Malta | week 4

10.20.2014

This week I have a serious lack of time, but I will write a few things about last week as quick as I can. First of all, Zone Conference in Rome was by far the best Zone Conference of my mission. When we flew in on Tuesday, I got to do an exchange with Anziano Blair in Rome 5, and it felt like I went home for 2 days. Being able to talk with him and go and see Francesco again in Rome was the absolute best. The 3 of us went out to eat, and then we had a lesson. Francesco is way too nice. He bought me 3 ties that I have worn every day since then. They are a great reminder and inspiration to me of the wonderful people we are searching to find.

That night 30 of us slept at the villa (the mission home), and it was seriously like a family reunion. All of the Napoli Zone came up to Rome that night, Malta was there, and some of the Rome East Zone. I was able to see friends that I havent seen in over a year now, and we just talked and told each other stories about our missions which was so much fun. Everyone I saw has changed so much, and it is the most incredible thing ever to see it. 

Another cool thing we did this week was visit a dog sanctuary in the southern part of the island for service. It was originally a military base/bunker that was used in WWII, but now it is for abandoned dogs, and all 4 of us went to help out there for 2 hours. Sandy, one of our members, works there 4 days a week, and she was actually originally found by the missionaries through them going there for service. It was a really humbling experience to see an actual WWII sight, and we are looking forward to going back again. 

Other than Zone Conference and service, we got to teach a few lessons this week, but they were really good ones. We are mainly seeing Damyan and Chatty and a few less active members. Damyan is the recent convert who got baptized my first week here, and he is doing fantastic. We are going over all the lessons with him and he is practically teaching them to us. He has also been able to share the gospel with his parents the past couple weeks. Chatty is from Ghana, but he just moved here from Italy looking for work. After 2 weeks of searching, he found a job that pays him 3 euro an hour, and yesterday his face was like Christmas morning all day, cause he was so happy. It is the greatest reminder to me to be grateful for every little blessing I receive. Yesterday in church we had 2 less active members come that we have been working with, and 1 of them gave a talk! It was a great day in church on the whole. Usually we teach young mens, gospel doctrine, and sometimes priesthood meeting too between the 4 of us, and usually 1 of us is giving a talk.

Overall, I really do like it here in Malta. Im seriously convinced I have one of the best companions in the mission. Over the past 4 weeks he has helped me to grow in so many different areas. He is definitely one of the best leaders I have ever seen in my life. Im super lucky that we will probably have about 3 more months of working together. 

Take care, 

Anziano Smith