Ragusa | week 4

 Elder Smith with Elder Anderson in Catania eating aracini

 

20 pound easter package full of sweets from one of Regan's best friends Francesco! This made his week!

3.30.2015

Today I am a little short on internet time. We came to Catania this morning for a zone soccer game/bbq for pday, and it was a blast. We rented a really nice soccer field for the 14 of us then grilled out 9 pounds of sausage and 9 pounds of horse meat on the Catania Anzianis balcony. I know it sounds really wierd, but horse meat is absolutely delicious. We have a really great zone and I am looking forward to working with the Catania Anziani tonight and tomorrow morning. 

Things in Ragusa went pretty well this week, but I have finally come to learn that when we are planning out our days we can never fully count on the public transportation. On Tuesday we went to a nearby town and planned on taking a bus home at 1. That bus was a no show and the next one to Ragusa was at 4. On Thursday we took another bus home in the afternoon that was over an hour late. A friend of the bus driver asked why he was so late, and he resonded "Its 2:30, I just finished lunch!" 

Anyways...aside from poor public transportation and horse meat, I had a great week. I was able to go to Gela to do an exchange with Anziano Jorgenson. Anziano Jorgenson has been out about 6 months but his language abilility, teaching skills, and spiritual maturity all exceed mine. He and his companion came to Gela together about 8 weeks ago with no one to work with really, and there are only 8 members of the church there. In the past 8 weeks they have found 14 people who they are now teaching. It was such a blessing to go out and work with him for one night and the next morning. His faith and hard work really inspired me to finish my mission as strong as possible. Speaking of the end of my mission, I received my "death packet" in Palermo two weeks ago at mission conference, and I began working on it this week. One of the assignments in it is to list 30 blessings I have received on my mission. I reflected on it a lot this week, and yesterday I completed my list. I never realized how much Heavenly Father blessed me on my mission until I really pondered about it. Some of the most special blessings we receive are not easily recognizable at first. I was filled with gratitude as I read over my list again last night noting that most of the attributes and talents I have developed on my mission are preparation to serve in different and even more meaningful ways going forward. It helped me realize that going home is not an end of missionary service but a beginning.

I hope everyone has an awesome Easter week and enjoys General Conference this weekend. If you havent seen it yet, you must see the church's new video for Easter "Because He Lives."  I certainly felt the Spirit as I watched it, and I am looking forward to sharing it with everyone at English Course tomorrow!

Anziano Smith