Caserta | week 10 {great members, family history, old fashioned street contacting}

Elder Smith and Hatch doing family history work 

Delicious gelato! 

Palmieri 

Dinner with Giuseppe and the Salvitis

2.3.14

First of all, I hope everyone is alright. I heard from some members here of the snow and all the problems it caused in Atlanta last week. Sounded like it was crazier than the whole week we got off two years ago.

We had a pretty good week here in Caserta that was a little different than weeks past. So there is a conference up in Rome every transfer for all of the Zone Leaders to talk about the work and they come back and relay the info to everyone else. Last week at District Meeting, our zone leader was telling us about the numbers from our mission and how most of the success comes from member referrals. So this week we set 4 meal appointments with members this week. That may not sound like a lot for a week, but you must understand we eat enough food for 2 days at every meal appointment here. Not necessarily because we are forced, but because it is so good we cannot stop. Member appointments can be a blessing and a curse for that reason, but mainly a blessing. We got to know the members a lot better this week and I came to love some of our members who I never really knew that well before.

Firstly, Sorella Palmieri is an angel. She is the only member in her family and she told us her conversion story which was really amazing. She was in vacation in Germany like 30 years ago and her friends had the missionaries over who shared a spiritual thought that touched her. She came back to Italy and contacted the missionaries and then joined the church. Cool stories. Anyways, she has a daughter who is in her late 20s who wants to meet with us and so we are stoked to go back.

Last Friday night Marco took us down to Fratello Izzos house. He lives in a city like 45 minutes away where there use to be like 15 or so members of the church, and they would meet in his basement. He ordered a big podium and installed a baptismal font in his basement. Easily the coolest basement I have every seen in my life. It is like a legitimate chapel. He told us there have been 3 baptisms and his basement, but there havent been any since the branch moved to Caserta. I love that man. Bold statement of the day: his wife tied Sorella Casti for the best meal I have had on my mission. She made homeade pasta with homeade sauce and veggies from their backyard and then she made pizza too. It was unreal. His wife actually is not a member and so we had a really good lesson after dinner and we hope to go back sometime soon.

Last week we also had a really neat experience to go to some geology archives with the Willies to look for some of their friends family history that is here in Caserta. We went to translate for them and it was a way cooler experience than I thought. They let us search through these original documents that were hundreds of years old. After a solid three hours of seaching we found two names that they needed which felt good.

Unfortunately, everyone we are teaching was really busy this week with school and work so we didnt have many opportunities to see them at all. It left a lot of time for Anziano Hatch and I do some old fashioned street contacting which we havent done much of this transfer because we have been really busy. We always meet the coolest people and I never cease to have experiences that make me laugh. One example, last week I met a man named Pace who couldnt pronounce Smith so he just called me John. I called him Saturday night to invite him to church and he said, "Ciao John!" It was amazing.

I continue to learn a ton every day from Anziano Hatch. More than anything, he has taught me to my best to rely on the Lord and the Holy Ghost more than relying on myself. He is really humble and teaches with amazing power because he loves other people and he has truly given not only his might and strength to the Lord, but also his whole heart and mind. He has been an amazing inspiration and example to me this past month. I truly feel blessed to be surrounded by such awesome missionaries. This week there was a scripture that I have been thinking a lot about. It is Alma 34:38. I realized that the elders I have been blessed to serve with are a tender mercy of the Lord because they have lifted and encouraged me so many times. There are so many other things in my daily life that I sometimes take for granted that truly are such amazing blessings that I can always be happy if I just remember them and am always thankful. Sometimes it is other missionaries, or little things like mozzorella di bufala or awesome guy on the train who calls me John. There are too many to count. Hope everyone has a great week!

Anziano Smith