All Roads Really Must Lead to Rome

A week ago Saturday we finally did something we've intended to do since we got here which was walk a little bit of the Appia Antica. It was a beautiful day with just a little bit of autumn crispness but still sunny and mild.        
                       
The Appia Antica is an ancient Roman road that apparently extends all the way from the sea coast at Pozzuoli to the Colosseum in central Rome. It is perfectly straight because the Romans didn't believe in windy roads. There are ancient mausoleums along the side of the road as the nobility liked to be buried there, I guess so people would notice them and remember them as they would make their way to and from Rome. We took this picture below of the monk walking along the road with a walking stick, just as if he'd stepped out of the middle ages. You can also see the remnants of some of the mausoleums in the background.

The Appia Antica is a famous road from the past. In a grimmer part of history in about 70 B.C., 6,000 people who fought with Spartacus in the slave rebellion were crucified, their crosses lining both sides of the Appian Way. In a more positive part of history, it is recorded in the Bible that The Apostle Paul came to Rome on the Appian Way (Acts 28: 13-15).

The part we walked was a cobble-stoned road full of cyclists and strolling families along with the occasional car. I loved it there. It had such a special feeling to it I can't quite describe. You could feel the history of the road as if the shadows of ancient people were still walking there beside us.

I've given this blog post this title in part because of this day. But it's also because of all the people who've come to Rome since we've been here. In October our mission was visited by yet another high ranking church leader, President Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He makes the fifth General Authority we've met in person since we got to Rome just under a year ago. I'm sure if we lived in the heart of Salt Lake City, we wouldn't have met so many.

Here's a picture of President and Sister Nelson with President and Sister Pickerd. I stole this picture of the Pickerd's blog: pickerdsitalyromemission.blogspot.com.

 

President Nelson is the most senior of the apostles in our Church. Can you believe he is over 90 years of age? In his previous career he was a reknowed heart surgeon. I was amazed to read recently that he was at one time challenged by another church leader to learn Mandarin Chinese so he took the challenge and is now fluent. Where did he find the time? He is one very smart man.

We had a mission conference with President Nelson where he talked about the Abrahamic covenant and how it relates to us today. It was very interesting. He has obviously studied it considerably because in our follow up studies on the subject, we found three previous conference talks he gave on that general subject.

You can find those talks here:
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/the-gathering-of-scattered-israel?lang=eng

As well as here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1995/04/children-of-the-covenant?lang=eng

And here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/covenants?lang=eng

In October we were also visited consecutively by Hermes' two daughters and their husbands. This is one of the privileges of being senior missionaries is being able to host family while we are here. We had so much fun! We did take them to see places we'd already been like Civita di Bagnoreggio but it's nice to show people we love all the places we love.

This is Georgia with her husband Malan having strawberry crepes in Nemi.
Nemi is a beautiful little town not far from Rome that overlooks a volcanic lake in the valley below. It's also famous for growing strawberries.

I also love the look on Georgia's face with these invisible men buskers in central Rome:

The day after Georgia and Malan left, Francesca and her husband Jerad came to visit.

This is them at Civita di Bagnoreggio. It had been really foggy that day and when we arrived we couldn't see the town at all but fortunately the fog burned off so we could get some pictures.

And this is another nice one of them at Ceveteri, which is an ancient Etruscan cemetery or what they called an Etruscan City of the Dead that archeologists have excavated. The Etruscans believed in burying their dead in these cave like mounds that resembled the houses they lived in in life. It's hard to describe but it's a very interesting place.

Both visits from the girls and their husbands were happy times for us. We were sorry to see them go.

And speaking of being sorry to see someone go, we will soon be saying goodbye to Elder and Sister Sears from our mission. I'll start with talking about Sister Sears:

Although in her life outside the mission, she is a published writer with a Master's degree in theatre, she has been our Mission health specialist. We call her our mission nurse although she is quick to say she is not a nurse. But she has been the one to help our young missionaries (and occasionally the old ones too) through difficult and not so difficult health challenges, both mentally and physically. She said she was shocked when she was first put in this position and wondered why they would ask her to do it, given her background. But she has also testified to us, "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." She says that sometimes she is on the phone with missionaries who are describing their symptoms and she has no idea what to say and all of a sudden she just opens her mouth and out comes advice that is exactly what the missionary needs. I think she has also been like a Mom to many of these young people and they will miss her a lot!

Now about Elder Sears. He has been our mission technology specialist (a.k.a. computer geek) and we do not know what we will do without him. After he leaves, when we have a computer problem, we will have to call the help line in Salt Lake City. This is not a happy thought for us. I'm sure he won't miss our whining about our computer problems though. But just the same, he has contributed to our mission invaluably and he will be terribly missed!

As part of their send off, on Saturday five of us couples went for lunch at the most charming little restaurant about 30 minutes north of Rome in a town called Sacrofano. It was already a favorite restaurant of Hermes and I and I can happily report that our entire group give this restaurant 10 thumbs up (or twenty if we use both our thumbs). So if you're ever in Rome and have access to a car, make the drive to Sacrofano and go to Al Grottino Ristorante. You won't be disappointed.

Here are some of the pictures:
 

And after you eat, there's a charming little medieval borgo (town section) that dates to about the 1100s and is fun to walk through just around the corner from the restaurant.

So in the same way that all roads lead to Rome, they also lead away from Rome and unfortunately it means that we have to say goodbye to people we love. 

Vi vogliamo bene, family and friends... and that includes you, Anziano and Sorella Sears! I hope your roads and our roads will lead us back to Rome for a happy reunion at the temple.