Tomorrow I’m working to wrap up documenting the tail-end of our MFMP trip. The part where we visited ROME. I kind of dropped the ball as things ramped up to get Claire off on her mission. But oh how I want to remember all these things we experienced together before the details fade with the passage of time. I figured it would be best to start with our visit to the Rome Temple.
Because that place is a wonder I tell you. It’s interesting how surreal it is when you hear so much about a place and then suddenly: BAM! You are THERE. Standing in awe that you get to be in that spot where you are standing.
Visiting the Rome Temple
Tomorrow we’ll talk about our arrival to Rome, but for now we’ll skip to Sunday morning when we took a taxi out of the hubbub of central Rome and arrived here:
Attending church next to the temple
We took in that giant beauty for a minute en route to attend church in the building right next to the temple. We figured we were in for Italian church, but they had these little headphones that helped with an English translation.
This woman spoke about how she was scared of the dark as a child but knew her parents were always there for her. No matter what. She was making an analogy to God and how He is always there for us, which I loved, but it made me teary-eyed thinking of the power of parents and a FAMILY and the way families can wrap up their children and make them feel so safe. So grateful for my parents and family, and also that I was immersed with these girls of mine as their mother. It was a pretty special sacrament meeting for me.
I love how church is so similar and feels like “home” no matter where I am in the world.
A visit to the Rome Temple Visitor’s Center
After church we headed to the visitor’s center that looks out at the temple.
I love this photo of Claire looking up at this statue of Jesus as she was preparing to head out to serve as a missionary.
There are many temple visitor centers in the world, but the Rome Temple Visitor Center is the only one with statues not only of Christ, but of all the twelve original apostles which was pretty cool to see.
We loved talking to the missionaries serving there and feeling that feeling that always seems to surround temples. If you haven’t been, you should give it a try and see if you can feel it too:)
This stained glass artwork in the visitor’s center is filled with over 100 visual references to the Savior’s mortal time on earth. It also includes symbols from each of His New Testament parables.
We took a few pictures of Claire outside before we left, trying to get something she could send to friends to let them know when her farewell was going to be.
So grateful for the opportunity we had to visit that spot.
On to the rest of Rome!
