26 June - Rome Italy Temple

June 26, 2019

So yes, yesterday was frustrating.  I decided that our priority was to get to the temple.  That is the first reason for this whole trip, right up there with Aaron going to his mission ward.  So we got up “early” and we’re out of the apartment by 7:00. If you’ve been following, that is fairly early for us.  We caught the tram right away and the 60 bus as well. Now, all we had to do was hope the 350 would come this time. It did.  In fact, we only waited about 5 min for it. We thought, “the people last night would be frustrated that we didn’t wait very long”. 

We talked to another couple on the bus on the way there.  She had served her mission in Italy as well. We would soon find out that a lot of the people we would meet today would have the same story.  

We actually arrived at the temple at 8:15.  We were so happy it didn’t take long to get there.  That and we were at the ROME TEMPLE!! We had an appointment to do baptisms at 9 so we took some time to explore the grounds.  We quickly found that our camera was low on battery (because we’ve been trying to download pictures) and we hadn’t brought the camera case that has the extra batteries.  That was frustrating. We decided, oh well. We ended up taking pictures all day, we just had to take 2 pictures, turn off the camera, and start again. Annoying, but effective.

We went in and I did 11 baptisms and Aaron did 7.  Aaron did the baptizing of several people. He said it in Italian.  He can now say he baptized in Italy. He also was voice on confirmations.  So awesome. We had hoped to do the 10:30 session, but everyone else was very vocal about doing the 10:30 so we decided to just “wait” for the 12:00 session.  We left the baptistery at 10:15 and went to do initiatories. Aaron and I planned to meet up at the chapel when done. Well, I had 11 names I wanted done. I got to work right away.  They have a card with both English or Italian so I could read it and listen in Italian. I’ve done initiatories enough to know what they are saying. I just read the card once and then listened the other times.  One of the workers did do it in English every time because she doesn’t know Italian. I really bonded with one of the older Italian sister workers. I made sure to give her a hug on my last name. She was so cute.  

During this time, Aaron tried to do his names.  I guess they were short handed so Aaron ended up waiting until 11:00 to start his names.  He was only allowed to do 5 names so he gave the other two to someone else. He got them all done.  He then waited in the chapel for me for about 3-4 min.

I finished my names at 11:50 and they were leaving the chapel to go to the endowment room.  I just walked into the endowment room and sat down. Then, I realized I didn’t have my interpretation headphones.  And, Aaron wasn’t there. I left and found Aaron at the chapel by himself waiting for me with the headphones. He was worried I wasn’t going to make it.

It was different listening to the endowment on headphones.  I could hear the Italian yet heard it in English. We were so very happy to be there.  Aaron just listened in Italian. We participated in the prayer circle. I said very little, but the spirit was so great.  At the veil, they had it on cards so Aaron again was able to do it in Italian. The sister at the veil with me couldn’t keep up with what I was saying.  She tried backing me up 2 or 3 lines and I told her we were way past that. Not many people are “experienced” there. Why would they be? All of it is still so new to most of the people here.

We enjoyed the celestial room for a while.  Again, so happy to be there. It took a while for our names to come back from the recorder’s desk. .  As we waited, we continued to talk to people from all over. One gentleman, the other side of the veil worker for Aaron, saw him and asked where we are from.  He kept naming Europe countries. Finally he says, “Europe?” Aaron said nope. Then he asked, “Kansas City?” It was funny. The Italians have all been very impressed by Aaron’s Italian.  He sounds like one of them. As we talked with this gentleman, the sister that I enjoyed so much walked out and greeted me by name. “Sorella Reep.” I then listened to everyone talk. I usually just smile and try to understand, but don’t get a lot.  I get pieces. It’s fun to listen to them talk Italian. It’s so energetic and happy. She gave me another hug before leaving.

We went out and took a few pictures but then went into the visitor center.  We got pictures of the apostles statues and Christ. It is so amazing to see all that work and history right there.  We also talked with some of the missionaries. The sisters were great. There was one Anziano that came and told us that he and his wife are on their 3rd mission, all to Italy.  He told us to have a rental home and then we’ll be able to pay for a mission. We told him we still have children at home, but one day. That would be truly great. We continued to meet people from all over.  But the visitor center...beautiful. We took several pictures in there as well.  

We finally left to take our “plaque” picture by the street at about 3:20.  Yep. We spent all day at the temple. It was so awesome. Aaron couldn’t stop smiling.  

So at the bus stop, the gardner told us of a “faster and better” route to take.  So we tried it. We took 338 further from Rome to the next stop. Then after waiting about 10 min, (and talking to another couple member while waiting) we got on the 80 and rode it all the way in to Venezia.  I was so glad to get a seat after the first 10 min. That bus got so crowded, people couldn’t even squeeze in. I think there was more carbon dioxide on that bus than oxygen. The lady next to me was complaining about how hot it was.  I got out my portable fan and started to fan her. I think that really surprised her. After a bit, she took the fan and waved it for us both. She was so grateful for it. It was nice to help someone else try to feel better.  

We got home at 5:30.  Not sure it was a faster route.  Then again, the traffic was a lot worse that time of day.  We had taken some crackers and cookies to eat, but that’s all we had to this point.  We were HUNGRY! After cooling down for just a bit,we left to find something to eat. We haven’t been finding what we want at the grocery stores.  We finally found some pizza. I had sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella cheese and Aaron had Turkey. We sat in the piazza by our house and ate it. It was so good to eat.

We then did a little walking by the river.  It was hot and we are both tired so we didn’t go far.  We walked around our “neighborhood “ and explored some before deciding to get our gelato for the night and going home.  I had strawberry and mandarin while Aaron had mixed berry and mandarin.  

As I’ve been writing this, Aaron got our tickets for tomorrow’s museum and figured out our route.  I got to talk to Mattina Ann as well. She’s sitting by DI waiting for a bus. She has to go back to the temple to get her keys.  I hope she doesn’t get too warm.