Rome Italy Temple Dedication

A few weeks before the open house, the public can make reservations at templeopenhouse.lds.org. The temple, located in northeast Rome near the Grande Raccordo Anulare, will be formally dedicated on Sunday, March 10, 2019, through Sunday, March 17, 2019.

President Russell M. Nelson, world leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, “The sacred ordinances performed in this holy temple will unite families for eternity. God loves all His children equally and has provided a way for them to be linked in love, generation to generation. We are thrilled to be able to dedicate a temple in this city replete with historical importance throughout the ages.”

When the Rome Italy Temple was announced in October 2008, the news was met with awe and thanksgiving by members of the Church in Italy and thousands of others throughout the world. Like all Christians, Mormons revere Rome as one of the most historic locations in the world, a biblical city where the ancient apostles Peter and Paul preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Construction began on the three-story, 40,000-square-foot building on October 23, 2010, when Church President Thomas S. Monson, along with Church and local community leaders, participated in the traditional groundbreaking ceremony.

The Rome Italy Temple is part of a 15-acre religious and cultural center that will include a multifunctional meetinghouse, a visitors’ center, a family history center and housing for visitors. The temple exterior is constructed from granite with decorative glazing. The interior finish is of the finest material and workmanship: marble, woodwork and decorative painting.

The temple will serve over 23,000 Church members living in Italy and in neighboring countries. Currently there are 159 operating temples worldwide, including 12 in Europe.

Mormon temples differ from churches where members meet for Sunday worship services. Temples are considered “houses of the Lord” where the teachings of Jesus Christ are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other ceremonies that unite families for eternity.

Jordan and Lindsey Wingate

Lindsey and Jordan live in our Sigonella Branch.  They opted to live off- base in a little city called Costasaracena-Castelluccio, a charming little hamlet between Sigonella and Syracusa. They do not have an address, Lindsey dropped a pin on my phone so we could find their house. They live right on the beach and have the luxury of a black sand beach on one side of their house from the volcanic ash and also a regular pebble beach on another side of the house.  Their house is exactly like a house you see in a European movie; similar to  the “Mama Mia” Italian houses.  A good choice from the base-housing complex.  It takes about 25 minutes to get to work each morning from their house.

Jordan is an Air Force pilot by profession but is here on NAS Sigonella as a NATO RQ4 RPA(remote pilot aircraft).  Currently there are only a few actual RPAs assigned to Sigonella, so Jordan spends large chunks of his time writing regulations coordinating with the Italian Government and the NATO agreements.  He is doing the NATO set up foundation to prepare for the squadron of RPAs that will eventually arrive at NAS Sigonella.  Jordan calls Bangor, Main home.

Lindsey grew up in Southern California and Oregon.  She met Jordan in Oregon just before she left to serve her mission in Brazil.  Jordan joined the church while Lindsey was gone and they were married after she returned. She finished up her degree from the University of North Dakota where their first station was Minot AFB.  NAS Sigonella is their first PCS together. Lindsey is currently the Field Office Assistant for the Red Cross at Sigonella.

Lindsey is the organist/piano specialist in our branch and Jordan teaches Gospel Doctrine.  They introduced us to the best pizza place ever in Carlentini!

Mt Etna calazone comes out flaming and spouting from that center hole

Pistachio and white chocolate  dessert pizza!

Kitchen and cooks work hard at keeping the pace of delicious orders.

La Traviata At the Bellini Theater

La Traviata At the Bellini Theater

Catania, Italy

March 18 2018 marks a big day for Craig and I, we celebrated our 50^th wedding anniversary.  We were so young 50 years ago but even then I would never have even wished to be able to see a Bellini Opera in the Bellini Theater in Catania, Italy.  That did however, become our reality.   So many blessing are mine!

The music was amazing, the largest pit orchestra I have ever seen, but the baroque theater itself was breathtaking.  It is amazing that there are no sound enhancements, no wires or microphones used in the performance.  The Opera started at 5:00 PM with intermission at the end of the first two acts and the third act ended at 8:45.  The strength  and power of the voices is unbelievable right to the very last scene.   I am so happy to be able to see this performance, what a way to celebrate a special occasion.  On a side note, if you saw Pretty Woman with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, he takes her to San Francisco to see the opera.  They saw La Traviata, I have to say I did recognize the first music from that movie.  I am committed now to stream more opera music in our apartment! I will return again before the next 50 years pass.

Near the fountain outside the front of the Bellini theater.

Five floors of box seats, bottom floor is the orchestra seats then the gallery was on the sixth floor and a sold out audience.

There we are after 50 years of wear and tear!

Check out that orchestra pit!

The ceiling and chandeliers are beautiful.

Sigonella Base 2 Base run

Annually Sigonella  MWR sponsors a Base2Base run for all military and dependents  assigned to either NAS1 or NAS2.  It fell on St. Patrick’s Day this year so it was a double celebration.  I was happy to see so many families with kids of all ages in the race.  Strollers and wagons were plentiful.  There were two options available a 7.6 mile run that connected both bases or a half marathon that included a course around the flight line.

I signed up to run a water station through MWR and invited the Anzani and Sorelle to join jus at the #4 water station just outside Marani, the base housing complex.  It was a beautiful March Day in Catania, a little cloudy but temperature was perfect for a race.  

Branch President Fonseca

Best water station crew in the race!

Gatorade added to the mix!

The hydration hand off to the runners!

Zach and Trish Foulk

Zach and Trish Foulk are stationed at NAS Sigonella and an integral part of our Sigonella Branch.  Zach is the Branch Clerk and the Sunday School President, which means he also teaches Gospel Doctrine every other Sunday. Trish is the Women’s Auxiliary Secretary.  They have two sons Noah 7 and Elijah 16 months.  Zach was born in the San Fransico Bay area and met Trish at Lackland AFB.  They were married and the rest is history. We are so sad to say they will be leaving Sigonella for a transfer to Ramstein Germany in August 2018.  Noah is excited to be able to be baptized in Germany.

Zach was a runner in high school doing the 800 and the mile, converted to a distance and marathon runner as an adult.  People introduce him as the fastest man on Sigonella, probably on Sicily and very possible in all of Italy!  That is quite an introduction to live up to; so I ask him what is best record or his favorite run.  He shakes his head and explains he ran the Air Force Marathon and the Navy Marathon with a 2:38 both times and that stands as his best marathon.  He has done a few half marathons along the way with his personal best as 1:10!  What a guy!

Trish has some personal running records of her own but those numbers haven’t been discussed! This Saturday is the Annual Base2Base run, Zack will take care of the boys and Trish will be running.  Fortunately the eight of the full time Anazani and Sorelle  volunteered to managing a water station out side Marani and have the chance to cheer her on.  

The Straits of Messina

We were on official business, as official as it gets here, to do an Azania apartment inspection in Reggio Calabria, which necessitates crossing over the Straits of Messina from Sicily to the lower part of the boot of Italy.

Any English teacher worth her salt would recognize the opportunity to cross the Straits of Messina as an opportunity to relive The Iliad, get in the head of Odysseus and imagine what that trip home from the Trojan War must have been like.  Ten years to travel home included many diversions and stops along the way.  The Cicones, the Cyclopes, the Lastrygonians, Poseidon’s interventions, King Aeolus, The competition between Zeus and Apollo just to entertain themselves cost Odysseus untold complications.   Odysseus lost his ships and his crew and was in a desperate set of circumstances, doomed never to return home. King Alcinoüs listened to the story of Odysseus' wanderings, presented him with rich gifts, and furnished him a ship to get to Ithaca.  In the end Odysseus passes through the Straits of Messina off the coast of Sicily through the perils of Scylla and Charybdis narrowly escaping with his life.  He passes the Island of Persephone, (Sicily) the Hubs of Hades and arrives on the shores of Ithaca. Of course it is a myth, but excellent reading for Freshman English.

Here is the best documentation I could find for the Sicilian adventures of Odysseus.

• Lotus-eaters: Djerba, following Polybius (1.2.17)
• Cyclops: south-east Sicily, near Etna and Lentini (1.2.9); also suggests that Homer "borrowed his idea of the one-eyed Cyclopes from the history of Scythia, for it is reported that the Arimaspians are a one-eyed people" (1.2.10)
• Aeolus: Lipari, among the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily
• Laestrygonians: south-east Sicily (1.2.9)
• land of the Cimmerians: the Bosporus (1.2.9)
• the Ocean: the Black Sea (ancient Pontus; 1.2.10)
• Sirens: either Cape Faro, by the Strait of Messina; or Sirenussae, a headland in Italy between the Bay of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno; or Naples itself (1.2.12-13)
• Scylla and Charybdis: Strait of Messina (1.2.9, 1.2.16)
• Ogygia (Calypso's island) and Scheria: "imagined in fantasy" as being in the Atlantic (1.2.18)

Our adventure did not measure up to Odysseus’s trip but nonetheless fun to see first hand.

Tickets to load our car on the ferry 45 Euro!

Unofficial parking directions are "jam in as close as you can." They wave you in to less than an inch of bumper space and you are required to turn your side view mirrors toward the car so you don't loose them exiting the ferry!

Mostly small cars among the buses and the 18 wheeler freight trucks. Notice the green ramp for exit, one car at a time but at least six lanes wide on the platform.  Rev your engines and get ready for the exit!

This ferry boat goes back and forth all day long and takes 20-25 minutes to make the trip.The wait in line to get on the ferry can be short or hours depending on the traffic and the time of day.  Rush hour is brutal!

Messina siting from the ferry boat. Ahhh Odysseus what a great trip!