Siena Branch Grows By One - Welcome Kleis!

This past week we prepared for the baptism of our newest member, Kleis Hazizi.  Last October Kleis came and found us one morning when we were working in our little Family History center.  He told us that he had made friends with some elders in his home country of Albania, and those missionaries had taught him some of the lessons.  He then decided to follow his brother to Italy in hopes of finding better work.

He told us that he wasn't sure if there was a branch of the Church here in Siena, but he did the work to contact the mission office in Albania and they told him that there was a branch here, and gave them our address.  He then ventured out to find us.  This is a great example of how seeds planted in days gone by and in locations where one might least expect can grow over time and result in great blessings in someone's life.

When he walked into the Family History center, we talked with him for a while and we could see that he wasn't your "typical" 19 year-old guy (if such a thing exists).  He seemed serious and wanted to know more.  We quickly got on the phone to see if our elders were anywhere nearby so they could come and meet Kleis, and luckily they were able to hustle down to the church and meet him.  After almost six months of teaching and fellowshipping, Kleis decided to take the first step, that of baptism, to unite himself with the Saints of Siena.   We are so happy for him!!

Elder Driver, Kleis, Elder Moa

Elders Moa & Driver, Kleis, Sisters Salmond & Rincoń, and us

Everyone who came to the baptism

In between these preparations, we had to go to Florence to inspect the three apartments used by our young missionaries there.  So while we were there, we thought we would go up to Piazza Michelangelo and take some shots of the beautiful Florence cityscape.  Florence is filled with great history, great art, and beautiful sites.

We decided to take our P-Day and drive to the Adriatic seaside town of Ravenna, which has beautiful Byzantine mosaics that date back as early as the 400s.  In 402 the barbarian tribes were zeroing in on the city of Rome, so the Roman Emperor moved his capital to Ravenna, and it remained the capital until 476 when the Goths from Hungary took over.  However, in 540 the Byzantine emperor Justinian conquered the Goths which reunited Italy, and he turned Ravenna into a pinnacle of civilization.

The mosaics throughout the old churches and tombs of the city are spectacular.  They also tell part of the story of the conflicts in the early Christian church about certain core doctrines, such as baptism and the definition of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. 

Around 320 A.D. a devout Christian priest named Arius began preaching that Jesus, being the Son of God, was therefore created by God the Father.  This idea touched off a firestorm of debate and division in the early church.  To keep the peace, Roman Emperor Constantine convened a Council in Nicea in 325 A.D.  Arius was accused of doubting the divinity of Christ, by making him separate from and inferior to God the Father.  The Council branded Arius a heretic and burned his books.  After splitting many theological hairs, they issued the Nicene Creed which defined God as a Trinity.  The three-in-one Trinity became the standard throughout the Roman Empire and Arian sects were brutally suppressed.

These conflicts are very evident in the art of Ravenna.  Even Constantine's own son was a fervent Arian, who sent missionaries across the Danube to convert the barbarian Goths to the Arian-style Christianity.  A century later, these same Goths overran Ravenna and made Arian Christianity the official state religion.  Thus the churches, baptisteries and tombs show these conflicts, even though Justinian, when he drove the Goths out in 540, tried his best to wipe out any vestiges of the Arian creed in Ravenna.

It is so interesting to see what occurs when the Priesthood of God is lost to mankind and there are no prophets and apostles on the earth to receive revelation from God.  Man is then left to his own devices and he struggles along the best he can.  That manmade effort results, however, in key doctrines concerning the very nature of the Godhead being decided by councils and votes, and then imposed on others as divine.  We are so thankful for the restoration of Priesthood authority and the counsel and direction we all can receive from God though his chosen servants.

We also "left" Italy for a few hours as we visited the separate little country of San Marino.  It is a gorgeous hilltop country (surrounded on all side by Italy), with majestic castles perched on precipitous cliffs.  It was fun to hike around the beautiful capital city of this tiny country.

One of the best "selfies" we've ever taken!

Last evening we held our weekly Family Home Evening; and once a month we have a dinner to celebrate the birthdays of all our members with birthdays that month.  We had a number of our new members, less active members, and even one new investigator at our party last night.  We love these wonderful people and it will be a bittersweet day when we have to say goodbye.  That day is coming quicker with each passing day.

We love our opportunity to serve here in this small corner of the globe, and we hope we have been able to touch a few lives and help where we could.