What a difference a day makes...

Remember the old C&R commercials... What a difference a day makes... Where the guy was in dirty work jeans or a post man uniform .... Then the next shot had him all decked out in a new suit from C&R Clothiers? Remember those old commercials?

 Well, that's how I felt when we got invited to Giovani's wedding. I was used to seeing him in a yellow hard hat, dirty work jeans and rubber boots as he worked on the temple site..... But he looked pretty sharp for his wedding! What a difference a day makes!

It was an honor to be invited to the wedding. It was at a church in Napoli which is 2 hours south of Rome. So, once again... Ramon let us borrow his car and off we went. 

The bride and her father

The church 

The musicians

I just had to add this next picture!!  I noticed these 3 ladies standing on their balcony waiting for the bride and groom to come out of the church. It must be fun living there seeing all of the couples and families coming out after they've been married. I loved their example, celebrating with someone they likely didn't even know. To me, this picture says a thousand words.

This balcony is their backyard. Very very typical .

And then we went to the reception... and this is my favorite thing I've seen since we arrived here. 

The Mediterranean Sea. It was beautiful.

I had crossed the Mediterranean on a ferry boat going from Spain to North Africa once with my parents when I was about 10, so maybe it was a little connection to my family, particularly my parents who have both passed away that made seeing it so special to me. But it truly did warm my heart.

And the love of family and friends made it fun to be at the wedding. Seeing family and friends interacting with each other was special.

At first people would kind of side glance at our missionary tags and look away, but Giovani came to our table and introduced us to people and he and David explained to them who we were. Then it became easy to talk about the church and who we were. So, it was a good experience and although I felt a little funny wearing the tag at a Catholic wedding it became easy and people were warm and friendly to us. It taught me to NEVER be ASHAMED of THE GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST. And we appreciated being invited. It meant a lot to us.

Awww

Healthy vines!!

Italy is a beautiful country and we appreciate being able to be here.

 The building of a temple takes a long time and I'll admit it sometimes overwhelms me, but...

Our family and ward and friends at home are a huge support to us. We send our love home to all of you. We appreciate your examples of goodness in our lives.