On our second day in Italy, we got a taxi and went to the Rome LDS temple with Scott and Karalee. It was such a cool experience. We went in and told the desk worker that we wanted to do sealings. She directed us back to the sweetest little lady to help us rent clothes. She did not speak English, but somehow, we got it figured out and got the clothes we needed. The temple president was from Utah, and he was delighted to see us and gave us a tour of some of the other parts of the temple. It's really beautiful. There was one other couple there from Washington DC besides the four of us, and one single lady. Scott served his mission in Brazil and speaks Portuguese. One of the sealers is also from Brazil and also speaks Portuguese. He asked if he could do some of the sealings in Portuguese with Scott! It was awesome. The single lady had the sealings done in Italian, and then of course, we had sealings done in English.
The other couple was there to have her dad sealed to his parents. The temple sealer asked her who she wanted where. She asked Rod and I to act as proxies for her grandparents, and asked her husband to be the proxy for her dad, and she wanted to be a witness. Rod and Scott had been giggling during some of the other family sealings because the temple worker referred to them as father and child. Super reverent. However, as soon as the three of us knelt at the altar together, her sweet dad's spirit came in so strong and none of us could stop the tears. Even the sealer felt him. Rod gave her a hug at the end of our session. She asked for a picture outside of the temple so she could remember those that helped complete his work. It was an incredible experience for all of us.
The visitors center at the temple was beautiful.
The Christus statue and the twelve apostles were incredible to see as well.
This stained glass window, created by artists from Utah, is a huge piece (20 feet) in the Rome Temple Visitors Center. It is all Christ-centered and represents every parable Christ taught, along with miracles and other moments from His life and mission.
The window has five panels and was built using approximately 6,000 pieces of glass.
There are some hidden items in each mural that are not glass - authentic ancient coins, a mite, a shell from the Sea of Galilee, a stone from the Holy Land, bits of actual frankincense, a pearl of great price in the middle of a lily, salt from the Dead Sea, etc. Amazing.
We asked the sweet sister missionaries in the Visitor's Center a million questions about it and they knew their stuff! It was pretty impressive!
We had an Uber driver that took us back from the temple to our hotel. She drove like we were in Mario Kart! She was on the phone with her boyfriend half the time. Poor Karalee just about threw up. There are not many traffic rules in Rome!
Scott makes friends with everyone. These sweet little taxi driver had the kindest eyes, hardly spoke any English and he and Scott were besties before the ride was over.
Another delicious round of gelato! I got prickly pear and berry gelato! YUM!
Venchi's is all the rave in Rome!
Look at the chocolate just running down the wall!
We rejoined our group in the late afternoon for a private tour of the Vatican Museum (which is a massive collection of art amassed by the popes from the seventeenth century onwards), and the Sistine Chapel. It was a very stark contrast to the LDS temple! We all felt like they very much worship the Pope rather than the Savior. The Sistine Chapel was absolutely beautiful though - the ceiling is just as impressive as you would imagine it would be. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but Michelangelo's work is unreal. We also learned that this is where the Sacred College of Cardinal's ask the Holy Spirit to help them elect a new pope when there is a vacancy.
The museum was incredible, but there was no air conditioning and
it was hotter than anywhere I've ever been!
So many tapestries depicting the life of Christ throughout the museum.
Getting a little loopy from the heat - and to be fair, it's A LOT to look at and take in!
