.png)
Days never to be forgotten...
- marthamontagnoli
- Nov 7, 2024
- 4 min read
Joy, fulfillment, inspiration and love are just a few words to describe our last few weeks here in the Italy, Rome mission. It is so nice to finally feel settled in. First highlight... gathering as an entire mission to be taught by a modern day apostle. It was pretty unforgettable to be 2 of 200 missionaries assembled on the steps between the Rome temple and the visitor center, where there is a Christus statue, waiting to greet Elder Gary E. Stevenson. As he walked toward us, we could see our reflections in the glass of the Christus, with the Savior's arms outstretched toward us. In those moments, we both felt a personal witness that he is an apostle of God and a special witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. It was a day never to be forgotten - which was the title of his last General Conference talk. As he taught and uplifted us, it was one of those spiritual lifetime highlights. We both received sweet personal revelation and felt angels round about us. We are truly living a beautiful dream! It feels good to be a missionary; we highly recommend it!
Our hearts burned recalling the testimony of our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, as he said, “The Lord is hastening His work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty.” We are so thrilled to be in Italy at this time, to help prepare ourselves and God's children here to be ready for Jesus Christ to return to the earth.
It was fun running into missionaries we know - Elder Knighton from Maine, whose family is best friends with my sister Callie's family, and Sister Taylor, who is a friend of our nephew Chase. We saw Elder Dwomo (from Reggio Emilia) who was just a youngster when our daughters both served in his city. He recognized us, which was amazing. We also finally got to see our neighbor, Rosie Baxter!
One complete highlight was seeing OUR YSAs (young single adults) from the Naples area at the temple. It feels like we have known them forever, and we feel such a love for each one of them! They are courageous, full of light and goodness, and we LOVE being with them! We teach institute each Saturday, then share a meal and have an activity. Cliff asks them for their favorite recipe - and has proven to be quite a great chef!
One of our highlights is hearing the stories of our YSAs. Peter (pictured above is a YSA and the ward mission leader) has the incredible strength, vision and missionary spirit of the apostle of old. He is fearless in his testimony and shares the gospel with all of his friends. His determination to make a better life and become a man of God is nothing short of awe inspiring. We are continuously humbled by the sacrifices of members of the Church here. They are few, but they are mighty!
Next, we share the miracle of "the one" - which turned out to be "the two!" We have a goal to find and meet all of the YSAs in our large area. Cliff zeroed in on one name, Franca Borgono. We made an appointment to go see them the week her brother returned home from his mission to Chile. Their family is from Argentina and moved to Italy during Marco's mission, and he doesn't speak Italian. We had an immediate connection with them; they are just incredible! (We also connected him with our nephew Braden, who served in Argentina.) They live in the middle of the countryside, about 1 1/2 hours from our house - but it's so cool!
On the way home, we got a text from Stefano DaPonte asking to talk. Not a coincidence, he was on our YSA list by accident, and we had texted him earlier. He actually lives in Milano and was in charge of a national YSA conference in Rome and asked us to help. We knew Marco and Franca needed to go too. Stefano made it happen, and it was one of the greatest weeks we have ever had!
We spent 5 days in Rome with 90+ young single adults - attending the temple each day, doing service projects, learning and being inspired in workshops and devotionals , making new friends, and having so much fun - especially at the Halloween dance!
We just love all of the YSAs we met from all over Italy! They will forever be in our hearts!
We love working with the other senior couples! We have also loved having frequent and meaningful interaction with the Confortes (Vincenzo & Carolina) - who were our Catania mission leaders when we served younger missions. We love them so much! They have made such a great impact on our lives. We have also been so thrilled to see so many of our Italian friends from when we lived here in 2009/10.
We love the dear missionaries with whom we serve. They are truly fantastic!
The other day, our grandson Avi asked, "Nonna, didn't you guys already serve a mission? Why do you need to do another one?" Our "why" is pretty simple. We love the Lord and want to put Him first. We have dreamt of serving a mission in Italy together ever since we got engaged. Each day we feel so grateful to be here and marvel at God's hand in paving our way. We are astounded by the natural beauty around us, and we feel blessed by His love and goodness.
As with any move - especially out of the country, although we hit the ground running, it initially took a minute to find our way around and get acclimated to an unknown part of Italy, figure out the ins and outs, and set up our house to feel like our home. We're all set, and we're ALL IN! What a blessing we were both already fluent in Italian. What has come so quickly is loving the people; they are incredible - full of life, love, and faith. We are so happy to serve them for the next 16 months!
We conclude with some fun pictures of our day-to-day adventures living in Southern Italy.
All our love,
Sister & Elder Montagnoli
(Martha & Cliff)
You two are amazing! So great to hear of the miracles and your excitement for the Lord! Inspiring!!
You two are living the dream!! So fun to see Rosie’s beautiful face! Keep inspiring & changing lives, love you guys!!
What an amazing time!! Thank you for sharing with me❤️