Day 10: Nemi...

Sunday we went to church in the Rome 3 ward. It was a very fun experience for us. We went to all three hours and we all had a great time. After church, Karen was preparing for an open house at the mission home. They had invited members & missionaries to bring investigators and they invited the neighbors to come. We decided it might be a good time for a drive to Nemi, so we'd be out of the way (mostly so the boys would be out of the way) while they got the house ready.

We drove to Nemi, about an hour away. Ever since I visited Nemi with Karen in 2008, I have wanted to go back. It is the sweetest little town perched up on a hill above a crater lake. The family loved it.

The only problem with visiting on a Sunday was that we couldn't buy one of the yummy strawberry tarts. We hadn't thought that out too well!





We just walked all around the town and explored. It was a great evening, warm and beautiful. The sunset was so pretty, we were happy we picked this time to visit.




The kids enjoyed drinking from Medusa's fountain!







When we were ready to go, we couldn't find Janessa. She was hiding in a phone booth... trying to make calls to her friends to tell them all about her fun trip! Life without a cell phone is really rough on teenagers!

By the time we arrived back at the mission home, they were ready for visitors. It was all so festive and nice. They had set out refreshments, had a church Christmas presentation showing and had nativities set up all over.


The missionaries sang Christmas songs outside, they were really amazing. Mark accompanied them on the violin.


President with Rick and Andrew, the next missionary in our family! It was a great missionary experience for all of us. I am so proud of what Jeff & Karen have done on their mission. They are amazing examples to us as they share the gospel with others in Italy.