Brindisi | week 15 {"The Lord gives us miracles when we least expect them"}

 Regan emailed me this picture and in the subject line wrote: "my week in summary." Haha! 

Anziano Queresima, who Regan says is "literally the bomb!" 

Regan with 2 new elders that he says are amazing, Anziano Queresima and Anziano Kwodjo 

 Regan said these are some of his friends from English course

HAHA Regan told us to zoom in and read the note from the apartment committee from the night before...it says "PLEASE is very important to not disturb the STILLNESS from 2pm until 5pm and also in the night, thank you." hahahaha I guess they are too loud during the afternoon when all of Italy shuts down to take naps!

Really good pizza that Regan promised us we would have someday ;) Plus, look at his precious face! I know I am biased as his sister, but he is just sooo cute!

Regan's new coat. Under this picture he wrote "fresh as can be." Haha love this kid! 

Regan with Fratello (brother) Palma, who Regan said is "THE MAN" 

Regan with Anziano Baggaley & Anziano Peachey (zone leaders). He says he loves them both so much! 

Regan said this was the best pizza of "this week"!

Regan with Victor, Blessing, Joseph, and Feliscia! We can't wait to meet them someday, such great people :) 

Pretty picture of the port. Regan said this is where they tracted on Sunday night.

Hello fellow Americans! I hope all is well as thanksgiving preparations are underway. There will be no such activities here as we just finished celebrating Saints Day and the Day of the Dead. All the holidays here are different and they tend to throw me off a little bit. Nonetheless, the Christmas spirit is starting early here and I like it. 

Anyways, we had a pretty eventful week in which I learned a lot of things. First off, we had District Meeting in Lecce and Anziano Baggaley gave me a talk to read called the "The 4th Missionary." It is about 30 pages. Anyone who will serve a mission must read this talk beforehand. It was super inspiring and made me want to be a lot better. Nuff said about that. 

So, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning Anziano Baggaley and Anziano Peachey (zone leaders) came and did some scambios with us. It was a blast. Tuesday night I went out with Anziano Jepson and Wednesday morning I went out with Anziano Baggaley. I am so lucky to be able to learn from them because they are seriously the best of the best. So Tuesday night we all went out around 5 and planned to meet up for pizza together at 8:30. It was 8:28 and Anziano Jepsen and I were on our way to the pizzeria and this guy grabbed us and was like "Anziani I have to buy you a drink!" He literally pulled us into a bar, and I was really annoyed at first. It was a man who Anziano Jepsen and Alvey talked to the day before. Anyways, we got a drinks and were talking for about 10 minutes and then the bartenders asked us who we were and we ended up teaching them the full restoration lesson. They gave us their numbers and told us they wanted a Book of Mormon. It was a testimony to me that the Lord gives us miracles when we least expect them. Wednesday morning I went out with Anziano Baggaley, and I seriously love him like a brother. He so humble and genuine with everyone he meets. I look up to him a lot. 

Ok so I want to skip all the way to Saturday cause we had a really cool night. That morning I studied the Restoration in a lot of depth. I really really really wanted to share what I learned with someone that day but we did not have much planned other than going to San Vito at night to visit Victor and Blessing. I prayed that somehow someone would let us in their house and we could share this message IN their home. We talk to people for like 8 hours a day, but it is always on the street. No one has let me into their house to this point on my mission other than members and a few less actives. We got back from San Vito at 8:20 and were just doing some street contacting right outside of our apartment. We saw a man trying to move a desk on his own, so we offered to help. We helped him carry it up. After that he would not let us go until he did something to pay us back. We told him all we wanted was to share our message with him and so he invited into his house. I thought it was going to be just like the The District. We teach and he starts crying and says he wants to be baptized. Instead we taught him about the The First Vision and then in his exact words he said "You said you were coming to share a message with me. That is not a message. Did you guys study before came here? If so, you should have studied better." Anziano Pizza and I did not know what think. We then shared our testimonies of God and that he lives and he wants to communicate with us, so he called a prophet to reveal his will to us in these days just like in days of old. The lesson totally changed. It changed from reciting a story and some points to helping him realize that he was a son of God and there is a way to come unto him. Im really grateful he was super blunt and told us off. It humbled me and made me want to testify with my soul instead of just my mind. All in all, it ended up being really good, but he said he wasnt interested in learning more. He even gave us some food to eat for lunch on Sunday. This morning I was doing jump rope at 6:45 on our balcony and realized that he is the same guy who sits on his roof every morning smoking a huge pipe. He said hi and asked if we liked the food he gave us. Didnt think I would every see him again, but it turns out we will be awkwardly staring at each other every morning bright and early for at least 4 more weeks. 

Church was also great this Sunday. It was a really good fast and testimony meeting. The sacrament hymn, the sacament, and the testimonies were most spiritual. There arent really words to describe the feelings and thoughts that come your mind when the Holy Ghost comes into your mind and heart other than this is all true! We have such great things to hope for! Always be happy and do good! It was an awesome week. Never expected the two best teaching experiences of the week to be the bartenders or the super rude guy, but Heavenly Father can definitely see into peoples hearts better than I can. One two minutes before pizza night and the other right when we were about to go back home for the night as well. Always finish. Always finish strong! 

Anziano Smith