Last Summer Elder Fenn was in the tunnel between the Patrons Housing Building and the Temple and started talking with a fellow named Salvatore Taormina. He asked David about the badge he had on and they started talking about the church and working here at the temple site. Later that day David gave him a "Temples Magazine" and a Book of Mormon. That night Salvatore was reading the magazine and fell asleep in his chair. He started dreaming that he was in one of these beautiful temples and he was dressed in white. His wife was with him and there were many others with them.
They were patting him on the back and hugging and congratulating him. He said he felt really good. Then he woke up and still had that good feeling. The next day he saw David at the site and told him about his dream. He said what do you think of that? Why were people congratulating me?
So this opened the door to he and his wife Giovanna taking the missionary discussions. At first we didn't know where it would go and we took things slowly, but then Salvatore became very interested and got serious about coming to church.
The first week he came in a pair of jeans with his Book of Mormon in hand. The next week he had on a new suit and tie.
We have had so much fun just about every Wednesday and Friday night sitting in on the discussions while the sister's teach. Just a really great experience. And after 4 months of preparation Salvatore was baptized. He is excited about seeing the temple finished and seeing the Angel Moroni go on top.
Giovanna thinks he is doing a great thing but said it wasn't her time yet. She has been supportive and very welcoming.
Sister Christansen and Sister Smedley... You can't tell, but they were both crying really hard all night long. I can't blame them, they did such a great job teaching this family. Last night they rode the bus to his house which took an hour and a half then about 2 blocks of running in the pouring rain. Big smiles. Sister Johnson has gone home but she was here for the first half of all of this. She was home crying!... and fasting. :)
We picked Olives last Saturday. The first 2 trees were fun. ;) But it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed ourselves. Italy is a gorgeous country.
Sister Perticarole
They have 300 trees! We did 10. :)
Olives from 2 trees
Much love to all. We hope your Thanksgiving was nice!
Love, David and Carolyn
“But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. (Psalms 52:8)”
ReplyDeleteLove you and so excited about the great work you two are doing!
Jean
What a great missionary story. Makes up for all those doors slammed in your face the first time there in Italy! We love and miss you.
ReplyDeleteAmazing to hear your experiences! We've been sharing them with a friend of ours who is our Stake President here in Ohio. He served his mission in Italy and has been thrilled to see the progress in building the Temple there!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI'm working with Olsi Agalliu, who lives in Albania. He went on a mission to Rome back in 2000 and now he and his wife would like to make plans to attend the temple dedication. Would you be able to pass along information about when the temple construction will be completed so that he can make more specific plans? He's aga12001@byui.edu and I'm bart.humphries@gmail.com Thanks for your time. :)
Delete