MADISON – Brent and Nancy Law of Madison have accepted an 18-month mission in Rome with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Laws received a mission call to serve in the Italy Rome Mission. In their primary responsibility, they will give tours at the Visitor’s Center adjacent to the Rome Temple.

“We’ll enter the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah on Nov. 15, stay for 10 days and then fly to Rome. We are incredibly excited,” Brent said.

“Mission Calls are issued by the Apostles of the Church, based on the missionaries’ experience and needs of the worldwide church,” Brent said. A few days before entering the MTC, the Laws will receive a Priesthood Blessing to make them full-time missionaries for the church.

“The blessing will be given by the laying on of hands by President of the Madison Alabama Stake of the Church, Kuenn Drake (of) Falkville,” Brent said.

“My wife Nancy has a wonderful testimony of Jesus Christ with a strong knowledge of the scriptures,” Brent said. For years, Nancy taught seminary to high school students. “She will be a wonderful missionary.”

“We love the Savior and want to share the message of the restoration. The Gospel is applicable to everyone,” Brent said.

Missionaries financially support themselves or receive help from their families. Missionaries are not employees of the church.

Brent retired from an international job at Redstone Arsenal and worked closely with Italians and personnel from other nations. “In part, I managed a cooperation with the United States and four European nations,” Brent said. For his job, he often traveled to Rome and other cities in Italy. In early 2019, he attended the open house of Rome Temple with Italian colleagues. “It was a great experience,” he said.

From age 19 to 21, Brett served as a missionary in the Spain Barcelona Mission. “The Spanish and Italian languages are very similar,” he said.

After World War II, Brent’s father served a mission in France and hoped to serve again with Brent’s mother during retirement. However, by retirement he was ill and couldn’t serve.

At visitation before Brent’s father’s funeral, a companion of his father in France described the rampant poverty in France in the late 1940’s because of World War II. Many families resorted to begging.

“My father would often give money, although he wasn’t wealthy. His companion (said) my father couldn’t afford to continue to give money to beggars. My father’s reported reply was, ‘I can’t afford not to give to the poor,’” Brent said.

From childhood, Brent recalls a French Swiss family visiting his father. “(My father) taught them about the Restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and they had joined the Church,” Brent said. “We love the Savior and want to share the message of the restoration. The Gospel is applicable to everyone.”

The Laws have attended church in the East Limestone Ward since its formation in fall 2019. The church building is in Athens.

The Law’s two sons also served missions. Older son Ted served in Pocatello Idaho Mission and taught Latin Americans living in Idaho (in Spanish). Currently, Ted works as an actuary and lives in Muncie, Ind. Younger son Jim served in the France Toulouse Mission and currently is a professor of French and linguistics at Brigham Young University in Provo.