I am so excited for the groundbreaking of the Rome, Italy temple! This is very dear to my heart because my great grandfather, Phillipe Cardon was the first mormon baptized in Italy by President Lorenzo Snow. When I visited Italy a couple years ago, I visited the Piedmont Valley where in a very small city called Prarastino, I was able to see the house that my ancestors lived in. There are still many Cardon's that live in Prarastino, Piedmont, Italy and I can only hope that I can go back to Italy and spend time with my distant cousins and aunts and uncles.
President Monson says, "The ancient apostles Peter and Paul were missionaries here," he said. "Approximately 1,800 years later, in June of 1850, (Mormon apostle) Elder Lorenzo Snow and two companions, Elder Stenhouse and Elder Toronto, traveled to the valleys of the Piedmont Mountains in northeast Italy, where they began missionary efforts in this dispensation."
When I read this my heart was so full knowing that he spoke of my great grandfather and his beautiful family that sacrificed so much so that I, generations later, can have the gospel in my life. It is because of Grandpa Phillipe that my family is a part of this great plan of happiness.
After Phillipe and the majority of his family were baptized, they left their vineyard, family, and home to make the trek to Utah. Once in Utah they settled in Ogden, Utah (of all places where I currently live). This didn't last long though, they were asked to make the trek to Juarez, Mexico to spread the gospel. My brother, Steven, just returned from his mission 6 months ago from Tuscon, Arizona where he served in Pima, Arizona and Las Cruces, New Mexico. Phillipe's wife, Marthe (my gradma), is buried in Pima, Arizona and our distant relatives live in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Grandpa Phillipe is buried in Juarez, Mexico.
It is amazing to me that my brother was called by inspiration to an area where my ancestors lived and were buried.
http://www.bellasion.org/phoarc.html#Cardons
ksl.com - Ground broken for LDS temple in Rome
3 comments:
What an amazing story!
Awesome Dani! Jonathan and I live only 1 1/2 from Prarostino! We're in Piedmont. In fact, I bet your Cardon relatives are in our stake!
It's so amazing to see the work of the Lord move forward here in Italy! And if you ever want to come over and visit those distant cousins - you'd have a place to stay!
PS. It might interest you to know that the Catholic Church is finally opening up it's records to the public. That means all that family research that has been pretty much impossible to do because the Catholic Church's hold on all the records will finally be possible...and guess what? It'll be on-line! They announced this in church in the beginning of October when they announced the Ground-Breaking. It was pretty amazing!
Dani, I just found your blog while searching for more info on my ancestors...the Cardon's from Piedmont valley! Do you know of the Cardon Family Orginazation? There is a website that has tons of info on it.
After reading your blogpost, I had to comment on here and tell you that there will be a family trip back to Piedmont in the fall of 2014. Start saving and come with us!
Distantly yours,
Lisa Coombs
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