Malta | week 5

10.27.2014

We had another solid week in Malta, and we just got the news that all 4 of us will be staying another transfer together! Good news, good news. 

Almost each week I have been here, we have randomly met someone on the street or contacted someone who have been waiting to see the missionaries for quite some time. About 3 weeks ago, we ran into a man named Yohan (not sure on the spelling), from Sweden. He comes from an LDS family of 9, but he has not been to church in a couple years. He told us that when he arrived here to Malta, he was praying to run into the missionaries or come in contact with the church somehow. The next week he saw us on the street! He has been really busy with work, but we finally found a night last week where we could both meet, and it was incredible. We got to know him for about 15 minutes or so, then he just asked us to share with him our favorite scripture and biggest miracle of our missions. We just had like a mini testimony meeting together, and it was one of the best moments of my mission so far. He told us that his brother got home from his mission in Russia last month, and he was grateful for all the missionaries and amazed at how it changes boys into men. This week, one of his brothers is coming to visit, and he invited us back for dinner. Cant wait. 

We also called up a guy who met the missionaries 1 year ago, and he wanted to see us again. We went over, expecting it to just be the 3 of us. It turned out he had 5 roommates, 2 from Malta and 3 from Brussels. They were all between 18 and 26, really cool guys. They explained a little to us about their ideas, then we explained what we believe for like 5 minutes or so. One of the guys pulled out his computer and read like a 4 page anti-mormon article about how praying about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is not consistent with the Bible. We read 2 Nephi 32:8-9. Im so glad I went to seminary and learned the scripture mastery verses. 

Church yesterday was probably the most spiritual sacrament meeting of my entire mission. I had the opportunity the bless the sacrament in Maltese for the first time, and it was really special. I struggled pronouncing the words all week long, but when I knelt down to actually do it, they all came out right. I had the same experience a few times in Brindisi at the beginning of my mission, and it brought back a lot of memories. The talks that were given could have been given in General Conference. Giuseppe, from Sicily, gave a talk on obedience, and his words really touched me. He has no family here in Malta, he lives an hour away from church, and he is about to move to Gozo (another island close by without a church, but he will still take a boat over to church when he moves anyway). No one in church speaks Italian except the missionaries, but we are almost always busy, so he doesnt get much interaction, and church takes almost his entire Sunday, 1 of his 2 free days of the week. He said, "On Sunday morning when I wake up, I dont have to choose whether or not to go to church. I only had to make the decision once, and I made it a long time ago. I made that choice, when I realized that I couldnt get by without the blessings of keeping the Sabbath day holy. That is how it is with obedience to the principles of the gospel. Most of the time, we only have to choose to once." It was really inspiring to me. 

Thats pretty much how the members are in Malta. Bosses. So, things are going well with us. I sent some pics home of our last pday. I had to walk in the water up to my ankles with my church shoes and slacks to get some of those pics. Totally worth it though. 

Presbiteru Smith