Caserta | week 17 {Amalfi Coast, Rome mission conference, gardening}

Picture in Pompeii from last Pday 

Pompeii 

Going to the Salvitti's with Antonio and Daniel! 

 Riding the Frecciarosa to Rome!

 Working in Fratello Izzo's garden

On their way to church! 

They went back to the Amalfi Coast again and had a little more time to spend there this time! 

 Haha I love this picture! It looks pretty windy there :)

 Amalfi Coast 

Great picture of the houses/buildings along the Amalfi Coast 

The missionaries with the angel Sister Salvitti! She does so much for them and we are forever grateful for her! 

3.24.14

This past week has been absolutely incredible. Daniel and Antonio have honestly become our best friends, and our members have come up big with helping them feel at home in church. Last Monday night after Pompeii we went to dinner at the Salvittis with Daniel and Antonio and it was a blast. It is incredible how all of the Americans love Antonio and Daniel even though there is a language barrier. It really isnt a barrier at all. It also helps that Antonio has one of the best sense of humors I have ever seen. He showed up to the Salvittis with a rose for Leah which was absolutely hysterical. After lots of jokes and a really good dinner we a taught a lesson on the Sabbath Day. Daniel and Antonio have the most incredible faith ever. I will never forget what Antonio said right after we finished the lesson. He said, "This will be the first Sunday that I dont play any sports or video games, and I wont watch them either. It really isnt that much that he asks us to give Him one day a week." This week we taught them the rest of the commandments and they accepted subito. In fact they already knew about and were living a lot of them. For example, the word of wisdom. We asked them how they knew about it and Daniel said he saw it on Family Guy in an episode that made fun of the Mormons. Never thought Family Guy would be a missionary tool.  Whatever works. This past Sunday we became a ward and everyone was recalled or  released. Brother Salviti was recalled as Ward Clerk and while were sustaining him Antonio said, "I love you big Mike!" It was so funny, I almost started laughing out loud. The Stake Presidency and Stake Young Mens Presidency was there.

On Wednesday we had a mission conference in Rome which was incredible. We left from Napoli in the morning and the only way we could make it on time was by taking a Frecciarossa. The first class trains that fly at like 200 mph and cost a fortune. It was pretty fun riding first class. Anyways, Elder Kearon of the Seventy came and gave a 4 hour training that was not boring for a minute. There was really good interaction in which he answered all of our questions and talked about almost every phase of missionary work. He had a really good sense of humor too. After our lunch break he showed us a video of cheetah chasing a goat type thing then a missionary coming up out of nowhere and saving the goat. So funny. After the conference we had like 20 minutes before we had to catch our train back to Napoli and I talked to Anziano Jepson the whole time. He is still in Brindisi and they are doing incredible. Anziano Queresima (a missionary from Lecce) told me they have have 5 baptisms next week and taught 21 lessons last week). That is more than what i did in 4 months there by a lot. Im glad the church is growing there. Talking to Anziano Jepson was unreal. I love that kid. 

Saturday morning we helped Fratello Izzo prepare his garden to plant for the upcoming year. It was a total blast. We went with Marco and worked in his garden for about 2 hours, and he told us it would have taken him 3 days to do it by himself. He was really grateful. He kept chuckling under his breath at our gardening skills which made Anziano Hatch and I crack up. After that his wife made us a delicious pronzo in which a destroyed a whole bunch of pasta, chicken, fruit, mozzorella di bufala, fruit and veggies from their garden, and more stuff I cant remember. Antonio and Daniel are seriously our best friends in the world. Antonio walked home with us after lessons 5 times last week and then an hour back to his house.  Sunday after church Antonio asked us what we were doing until our lesson together at 5, and we just said that we were going to eat lunch then do our studies. After lunch he came to study with us and we taught him about the temple and eternal marriage. It was really special to teach him about the temple because it is so close to my heart. The Rome West Stake is taking a temple trip to Switzerland in July. Missionary work is hard sometimes, but the joy and the  blessings outweigh everything else by far. It is the desire of Heavenly Father for all of us children to know him and to return to him, and it is amazing to assist and be a small part of his work and glory. 

Last thing. Tonight a miracle happened. We were coming to the church to email, because the internet point was full and one of our best ever investigators called and came to meet us at the church for a lesson. We talked for about 10 minutes to catch up on work, family, ect and then 3 people walked in the church. Two of them were ladies about 40 years old. They were members from Milan here on vacation. They walked by the church and came into to say hi to the missionaries. They ended up sharing the strongest testimony about how the church is a huge family in all of the world regardless of whether it is here or Romania. It really touched us a lot. 

So long tell next week!

Anziano Smith