Rome 5 | week 7 {new companion, Ostia, training}

Queresima and Sorgiacamo

The missionaries in their district! 

Their super fly car! 

Driving by the Coliseum

Regan's new companion Anziano Blair! Regan already loves him 

5.19.2014

This past week has been incredible and a bit crazy at the same time. It started off by seeing a lot of people who Anziano Gemmell wanted to say bye too. We got to eat dinner with the Criscone family and also Flavio and Francesca. Both dinners were delicious and a lot of fun. We all miss Anziano Gemmell. He really is a great missionary, and Im sure he is doing great work in the Sard land. His travel plans to get there made me laugh really hard. He had to take two trains to get to the coast, a 20 hour boat ride, and then another train and lastly a bus. Haha, I hope he made it alright. I had no idea Sardania was so far away.

I had two days from when he left to when my new companion got here, so I got to choose any companionship in the Rome Zone to work with for two days. It was a no brainer. I went to stay in Ostia with Anziano Baggaley and Anziano Zemp. It was in awesome two days. I have to tell one funny story from my time in Ostia. There is a family there who has an 8 year old son who was a little scared to get baptized for some reason. His mom asked the elders to come over and teach him the lessons to help him get ready for his baptism. Anyways, they have been trying to set a date with him withing the next month or so. He turns 9 in July, but he keeps saying that he wants to get baptized in August. If he gets baptized in August, it is a convert baptism on the records of the church. Anziano Baggaley was like, "Come on man, you do really want to be a convert do you?" It was hysterical. I will never forget it. On a more serious note, I learned so much from that lesson. Anziano Baggaley taught so simply and so clearly, and it was one of the most spiritual lessons I have witnessed on my mission. It made me want to teach everyone like I was teaching a child. Another cool part of going to Ostia was going to their correlation meeting. They had an awesome ward missionary and 5 ward missionaries who all came. They were so awesome and really inspired me. It was funny because their ward mission leader works in tourism and hasnt been able to come to church the past 5 weeks or so, so they wrote his name on the progress record, hahaha. Anyways, they are doing awesome missionary work in Ostia and their members are incredible. After correlation we all went out and got gelato together by the beach which was fun. 

Friday morning at 7 I went to pick up my greenie from Roma Termini. His name is Anziano Blair, and he is the coolest kid ever! He has taught me so much. In the MTC he  got to hear from 5 apostles! He is so ready and excited to do missionary work that is has increased my faith a lot. Our first night together, we got to teach Lorenzo a lesson with Fratello Calabrese on the plan of salvation and then Lorenzo made us dinner. It was a really good first lesson for Anziano Blair. He is definitely better at the language than I was as a greenie, so I was really impressed. He also did an awesome job introducing himself and sharing his testimony in church for his first Sunday. Also, the first lady he stopped on the street was Philippino. She spoke English and he got her number, no big deal. We are really excited to work together for at least the next 6 weeks and hopefully more. I am also excited because for the first 12 weeks of the mission their is in extra hour of comp study where we do this program to go over the basics of missionary work. I feel like I need it for myself just as much as Anziano Blair does. It will be really nice for me to be able to review and improve a lot of things. Other than that, we didnt have a lot of time to see people this week cause we were all over the place/getting adjusted. However, we are good to go now, and it should be an awesome summer!

Anziano Smith

Rome 5 | week 4 {Vatican, Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, all in 1 p-day!}

Piazza del Popolo

Vatican

Vatican

 Trevi Fountain

 Coliseum

 Coliseum

 Coliseum

Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps

Gelato!

 Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain

4.28.14

So, as you can probably tell from the pictures last pday rocked. We went to Rome and met up with the Anziani from Ostia which are Anziano Baggaley and Anziano Zemp. Zemp and Gemmell were companions in Bitonto and Baggaley and I were really close last summer in Brindisi/Lecce. It was so fun being in Rome all day with them. I also get to see Anziano Pizza and McCllelan every Tuesday at District Meeting. We drive to Terni to have DDM in their chapel every week and it is a lot of fun. It is so good to meet up with missionaries I have served with in the past. They are seriously like brothers to me. 

Unfortuately, most of the people we have been seeing were busy this week, but it still ended up being really fun and productive. On Thursday night we had a party for English Course in the Hotel. The Sisters made banana bread and all of the Italians wanted the recipe. It was really good. I totally forgot how much I loved banana bread. Anyways, the English Course at the church is the Sisters course, but we always go to do lessons/they need a ride home after because the buses dont run that late. Anyways, we went to their party and became good friends with some of the guys from the corso and I think we are going to get a pizza with them and do a lesson at the end of this week, so we are looking forward to that. After corso, we tried to go find a contact that the sisters have at eurohotel which was right across the street. We took the wrong exit on the roundabout and got an a freeway towards Napoli that had no exit for 30 minutes. We ended up paying 6 euro in tolls and took us forever to get back. We will use the nav for everything from now on. 

Friday night we got to go visit the De Nunzio family from a ward. They are so cool and live in a village on the top of a mountain that is sweet. They had some friends visiting from the North who are investigating the church, and we were able to leave a message on the Restoration. It went super well, and we are headed back over there on Thursday night. Fratello De Nunzio is from Tropany (in Siciliy) and he wants to make us arinchini (probably the most famous Sicilian food). It is a holiday here in Italy May 1st, so we will go there for dinner and a lesson with their friends who will still be in town. Should be fun.

Saturday morning we went to Rome so I could get certified to drive the car. In New Zealand they drive on the left, so Anziano Gemmell and I felt more safe about me driving the car, haha. We met President Waddoups at about 11. I thought it was going to be a 5 minute stroll around the block. Instead we drove around Rome for a solid hour, and he took us to the temple as well. It made me so happy to see the temple. It looks really good, and I think it will be done before I finish! 

On Saturday night we met with a man named Hector who the Sisters found a couple weeks ago. He was so nice to us, and he was really humble. He and his wife are from Albania, and they moved here and have 2 kids. We had a great Plan of Salvation lesson, and he really wants to come to church next week. Hopefully there is more to report on that next week.

Anziano Gemmell and I both started to get a little fatigued from journal writing this week. I have missed 2 or 3 days my whole mission of writing. Nontheless, at times when it is 10 oclock there is no desire to put any thought into writing. This week we came up with a game to make journal writing very amusing. We started writing in our journals using Book of Mormon language. Now it is the funnest part of the day. I will quote a few entries from my journal this week:

And it came to pass that Pres said, what doest thou desire to see? And we said, the house of the Lord. And thus we began to ascend to the mountain of the Lord. As we thus arrived, we stopped our journey for the space of 10 minutes for a picture. While I labored to release the parking break, Pres said unto me, art thou a wimp? And it came to pass that Gemmell began to mock me as well. Nevertheless, I heeded them not. 

The day was far spent, and we decided to stop to talk to 8 ragazzi in the piazza. A girl from the land of Napoli reached to hug me. I said, reach thou not youngblood. I am not yet released from my calling.

And it came to pass that as we began to journey towards EuroHotel, we did err. Or in other words, Anziano Gemmell did err insomuch that he put the navigation away. And it came to pass that we lost our journey towards the land of Napoli for 30 minutes and were taxed with 6 onti (which were equivalent to 6 euro, or in other words 2 nopton pizzas). And we humbled ourselves by grabbing the navigation we recommenced our journey towards EuroHotel. 

And while we were thus laboring with all our might, we began to obtain buckets. 

This is abnoxious. I know. However, we are having a lot of fun as you can tell. Hope everyone was a great week as well.

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 15 {"The Lord gives us miracles when we least expect them"}

 Regan emailed me this picture and in the subject line wrote: "my week in summary." Haha! 

Anziano Queresima, who Regan says is "literally the bomb!" 

Regan with 2 new elders that he says are amazing, Anziano Queresima and Anziano Kwodjo 

 Regan said these are some of his friends from English course

HAHA Regan told us to zoom in and read the note from the apartment committee from the night before...it says "PLEASE is very important to not disturb the STILLNESS from 2pm until 5pm and also in the night, thank you." hahahaha I guess they are too loud during the afternoon when all of Italy shuts down to take naps!

Really good pizza that Regan promised us we would have someday ;) Plus, look at his precious face! I know I am biased as his sister, but he is just sooo cute!

Regan's new coat. Under this picture he wrote "fresh as can be." Haha love this kid! 

Regan with Fratello (brother) Palma, who Regan said is "THE MAN" 

Regan with Anziano Baggaley & Anziano Peachey (zone leaders). He says he loves them both so much! 

Regan said this was the best pizza of "this week"!

Regan with Victor, Blessing, Joseph, and Feliscia! We can't wait to meet them someday, such great people :) 

Pretty picture of the port. Regan said this is where they tracted on Sunday night.

Hello fellow Americans! I hope all is well as thanksgiving preparations are underway. There will be no such activities here as we just finished celebrating Saints Day and the Day of the Dead. All the holidays here are different and they tend to throw me off a little bit. Nonetheless, the Christmas spirit is starting early here and I like it. 

Anyways, we had a pretty eventful week in which I learned a lot of things. First off, we had District Meeting in Lecce and Anziano Baggaley gave me a talk to read called the "The 4th Missionary." It is about 30 pages. Anyone who will serve a mission must read this talk beforehand. It was super inspiring and made me want to be a lot better. Nuff said about that. 

So, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning Anziano Baggaley and Anziano Peachey (zone leaders) came and did some scambios with us. It was a blast. Tuesday night I went out with Anziano Jepson and Wednesday morning I went out with Anziano Baggaley. I am so lucky to be able to learn from them because they are seriously the best of the best. So Tuesday night we all went out around 5 and planned to meet up for pizza together at 8:30. It was 8:28 and Anziano Jepsen and I were on our way to the pizzeria and this guy grabbed us and was like "Anziani I have to buy you a drink!" He literally pulled us into a bar, and I was really annoyed at first. It was a man who Anziano Jepsen and Alvey talked to the day before. Anyways, we got a drinks and were talking for about 10 minutes and then the bartenders asked us who we were and we ended up teaching them the full restoration lesson. They gave us their numbers and told us they wanted a Book of Mormon. It was a testimony to me that the Lord gives us miracles when we least expect them. Wednesday morning I went out with Anziano Baggaley, and I seriously love him like a brother. He so humble and genuine with everyone he meets. I look up to him a lot. 

Ok so I want to skip all the way to Saturday cause we had a really cool night. That morning I studied the Restoration in a lot of depth. I really really really wanted to share what I learned with someone that day but we did not have much planned other than going to San Vito at night to visit Victor and Blessing. I prayed that somehow someone would let us in their house and we could share this message IN their home. We talk to people for like 8 hours a day, but it is always on the street. No one has let me into their house to this point on my mission other than members and a few less actives. We got back from San Vito at 8:20 and were just doing some street contacting right outside of our apartment. We saw a man trying to move a desk on his own, so we offered to help. We helped him carry it up. After that he would not let us go until he did something to pay us back. We told him all we wanted was to share our message with him and so he invited into his house. I thought it was going to be just like the The District. We teach and he starts crying and says he wants to be baptized. Instead we taught him about the The First Vision and then in his exact words he said "You said you were coming to share a message with me. That is not a message. Did you guys study before came here? If so, you should have studied better." Anziano Pizza and I did not know what think. We then shared our testimonies of God and that he lives and he wants to communicate with us, so he called a prophet to reveal his will to us in these days just like in days of old. The lesson totally changed. It changed from reciting a story and some points to helping him realize that he was a son of God and there is a way to come unto him. Im really grateful he was super blunt and told us off. It humbled me and made me want to testify with my soul instead of just my mind. All in all, it ended up being really good, but he said he wasnt interested in learning more. He even gave us some food to eat for lunch on Sunday. This morning I was doing jump rope at 6:45 on our balcony and realized that he is the same guy who sits on his roof every morning smoking a huge pipe. He said hi and asked if we liked the food he gave us. Didnt think I would every see him again, but it turns out we will be awkwardly staring at each other every morning bright and early for at least 4 more weeks. 

Church was also great this Sunday. It was a really good fast and testimony meeting. The sacrament hymn, the sacament, and the testimonies were most spiritual. There arent really words to describe the feelings and thoughts that come your mind when the Holy Ghost comes into your mind and heart other than this is all true! We have such great things to hope for! Always be happy and do good! It was an awesome week. Never expected the two best teaching experiences of the week to be the bartenders or the super rude guy, but Heavenly Father can definitely see into peoples hearts better than I can. One two minutes before pizza night and the other right when we were about to go back home for the night as well. Always finish. Always finish strong! 

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 6

Regan and Anziano (Elder) Pizza in Lecce Centro

Anziano Brown and Regan in Lecce

Anziano Andreason and Regan

Lecce

More pictures of Lecce

Regan said they try to get a picture of this graffiti every time they ride the train to Lecce and he was the first one to successfully get it!

Anziano Smith, Anziano Brown, Blessing, Victor, and (don't know the name of their child!)

Their last gelato together before Anziano Brown gets transferred to Palermo and Anziano Andreason to Malta

The view from the balcony at Regan's apartment

Regan and Anziano Andreason with the Palma family for FHE (family home evening)

Regan with Anziano Baggaley

Regan with his friends from the English class they teach

The elders with Sina and her friend

Final goodbye to Anziano Brown and Andreason! 

Well, this week started with an awkward situation when I got my haircut without knowing any haircut lingo. He asked me something and I said “si” having no idea what he said and he started shaving the sides of my head super short leaving everything on the top like some Italians have. Then I had to tell him to cut everything on the top as well. It is all okay now though.

Anyways, the bad news is we had transfer calls this week and Anziano Brown is going to Palermo and Anziano Andreason is going to Malta. I am going to miss them both a lot. They will be great in each of their new cities. If anyone can learn Maltese quickly it is Anziano Andreason. He is super smart and has been fluent in Italian forever. Cool stuff to be trilingual. Anziano Brown had been here for 3 transfers, so we knew he would probably go, but I was still super sad when we got the call. Right after we went to visit Victor and Blessing for the last time together. They were also sad about the news. We had a great lesson with them about the Restoration and how it will bless their family and especially their kids as they grow up. From now on Anziano Pizza and I will visit them together. Anziano Brown and I also found a sweet park/center area in San Vito that we will do some work at this upcoming week. Exciting stuff. So, as we returned to Brindisi around 8:20 we noticed a ton of lights and everyone walking towards the water. We decided to check it out, and it ended up that the city decided to throw a massive party. I am not sure why, but it was awesome. They had a firework show, which I definitely underestimated. It was probably the best firework show I had every seen. The only bad part was I did not have my camera. Nonetheless, it was really cool. Now worries though, we still made it back to our apartment before curfew.

This week we helped the Arcaro family move. It was great. Fed us an awesome pronzo, then loaded their stuff into a truck and had to take three trips to get it to their new house which was about a 25 minute drive. It took all day, but it was a great use of time because I seriously came to love that family. They are really nice and super faithful. They have to drive about 35 minutes to get to church and they are the only members in their little city. They have a son who is about 1 and another one on the way. Them and Victor and Blessing are the only two young families in our ward. They both rock.

So on Monday I went on a scambio (exchange) with Anziano Baggaley who is our zone leader. He came from Lecce and worked with me Monday night into Tuesday afternoon. I learned a ton from him. He is seriously the man. He is an incredible teacher. Scambios rock because I learn so many new things from each missionary out here. Each one has unique talents and personalities. Speaking of which, tomorrow two new missionaries will be coming to join our Brindisi penthouse tomorrow night. Elder Jepsen who I met at our last zone conference and a greenie who flies in today. I finally wont be the baby anymore!!! Anziano Jepsen is awesome though. We will have a sweet house. We usually only get pizza once a week on peve so we dont get super fat. However, we have to take the greenie on his first night. I am excited for the special occasion-Thursday night pizza.

So every missionary has a book called a dedica that all the missionaries write in before they get transfered. Last night we all wrote in each others dedicas and it was super sad. We have had an amazing 6 weeks together full of hard work that has really united us together. Hopefully I will serve in the same zone as Anziano Brown and Anziano Andreason later in my mission and I will be able to see them at zone conference again.

So this week I finished the Book of Mormon. Moroni 10:32-34 was amazing. I love how the Book of Mormon starts and ends. It is beautiful. 1 Nephi 1:20 is like the thesis statement, and the end of Moroni is point of the whole book. The tender mercies of the Lord are over the whole earth. I have especially seen them here in Brindisi for me and for others. Victor has the most powerful testimony of the tender mercies of the Lord. He says that every month he pays his tithing right when he gets paid and he doesnt know how he will be able to pay rent, the bills, and food, but he always can. Also, through this mercy we can become perfected in Christ. That is the most beautiful truth that we should always hope for. Day by day we can slowly change and one day become perfect like Heavenly Father like Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:48.

"Today is the day I will open my mouth, I will shout from the rooftops the truth will come out. And I am sharing my soul in the words that I speak with the love that has made me this way. Yes today is the day that I proclaim what I believe."

Those are the lyrics to the chorus of the song that wakes us up every morning. I love it. Im officially a 2nd transfer!

Love,

Anziano Smith