Under a Watchful Eye

Andrew, Sargent, Pancheri, Bennett, Robinson, Felice, Mikesell
Front: Bradford and Budd

District Meeting

What a fun week! We started off with District meeting Monday morning. We made a birthday/farewell cake for Sorella Bradford, Sorella Mikesell, and Elder Budd—(Mikesell goes to Bari and Budd to a town by Naples). 

Bradford                               Budd                                  Mikesell

Spanish Steps with Jenner & Mimi

Mimi & Jenner Visit Us in Rome

Friday evening we went to the train station and picked up our first family guests, Greg’s Sister Meridith Marcucci and her husband Jenner, from Florida.  We enjoyed a night walk with them from the Spanish Steps to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. 

Mimi & Jenner at Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

Gelato!

Jenner, Mimi, Greg, Julie Colosseum

Of course, we had to stop for Gelato!











Saturday we visited the Colosseum, St. Peter’s Square, and the Sistine Chapel!  Wow the Romans were amazing engineers. Jenner encouraged us all to climb to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica, which was an elevator ride and 323 steps between the inner and out wall of the dome. Now we can say we have seen Rome from the top of the world!

View from the top of St. Peter's Cathedral

Enjoying the Ride

Greg, Julie, Randy, & Terry

What a full week! It started off Monday when we met Randy and Terry Williams from Logan. Randy manages the USU Folklore Archives, so Julie worked with her when she worked on her Masters. Terry works as a vice principal at Mountain Crest. They were in Italy touring and had a break on Monday, so we met them for dinner. Great time! 

Visiting Peter & Joyce

We took Elders Bennett and Budd to one of their invistigators who lived about 60 kilometers outside of Rome. They were a family from the Philippines. The father, Peter, is a member but none of the rest of his family has joined. He made some delicious pasta and fried chicken for dinner. His daughter, Joyce (19), came to Italy about a month ago to go to school and study Italian. The elders have been teaching her for a couple of weeks. They gave her some information to study and ponder, and we were there with them to followup. That night the elders asked her to set a date for baptism on August 17, and she said, "I want to be baptized." Her dad was very happy to see her make this choice. It was a great experience for all of us.

The Franca Family

Sister Franca made a 3-course dinner for us. She is such a kind woman. Her health isn’t very good, but she is going on the ward temple trip to Switzerland in a couple of weeks and said when she goes to the temple, it is always a miracle--She feels wonderful and attends sessions all day long.

Junior,Millicent,Brigitte,Gift,Jackie(Primary President's son), &Divine

We drove to the Nigerian refugee complex to pick up Doris and her two girls: Divine and Millicent, as well as Blessing and her daughter and son: Gift and Destiny. Doris is one of the nursery leaders and Blessing is her friend. The Primary President asked if we could pick them up to attend the party. We had a fun time making fresh orange and lemon juices while the children had a water balloon activity. Bishop Ligas brought pizza for everyone.

S.Caramia, Maria, S.Omer

Saturday, we attended the baptism of Maria (Sally’s sister who was baptized three weeks ago). She bore a beautiful testimony and has already started to attend the Young Women's program. Many were there to welcome her into the ward.

Potluck Buffet

Sunday, we had a potluck dinner with the 5 senior couples serving in Rome as well as President and Sister Waddoups! The Roberts ended up being ill, but the Steurers, Kimballs, Fenns, Andrews, and Waddoups attended. We decided to have a monthly gathering at our apartment or the President’s Villa on the third Sunday of the month, since we have YSA on Mondays. 

Andrews, Fenns, Kimballs, President & Sister Waddoups, Steurers

Roman Birthday

Birthday Celebration

Brigitte, S. Andrew, Jackie, S. Ligas, Philippe, Bishop, Francois    

We were invited to Bishop Ligas’ home for dinner, and Julie made brownies because Sister Ligas loves American brownies. We were able to talk to Sister Ligas about the Seminary program since she taught it last year, and we will be teaching it this year. All three of their sons were at dinner as well as Brigitte, who Julie  works with in Primary. Their sons are YSA age, so we wanted to invite them to come to our activities. When they found out it was Julie's birthday, they found a birthday candle and sang Buon Compleanno. We had a fun evening. Great Family!

Haircut Excursion

Haircut by Federico

Piazza del Popolo

Thursday, Julie had a haircut appointment with Federico. It had been almost 10 weeks since she last had it cut. With the humidity here, she was going a little crazy (and so was her hair). 

Villa Borghese Park

After eating lunch at a fun pizzaria near Piazza del Popolo, we walked around Villa Borghese, a beautiful park near downtown Rome where Greg did some tracting in 1970. 

Institute Activities

New ping pong table

Friday, we taught our lesson for Institute and set up the Wii and ping pong table afterward! The YSA had lots of fun. We also had some visitors passing through from Australia and Germany! 

 Luca,Gustavo,Aussie,Alberto,Fabrizio,Diego,Zuleika,Sara(Munich),Valentina 

Utah Visitors

Sunday in church we met Sister Jardine and her daughter Rochelle from Alpine, UT. They knew Sister Mikesell who is serving with us in Roma 3. After church, we gave them a ride to see the temple and then back to their hotel in downtown Rome.