Chapter XVI - Our Italian Adventure: A Test of Faith
Buon giorno! As I have tried to understand what I need to do to qualify for exaltation and an eternal marriage with my sweetheart Mary, I have discovered that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the key element. As the apostle Peter discovered, when he attempted to walk on water, faith can be fleeting when coupled with fear. However, faith allows us to realize our hopes, if we approach the Lord will real intent and if these hopes are His will.
I tried to implement this concept in preparation for and during our May 2nd through May 17th 2007 journey to Italy where Ben served his mission. The travelers in this adventure represented three generations Ben soon 22, Melissa just barely 39, and myself as old as dirt. Just prior to our journey, I exercised my faith by asking my home teacher to give me a priesthood blessing. The priesthood is the power to act for God given to worthy men and I have a testimony of the reality of that power.
Our journey started off as a comedy of errors. Melissa flew from Phoenix on Continental Airlines and arrived in Newark before Ben's and my flight arrived from Salt Lake City. However, Melissa's Continental flight to Rome was four hours late while our Alitalia flight was less that two hours late. As a result Ben and I arrived first in Rome, ran to our flight without checking our luggage into the country and without checking Melissa's flight. We missed our flight to Palermo and assumed mistakenly that Melissa was on that flight. We caught the next flight to Palermo and found that neither Melissa nor our luggage were at the Palermo airport. After searching the airport for an hour or so we decided to pick up our rental car and head to our hotel. Europcar had upgraded us to a Mercedes which was the biggest car in the lot and one that Ben was too young to drive. After driving to a parking spot near our hotel, I was concerned that that car was too large for the Italian roads and their insane driving, but as time went on we came to realize that the Mercedes was the right car for our needs and that the Italian driver may be a little insane, but that they are good drivers. We checked into the Hotel Concordia and continued to panic about the whereabouts of Melissa and our luggage. We were not able to get any information from Continental, and were thinking about calling the police when our landlord came to our door with a big smile and announced that Melissa had arrived at the hotel. I was so relieved of worry that I gave Melissa a big hug and that seemed to temper her ridicule of our stupidity. Our luggage was delivered to the hotel the next morning and we were temporarily back on an even keel. We decided for safety reasons to leave our car parked in public parking while in Palermo. We bribed a fellow, who handled public parking in that area, to watch over our car while we walked and used bus transportation to visit the sites of Palermo and Monreale. For dinner we bought the first of many of Italy's marginal pizzas at a pizza shop and then went to a McDonald's where Melissa and I bought expensive coke light and used one of McDonald's tables to dine.
As part of our daily procedure we instituted a devotional where we took turns giving a spiritual thought and praying for the Holy Ghost to watch over us and protect us, and to express our gratitude for all the blessing that Father in Heaven provided us as we traveled this beautiful and historic land. For our first devotional I drew upon Ammon's comments about his mission to the Lamanites. Alma 26:22 "Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing, unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance." This scripture in my mind is the spiritual theme of our Italian adventure. I will attempt to explain why in my conclusion at the end of this chapter.
Our second day in Palermo was devoted to following Ben as he seemed to search out every nook and cranny in this very large city. In the afternoon and evening we resorted to using the bus system, but even with this help Melissa and I each amassed 25025 steps and very tired bodies. As we marched the streets of Palermo we were able to visit their park, view the beautiful Tyrrhenian Sea, check out the city's main cathedral (the Duomo) with its crypts, and visit a unique cemetery with relatively large burial buildings. As we walked the streets Ben had to try a local sandwich filled with lung and spleen. Our ridicule of what he was eating finally caused him to discard the last half of this obscene treat. The afternoon was more pleasant because we used the buses for transportation. We made a visit to The Catacombs, a disgusting display of skeletons preserved in an underground tomb. We next traveled up into the hills east of Palermo to the city of Monreale, a beautiful city built on the sides of the hills, with a spectacular view of Palermo and the sea beyond. The local Duomo was gorgeously adorned internally with mosaic and we were allowed to visit the roof of this building to optimize the view of our surroundings. After the Duomo, we spent the next couple of hours visiting two families that befriended Ben when he served in Monreale near the beginning of his mission. They seemed to be strong members and clearly enjoyed Ben's visit as witnessed by the sparkle of love in their eyes. We concluded our time in Monreale with a little shop looking and a short visit with two Elders who we ran onto as we headed to catch our bus. The timing of our trip to Italy was good for Ben because he knew many of the elders we visited with including the senior member of this team, an Italian missionary. This day ended with dinner at a local restaurant just across the street from our hotel. Needless to say, we slept an extra hour the next day.
After a fine breakfast of pastries at Hotel Concordia, we paid our bill, bid a due to our kindly hosts, and drug our suitcases to our Mercedes. The car was still in tack but very dirty from an overnight rain storm. It was Saturday so we were able to safely negotiate our way to the freeway and enjoy a peaceful ride across Sicily with its green rolling hills. We stopped at the Catania airport, which was on our route, so that we could sign up Melissa to be a second driver. Melissa finished the drive to the city of Syracuse. Syracuse is a beautiful city that has been around in one form or another for over 3000 years. After checking in at our hotel, we visited a space ship like building that the Catholics have built in honor of Christ's mother Mary. A statue of Mary that was located at this site apparently cried. It was this event that prompted the Catholic community to build this bazaar edifice. Some of the displays are disgusting and in my mind an insult to Our God, His Son, and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We next marched to the site of the Greek and Roman amphitheaters and the nearby caves where prisoners were stored. After 15000 or so steps, tempered with ice cream treats, Melissa and I were ready for a rest at our hotel called Caravaggio. After dark we wandered to a nearby sandwich vendor where Ben and I enjoy horse meat sandwiches with mushrooms and fries and Melissa had a chicken sandwich and fries because she chickened out on trying the horse meat. After this relaxing and tasty meal we headed to the Old City, a beautiful collection of building located on the Ionian Sea. At the local Duomo a orchestra was playing classical music on this gorgeous Saturday evening. A beautiful rendition of The William Tell Overture was a highlight for me. The Duomo with parts dating to Christ's time made this cathedral special. We finish our visit to the Old City with a relaxing walk along the water front and over the bridge to B & B Caravaggio where we spent the night. As we were nearing our hotel from our evening walk, Melissa asked me to check the car. The locks wouldn't respond to the key button and we soon found out that the battery was dead. We had left on the lights. Our host and hostess were really kind and helpful and provided both a nice room and a good breakfast and early the next morning our host brought his car and cables to start our car, but we couldn't find the battery. Frustrated, we had Ben call Europcar for help. After many minutes of discussion, they finally agreed to send help. The fellow they sent was very kind and determined and finally found the battery buried in the trunk. We got the car started and were now ready to drive to church to enjoy Sunday services Italian style. The battery episode was another example of how innocent stupidity can cause pain and suffering, but all is well that ends well.
The Syracuse Branch seemed to represent the stagnation of the Church in Italy. There were a goodly number of older members, but vibrant younger members were in short supply. After church services we had a good visit with the elders, sisters, and the members. I had a good discussion with a medical doctor, who spoke fairly decent English, about the possibility of a temple. He said the church owned land near Rome, but that they may get strong opposition to a temple. On our way to Catania, we drove about 20 km before we discovered that Ben and Melissa had left their scriptures at the church. Ben called the missionary and had them leave the books on the steps of the church so we could recover them. The church building was a different design, Ben called it the white elephant church. On the road again we enjoyed a peaceful trip to Catania, where we were able to locate our next hotel, called Holland International. After checking into a rather austere room we wandered the nearby streets. The city was essentially dead, but we did find a little activity as we got a few blocks away from our hotel. The next morning these same streets came alive as each metal door turned into a shop full of merchandise.
Monday morning we were up early ready to take the long journey to Lecca, but Ben was determined that we go visit the Catania market. We wondered up and down several streets observing how the less affluent people of Catania do their shopping in a flea market type atmosphere. At last we were ready for the beautiful drive past Mount Etna to Messina where we lined our car up to board the fairy to main land Italy. The ride across the Strait of Messina was relaxing and beautiful and the ride up the toe of the boot was spectacular as we traveled through countless tunnels that opened up to gorgeous vistas of the sea, of hills, valleys, and picturesque villages. Eventually, we reached the low lands as we headed towards Taranto an industrial area located at the bottom of the arch of the boot on the Gulf of Taranto. According to Ben, Taranto has the worlds largest steel plant. Our next drive was across the heel of the boot to Lecca near the Adriatic Sea. Our hotel Dimora Barocca was in the Old City and we couldn't find our way in until Ben asked the right person who took the time to escort us to the entry of the Old City. We soon found our hotel, called the landlord and discovered that we had excellent accommodation. This hotel would turn out to be our best accommodation for the entire trip. Melissa had her own private room and bath. Once checked in, Ben took off on foot to find his Italian friends and Melissa and I took a leisurely walk around the Old City. It was interesting to note that in Italy amongst natives I am average height. Italians tend to be short and slim of built. Obesity among native Italians was almost non-existent. Another interesting observation was that there were very few blacks and even fewer identifiable Arabs. Obviously Italy's immigration laws are more restrictive than other European countries. Ben returned a couple of hours later with three of his friends and I was privileged to visit with them for a half hour or so. These were nice young men who were glad to see Ben and he was obviously pleased to once again see them and find out what they were doing with their lives.
After breakfast in our hotel, we drove through the flatlands, where anything and everything seems to grow. I suspect that fruits and vegetables are a major part of the Italian diet, since they are readily available and inexpensive. Our destination was the coast city of Bari where Ben spent several months of his mission. Bari was having a festival and Ben was obsessed with buying some cheap ties, which resulted in us being tied up in a traffic jam for an hour or more. We finally broke through and were able to find a couple of older ladies that had been in Ben's ward. We visited with them for a while and then headed to Bitonto to see Ben's golden family. Ann Marie and her daughter were very special people with strong testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Ann Marie and I shared our testimonies through Ben and we found out that she had taken her endowments out and had done work at the Bern temple. She planned on attending for a week twice a year and had already researched 70 family names. I also found out that since her baptism two years ago, she has read the Book of Mormon more than 15 times. She also mentioned that she uses the Book of Mormon as a source of revelation. The ladies graciously provided us with drinks and an ice cream treat while we talked for over an hour. After an Italian style kiss on each cheek and a hug, we were on our way to Napoli. We stopped along the way for a couple of hours to tour a castle that was on the top of the only hill in this rather flat part of Italy. After a peaceful drive along the freeway, our entry into Naples was anything but fun. Melissa was driving in a monstrous traffic jam as we tried to find the Hostel of the Sun where we were to camp out with the back packing bunch. Having survived the drive and having found our hotel we entertained ourselves with free Internet and enjoyed a reasonably good dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. Naples has a garbage problem as was apparent by the size of the garbage pile across the street from our hotel. Nearly every street had a similar problem. Our room was in a vault, so we felt secure in this city of garbage everywhere and totally insane drivers.
After a modest breakfast we bailed our car out of its underground garage and headed to Pompey to view what was left after the Lord used the top of Vesuvius to destroy these ancient and grossly wicked people. At Pompey a very nice fellow flagged us down and directed us to parking. We spent several hours wondering through the ruins. These ruins are clearly a magnet for tourists, it seems that the tragedy of Pompey is taught in most grade schools. We had an enjoyable visit wondering around on the cobble stone roads and in and out of structures that were well preserved. It was obvious that wealth and pride were dominate feature of this ancient society. After lunch at a restaurant where we parked, we headed to Rome with me at the helm of our Mercedes.
The journey to Rome was a pleasant drive through the beautiful country side. Villages and their Duomos were built on the tops of the hills. Obviously this was done for security reasons, since these villages were first built hundreds of years ago. Our lodging for the next three nights was north of Rome in a prefabricated house with two bedrooms, two baths, and a kitchen. We were located in a rural atmosphere at Flaminio Village Bungalow Park, which made our stay very pleasant since it gave us a break from being in an old building in the middle of a city. The first evening we dined at the Park restaurant which afforded a very pleasant atmosphere. The pizza we ordered was fair but the crust was paper thin. Melissa and I collected laundry and washed and dried enough clothes to hopefully get the three of us through our Italian adventure. The cost was an outrageous 8 euros and took a couple of hours of our attention, but we did have fun talking about some of the hilarious aspects of our journey through Italy.
We took an old rickety train into Rome and walked from the main station to the Vatican. On the way we stopped for a breakfast sweet role and then enjoyed a leisurely walk through the streets of Rome. Rome was noticeably cleaner than any of the other cities we had visited. We were early arrivals so the lines at St. Peters Basilica were short. We went to the lower level and viewed Peter's burial site, which was kind of neat since we reverence him as the first prophet of Christ's church as it existed in the meridian of time. Later as we toured this elaborate house of Catholic worship, we saw a statue of Peter holding keys. Ironically, he was the last one to hold keys before they were restored to Joseph Smith for use in this the final dispensation. While Ben climbed to the top of the Basilica for a marvelous view and some spectacular pictures, Melissa and I found a shady place to set and watch the tourists as they wondered around this beautiful plaza with its fountains and ancient architecture. When Ben returned, we walked around in and out of the Vatican for a couple thousand steps, stopping for ice cream to refresh ourselves, before we got serious about finding the Sistine Chapel. Eventually, we found the chapel and museum entry, paid our fees and began the long but enjoyable journey through this marvelous collection of art in all its forms. There was an outstanding collection of Egyptian artifacts including several mummies. The pictures on the walls and ceilings of this edifice were spectacular, especially Michaelangelo's painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. His genius was such that his painting appear to be three dimensional even after the touch-up that occurred during their restoration. Melissa developed blisters from all the walking and could barely walk at all by the time we returned to our bungalow. We recorded nearly 24,000 steps on our first day in Rome. We picked up some groceries across the street from our hotel, but Melissa was so stressed out that she had no enthusiasm for shopping. We made sandwiches and dined at our bungalow kitchen table and then put our tired bodies to bed.
Our second day in Rome was much easier since we used trains to get to and from the Coliseum. Our first visit was to the Pantheon, which was originally a pagan house of worship adorned with statues of Venus, Mars, and etc. The huge round dome with a circular hole is an awesome site. On the way to the Pantheon we passed a parade of marching police. It was the 150th anniversary of the Rome police and they had units of all kinds, including a band, as they marched to the site of the celebration. After the Pantheon we caught the train to the Coliseum where we wandered through this huge but dreary ruins. This structure reminds you once again of man cruelty towards man. Imagine crowds cheering as animals are allowed to kill innocent people. The adjoining ruins remind us of a great Roman society, a pagan society that didn't know the real God and one that eventually crumbled because of their idolatry and wickedness. I often wonder if the state of affairs in our own great nation has reached this same level of idolatry and wickedness. After finishing our tour, we took the more modern train back to our hotel. We stopped off at a restaurant across the street from our hotel and enjoyed a good dinner (I had some really good paste). We also had our coke light and some ice cream and pastries. We paid our hotel bill that evening (The bungalows were the least expensive of our accommodation). I took a walk in order to enjoy the serene atmosphere of our rural location before retiring for a good nights sleep.
Up early we headed up the Italian freeways to Siena. The countryside is plush rolling hills and valleys with villages plucked on top of the hills. The drive was pleasant and Siena is a beautiful city with reasonably clean buildings and streets. We parked at the bottom of the city and took five sets of escalators to the city (Siena is a city on a hill). We visited a cathedral dedicated to St. Assisi and then walked the city, doing a little shopping and site seeing in a monstrous piazza. Leaving Siena we took our journey to Lucca and to B and B Centro Storico. We had a little trouble finding our hotel and a little more finding parking, but once we had parked we had it made. We were concerned about the cost of the parking, but a gypsy lady who sold Ben a small pack of tissues for a euro, assured us that the cost from midnight to 8 AM was only 1.5 euro. Our hotel hostess, a very pleasant young lady, not only directed us to an excellent restaurant, but took the time to prepare a nice breakfast for us for the next morning. The restaurant she recommended was a good one, the food was excellent. Melissa and I had some tasty veal and potatoes and Ben had a paste dish or two.
Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel early and headed to Pisa to find the chapel where the Pisa Branch meets. We made one wrong turn into a dead end, but that was easy to correct and we arrived at the church about a half hour early. The church is located in a pleasant rural environment and has what appeared to be 50 or 60 adult members and six missionaries including two sisters. The branch president is American and ex-military. He had married an Italian lady and now retired from the military, works as a civilian at the US Base. He said that if we come back in two years, the branch will have become a ward. After attending the meetings and listening to the members through an interpretor, I suspect his prediction will be fulfilled. Forgiveness was the topic of the day for the priesthood and there was a lot of insight from the membership. The four sacrament meeting talks were well prepared and well delivered. A former sister missionary from the US also bore her testimony in a very impressive way. You could tell that she had a deep love for the Italian people. I couldn't understand the language, but the spirit was powerful and my missionary interpretor helped a great deal.
After church Roberta, a former missionary friend of Ben, joined us in our car and directed us to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Two large buildings and the tower are painted in a very distinctive way so that they look out of place, yet very beautiful. A marathon run was underway and many of the early finishers were trying to recover from their ordeal as we toured this very impressive site. We enjoyed the serenity of this well known attraction and took numerous pictures. Roberta is shy, but once the ice was broken, she exhibited a very enjoyable personality, similar in many ways to Ben's personality. After a good time at Pisa, we dropped Roberta off at the train station and made our way to Florence and to Hotel Sampaoli.
Once again we struggled in finding our hotel, but our landlord directed us to a parking lot about 2000 steps from our hotel. It was remote, but it was available. Our hotel was relatively nice. It was roomy and equipped with rather old furniture (antiques), a ceiling fan and and an electronic toilet. Our landlord recommended a restaurant, but going there Ben managed to take us down a series of back alleys populated with blacks. We were hoping the route back to the hotel would be more pleasant. The restaurant food was good except for the bread which was prepared without any salt, Tuscany style. The veal and potatoes were tasty. We chose a different route back to our hotel which was along the river and very pleasant. We had a good nights sleep and then spent some time on the Internet catching up on the news and our e-mail. After walking the streets of Florence to see it's famous tourist sites in the daylight, we took our journey to Venice. Northern Italy is more industrial and more prosperous than the south. On our way to Venice we drove by Bologna, which along with Milan, appear to be the centers of commercial activity. After many errors we finally got proper direction to the Venice Hotel Villa Dori which would rate as one of our best hotels. Ben took the bus to Venice to meet his friend Robby and Robby's girl friend and to tour the city as preparation for our visit the next day. Melissa and I followed the advice of our landlord and checked out a local restaurant. We were early, so we enjoyed a coke light and solved many of the world's problems. When dinner time finally rolled around, we were treated to a superb meal. I had the best lasagna and fries that I have tasted in Italy or any other place, and Melissa had some quality soup and fries. The veal we chose for our third dish was cooked with too much olive oil, but the overall meal and service was excellent by any standard.
We arranged to leave our car at the hotel and then took the bus into Venice. Ben lead us on a tour of the city. Venice was a pleasant surprise with its unique beauty and its countless shops with affordable prices. We did a good portion of our shopping and even found some good pizza. We found some really nice masks for Melissa and Lori and Melissa bought Venetian glass and some jewelry made from Venetian glass for her and for the ladies who were helping with the kids. The road from Venice to Como was more crowded than our past freeway experience and near Milan turned into a disaster because of a wreck. After an hour of stop and go, Melissa wisely took a secondary road to Como. A very good decision, because now we were at least on the move. Once in Como, we found our hotel by asking a fellow for direction. He kindly escorted us to our hotel, a trip that took 15 or 20 minutes of his time. You have to be impressed when you find people of this nature. Beautiful Lake Como is the last stop on our Italian journey. Our hotel is Riva al Lago. We have a nice room with a view of the lake, a parking spot, and easy walking access to the sites of Como.
The next to last day of our Italian adventure was a drive into Switzerland, followed by a drive around Lake Como. We drove to Lugano, Switzerland were we found a parking garage that gave us easy access to treats and the lake. We spent a couple hours walking by the lake and taking pictures of this beautiful area of Switzerland. We spent most of our Swiss franks on goodies and the parking and then headed for beautiful Lake Como. Once back in Italy the road narrowed and the driving adventure began. I went through holes created by trucks on my left and walls on my right that my car would not fit through, yet it did. These were white knuckle experiences to exceed all white knuckle experiences. The relief I felt each time I got through one of these holes was breathtaking. We passed through Menaggio, a gorgeous village on the lake which is directly across the lake from the famous city of Bellagio. This is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth.
We were up very early on May 17th so that Melissa would be sure to make her flight home. With few cars on the road at 7AM, we had a fast and a safe trip to the airport and checked in an undamaged Mercedes. This brought a sigh of relief from both Melissa and I. We were very early for our flights, so we had a long wait before our trip home. Ben and I spent an hour or so talking to Melissa at her gate before we headed off to our own gate. Traveling is a great blessing, but home is where our heart resides.
In conclusion, it should be obvious that this trip met all of my expectation. In reality, it exceeded my expectation in many meaningful ways. In the scriptures, and specifically in 3 Nephi 14:7-8 the Savior councils: "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened." Clearly, the prerequisite to fulfillment of this promise is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, accompanied by prayer offered with real intent. It was the application of this council that lead to the success and fulfillment that all three of us experienced in our Italian adventure. As a result of our experiences, I personally have learned a great deal about faith and the powers that it represents. Faith is a belief in the existence of divine powers, but it is more than that. Faith is the belief in and, coupled with sincere prayer, the activator of the powers of heaven. Our prayers for safety as we drove the roads of Italy were answered and the blessing I received from my home teacher fulfilled. Ammon's comments about his mission remind me of Ben's comments regarding his mission. Ben decided early on that he would focus upon obedience. Obedience requires repentance, faith, good works, and continual prayer. This approach worked out well for both Ammon and Ben. As we traveled through Ben's mission, and met the people he knew and taught and loved; we experienced the fruits of his labor. Who knows beside God, how many will be brought to repentance because of Ben's testimony and good works. It was a pleasure and a worthwhile investment in time and money for the three of us to visit Italy, to enjoy one another company, and to see this beautiful land and its historic sites. Arrivederci!