Watching the Rome Temple Grow

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boys looking at bulldozer and crane at Rome temple

Illustrations by Kevin Keele

Gioele and Michele stared at the construction site across the street. They could see lots of metal beams and layers of cement.

“It doesn’t look much like a temple yet,” Gioele said.

“But it will someday,” Michele answered.

This was the first time the brothers had seen the place where the Rome Italy Temple was being built. Right now their family had to go all the way to Switzerland to visit the temple. But this new temple was only 30 minutes away from their home!

Michele and Gioele watched the big yellow trucks move piles of dirt.

“I think that’s where one of the spires will be,” Michele said. He pointed to a spot near the front of the building.

Gioele nodded. “Look! Papà is coming,” he said. Their father was wearing his usual work outfit—church clothes with a white construction hat. He worked as an electrical engineer in the temple. They loved it when he told them about what he worked on each day. One day he told them that the statue of Christ had arrived. Another time he told them about the baptismal font.

That night, Michele made sure to say his prayers and thank Heavenly Father for the temple. He felt warm inside whenever he prayed about it.

Months went by. The curved temple walls were covered with strong stone, and two tall spires grew toward the sky. Then a small visitors’ center was built nearby. Every once in a while, Gioele and Michele would go there to press their faces against the window and see what had changed.

Then one day they got a happy surprise.

“How would you like to see the angel Moroni statue being put on top of the temple?” Mom asked. The families of the construction workers had all been invited to watch.

Gioele and Michele could hardly believe it. They were so excited!

The next morning they put on white shirts and ties. When they got to the temple, they walked around it with the other families. They even got to take a picture with the golden angel Moroni. It was huge!

Then the workers started moving the statue. Gioele watched the giant crane carefully raise angel Moroni to the top the tallest spire. A drone buzzed around taking a video. It was so cool!

Gioele thought about all the people who would learn about the Church by visiting the temple grounds. He thought about how lots of people were going to get married there and how people were going to get baptized for people who had died.

“Now it looks like a temple,” he told his brother. Michele smiled and nodded.

The brothers felt happy. They were excited to go inside the temple when they got older. Their testimonies were growing right along with the building.