Rome Growth

Family Home Evening

Young Single Adult FHE

For FHE We made Chicken Cacciatore on Rice. We ended up having 14 people, so we felt like a small miracle happened so that we had enough food for everyone. We had 5 missionaries (2 elders and 3 sisters), Marino (investigator), the Arandas (member couple), and the 3 senior missionary couples. Brother Aranda gave a nice lesson on testimony.

Dinner Appointment

Antipasti

Stefano & Francesca

We had a dinner appointment at the Magnanti home—he serves as the first counselor in the Bishopric, and she is the first counselor in the Relief Society. She must have been cooking all day! She loves fish, so that is what she cooked! The anti-pasti consisted of fried octopus or squid, boiled muscles in their cracked black shells, and bruschetta with salmon. Then we ate some fried cod, breaded broccoli flowerettes, and delicious perch filets. She also had a salad, bread, cantaloupe, watermelon, and 4 flavors of gelato—it is by far the best meal we have eaten in Italy!

The Magnanti Family & Friends

Baptism

Pedro, Joyce, & Judy Hernandez

Saturday we had the baptism of Joyce Hernandez. Since it was held on Saturday, it was hard for many of the members to come because it is such a long trip to the church, but all of the Filipino members in our ward were there to support her. They are truly amazing! They had a meal afterward for everyone that came.

Joyce with the Andrews

Joyce's Baptism with family & friends

Hot Time in Rome

Horse Pasture by where we walk

Weather Report

Much hotter weather for us this week--it has stayed in the 90’s  and seems hotter to us because of the high humidity, but hopefully we are past the worst of the summer heat now. It is starting to cool down in the evenings, so we are able to open our balcony doors and get a breeze. 

Horse Paddock

Elders Rome 3 & Sister Omer

Kimballs and Andrews

Sisters Rome 3

Zone  Conference

Friday morning, we went to the Mission Office for Zone training. We received more training on a Pilot program the church is trying for teaching English. It is a conversation-based training with small groups. It will help the English training to be more uniform and take less time for the missionaries to prepare because it is already planned and prepared. It has been a great finding tool for people who end up taking lessons about the gospel. It is the first time the church has tried this in a non-English speaking country.

Pizza/Calzone Combination

Eating Out

Friday evening, 4 of the senior missionary couples and President and Sister Waddoups met at the Mission home to go out to eat. We wanted to eat at a Mexican restaurant because Sister Waddoups loves Mexican, but it was closed, so we went to the Ponte Vecchio Pizzeria. We ordered a combination pizza/calzone that was delicious! 

Rome Ponte Vecchio Bridge

Baptism

Today we had a baptism for Moses Ogie Oyemwense from Nigeria. Our ward has baptisms on Sunday because the members live too far away to come to church more than once a week. Moses is a refugee from Nigeria and one of the elders in the Rome 2^nd Ward met him on the street and invited him to our church. He felt so much love and wanted to take the lessons. Since he lived in Rome 3, the Elders in our ward taught him. It was a beautiful baptism!

Moses talking to Bishop

Enjoying the Swiss Temple

Trip to Zollikofen

View of Lakes on way to Switzerland

We had a wonderful week in Zollikofen, Switzerland. We arrived at the Swiss LDS Temple at about 12:30 P.M. on Monday. The landscapes of northern Italy and southern Switzerland are beautiful! A mix of rolling hills, lakes, mountains, and lots of green make the trip enjoyable. 

Evening Devotionals at the Swiss Temple

Being within a 2-minute walk of the temple was wonderful.  Our Bishop led a family home evening gathering for the entire group.

Swiss Temple

Tuesday through Friday involved a wonderful opportunity for all of us to serve in the temple.  Never in our lives have we been able to spend so much time during one week serving in the temple, which we enjoyed in many languages.  Our Italian vocabulary increased while we also heard French and German spoken.  The Swiss temple was built in the 1950s and has served southern Europe well!  

Many Friends

Jhamil, Ranny, Leda, S. Andrew, Maria

On Thursday after the temple closed, we were able to go to Bern, the capital of Switzerland, and do some sightseeing. It was fun getting to know so many of the members. 

Parliament Building

Cooling off in the Parliament Square Fountains

We will be working with the Seminary-aged members (14-17) starting in September as well as the Young Single adults (18-30).

Dinnertime

L-R:Maria, Bishop Ligas, Harmony, Sharline, Pamela,
Margarita,  Angela, Brigitte, & Fabrizio

We ate many of our meals together! The Italians definitely know how to make good food and how to have fun as a group. We enjoyed every minute.

BBQ Italian-style Stefano Magnanti