Brindisi | week 14

 Anziano Pizza rescuing a cat from a tree!

Hello Fellow Americans,

It has been two weeks since I last wrote and much has happened. I will go over some of the highlights quickly. 

First of all, there are two new missionaries in our district who are instant legends. Anziano Querisma from Torino (in Italy) and Anziano Kwodwo from Ghana. It is so cool meeting missionaries from different parts of the world. I have only talked to them for about an hour at our last District Meeting (which is every Tuesday morning), but that was certainly enough to tell that they are incredible missionaries and really cool guys as well. Hopefully I will be able to go on some scambios with them this transfer.

So, at the beginning of English course we all meet together for announcements, prayer, introducing new people, etc then we split into the advanced and beginner course. Last Tuesday after the prayer, Anziano Pizza made a comment after the prayer about how the fun course would remain in the chapel while the boring course went with Anziano Alvey and I to the Relief Society room. Some of us took offense to that comment and decided to act. So...we have advanced english course pizza party Wednesday night at the best pizzeria in Brindisi. It was so legit! Only 4 of them could make it, but it was awesome to say the least. No worries, it was not a night off of missionary work. Half of the time we were talking about prayer and it was really awesome to talk about the gospel in a more relaxed, informal setting. They really opened up to us more than they do during our spiritual thoughts. We also gave Salvatore (my favorite student) the past 2 conference talks by President Monson and he read both of them that night. He is awesome.

The coolest experience of my mission by far was this past Thursday morning. There is a school right outside this park where we have been visiting a family for the past two weeks and we usually try to meet them around 12 or so. On Thursday we finished talking to them around 12:40, but we dont go back to the apartment until 1:30 for lunch. We decided to walk around the park for a while. Turns out there is a school right on the other side of it which gets out at 12. There were 4 or 5 students sitting and talking with a teacher and I told Anziano Pizza we should try to talk to them. The teacher was a really funny guy. He was kind of poking fun of us at first, and then he was like, "Class! come listen to the American kids!" All of the sudden about 25 kids who were all 17 and 18 were standing around us. Anziano Pizza introduced us and talked for a while. At first they were kind of making fun of us and not really listening. They could tell I was the new kid and pointed at me and were like say something in English to us. So I whipped out my Book of Mormon out of my bag and started explaining what it was in English. I wont lie, I was scared at first, but as soon as I opened up my mouth there was absolutely no fear. It was one of the most amazing feelings I have ever felt. It got absolutely dead silent when I opened it up to the picture of Christ ministering to the people in Ancient America. Anyways, we told them all about English course and all of them freaked out and said they wanted to come. They haven’t come yet, but we will see.

On Friday I went on a scambio with Anziano Jepsen all day. He is a champ. He works like there is no tomorrow and I love it. We divided the morning into visiting less actives and x investigators with street contacting on the way to both. We were so effective I felt like we did a days worth of work by 2pm. That morning we found Sorella Dimurri who has not been to church in about 15 years. Talking to her for an hour was heart-wrenching. She has gone through so much pain. She firmly told us 3 times that she could never accept the existence of a God again. However, she was so kind to us and gave us her phone number and told us we could come back because she is pretty lonely. Situations like that call for miracles. They call for power beyond our own to reach out in compassion and help another feel of the healing and power of the Atonement. She is an absolutely perfect example of a sheep the Lord needs fed.

This Sunday we only had 20 people at sacrament. Nevertheless, it was an incredibly spiritual sacrament meeting. It truly does only take 2 or the 3 people to be gathered in the Lords name to invite the Spirit. They hymns, sacrament, prayers, and talks were some of the most beautiful I have ever heard. The members here truly are inspiring. Their faith is so vibrant and they are about 25 out of a city of 70,000. They all know it is true and sacrifice so much for the gospel. They make me want to be better not only now, but for the rest of my life. So long until next week!

Love,

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 12 {Monday is Pday, no one gets transferred!}

Anziano Smith, Anziano Jepsen, Anziano Alvey, Anziano Pizza

Ah! We can't wait to go visit Brindisi one day! It sure seems like a special place

Lasagna Anziano Pizza made for the elders last Friday for weekly planning. Delicious!

Regan said this was a local duomo (big Catholic church)

Sure looks beautiful there!

Anziano Pizza and Anziano Smith

Well, this was a shorter week since pday was changed to Mondays but I still have some good stuff to report. First of all, I dont think I have given the members here from Brindisi enough love in my emails home. They are super legit. Prime example. Last Friday Fratello Frascaro asked us to come to the church really quick to help him with something for his family history and he bought 4 wheels of focaccia for the 4 of us. It was so nice of him. 

On Saturday I went on a scambio with Anziano Jepson. That night was easily one of the best of my whole mission. Anziano Jepson decided to go out to see someone they met on the street earlier that week. She told them they could come back and talk. She was about an hour walk from our apartment. I thought it was a very questionable decision to go and see her, but he wanted to, so we did. After 40 minutes of walking came across an older couple and a younger lady sitting on a bench and we stopped to talk to them. It was a way neat experience for me to say the least. Anziano Jepson talked to the younger lady (who wasnt super interested in our message) while I talked to the older couple. We ended up talking for like 30 minutes. It boosted my confidence a ton to know that I can hold a conversation completely on my own. Anziano Pizza is giving me control of the phone now which is another big step. Anyways, I gave them a Book of Mormon which they said they would read. Only problem with contacting them again is they have no idea how to use the phone they have. Getting a hold of them might be a problem. I had to take her phone from her and call my phone to get her number cause she didnt even know it. We shall wait and see.

Then we finally got to the apartment we were going to in the first place. It was a very very nice lady who was in probably the nicest apartment I have seen since I have been here. She showed us pics of her kids weddings which were incredible. We got to know her better for like 20 minutes and then asked if she has met with the missionaries before. It turns out she is the great aunt of Anziano Liccoli who was the missionary that I came to Brindisi to replace. I was so shocked. He is from somewhere in Northern Italy. We then taught her the lesson on the Resoration. She said she wasnt interested in meeting with us again, but I still felt amazing after that lesson. It is really neat to think of how much joy God lets us feel when we do our best. I know that I am not by any means a perfect teacher, and I have thought a lot of times that I could have given another person a better chance to here this wonderful message. However, the only thing that matters is that I keep trying to grow in my love for the Lord and others and do my best and that will be enough because the Lords grace is sufficient. 

Next big moment from the week: Transfer Calls!!! Our whole house is staying together this transfer. I was psyched! We actually got the call while we were at Victor and Blessings for dinner and a lesson. We had an amazing dinner of pasta and fried chicken sandwiches. It was legit. Anyways, all the elders here truly are my brothers. This work unites us like none other. I love them all so much and am so happy to hear that they are all doing well. 

Im out of time. Everyone just know that the Lord lives. He loves everyone one of us no matter what we do. We can never go so far away that we are out of his sight. We are his children and always will be. It is the quest of a lifetime to come to know him more intimately and serve him with all our might! 

Love,

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 11 {General Conference, more food, Pday is now Monday!}

Lots of amazing things happened this week. To start the week off, we had an awesome meeting with Verah. She is really diligent and really desirous to learn. She has been reading a lot from an old conference magazine and loves all of the talks by the apostles. We cant wait to show her President Monsons talk from last Sunday! It will be perfect. Anyways, she is growing a lot. We read Ether 12 with her and talked a lot about faith. We talked about how witnesses always come after the trial of our faith and she talked about how during hard moments she has never doubted that God is with her walking right beside her. She amazing!

On Friday President Casty invited us over for Pronzo and it was amazing as expected. It ended up going quite a bit longer than expected, but it was all good because we talked a lot about missionary work in the branch and how we can help. They truly treated us like their own kids. He and Sorella Casti love the branch so much and are extremely enthusiastic about missionary work. I couldnt dream for better leaders.

General Conference was definitely the highlight of the week for me. It was huge spiritual recharge. We bought some snacks and camped out in the computer room here in the church and watched Saturday night and Sunday afternoon/night. Sunday morning we went to the Christensens (an American family here) house and they made us an awesome breakfast and then we watched a session at their place. Monday morning we watch the last session for district meeting with the other missionaries in Lecce. When President Monson opened conference I cannot describe the emotions that overcame me. I have been sharing my testimony that he is a prophet of God almost every day since I have been here and listening to him speak melted my heart. I could not hold back my tears even just listening to his welcoming address that was only 5 minutes. I could talk for days about that conference, but I will mention two talks touched me the most other than the Prophets of course. First, Elder Bednars talk about tithing. Second, President Eyrings talk on Sunday morning about Gods purposes for our families and why we have trials. These two talks struck me to the core. I dont want to talk much about them since you all can go straight to the source and watch them, but President Eyrings testimony of love was one of the most powerful I have ever heard. It really made me want to be a better person. Speaking of the topic of love, there is one more amazing experience I had this week. My friend Joe left the MTC this week to go serve in Pocatello, Idaho. About one year ago we were in a bookstore together that was full of art of Christ and his life. There was one picture called "In Humility" by Simon Dewey that was a painting of Chirst washing his disciples feet. He could not get over how much he liked it and it really touched me. Last Tuesday morning we had 2 appointments fall through and we had kind of hard morning of street contacting. Not much really went our way. We got home for lunch at 1:30 and I had a letter in the mail from Joe. He wrote a super nice letter and it had the 3 by 5 copy of that picture. On the back it has Matthew 25:40 which says, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." He truly took pleasure in washing his disciples feet. He did it without being asked. He did it out of humility and love. It is a pleasure to try to follow his example and do the same!

So long until next week (pdays got changed to Monday so its only 5 days away!)

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 10 {Circus, Stake Conference, Zone Conference, Bari}

Train ride to Bari, Italy for Stake Conference 

Pictures from last Pday when they went to a circus that came to Brindisi! 

Freaky! Tigers! 

Haha looks like a good missionary opportunity going on! 

Such a pretty horse! I'll bet it reminded Regan of America, specifically Utah :) 

More tigers at the circus 

This is my (McKenzie, Regan's sister) husband Rhett's friend Ettore Pappagallo that lives in Bari where Stake Conference was! He served with Rhett on his mission in Manchester, England. Small world! 

Ettore and his wife with Regan. He is SO nice and took these pictures on Sunday at Stake Conference and emailed to us :) He said Regan's Italian was really good too!

This week started off with an eventful pday. We went to the circus! Yeah you read that right. I had to call President to get permission. Kind of an awkward conversation, but it was worth it. A lot happened this week so I wont waste my time talking about it. I was pretty fun, nothing spectacular though.

The next day was Thursday and we had a bit of a rough morning. I was a bit discouraged and Anziano Pizza gave me the talk "The Divine Gift of Gratitude." I totally changed my perspective and decided I would say one prayer of only gratitude every day the rest of my mission. I did right after I read that talk and it immediately changed my day and whole week in fact. That night we talked to about 8 or 9 kids who were 14 to 16 years old. It was my first time talking to a group of kids. They were all smoking so I thought at first they would just make fun of us or something, but they ended up being super nice and asking some really intelligent/deep questions. We gave them english course bigliettini and hopefully they will come. We talked to another group of kids later this week and I have found that it takes a certain level of humility to talk with/teach kids because of the culture that surrounds them and the temptations which are in the world, most dont have a basis for moral standards. We have to be 100% real with them and let them know from our hearts that this is the way to true happiness. It took a lot of guts. I need to get a lot better at it though. That night something hilarious happened at English course. We were teaching a lesson on how to order at a restaurant and we made a menu which included the word "cheeseburger." Hearing Italians attempt to say the word cheeseburger about killed me. I felt bad because Anziano Alvey and I were both laughing uncontrollably to the point where it got a little awkward.

Friday we contacted that American family we met about 5 or 6 weeks ago. They live far away and are only free on weekends at night. It was amazing. The dad was home with his kids and we got to talk to him for about 45 minutes. We found out he served a mission in Argentina. We talked to him for a bit about his mission and it was way cool. He is just found out last week he is getting transferred back to Charleston to work but will still come back to Brindisi every couple of weeks. There was a poem Anziano Alvey gave me earlier that day that we read and discussed with him for the lesson. I sent it home to my family earlier today and they will put it up on my blog when they get it. It was an amazing experience. He said when he comes back to Brindisi he will bring back stuff to make tacos and he will bring us some nutter butters. I cannot wait for that phone call!! That night I thought about how God leads us to those children who he needs us to bless. My Italian still isnt very great at all, and I thought about the people I have taught. Verah, Victor, Blessing, and this man all speak English. Like .0001% of the people in Brindisi speak any English. Maybe that is an exaggeration, but you get point. He truly does place people in our path who he needs us the reach out and help. We are only on his errand.

On Saturday we taught Gery and Dedy and Gery said something that blew my mind. We asked him how he could know for sure that our message was true. He said that he has been meeting with missionaries for over 20 years and he knows how the moral standard in the world is decaying so fast and it shows in peoples eyes. He said that he can see light and purity in the eyes of every missionary who has been in his home the past 20 years and it is not a coincidence. I thought that was so powerful. It is amazing to be part of the this army of missionaries throughout the world! It was sad though; we had to end the lesson early to catch our train to Bari for Stake Conference.

Sunday was Stake Conference! It was bomb! There were so many children, youth, and young adults I was inspired. The church has a real solid future here in Italy and I saw it with my own eyes. I will talk more about the meeting at the end of this letter. Anyways, that day I met one of the coolest missionaries I have known yet on the mission. His name is Anziano Esparza. He is from Equador, but he has lived in Germany the past 10 years. He speaks fluent Portuguese, Italian, German, and English. I asked him how long he had been on his mission and he said, "I have no idea, I just enjoy every day out here." I asked again, and he literally didnt know. He is hilarious too.

Monday night was the highlight of the week. Anziano Kasper who is an AP came down to Brindisi and went on a scambio with me. I literally felt like I was walking around with the apostle Paul all night long. We left the apartment at 4:35 to go to an appointment at 5. On the walk there he got 3 peoples phone numbers. That is how many numbers I get on a good day. During the lesson we taught to two Romanian girls we truly helped them feel the love that the Savior had for them. I cant describe it in words. They asked us why we left home and paid to come here and walk around all day to try to talk to people. He then bore an incredible testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the truths that have been restored to the earth about the nature of God and how we are his children. They were both moved to tears as we prayed at the end of the lesson. We then did an hour and a half of street contacting. Once again, unreal. We talked to so many people and he applied to so well to each person according to their needs/interests. Then we had another lesson around 7:30 in which we taught of family of 8. There is mother of 102 and she has 6 kids who are around their 70s. They are amazing. We also taught them the full Restoration lesson and read some of 3 Nephi 19 about the Holy Ghost and Baptism. Once again, I learned an incredible amount from Anziano Kasper.

Tuesday was Zone Conference in Bari and I received a lot of amazing training. The assistants gave a really inspiring lesson on obedience. They taught with such power and authority that I really desire to develop on my mission. I was talking to Anziano Bird who is the other assistant after the conference, and he told me that he and Anziano Kasper have not had a pday in 8 weeks. That is consecration to the max. I have truly been inspired.

Ok, spritual thought for the week goes back to what our Stake President said at Stake Conference on Sunday. He said I have 2 questions which may seem contradictory, but they are not. First, Do you have the faith to be healed? Second, do you have the faith not to be healed? At first I thought I misunderstood his Italian, but then I asked Anziano Pizza and I understood him correctly. That second question is very deep. Sometimes, we will do our best to show God our love for him and do what he asks, and his answer may be no because he knows another way that is better. Maybe he needs us to have a little patience. In the end, we will all have times when there is situation or circumstance that is not right. In those times, we need to trust God when it is not fixed immediately. Even if it may not be fixed in this life. We need to press forward with steadfastness in Christ with a perfect brightness of hope as it says in 2 Nephi 31. We need be strong enough to keep our faith even if God doesnt heal us immediately. He will heal us and that is the faith we can never lose. 

Sincerely,

Anziano Smith