Rome Time
Anziano Pizza rescuing a cat from a tree!
Hello Fellow Americans,
It has been two weeks
since I last wrote and much has happened. I will go over some of the highlights
quickly.
First of all, there
are two new missionaries in our district who are instant legends. Anziano
Querisma from Torino (in Italy) and Anziano Kwodwo from Ghana. It is so cool
meeting missionaries from different parts of the world. I have only talked to
them for about an hour at our last District Meeting (which is
every Tuesday morning), but that was certainly enough to tell that
they are incredible missionaries and really cool guys as well. Hopefully I will
be able to go on some scambios with them this transfer.
So, at the beginning
of English course we all meet together for announcements, prayer, introducing
new people, etc then we split into the advanced and beginner course. Last Tuesday
after the prayer, Anziano Pizza made a comment after the prayer about how the fun
course would remain in the chapel while the boring course went with Anziano
Alvey and I to the Relief Society room. Some of us took offense to that comment
and decided to act. So...we have advanced english course pizza
party Wednesday night at the best pizzeria in Brindisi. It was so
legit! Only 4 of them could make it, but it was awesome to say the least. No
worries, it was not a night off of missionary work. Half of the time we were
talking about prayer and it was really awesome to talk about the gospel in a
more relaxed, informal setting. They really opened up to us more than they do
during our spiritual thoughts. We also gave Salvatore (my favorite student) the
past 2 conference talks by President Monson and he read both of them that
night. He is awesome.
The coolest experience
of my mission by far was this past Thursday morning. There is a
school right outside this park where we have been visiting a family for the
past two weeks and we usually try to meet them around 12 or so. On
Thursday we finished talking to them around 12:40, but we dont go
back to the apartment until 1:30 for lunch. We decided to walk around
the park for a while. Turns out there is a school right on the other side of it
which gets out at 12. There were 4 or 5 students sitting and talking with a
teacher and I told Anziano Pizza we should try to talk to them. The teacher was
a really funny guy. He was kind of poking fun of us at first, and then he was
like, "Class! come listen to the American kids!" All of the sudden
about 25 kids who were all 17 and 18 were standing around us. Anziano Pizza
introduced us and talked for a while. At first they were kind of making fun of
us and not really listening. They could tell I was the new kid and pointed at
me and were like say something in English to us. So I whipped out my Book of
Mormon out of my bag and started explaining what it was in English. I wont lie,
I was scared at first, but as soon as I opened up my mouth there was absolutely
no fear. It was one of the most amazing feelings I have ever felt. It got
absolutely dead silent when I opened it up to the picture of Christ ministering
to the people in Ancient America. Anyways, we told them all about English
course and all of them freaked out and said they wanted to come. They haven’t
come yet, but we will see.
On Friday I went
on a scambio with Anziano Jepsen all day. He is a champ. He works like there is
no tomorrow and I love it. We divided the morning into visiting less
actives and x investigators with street contacting on the way to both. We were
so effective I felt like we did a days worth of work by 2pm. That morning
we found Sorella Dimurri who has not been to church in about 15 years. Talking
to her for an hour was heart-wrenching. She has gone through so much pain. She
firmly told us 3 times that she could never accept the existence of a God
again. However, she was so kind to us and gave us her phone number and told us
we could come back because she is pretty lonely. Situations like that call for
miracles. They call for power beyond our own to reach out in compassion and
help another feel of the healing and power of the Atonement. She is an
absolutely perfect example of a sheep the Lord needs fed.
This Sunday we
only had 20 people at sacrament. Nevertheless, it was an incredibly spiritual
sacrament meeting. It truly does only take 2 or the 3 people to be gathered in
the Lords name to invite the Spirit. They hymns, sacrament, prayers, and talks
were some of the most beautiful I have ever heard. The members here truly are
inspiring. Their faith is so vibrant and they are about 25 out of a city of
70,000. They all know it is true and sacrifice so much for the gospel. They
make me want to be better not only now, but for the rest of my life. So long
until next week!
Love,
Anziano Smith
