Caserta | week 10 {great members, family history, old fashioned street contacting}

Elder Smith and Hatch doing family history work 

Delicious gelato! 

Palmieri 

Dinner with Giuseppe and the Salvitis

2.3.14

First of all, I hope everyone is alright. I heard from some members here of the snow and all the problems it caused in Atlanta last week. Sounded like it was crazier than the whole week we got off two years ago.

We had a pretty good week here in Caserta that was a little different than weeks past. So there is a conference up in Rome every transfer for all of the Zone Leaders to talk about the work and they come back and relay the info to everyone else. Last week at District Meeting, our zone leader was telling us about the numbers from our mission and how most of the success comes from member referrals. So this week we set 4 meal appointments with members this week. That may not sound like a lot for a week, but you must understand we eat enough food for 2 days at every meal appointment here. Not necessarily because we are forced, but because it is so good we cannot stop. Member appointments can be a blessing and a curse for that reason, but mainly a blessing. We got to know the members a lot better this week and I came to love some of our members who I never really knew that well before.

Firstly, Sorella Palmieri is an angel. She is the only member in her family and she told us her conversion story which was really amazing. She was in vacation in Germany like 30 years ago and her friends had the missionaries over who shared a spiritual thought that touched her. She came back to Italy and contacted the missionaries and then joined the church. Cool stories. Anyways, she has a daughter who is in her late 20s who wants to meet with us and so we are stoked to go back.

Last Friday night Marco took us down to Fratello Izzos house. He lives in a city like 45 minutes away where there use to be like 15 or so members of the church, and they would meet in his basement. He ordered a big podium and installed a baptismal font in his basement. Easily the coolest basement I have every seen in my life. It is like a legitimate chapel. He told us there have been 3 baptisms and his basement, but there havent been any since the branch moved to Caserta. I love that man. Bold statement of the day: his wife tied Sorella Casti for the best meal I have had on my mission. She made homeade pasta with homeade sauce and veggies from their backyard and then she made pizza too. It was unreal. His wife actually is not a member and so we had a really good lesson after dinner and we hope to go back sometime soon.

Last week we also had a really neat experience to go to some geology archives with the Willies to look for some of their friends family history that is here in Caserta. We went to translate for them and it was a way cooler experience than I thought. They let us search through these original documents that were hundreds of years old. After a solid three hours of seaching we found two names that they needed which felt good.

Unfortunately, everyone we are teaching was really busy this week with school and work so we didnt have many opportunities to see them at all. It left a lot of time for Anziano Hatch and I do some old fashioned street contacting which we havent done much of this transfer because we have been really busy. We always meet the coolest people and I never cease to have experiences that make me laugh. One example, last week I met a man named Pace who couldnt pronounce Smith so he just called me John. I called him Saturday night to invite him to church and he said, "Ciao John!" It was amazing.

I continue to learn a ton every day from Anziano Hatch. More than anything, he has taught me to my best to rely on the Lord and the Holy Ghost more than relying on myself. He is really humble and teaches with amazing power because he loves other people and he has truly given not only his might and strength to the Lord, but also his whole heart and mind. He has been an amazing inspiration and example to me this past month. I truly feel blessed to be surrounded by such awesome missionaries. This week there was a scripture that I have been thinking a lot about. It is Alma 34:38. I realized that the elders I have been blessed to serve with are a tender mercy of the Lord because they have lifted and encouraged me so many times. There are so many other things in my daily life that I sometimes take for granted that truly are such amazing blessings that I can always be happy if I just remember them and am always thankful. Sometimes it is other missionaries, or little things like mozzorella di bufala or awesome guy on the train who calls me John. There are too many to count. Hope everyone has a great week!

Anziano Smith

Caserta | week 1 {new city, new apartment, new companion}

Regan's new apartment! 

On pday, Regan and his companion visited Rega. He said there are 1200 rooms and it is even more legit than the botanical gardens! (one of Regan's favorite places to visit in Atlanta) 

Regan's new companion Elder Heder!

This past week has been kind of crazy with goodbyes, packing, transfers, getting into a new apartment, and getting readjusted to a new area. The night before I left Brindisi though we had an English Course party that we usually do every 12 weeks. Everyone brought in a different dessert and we played scattegories. It was way fun for the last week and a good way to say goodbye to everyone. I will miss Anziano Pizza, Jepson, and Alvey a lot. Brindisi is in good hands as long as they are there.

On Thursday I rode up from Bari with a couple of other missionaries going to Rome and I got off in Caserta. I was so excited to get here. Anziano Heder is my new companion, and he is so awesome. For example, we finished exercise Friday morning, and he asked "How do you like your eggs?" Yes he made me eggs for breakfast first day there. He is always looking for ways to serve. Our church here is about 70% Americans who live on the American Military Base and so Anziano Heder translated all 3 hours of church. I have no idea how he did it. He never complained or viewed it as a burden he just did it like a champ. Everyone in church wears headphones and Anziano Heder just goes from English to Italian and Italian to English depending on who is talking. No one slows down for him, he just goes. It is super impressive. He told me it will be my turn by the end of this transfer. Anyways, church was awesome this week. All of the members here love the missionaries, and it is definitely different to be around Americans. I really like it because everything is organized really well because these people are in the military. They make calls, they plan, they start on time. I am excited to work with them.

Ok, so a little bit about Caserta. They people here are a lot different than Brindisinos. There are a lot more youth and there is definitely a lot more going on here than in Brindisi. The people that have stopped and talked to us have been really nice and respectful. It is difficult for us to get any real work going right now because the missionary who I replaced accidentally took our phone down to Sicily and it is not suppose to get here until the end of the week. We have gotten a few numbers and have a lot of other people we need to talk to but we have no way of doing it. It is quite frustrating, but there is nothing we can do about it. We just have to do the best with what we have. Anziano Heder and I went through the Area Book yesterday for 2 hours and got the addresses of every person the missionaries of taught in the past 10 years and we are going to go stop by their houses and talk with them until we get our phone. It is a long list of people and surely enough to keep us busy this week.

There is a lot of rich culture here that will be fun to experience. This morning Anziano Heder and I went to the Rega which has 1200 rooms. It was easily the coolest place I have ever seen. I sent a couple pics, nothing to do any justice. They have miles and miles of gardens we are going to see another pday. The nopton pizza surpassed all the hype. It was straight up incredible. Tomorrow will be my first time going to Napoli. We have district meeting there every Tuesday, so I am excited to meet the rest of the district. It should be an exciting week. We are certainly anticipating the arrival of our phone. Until then, it is some good old fashioned street contacting. Sorry there is not much substance to this email. There will certainly be more to report next week. Take care everyone. Love you all.

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 14

 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

Brindisi | week 9 {half of this letter is about food, haha!}

Brindisi sure looks like a beautiful city!

Regan said this was a crepe stand! That huge jar of nutella sure gives it away

Anziano Pizza, Anziano Jepson, and Anziano Smith after helping someone move in San Vito :) 

Fried melonzana that Sorella Crudos made for the missionaries...looks really good!

I cant remember if I said this last week, but our English course is taking off. We are getting around 30 people every Tuesday and Thursday. Last Tuesday there was a ward council meeting at the church until about 7:15 and the members here all got way excited about how many people are coming. Sorella Crudo lives in a little town called Mesagne about 15 minutes away and she is trying to find a place for us to teach a course in Mesagne on Fridays. There was also another lady from our course who said she would like us to come teach some of her friends on Mondays. English course has been by far our most effective way of meeting people and being able to share our message with others. Each week we have a different poster that teaches them how to do something different in English (introduce yourself, go shopping, ask directions, etc.). This week the poster was on how to say a prayer in English! English course last night ended up being a 30 minute conversation about prayer and what we do all day as missionaries. It was way cool. 

Anways, this week was the first time on my mission I way overate. We helped Victor and his family move into a new apartment right down the street and he fed us the biggest dinner I have ever had. I ate about 4 bowls of this amazing rice with chicken and mushrooms, then 2 chicken sandwiches in this fresh bread from a bakery across the street, and then meatloaf. It was absurd. Then the next day we had an appointment with a family at 4 for pronzo after church. Church ended at 12 and the Palmas said we were coming over to their house for pronzo at 1:30. Sorella Palma started making the ragu for the pasta the day before so there was no backing out. I ate two full pronzos Sunday! Pronzo is no lie as much food as I would eat in a whole day at home. We always pray before we leave the house and when we were leaving Sunday around 1:15 Anziano Alvey prayed that we would be able to eat all of the food the members gave us. That prayer was answered. I barely ate on Monday and Tuesday. 

Corridino and Verah both made a lot of progress this week. There is nothing like seeing the light of the gospel shine in someone elses eyes. Teaching them is a great blessing. It is not enough just to know the doctrine and present it. It is amazing to explain why these things are important to me and how they have blessed my life. Why and how is so much more important than what. The why of the gospel is what motivates us to act and follow the Savior. 

I dont have much time this week, sorry this letter is short. I just realized half of it is about food. Everything is going well in Brindisi. I am loving this city and the people here more and more every week. I cant wait for stake conference this week and general conference the next week! Zone conference is Monday, so I will get letters. 

Take care,

Anziano Smith