Sunday in Roma

Kyle and I made our way up to Rome and traveled to the church that I had gone to 2 weeks earlier. To our amazement we found that 6 sets of missionaries were assigned to just that ward alone. Its funny and I realize that we had to travel basically 2 hours to get to church but how is it that we still managed to show up "Mormon Standard Time" 10 minutes late to the meeting. Anyway we took our seats and were able to witness a young woman who had accepted the church and was baptized on Saturday and was during the sacrament was given the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a very wonderful experience!

During church one of the guys that got up to speak asked his daughter to come up and help him give his talk. You see he wanted to read a story but he was always so touched by this story that he didn't feel that if he read it he would be able to continue with his talk. So his daughter came forward and began reading. This story was told by an individuals perspective upon having passed from this life into the next. The person found themselves sitting in a court room, next to them they had their representative, and a little further away was the accuser. As the individual looked forward and began to study their surroundings they found that God was the judge, sitting at the head of the courtroom. The representative next to the individual was identified as Jesus Christ and the accuser Satan.

The proceedings began with Satan, he presented the judge with all the misdeeds, sins, and lies that the individual had committed, though some had been forgotten all were true and the individual found themselves so ashamed that they could not bring themselves to look anywhere other than at the floor. Satan claimed the individual belonged to him because the individual had fell short of the standard that is required to enter in to live with God. The individual knew that Satan was correct and was bracing himself to enter into a life of misery.

It is at this point that Jesus Christ asks to approach the Judge Heavenly Father. Though Satan protests, permission is granted to the only begotten Son, and he approaches the Father. Jesus spreads his arms wide and says to the Father "I have payed for the sins of this individual, I have suffered all that salvation might come to all, Satan has no hold over this individual and therefore they belong with you in your kingdom". Judgment is passed and the individual is forgive of their sins and they are to live with Heavenly Father.

After judgment has been passed Satan turns to Christ and says that's fine, I'll get the next one - then Satan exits the court room. The individual turns to Christ and asks "How many cases have you lost?" To which Christ replies "None that the individuals have turned to me as their representative."


After the meeting I introduced Kyle to the missionaries that helped my mom and I find our way back to the subway station 2 weeks earlier. They told us how to get to the temple (which is under construction), and so off we went seeking the temple.