Part III of Our Italy Trip--Going Our Separate Ways

During a lot of our trip to Italy, our group stayed together, but there were two days that we went our

Pirate Cruise

separate ways. One day, Bryan, Marc and Kira went on a pirate cruise, while I wandered around Vicenza. The other day, Bryan went on his own to Florence, Marc and Lisa went on a tour to the Dolomites, the mountains around Vicenza, while I went to Church, and then to lunch with friends. 

The pirate cruise (according to those who attended) was loads of fun. The cruise was catered so there was unlimited food and drinks. It was a family-friendly party atmosphere on the ship, with music and costumes.Fortunately, Kira had a friend, a girl her age who was the daughter of the tour guide’s sister, so she had a buddy to have fun with. Bryan was not into the alcohol, so he felt a little apart. Marc, though had a wonderful time.

The cruise went to several of the Venice islands, including 

Asiago

Murano where they got to see a demonstration of glass-blowing, and to Saint Marc’s square by water where they enjoyed the Carnivale in the square.
Marc & Kira’s tour went up to Asiago, where they make Asiago Cheese (and they learned how this is done). But Asiago is also a quaint town where the kids used to go skiing each Saturday from Vicenza. It is also the site of decisive battle during World War I, wherein over half a million-people died, before the Austrio-Hungary army was sent back from Italy’s Alps.

Marc enjoyed revisiting his old skiing sites, and at one restaurant they were served a complete seven-course meal, which was a treat. Then they were off to Marostica, Italy, a medieval walled city where every other year they have a life-size chess match in their square.

Then they stopped by a teacher’s house where 

they were served a wonderful full-blown tea, with numerous pastries, treats and other stuff.

Marc’s adventure in Florence was quite eventful! He had saved $200.00 of his birthday money with one aim in mind. He was going to buy a leather jacket in Florence, the leather capital of the world. He negotiated down a dealer with a brown goat-skinned leather jacket and was so proud when he got it for a third of its original price. He excitedly told Diana that he finally had a leather jacket like the ones Ed had gotten in Italy when we lived here. Diana then informed him that Ed had purchased all the leather jackets we had in Turkey when he went there on business.

Florence

Bryan did see the David statue and other of the historical sites 

in Florence and finally he was ready to come home. He’d taken the high-speed train from Vicenza and he’d made sure to save enough money to come home with—except he’d taken a cheaper fare there and when he went to the train station, only the executive suites were available—at a much-elevated cost. He didn’t have enough money to catch a train back to Vicenza.

Bryan's leather jacket

I’d given him a credit card with him, “just in case,” but I’d accidentally given him a debit card, instead and I couldn’t remember the pin. He texted me and then called me in a panic—What was he to do? Luckily, while he was talking to me, an opening in a cheaper train came up and he grabbed it and came back to Vicenza.

My Sunday on the other hand was wonderful. I walked Bryan to the train station, then took a taxi to the LDS chapel, which was a little way out of Vicenza. I got there early and just sat in the beautiful chapel and thought of all the places we’d had church when we lived there 30 years ago. We’d once held church above a car dealership, and in other diverse places. Now they had a wonderful suite of rooms above some offices in an industrial area. There was a beautiful chapel, and all the other rooms that a chapel has.

Vicenza Chapel

I was so glad to see friends from when we lived there, Maria Grazia (who talked in church that day) and others that I hadn’t seen for 30 years. When I went to Relief Society, the president introduced me as “Sorella Beth” and Rosetta cried from the back, “Sorella Beth Dayley?” and ran up and hugged me. It reminded me of reunion Alma and the sons of Mosiah had after years doing missionary work. Alma 17:2 says: “Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.”

Restaurant

The lady I wanted to see most wasn’t there, she was at a ward conference in Padua as president of the Stake Young Women’s Organization. She came by later that afternoon and visited me. Silvia Marini had been my counselor when they made a ward out of the two branches—the American military branch and the Italian branch. Silvia had been my Italian counselor and went with me to visit the homes of the Italian sisters, while an American sister was my American counselor. Silvia was very fluent in English and a great asset to me in my calling.

Today Silvia’s three children were all grown (and her daughter was in the ward there with her children. Silvia had continued to dance and she currently teaches dancing and Pilates on the

View from Rotunda

American base where her English is a wonderful asset, and also teaches Pilates in downtown Vicenza. She certainly doesn’t look 30 years older, and it was so fun to talk to her.

After church, one of Marc’s high-school friends who we’d had dinner with, Danielle, picked me up at the church and took me to lunch with her Mom at beautiful restaurant in the hills above Vicenza. Afterwards we explored the Rotunda, one of Palladio’s masterpieces, which Thomas Jefferson modeled his home, Monticello after.

Map of Vicenza--see how close the Teatro is to our hotel

Later that afternoon, Danielle dropped me off at the “Teatro Olimpico” which was just around the corner from our apartment. She didn’t drop me off at our apartment because it is in the walking-only area of Vicenza and has only one small one-way street going through it which is hard to navigate. I wasn’t concerned even though I’d had such a difficult time navigating the streets the day before. I pulled out my Google Maps—and got lost again. I didn’t get as lost as the day before, but I kept coming back to the Basilica (on the other end of Corso Palladio) and I’d try again to find my way home. An hour and a half later, I stumbled home, and swore I’d never try to find my way around Vicenza every again!!!!

That night I developed a terrible cough and fever, and was really sick.

Kira on pirate cruise

Kira, Marc & Bryan 

St. Mark's Square

Add caption

View from ship

Marc on ship

Battle Memorial in Asiago

Kira at 7-course dinner

Part of the dinner

Marostica Bridge

Marostica courtyard

Marostica

Formal tea

Marc on ship

leather market

Kira steering pirate ship

Our street

Back of Monte Berico

Rotunda

Part of Rotunda

Vineyard

The Heritage of Relief Society

There are hundreds of humanitarian, relief and woman’s organizations today to assist people in need of hunger, shelter, disaster relief and much more. One stands apart, as one of the oldest and largest women’s organizations in the world—the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose organization in 1842 we celebrate in March.

The Relief Society was organized on March 17, 1842, when the Prophet Joseph Smith made the Relief Society an official part of the Church and kingdom of God, and said, “I now turn the key to you in the name of God and this Society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time—this is the beginning of better days to this Society.” (Minutes, 28 Apr. 1842, p. 40.) The Prophet also promised them in connection with their charitable service, “If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates.” (Ibid, p. 38. quoted by Elder Dallin Oaks, “The Relief Society and the Church,” Ensign, May 1992.)


“Relief Society is unique because it was organized after the ‘pattern of the priesthood’ and we operate on a general and local level under the direction of priesthood leaders. We work in partnership with priesthood leaders, who hold keys which give them authority to preside in the name of the Lord,” Sister Julie Beck, general president of the Relief Society. “Ours is an organization that continues to be led today by prophets, seers, and revelators.” (Beck, Julie, “The Purposes of Relief Society, Ensign, Nov. 2010.)

"Led by prophets, seers and revelators.” Led by prophets like Moses, Elijah, and Jacob. Not led by majority rule, by educated individuals, or by ordinary men and women, but “by prophets, seers and revelators.” Can you imagine a more powerful organization? What could an organization like this accomplish? What is its goal?

What is at the heart of the Relief Society? Charity, the pure love of Christ. Relief Society’s motto, “Charity Never Faileth,” is as true today, and beats as strongly in each woman’s heart today as it did in early years. Women are as compassionate today as they were in 1842 when Joseph Smith’s month said in that first Relief Society meeting, “We must cherish [and] watch over one another, comfort one another and gain instruction that we may all sit down in heaven together.” (Lucy Mack Smith, in Relief Society, Minute Book Mar. 1842–Mar. 1844, entry for Mar. 24, 1842, 18–19. Quoted by President Henry B. Eyring in “The Enduring Legacy of Relief Society,” Ensign, Nov. 2009.)

President Henry B. Eyring, of the First Presidency of the Church said, “There are many benevolent groups of women who do great good. There are many who have overpowering feelings of sympathy for the unfortunate, the sick, and the needy. But this organization is unique and has been from its start . . . This society is composed of women whose feelings of charity spring from hearts changed by qualifying for and by keeping covenants offered only in the Lord’s true Church. Their feelings of charity come from Him through His Atonement. . . . Because of that, they have done and are able to do uncommon things for others and to find joy even when their own unmet needs are great.” (Eyring, President Henry B., “The Enduring Legacy of Relief Society,” Ensign, Nov. 2009.)

In every ward of the Church you will find angels in aprons and angels in worn-out jeans, angels in suits working outside the home, angels with many children, and angels who are unmarried, sisters who reach out to others with charity, thoughtfulness, food, time, help, and kindness. They do not need an assignment as a visiting teacher to reach out to their neighbors; they give rides to therapy; they invite others to join them in activities; they watch each other’s children; they give love as well as food. They are true sisters of heart, not of blood.

They do that which each of us covenant to do when we are baptized; it is that which the Alma asked the people to do at the waters of Mormon in Mosiah 18: 8-9 (Book of Mormon), “bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.” This love, this charity, this compassion, is not something that can be taught in Relief Society lessons; it is taught through sharing love. It is taught sister to sister through each act of charity, each mother to child, each Relief Society generation to generation.

That love, compassion and concern for each other is the heritage of Relief Society. President Eyring said, “You pass the heritage along as you help others receive the gift of charity in their hearts. They will then be able to pass it to others. The history of Relief Society is recorded in words and numbers, but the heritage is passed heart to heart. That is why families are such beneficiaries of Relief Society.” (Eyring, President Henry B., “The Enduring Legacy of Relief Society,” Ensign, Nov. 2009.)

Beck, Julie. “The Purposes of Relief Society". Ensign, Nov 2010.
Eyring, President Henry B. “The Enduring Legacy of Relief Society,”. Ensign, Nov 2009.
Oaks, Elder Dallin. “The Relief Society and the Church". Ensign, May 1992.

What Is In Your Children's Spiritual Storehouse?

Recently my brother wrote a blog on what he called “inherited faith”—people sharing the faith of their parents because that is what they were taught. They follow the faith of their family as a tradition, not as a conviction, or because they are truly converted to that faith. He wrote: “To me that is almost as deeply felt faith as saying ‘I drink 7-UP because my parents drank it and I see no reason to try anything else I might like better.’”

It made me think about how you influence your children to gain a testimony of your church or your faith. They cannot rely on your testimony for long after they become adults and question everything, so what do you do during their growing years to help them (1. Want to worship the same religion as you do? and (2. Know how to recognize and gain a testimony of the religion?

The first question presupposes that you are happy with your faith and want your children to follow in your faith, which I feel in most cases is true. If you are not happy with your faith, you wouldn’t care if they followed your faith, but would want them to be good Christian, God-fearing, ethical people, regardless of which religion they chose.

But if you were devout, you probably would want your children to know God, to trust in Him, to follow His precepts, and make worship an integral part of their lives as you have made it part of yours. What would you do during your child rearing to encourage your children to live such a life?

Of course, you would go to church regularly, pray daily, study scriptures frequently, keep the commandments, spend quality family time together, love each other and show that love by how they interact with each other. I am sure most Christian families do these things automatically. I would like to suggest one other thing that might make the most difference—something that is a part of much of what these families routinely do, and take for granted—encourage the activities that help family members feel the spirit of God.

In an article published in the Deseret News on July 24, 2009, National Public Radio's religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty, author of the book, Fingerprints of God, stated that, "51 percent of people in this country report having had a ‘transformative spiritual experience that they can't ignore.’"

That would only make sense as we read in the Book of Mormon, in Moroni 7: 16, “the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; . . . for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.”

I feel it is the spiritual feelings that we have in our church experiences (and in other sacred experiences) that are the foundations of our testimonies of both the existence of a God, and the truth of our own sect or faith. We cannot manufacture these feelings for others, but we can create an atmosphere in the home where this feeling can be felt, and the family members can know what it feels like and recognize it when they feel it again.

Also, Moroni’s promise in Moroni 10:5, “And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” is so reassuring—knowing that you can pray to know the truth of something and encouraging family members to pray for that truth, is empowering. It refers not only to spiritual things, but to all things! However, when it comes to your faith, you are not relying on your parents’ word—you are receiving your own spiritual revelation or testimony of the truth. How important it is then that you are accustomed to praying to know the truth of important things? How important is it to know how to recognize the spirit that testifies of that truth!

I remember when I received my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I had read it and had prayed, trusting in Moroni’s specific promise about the Book of Mormon in Moroni 10: 3-5 “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things . . . and ponder it in your hearts . . . I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

I remember the wonderful feeling of assurance, of knowledge, of faith, of spiritual power that flowed through me that this Book of Mormon was not just another book, but true revelation. The thought, a testimony of either Brigham Young or Parley Pratt that I had once read came forcefully to my mind by the spirit: “God or the devil has written this book, for man never wrote it.” As I remembered those words, I knew they were true; the Book of Mormon had been revealed to Joseph Smith and translated by the power of the Holy Ghost. I recognized the spirit that testified to me from the times as a child I had felt the spirit when I had been given a blessing of healing, or been present at a time when someone was given a blessing and the spirit was very strong.

I remember a young man telling me that he had prayed to know if the church was true—if President Hinckley (who was then the president of the church) was a prophet. He hadn’t received an answer to his prayer until he was watching General Conference. While President Hinckley was talking, this young man said he was filled with the most overpowering feeling that President Hinckley was indeed a prophet a God, and the church was true! He recognized the spirit that testified to him and knew it was from God.

These spiritual feelings are what we remember that make up our “testimony” and strengthen us during our dark days when it seems there is no hope in the world. I remember another young man who had not been active in his church for a number of years when he attended his aunt’s funeral.

His aunt and uncle had been prominent in the church on the east coast and Elder Zwick, a general authority who had worked with them spoke at the funeral. Elder Zwick talked about the aunt and told some personal experiences he’d shared with her. At the end of the funeral, this young man mentioned to me how impressed he was with Elder Zwick’s comments. He said he felt a power in his talk that he hadn’t felt before. The closing song at the funeral was “How Great Thou Art,” and afterwards this young man asked his sister about it. She mentioned it was a common song, which she’d sung many times before. He then asked her if she heard the extra people singing. She said no, she had not, but that she was crying hard at the time! This young man (who no one would call very spiritual) said that he felt very strongly during the closing song, that he could hear others, besides the audience, singing and he knew they were family who’d passed away that were there—singing and praising the Lord.

These are the kind of spiritual experiences, which testify of God, and bring us to church each Sunday to renew our faith and regain that feeling. It is what prompts us to pray, and read the scriptures and keep the commandments so we can be receptive to the spirit. It is what prompts us to be worthy and to go to the temple. It is what helps us recognize when others are speaking by the spirit. “For when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.” (2 Nephi 33:1.)

What can we give our children while they are young to help them find their spiritual path to God? To help them gain a testimony that will sustain them through their life? To help them trust and love God? Is it the traditions of our church? The happiness of our home and family? The habits of attending church? All of these are wonderful, necessary and provide them with a pattern for happiness, but I feel that one of the most important “gifts” you can give your children is spiritual experiences.

When “the young experience the gospel and its fruits and know it is true. Then nobody has to tell them; they experience it,” Elder Neal A. Maxwell explained in a February 1978 Liahona article “These experiences will give each of your young people a storehouse of spiritual experiences on which he can draw, much as our people can draw upon the supplies of food and clothing have laid away.”

Are we providing the opportunities for our young children to gain a storehouse of spiritual experiences on which they can draw when they become older and need to develop a testimony? Or are we only providing them with a supply of food and clothing that they will outgrow?