Ostia Antica

Via Delle Tombe

The Theater

Mosaics in the baths dating back to the 2nd century, Triton riding his horses

On Saturday, November 22 I went to Ostia Antica with some of the Senior Couples. It was another beautiful fall day. I always think it will be the last of warm weather and we get another one, and I welcome each one. Considering the news I get from home and in the States of all the snow they are getting, I'm just so glad I'm here, even though I know I will be going back.

Sister Day and I drove with the Shinneys. It is an hour drive north west of Rome. I was so impressed with how large of an area that is so well preserved. We walked for four hours and I don't think we covered all of it. 

We had lunch at a nice cafeteria there. I had the most delicious lentil and Orzo soup. No gelato this time.

When we came home and quickly changed and went with the Shinneys again to their ward for a fireside on nutrition. 

Ostia Antica is a large archaeological site. It was the location of the harbour city of ancient Rome. Due to silting the site now lies 3 Kilometers from the sea. The site is noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings. frescoes and impressive mosaics.

Arrival of Apostles

Pope Francis greets President Eyring

On Saturday, November 15, President Eyring, Elder Perry and Bishop Causee arrived in Rome. They were invited to the Vatican to be part of  a three day inter-faith conference on marriage and the family. There are 350 religious leaders, but 17 will be speaking, one of which will be President Eyring.

On Sunday, they attended the Rome 1 ward where they spoke. What a surprise it must of been to come to church on Sunday and discover two apostles in your ward. I'm in Rome 2 ward so missed out on that one.

That evening, they dined at the Villa. Wasn't invited to that one. So hoping they will visit the Mission, perhaps drop the Mission Office!

On Tuesday, before the hundreds of international religious leaders and scholars at the Vatican, President Eyring, 81, called for a "renaissance of happy marriages and productive families" based on the principles of the Proclamation on the Family issued by the church in 1995.

On a side note, I had a good experience today - Tuesday. This young 20 year old girl came in the office today looking for the Bishop. After explaining that he he has a full time job and she would need to make an appointment, we began to chat about the church. I asked her if she would like to meet with the missionaries who could explain things better as my Italian was limited. She agreed. It just so happened that the Sisters were coming for their District Meeting in a little while. She was happy to wait. I have her a pamphlet to read. When the Sisters came I introduced her to them and met with her and gave her the first discussion. I joined in the discussion. It was cool to see this young girl so interested in the what she was hearing. She was so respective. She didn't know anything about the church, spoke only Italian and has an Aunt who lives in Utah.
She wants to learn more and made appointment to see the Sisters tomorrow night. I was so thankful I invited her to meet with the missionaries. 

Santa Maria Degli Angeli Basilica

Saturday, November 15. This morning Ruth and I went to the out door market that is close to my apartment. I like shopping there because the prices are really good. I have bought some cute skirts, jewelry and other things. Today I bought a pair of pants. Ruth got a nice winter coat.

The ceiling

In the afternoon we went to Sanata Maria Degli Angeli Basilica. Built in a section of the Baths of Diocletian in AD 300 across from Piazza della Republica.

Kay, Ruth and I in front of Piazza della Republica

Two interesting pieces are first, the statue by Bernini of St. Teresa in Ecstasy. It is depicts Teresa's(a nun) dream of an angel piercing her with an arrow and as he released she felt a burning feeling inside her full of ecstasy and love of God. Strange, but a beautiful piece of art.

The second thing was, The Sun's Meridian Transit. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Pope Clement (1649-1721) commissioned Francesco Bianchini to build a meridian line within the basilica to check the accuracy of the Gregorian reformation of the calendar (1582).

The sun shines through a small hole in the southern wall to cast its light on the meridian line each day.

In Europe the Julian calendar was in use since the 4th century. The spring equinox was set to the date 21 March in the year 325 by the council of Nicea. By the year 1582, the spring equinox was occurring on March 11. Pope Gregory XIII ordered that 10 days would be removed from the calendar so that the spring equinox would return to March 21. It as decided that the days October 5-14 of the year 1582 would be skipped during the transformation from the Julian to Gregorian calendar.

Gorgeous Fall Weather - good day for an outing

Patte, Kay, me, Ruth and Dixie at "Insalata Ricca"

Thursday, November 13.
The weather here has been so beautiful. I still just wear a light jacket. In the picture above we are eating outside, and you can see we are not wearing coats.
Patte Fenn likes to organize outings, and I'm very grateful for that. Today we did a little shopping and ate at one of my favorite restaurants, called "Insalata Ricca". It's by the Vatican. The portions are huge. You can order them in a bread bowl or not. I like it that way cause you get this thin foccachia to eat as well. All you have to do is drink some acqua frizzante, and you're done. Love it! Of course you can always make it extra special by getting some gelato afterwards - which we did. I had mango and lemon, pretty yummy.
We passed by a "bangarelle" where they were selling bracelets and broaches for one euro. I bought 5 broaches. Really pretty.

Some pictures from home.

Got a text that Julia likes her new shirt, me too.

Emilia likes to dress herself!

We ate just outside St. Peter's

Letters from strangers

Hyrum with the Darley boys and Elder Schllemat

Elder Schillemat, Brother Darley and Elder Sutton

On occasion I get these wonderful letters from people I don't, but know Hyrum and they write me these great letters . It makes me feel so grateful to know that he is loved. Hyrum is loving his mission and loves to serve.


Dear Sister Rose Sutton,

I just wanted to catch you up on the good work that your son, Elder Sutton, and Elder Schillemat are doing here in our ward. They are great missionaries and are hard workers. They continue to work with and strengthen Christina Hoberg. They have inspired us to do better and work harder as member missionaries. We have been working on their challenge of visiting with Christina, Erika, and the Covingtons. They have such a great spirit to them. It is so much fun to have them in our ward. Our family delivered fleece gloves, scarves to them. It is beginning to get cooler here so we wanted them to be warm. Is there anything else that you want us to do? We would love to help out. I am attaching two photos. One of them is a photo of the missionaries at church with my husband. The other photo is at their apartment in front of their investigator board with my two sons. You have a great son with a fun personality. Thanks for raising such a good missionary. 

Sincerely,

Annette Petersen Darley and family

Stake Conference and Jeffrey Visits Slave Lake

Outside the Hotel

Bus Load of Saints

On Saturday night, November 8 we had adult session of Stake Conference for the Rome East Stake. It was very well attended. In fact, it was very crowded in the chapel.We had excellent speakers. Of course it's all in Italian, but I understand it well. The next day we met at a hotel near Villa Borghese. It was so beautiful hotel. I was so impressed when we got thereto see  a bus load of people who had just arrived from Pescara to attend.  It was nice tot be in the hotel because we had so much more room. I'm sure everyone can't wait until the new Stake Center by temple site . I wander if I is completed. I hope I will still be here. I hope so.

In the ditch

Also this weekend Jeffrey decided to go up to Slave Lake to visit his brothers and family. He went alone and had a really good time. The weather however, was nasty and he slid and went into a ditch. A family was able to drive him the last half hour to Timothy's house. They later got the car out and there was no damage and Jeffrey was fine. He met up with Andrew as well. Andrew was in St. Albert but returned on Sunday before Jeffrey had to leave.

Timothy took him to the fire hall and Jeffrey got to put on the full gear.

 I was so glad to hear he made the trip and then made it back safely.

I'm also so glad that here in Rome we are still enjoying a beautiful fall season. The high during the days is about 15-19, low 9. Saturday was another warm day. Just wore a sweater. I could get used to this. :)

Surprize Visit

Monday night, November 3rd I get a text from Keri Demitrioff who said her parents are on a cruise and will port in Rome the next day. So I emailed Chris and Brian and I met them Tuesday night. They were staying downtown, close to the Vatican. I called Carolyn and David Fenn for a ride. They didn't even hesitate, I was so grateful for them. I met the Jones at the hotel they were staying. I think it's so crazy that I hardly see them anymore since they moved to the Island and now we meet in Rome!

It was a beautiful fall evening, not cold at all. We ate outside at a near by restaurant. It was nice to catch up and see some familiar faces from home. They are such good people. They have been cruising for over a month.

Chris and Brian Jones

Olivia and her new glasses.

Cooking

I do just about all the cooking. Sine I've come here I hardly use recipes, so when I saw this on someone's Facebook post I loved it. I will miss going to the markets to get fresh vegetables from the farmers.I can walk on my way home from the office and pick up whatever I need for dinner from different vendors. They are all small shops or outdoor markets. It's wonderful. Our fridge is so small you can't keep a lot of things. But it's fine. We also have a small stove, well and a small kitchen come to think of it.
Things I really about living here besides the food is taking the bus or metro to ancient Rome. There is so much to see here. I don't think I'll be able to see everything before I leave. I am seeing quite a bit though. The office is so busy, so I like it when I do get a chance to go out and see or do something, I jump at the chance. Besides, being in this apartment is really boring. The only good thing is that I'm able to get caught up on things like Pathway, lessons and keeping up with this Blog.

News from Home

Porta Italia tie, October. I think Hyrum looks very handsome here and a lot like Jeffrey

Four pretty ferries

Batarina

Who you gonna call - Chase, ghost busters!

Get a load of those hulk'n feet

I've started sending Hyrum a tie each month. I thought it would be something to look forward to in the mail. Since we don't write anymore, but just email it's always fun to get something you have to open from home. So I'll post them as he sends pictures.

Malta Tie, September

Add caption

It's Elders Sutton and Wilkie - they're back, but not for good

About three years ago Italy started celebrating Halloween. We had a Ward party that the missionaries set up for and manded different stations. Kids in the neighborhood trick or treated. There was a block party in the courtyard. Not everyone participates but they say it is slowly getting more popular.

New companion, Elder ?

Biking in Borghese

Fantastic fall day yesterday, Saturday, November 1. It was actually hot. After a nice pancake breakfast at Patte and Jim Fenns, a bunch of us went to Villa Borghese and rented bikes and segways. I rented a bike. It only cost €3,00 for an hour. The park was full of pedestrians, bikers, roller blades, everything. Somewhat crowded, but manageable.
Later we went to have lunch a place called Insalata Rita. Had the best salad. And the went for gelato.

With Anne and Carolyn

David, Jim, Patte, Anne, me, and Carolyn

Fun day with the Fenns, Millets, and Shinneys.

Assisi

Assisi is a town in the province of Perugia in the Umbria region. It is the birth place of St. Francis who founded the Franciscan religious order in the that town in 1208.

Paul and Gerri Scherbel and Tom and Paula Heath picked me up Sunday night and we drove the 2 hours trip to Assisi. We actually stayed just outside of Assisi, in a really nice bed and breakfast (minus the breakfast) in town called Los Angels. Los Angels in the States is named after this town. Outside my window I could see the beautiful and enormous St. Mary of the Angels Church. It was just across the street.

When we woke up we opened the door and there was a street market right outside our building. I bought a pair of leather black boots, a skirt and a sweater.

Then we headed to Assisi, just a 10 minute drive a mountain. It was a very windy day. Assisi is a lovely town with lots of neat shops, churches and a castle. We stayed the whole day. It was lovely.

It was so good to spend another day with these two wonderful couples. Has been a real highlight to have spent time with them and see lots of beautiful areas.

When I came back, I quickly changed and went to help at the villa for the departing missionaries dinner. I said goodbye to Elder Stewart. He's going home to Salt Lake City. He's bringing Hyrum's Christmas package for me. Then Paula will pick it up from him and deliver  it to Hyrum. I'm very grateful for those two for doing this big favour for me.

Town of Assisi

We visited a medieval castle

St. Francis of Assisi Church



They have festivals reenacting mediaeval times. I want to go back when this happens

In front of the gardens of St. Francis church. The T shaped bush is the symbol of the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet and is how St. Francis used to end his signature. This symbol is found in all the gift shops.The other letters mean peace in Latin.

It was so windy up in the castle



Me, Paula and Gerri being silly



I saw this display at a store. I thought it was interesting that both my sisters names were side by side. I ended up buying embroidered aprons for all the granddaughters and my mother.

The view from top of the castle