Brindisi | week 18 {Regan getting transferred to Caserta, thunderstorms, concert, and goodbyes!}

Sandra brought snacks for everyone in English course before she left for Australia 

Gerry and Dedy with Anziano Pizza 

Regan with Gerry and Dedy! Regan said he loves this picture of them 

Sorella Crudo 

Regan and Palma 

The Elders with Fratello Greco 

Samuelle. Wow this is one gorgeous kid...how cute! 

Regan with Fratello and Sorella Frascaro 

Sorella Arcaro and Samuelle 

Fratello and Sorella Colantonio (originally from Napoli) 

Concert at a Catholic church 

Regan said that when his friends from English course heard that he was getting transferred they wanted to do one last thing with him before he left. They organized all going to a concert at a pretty Catholic church in Brindisi. It is so cool seeing that Regan has made such good friends in Brindisi! 

Cool new pizza place they found! 

Castle in Mesagne, Italy

The big news for the week is that I am getting transferred this week to Caserta which is a city in the Napoli Zone! I am going to be companions with Anziano Heder who served in my district for my first two transfers and he is so awesome. I seriously cannot wait. Last night Anziano Pizza and I went to visit 2 less actives and they are both from Napoli. They ended up telling me about Caserta and Napoli for an hour. Im am so ridicoulously excited. They planned out all my pdays for me and told me all the food I have to get. Anyways, about the important stuff. There is an American military base about 20 minutes away and so about 30 of our 45 members are American. I will seriously need to start working on my translating. Probably the most difficult part of the language is translating from English to Italian, but Im up for the challenge. Anziano Heder has been on his mission for 20 months so he is perfect. He will definitely help me a lot. I also heard their English course has about 70 students which is unreal. I seriously doubt it will be better than Brindisi though. We shall see. Oh, one more thing about Caserta. So there are a ton of strikes in Napoli which includes the postal service, so mail gets lost there more frequently than it arrives. So...for all my favorite people in the world that send me mail, send them to Rome please.

This week started off pretty interesting. We had District meeting in Lecce and their house is about a 45 minute walk. So there was a typhoon in Sardenia that day that killed like 16 people or something. There was a crazy thunderstorm that day in all of southern Italy because of it, like the worst I have ever seen. It was about 50 degrees and it was absolutely pouring and lightening everywhere. The street we needed to take was flooded so we had to walk around the whole city. We were walking for at least 75 minutes in this. Anziano Jepson started singing this song from our missionary cd and was like "Its gonna take work...and sometimes hypothermia." We were all cracking up and it was actually really fun and memorable.

Tuesday night at English course we had a student named Ilaria who was leaving for Australia for work and she brought an awesome nutella cake which was absurd. It totally made my night. Our whole English course is so tight. We have had so much fun together. When they found out I was getting transferred they told us we had to do something together one last time...so Sunday night we went to a concert together at really big Catholic church right across the street that is super pretty. The concert was amazing. It was people who travel around Europe and they were way good. Anyways one of the ladies who came was new to our English course (I forgot her name and I feel really bad) and she brought her friend. It was so touching to me because she started telling her friend about what we do as missionaries and she remembered my spiritual from Thursday night and told her friend about it while we were walking together. It made me feel like a million bucks. I told Anziano Jepson to ask them if they want to meet with us and take the lessons sometime this week. Im so sad to be leaving!

On Wednesday night I had one of the neatest experiences of my mission. So my second week in the mission I made a rule. Never ever under any circumstances talk to a teenage girl. Nothing good ever comes from it. At least from my experience. Anyways, there were 2 teenage girls and a boy hanging out by the station and Anziano Pizza just said ciao when we were walking by. They guy said, why did you just say hey to us? We stopped and told them we were missionaries, but they all said they were atheists really quick. However, one of the girls (Ilaria) stopped us after a few minutes of talking and asked some really deep and thoughtful questions, like "what does the glory of God" mean? It was easy to tell that she was sincerely listening and was truly hungering and thirsting after spiritual truth. We talked for a solid hour and then she said, "I dont believe in God, but I am a good person. If he exists he will know that and judge me for it. I wish he was real and there was some way I could know it though." It literally broke my heart. We gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet and she committed to pray about it. That conversation made me want to be such a better missionary because I know there are people here who are looking for the truth and I cant just walk by them and miss that opportunity. Im so glad that guy stopped us. I guess my teenage girl rule no longer stands.

On Friday we said bye to Gerry and Dedy. They are easily two of my favorite Brindisinos (even though they are from Napoli). We have visited them every week the past 12 weeks and it has been a pleasure to read from the Book of Mormon and learn the gospel with them. They haven’t been coming to church for about 20 years, but they came 3 times in the past 6 weeks which made me soooo happy. My pic with Gerry is epic and I will have my whole life no doubt. I hope it is up on my blog.

Saying bye to everyone at church was tough, but I cant wait for Caserta. The branch there seems awesome. It will be fun to converse with Americans again. Working with Anziano Heder will be amazing. You best believe I will be sending a pic of my first nopton pizza next week. That is much anticipated.

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 17 {English course moves to Mesagne, usher fail, Rome Temple}

So this week we got some exciting news. Our members so how big our English course was getting and so they found a space where we can do it in Mesagne which is a little city that is about a 15 minute train ride outside of Brindisi. We got permission for the space this week, so on Wednesday we went to put up flyers all over the city we made in 10 minutes. We have already received several phone calls confirming the time and place so we are looking forward to starting it up this Wednesday. We have 1 member that lives in Mesagne (Sorella Crudo) who gives us an awesome lunch everytime we go there. It is a way cool city and cant wait to start working there more. Some of the best relationships I have formed have come from teaching English course and it is always a prime atmosphere to share a gospel message at the end of each lesson.

We have continued to visit Victor and Blessing on Saturday nights to teach Blessing the new member lessons and I continue to grow in awe of the faith of that family. I was talking to Victor after the lesson before we ate dinner. He told me one of the most touching things I have ever heard. He said his brother was really sick in the hospital a couple years ago, and he was visiting him. He told him, dont pray that you will be healed. God already knows that you are suffering. First pray for forgiveness and ask God to teach you how you can be better. Then thank him for the many blessings you have received. It reminded me of the story that President Monson told in his last General Conference talk. He is one of the most grateful people I have ever met, and because of that he is always smiling and having a good time.

Yesterday we had an awesome day at church. The Stake President came down from Bari and he is one incredible man. He started teaching about the "Hastening the Work" broadcast and the other missionaries told him I was there during it and he asked me to share with the ward what was said for a minute. His urgency to spread the gospel was inspiring. All was going well at church until sacrament meeting was about to start (we have sacrament meeting last) and President Casti asked me to be the usher. I was told that this included standing by the door to welcome people and step outside the door to make sure no one interrupts prayers or the sacrament. I did not think it would be that hard or I would make such a fool of myself. However, both times I stepped out no one came give me the sacrament so I had to walk all the way to the front both times. The second time, Samuelle (16 month year old baby) tripped on my foot and started crying. I started to help him up and lost my position on the door and people started coming in. It was unreal. It literally could not believe it. Anyways, the Stake President covered for me cause he gave an extremely powerful talk right after and the meeting was really spiritual.

Right after sacrament meeting 10 people from a branch got on a bus to go to the temple up in Switzerland. I would have given up my right arm and a leg and couple toes to go on that trip. They will be up there for 5 days or so. Im so glad for them. I also heard that the temple is projected to be completed my last transfer of the mission. It has been pushed back like 3 or 4 times but I really hope that this time it is accurate. There will be a 3 month open house or something crazy like that. I hope more than anything I can be a part of it, but more importantly help others get ready to go for themselves!

I am growing to love missionary work more and more. I meet many awesome and also interesting people each day. For instance, yesterday an old lady asked me how long the train ride was from America. I was not sure how to respond. Conversations like that always keep me smiling.

Anyways, I have heard it said that sacrificial love opens the windows of heaven I am certainly starting to see that here. It is a privilege to serve here each day and do my best to share these wonderful truths that have blessed my life in so many ways. Serving with other missionaries and members and getting to know the people of Brindisi has been the experience of a lifetime.

Love,

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