Caserta | week 12 {transfer calls, Reggia Garden, charity}

Fratello Izzo's garden

Fratello Izzo's basement (set up like a church with a baptismal font!)

Waiting at the train station 

Transfer guesses!

2.17.14

We got our transfer calls last week, and all four of us are staying together 1 more transfer! This was excellent news because our house is seriously amazing. Anziano Tingey is the funniest kid in the mission, Anziano Heder is always serving everyone and making delicious food for everyone, Anziano Hatch is the best all around missionary I have ever met, and I am just trying not cause any problems. Suffice it to say, we are all having the time of our lives right now.

So last Monday Anziano Tingey and I went on a run in the Reggia Gardens which was a total blast. Right when we got outside the gates, this guy stopped us because he saw are tags and was super excited to see the missionaries. It was a Nigerian man named Prince who was baptized in Germany a couple years ago and had not been able to find the church in Caserta. He is the coolest guy ever. We walked with him to the church and showed him around. Two days later he taught Adam with the two other Anziani. Adam is getting baptized this Saturday in Pozzuoli and he was really excited to help teach him. It has been cool to see him get excited about missionary work and we are hoping to meet some of his friends this upcoming week.

This week was our last week with Marco which was kind of sad for us. He left for Spain for two months or so, but I must say, it was an amazing last week with him. He had an oral exam which he has been studying for the last couple of months and he asked us to give him a blessing the night before the exam. The Spirit was really strong and we were praying for a week or so that he would do his best. We found out the next morning that he made a 30/30 with Honors-the best you can possibly get. It really strengthened my testimony of two things. First, that the power of the priesthood is real, and secondly, that Heavenly Father loves us and is willing to help us with things that he knows our important to us. Whether it be a test, an athletic event, or whatever. Even though these things dont always have eternal significance and consequences, Heavenly Father still wants us to counsel with Him and rely on Him. That night we went out and Marco treated us to pizza and gelato. Hopefully I stay another transfer after this one and we will have some more good times working together.

This week we went back to Sorella Palmieris house for lunch, and we got to meet her daughter Erika. Anziano Hatch and I showed up first and talked for a while about where we have served and stuff like that. Then the others came and totally lightened the mood and we instantly became solid friends when they got there. Erika was asking us about our hobbies and we pointed out the fact that Anziano Tingey likes to rap. He rapped for us one of his best/funniest raps in English thinking that she couldnt understand. She was laughing so hard and then she told us she majored in English and speaks it perfectly. So funny. Anyways, we had a really special lesson after lunch about praying to know that God is our Father and he is wants to listen to us and help us through everything in life. It was a special lesson that helpled my testimony grow a lot and I hope she remembers it. I know she definitely felt the Holy Ghost in the room when we were sharing personal experiences with prayer.

This week I started the Book of Mormon again studying for the topic of charity. It has been incredible to study looking for examples of this attribute. I read and pondered Moroni 7:45-48 before I started this study thinking about what I wanted to get out of it. I realized that this verse gives us the definition of charity, but we have to search the scriptures diligently to find examples of people like us who had this gift. In 1 Nephi I have studied some of the best examples of charity ever, especially in chapters 5 and 7. I could write for days about Lehi and Nephi and how their love for the Lord was evident in how they treated their family.

My ability to express myself in Italian continues to grow. Usually when we have a good conversation on the street, we ask if we can set up a return appointment to see them again. I have been using the word appuntamento my whole mission which does mean appointment. However, when used in the form of a question, it can also mean date. It was quite a revealing experience this week when I figured out I have been asking everyone out on dates for the past 7 months. Cool stuff.

I seriously have come to love my mission and treasure each day here. I love the anziani I am serving with more than anything. They are so close to the Savior and amazing examples of how to serve Him. I want to share one funny example. Last night at 2 in the morning, Anziano Tingey woke up and said, "Anziano Heder, I just had a dream, and I just figured it out. The key to this life is faith in Jesus Christ. Ill explain the rest to you tomorrow." Man, I love him way too much. Honestly, I am way too blessed to be here right now with these missionaries.

Sincerely,

Anziano Smith

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 8 {become like a little child, warmer weather, another earthquake!}

First of all, I just have to say that these past two weeks have been an absolute blast. Im learning for the first time that missionary work can and should be a blast as well as spiritual. 

I wanted to start of by talking a little bit about our District Meeting last week cause I thought it was funny and it helped me out a lot this week. It was all about 3 Nephi 11: 38 which says, "And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God." Anyways, we talked for 30 minutes about how we can become like little children here on the mission and it was really instructive and funny at the same time. We talked about how kids are always doing their thing no matter what. It doesn't matter if they are at the grocery store, on the train, at school, in church, with adults, or whatever. They are always being kids. Anziano Bennett said similarly we should always be missionaries no matter where we are or what we are doing. That image of always being a missionary like a kid is always being a kid made me laugh. He also told us about how when he was a kid playing soccer he was never afraid to shoot from midfield or try new tricks in a game and he never stopped trying no matter how many times he messed up. It was the best DDM ever. That night Anziano Hatch and I were super inspired to go do street contacting like little children. It was funny because the first two people Anziano Hatch stopped gave us two of the worst rejections I have seen on my mission. It was actually kind of funny. The next lady we stopped was an angel and we had an awesome conversation. It was the strongest testimony of becoming like a little child in that we just laughed it off when to people told us off and we kept going with big smiles. I learned this week that missionary work is a lot more fun and rewarding when we do it like a child. 

So along with having fun this week, we also taught the most lessons than any other week on my mission by far. I am learning so much from Anziano Hatch from his teaching skills it is insane. Related to the last point, I have learned our investigators are most receptive/feel the spirit the strongest when we teach so simply that a child could understand it. It is amazing to me how simple the gospel of Jesus Christ really is. You dont have to be an intellectual genius to feel the power of these truths that can touch anyones soul. We are all children of God and He wants everyone to know and understand the purpose of life and how we can be happy. 

So this week was also amazing because Marco is like the best member missionary I have ever seen. He is 24 and he was baptized last year and he just brings all of his friends and family to church like a boss. We met with him and his friend Maurizio twice this week and it was literally perfect. Member referrals are the best because they dont feel awkward coming for the first time since they already have a friend. Marco also brought his 17 year old cousin Rafael to meet with us on Friday. We taught him the whole Restoration and he seemed to love it. He came to church on Sunday and had a really good experience as well. One of the best experiences of my mission was on Sunday night. Marco invited us over to his house for a pancake dinner with his mom, Rafael and Rafaels girlfriend. After dinner Rafael grabbed a Restoration pamphlet and started going through and showing it to his girlfriend and teaching it to her. It was so cool. Then he got to the page about Joseph Smith and said (in English), "Joseph Smith is the King. He's a boss. He knows what it is." It was easily one of the top 5 funniest moments of my mission. That got his girlfriend pretty interested so we taught them together after dinner and it was great. After the lesson, she prayed for the first time in her life and it was a really sweet experience. We are teaching them together with Marco this Friday and it should be great. 

Alina and Salvatore continue to be amazing. As I have said before, Alina works until 3:30am Saturday nights and this week she and Salvatore were in church at 9 for sacrament because we promised them blessings if they would come for sacrament. Their faith blows my mind. Salvatore actually prophesied something this week, legitimately. We met on Saturday and he was like, "This warm weather is strange for January. Last time it was this warm in January we had an earthquake." This morning we had another earthquake! It creeped me out! Anyways, I love them to death. They are the best people on the planet. 

Something cool happened at English Course this week as well. We started off by asking everyone how there day was and what they did. After everyone responded, they asked us what we did. They obviously know we are missionaries because we leave a spiritual thought every week, but they don't really know what we do all day. So....we told them our schedule of what we did that day and they were all shocked. They literally couldn't believe it. Then they asked what we do for fun and we told them that is what we do every day all day. Then they asked us what we did on the weekends, and we told them that is what we do on the weekends too. Then they asked us how old we were and I said I was 19 and Anziano Hatch was 18. They all thought we were like 25. Anyways, we got like 5 contacts who we have met with/still want to meet with us. Since I have been on my mission I have gotten used to this schedule and work, but it is still shocking to the people of the world. It made me think, if only they knew how shocking the blessings of this gospel are and the eternal truths we have, then they would completely understand why we leave everything behind to share this gospel all day every day for 2 years as teenagers. If they understood the power and authority that comes with the priesthood of God, they would understand by what power we do it. I just want everyone to understand this! 

Comunque, I hope this transfer never ends, cause we are having a blast and Anziano Hatch and I really enjoy working together. We are both working as hard as we can at the end of each day we are able to look back and see the significant but subtle blessings (like Anziano Bednar said last conference) of the Lord each day. I think later this transfer we might also go down to Catania (which is in Sicily) together to pick up Anziano Hatch's permesso. That would be way fun. There are many things to look forward to in the near future. Missionary work is the best!

Love,

Anziano Smith