La Gran Aventura Day 104: Rome!

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Well, I can’t we slept great. Our $35 Amazon mattresses are ok, but not great. And I think it was just a bit weird for the kids to be sleeping in a church -- with its dim light, old smell, and strange sounds. In the evening we could hear the bells tolling and the priests shuffling around in their quarters.

Our main goal for today was to see the Rome temple. Unfortunately, it is closed for cleaning now, so we won’t be able to do any ordinances, but we are able to visit the grounds and the visitors center and go to church.

One thing about the Rome temple, is that it is not in Rome. The same could be said about the other temples in Europe. London is about an hour outside of London, Paris isn’t in Paris. The same is true for Frankfurt or Rome.

Rome was particularly hard for us to get to. Saint Eusebius is about as close to the main train station as you can get, but it still takes about an hour on the bus to get there in the best circumstances. It took us longer than we had anticipated to get our bus tickets and get on the right bus, but eventually we made it -- about two hours after we left where we were staying.

What the Rome temple lacks in convenience, it more than makes up for in beauty. It’s stunning. Just amazing. And the visitors center is great as well. We spent a lot of time chatting with the sister missionaries there, and by the time we were done, they were exchanging emails with the girls so that the missionaries can receive the girls’ updates while we are on the trip.

(By the way, Alicia’s weekly letters have inspired me to invite the other kids to write updates. If you’d like to be on their email list let me know).

This temple tour has really been something else. In just three weeks we have been to the Paris, Holland, London, Frankfurt, Switzerland, and Rome temples.

Sacrament meeting was nice, but I think we were all a bit too tired to really enjoy it -- and it was in Italian.

The bus ride back was about as complicated as the ride out. And we stopped halfway to get some food. Everyone was very tired, and that generally means grumpy. But we had a good talk and I think got things sorted.

One big question was what to do with the rest of the day.

I didn’t want to leave Rome without taking a nice walk through the city and seeing some of the great monuments that are here. But I knew everyone was tired, so we counseled about it, and I offered to let anyone stay home who wanted to rest. Everyone told me they wanted in.

So we too the bus and then train all the way to Vatican City and then took a long stroll from St Peter’s to Castel, Sant’Angelo (Hadrian’s tomb), Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Temple of Hadrian, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps (another Mission Impossible moment), and we finished with San Pietro en Vincoli -- where Michelangelo’s Moses statue is, and where we arrived just as they were closing. We barely got it.

My thoughts on Rome. For art and architecture, it’s incredible. One of the things I just mentioned would be the jewel of any other city in the world. To have it all in one place is mind blowing. But the crowds in Rome were also totally overwhelming. Most piazzas were wall-to-wall people. It was difficult to even see anything. And it’s tough navigating all of that with kids.

So Rome was sort of a mixed bag. But I would definitely come back. I want to go inside many of these places -- especially St Peter’s.

From San Pietro in Vincoli it was just a bit further to a grocery store where we got some food, and then we headed home to eat and pack.

As we ate, I asked the kids what they have learned or how they feel they have grown so far on this trip. Their answers were all great. They are learning to be tough, to not be anxious in big cities and crowds, to take care of their stuff, and to be OK when things don’t go as planned. I liked Betty’s answer the best, though. She quoted from President Hinckley who quoted someone else about how life is like an old time rail journey.

Also, today I’ve really been feeling stressed about the next stage of the journey. There is a part of me that wants to get hiking on the Camino now. This train travel has been amazing, but the Camino beckons. The sooner we get started on it, the sooner we will finish. There is another part of me that wants to show the kids Spain. And there is another part that wants to wait as long as possible to start so that the weather can improve. Rain is forecast for every day this week.

A couple of really important things happened today that helped me out. First of all, I was able to get in contact with my friend Gorka, who lives in Pamplona, very near the start of the Camino. He said we can stay with him and his family before we start.

Then, on a whim I contacted my friend Elsa, who served in the Madrid mission at the same time I did. I stayed with her and her husband Chris while I was staying in Barcelona studying Catalan years ago.

Anyway, right before bed I got an email from Elsa saying that they are going to Madrid to the temple this week, and we can stay in their home in Barcelona as long as we like this week.

That means we can spend some time showing the kids Barcelona -- a city Betty and I love -- and we can have a few days of rest before we start hiking -- and we can wait out this rainstorm a bit. I can’t adequately express what a relief it is to me. It is the tenderest of tender mercies.

La Gran Aventura Day 103: Vicenza to Rome

Saturday, March 23, 2024

This morning I woke up and read this:

You may have noticed that many new temples have been announced in recent years, bringing temples ever closer to members. Paradoxically, as temples become more accessible, it may be easier for us to become more casual about temple attendance. When temples are distant, we plan our time and resources to travel to the temple to worship there. We prioritize these journeys.

With a temple close at hand, it can be easy to let little things get in the way of attending, saying to ourselves, “Well, I’ll just go another time.” Living close to a temple does bring greater flexibility in scheduling time in the temple, but that very flexibility can make it easier to take the temple for granted. When we do, we “miss the mark,” undervaluing the opportunity to draw closer to the Savior in His holy house. Our commitment to attend should be at least as strong when the temple is nearby as when it is distant.

Dale G. Renlund. Jesus Christ is the Treasue

I think this points out one of the benefits of pilgrimage and sacred travel, which is that when you make a journey to a sacred place -- especially a difficult one -- you appreciate that place so much more. You pay more attention to the details of the experience. You notice the smell of a place. You remember the faces of the people you meet. I think one of the great challenges of modern life -- even modern life in the church -- is that we don’t appreciate the things that come easy. And most things come so easily to us.

It was a good thought to start the day.

We got a later start than usual, and we enjoyed our Italian pastry breakfast (generously provided by Lisa and Delwyn) a little too long. And before we knew it we were rushing out the door knowing we would have only a few minutes to get our train at the station. If ever we wanted a train to be delayed, it was today.

When we pulled up to the station in Padua, I sent Kimball and Ian to check what platform we were on and if the train was delayed. And thankfully, it was.

It was another of the thousand tender mercies we have seen on this trip.

Before I leave Vicenza, I want to say how grateful Betty and I are for Lisa and Delwyn and Lela for letting us stay in their house. Like Dinah and Dave in Paris, or Grant and Emma in London, they don’t know us at all. And they didn’t just open their home, they really took care of us. We had a wonderful time with them and only wish we could have stayed longer.

The train ride to Rome was pretty uneventful, but that’s how I like them.

Rome itself is another story.

In Rome we had arranged to stay in the church of Saint Eusebius, which is one of the oldest Christian churches in Rome. It’s right by the Termini bus station. We were able to do this thanks to our friends Anna and Lorenzo -- who both work at Hillsdale College and are native Italians. Lorenzo knew Don Maurizio, the priest at Saint Eusebius, and he was the one who contacted him and arranged for our stay.

So we walked from the train station to the church, and then we just buzzed in. Maurizio came out, and he was accompanied by another priest, Don Paolo, who is Italian but also speaks Spanish (Maurizio doesn’t speak Spanish or English, and we don’t speak Italian). They were both so kind and warm, and they showed us where we could stay. It was in some school rooms where they teach the kids catechism in the upstairs and back of the church. There were no beds, but we have sleeping pads and bags, so we were OK. There was a bathroom with a shower. It wasn’t fancy, but it was definitely an experience we will never forget.

Staying in the church gave us a great opportunity to talk with the kids about why we are doing this whole thing. Up until now this trip has been mostly about visiting LDS temples, but starting here, things are going to get really Catholic. The question has come up many times: why are we, a Latter-Day Saint family, doing this super Catholic pilgrimage? The best answer I know comes from Brigham Young:

It is our duty and calling, as ministers of the same salvation and Gospel, to gather every item of truth and reject every error. Whether a truth be found with professed infidels, or with the Universalists, or the Church of Rome, or the Methodists, the Church of England, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Quakers, the Shakers, or any other of the various and numerous different sects and parties, all of whom have more or less truth, it is the business of the Elders of this Church (Jesus, their Elder Brother, being at their head) to gather up all the truths in the world pertaining to life and salvation, to the Gospel we preach, … to the sciences, and to philosophy, wherever it may be found in every nation, kindred, tongue, and people and bring it to Zion (DBY, 248).

We are here to seek out goodness, truth, and beauty. And there is much to be found in the Catholic Church. Of course, I believe that a restoration of the gospel was necessary, and that it happened through Joseph Smith, but for centuries, the Catholic Church kept Christianity alive. I’m grateful for that, and I have learned so much that has enriched my own faith as I have spent time learning about Catholicism. And I look forward to learning even more.

After we dropped our bags and got settled a bit, we went for a walk down to the Colosseum and the Roman forum -- stopping for pizza along the way.

I’ve seen Roman theaters and amphitheaters and bridges and temples and aqueducts in Spain, but never anything on this scale. It’s the kind of thing that leaves you without words -- like looking at Zion or Yosemite or Iguazú for the first time. There is just no way for the mind to take it all in, to calculate the age and significance of it all.

On the way back we stopped so River and Ian could play in a park, and then we headed home -- but not before stopping at what they say is the best and oldest gelateria (ice cream shop) in Rome: Gelateria Fassia. It was kind of an intense experience. There was a long line out the door of people. Then the first thing that happens is you get to a register and you have to order the size of ice cream you want. From there you go to the counter where they have at least a couple dozen flavors, but they aren’t marked, so you don’t know what you are looking at. You have to look at a sign that has the flavors listed, but they are all in Italian, and they aren’t all clear. All the while you know there is a huge line of people behind you, so you just kind of go for it. Thankfully, it’s some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had. The pistachio was super creamy, and had a really dull green color -- more olive than mint. It wasn’t anything like the pistachio ice cream in the States (which I also really like).

The portions were generous, and they topped everything with a generous portion of nata (whipped cream), which is super smooth and not nearly as sweet as our whipped cream.

It was a really good day.

La Gran Aventura Day 102: Venice!

Friday, March 22, 2024

This morning we had a delicious morning breakfast and then hopped in cars a drove the 45 minutes or so to Venice.

I’ve been here once before -- on an extra long layover on my way to Barcelona in 2019. On that occasion, I had about 90 minutes in the city. It was just enough time to walk from the bus station to Pizza di San Marco, and walk back. While making sure I got a pizza and a gelato and sat on the edge of the canal eating them.

Today I felt so happy, but mostly happy for Betty. Once long ago she told me that her grandmother, one of the saintliest women to ever live, had always dreamed of visiting Venice. Abuelita has now passed away, and I promised Betty that someday I would take her to Venice in memory of her grandmother.

Today we made that a reality.

First off we took a water taxi from the parking garage to Saint Mark’s. After visiting the remains of Matthias in Germany, we were really excited to go into this church as well.

The experiences could not have been more different. Trier was quiet. The church was nearly empty. We could hear every whisper, and I kept telling the kids to be quiet because we could hear every footfall.

In Venice, the church was packed with tourists. We had to wait in a long line to get in. Then we had to pay. And inside the church we just shuffled through the line with the other tourists. They wouldn’t even allow us to see the relic. The church is beautiful, and so different from other churches I’ve been in with its good mosaics and Byzantine architecture, but it ultimately felt a bit hollow.

It made me think about how that feeling of holiness depends so much on reverence and stillness. I imagine at some point St Mark’s felt like that. But not anymore. And it wasn’t just that church. The city is full of them, but they all seemed to be closed or to charge an entrance fee. The purpose of our trip is pilgrimage and sacred travel, but we can’t afford to pay to go into every church we would like to visit.

We did enter into the Church of St Moses, and it was beautiful and peaceful. Behind the altar there is a beautiful sculpture of Moses descending from Sinai with the 10 commandments. We took some time there to sit and breathe and feel the spirit.

Along with the churches, we were excited to see some places that feature prominently in some movies we like. So we saw the bridge where the knife fight happens in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning 1, and of course the Doge’s palace from that movie as well. And we saw the church/library where X marks the spot in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The food in Venice was also great. We had take out pasta from a little place. I recommended cuttlefish ink pasta to the kids as kind of a joke, but they all agreed and enjoyed it. We got just two boxes and then sat in a line and passed them around taking a bite and moving to the next. The kids found that they filled up much better by eating slowly like this. Later, we got little gelato ice cream cones and we topped it off with a couple of delicious shared sandwiches -- one of which was called the Indiana Jones. It was amazing. It had mango and potato sauce and ham and cheese.

Mostly a visit to Venice is just walking around and taking it all in, and we did lots of that. River had one meltdown towards the end, but eventually she just fell asleep and I carried her around. It was tiring, but I’m really glad we got to come.

In the evening we had delicious homemade Cafe Rio salads back at the house, and then we prepped for our journey to Rome tomorrow.

Oh, and Delwyn, who is a chiropractor, gave us all adjustments. It was much needed and appreciated.

La Gran Aventura Day 101: Bern, Switzerland to Vicenza, Italy

Thursday, March 21, 2024

This morning we were up before the crack of dawn. The kids packed pretty quickly and quietly, and after a quick breakfast of yogurt and pre-cooked waffles, we were on the road.

It was a quick walk to the train station in Zollikofen, then a short train to Bern, and then the long train ride from Bern to Milano, Italy.

It was breathtakingly, achingly beautiful to travel by train through the Alps. Every time we turned a corner some incredible new sight fill my eyes. The Alps are different than any mountains I’ve ever seen. They are more jagged, more vertical. I can see why people keep coming back here once they have seen these views. A photographer could spend a lifetime just here, and never tire of new vistas.

On the train, we met a really cool American family, and we had a chance to visit with them for a bit. They were traveling with four teenagers and the grandparents. They travel a lot as a family. They travel instead of doing gifts. I think that’s awesome. They also know about Hillsdale College. The grandpa kept kind of winking at me and pumping his fist and whispering “Keep fighting!” And “You’re our only hope.”

Also on this train ride I finally finished Bashō’s Narrow Road to the Far North. I was particularly touched by the postscript, written by a friend of his:

In this little book of travel is included everything under the sky – not only that which is hoary and dry but also that which is young and colourful, not only that which is strong and imposing but also that which is feeble and ephemeral. As we turn every corner of the Narrow Road to the Deep North, we sometimes stand up unawares to applaud and we sometimes fall flat to resist the agonizing pains we feel in the depths of our hearts. There are also times when we feel like taking to the road ourselves, seizing the raincoat lying near by, or times when we feel like sitting down till our legs take root, enjoying the scene we picture before our eyes. Such is the beauty of this little book that it can be compared to the pearls which are said to be made by the weeping mermaids in the far-off sea. What a travel it is indeed that is recorded in this book, and what a man he is who experienced it.

It’s an ideal to aspire towards.

The Milan train station is incredible. It looks like one of the giant halls in the Louvre, only full of people and shops and trains. Ae ate deep fried pizza frita there.

From there it was another smooth ride to Vicenza.

In this city we are staying with Delwyn and Lisa. Delwyn is the uncle of Dachelle Luna -- who was in our Spanish branch in Cedar City. Although we had never met them, Delwyn and Lisa were awesome! They picked us up at the train station and drove us to their beautiful home. Lisa works on the military base here, but they live off-base. In the evening we ate authentic Italian pizza, played games with their daughter Lela, and then watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to prep for Venice tomorrow.

This was a good day.

La Gran Aventura Day 100: The Bern Switzerland Temple

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Today we got off to an early start. We were up around 6 and out the door by 7:30am. Everything was going great until we got to the train station and saw that our train had been delayed. After that we had a full day of delays and missed trains. We had planned to be in Zollikofen, Switzerland (where the temple is) by 1:40pm so that we could attend a baptism session at 3:00pm. As the day went on, we fell further and further behind and our arrival time crept later and later. I kept emailing the temple, and they kept telling me that we would be OK, until finally they told me that if were there after 3:30pm we wouldn’t be able to go in. The whole temple closes at 4pm.

Our day took us from Kaiserslautern to Mannheim, then from Mannheim to Basel, where we had to grab a tram that took us to another station. From there we got a train to Bern, and then from Bern to Zollikofen.

In Basel, we had a long layover, so we took advantage of the time to do a seminary lesson. We read a little about the history of the Swiss temple -- the oldest in Europe -- and how the Lord had a hand in placing that temple in its specific spot. It reminded us of the conversation we had a few days ago about sacred space being where the divine breaks through and manifests itself in the world.

By the time we got to the temple housing, it was just about 3:30pm. And we still hadn’t changed. But the kind brother at the office called the baptistry, and they told us to just come as we were. So we went to the temple in our street clothes. I thought I would feel totally uncomfortable, but the temple workers were all so kind that I felt at ease.

Like I said, the Swiss temple is the oldest in Europe. It was announced at the same time as the London temple, and they both have a similar look on the inside. The baptismal fonts look like giant metal salad bowls. They  definitely show their age in the locker rooms and showers, but they also are unmistakably temples. And they each have their own style. I would say that they both fit perfectly where they are. And I love them both. They feel like temples. There is a reverence and spirit of peace in them that can’t be denied.

After we finished with the baptisms, Kimball and I walked to Aldi and got some supplies for dinner. Kimball did a great job of selecting foods that would work. We got rice and veggies and spicy cheesy sausage. And we got fruit to make a fruit salad. Then we walked back to the temple housing and cooked everything up in the kitchen there. It was so fun meeting people from Italy and Switzerland and Peru and France and Portugal and even Brazil. I never knew which language to speak to people in, but in the end we all communicated just fine.

The temple was kind enough to give us two adjoining rooms with a bunch of bunkbeds. It felt a bit like a hostel. We got to bed pretty early because we have an early morning tomorrow. We will be off to Italy.

La Gran Aventura Day 99: Ian’s Inhaler and Trier

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

This morning we woke up with a problem. Ian has really been struggling with allergies since Holland. Veroniek had cats, and Andrew and Dasha have a dog. It’s his eyes and his nose and his asthma. I’ve been sleeping close to him to help him through the nights, but the problem this morning was that his rescue inhaler ran out. Yesterday I stopped by a pharmacy, but it’s a prescription med here. I called our doctor back home, but they can’t send a prescription overseas. Everyone was recommending that we take him to a clinic, but that takes time and is very expensive.

I hopped online to see if there was a walk-in clinic close to us, and an ad popped up for a service called Doctors SA. You punch in some information, and they said you could have an online visit in as little as ten minutes. It seemed too good to be true, but I went for it anyway, and in 10 minutes I was on a video call with a guy who looked like he was on vacation somewhere. We told him what we needed, and in five minutes we had a prescription sent by email. A bit later we went to the pharmacy and get his new inhaler. It was a tender mercy.

In the afternoon we went to the totem of Trier. It’s one of the oldest cities in Germany and there is a church there that claims to have the bones of the apostle Matthias, who replaced Judas after he died.

The scriptures teach us that he was with Christ from the beginning, but he was only called as an apostle after Judas betrayed Christ and hanged himself. He is important to us because his calling as an apostle teaches that Christ clearly established a church, with a leadership and organization that was intended to continue after His death. Tradition says that Matthias preached the gospel in Aethiopia -- which could be modern-day Georgia or Northern Africa. Some traditions say he was stoned in Jerusalem, others that he died of old age, and others that he was beheaded by an axe. That’s why he is often represented holding an axe. There is a marker in a castle in Georgia that says his bones are buried there, but (again) tradition says that Helena, the mother of Constantine, had his remains split between Padua in Italy and Trier in Germany, and that’s where we some him.

As with most relics like this, I’m not sure if these are really his bones, but the place felt sacred to me. His remains are in a crypt in the church, and it was one of the most beautiful I’ve been in. It is dark and lonely and has a kind of mysterious beauty about it.

We were also happy to see that the Abbey of St Matthias is on one of the German Ways of St James. I felt connected to the many pilgrims who have been through there. Imagine, if you hiked from Trier to Santiago (as many pilgrims have) it would be at least 1,195 miles. That makes our planned Camino of 500 miles seem like nothing. As always, I’m inspired by the devotion of those pilgrims who have gone before us.

On our way out of Trier we drove by the church of St Paul, which is the oldest Christian church in Germany, and the Porta Nigra, an awesome Roman gate.

Ian got carsick on the way home and threw up.

We spent the evening packing and getting ready for our journey to Switzerland tomorrow.

La Gran Aventura Day 98: Heidelberg

Monday, March 19, 2024

This morning we had a relaxing morning, and then after an early lunch we headed out to see Heidelberg -- one of Germany’s most picturesque towns.

I had seen that Heidelberg had a couple of nice churches and an old ruined castle, and our plan was just to and check things out.

It’s amazing -- way more beautiful than even the pictures make it look. The castle, originally built in the 1200s and 1300s and then destroyed by war and fire from lightning strikes in the 1600s and 1700s. By the 1800s, it was abandoned and in ruins. But then the romantics started to love it as it was, and it was preserved and painted a bunch of times. Victor Hugo and Mark Twain both visited and loved this place. Twain wrote:

A ruin must be rightly situated, to be effective. This one could not have been better placed. It stands upon a commanding elevation, it is buried in green woods, there is no level ground about it, but, on the contrary, there are wooded terraces upon terraces, and one looks down through shining leaves into profound chasms and abysses where twilight reigns and the sun cannot intrude. Nature knows how to garnish a ruin to get the best effect. One of these old towers is split down the middle, and one half has tumbled aside. It tumbled in such a way as to establish itself in a picturesque attitude. Then all it lacked was a fitting drapery, and Nature has furnished that; she has robed the rugged mass in flowers and verdure, and made it a charm to the eye. The standing half exposes its arched and cavernous rooms to you, like open, toothless mouths; there, too, the vines and flowers have done their work of grace. The rear portion of the tower has not been neglected, either, but is clothed with a clinging garment of polished ivy which hides the wounds and stains of time. Even the top is not left bare, but is crowned with a flourishing group of trees & shrubs. Misfortune has done for this old tower what it has done for the human character sometimes – improved it.

I’m so glad we got to visit this beautiful old town. The castle really did stir us. I would love to come back someday.

Later, we had a nice family home evening with Dasha and the kids, and then late-night seminary lesson in which we discussed doing things “with full purpose of heart.” I love having these deep discussions with the kids. They are really wise.

And finally, a couple of administrative notes: we got confirmation that the Swiss temple housing is available, so we are on for the Switzerland and Italy portions of this trip. They will definitely be a whirlwind for us. And Ian’s asthma medicine is running out, so tomorrow we will go and find some. Between Veroniek’s cats and Dasha’s dog, he has really been struggling lately.

La Gran Aventura Day 97: Church in the military ward

Sunday, March 17, 2024

This morning we went to church. Dasha and Andrew attend a military ward here in Kaiserslautern -- so it’s in English.  And it’s huge. There were probably 200 people or more in sacrament meeting, and it felt like 75% of them were primary kids.

Sacrament meeting was pretty ... lively with so many kids. It was a bit difficult to focus.

And then there was primary. Which was totally crazy and absolutely awesome.

The women had a special relief society meeting, so the men were in charge of primary. I went in to hang out with River and see if they needed any help. In singing time there were about 5 guys in charge of what looked like 100 kids. It was a lot of kid energy, and I was impressed at how these good military brothers worked with the kids with such gentleness.

After singing time it was time for class. I went in with River and the sunbeams. There were three of us men in there, and everything was going well until one kid said they needed to go to the bathroom, and then ALL of the kids needed to go. So we implemented operation potty stop. One brother stayed down in the hall by the classroom with the door open. I took the boys and another brother took the girls. We marched them all down to the potty and we stayed in the hallway so we could all three see each other. And we kept the bathroom doors open so we can be in earshot of the kids.

It was all very comical, and we only had two runners -- River was one of them. Thankfully, class ended well, and we got the kids all back to their parents.

After church we had lunch, and then I took a nice nap.

Then it was dinner, and after cleanup Betty and Dasha and I had another great chat.

One of the highlights was talking about the point of this trip -- and the point of pilgrimage or sacred travel in general. I think we do it for at least a few reasons.

1. I think that the only way to be able to recognize beautiful things is to see them. And it’s just not the same to see a picture. I love being with my kids in beautiful places and having them experience that stirring.

1. Similarly, I think there is something powerful in being in sacred places. If you go to one temple, you feel something special. If you go to a number of temples in a variety of places you come to recognize that feeling and you come to see that it can show up in a variety of places.

1. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, sacred travel helps us to know that we are not alone in our faith. We live in a small community in rural Michigan. We have an amazing congregation at church, but it’s been amazing for our kids to see that in Utah, Arizona, Paris, London, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain there are other great members. It’s faith-affirming and helps us feel a part of something grand.

1. Finally, being in places that are sacred in different traditions helps us to recognize our common humanity. We are all spiritual beings, and there is a part in all of us that responds to the divine. One of the added benefits of being on pilgrimage in Europe is that our kids get to be in sacred spaces that are hundreds and even thousands of years older than anything they could see in the US.

Tonight before bed we had a seminary lesson. It was a special one today. We watched the second episode of the series A Marvelous Work. It’s about evidence for the veracity of The Book of Mormon. I love that book, and I love gaining insight into the evidence for its authenticity. The more I learn the more convinced I am that it comes from God.