference on the computer and have dessert with us.
Then, early this morning, about 3:30 we experienced an earthquake here in Italy. The epicenter was about 70 miles from us in L’Aquila. Our missionaries there were not harmed, but many lives were lost and much damage sustained. We felt our entire apartment building swaying back and forth for about a minute.
So you can see that we do not lack for adventure. Hope you enjoy the pictures and are maybe even checking out a little Italian history.
Love and Hugs,
The Sommerfeldts
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Greetings from Roma
On March 23rd, Will and Karen celebrated their 2nd Wedding Anniversary by Karen receiving a gorgeous bouquet of lilies and red roses from Will at the office. We spent the evening picking up the Mission President’s daughter from a play practice. Will is certainly learning his way around Rome with the car. There is not a straight street in all of Rome, so this is a challenge, but one he is handling well. We have been lost a few times, but have always found our way home.
The week’s work continues to be busy at the office. We receive many referrals every week that we must forward on to missionaries all around the mission. Some of them are from our missionaries and have to be sent to other missions. I am learning how to go on google maps and determine where a particular city is and who is serving there so that the referral is forwarded to the correct zone and district. We received one this past week that was Golden, Golden. The man had received all the missionary discussions, had attended church 4 weeks in a row, and wanted to be baptized. Then he and his family were transferred to another area to live. He was wanting the missionaries to contact him so that he could be interviewed for baptism and so his wife could continue to be taught. I hope we can find them again. Sometimes all you have is a cell phone number that you hope is correct. In this case we also have the name of a town – or street – we aren’t sure which, and so the plot thickens in the looking process. You feel a great deal of pressure to do your part in finding the family once again.
The weekend took us to Caserta, just outside of Napoli, where we stayed overnight with the Warner’s, another missionary couple in our mission. WOW! Do they have a castle compared to us: 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen three times the size of ours, a patio that is half the size of our house in Draper, and real furniture. They were having DDM on Saturday morning and we attended that and got to know the four elders in their area. Such great guys! The Warner’s are retired military and so they could get us on the navy base in Caserta to grocery shop at the commissary. That was an experience in and of itself. So fun to shop in a grocery store where you can read what is on the label and know what you are getting. It resembles and carries many of the items that you would find in a super Walmart in the US.
The drive home took us up the coast line of the Mediterranean. Hope you enjoy the pictures. The day was overcast but it was still very beautiful. This is our last weekend with the car for a month. We will riding the bus again during April.
Don’t be afraid to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone you see. It’s true!
The week’s work continues to be busy at the office. We receive many referrals every week that we must forward on to missionaries all around the mission. Some of them are from our missionaries and have to be sent to other missions. I am learning how to go on google maps and determine where a particular city is and who is serving there so that the referral is forwarded to the correct zone and district. We received one this past week that was Golden, Golden. The man had received all the missionary discussions, had attended church 4 weeks in a row, and wanted to be baptized. Then he and his family were transferred to another area to live. He was wanting the missionaries to contact him so that he could be interviewed for baptism and so his wife could continue to be taught. I hope we can find them again. Sometimes all you have is a cell phone number that you hope is correct. In this case we also have the name of a town – or street – we aren’t sure which, and so the plot thickens in the looking process. You feel a great deal of pressure to do your part in finding the family once again.
The weekend took us to Caserta, just outside of Napoli, where we stayed overnight with the Warner’s, another missionary couple in our mission. WOW! Do they have a castle compared to us: 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen three times the size of ours, a patio that is half the size of our house in Draper, and real furniture. They were having DDM on Saturday morning and we attended that and got to know the four elders in their area. Such great guys! The Warner’s are retired military and so they could get us on the navy base in Caserta to grocery shop at the commissary. That was an experience in and of itself. So fun to shop in a grocery store where you can read what is on the label and know what you are getting. It resembles and carries many of the items that you would find in a super Walmart in the US.
The drive home took us up the coast line of the Mediterranean. Hope you enjoy the pictures. The day was overcast but it was still very beautiful. This is our last weekend with the car for a month. We will riding the bus again during April.
Don’t be afraid to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone you see. It’s true!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The Mediterranean!
A typical week at the office: compiling the “Roman Forum” – a monthly newsletter for all the missionaries, submitting a monthly supply order to Germany, putting together supplies to be taken to the missionaries in each district in the mission, purchasing boat tickets for the missionaries to come to Rome from the Island of Sardegna, and making preparation for the Rome Zone conference to take place on Tuesday. Every week is busy, different and full of challenges.
I purchased a large plastic container for a cookie jar. It sits in the office for when the different missionaries come in. There is a note on the top. It says:
Cookies for missionaries
What a treat!
2 is the limit
For each one to eat!
Otherwise the cookie jar
Will register defeat!
I may or may not be able to keep it stocked, but I will try.
Saturday, on Preparation day, after cutting Will’s hair, we headed out in the car to see the Mediterranean Sea. We had not seen it yet. The colors in the water are so beautiful. The day was cool, but we walked along the sand that stretches for miles down the west coast of Italy and ate our lunch of meat, fabulous cheese, and green peppers on hard, flat bread by the sea. The drive to the seashore is about one hour from Rome. We enjoyed seeing the more rural countryside. Everywhere we saw rows of covered tomato plants and large greenhouses. I commented to Will that I was surprised that we hadn’t seen any vineyards. We literally rounded the next corner and there they were, rows upon rows of them. They have not leafed out yet. We look forward to seeing them when they are full of grapes. We are hoping we can participate in a grape harvest and an olive harvest while we are here. Our drive took us across this beautiful land, over the mountain and back to Rome.
By the way, some people do live in houses here – in rural Italy: individual farm houses and large well groomed villas. It is just in the cities that it seems every person is an apartment dweller. Even that is not true, but it seems that way.
I purchased a large plastic container for a cookie jar. It sits in the office for when the different missionaries come in. There is a note on the top. It says:
Cookies for missionaries
What a treat!
2 is the limit
For each one to eat!
Otherwise the cookie jar
Will register defeat!
I may or may not be able to keep it stocked, but I will try.
Saturday, on Preparation day, after cutting Will’s hair, we headed out in the car to see the Mediterranean Sea. We had not seen it yet. The colors in the water are so beautiful. The day was cool, but we walked along the sand that stretches for miles down the west coast of Italy and ate our lunch of meat, fabulous cheese, and green peppers on hard, flat bread by the sea. The drive to the seashore is about one hour from Rome. We enjoyed seeing the more rural countryside. Everywhere we saw rows of covered tomato plants and large greenhouses. I commented to Will that I was surprised that we hadn’t seen any vineyards. We literally rounded the next corner and there they were, rows upon rows of them. They have not leafed out yet. We look forward to seeing them when they are full of grapes. We are hoping we can participate in a grape harvest and an olive harvest while we are here. Our drive took us across this beautiful land, over the mountain and back to Rome.
By the way, some people do live in houses here – in rural Italy: individual farm houses and large well groomed villas. It is just in the cities that it seems every person is an apartment dweller. Even that is not true, but it seems that way.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Life in Italy on P-day
Another really rough P-day! Yesterday we felt the need to get out of the city and see the countryside. Will was tired of our concrete jungle. It was beautiful and green and the sun was shining. With the other office couple, we traveled by car to Orvieto about 60 miles north of Rome. (Towards Florence.) Part of the town is down in a valley and the old part is on top of a small mountain. It is quaint and looks like a medieval town. There are narrow, cobblestone streets throughout the town and most of the streets are so narrow a small car can barely drive down. There is a fort on top of a sheer cliff with an stunning view.
Of course, there was a church there that was famous and a must see. We were told it was erected around 1200 A.D. The interesting characteristic of this church is that it is constructed of alternating rows of black and white marble blocks – both inside and out. Each row is approximately 12 inches wide, and the effect makes one think of a zebra. The detail on the front of the church is incredible.
Elder Sommerfeldt, even though he was dressed in P-day clothes, managed to find people to talk to about the church, and actually placed two Books of Mormon with Jen and Alicia, two girls from the United States who are living in Orvieta on a study abroad for four months. One of girls said she had had a friend who was LDS and she told him that one of the things on her to-do list was to read a Book of Mormon. So, we will put our testimonies and a picture in each book and send them out to the girls.
Sister Sommerfeldt says that she learned today that she should always have a Book of Mormon in her backpack ready to give away. It’s a learning experience, but we are getting better at what we are supposed to be all about right now.
We were just thinking about a promise that was given to us by Elder Mask from the Quorum of Seventy. He promised us that there were people being prepared for us even before we would arrive in our mission field. We just never know when we might be at the right place and the right time to touch lives around us. Who knows, maybe these girls are some we were meant to meet. Missionary work is sooooo fun. It can even be fun when we are having fun. So, yes, we love what we are doing.
Love and Hugs,
Elder and Sister Sommerfeldt
Of course, there was a church there that was famous and a must see. We were told it was erected around 1200 A.D. The interesting characteristic of this church is that it is constructed of alternating rows of black and white marble blocks – both inside and out. Each row is approximately 12 inches wide, and the effect makes one think of a zebra. The detail on the front of the church is incredible.
Elder Sommerfeldt, even though he was dressed in P-day clothes, managed to find people to talk to about the church, and actually placed two Books of Mormon with Jen and Alicia, two girls from the United States who are living in Orvieta on a study abroad for four months. One of girls said she had had a friend who was LDS and she told him that one of the things on her to-do list was to read a Book of Mormon. So, we will put our testimonies and a picture in each book and send them out to the girls.
Sister Sommerfeldt says that she learned today that she should always have a Book of Mormon in her backpack ready to give away. It’s a learning experience, but we are getting better at what we are supposed to be all about right now.
We were just thinking about a promise that was given to us by Elder Mask from the Quorum of Seventy. He promised us that there were people being prepared for us even before we would arrive in our mission field. We just never know when we might be at the right place and the right time to touch lives around us. Who knows, maybe these girls are some we were meant to meet. Missionary work is sooooo fun. It can even be fun when we are having fun. So, yes, we love what we are doing.
Love and Hugs,
Elder and Sister Sommerfeldt
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