When in Rome.....

January 22-27

Bright and early Monday, January 22, 2018 we left the MTC for the SLC International Airport through Atlanta to Rome, Italy.  It was an exhausting day but one without incident.  Smooth connections, short layovers and an early arrival on Tuesday morning in Rome, what is not to like about that?  

The excitement started when we started our drive from the Rome Fiumicino Airport. Our driver from the mission office was Anziano Knies from Houston, Texas.  He became so enthralled in telling us about his family and living in Rome that he missed the exit to the Rome Temple.  In an effort to take the next exit and make a U-turn to return to the appropriate exit an impulsive left turn set the whole day into a tailspin.  As he pulled out on the busy street to make a left turn, I saw the oncoming van in the left lane headed straight to broadside our van, at the exact same time a speeding car on the right side hit us scraping all down the right side of the vehicle throwing us directly into a head on crash with the van headed for our left broadside.  This didn’t end well; we were in the middle of the street with both sides of the van smashed, hubcaps flying and all of us shaken.  The traffic began to back up on both lanes for miles honking frustrated drivers came to a stand still on this busy street in Rome, Italy.  Eventually three police cars arrived to direct the stalled traffic and began the slow arduous process of measuring and interrogation of all parties.  We were at a huge disadvantage since we did not speak Italian and did not have our residence permits; they took our passports!  We spent the remainder of the day waiting for the process to take its course, thankful that we were able to just wait on the roadside and not in the hospital.

Wednesday morning found us at the mission home taking our International Driving test,(interestingly enough Anziano Knies was the trainer) financial training, and more paperwork! We went to dinner with the senior couples at a hamburger place called Cidos! No Italian food yet!

Thursday, back to the scene of the crime to get that infamous photo in front of the construction site of the Rome, Italy Temple.  We took the metro to downtown Rome for a quick drive-by of the sites in Rome. Best Italian pizza ever on the way to the Trevi Fountain. 

 

Rome Italy Temple

 President and Sorella Pickerd

 Apostles at San Giovanni in Laterano

 Ascending the stairs of Scala Santa  on the knees.

 The Colosseo

 Moses by Leonardo Di Vinci

 Graffiti on Rome Metro

 Trevi Foutain

 Pantheon

Friday and Saturday we took our 2018 Toyota Yaris hybrid, our international driver’s license and all six pieces of luggage on the road. Rome to Sigonella, Sicily; with an overnight in Cosenza!

 Cars in line for the ferry

 Ferry across Messina

Sicily from the ferry

MTC- Provo UT

We spent three weeks in Taipei with Garrett and Cindi in late April, Mother’s Day and Garrett’s Birthday in May.  We were fairly confident that Taipei, Taiwan would be the perfect spot to serve a mission; it was beautiful, we like the culture and best of all Garrett, Cindi and Charlie were there.  We proceeded to put the things in place that would move us towards that goal.  We discussed this possibility with CES, MLS, ESL, temple options as well as office couple options without anything positive.  The language barrier was putting kinks in our plan.  We completed our medical and dental requirements, turned in our papers then left in October for Arizona.  In early November the big white envelop arrived and we discovered we were going to Rome, Italy assigned to Military Relations on Naval Air Station Sigonella.  I definitely needed to do some research for what this might entail. 

During General Conference October 1849 President Young announced the first missionaries to begin preaching the gospel in Italy, France and Scandinavia. Lorenzo Snow was called to lead the new mission to Italy. On October 19 a party of 32 missionaries bound for Europe gathered at the mouth of Emigration Canyon and departed for the journey East.

             

Lorenzo Snow was well educated and already married with children when he was called to missionary service at the age of 35.  They traveled east, through Cheyenne territory to Council Bluffs, St. Louis, Nauvoo and Carthage Illinois to NYC where they departed on 25 March 1850 on board the Shannon arriving in Liverpool, England four weeks later on 19 April. After a two-month stop over in England three missionaries left Southampton on 15 June 1850 crossed the English Channel to France.  They proceeded across the farmlands of southern France landing in Genoa on the 25 June 1850; they completed the journey from SLC to Italy in about 8 months.

Italy’s prominent role in Europe’s religious and cultural history was an important reason for the decision to make it one of the first European mission fields, preaching Mormonism in the birthplace of the Roman Empire, The Renaissance and especially the Roman Catholic Church was one that captivated church leaders and missionaries.  Church leaders and missionaries also viewed Italy as a land sanctified by the presence of some of Christ original apostles and wished to establish the church in a land where the ancient church once flourished.

Lorenzo Snow dedicated Italy for missionary work in September 1850-1851

Last missionary left Italy in 1865. By 1867 most families that were baptized had immigrated, the church ceased to have an official presence in Italy. These were the one hundred years of solitude.

In early 1965 missionary work resumed in Italy.  A key figure in that was apostle and future church President Ezra Taft Benson.  His impact as President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Secretary of Agriculture took him to Italy several times including in 1957 he received the prestigious High Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in recognition of his work to resolved Italy’s serious post war food shortages.

Ezra Taft Benson rededicated the Italy mission in November 1966.

Mike served in Italy 1993-1995, there were four missions Milan, Podiva, Rome and Catania.

Today there are two Missions Milan and Rome.

President Thomas S. Monson broke ground for the Rome, Italy Temple 23 October

2010.  That event was nothing short of a miracle and a strong signal to the saints in Italy that great things were in-store for Italians and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Mormons on the Piazza

As of 31 December 2015

26,284 members

104 Congregations in 83 cities

10 Stakes

1 District

2 Missions

60 Wards

44 Branches

Anziano Anderson and I are assigned to the Naval Air Station Signoella branch for 18 months January 2018-June 2019.  We just completed two weeks of training in the MTC; we leave SLC on Monday morning through Atlanta and arrive in Rome on Tuesday, January 23 all set to try out our new skills. The Sparrows our trainers,  The Tolmans- South Korea, The Marrows-New York,

The Spanos-Japan, and The Paxtons -Germany, were part of the Military Relations training

It has been an historic two weeks for all church members, but especially in the MTC! Seems like just a few years ago, I was the teacher in Freshman Honors English and one of my students was Justin Wilkins.   I had the rare privilege this week to be the student and Bishop Justin Wilkins taught me seminary and institute training.   It was a little overwhelming to contemplate that blessing.

Elder Bednar spoke at our Tuesday MTC Devotional.  I felt that I had been taught by the spirit for an intense hour as we sat together in the auditorium with 1200 Young Men and Young Women and 120 senior couples.  When we stood and sang “Called to Serve “ together the deep baritone and tenor voices touched my heart and gave me chills to realize our participation was part of something bigger than us!

 

The Next Adventure

In November of 2017 we opened our mission call in Mesa, AZ with Kaci, Bill, Rex and Olivia, and Mike, Jessica, Griffin, Ella and Taegan were on Face Time.  We were assigned to Rome, Italy with a Military Affairs assignment at Signoella Naval Air Station on the Island of Sicily.  Interestingly enough, exactly where Mike had served some 25 years earlier.  When Mike was in Italy there were four missions and Mike was assigned to the Catania mission. What does all of that mean? We would spend the next few months defining that question.

 Immediately we knew we wanted to visit our family before we entered the MTC. Taipei was the complicated one because we needed to turn in our passports on December 5, 2017 as we met face to face with the Italian Consulate for an interview for our Italian Visa. 

We needed to go to Taipei right now! We spent the week after Thanksgiving with Garrett, Cindi and Charlie;

 

An Early Christmas with Bill, Kaci, Karli, Rex, Olivia and Ralph in Mesa, AZ! 

 

Christmas week with Jeff, Ashley, Marley, Cade, Carter, Hudson and Crosby in Newport Beach California;

 

And New Years week with Mike, Jessica, Griffin, Ella, Taegan and Roxy in Colorado Springs! While we were with Mike, Craig took advantage of some expert Italian tutoring!

 

We have an amazing family; they are blessings in our life.  It is going to be so hard to leave and know we can’t pop in for a quick visit or attend an event they are involved in.  Thank goodness for Face Time we can still see their faces and hear about what is going on in their lives.  I am excited to see what changes happen in 18 months.  We have been  greatly blessed!

 Bill dropped us off at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, AZ Monday morning January 8, 2018 at 6:30 AM.  We began our journey to begin our MTC preparations to go to the Rome Italy Mission assigned to Military Relations. We have spent one week with 2,000 18 and 19 year old young men and women and about 200 senor citizens! I know for sure that it has been a week of amazing experiences with an extraordinary conglomerate cross-section of a wide spectrum of adults both young and old!