Whirl-wind Tour of Rome
Posted by Ashley | | Posted On Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 2:30 PM
Today was an absolute whirl-wind.
It started rather quietly with a lovely sacrament meeting in a local ward in Rome. The bishop had originally apologized to us because their translator audio-devices had gone missing the week before, but he ended up making one of the missionaries translate for us with an extra microphone at the podium. It was rather entertaining to watch the locals have to pause and give him time to speak to us before continuing their testimonies. One woman had me in stitches (albeit, silent ones) because she would go on for minutes at a time before pausing. Then she would look at him expectantly and you could see him struggling to remember everything that had just come spewing from her mouth. It was hilarious! And then one woman got up and started to bear her testimony in English and instead of switching to Italian the poor missionary just repeated what she said in English...in English. It only took a few seconds for him to realize what he had just done but the congregation was already dying of laughter. The elder was a good sport though because he just laughed it off and kept going. His Italian sounded excellent (I am not really an accurate judge, but he convinced me he was fluent just by his confidence and lack of pausing while speaking) and his ability to translate was also impressive. I should not have been surprised to learn that he was returning home before the end of the week when I spoke to him afterwards but it still took me aback a little bit. His two years are just now ending...and I couldn't help picturing an absolutely thrilled mother who was about to get her son back from Italy. There was also a brand-new sister missionary (this was her first week in Italy) who bore her testimony. Her voice trembled and you could tell she was terrified to attempt to speak Italian in public. The ward was so receptive to her and I was pleased to watch how they all reached out to her and thanked her for her words after the meeting. The church is true and the same all over the world. That I know to be true. There may be slight differences in building type, congregation size or languages spoken but the warmth and accepting nature of those who are true followers of Christ is consistent, constant and comforting.
After church we had a few hours to relax and just enjoy the sabbath.
And then the whirl-wind came!
We took the fastest tour of Rome in the history of tours of Rome. We blazed through multiple cathedrals and churches, drank from multiple fountains, and hit up some of the biggest tourist spots in the world. The idea was to wet our feet with a little bit of everything before we come back for the academic portion of the trip. Once we come back with our notebooks, each site will be studied in greater depth. It was fantastic and I am really excited to learn more about what we saw.
Afterwards, a group of us went and got pizza and gelato at a small restaurant near the Pantheon. I am still struggling to believe this is all really happening! It is pretty unbelievable.
It started rather quietly with a lovely sacrament meeting in a local ward in Rome. The bishop had originally apologized to us because their translator audio-devices had gone missing the week before, but he ended up making one of the missionaries translate for us with an extra microphone at the podium. It was rather entertaining to watch the locals have to pause and give him time to speak to us before continuing their testimonies. One woman had me in stitches (albeit, silent ones) because she would go on for minutes at a time before pausing. Then she would look at him expectantly and you could see him struggling to remember everything that had just come spewing from her mouth. It was hilarious! And then one woman got up and started to bear her testimony in English and instead of switching to Italian the poor missionary just repeated what she said in English...in English. It only took a few seconds for him to realize what he had just done but the congregation was already dying of laughter. The elder was a good sport though because he just laughed it off and kept going. His Italian sounded excellent (I am not really an accurate judge, but he convinced me he was fluent just by his confidence and lack of pausing while speaking) and his ability to translate was also impressive. I should not have been surprised to learn that he was returning home before the end of the week when I spoke to him afterwards but it still took me aback a little bit. His two years are just now ending...and I couldn't help picturing an absolutely thrilled mother who was about to get her son back from Italy. There was also a brand-new sister missionary (this was her first week in Italy) who bore her testimony. Her voice trembled and you could tell she was terrified to attempt to speak Italian in public. The ward was so receptive to her and I was pleased to watch how they all reached out to her and thanked her for her words after the meeting. The church is true and the same all over the world. That I know to be true. There may be slight differences in building type, congregation size or languages spoken but the warmth and accepting nature of those who are true followers of Christ is consistent, constant and comforting.
After church we had a few hours to relax and just enjoy the sabbath.
And then the whirl-wind came!
We took the fastest tour of Rome in the history of tours of Rome. We blazed through multiple cathedrals and churches, drank from multiple fountains, and hit up some of the biggest tourist spots in the world. The idea was to wet our feet with a little bit of everything before we come back for the academic portion of the trip. Once we come back with our notebooks, each site will be studied in greater depth. It was fantastic and I am really excited to learn more about what we saw.
Afterwards, a group of us went and got pizza and gelato at a small restaurant near the Pantheon. I am still struggling to believe this is all really happening! It is pretty unbelievable.
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