Prior to his calling to preside over Saints and friends of other faiths in the Rome area, President Acerson served as a counselor in the Lindon Stake Presidency (a stake is an area that includes multiple wards or congregations of believers).    While serving as counselor, without pay, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do, Jeff Acerson also worked as Mayor of the Lindon City.

President Acerson shared in one of his final meetings as counselor in Lindon, his impressions through the Spirit, that this sacred call was imminent.  Those feelings were ratified when the actual call from the leaders of the Church came to him and was extended in the presence of himself and his wife, Karen.

Karen has served in many capacities in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (”Mormon” church), including as counselor in the local women’s organization, or Relief Society, and as President over the young women of her stake.  Karen is originally from Moab, Utah.

Apparently, to qualify for a building permit, the land must be free of any ancient Roman ruins. To check the land, the city officials actually dig trenches across the property in review–every 10 to 15 feet. This they would need to do for the 14.8 acres of land that had been previously purchased as a possible temple site in the 1990s. In the event that Roman ruins exist beneath or on the property site, plans for construction are nullified, and no permits are issued (President Acerson’s blog).

On the day that the city inspectors were to visit the property, members of The Church of Jesus Christ (Mormons) in Rome, held a special fast. This is a day in which members abstain from food and water, and petition for the Lord’s will to occur and His power to be manifest in the ways He chooses for the advancement of His kingdom and the leading of souls to Him.

City officials found no trace of any Roman ruins on the entire acreage of selected property. Only 100 yards from the border of that same property, however, they found the remnants of an old Roman village.

The Lord is involved in the details of each House of His, each holy temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the earth.

On Saturday morning in Utah (Saturday evening in Rome), our prophet, President Monson announced that five new temples would be built. As he started naming each temple, I thought in my mind, “Someday, a prophet will say, ‘Rome, Italy’.” I remember repeating it wishfully a couple of times in my mind as he named each one. When he got to the end of the list of temples and said, “Rome, Italy” I let out a small scream, buried my head in my hands, and cried. We all cried.

The assistant to the Mission President described what happened as the announcement was made in the local meetinghouse, or Stake Center, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons):

He said that when President Monson said, “Rome, Italy” in English, the person translating it into Italian paused and said, “What?” and then took a half second to let it sink in, then said, “Roma, Italia.” The congregation leapt to their feet, cheering and clapping. He said, “The women were crying, the men were hugging each other, and everyone was overwhelmed with surprise and joy.

Those responses paralleled those in the States.  Exultant cries, gasps, sighs, embraces, tears, all accompanied the announcement of this and the Cordoba, Philadelphia,  Kansas City and Alberta temples.