Ragusa | week 11 {LAST week of writing before coming home!}

 Anziano Smith in Taormina, Italy

Anziano Smith with Anziano Kelley in Gela

Zone pday in the skinniest street in Taormina!

The church building in Ragusa! Looks beautiful

5.18.2015

So this is my last time emailing home before I come home next Tuesday, and I have no idea what to write. All I know is that I am going to miss this place. 

It made me think of a talk President Uchtdorf gave a couple years ago in which he talked about how we as mortals are not made for endings because we are made out of the "stuff" of eternity. We were not created for endings. It seems like whenever I shift from one phase of my life to another it is always tough.  I remember when I was 7 years old I cried so hard after my last baseball game of year cause I didn't want the season to finish. I have had similar feelings when friends have moved, when family members have started new phases of their lives, and as I finished high school and left on my mission. Now it is happening again as I am preparing to come home from my mission. However, the transition of coming home from a mission is quite different. Serving a mission is an experience that is unique from any other experience in the world. It is different than graduating high school/college, finishing a sports season, or moving to a different place. The reason why is because all of those things actually do have a permanent ending. When you graduate school, you will never take another test in that school again. When a season is over, you will never have any of those games back to play again. A mission is different, because our purpose here and the work we do here is never finished. This work is bringing to pass the glory of God which is eternal. When we come home we don't get a diploma or a trophy. The value of what we did is manifest in who we have become. 

There are truly no stats or grades that measure discipleship. I think the only true indicator is one's ability to love. Last week I had the chance to stay with Anziano Kelley in Gela for two days,  It was the best exchange of my mission, and I cannot describe why or how in words. All 3 appointments we had cancelled on us, and 2 buses didn't come which ruined our plans the second day. But nothing got Anziano Kelley down. Usually when appointments cancel on me, I just feel weighed down and disappointed. He was optimistic about it and said that the Lord prepared someone else for us to find and teach that night. So we did. He served me and taught me those two days like Christ would have by the way he worked, taught, his sense of humor, and the things he shared with me in our studies. We woke up both mornings at 5:45 to go running on the beach and went hard til 10:30 both nights. What I learned from Anziano Kelly was that his motivation was not a grade, a trophy, or recognition, but his only motivation is his love for the Lord and desire to serve him. That love is the true measure of success in a missionary to me. 

The beautiful thing is that that love does not have to stop after two years. The mission is only the beginning. Moroni said, "Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure (Moroni 7:47-48)." 

Anziano Kelley taught me that as a disciple of Jesus Christ, someone who is trying to follow his example in loving other people, I can never consider myself as someone who has arrived. There is no trophy, medal, or diploma that we get when we come home saying that we mastered and perfected every Christ-like attribute and that we can retire now. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission for a million reasons. Going to college, and getting a job, and providing for a family are all necessary parts of life, but I can never lose sight of my end goal. In this life, I will never "arrive" because my hope is in eternal things. If I understand that concept, I will be comforted by the knowledge endings don't really have to be sad after all because they are only temporary. Those feelings of sadness are because my spirit is made out of the stuff of eternity, and I have not arrived at my eternal destination yet which is with Heavenly Father. 

Tante belle cose,

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 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