Pathway Begins in Rome!

Institute Visitors

Elder & Sister Foote visit Rome YSA

Elder and Sister Foote who are missionaries over the YSA program in Europe came to visit us from Frankfurt, Germany. We had an amazing group show up that night, which included Annika (blue) from Germany, who is visiting for the week. She is not a member but came because of her friend Diana. Afterward, a group of YSA went downtown for the night walk of Rome. The Footes told Annika that they could find a group of YSA for her to attend in Germany when she goes home, and she was happy about that!

Gene Hayes from BYUI

Pathway

Saturday afternoon, we picked up Gene Hayes from BYUI. He came to Rome to introduce the first Pathway program in Italy. The Pathway program will be available for church members in and around Rome so they can obtain professional certificates, Associates degrees, or Bachelors degrees online through BYUI. We attended meetings on Pathway with the two Stake Presidents, Elder DeFeo, Ugo Perego, and Gene Hayes from 4:00-6:00pm. It was really an inspirational day for us. We had a large crowd of interested Italians at the meeting and many were very emotional to have the opportunity to get a degree from BYUI without having to go to the US. What an inspired program! It will be such a great blessing to the members in Italy.

Elder Andrew, Clariele, Chaly, Sister Andrew, Sister Furlanich, & Sister Sartena

Church with Clariele

Clariele is a friend of our daughter-in-law, Ilonka, who also grew up in the Dominican Republic and joined the church. She contacted us earlier in the week and said she wanted to go to church with us, so we made arrangements to pick up her and her daughter Chaly. The members of the ward welcomed them—we actually have quite a few members that speak Spanish too! Afterward, we took Clariele home and visited with her husband Alex, who is not a member but very warm and friendly to us. Clariele made us lunch, and we had a nice visit. Clariele's brother is serving a mission in Mexico City and will be home in August or September.     

Elder & Sis Andrew, S. Haynie, S. Sorensen, Ranny, S. Furlanich, S. Sartena
E. Miller, E. Barone, E. Rutledge, E. Kunz

Good-byes

Our good friend from the Philippines, Ranny Lacar, will be moving to Malta for his work. We had a District photo with him to say good-bye. The good news is that he found out later that day that he gets to stay for a few more weeks!   
Mission Tour

Elder Patrick Kearon

We attended our first Mission Tour by a general authority, Elder Patrick Kearon, a member of the Area Presidency. Three Zones met together in Rome (about 80 missionaries) and he began the conference by shaking hands with and talking to every single missionary. Elder Kearon joined the church when he was 26 and described what it was like for him. He gave the missionaries some excellent ideas of what it is like for people who are learning about the church for the first time. It was a great experience.

Wilkes and Andrews attend Birthday Party in Rome

More Visitors
Saturday, we picked up Tricia (Julie’s sister) and David Wilkes from the Rome airport in the afternoon. We took them with us to a birthday celebration for one of the members, Sabrina Staltari. Her mother, Sister Giovanna Galle, cooked some wonderful food and desserts! It was fun to introduce Tricia and David to all of the missionaries and ward members. They also received a warm welcome when they attended the Roma 3 ward on Sunday. We were able to do some sight-seeing with them on Monday, but they have all the photos!

Members of Roma 3 Ward 

Andrews & Wilkes near St. Peter's Basilica