Brindisi | week 12 {Monday is Pday, no one gets transferred!}

Anziano Smith, Anziano Jepsen, Anziano Alvey, Anziano Pizza

Ah! We can't wait to go visit Brindisi one day! It sure seems like a special place

Lasagna Anziano Pizza made for the elders last Friday for weekly planning. Delicious!

Regan said this was a local duomo (big Catholic church)

Sure looks beautiful there!

Anziano Pizza and Anziano Smith

Well, this was a shorter week since pday was changed to Mondays but I still have some good stuff to report. First of all, I dont think I have given the members here from Brindisi enough love in my emails home. They are super legit. Prime example. Last Friday Fratello Frascaro asked us to come to the church really quick to help him with something for his family history and he bought 4 wheels of focaccia for the 4 of us. It was so nice of him. 

On Saturday I went on a scambio with Anziano Jepson. That night was easily one of the best of my whole mission. Anziano Jepson decided to go out to see someone they met on the street earlier that week. She told them they could come back and talk. She was about an hour walk from our apartment. I thought it was a very questionable decision to go and see her, but he wanted to, so we did. After 40 minutes of walking came across an older couple and a younger lady sitting on a bench and we stopped to talk to them. It was a way neat experience for me to say the least. Anziano Jepson talked to the younger lady (who wasnt super interested in our message) while I talked to the older couple. We ended up talking for like 30 minutes. It boosted my confidence a ton to know that I can hold a conversation completely on my own. Anziano Pizza is giving me control of the phone now which is another big step. Anyways, I gave them a Book of Mormon which they said they would read. Only problem with contacting them again is they have no idea how to use the phone they have. Getting a hold of them might be a problem. I had to take her phone from her and call my phone to get her number cause she didnt even know it. We shall wait and see.

Then we finally got to the apartment we were going to in the first place. It was a very very nice lady who was in probably the nicest apartment I have seen since I have been here. She showed us pics of her kids weddings which were incredible. We got to know her better for like 20 minutes and then asked if she has met with the missionaries before. It turns out she is the great aunt of Anziano Liccoli who was the missionary that I came to Brindisi to replace. I was so shocked. He is from somewhere in Northern Italy. We then taught her the lesson on the Resoration. She said she wasnt interested in meeting with us again, but I still felt amazing after that lesson. It is really neat to think of how much joy God lets us feel when we do our best. I know that I am not by any means a perfect teacher, and I have thought a lot of times that I could have given another person a better chance to here this wonderful message. However, the only thing that matters is that I keep trying to grow in my love for the Lord and others and do my best and that will be enough because the Lords grace is sufficient. 

Next big moment from the week: Transfer Calls!!! Our whole house is staying together this transfer. I was psyched! We actually got the call while we were at Victor and Blessings for dinner and a lesson. We had an amazing dinner of pasta and fried chicken sandwiches. It was legit. Anyways, all the elders here truly are my brothers. This work unites us like none other. I love them all so much and am so happy to hear that they are all doing well. 

Im out of time. Everyone just know that the Lord lives. He loves everyone one of us no matter what we do. We can never go so far away that we are out of his sight. We are his children and always will be. It is the quest of a lifetime to come to know him more intimately and serve him with all our might! 

Love,

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 11 {General Conference, more food, Pday is now Monday!}

Lots of amazing things happened this week. To start the week off, we had an awesome meeting with Verah. She is really diligent and really desirous to learn. She has been reading a lot from an old conference magazine and loves all of the talks by the apostles. We cant wait to show her President Monsons talk from last Sunday! It will be perfect. Anyways, she is growing a lot. We read Ether 12 with her and talked a lot about faith. We talked about how witnesses always come after the trial of our faith and she talked about how during hard moments she has never doubted that God is with her walking right beside her. She amazing!

On Friday President Casty invited us over for Pronzo and it was amazing as expected. It ended up going quite a bit longer than expected, but it was all good because we talked a lot about missionary work in the branch and how we can help. They truly treated us like their own kids. He and Sorella Casti love the branch so much and are extremely enthusiastic about missionary work. I couldnt dream for better leaders.

General Conference was definitely the highlight of the week for me. It was huge spiritual recharge. We bought some snacks and camped out in the computer room here in the church and watched Saturday night and Sunday afternoon/night. Sunday morning we went to the Christensens (an American family here) house and they made us an awesome breakfast and then we watched a session at their place. Monday morning we watch the last session for district meeting with the other missionaries in Lecce. When President Monson opened conference I cannot describe the emotions that overcame me. I have been sharing my testimony that he is a prophet of God almost every day since I have been here and listening to him speak melted my heart. I could not hold back my tears even just listening to his welcoming address that was only 5 minutes. I could talk for days about that conference, but I will mention two talks touched me the most other than the Prophets of course. First, Elder Bednars talk about tithing. Second, President Eyrings talk on Sunday morning about Gods purposes for our families and why we have trials. These two talks struck me to the core. I dont want to talk much about them since you all can go straight to the source and watch them, but President Eyrings testimony of love was one of the most powerful I have ever heard. It really made me want to be a better person. Speaking of the topic of love, there is one more amazing experience I had this week. My friend Joe left the MTC this week to go serve in Pocatello, Idaho. About one year ago we were in a bookstore together that was full of art of Christ and his life. There was one picture called "In Humility" by Simon Dewey that was a painting of Chirst washing his disciples feet. He could not get over how much he liked it and it really touched me. Last Tuesday morning we had 2 appointments fall through and we had kind of hard morning of street contacting. Not much really went our way. We got home for lunch at 1:30 and I had a letter in the mail from Joe. He wrote a super nice letter and it had the 3 by 5 copy of that picture. On the back it has Matthew 25:40 which says, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." He truly took pleasure in washing his disciples feet. He did it without being asked. He did it out of humility and love. It is a pleasure to try to follow his example and do the same!

So long until next week (pdays got changed to Monday so its only 5 days away!)

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 8 {free pizza for english lessons!}

This is the pizzeria where Regan and the other elders got free pizza for teaching an English lesson. They were invited to come back every Monday to make the exchange! Regan said this place could have been straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean :)

Anziano Pizza, Anziano Alvey, Anziano Jepson, Anziano Smith

This week started off my meeting an amazing couple named Maria and Batista. We met them on the street and got their number. We called two days later and they actually said we could come over which was a first. They live in a super nice apartment right off the center. They told us they respected us so much for leaving our homes and learning a new language to share this message they would at least take the time to hear us out. Turns out they already knew a lot about the church from the internet, and we got to explain a lot about how we have the Book of Mormon and why it is so important. They also had a question about Adam and Eve so we read pretty much all of 2 Nephi 2 which they really enjoyed. They said they would invite us over to Pronzo and we could talk more. I am super excited. Hopefully we get a call soon.

The next day was miracle day. We have been teaching on average about 3 lessons a weeks since I got here. Lame, I know. Last Friday we taught 5 lessons. First we taught Corridino who is making unreal progress. He is keeping all of his commitments: reading from the Book of Mormon and praying each day and he is also smoking less and less. I am so happy for him. I know he is taking the steps he needs to make to come closer the Savior. Next, we taught Verah. It is a true shame I have not written about her earlier because she is amazing. However, we have only been able to meet with her once a week the past 3 weeks and she cannot make church on Sunday. Nevertheless, I can feel how special she when we teach her. She is from Nigeria, and she learned English in school so it is great to be able to teach someone else in English. Our last visit with her we taught about the importance of prophets and we read a lot from King Benjamins address to his people in Mosiah 2-4. She loved it and we left her with the talk "The Race of Life" by President Monson. We then went to Fratello Grecos house to give a message to him and his wife who is not a member. We had an awesome lesson on faith center around Alma 7:11-13 and how this is the absolute core of our faith. We left that lesson and went outside and there were three rainbows on top of each other. It was so legit. Then we taught two more lessons to English course people. Our English course got up to 25 people this week!

On Saturday we had a branch activity in the morning which ended up being walking to a park that was about 15 minutes away and then shooting some hoops and having a spiritual thought. It was kind of random, but I liked it. Right after the spiritual thought an American guy named Tim showed up. We met him earlier that week and told him we would be playing bball possibly and we gave him the address. We didnt call him or anything and he just showed up. He wanted to hang out with us really bad because his two best friends growing up were Mormon and served missions, so he just wanted to see what mission life was like I guess. He was awesome. We ended up staying to play basketball with him longer with some other people at the park. We ended up having on odd number so I said I would just go on a jog around a little trail they had that went around the bball court cause I missed running a lot (no worries, I was within sight and sound of Anziano Pizza). I ended up going 62 minutes and almost 8 miles. It felt so good in the moment. Sunday morning my legs ceased to function. Today I am finally almost healed. That night we taught Victor and Blessing. It was bomb as usual. Victor is an amazing cook and always gives us dinner. On Saturday he made us really good chicken to go over some rice and really good fruit. I love them more and more every week.

Monday night we went and taught English course at that pizzeria I talked about last week. We taught a 20 minute English lesson to the 6 people that worked there and then they told us to sit down and brought all of his free pizzas. They said they wanted us to come back every Monday night from now on. We will so be there for English course, spiritual thought, and hopefully more free pizzas.

So, I have gotten to know Anziano Alvey and Anziano Jepson a lot better this week. They are both amazing guys. The past 2 weeks I have been super locked in and focused so my personality/sense of humor hasnt really come out with them yet. However, Anziano Alvey is the funniest missionary I have met yet. Today he was like Smith do you have a girl writing you and if so is her name Barbara? Haha, Im glad I get at least 4 more weeks with them.

So, yesterday I was reading in PMG in the first chapter about my purpose as a missionary. One sentence really stuck out to me. It said, your desire to share the gospel will increase as you understanding of the Atonement increases. Then next morning I decided to study the Atonement out of Gospel Principles. I realized that I can gain knowledge about the Atonement when I read from there and the scriptures, but understanding of the Atonement only comes through personal experience with it. I need to try to have more experiences with the Atonement through my faith and repentance. When I use the Atonement through repenting a becoming better and feel the fruit from it, then I will desire to share it more and have more power behind my words. Everyone take care! Love you all!

Anziano Smith

Second letter home from Brindisi!

Second week in Italy was awesome! We got to work a lot more this week since the first week we were getting situated a lot. The day after a wrote last we had a solid english course at the church. Out of the 7 people who usually come, 4 can speak very well, so we just teach by having conversations. They wanted to know about American food so we each told them about a restaurant we liked at home. I told them all about double stamp Tuesdays at Cheeseburger Bobbys. I am becoming really good friends with everyone that comes. There is a man named Antonio who comes each Tuesday and Thursday, and he is one of the nicest people ever. We saw him on Saturday night, and he came up to us and was like the Mormon missionaries on the prowl. I could see you from a million miles away. He was on his way to church and we asked him if Saturday night was usually when he goes. He told us that he tries to go every night. I am really glad I will get to know him better, and have someone to talk to in English.

We had the branch service project again last Saturday. About 20 people showed up, and it was great. It truly is just like one big family here. All of the members show us so much love by giving us rides, feeding us, and being patient with my language skills. They try to have conversations with me even though they know I am still very new. I am learning a ton everyday. What I have learned is that I can understand a lot because I am always listening to the language, but my ability to speak will only come as I practice speaking. I just have to not worry about mistakes and try to do my best.

The last two weeks I have been able to share my testimony in church and say a prayer. All of the members are so supportive. Everyone here gives all their attention and respect to the speaker. From now on, 1 missionary will always be a speaker in sacrament meeting so within the next 3 and half weeks I will have to give a 10 minute talk in church. That should be exciting.

So August is apparently the hardest month of the year for missionary work because of a major holiday coming up that I do not know much about. A lot of people take of the whole month and go to the beach or to visit family elsewhere. It is so true. We have about 10 people we have contacted this week that have told us to call back at the beginning of September. Their lifestyle and culture is totally different than the US. However, there are still people to talk to each day. I do believe it will be much better when September rolls around and everyone is home and the weather is not so hot. A lot of people are just in a hurry to get inside because it is so hot outside.

As far as our apartment goes, things are great. Anziano Brown and I bought a 17kg watermelon five days ago and finished it last night. We are going to buy another one tonight. It will be a sad day when watermelon season ends. Anziano Browns companion is Anziano Andreason, and he is a fantastic cook. He makes a different pasta for lunch everyday. Yesterday I helped him make the pasta (which I should have been doing earlier). From now on I am going to start helping him make pasta everyday. It is fun and feels good to be able to serve the other missionaries. This morning he surprised me and made eggs with ham, three different veggies, and really good cheese. They were the first eggs I have had since before the MTC. It was unreal. I am fortunate to have such amazing elders to live with and work with.

Also, we had zone conference in Bari on Monday which was fantastic. There are 26 missionaries in our zone and we all met and had a great lunch and 4 hours of training. I loved getting to meet all the missionaries in the nearby cities. 3 sister missionaries performed I Know That My Redeemer Lives in Italian, and it quickly brought tears to my eyes. That simple phrase can bring peace that surpasses all understanding. It is eternal truth that the world is longing to know, and it is a sacred privilege to testify of it to everyone we can. While this knowledge is incredible, it is not everything. It is through the application of what we know that will help us truly become converted to Jesus Christ and his teachings. I am drawing nearer to him than I ever have before as I am trying my best to do what he would have me do and constantly relying on him for guidance, peace, and happiness.

Love,

Anziano Smith