It was a great evening last night as Taylor opened his mission call with the whole family watching, either in person or online. It seems like a perfect fit for him. Since the mission consolidations of a few years ago, what used to be several Italian missions have been consolidated into one. Here’s the mission map:
As you can see, the mission encompasses the whole southern half of Italy, plus the island of Malta (capital of Valleta is noted on the mission map). That includes the major Italian cities of Rome, Naples, Salerno, Messina, Perugia (famous for hosting the Amanda Knox trial) and Palermo. The islands of Sicily and Sardinia, as well as the country of Malta, are included. It’s a large mission for only 120-150 missionaries to cover. It will be difficult as well, with most European missions being old and having characteristically low baptism rates. But there are 4 stakes in the mission (Rome West, which includes Sardinia, Rome East, Palermo, and Puglia, which is the “boot heel” region), as well as several dependent branches (in a mission district) and branches in Malta. Time to get started learning Italian. Congratulations Taylor!
Here is a detailed map of Italy (click the map for a full version, then click it again to maximize the size):
