Anziano and Sorella Mumford in Piazza del Duomo in Milano, Italy (April 23, 2023)

RELIVING MEMORIES . . . AND MAKING MORE

Our NEXT ADVENTURE--MORE LIKE A "BUCKET LIST ITEM" (If I had a bucket List)---but this was a DREAM. I found out a few months ago that Tuesday, April 25, 2023 was a National Holiday--kind of like our 4th of July. Since it was a NATIONAL HOLIDAY--everything was to close--including the Temple.  So that meant that we would have a Sunday, a Monday and a Tuesday that was OURS.  I got an IDEA.  I started looking up LaScala, in Milano, for available programs on that Monday or Tuesday.in April. Initially, I was looking for an Opera or a Ballet--after all, this is one of the most famous Opera Houses in the world, but those 2 "Seasons" of performance were not on the Roster until the end of July thru October. And then the cost--oh my--it was well. . . let's just say . . . not in my budget.  But then when I talked with Ron, and when he found out that most operas were 3.5 hours long--and Ballets were 4.0 hours-- He said if there was something less involved (my cue for "cheaper and shorter") he thought it was doable. WELL--another look at the calendar and I found the "PERFECT" PERFORMANCE!! A Concert by the LaScala Symphony Orchestra doing a program of Tchaikovsky and Shoshostky--and it was 2.0 hours.  As I looked for seats--there were limited seats in the Balcony and it was hard to find 2 together. So my next choice was the BOX SEATS. In most theaters, there are 6 seats in each Box, except those on the curve--where there are only 5. This option is less pricey than the Gallery IF you choose the 2 seats on Row 3 in the Box (last row). From the "seating map" I tried to find some inexpensive seats on the next tier--but knew I'd better stay away from the "Box seats". Well, I found some seats that looked like a pretty good view--(some seats alert you to a "post" obscuring part of the view (but not these) so I booked them. We were on our Way!!!  We rode the Fast Train to Milano, leaving Sunday (April 23)  after meetings and we returned Tuesday early evening (April 25). Now, why, you say, is LaScala so famous. Well you know me, I just have to give a few short notes about LaScala.  

The Teatro alla Scala in Milan is among the world's most famous opera houses. Most of the greatest singers of the past 200 years have appeared here. It was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala.

The word 'scala' just means 'staircase'. The theatre was built on the site of the church of Santa Maria della Scala – Holy Mary of the Staircase. Apparently a sick child had once been cured because its mother put a statue of the Virgin on the landing.

The theatre has more than 3000 seats organized into 678 pit-stalls, arranged in six tiers of boxes above which is the 'loggione' or two galleries. 

La Scala Opera House is one of Milan's favourite attractions and noted as one of the most famous opera houses in the world. Since its opening in 1778 it has played host to the greatest names and performances in opera. It was closed from 2004-2007 for major renovations and the entire "world of opera (and performance)" waited anxiously for it's

Reopening with the 2008 Season.   BELOW--- Seating chart that I had to choose the seats from.  Only a "seasoned" on-line ticket purchaser could tell where the BOX SEATS were.

--now back to my "Review" of this Grand Concert Hall. It was Marvelous--the grandeur of a world renowned Opera House lived up to its past and reputation. I really didn't even know what kind of seat I had booked, until we got there, and the Usher took us to a door and unlocked it--And then I realized it was a BOX SEAT!! We were the first ones in "the Box."  I WALKED IN and this unbelievably rich view of the interior of this grand opera house hit me!!  I sat down to take it all in and was mesmerized by the different things going on below and onstage. As I was sitting on one of those front row seats in this Box---two lovely women from Milano who had purchased them--came in. When we went to move--the one lady, who had a brace on her leg--looked at me and then told me to "stay right where you are"--I need more room tonight." So I had a front-row Box Seat in LaScala and it was GRAND!!. Never have 2 hours gone by so quickly!! I enjoyed every moment. 

We were also able to walk all over Milano--checking out THE DUOMO--one of the most magnificent cathedrals in the World. Ron showed me the area in this Piazza where he and 5 other Missionaries were able to set up a street board back in the Fall of 1969 and try to talk to passersby about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We also went to another little Square, the  "Piazza Irnerio #11", which was where the Church members met in Milano. The building is gone and a Marriott Hotel is being built on the property.  Progress. . . I guess.  But we did have a good time "reliving"some of Ron's memories from Milano some 54+ years ago.                             

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Inside the magnificent La Scala in the center of Milano. I never imagined myself

inside this world renowned, acoustical classic and one of the principal opera houses in the world!  

So--even now, I cannot believe that we were there. (psst--our "Box" was on this right side, 2nd level up--next to the person you can see looking out--see how GRAND it was!)

Anziano and Sorella Mumford  outside LaScala (or Teatro alla Scala as it is referred to in most performance circles).                                     

Strolling down a sidewalk in Milano--and we end up purchasing this painting that truly "spoke to both of our hearts"!

WALKING THE BACK STREETS OF MILANO, ITALY

RON in front of the Train Station in Central Milano, Italy

Some "out of the blue" kind young people who saw this OLD COUPLE STRUGGLING TO GET THEIR LUGGAGE UP THE STAIRS to get to their Train area. We wished we had something to give them more than "Thank you very much!"

finding an old piazza that Ron would come to and look for People to teach in milano, Italy. Not really used as a "Gathering Place " now a days.

Quiet, picturesque street in Milano, Italy

I have to mention this little "incident" that happened on our way to see The Duomo. The streets in the center of Milano are quite "torn up" right now, some major renovation project--but not much information posted as yet. So we could see the Duomo but we tried several ways to get there and were either blocked or rerouted. Eventually we ended up going down a street that had a LEGOS STORE on the corner. We hurried past it and out of the corner of my eye--I saw a large model of The Duomo made out of creamy white LEGOS (perhaps not to scale--but very identifiable and beautiful). Immediately I thought of some of our Grands who LOVE LEGOS and knew I just had to get a picture of it. So I told Ron, "I think we need to go back to that store". He looked at me quizzically--and then said "Well, OK". So we back-tracked until we reached the store and this creation was even better "close up" than I had imagined. We have found that many stores employ "larger than life" Security Guards that stand at the entrance and due to their height, they have a birds-eye view of much of what goes on in the store. Well this really tall black man, nicely dressed, saw us come in and flashed a great big smile. I sure didn't know where that came from--but made my way to the Duomo model made of LEGOS. As we were admiring it and taking a couple of pictures, my eyes were drawn to this Security Guard. He flashed another smile and as we were finishing and making our way back to go out of the store--he stopped us and asked about my Missionary Badge. He asked if this was the Church that had a large building in Rome that was called a Temple. We nodded YES and we told him that we were currently serving there as Missionaries. Then he told us that he had been attending this Church in MILANO for about 4 months and he was very interested and excited about it. He thanked us for stopping in and for talking with him. I think that's the reason we were supposed to "go back".

And these are the picks we got of that LEGOS Duomo and walking to the Piazza where Ron served in Italy That entire short trip will be such a vivid memory for me for a very long time. 

                                                              THE LEGOS DUOMO

         

                                VIEW FROM THE STORE WINDOW OF THIS LEGOS DUOMO

 JUST A FUN LEGOS ROCKET

And we were blessed by more VISITORS from home!! President Ron Smellie and his wife Heather brought their whole family to Italy!! Their son, Luke, served his mission here in Rome and environs and returned home the week after we arrived here. We saw him at Church our first Sunday in the Mission and heard him bear a very heart-felt testimony on that Fast Sunday. And then he was released and left that next Thursday. But we knew that President Smellie had plans to return with his entire family and visit the areas where Elder Luke Smellie had served. President Smellie is also a "Returned Missionary from Italy" and that was another bond that he and my Ron had while serving together in the Preston North Stake Presidency from 2000 to 2009. So it was so wonderful to welcome them here, enjoy a meal and some of their precious vacation time and even do some Sealings in the Rome Temple with some of them on an early morning Session before they continued their family trip. We so LOVE Visitors and were sad to see them leave.

From the Balcony of our Apartment in Rome, italy

Back  L to R: Taylor Smellie, Dax Golightly, Heather, Luke, Ron, Austin and Maddie Smellie

Front L to R: Lauren Smellie (soon to be Golightly) Sorella and Anziano Mumford

   

And so the end of April, first week of May were truly filled with sweet visits and visitors and the Temple is entering its busiest time so far in our Mission. It is so exciting to see full sessions and many completing Ordinance Work for their deceased family members. One day, a few weeks ago, the Baptistry was filled for 2 sessions (50+ Youth) who, with their leaders, had come from other parts of Italy, outside of Rome, so these Youth could have this Baptisms for the Dead opportunity. And many had brought their own Family Names. I know for those of us in the Idaho-Utah areas --this number is quite common--but not for the Rome, Italy Temple. It was amazing. Just this week (May 11th) one of our Endowment Sessions was almost entirely filled with Italian Women (40) from a Stake near Verona, Italy. They planned it and traveled together to stay in Patron Housing and do Temple work for 2 days. Verona is north of Rome--so by car it would be about a 5-hour drive--one way. And they were so excited to be here and be in the Temple. Such is the work and sacrifice of these lovely Saints.  And there are other groups coming, who have their reservations and plan to fill the temple in all areas. This is an exciting time!

And so I close THIS POST, and thank you again for all your love and support.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!! HURRAH!

Sorella and Anziano Mumford

BUSY MAY

Hello again, Family and Friends,                   

It is already into the last week of May--or at least the last 10 days and things are really F-L-Y-I -N -G  B-Y!!! I just wanted to really touch on a few things that have been happening here. Our Temple President, James A Toronto, is such a gifted man and he and Sister Diane Toronto, his wife and Temple Matron, have really led a life of service to the Church. He has served as a young man in this beautiful land of Italy as one of the early Missionaries, as did Anziano Ron.  He went on to study languages at BYU and received MA and PHD degrees in Islamic and Arabic studies from Harvard University.  He served as President of the Italy Catania Mission from 2007-2010 and was President from 2015-2017 of the Central Eurasian Mission, covering Turkey, Central Asia and Azerbaijan. And now they are here, since September 2022, to serve for 3 years as President of the Rome Italy Temple. We are so blessed by his and Sister Toronto's quiet ways of providing leadership and organization to the ongoings of the Temple.  He has also co-authored several papers and studies and books. One of those books entitled "Mormons in the Piazza, History of the Latter-Day Saints In Italy", is a compilation of stories, facts, time-line-type historical accounts to the early founding of the Church in Italy when Lorenzo Snow, one of the early Apostles of the Church and Joseph Toronto (born Guiseppe Taranto in Sicily, Italy--and James Toronto's Great Grandfather) were called by Brigham Young in 1850 to go to the Land of Italy and begin Missionary Work there.ACROSS THE YEARS to the eventual Re-Opening of this land for Missionary work in 1966. (Brigham Young also called others at this same General Conference of the Church to go and start Missions in Denmark, France and Scandinavia) Now these were new lands for taking missionary work INTO---the land of Great Britain had already started "taking off" with mass conversions and wide-spread acceptance of the Church --and the hope was that the rest of Europe might be ready to do the same. In his book, President Toronto  tells of the landing in Genoa, italy, of this Missionary 3-some (Lorenzo Snow, Joseph Toronto, and another Missionary named T. B. H. Stenhouse  (whom Elder Snow had called to come with them from their stop in Southampton, England.) They very quickly found that Catholicism had a huge hold on people and they (the Catholic Church) DID NOT like these new-comers preaching their "new-found religion".  

ANYWAY, I digress--my point in bringing this up was that President Toronto presented a Fireside for us missionaries and Temple workers that he entitled "The History of the Early Saints in Italy" and he said one of his reasons for this Fireside was to show the Italian Saints that they Do Have a Pioneer Heritage. 

But--so as to not leave you "hanging", I'll just give a brief summary of that TRULY INTERESTING History that President Toronto talked about. So from 1850-1867 or so--these early Missionaries trudged a rocky road to try to establish the Church in Italy. They found some success with the Waldensians in the Piedmont Valley of northern Italy. This group were determined to follow their Protestant beliefs and through centuries had endured much persecution --mainly from the Catholic Church. Eventually they "retreated" to the mountains of this Piedmont Valley and found some relief from the persecution and were able to live somewhat in peace. Having studied about this Waldensian group, Lorenzo Snow felt these early Missionaries should go away from the cities of Genoa and Turin in Italy --and go up to where this Protestant group were living and preach the gospel to them. And so they did--taking up residence in a place called Torre Pellice There were no "mass conversions" as the early missionaries in Great Britain found, but it was a one-on-one conversion--mostly among the Waldensians, that helped Italians find the Gospel. And many of these early converts, were encouraged to emigrate--and so they left italy to join with congregations of Saints in the Salt Lake Valley and beyond. Since there wasn't much being established in Italy--it was in 1867 the decision to "close" the Italian mission was made.  There were some early converts who had remained in Italy and they just had to try to live the Gospel as best as they had been taught. So for almost 100 years, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was not preached in this land. There were still "miracles" happening--as we know from the story of Vincenzo di Francesca and the film entitled "How Rare a Possession" putting forth Brother Francesca's journey to find what religion this book "that he found in a garbage can and without a cover or title page" belonged to. He read it and wanted to find out more. This was in 1910 and he was a Protestant Minister and felt the truths he found in the (Book of Mormon) were so true--he began teaching them to his congregation. Well, his search for the name of the book--which as we know was the Book of Mormon, lasted over 20 years, but finally in 1930 he found the name of the Church and began his search for more knowledge about it. But he had many ins and outs with the Protestants in several countries and finally 1951, at the age of 63, he was finally able to be baptized. His story is one of searching and strife, but never one of losing faith in what he had found. There are so many more fascinating stories of ways that people "found" the Church even though it was not a "practising religion" in this land. President Toronto in presenting Why send Missionaries to Italy?(this was the first time) said there were basically 3 important reasons that were looked at:

                    1. Historical---Roman Empire

                    2. Birth of Christianity—a land “sanctified” by the presence of some of Christ’s original Apostles

                    3. Vital geographical location as a nexus between Europe, Asia and Africa

Well, apparently things had been happening that convinced Church headquarters in 1965 that there might be another chance to establish the Church in italy.  Long story, short--it started with a District of Elders formed from 3 other Missions: Bavaria, Germany and Switzerland. There were 5 major cities that these Elders were sent to open the preaching of the Gospel in.

AND I CONCLUDE with these last few dates and facts:.

August 3, 1966            RED LETTER DAY for the Church in Italy         The Italian Mission was organized (once again)  And in Piazza Tabour the first District of the Italian Mission was organized.

The first time Missionary Work began in Italy, September 19, 1850—the land of Italy was dedicated in the foothills of Torre Pellice in the Piedmont Valley of Italy by Elder Lorenzo Snow

The second Re-opening of the Land of Italy for Missionary work under the name of the Italian Mission in July of 1966 was in Florence, Italy. It was no longer a part of the Suisse Mission.

June 6, 1980           First chapel was dedicated in Pisa, Italy

There was a long process to get the Church to be recognized in Italy. (Legally recognized)

Pres J Toronto indicated that there was so much paperwork and regulations and rules to be followed in order for Legal Recognition of the Church in this Land of Italy. The final attempt—letters were sent to the Presidents of the 27 Provinces in Italy—asking  “Should we allow this Church, THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS, to be recognized as a Church in Italy or Not.”

After asking the people within their Province in Community meetings, the answers that came back from all 27 Provincial Presidents was ‘YES’! Pres J Toronto expressed that many people had had such favorable interaction with Missionaries and Members alike, throughout all of Italy—he felt that was one of the things that made this unanimous vote possible.

AND SO ON MAY 12, 1993 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints received LEGAL RECOGNITION in the Land of Italy,  under the penned hand of the Italian Government leaders.

And so as I end my Church history in Italy Post-- I just mention that Anziano Ron (my Ron) was among the 2nd group of Missionaries out of the LTM (Language Training Mission in Provo) to land in Italy in Spring of 1969. The 1st Elders to be called here had no Language Training--so they were called for 30-months to help in getting established, learning the language and becoming productive Missionaries..  These 30-monthers became some of Ron's best teachers, mentors and life-long Friends (Bill/Rick Nelson, Gregory "Guy" Rose, Craig Cardon, Anthony Antonelli---just to name a few--all some of the very best!!).  

After the Fireside--we took a picture of President Toronto and some of those early missionaries that are serving here now. It stirs my heart to see how many have been called "back" to serve--and many of them in the Rome Temple.

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Missionaries now serving in Italy, who were some of the first to serve here in the late 60s and early 70s:

They are pictured with their wives in the picture below.

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Left to right:

Elder and Sister LeGrande and Jane Curtis ,Elder and Sister Rodney and Vicki Boynton ,Elder and Sister Vicchierelli

Elder and Sister Bruce and Colleen Dibb, Bro and Sis Bellu (both Standing), Elder and Sister Darryl and Bonnie Lee

Elder and Sister Jim and Laurie Alexander, Elder and Sister Ron and Carol Mumford

Elder and Sister Dolores and Greg Weed, President and Sister Jim and Diane Toronto

Bro and Sister Ventura (He’s also the voice of Elohim in the latestTemple film.) 

One more thing I wanted to just mention--and its only noteworthy because it just goes to show that Italians love their food--and don't Branch out to many other Cuisines.

Thursday. April 20th, 2023--The Torontos announced "TACO THURSDAY" and invited the Temple Missionaries and some Italians Temple workers to their apartment for the most wonderful array of Mexican/Spanish food I've seen in a long time.  But the most amazing thing is that the Italians DID NOT know what to do with Taco shells or Tortillas or how to build a Taco salad.And Cornbread and honey--a real treat for them and Chili--they didn't quite get that taste. But they were good sports and they LOVED the taste of this new "food". It was just one of those things that maybe you had to be there to appreciate it. My palate WELCOMED IT WARMLY!!!

Starting Left around the table: Pres Toronto, Pres Vardeu and Sister Vardue, Laurie Alexander, Beth and Frank Sano, Carol Mumford, Ron Mumford (standing), Nico and Elisabetta Calabrese, Jim Alexander, Elias and Tania Colleoni (Temple Missionary couple from Brasil) and Sister Toronto is taking the picture❤️.

Well, if i still have any Readers, I say "Thank You" for your love and support! We passed our 6-month mark and, though the language has not come like I hoped by this point, I do feel I am making strides. Like, I don't panic when someone comes up and starts speaking rapid italian--I truly do try to help them--even if it eventually means finding another Italian.!! BUT--I have had times just this past week--when the Italian Sorelle were searching FOR ME--to help an ENGLISH SPEAKER. So--I do have some redeeming qualities.

So we say, from Italy, "Hurrah for Israel!! Hurrah!!

Sorella and Anziano Mumford