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

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

Brindisi | week 8 {free pizza for english lessons!}

This is the pizzeria where Regan and the other elders got free pizza for teaching an English lesson. They were invited to come back every Monday to make the exchange! Regan said this place could have been straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean :)

Anziano Pizza, Anziano Alvey, Anziano Jepson, Anziano Smith

This week started off my meeting an amazing couple named Maria and Batista. We met them on the street and got their number. We called two days later and they actually said we could come over which was a first. They live in a super nice apartment right off the center. They told us they respected us so much for leaving our homes and learning a new language to share this message they would at least take the time to hear us out. Turns out they already knew a lot about the church from the internet, and we got to explain a lot about how we have the Book of Mormon and why it is so important. They also had a question about Adam and Eve so we read pretty much all of 2 Nephi 2 which they really enjoyed. They said they would invite us over to Pronzo and we could talk more. I am super excited. Hopefully we get a call soon.

The next day was miracle day. We have been teaching on average about 3 lessons a weeks since I got here. Lame, I know. Last Friday we taught 5 lessons. First we taught Corridino who is making unreal progress. He is keeping all of his commitments: reading from the Book of Mormon and praying each day and he is also smoking less and less. I am so happy for him. I know he is taking the steps he needs to make to come closer the Savior. Next, we taught Verah. It is a true shame I have not written about her earlier because she is amazing. However, we have only been able to meet with her once a week the past 3 weeks and she cannot make church on Sunday. Nevertheless, I can feel how special she when we teach her. She is from Nigeria, and she learned English in school so it is great to be able to teach someone else in English. Our last visit with her we taught about the importance of prophets and we read a lot from King Benjamins address to his people in Mosiah 2-4. She loved it and we left her with the talk "The Race of Life" by President Monson. We then went to Fratello Grecos house to give a message to him and his wife who is not a member. We had an awesome lesson on faith center around Alma 7:11-13 and how this is the absolute core of our faith. We left that lesson and went outside and there were three rainbows on top of each other. It was so legit. Then we taught two more lessons to English course people. Our English course got up to 25 people this week!

On Saturday we had a branch activity in the morning which ended up being walking to a park that was about 15 minutes away and then shooting some hoops and having a spiritual thought. It was kind of random, but I liked it. Right after the spiritual thought an American guy named Tim showed up. We met him earlier that week and told him we would be playing bball possibly and we gave him the address. We didnt call him or anything and he just showed up. He wanted to hang out with us really bad because his two best friends growing up were Mormon and served missions, so he just wanted to see what mission life was like I guess. He was awesome. We ended up staying to play basketball with him longer with some other people at the park. We ended up having on odd number so I said I would just go on a jog around a little trail they had that went around the bball court cause I missed running a lot (no worries, I was within sight and sound of Anziano Pizza). I ended up going 62 minutes and almost 8 miles. It felt so good in the moment. Sunday morning my legs ceased to function. Today I am finally almost healed. That night we taught Victor and Blessing. It was bomb as usual. Victor is an amazing cook and always gives us dinner. On Saturday he made us really good chicken to go over some rice and really good fruit. I love them more and more every week.

Monday night we went and taught English course at that pizzeria I talked about last week. We taught a 20 minute English lesson to the 6 people that worked there and then they told us to sit down and brought all of his free pizzas. They said they wanted us to come back every Monday night from now on. We will so be there for English course, spiritual thought, and hopefully more free pizzas.

So, I have gotten to know Anziano Alvey and Anziano Jepson a lot better this week. They are both amazing guys. The past 2 weeks I have been super locked in and focused so my personality/sense of humor hasnt really come out with them yet. However, Anziano Alvey is the funniest missionary I have met yet. Today he was like Smith do you have a girl writing you and if so is her name Barbara? Haha, Im glad I get at least 4 more weeks with them.

So, yesterday I was reading in PMG in the first chapter about my purpose as a missionary. One sentence really stuck out to me. It said, your desire to share the gospel will increase as you understanding of the Atonement increases. Then next morning I decided to study the Atonement out of Gospel Principles. I realized that I can gain knowledge about the Atonement when I read from there and the scriptures, but understanding of the Atonement only comes through personal experience with it. I need to try to have more experiences with the Atonement through my faith and repentance. When I use the Atonement through repenting a becoming better and feel the fruit from it, then I will desire to share it more and have more power behind my words. Everyone take care! Love you all!

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 6

Regan and Anziano (Elder) Pizza in Lecce Centro

Anziano Brown and Regan in Lecce

Anziano Andreason and Regan

Lecce

More pictures of Lecce

Regan said they try to get a picture of this graffiti every time they ride the train to Lecce and he was the first one to successfully get it!

Anziano Smith, Anziano Brown, Blessing, Victor, and (don't know the name of their child!)

Their last gelato together before Anziano Brown gets transferred to Palermo and Anziano Andreason to Malta

The view from the balcony at Regan's apartment

Regan and Anziano Andreason with the Palma family for FHE (family home evening)

Regan with Anziano Baggaley

Regan with his friends from the English class they teach

The elders with Sina and her friend

Final goodbye to Anziano Brown and Andreason! 

Well, this week started with an awkward situation when I got my haircut without knowing any haircut lingo. He asked me something and I said “si” having no idea what he said and he started shaving the sides of my head super short leaving everything on the top like some Italians have. Then I had to tell him to cut everything on the top as well. It is all okay now though.

Anyways, the bad news is we had transfer calls this week and Anziano Brown is going to Palermo and Anziano Andreason is going to Malta. I am going to miss them both a lot. They will be great in each of their new cities. If anyone can learn Maltese quickly it is Anziano Andreason. He is super smart and has been fluent in Italian forever. Cool stuff to be trilingual. Anziano Brown had been here for 3 transfers, so we knew he would probably go, but I was still super sad when we got the call. Right after we went to visit Victor and Blessing for the last time together. They were also sad about the news. We had a great lesson with them about the Restoration and how it will bless their family and especially their kids as they grow up. From now on Anziano Pizza and I will visit them together. Anziano Brown and I also found a sweet park/center area in San Vito that we will do some work at this upcoming week. Exciting stuff. So, as we returned to Brindisi around 8:20 we noticed a ton of lights and everyone walking towards the water. We decided to check it out, and it ended up that the city decided to throw a massive party. I am not sure why, but it was awesome. They had a firework show, which I definitely underestimated. It was probably the best firework show I had every seen. The only bad part was I did not have my camera. Nonetheless, it was really cool. Now worries though, we still made it back to our apartment before curfew.

This week we helped the Arcaro family move. It was great. Fed us an awesome pronzo, then loaded their stuff into a truck and had to take three trips to get it to their new house which was about a 25 minute drive. It took all day, but it was a great use of time because I seriously came to love that family. They are really nice and super faithful. They have to drive about 35 minutes to get to church and they are the only members in their little city. They have a son who is about 1 and another one on the way. Them and Victor and Blessing are the only two young families in our ward. They both rock.

So on Monday I went on a scambio (exchange) with Anziano Baggaley who is our zone leader. He came from Lecce and worked with me Monday night into Tuesday afternoon. I learned a ton from him. He is seriously the man. He is an incredible teacher. Scambios rock because I learn so many new things from each missionary out here. Each one has unique talents and personalities. Speaking of which, tomorrow two new missionaries will be coming to join our Brindisi penthouse tomorrow night. Elder Jepsen who I met at our last zone conference and a greenie who flies in today. I finally wont be the baby anymore!!! Anziano Jepsen is awesome though. We will have a sweet house. We usually only get pizza once a week on peve so we dont get super fat. However, we have to take the greenie on his first night. I am excited for the special occasion-Thursday night pizza.

So every missionary has a book called a dedica that all the missionaries write in before they get transfered. Last night we all wrote in each others dedicas and it was super sad. We have had an amazing 6 weeks together full of hard work that has really united us together. Hopefully I will serve in the same zone as Anziano Brown and Anziano Andreason later in my mission and I will be able to see them at zone conference again.

So this week I finished the Book of Mormon. Moroni 10:32-34 was amazing. I love how the Book of Mormon starts and ends. It is beautiful. 1 Nephi 1:20 is like the thesis statement, and the end of Moroni is point of the whole book. The tender mercies of the Lord are over the whole earth. I have especially seen them here in Brindisi for me and for others. Victor has the most powerful testimony of the tender mercies of the Lord. He says that every month he pays his tithing right when he gets paid and he doesnt know how he will be able to pay rent, the bills, and food, but he always can. Also, through this mercy we can become perfected in Christ. That is the most beautiful truth that we should always hope for. Day by day we can slowly change and one day become perfect like Heavenly Father like Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:48.

"Today is the day I will open my mouth, I will shout from the rooftops the truth will come out. And I am sharing my soul in the words that I speak with the love that has made me this way. Yes today is the day that I proclaim what I believe."

Those are the lyrics to the chorus of the song that wakes us up every morning. I love it. Im officially a 2nd transfer!

Love,

Anziano Smith