We just love them so much!

Could our mission be any better? What a blessing - to help Josy and Taylor's wedding dreams come true! For the last 9+ years, we have worked with young single adults in our Church service. Our specialty is creating meaningful experiences, and we love it!

Backing up a bit, we had the special opportunity to visit an ancient baptistry in Nocera, with President and Sorella Walker and the Castellanos.

Up until the 1300's, Christian baptisms were done by immersion - the way Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist.

Our tour guide explained that the person being baptized would symbolically enter the water from the west, where the sun set - leaving behind old ways and past sins. The person would be baptized by immersion for the remission of sins, then exit on the east side, representing a new life - like when the sun rises on a new day.

Later that same day, we all attended Renato's baptism in Castellamare. There is something so special about a baptism in the sea. Renato asked Angelo, a recent convert, to baptize him.

Baptisms are done by a worthy holder of the Aaronic Priesthood. Two witnesses carefully observe that the person being baptized is fully immersed in water; Sorella Barcellos and Sorella Williams were the witnesses. Baptism is symbolic of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a sacred ordinance that symbolizes a covenant, or promise, with God to follow Jesus Christ.

We participated in several lessons with Renato and have developed a special friendship with both Angelo and Renato.

President Aprea, the Branch President, was also dressed in white, to offer assistance and support. This was Angelo's first time to baptize someone. It was such a beautiful experience!

All the members came to offer their love and support to Renato.

Each time someone is baptized, the Branch provides a special congratulatory cake. The members in Castellamare are so kind, supportive, and loving; they are truly Christlike people, and we have come to love them so very much!

It was so special that President and Sorella Walker came from Rome to support Renato and the sister missionaries who taught him. Whenever possible, they attend convert baptisms.

Afterward, I made cupcakes for our wonderful GANS (YSAs). We were celebrating Maria's college graduation and birthday later in October, as well as Paola and Justin's birthdays which had just passed.

We love every opportunity to love and support our GANS (YSAs)!

Each of these beautiful young adults have such a special place in our hearts!

Our GANS (YSA) group in Napoli continues to grow, which makes us so happy!

The following day, we headed to Agropoli for a final wedding prep meeting with the bride and groom. We loaded up the last things Josy and family had put together; we were all feeling so excited the wedding week had finally arrived!

One huge plus of spending so much time with the D'Andolfo family, was the opportunity to get to know Josy's sister Zaira, who just returned from her mission. She has the most darling personality; we just love her!

We did the final search along the road by the sea, to find dried grass (that looks like wheat) - to put in with the arrangements of fresh flowers we were going to make.

I made a floral spray to go in the back of the "Just Married" car, and to use as decor the day of the wedding.

We bought silk flowers and put flower rings together to place under the lanterns that would align the corridors in the chapel.

Josy and Taylor were very specific with their style and tastes, so it was very easy to create their vision. The two silk flower towers were fun to make, and I was happy Josy felt they turned out better than she had imagined.

We could not have pulled off the wedding without the help of the Castellanos, who also do events. What a huge blessing that an enormous wholesale flower market is right down the street from us.

They open at 4:30 am, and everything is pretty well shut down for the day by 7:30 am. All the area flower vendors come daily to resupply their shops.

We barely fit everything is our two vehicles, then headed to Rome.

The wonderful Walkers let us stay at the Rome Mission Home, so we had a safe place to keep our very loaded cars and lots of room in their big kitchen to prepare all the fresh flowers.

We are forever grateful for their kindness and generosity! They are such dynamic, sincere people - with the biggest hearts, and so much love for everyone.

They also totally spoiled us! That evening, the Parkers (health adviser & finance) joined us for a lovely dinner. It was so fun to make the connection that the person who helps the busy Walkers with various Mission Home things, is also our dear friend from past mission days in Bari - Maddalena Gallone. She made two different kinds of delicious lasagnas! The Walkers also made us homemade waffles the next day. We felt so blessed and just love them so much!

Sorella Castellano and I put together 12 lantern floral sprays, 6 large floral arrangements, 21 smaller (mixed types of glass bottles) arrangements, 4 extra long sets of various leaves (wired together) - to place on the food tables at the wedding feast, and floral sprays to attach to the easel and the photo booth.

We were super busy, but had so much fun! It made me feel like me!

By Italian law, they had to get married civilly first in the Church, which was done by the Rome West Stake President, President Poli. He is such a good man and has become our dear friend. We have so much love and respect for him!

Here's a glimpse of the chapel.

This is Josy's nonna, and we truly love her!

The bride and groom had put together adorable wedding favors for all of their guests.

As the guests left, they took a vile of bubbles, and the bridesmaids had bubble guns. Everyone formed two lines outside the Church, and instead of throwing rice on the newlyweds, they blew bubbles. It was really happy and fun, and much less of a mess!

This is our miracle wedding team! These amazing Family Search missionary couples (the Youngs, Castellanos, and Lillywhites) came to the Church on Temple Square and quickly loaded their cars with all the decor in the Church. We all made our way to the wedding venue, while the bride and groom were sealed for time and all eternity in the Rome Temple. We are so grateful for our wonderful friends for all of their help and support! We love them so much!

Josy made such a sweet tribute to her father. When I saw her, I couldn't hold back the tears. She was the most beautiful bride!

We loved this venue. The people were fabulous to work with. They had let us bring over many decor boxes the night before. Our fantastic team worked quickly to get everything set up before the wedding party arrived. We will let you enjoy some of the wedding venue photos, so you can feel like you were there with us!

These are the finest people you will every meet - Stefania and Marco D'Andolfo, parents of the bride, and our dearest friends! We love them so much!

This is our beloved Franca! We could not love her more!

Oh how we love this beautiful family!

We love this family! Marco, Max, and Franca with their wonderful parents.

What a perfect day and evening; we sat and took it all in! We were so grateful for the wonderful weather and for the opportunity to use our talents to bless those we love!

The next morning we attended the temple and did proxy ordinance work for Cliff's 5th great grandfather and his wife. Every time we are at the temple, we run into friends from the past. We feel so at home and so loved. Best of all, we walked in and saw our former Mission President, Vincenzo Conforte. I sat looking at him, my mind flooded with memories over the past 38 years- realizing how vital of a role this great man of faith has played in shaping our lives, our decision making, and our desire to be life-long disciples of Jesus Christ.

We then met up in the baptistry with President Aprea and his family, the Castellanos, the sister missionaries from Castellamare, and 2 very new converts, Catello and Renato. Angelo, who just celebrated his year anniversary as a member also attended, as did dear Carmella and her son Giovanni. Carmella attended the temple for the first time. The whole experience was truly unforgettable! I can't even find the words to describe the beauty and love we felt together in the temple. We do know this; God loves His children!

What a special, spirit-filled day! Everyone was so joyful.

On our way out, we stopped by to see President and Sorella Conforte (our Mission Leaders from years ago, when we were young missionaries), who were spending the month of October in an apartment of the patron temple housing. Sorella Conforte had heard we were there and had made delicious food for us. They quickly filled our stomachs; but the lasting filling came from their love.

We were so glad the Castellanos were able to meet the Confortes. We talk about them all the time, and they know how very special they are to us! President Conforte leaned over just before this picture, hugged me close, and whispered, "I love you." I will never forget that moment - and his words that are eternally woven in my heart.

A bit tired, we dashed from Rome to Caserta (2ish hours) to meet with our GANS. Because of all the events of this very long, wonderful - and very full day, we were late. We asked our GANS leaders to teach the lesson on searching the scriptures. They each shared their favorite passage of scripture and what it meant to them. We love that they stepped up to lead, with such willing hearts! We hope they see what we see and what God sees in them! The Castellanos picked up the pizzas for us, and we enjoyed some sweet moments all together. It was a special activity, because Gabino was finally able to come (after months of working the weekends) and Alessio came down from Perugia. We love them both so much and were so happy to see them!

Our next event came a few days later in the form of a flu shot clinic/pizza party. All the missionaries in our zone were so happy we got them pizza, fruit, and cookies at the end of preparation day - they felt it was worth getting the flu shot! We truly love our missionaries! We were also happy that Sorella Fairbanks could pick out a yummy gluten free lunch she would enjoy! Cliff and the doctor were very efficient in getting everything wrapped up in just 30 minutes, including the paperwork. Our health adviser (Sorella Parker) is so adorable and beloved; not only did she want to keep them healthy by getting a flu shot, but she also wanted to make sure we fed them very well!

Our next event of the week was a baby shower for beautiful Monica and Irineau. They are from Brazil and live upstairs in our same apartment complex.

The best part of the evening was the members from Castellamare telling Monica that they had never given a baby shower and weren't even sure what to do. Everyone came with food, gifts, and so much love! It was priceless!

We love them so much and are so excited for the arrival of their sweet baby girl. They will be such fantastic parents!

Next came our in-person district meeting, which is held the week before missionary transfers. Young missionaries move around from city to city every few months, while the senior missionaries stay in one place, which is fantastic! It's hard to believe we have had 10 transfers, which means we are done in just 4 months!

We had the pleasure of going to visit one of our beautiful GANS, Gabriella. She is so darling, so full of life and desire to progress, and she just inspired us with her vision and courage. We just love her so much!

Before we knew it, it was time again for Institute. Cliff taught a fabulous lesson, made sausage and potatoes for all, then we watched the movie Coco. It was so fun!

We are so happy to have Samantha with us for a bit! She is so sweet; she brought us a Costco sized bag of chocolate chips from the States, along with more cake mixes and frosting. We make so many desserts; we are counting our blessings that she has made our life easier! We love you Samantha!

We are so proud of Paulo, our GANS leader in Caserta! He is a fantastic leader and we love him so much!

We were also thrilled to see beautiful Elena; she is a true delight and a lovely person in every way! We hadn't seen her in a while, so our hearts were full. We really love Elena!

It also made our night to have Marco (Denis's brother) come join us! We love it when he comes! And of course, Denis is truly amazing and is a pillar in Caserta! Oh how we love them!

Can we even say how much we love Michele?! He was so stellar at Institute and his scriptural commentary and insights were so spot on. He is truly a kind man, is so helpful, and has a heart of gold.

We couldn't love these GANS more - Kekko, Samantha, Angi, and Gabino. These are truly the great ones!

We conclude this post back in Castellamare on Sunday. During Sacrament meeting, Elders of the Aaronic Priesthood bless and pass the sacrament. It was very meaningful to watch these great men (who had been baptized since we have been here) bless and pass the sacrament, then give beautiful testimonies about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are also so very proud of this fine young man, who is a giant of goodness and faith. We have watched him literally grow, but also mature in his demeanor and faith in God.

Oh how we love these wonderful friends! We knew it would be our last Sunday together, and that Sorella Barcellos would be transferred. She began her mission here and has now transferred to Rome. We miss her already!

The theme of this post really is LOVE! Moroni 7:48 in the Book of Mormon encourages all to "pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ". This pure love of Christ, or charity, enables us and motivates us to love and serve others.

Our prayer is that our hearts will be filled with a desire to serve others and have our hearts knit in unity and love one for another! (Mosiah 18:21) We love our Savior, Jesus Christ - and we love being His missionaries!

Look forward to hearing some of the amazing miracles and blessings of this last week!

We love each of you, so very much....

Sorella and Anziano Montagnoli

Martha & Cliff