Ragusa | week 11 {LAST week of writing before coming home!}

 Anziano Smith in Taormina, Italy

Anziano Smith with Anziano Kelley in Gela

Zone pday in the skinniest street in Taormina!

The church building in Ragusa! Looks beautiful

5.18.2015

So this is my last time emailing home before I come home next Tuesday, and I have no idea what to write. All I know is that I am going to miss this place. 

It made me think of a talk President Uchtdorf gave a couple years ago in which he talked about how we as mortals are not made for endings because we are made out of the "stuff" of eternity. We were not created for endings. It seems like whenever I shift from one phase of my life to another it is always tough.  I remember when I was 7 years old I cried so hard after my last baseball game of year cause I didn't want the season to finish. I have had similar feelings when friends have moved, when family members have started new phases of their lives, and as I finished high school and left on my mission. Now it is happening again as I am preparing to come home from my mission. However, the transition of coming home from a mission is quite different. Serving a mission is an experience that is unique from any other experience in the world. It is different than graduating high school/college, finishing a sports season, or moving to a different place. The reason why is because all of those things actually do have a permanent ending. When you graduate school, you will never take another test in that school again. When a season is over, you will never have any of those games back to play again. A mission is different, because our purpose here and the work we do here is never finished. This work is bringing to pass the glory of God which is eternal. When we come home we don't get a diploma or a trophy. The value of what we did is manifest in who we have become. 

There are truly no stats or grades that measure discipleship. I think the only true indicator is one's ability to love. Last week I had the chance to stay with Anziano Kelley in Gela for two days,  It was the best exchange of my mission, and I cannot describe why or how in words. All 3 appointments we had cancelled on us, and 2 buses didn't come which ruined our plans the second day. But nothing got Anziano Kelley down. Usually when appointments cancel on me, I just feel weighed down and disappointed. He was optimistic about it and said that the Lord prepared someone else for us to find and teach that night. So we did. He served me and taught me those two days like Christ would have by the way he worked, taught, his sense of humor, and the things he shared with me in our studies. We woke up both mornings at 5:45 to go running on the beach and went hard til 10:30 both nights. What I learned from Anziano Kelly was that his motivation was not a grade, a trophy, or recognition, but his only motivation is his love for the Lord and desire to serve him. That love is the true measure of success in a missionary to me. 

The beautiful thing is that that love does not have to stop after two years. The mission is only the beginning. Moroni said, "Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure (Moroni 7:47-48)." 

Anziano Kelley taught me that as a disciple of Jesus Christ, someone who is trying to follow his example in loving other people, I can never consider myself as someone who has arrived. There is no trophy, medal, or diploma that we get when we come home saying that we mastered and perfected every Christ-like attribute and that we can retire now. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission for a million reasons. Going to college, and getting a job, and providing for a family are all necessary parts of life, but I can never lose sight of my end goal. In this life, I will never "arrive" because my hope is in eternal things. If I understand that concept, I will be comforted by the knowledge endings don't really have to be sad after all because they are only temporary. Those feelings of sadness are because my spirit is made out of the stuff of eternity, and I have not arrived at my eternal destination yet which is with Heavenly Father. 

Tante belle cose,

Anziano Smith

Ragusa | week 10

 Zone leaders came down to Ragusa for scambi

Service at Fratello di Martinos garden in his backyard, followed by pranzo from his kind wife!

Regan says they forgot how exhausting yard work could be!

Regan with Anziano Passantino on an exchange in Ragusa this week

Ragusa | week 9

 Pictures from the missionary conference from Sister Waddoups' blog! (Regan is in the back left)

5.4.2015

So it has only been 3 full days since I last wrote home, so this letter is more of a continuation of my last letter. 

The good news of the weekend was that we received permission for Nader to get baptized in 2 weeks in Milano. Usually the person must get baptized in the ward where they were taught/will belong too, but all of Nader's immediate family is in Milano, so this is a special situation. Assuming that we and the Miliano Anziani are able to finish all of the lessons, the 16th of May should be the big day. The first time we ever met with him was 3 weeks ago, and we asked why he was interested in meeting with us and learning more. He told us that his mom was a member, and he went to church with her occasionally growing up, but he never took religion too seriously. He moved down to Sicily about 4 months ago, and he has been working at a restaurant with his uncle who is a member here in Ragusa. For the first time in years he read the Book of Mormon because of a simple invitation from his uncle, and he said he felt a peace and joy he hadn't been able to find anywhere else. So, he decided to come to church with his uncle as well, and he got the same feelings again. However, whenever he wasn't reading or he wasn't in church, he couldn't find that same peace and joy he desired. So we explained to him that all of God's children could feel the influence of the Holy Ghost and that was what he felt when he read the Book of Mormon and came to church. But we explained that the only way he could always have this spirit to be with him was to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on hands after baptism. We read several scriptures from the New Testament and the Book of Mormon that taught this doctrine. The past 3 weeks he has been reading and praying consistently, and he has come to church each week although he has had to close at his restaurant Saturday nights which has kept him out until 2 or 3am. I have recognized obvious changes in him in these past few weeks, but it has also been very interesting to note the differences in Marco (Nader's uncle) and the rest of his family. They are very happy. I don't know their story or the problems they face as a family, but I know that their burdens have been lightened and they have found a renewed love for the gospel as they have shared their testimonies with Nader. As we have asked them how living specific commandments has blessed their lives, they have been able to notice the hand of God in their lives and feel of his mercy on them. That is the beautiful thing about sharing your testimony - you find it when you give it away. 

Our other new friend who asked about living apostles is Fabio. He is seriously the coolest guy ever. We met him in the church twice this week for lessons. He really loves music, especially the piano. Each time he has come, he has brought a piece of sheet music that Sorella Robertson has played on the piano for all of us. Afterwards, she has played a few hymns and we have all sung together. When I think of how many 29 year old Italian guys meets with the Mormon missionaries on Saturday night in the church to sing hymns and talk about religion, something tells me that number drops to 1 really fast. We are truly blessed to have met with him and be able to share the gospel with him. He said next week he wants to organize a dinner with us and some of his other friends from school who are studying English. I can't wait. 

I feel like the luckiest kid in the world to be able to finish my mission like I am. Anziano Brandon has been such a good companion, and we have seen so many miracles in the past 3 weeks. Another one just happened. A couple that Anziano Jorgenson and I met on the street 5 weeks ago or so just stopped in the church to ask if they could come to English Course tomorrow. We just finished talking to them for an hour about our missions and they invited us over to their house for dinner this weekend. I can honestly say that I love Italians with all my heart. All of the Italians who I have truly gotten to know treat me like a brother or a son. 

We have a great upcoming week planned including exchanges with the Gela and Catania Anziani. It's always fun to switch it up and work with new missionaries and different cities. Looking forward to it. 

Anziano Smith

Ragusa | week 8

 Anziano Smith, Anziano Morgan, Anziano Pingree

Regan with Anziano Blair

4.20.2015

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the list I made of the 30 biggest blessings I received on my mission. Well, I made that list a little too soon, because the past week and a half has included a couple that would have been on that list. On Tuesday Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to Rome, and the whole mission was able to attend a conference with him from 9:30 to 4 on Tuesday. We only took a 30 minute break for lunch, and the rest of it was training, instruction, and a question and answer session. I literally felt like I was there for 15 minutes and it ended. I made sure to arrive very early, so I could secure a front row seat. As soon as the conference started, Elder Bednar asked us to move our chairs as close to the front as possible and fill in all the isles with chairs because the sound system wasn't great. So...my chair was literally 7 feet from the podium and 4 feet from Elder Bednar's chair on the stand. 

I will remember for the rest of my life the things that I felt as he spoke to us, and I will treasure those notes that I took as a missionary, husband, father, and leader in the church. 

Wednesday night after the conference we met with a guy we found last week who is about to graduate with the equivalent of a graduate degree in Economics. It was our second lesson with him, and we were going through the Restoration pamphlet with him. We got to the part about the Savior establishing his church and calling twelve apostles. After that he asked, "why is necessary for their to be 12 apostles on the earth today, if we can study the words of the apostles and prophets in the Bible? Isn't it the same gospel?" I will summarize what I said to him:

Yesterday we had the opportunity of going to Rome to here one of the living 12 apostles speak to us. At the end of 6 hours of instruction and training, he shared with us his apostolic witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. That his tomb is empty, he lives today, and he guides and directs his church today through revelation to his authorized servants. After that testimony he invoked a blessing upon us that would be able to "continue as we commenced" (D&C 9:5) from that very minute according to our desires and diligence. That night we took an 11 hour night train from Rome to Catania. We left Rome at 9:30pm and arrived in Catania at 8:30am. I slept for a total of 2 hours last night. This morning I taught 2 people in Catania at 11, ate lunch, took a 2 hour bus back to Ragusa, walked an hour away for another appointment at 5, had a meeting with our church leaders at 6:30, and now we are meeting you at 7:30. I have been serving as a missionary for almost 23 months now, and the past couple weeks I have been getting especially tired and worn out, but today I wasn't tired at all. I know that I was blessed with that strength because of the blessing of Elder Bednar. He holds the same priesthood keys Christ's apostles held, and old of the Old Testament prophets. It is because of the witness of a living apostle and his priesthood authority that I am delivering you this message right now. That is why it is important to have living apostles who deliver the same gospel found in the Bible. 

After that I said that to him, I thought even more deeply about my response to that question. I remember in high school when we watched videos trying to scare kids out of drinking, drugs, and sex. There were drug tests to enforce adherence to those rules too. However, the kids who wanted to do those things still did those things. Then I thought of the meeting I just sat in. We were over 200 kids between 18-21 for the most part, with no supervision, no rule enforcement, and much, much, much stricter rules. Why is it that we do our best to keep them? The best answer I came up with was from a story in the Book of Mormon. Alma gives us the following insight from his experience. "And now, as the preaching of the word (aka Elder Bednar testifying of the Savior) had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else (aka Pam Stenzel videos), which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God (Alma 31:5)." It is because of living apostles that I want to keep God's commandments and they don't seem like a hinderment to my fun. 

Along with the conference, we have been blessed in many other ways the best week and a half. The referral's name we received in church last week is Nader. He is 24 years old and from Milano. It has been nothing short of a miracle to see someone change and grow so much in a such a short period of time. We have taught him only 5 times and he is praying reading the Book of Mormon each day, committed to live the law of chastity and word of wisdom, and he has come to church the past 2 Sundays. Originally we had a baptismal date with him for May 30th here in Ragusa, but he is going up to Milano for 2 weeks in the middle of the month. Right now we are trying to switch his baptism to May 16th in Milano so his whole family can see it. We haven't confirmed anything, but he told us one things is certain: he is getting baptized. 

Some people may wonder why we seek so much to help other people be baptized. That was another topic Elder Bendar talked about at the conference. He said, "If you asked the Savior what is the most important thing to him, what would he say?" He then said, the answer is in the Book of Mormon and the Bible. There is one instance in the Bible when Jesus has a limited amount of time with his apostles, and there is one instance in the Book of Mormon where he has limited time with the Nephites in America. At the passover meal in the New Testament, he instituted the ordinance of the sacrament. Among the Nephites he clarified the ordiance of baptism and instituted the ordinance of the sacrament. Therefore, the most important thing to the Savior is ordinances simply because that is the way that we can ultimately receive all of the blessings of his atoning sacrifice. We told that to Nader. We promised him that the Savior would be with him ever step of the way to help him live all the commandments he needed to live to get baptized because it is the most important thing to the Savior that he gets baptized and keeps that covenant for his whole life. That lesson was the one at 5 after the 11 hour night train ride, and it was one of the most spiritual of my mission. Suffice it to say, Elder Bedar really did bless a lot of missionaries and the Italian people because of his visit to Rome. 

Anziano Smith