I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What exactly does that mean? Well, it means that I chose to be baptised and be a member of this church because I believe it’s teachings to be true. As much as I have beliefs, and strong ones at that. I have been learning so much more about the importance of allowing others to have their own beliefs on whatever it might be. Even though I may not agree with everyone and vice versa. I’m all about the “You do you!”. In saying that I am super happy to answer any questions that come my way or have discussions if someone is interested. 😊
Why is this important in this particular post? Well our time in Italy was centred around a visit to the Rome, Italy, LDS, (Latter-Day Saint) Temple. A place where we believe we can be sealed to our families for all time and eternity. We were sealed in the Brisbane, Australia Temple is 2012. Cool hey? Another fun fact about something I believe, is that we have living Prophets on this earth who are here to lead and guide us. Just like a Moses back in the day but for our time now. His name is Russell. M. Nelson and he was going to be at the dedication of this temple. This is a big deal. He is super cool. He is 95yrs old and is the ‘leader’ of a 15million+ membership church and lives in America. Did I mention he was a heart surgeon? SO cool.
Anyway. After a 3 hour train trip, we arrived in Rome. Have I mentioned how many stairs there are? Every time we came to a lift it was out of order and we would need to carry our large suitcases up and down all the stairs. Lucky I was fit enough to be able to do it myself. We headed out to our Air bnb. We used Air bnb’s for our 3weeks+ that we were there except for the last night where we stayed at a hotel so we could have breakfast there before our flight back home. We use Air bnb in Australia all the time. It’s an awesome way to travel, because you usually get a whole house or apartment instead of just a hotel room for the same price. Each Air bnb that we stayed at was cool. Some had lofts, some had ridiculous bath/shower arrangements, some were more traditional, some more modern. It allowed us to come in under budget for our accommodation or let us splurge a little bit more in Cinque Terre (wait till you see the view from our room!!).
Before bed we headed to the local supermarket to get some food. We don’t buy things on a Sunday and we weren’t leaving until Monday morning so would need to get enough food to last until then. Going to each of the supermarkets every time we stopped somewhere was so much fun. I’ve found each country I’ve been to has different items that are just so much cheaper than home. It’s definitely dangerous when they sell little chocolate custard cups with cream for 45cents (Australian). 45!! I mean, what was I expected to do? Custard in Aus is expensive to eat regularly and these were several hundred mls. Obviously, it was a staple in our fridge. Haha.
Something I did really love about our time away was that different locations and situations would remind Nathanael of something that he did or that happened when he lived in Italy. While in the supermarket we were looking at getting some bread so we could make sandwiches for lunch the next day. Nathanael tells me about how he used to on his mission, on a Monday, go to the local bakery and order 8 turtle rolls (that’s what the bread roll is called because it looks like a turtle) and eat them in one day. 8!! After 7years of being married it was SO awesome to hear lots of new stories and memories.
We stopped by a little restaurant next door for dinner. Something that was different for me this pregnancy was that my appetite was always off. I never felt like breakfast and sometimes it would take me a while to decide what I wanted. We were choosing a pinsa and after about 15min I finally decided on one and we asked for the ‘pineapple’ one. The lady looked at us and was confused. Repeating the request and pointing she tells us (well Nathanael as this is all happening in Italian) that it’s actually potato. Tears started falling. This was hard. What was I going to do now? Nathanael helped take charge as he baffled over my crazy hormonal saga and we picked one. These were not what we were expecting. They were SO delicious. Only 5 euro each! We were sad we didn’t order more because we wouldn’t get a chance to buy these again. A few games of Monopoly Deal and our day was over.
Waking Sunday morning it was an exciting time for us. For 7 years we had talked about making this happen. For 7 years we had waited. For Nathanael he was serving his mission in 2005-2007. The temple was announced in 2008, we met in 2011 and were married in 2012 and this was March 2019. Over a decade Nathanael had wanted to be a part of this moment and today it was going to happen. Each day with my pregnancy was different. There were days when I was happy to give the bus a miss to save money and walk 1-2kms to our destination there were other days when I wanted to catch the bus 200m to the train station. Almost all of the time we walked if we could. This day we waited for the bus, waited and waited and it wasn’t coming so we walked. It was only a couple of km’s but it was a cold day. I didn’t bring enough warm clothes with me but we would have to make do. Off we went in our church clothes ready for the temple to be dedicated.
Once a temple is built it is open to the public to come and see if they wish. Then it is dedicated and only those that hold a temple recommend (based on worthiness) are able to enter. Its an incredible feeling to be inside and to experience it. There are songs, speakers and then a special dedicatory prayer. A special message of hope for one’s future and the patience to wait for good things even through trials was spoken on. As I sat rubbing my belly of our sweet Claire who would join us in a couple of months. Knowing the years, I had to wait for her….I had peace. That even if I had to go through it again next time, I would remember this moment when times got tough.
Everyone has highlights in their life. Moments of time that stay with you. This would be one of them. For many reasons. The sweet Spirit we felt, the hands we shook, the wave from the Prophet right at me as he left in his car, but above all. Our marriage. We had said we were going to do this and after all those years there we were. Hand in hand. Doing it together. What a beautiful bonding moment and commitment for our marriage to always have this dedication, passion and long-lasting effort. One that we believe will last forever, and boy were we going to need it for the next morning. SO help me!
Something that is often a blessing in our lives and especially in our travel life is my organisation and fast paced actions. I am that person on holidays that on the check out day I am ready with my bags packed by 7am enjoying the final hours before check out. Other members of my family are still packing a bag 30mins after we are meant to be checked out *looks at mum*. This meant that each time we needed to move locations everything was a streamlined system that resulted in a quick but smooth morning. Outside in fresh Spring air we waited for the bus to take us back to the metro station as Florence was waiting! 10mins goes by, 15mins, no bus. What do we do? Get an uber and spend so much more money? By the time it gets to us will the bus already be here. Do we look for another bus?
Crossing the road we decide to jump on another bus, then we wait in traffic. Monday morning traffic. Thinking this was what we were on holidays to get away from, here we were. Checking the time, we were cutting it SO fine. Another decision to make….do we get off and run to the metro station or wait….
We waited a couple more stops and get off at a different metro station. We race to catch the metro. If all went well, we would make the train within a couple of minutes of their strict departure time. Then a notification. The metro we needed would be 3 mins late. What! More waiting. Checking the time, it would be so close. We get on and off the metro and we RUN. Why? Well you see train travel over there is not very forgiving. We had pre-purchased our tickets and they cost us about 90 euro. If we missed the train we would need to buy more tickets and that would cost us another 100 euro. So with 20kg suitcases each and carry on strapped to us, we bolt. Here I am almost 30 weeks pregnant hauling luggage like a mad lady, while taking care. No amount of money would have stopped me from being safe about my baby. Running, stairs, lifting, running and….WE MISSED IT. By 2mins. Gone. Wahhh!
Nathanael goes to the counter to buy more tickets for the next train. We would need to wait another hour and we got no discount, no exceptions, just lost money. I cried. We were both angry. 3 separate times the public system in one morning had let us down and we had lost our ‘spare’ time. This was also one of those harder moments for me because when Nathanael came back I asked if we got some kind of discount and he said no. I asked question after question because back home I would have gone in the first place to ask but having to send Nathanael and accept whatever he came back with was challenging. Being the organiser of our family letting the reigns go, I needed to learn to trust Nathanael. This happened multiple times throughout out trip where Nathanael just needed to be in control and it drove me crazy.
However, a lesson I learnt was that we all have our strengths and weaknesses and that you need to allow people to have both of them in order to thrive individually and together. So deep breaths on the train, allow the memories of yesterday’s milestone to flood over me. A quick video call to my baby girl, earphones in to watch “Call the Midwife” and food (obvs).
Florence here we come!
Love Sarah Kay, xx
P.s. Have you ever been to an LDS Temple? If so, which was your favourite?
P.p.s. Someone offered to take our photo and we were so grateful. They only took one. Check it out below.
