The temperatures have turned colder; Christmas lights are being strung up over the streets, and we realize our final weeks in a place we’ve come to love so much is drawing near. Our kids started a phrase around our dinner table of how, “everything is better in Italy”. It’s a phrase we’ve adopted and started taking notice how true it’s become. Everything has really been better here, the people, the food, the environment, the pace, and the culture. I recently saw a post by George Clooney stating how he goes to his home in Italy to remember how to slow down and enjoy life, that Italy has become is therapy. We’re grateful for our Italian therapy too!

Over the last couple weeks, we toured a few more places we couldn’t pass up. One of them was an underground palace tour that our hosts shared with us. We parked our car at the Temple grounds after a session and took a bus into town, then hopped onto the underground subway. Our kids perked up at our new traveling experience, anything to get away from being squished in the back of our car. This palace was a pretty cool experience, they had projected imagery in some areas to show you what it would’ve looked like all those years ago when it was first built. This included the surrounding structure of columns, the marble finishings and sculptures, down to the details of art on the interior walls. It’s a palace that was built right across from the Colosseum called the Domus Aurea (or Nero’s Palace) and included a VR exploration of the structure. It was a really cool experience that we’d definitely recommend.

We ended the trip at a local cafe for some hot chocolates while Hallie opted for a doughnut instead.

Hallie and I had a fun date at the Rome mall where we did a little Christmas shopping for some of our friends here. I may have snuck a few little gifts for the kids as well, without her noticing! That’s a skill I’m proud I could develop after 21 years of parenting 🙂 She truly had no idea. We also picked up a couple things for Claire’s upcoming birthday. Afterwards, we went to the Temple Visitor Center and enjoyed the nativity displays. We each picked out our favorite ones and Hallie enjoyed sharing with the Sister Missionaries all the fun shops we explored that day. She’s a lot of fun to hang out with!

We couldn’t leave the area without visiting the famous Bracciano Castle so we took a tour as one of our school days and practically had it to ourselves. It was pretty cool, though my favorite feature was the incredible view of the lake and trees on the nearby hills. I was born to have a view like this. I told Phil, I don’t need a castle, I’d be just as happy to build a small home on the Castle property just as long as I can have this view! It is a dream of mine to live near a lake with the view of the valley below. Marrying Phil has led to so many dreams coming true so I’m sure it won’t be difficult 🙂

The castle is arranged in such a way that whenever there was a siege, they towns people would retreat to the castle for safety. The Bracciano castle won the siege between them and Vatican City (or the Pope). Its strong structure has held up over many years and still stands today with furnishings and decor that are hand carved from 1485. It’s now used for tourism and special events and weddings, which a few celebrities like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have used.

And because it’s right across from the castle, we had to stop and get some of our favorite gelato! I’m not sure how we’ll survive without our weekly dose of Picchio Gelato.

I can’t say enough about our Ladispoli Ward, we are so grateful for the way they have included us in their ward. There’s a quote from one of my favorite holiday movies that corelates so well with what our experience has been like here, “you go somewhere new, and you meet people who make you feel worthwhile again”. They have become our Italian Family, and we will definitely miss them. They invited us to join in with some Christmas caroling with the youth. I’m so glad we did, what a great turnout! There aren’t many youth in this ward but it was all the leaders, the missionaries, and youth with their families as well as a couple of guitarists. We sang all in Italian and the spirit was very much present. I loved this experience!

For the Relief Society, I was invited to carry out an activity for the sisters in the ward. I helped organize a tree ornament gift exchange. We held it right before the ward Christmas Party, which we were told was moved up a week so our family would be able to attend. They wanted us to be able to attend their Christmas tradition and I feel so honored they would consider us like that. It was a fun evening, filled with singing, a Christmas video, a large and delicious spread of Italian food (several different lasagnas!), and a fun Kahoots game at the end. I loved seeing how my kids were included by the Primary kids to participate, helping Hallie read the questions that were in Italian so she could put in her answers. We also celebrated Claire’s birthday by having everyone sing Happy Birthday to her and sharing her birthday cake. And before the night was done, we all gathered for a Ward photo. We love these people so much!

Our last two Sundays in the ward, Phil and I were asked to give a talk on a topic of our choice. After careful thought and prayer, I felt strongly about sharing parts of the talk by Elder Neil L. Anderson, “The Triumph of Hope”. I focused it on how and who to hope in, tying it to our situation of receiving revelation from the Lord to go forth in selling all of our belongings and moving out of the country for an unknown time. While others may not understand and even question our personal promptings, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t true for us and that God would provide a way for it to happen. I compared it to the story of Samuel the Lamanite who told the people to repent and put their faith in Christ who would come in five years’ time, giving them a sign of His coming, a day a night and a day, without darkness. Some believed on his words and waited for the sign to appear, while others did not. They wanted a sign right away, they wanted proof before they would be willing to believe and threatened to kill any of the believers if the sign did not occur within the five years.

While it would be nice to foresee all that the Lord promises to us personally, through the words of our Prophet and the apostles, or from the scriptures before it happens, we would miss out on seeing greater miracles from choosing to hope these things will come forth before they actually do. I’ve learned the importance of listening and heeding spiritual impressions and using this as my evidence of what is true and what will happen and when I step forward with my faith and trust in the source of where this information comes from, then I get to witness the miracles of watching it unfold, increasing my relationship and trust in the Lord.

Phil’s spoke on faith and hope. He shared some of our twins’ story, and let Hallie come up and recite Moroni 7:42 from her memory. He shared how faith is what we have faith in, one who has certain capabilities. Hope is what we hope for, some future event or result. He paralleled this to an experience where he began Elder’s quorum relying on Google Translate. Luckily a brother stepped in and began translating much better for him. Putting his faith in the wrong tool could not provide a good spiritual experience. And if he isn’t hoping for and focused on having a good spiritual experience, the best translator in the world makes no difference. Similarly, it’s possible for us to hope for eternal life but fail to truly put our faith in Jesus to get us there – perhaps allowing other sources or guides take precedence in our day-to-day lives. We can also have full faith in the power of Christ to save, without hope that we are worthy of it ourselves. We truly need to stay diligent in putting our faith in Jesus, and our hope in eternal life – the one and only goal that matters in life.

We never know all the reasons why we feel what we do, but the Lord does. He sees the bigger picture and the impact we can have on others when we’re willing to share the experiences we have with Him and how He has blessed our lives. I’m grateful for the opportunity we’ve had to share our experiences with the people in the Ladispoli Ward. They have strengthened our testimony, and some have shared how we’ve helped to strengthen theirs. One of our friends shared this, “Only a few weeks in our ward and we have learned so much!!! About faith, will of doing the will of God and obedience no matter what!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!” We leave this place hoping we did all that our Lord and Savior wanted us to do, as we feel tremendously blessed to have been here.