Homeless to Royalty

Sleeping last night in a train station, Nick and I awoke to the early morning chaos at the Florence station. 

Florence Train Station

With less than three hours of sleep, we stored our backpacks at the train station for a small fortune and then wandered around the city center looking for Wi-Fi. After about 20 minutes of searching, I found a connection that would cost me 2.50 € for the entire day. Wanting to attend church, we hopped onto lds.org and found the nearest branch. Unfortunately, it was not within walking distance, so we took a taxi (taking a bus would have made us even more late). The taxi driver dropped us off on the front steps of the church just in time to catch sacrament meeting. 

There are two branches in Florence. Both meet in this building.

The Florence branch warmly welcomed us. Upon learning of our current situation, the young Ferrini family invited us to stay the night with them. I couldn’t believe how kind they were to us complete strangers. Seriously! Expecting to sleep in the train station again, we were offered a place to stay within five minutes of walking through the front door. I want to live my life like Ale and Simona Ferrini, always willing to help complete strangers in need.

I found Nick resting his eyes while holding on to our backpacks. This is a common scene for us.

Sacrament meeting reminded me of my first few months in Finland—I hardly understood anything. In addition to not understanding, I positioned myself in the most awkward positions in a failing effort to stay awake. I’m embarrassed to admit that I saw the back of my eyelids more than all the speakers combined. However, I kept looking forward to singing the familiar church hymns, which always brings a good peaceful feeling into the meeting no matter the language. The Ferrini family gave us their address and told us to meet them later at a certain train station in the hillsides of Tuscany about 45 minutes eastward from Florence. We were both REALLY excited to see the country side, not to mention a soft place to rest without worry about mosquitoes eating us alive.

My two favorite parts of Florence was the Ponte Vecchio, an old renaissance bridge, and Michelangelo’s David. Today was extremely hot and humid. When I eventually sat down admiring David in the air-conditioned building, I fell asleep on accident. Nick said I was out for almost 30 minutes. He eventually woke me up (I still have no idea what he was doing during that time). Nick definitely has a lot of patience for my many bizarre quarks—especially when it comes to staying up late and power naps. Anyway, who can honestly brag that they took a nap at the feet of David? Well…I now can.

After a great day in Florence, we took the train as directed to the countryside of Tuscany. Simona Ferrini patiently stood on the platform waiting for our train. Afterward, she drove us to their apartment. We chatted about the upcoming Roman temple and how much this means to the Italian people. Many Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Italy make the trip to either Switzerland or Spain to visit the holy temple. Without a doubt, my favorite thing about Florence was meeting the Ferrini family. Sharing a pullout couch, Nick and I were (by far) more comfortable in their apartment than any hostel/train station we’ve ever stayed at.  As their guests, we were treated like royalty. Nick and I are EXTREMELY grateful for the amazing Ferrini family.

The Ferrini Family