Smith and Pizza in Brindisi!

Regan with his first companion in Italy, Anziano Pizza! 

Regan's first apartment in Brindisi, Italy. His desk is the one on the right, and I think his bed is one on the floor!

 Construction of the Rome Italy Temple, scheduled to open September 2014

 Mission home villa in Rome where Regan spent his first night in Italy. The villa was built in 1924 by Mussolini for his niece!

Italy is incredible! I have no idea where to begin. The past week has been the most eye opening and exhilarating time of my life. First of all, the travel from Provo to Rome seemed like 10 minutes for some reason which is very weird. Our first night in Rome we stayed at the mission home which was absolutely beautiful. There was complications with baggage for some missionaries so I got to leave early with Anziano Rigby and on of the assistants. We stopped by the Rome Temple which is massive. It is going to be the third biggest temple in the church! I cannot wait until it is completed. It means so much this place. Anyways, our first night at the mission home was incredible. A local member came over and cooked us the best pasta I have ever tasted by a million miles. We then had gelato which was to die for. About 10 missionaries had to drive back to the airport to pick up bags. They got back around 11 and then all 21 of us sat in the living room and we recieved our assignments one by one and we pointed to our cities on a giant map. I was so excited when I learned my first area is Brindisi!!! Brindisi is incredible. I will talk about it more in a minute.

I woke up the next morning at 430 to catch a 7 hour train ride down to Brindisi. I met my companion Anziano Pizza at the train station with about 25 other missionaries. Every missionary I have met so far is such an inspiration to me. This truly is a special mission. I was nervous when I first met Anziano Pizza because he has been serving on Malta for the last 7 months, and they do not speak Italian in Malta. He has only been speaking Maltese and English. However, it is incredible how fast it is coming back to him. He served in Palermo for 3 transfers before Malta so he has the language down fairly well. Language skills aside, he is a great missionary. He is so humble, and everyone can feel is love and sincerity every time he talks. I have learned so much from him. He truly just wants other people to be happy. He is super easy to get along with and we are already great friends. I have gotten to know about 6 other missionaries pretty well. I wish I had time to write about them all.

We had a great trainride down to Brindisi. I was in awe the whole time. The vineyards and ancient cities here are a sight to behold. I sat next to two Italians on the train who were so kind. One of them spoke really good English and the other did not speak any. I talked to the two of them for a solid 4 hours. I instantly gained a love for the Italian people as a whole just after talking to those two men. I have come to know that they are some of the most genuine and kind people on earth.

The next night we taught English course which was so fun. We teach it every Tuesday and Thursday at the church. About 6 or 7 people usuallly show up and they are all really good, so we just talk about America and our families and then leave with a spiritual thought. Last night I gave the spiritual thought about why I chose to come on a mission and how I can have joy walking around with slacks and a tie in the burning hot all day. I have become really good friends with 2 of the men who come the English course each week and I am glad I got to share my testimony with them.

The church here is on the second floor of a bank. There are 20 active members, and I already feel like family. On Saturday about half of the branch did a service project at a less actives home. We are cleaning out her old home and building a new one for her. We all worked really hard for about 4 hours then we ate Pronzo together. Pronzo is unreal. Every day, all of Italy shuts down from 130 to about 5. I kid you not, there is not a soul on the street. Not even one. Everyone goes home and eats a huge meal. We ate a 7 course meal for lunch. We had pasta, foccocia, about 4 different kinds of fruit from the vineyard in the backyard, salad, fish with mushrooms, gelato, and I cannot remember what else. It was one of the best meals I have ever had. One of the members drove us home after they all took their naps. We studied.

Church on Sunday was incredible. The members are seriously just like one huge family. I got to introduce myself. I mumbled for about 2 minutes in Italian then sat down. I could somewhat understand the messages of the three speakers. The lesson in Gospel Principles class was awesome. It was about the Fall which I studied a ton in the MTC so I could understand it all. Next week Anziano Brown and I are teaching Gospel Principles which will be exciting. O yea, so Anziano Brown and Anziano Andreason are the two other missionaries in Brindisi with us. We live in an apartment in the back corner of the city. We live on the 6th floor and can see the whole city. It is beautiful. There is a pazzeria right across the street and the people there literally love us. Last we each bought a pizza they gave us a free one too just because we are awesome. A whole pizza costs 3 euros and they are so good. Anziano Pizza and Andreason both said Brindisi has the weakest pizza they have had Italy and I think it is incredible. That blows my mind. It is so awesome to come home after a full day working and eat a pizza on our back porch. It is super hot and we walk between 8 to 10 miles a day. Since I am a greenie and Anziano Pizza is new here we did not have anyone to teach this week. We have just been walking around stopping people on the street and knocking doors all day. Monday night and Tuesday night we had incredible experiences. Monday night it was 830, and I was about to drop. We were right by our apartment, and I was just like do you want to call it a night? Anziano Pizza said the Lord needs us to work for 30 more minutes. We found two ladies sitting on their porch and we taught an awesome lesson about the Plan of Salvation. It was the highlight of the day, and I would have missed it if we went back. I am so glad Anziano Pizza is pushing me. Last night was the best. So the apartment complexes here are literally like 3 feet away from the street and most people have their windows open at night. We were walking down a street and we started talking to a lady who was in her kitchen from the street. At first I did not think the conversation would go anywhere, but we ended up talking to her for about 45 minutes. We usually teach people about the Restoration of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon initially, but Anziano Pizza started talking about Gods plan for families. We found out about 15 minutes later that her husband died 8 months ago and she does not believe in God anymore. We both shared our testimonies that we will live again because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and his gospel is meant to give and strength and peace during trials. She started to tear up. We have a return appointment this Friday.

Preparation day was solid today. First we cleaned our apartment for like 2 hours. It really needed it. Then we went and picked up a stamp we need with our names, number, and address which was like a 25 minute walk. Then we went grocery shopping. I would be wrong if I did not tell you about my grocery shopping. Last Friday I bought 2 kilos of yogurt. That is 4.4 pounds. Gone 4 days. I do not plan on slowing down. The fruit here is absolutely absurd. It is seasonal so they bring it in fresh every morning and I bought a bag of pears, oranges, blood oranges, peaches, and grapes to last me for the whole week and it was like 8 euros. It is heavenly. Their pasta, pizza, and gelato is unreal too. Then a member brought me a bed and a desk that I needed which was super nice of him and we reorganized our apartment. He also brought us a new fridge. We are officially in business. After that we just went shopping here which is just as amazing as the food. Now I am finishing my email and it is back to work for the rest of the week.

I almost forgot, last thing. There is a city which is a 25 minute train ride away called Leccia. It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. We went there for District Meeting Monday morning and I got a rustica which is like a hot croissant with lasagna in the middle and some gelato. This city is unbelievable. We are going next Wednesday to go shopping their and then play soccer.
Everything is great here. I love this city, my companion, the members here, the other missinoaries, and all the people I have met. Most importantly, I am coming to know the Lord like never before. It is a joy to serve him all day every day!
Love,
Anziano Smith

Regan is officially in Italy!

Regan with the Italy Rome Mission President and his wife

The group of new missionaries that arrived in Italy with Regan

Regan officially arrived to Italy last Wednesday! I meant to post this last week, but I was out of town and am just getting back home. We are so happy he made it there safe and sound, along with the rest of the missionaries. We received the long awaited phone call from Regan when he was at the airport before his flight (the ONE phone call missionaries are allowed to make home, besides on Christmas Day and Mothers Day!) We sent him various calling cards and tons of quarters just to make sure he had everything he needed to use the payphone at the airport! We were overboard excited about this call :) When we saw an unknown number come up on my mom's phone, we knew it was Regan. When we answered, we put him on speaker phone and connected Allie in. We all spoke to him for about 25-30 minutes. We were so grateful for that amount of time because we thought he would only have around 5 minutes.

It was so good to hear his voice, and get a majorly condensed version of his MTC experience. He sounded so happy, and even more excited to finally go to Italy. He gave us advice about things we could do to further strengthen our personal testimonies, based on various lessons he learned during his time at the MTC. He closed the phone call by sharing his testimony with us. It was extremely powerful and left us all in tears. We are so proud of Regan and could not possibly miss him any more than we do already! 

A day later we received an email from the mission president's wife, attached with the 2 pictures above. They took pictures with all the missionaries and let them email home saying that they arrived safe and sound. Words can't describe how grateful we were that the mission president and his wife did this for all the missionaries and their families! They seem like extremely nice people :) After arriving at the mission home in Rome, all the missionaries received letters telling them where in Italy their first assignments were (I only know this from reading the blog of the mission presidents wife!). We are anxiously awaiting his Pday email this Wednesday letting us know where he was assigned to go!

MTC | Week 5

My birthday was a solid start to my 5th week. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to write me. It really meant a lot. I may not have the time to personally write everyone back, but please know that I love you all and appreciate your support. Pdays are getting busier and busier and will continue to do so when I actually go to Rome on Tuesday. The entire district enjoyed the huge edible arrangement I got for my bday. Many other districts were jealous. Also, Anziano Romano told his mom it was my bday and she sent me a Red Sox shirt. That meant a whole lot to me. In terms of gifts that we give, it really is the effort and thought put behind it that matters most. Romano also decided to throw a bday party for me that was prime. We had personal language study from 7:30 to 9 when we usually just sit at a desk and study out of a book. This night was much more fun. We found an empty classroom with a whiteboard and played a verb conjugating game. There are strict rules about no competition in the MTC so we never play any language games. However, due to the special occasion we had an intense game of conjugate that verb. No lie, it was actually a blast. 

This week at priesthood meeting President Willis gave a very powerful lesson on Repentance. We read in the Bible Dictionary that defined repentance as a change of mind. It is all about turning our hearts and desires toward God. He said something that really touched me. He said in the MTC you don't really have the opportunity to commit that many sins. In the mission field it is the same way. We are engaged in a good cause and we are constantly trying to build the kingdom of God. We don't do that many things that are rebellious or evil. However, he said we still have to get on our knees everynight and ask for forgiveness. He told us we must repent of everything we do that is keeping from coming closer to Christ-things that I have never even thought were bad. It might be a joke when it is not appropriate, not focusing as hard as I could during my personal study time, or something like that. Every single one of us has a great need for repentance everyday. He also talked about the people of Italy. They will have to repent before they are baptized. Before people are baptized they must make certain commitments. He listed 6 that will be specifically difficult for Italians. First, keeping the Sabbath day holy. He told us most Catholics in Italy go to church on Christmas and Easter for an hour or so. It is generally a day of recreation. We will ask them to come to 3 hours of church every Sunday and give up recreational activities for all of that day. We will ask them to live the Word of Wisdom. Italians take pride in their wine, most people smoke, and almost everyone drinks coffee. We will ask them to live the law of chastity. He told us it is common for couples to separate and move in with someone else without ever getting a divorce because they don't want to go through all that trouble. We will ask them to pray sincerely to Heavenly Father every morning and every night. He told us many Catholics pray to Mary and saints, and it is even rare for there to be prayer at meals. We will ask them to study their scriptures every day and seek personal revelation and inspiration. Many people there believe they can get all they need from the priest and rarely study. We will ask them to live the law of tithing. Most people contribute a couple euros at Christmas and Easter and feel that is good enough. These 6 committements are HUGE! How would they ever desire/be able to do this? President Miller promised us that through our testimonies of the Restoration of the Gospel and the infinite power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ these changes are possible. All things are possible through power of the Atonement. 

Yesterday our district read Judges 6-7 together. That is the story about Gideon leading his people to battle. The Lord cut his army from 30,000 down to 300. If there was 30,000 soldiers it wouldn't have been a miracle and a lot of people would have died. Instead, the Lord cut Gideons army down to 300. They won and nobody died. The Lord did this to show forth his own power. We then read Ether 12:27 from the Book of Mormon which says, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is suffiecient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." After we read this Fratello Weller told us to never forget for one minute of our missions whose work this is. This is the work of the Almighty God and he is a God of miracles. The Book of Mormon teaches us that he can only work among the children of men according to their faith. I will probably never see a battle won by 300 people against an army of tens of thousands, I will never see a sea part or someone walk on water, but I will see miracles that are just as great. I will see people change their lives. I will see the effects and blessings of the greatest miracle of all time: the Atonement. I will see people's hearts change through repenting and keeping the committments listed above. I have already seen it, but it is amazing every time it happens. In Elder Bednar's "Character of Christ" talk I have watched the past two weeks he talked about the story of the brother of Jared in Ether 3. The Lord touched 16 stones one by one to light the 8 vessels so they could cross the sea. Each one alluminated as the Lord touched it, but the brother of Jared didn't see the finger of the Lord until they were all aluminated. He compared the stones to the people we will teach on our mission. When the first one lights up, we will be shocked and suprised. Each time we see a life change our faith will grow stronger and stronger until we have a perfect knowledge and then we will see the finger of the Lord like the brother of Jared. Our faith will be confirmed by evidence. This evidence will give us pure knowledge. Elder Bednar promised us that. If we have faith in Jesus Christ we will know him with a pure knowledge which is to have eternal life (John 17:3). 

We leave on Tuesday morning at 7:30 for the airport. Last night we had a devotional which was perfect for us right before we leave. It was by President Hinckley's son. He told us that the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen on a mission is that you come home with regrets. He said you will come home and say "I wish I had" or "I'm glad I did." I'm so glad I have my whole mission before me. I have never learned so much in 5 weeks in my life. I certainly have never worked this hard in my whole life and I have never been closer to Christ either. There is nowhere I would rather be than right here. I most likely will not be writing next week since my plane lands in Rome on Wednesday at 2:20pm. We got our travel plans. There are 49 elders total flying to Italy that day ( 22 Rome, 27 Milan), but I am only flying with 10 others. I can't wait. It's alphabetical order so I will be with Anziano Rigby, Romano, and Robinson. Three of my all time favorites. So long for two weeks. 

Love,

Anziano Smith

MTC | Week 4 (#2)

Regan and one of his best friends from back home, Elder (Jacob) Winters 

Jacob and I. Guess who took a nap, guess who was studying hard, haha. I saw him in the bookstore before lunch. 

This is some of my district at lunch. I just wrote a letter to the fam. I missed getting it in the mail today. I'll send it tomorrow. I gave you all hw.

Thanks so much for the birthday packages. Your food has sustained me for sure, same with the love of your letters. Sorry I can't respond as often or in as detailed as I would like. Free time is a concept I no longer remember. 

Take care. Enjoy the summer. Enjoy the jungle (riverpark). Capital Grill and the Y sound like a blast. 

I'm so ready for Italy. The MTC is good. I'm learning a ton everyday, but I am ready. Bryce Kuck told me today to talk to every person I see and challenge someone to baptism everyday. I used to think that was ridiculous but in the MTC I am understanding why we challenge so early and so directly. The only way to enter into the path that leads to eternal life is baptism. It is my job to invite all to enter it. I'm also learning a ton about how to teach. In a good lesson the investigator should talk as much as I do. Inspired questions are key to teaching. I must ask a question and testify of every principle I teach. A lesson isn't a lecture, it's a conversation. The spirit comes when I get people to search their souls. Then the spirit will come and testify of the truthfulness of their words. Fratello Weller said the last two weeks of his mission he and his companion found people to teach and referred them to the ZLs. They didn't teach 1 lesson. The only thing they said to people were the "How to Begin Teaching" 10 points in preach my gospel. It's in Chapter 10. Read those points. In 2 weeks they had 30 new investigators and 8 of them were baptized 3 weeks later. Those 10 points are the most inspired lines of all of PMG. Dad, tell every priest to memorize those points cold. They are literally the secret weapon to getting people interested. 

Love you family,

Anziano Smith

MTC | Week 4

The 4th of July was a great start to week 4! It was a regular day of class until 6:30, and we all go to go to have a big 4th of July presention with the whole mission. We started by singing a few patriotic hymns. It was really awkward because the two kids sitting next to me were from England. I was trying so hard not to laugh the whole time. I couldn't hold it any longer when the elder saying the opening pray said, "We are grateful that our forefathers had the courage to brake away from England." It was so funny. They were good sports about it. Then there was a man who spoke who served in the Air Force and he gave a really inspiring talk about his son-in-law who is also in the military. We then all got to watch 17 Miracles. For those of you who don't know, it is a movie about the Mormon Pioneers trecking across the counrty. I loved the scene when Levi Savage said, "I looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but I saw no one. It was then I knew the angels of God were with us." I can definitely relate that to myself here in the MTC so far. I have definitely been blessed with strenght beyond my own here. 

On Sunday night I went to the Character of Christ talk again, and I sat next to Jacob! It was awesome to be able to talk to him for a while. He talked to me in Chinese for the like 5 minutes and it blew my mind. He also showed me a bunch of characters he has learned. He said each word in can mean about 10 different things and it is purely based of the context. He seemed to be doing great with it though. O yea, before the Character of Christ talk, we had a devotional by Susan Easton Black. She was so incredible. She told a story of when she and a friend went to Salt Lake and found the prophet's house. Condensing a 20 minute story in a couple sentences, she knocked on the prophet's door and her friend ran away. David O. McKay opened the door and invited her in. She said for 15 minutes the whole world stood still, and she had no doubt that he was a prophet of God. From that moment on she hit the books. Since, she was the first female professor at BYU, she has written 130 books, and 300 articles for the church. She shared with us some of the knowledge she had gained and it was incredible. I'll give one examle and then move on. 

She said she had a friend who told her she was leaving the church and she asked why. Her friends said because some of her friends showed her an original copy of the Book of Mormon which said on the front cover that Joseph Smith was the author and proprietor-not the translator. Sister Black said, that's silly. You and you friends meet me for lunch tomorrow. Sister Black brought brought a book about New York publication laws at the time and the friends brought the original copy of the Book of Mormon. In New York in 1830, there was a law that no one could publish a book if they were not the author. Therefore, Joseph had to say he was the author for the book to be published. She flipped a couple pages and read the Testimony of the prophet in which he clearly stated he was the translator of the book. She then told us on our missions we will need to study, not just read about the gospel. A bunch of people will have questions, apparent contradictions, and othere things that my puzzle us if we haven't studied. It was really inspiring. 

On Monday Fratello Weller gave a really powerful lesson that I wanted to share a little bit about. He asked us what we depended on in high school for our happiness, enjoyment, success, or whatever else. We said the typical answers: family, friends, music, sports, internet/tv. We then read Moroni 6:4 together. "And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ...to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and finisher of their faith." Everything we listed on the board is gone now. On our missions, we have to depend solely upon Christ. It is him we represent. Therefore, we are promised his help. This helped me realize how humble I need to be to the will of the Lord. Every prayer, thought, and action I do is in his name, and it is upon him I must rely. I love this verse. 

The thing I have also learned is that the stories in the Book of Mormon and Bile are not just fiction for our entertainment or to help us feel good. They are true, and the principles are applicable in this day as in days of old. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He still works among the children of men in the same way he always has-according to their faith and humility. I know that the power of prayer is real. It isn't the duration of prayers that matter, but the depths of your desires. As we close out the world and spend time sincerely talking to our Father, we will learn of him and feel his love. God already knows everything about us. Prayer isn't for him, it is for us. Prayer is the key to personal revelation. I'm so grateful for it. 

Last night at our devotional, the speakers asked us all a qustion: "Are you serving time or are you serving the Savior?" I'm so grateful for these two years to set everything aside and give it to the Lord. I've been thinking a lot about Mosiah 2:17-25 this week. These verses give me the perspective of what can I give, not what can I get. The only way to truly find ourselves in this life is to lose ourselves in the service of our fellow man. 

The Italian is a work in progress. We learn knew concepts everyday, but I often find myself using the grammar I am comfortable with in our lessons. I'm trying to stretch myself now so it will be easier in 13 DAYS when we leave. It is so soon. I'm really excited to go. Elder Kuck just emailed me and told me to talk to every person I see on my mission. This will be quite the growing experience for me to say the least. Sister Black's husband told us that we can be bold on our missions not because we were born bold, but because we have been set apart by one holding authority from God as representatives of Jesus Christ to preach the gospel. It's great to know that I'm part of something so much bigger than myself.

Well that is about all the news I have for the week. Take care everyone!

Anziano Smith

MTC | Week 3

So this week in the MTC was pretty much the same as all of the other weeks. Class, teaching, class, eat, and sleep. The amount of information we are learning here is unreal. I learned a few really amazing things this week I wanted to share with everyone.

The first really only applies to future missionaries who will be learning a new language. We have 6 or 8 hours of straight language study every day, but the style of learning is totally different than any school in the entire world. This week, kind of like the first two weeks, we got a little frustrated because they were teaching us so much information so fast. Our teacher, Fratello Jeter, whipped out a quote that I had never heard before by Joseph Smith. He said the gift of tongues is the least important of all spiritual gifts, yet it is often the one we seek after the most. Fratello Jeter then ducktaped an eraser and some cleanser in Anziano Rigby's hands and told him to try to vaccum the room. He obviously couldn't do this. He compared doing missionary work to cleaning a room (weird analogy I know). Italian isn't a tool, it is only our gloves. Learning Italian is not the goal here in the MTC or in Italy. It is the least important thing we will do on the mission. However, it is necessary to be able to use the rest of our tools or spiritual gifts/qualities we must develop to be successful missionaries (faith, hope, charity, humility, revelation, ect.). There aren't any grades here in the MTC. Learning the language isn't a competition. It is completely irrelevant if you are fluent in Italian if you can't teach the gospel by the power of the Holy Ghost and express your love and concern for people. The next day was Sunday, and I didn't even look at anything Italian all day. I just read a lot of the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel in English and prayed a lot. It was so refreshing to do this. Church was awesome too. It gave me a ton of renewed strength and energy.

The next thing I wanted to share was some lesson I learned from a talk by David A. Bednar from the Quorum of the Twelve called "The Character of Christ." It was a recorded talk given in the MTC on Christmas Day in 2008. This talked changed my entire perspective of the mission. He started by saying that as an apostle, he visits those who have been baptized into the church within the last 6 months everywhere he goes. He asks everyone what the missionaries said that made them interested in the church and eventually get baptized. Everyone gave the exact same answer. "All I remember them saying was some crazy story about a kid finding gold plates in the woods. I thought it was one of the strangest things I have ever heard. However, the reason we invited them back was because the spirit and power they brought into our home that we have never felt before." As a missionaries, it's obviously necessary to know the gospel, but it is not our words or our intellect that will ever help anyone. It is the converting power of the Holy Ghost to let people know this message is unique. He also told us that before our missions we learned a lot about Christ along with the rest of the Christian world. Now is not our time to learn ABOUT him, it is our time to learn OF him. The difference between learning of Christ and learning about Christ is huge. Then he started talking about how the character of Christ teaches of him. The character of Christ is to turn outward, when the natural man would turn inward. He then opened up the New Testament and gave several examples of how Christ turned out during very difficult times. I'll briefly relate just a few. When Christ took the three chief apostles to the Garden of Gethsemane, they couldn't pray with him for an hour. Then Judas betrayed him. 4 of the 12 who Christ invested everything he had for the past 3 years in didn't come through. They let him down when he need them most. He then talked about the incomprehenisble horror and terror of what Christ actually went through in Gethsemane. He was on his way to the cross, and he healed a guard's ear who was come to take him to his death. Then he forgave those who hung him on the cross. Then he started talking to and doing missionary work with the thieves on his left and on his right. He then started giving instructions for his mother to be taken care of. He was NEVER thinking of himself. Not even in his darkest hour. It was never about him. He then asked the question, so what? Why does this matter to us? He then gave us the definition of character and how we can develop the character of Christ through the Atonement. Character refers to moral qualities strongly developed, strikingly displayed, and consistently lived. During this talk he read Mosiah 3:19 at least 7 times. I seriously think this is them most important verse in the whole Book of Mormon. This verse talks about how the natural man is an enemy to God and we can only change through the Atonoment of Christ and develop his attributes. We will never be able to do it on our own. He said some people think they will change by constantly being busy and having a huge check list to accomplish. This will never work. It is only through the power of the Atonement which comes through the ordinances and covenants which Christ has established. Through these blessings, we can gain strength from God. He said on our misisons we will have to love the whiners, the complainers, and the proud. Christ loved these people. He loved his enemies. He loved the people who crucified him. The only way we can develop this Christlike love and completely change our natures is the through put everything on the altar of sacrifice to God (our fear, our pride, our disobedience, ect.) and realize that we are 100% dependent on Christ. We need his power and his image in our countenances. At the end of his talk he invoked a blessing upon us that through our desire and dilegence we would have an increased understanding of the character of Christ and therefore be able to develop every spritual gift/blessing to truly become converted to him and never fall away (Alma 23:5-6). Yesterday I bought a new copy of the Book of Mormon. I am reading it from cover to cover before I leave the MTC with one question in mind: what is the character of Christ? Yesterday I read the first 26 pages and I learned something about the character of Christ on every page.

The next experience I wanted to share happened yesterday. Sorella Miles was teaching us about how to be good missionaries (that's kind of what we learn here at the MTC). She said if your not speaking from you heart, you are merely a robot or a salesman. She said we need to share with everyone our personal conversion story on the mission. She had all 8 of us in the room share our conversion story in Italian. It was really powerful. All 8 of us were born into the church, but we have all come to know it for ourselves through our own experiences. You can't live off of borrowed light on the mission. After that experience Anziano Romano looked at me and pointed at a picture of the prophet. Then he showed me a picture of the Salt Lake Temple. Then he pointed out the window at all the missionaries walking around.  The he said, "There's no way the church isn't true."

I only have like 5 minutes left. Overall, I learned a lot about humility this week. As a missionary, I have to be ready to share my testimony 24/7. Testimonies can only be shared out of love and genuine concern for others. Therefore, my mind has to be on higher ground all of the time. Elder Bednar promised us that if we completely forget about our own concerns and problems and the mission, we will find ourselves and become who we truly want to be for the rest of our lives. It won't necessarily be the best two years of my life, but it will teach me things and do things for me that will lay a foundation for the rest of my life that could be learned no other way. Our district is also all really close now. We all can't wait to go to Italy. The MTC is great, but come July 23, we will be ready for the real thing.

Sincerely,

Anziano Smith