Rome 5 | week 24

9.15.2014

The big news of the week came through on Saturday when we got transfer calls! I found out that I will be going to Malta to be with Anziano Orfila! I met him for the first time 2 weeks ago at zone conference, and he was really cool. He is from Argentina, and he speaks absolutely flawless English and Italian, and Im sure he is already speaking decent Maltese even though he has only been there for 6 weeks. It is something I am definitely looking forward to, and there will be more information on Malta next week. 

The highlight of this week had to have been my exchange with Anziano Pingree. We got to go to Perugia together, and it was a great time. We spend most of the day looking for old investigators who had either moved or were not home, but in the process, we met a lot of cool people and ran into to a food festival with food from all over italy. On our way back down to the train station we decided to stop by one more address and we got into the first house of the day. It was a lady whos daughter got baptized, married an RM, and moved to the states. She was really nice to us, got out her Book of Mormon and said she was "ready to study with us again." We only had like 10 minutes to leave a thought, but Anziano Pingree and Bee will go back soon. On the way home we met a guy on the train who was here backpacking in Italy by himself. He ended up being from the same town as Anziano Pingree back in Colorado, so we had a really good talk with him for like 20 minutes on the train, but never talked much about the gospel. After he got off Pingree was like, "I wander if I should have talked more about the gospel." The next stop was Assisi and then he was like, I guess we preach the gospel and use words when necessary. I thought it was hilarious. Quoting St. Francis in his own city. On the whole it was an unforgettable day. 

Anziano Blair and I went around a lot this week to see people for the last time which was sad, but I know I will see them all again in the near future, so it wasnt too bad. I have been really lucky to serve here in Rome 5. Have an awesome week everyone. 

Anziano Smith

Rome 5 | week 11

6.16.2014

Last Monday night after pday Anziano Blair and I got calls from a couple people we were teaching who told us they dont want to see us anymore, and it destroyed us. We were both really down, and decided to just go get some pizza. In the next 10 minutes, 3 people stopped us to talk. It was such a tender mercy. The first guy was 89, and he fought in WW2. We visited him twice last week. So cool, he literally knows every person who has ever lived in Passo Corese. He has lived here his entire life. Guy number 2 was the young priest from the Catholic Church in the middle of the city who we are tight with. He stopped us and asked us if we discipled anyone that day. It was pday, so I told him we did nothing all day, and he cracked up. Third lady was the Ethopian lady who invited us to that party thing I wrote about 2 weeks ago or so. She is seriously like our best friend. I thought it was a miracle that God put 3 people in our path right when we were really discouraged. It really let me know that he is always watching over us. 

Other cool stuff about this week - I had a record breaking 2 service opportunities this week! The first was with Sorella Vaccorono putting up a bunch of water games that we set up the week before for the kids getting out of school party. We put all the games up with her and a man named Asim from Albania. Afterwards, she invited all 3 of us to her house for dinner last night. Sorella Vaccorono made us a great dinner, and then we had a spiritual thought on the Book of Mormon. We found out that he has a son that died a few years ago, and we left him with some chapters about the plan of salvation to read this week. Overall, it was a really good night, and a good spiritual experience. 

Next, we got to help Marco donate some of his old stuff. He is someone the missionaries have known for several years, and we have recently started seeing him again. He lives in Poggio Mirteto where the Anziani use to live. It hast he most beautiful view ever. I got a picture with him after from a castle that was near the place we dropped the stuff off. At the end of the night we asked him if he knew anyone he thinks is searching for a stronger relationship with God, and then we rang his neighbors doorbell. She was busy, but I respected him so much for that. He is the man. 

Friday night, Anziano Blair and I got our feelings hurt. We have a neighbor who is 11 years old, and he is a really cool kid. We run into him about every other day, and we always talk and joke together. Friday night we were walking around Passo and we saw him with a group of about 10 friends. We tried to say hi to him, and he pretended like he didnt know us. Our next encounter outside the house will be really awkward. 

One of the coolest things I have seen my entire mission happened on Saturday night. We took Nem out to a mall right by his house where we met one of his friends who works their and invited her to church, and then we bought a massive tub of gelato to go back to eat at his house. When we got back, there were 3 guys chilling there waiting for the World Cup to start. One of them was 51 year old man who was worked with Nems dad for several years and considers Nem his son. He told us that he and the rest of Nems family was against his baptism, but he did it anyways. He said Nem has become a completely different person in the last year since he has been "praying with the Mormons." He invited us to come over to his house next Sunday to teach him, his wife, and his kids how we are different from other Christian churches. Nem is seriously an inspiration to me. His example has blessed so many people. 

Last week we figured out how to hack the wifi at the Hotel and downloaded all the Bible Videos on our phone. This week Anziano Blair and I have been watching them during lunch and before bed. Those videos are so inspiring. There is one in particular that I have watched every day this week: "My Kingdom is not of This World." They are such a good way to brighten someones day and really easy to send to people. I would definitely recommend it. Have an awesome week!

Anziano Smith

Rome 5 | week 3 {Easter, Because of Him, BBQ}

Lunch at Momma Gigantes 

Boy with a UGA sweatshirt on! Go dawgs! 

Dinner with Lorenzo 

Elder Smith with Nem 

Regan loves making fruit smoothies! 

Mumtosjon and his beautiful art 

4.22.14

I really enjoyed this past week cause I got to know our members and also the people we are teaching a lot better. Our ward mission leader is Fratello Arena and he works for the church in an office in Monterotondo with Fratello Bruno. They are both from Sicily and they are hilarious. Each week we try to go to their office for correlation and it is really cool. They have incredible desires to help us out with our work and make it a lot of  fun as well. It will be a lot easier when we get our own chapel to have activities, english course, etc. I think I already wrote about that. 

So last Tuesday we were walking home to lunch, and this really nice guy stopped us to ask who we are. We talked for like 10 minutes on the street about our purpose as missionaries, and we set an appointment to meet him the next day at his school. It turns out he goes to school right across the street from our apartment. We met him on Wednesday, and we went into his art room and had an incredible lesson. His name is Mumtasjon, and he is from Afghanistan. He has an incredible story. Anziano Gemmell and I both felt a lot of compassion for him, and we were incredibly impressed with what he has made out of his life. He speaks Persian, Urdu, Italian, and English fluently, he is really good at art, and he is also studying something else that is really complicated-cant remember what right now. Anyways, he does not come from a Christian background, so we explained the plan of salvation very simply-how Jesus was chosen before the world was created to be the Savior and Redeemer. Teaching the plan of salvation really simply was extremely powerful. I learned that is not important at all to be elegant with my words if I am just sincere. We also briefly touched on the fact that there is a living prophet and he got really curious. Seriously though, we have met him twice and he is already like a brother to us. I cant wait to see him again. 

So last week Lorenzo told us that he wanted to invite us over for dinner and another lesson. I honestly wasnt expecting much since he is a single man. He came out of nowhere with easily one of the top 5 pastas I have had on my mission. I was in shock. When I was in the MTC they taught us that we need to teach the Restoration according to peoples needs and concerns. Honestly, I havent been great at the my whole mission, but Friday with Lorenzo I think I figured out the key. I have to get to know them well before I teach them! We talked about his life for like 30 minutes before the lesson. It made teaching the lesson so much easier because we knew what he cared about and was important to him. Then it was so easy to teach that God has given us the Gospel of Jesus Christ and living prophets to lead us and guide us so we can be our happiest as we live our lives. It made me realize that I have to truly get to know people before I ever teach them and leave them committments to do. I cant believe it took me quasi 11 months to learn that. 

Easter was great! Most of our branch was on vacation so only like 15 people were expected in church. Due to that, it was decided that we would only do 1 hour of church. Turned out we had like 40 and the Stake President came to visit which was unexpected. He did not even know that we were only doing one hour of church, haha. Anyways, it was a great meeting. After church we went to Fratello Brunos house and his wife cooked us a really good Easter pronzo which included lamb. It was delicious. After pronzo we watched some of the Bible videos on the Resurrection. If you have not seen the Bible Video "Because of Him" watch it right now! It is incredible. Then Fratello Bruno shared a video with us that he made from his mission. It was a video of funny stories/testimonies/exeriences of people that he taught on his mission. It was incredibly touching and made me want to work more diligently cause Italians are seriously the best! After that we went to an investigators home whose basement got flooded the night before. There was a bad rain storm and their basement is underground so about 15 of us cleaned out his basement for about 2 hours. Service is the best! Sunday night we went and visited Nem. I think I wrote about him last week too. He is from the Congo and he was baptized like 10 months ago. He is preparing to go on a mission right now. We went over and read some of Alma 26 with him and got him psyched to go on a mission. He told us about how he is already be a missionary at his work through the language he uses. He told us that everyone notices that he has changed his language, and it allows him to talk about the church. He is the man! 

Yesterday was a holiday here in Italy, so it was a deep cleaning day for the apartment and we also had lunch with Mamma Gigante. She is probably the most famous member here in Rome 5. Her last name is Gigante and everyone calls her Mamma Gigante. We went over to her house along with 3 other families from the Branch and had a BBQ in which we ate for a solid 3 hours. Im still full today. 

Anziano Gemmell and I are working really hard and we are also having a lot of fun together. I have really come to appreciate his sense of humor as he is always finding a reason to be happy. Like, when we get someones number on the street or get an appointment with someone, he says "I get buckets." It is funny, but at the same time we realize that any time we have any success it is only because of the tender mercies of the Lord. It is not us at all. The morning we found Mumtasjon we talked to a solid 60 people. Then when we were 2 minutes away from home, he stopped us and asked to meet with us. Prime example of how we are only instruments just like Ammon said in Alma 26. It is incredible to see the hand of the Lord as we try our best to serve him. I know that this is his work and his church, and it has brought me more joy and peace than any other time in my life. I cant put it any better than Ammon: "This is my life" (Alma 26: 36). Ciao!

Anziano Smith

Rome 5 | week 1 {Sad leaving Caserta, excited arriving to Rome 5, new companion}

Regan leaving Caserta and saying bye to Elder Hatch...they were both so sad to leave eachother! 

 Double rainbow after a hail storm

 Gelato after General Conference

 Regan's new view! He is living about 20 minutes outside the heart of Rome

Regan with his new companion Elder Gemmell from New Zealand

4.7.14

Im not going to lie. Leaving Caserta was really tough. It honestly reminded me of leaving home. I love the missionaries, members, and all of our other friends down there so much. My last night Daniel, Antonio, Marco, Tingey, Hatch, and I went out to Alinas restaraunt for dinner. It was a ton of fun. I remember when we were saying bye outside and there were a bunch of stars in the sky, and I said, dont worry guys, we will be brothers forever. Antonio looked up at the sky and said, "hai capito?" (Do you understand?) It was so funny. Everyone there is being left in good hands with Hatch, Tingey and the most recent additions to Caserta- Anziano Jepson and "Wrangler tough" Rutlidge. They are all incredible missionaries, and I cant wait to talk to them after the mission about everything that happens there. 

Last week I was telling Anziano Hatch that I wanted a new study journal. When we get transferred, we write dedicas (goodbye/thank you type letters) for all the anziani. When we were saying bye, Anziano Hatch gave me a sweet study journal with his dedica on the inside. It was really hard saying goodbye. Anyways, I say this because there was a girl at the train station who saw this all go down and was really touched. We asked her to take a pic of us, and then she started asking us who we were. I took the train ride up to Napoli alone, cause Hatch had to wait for Jepson. I ended up teaching her and her friend on the train. Then the people sitting across from us wanted to listen. Then the ragazzi in the back of the cart came to listen. It was so weird. My first time being companionless on the mission I was teaching like 9 people.

Anyways, I was so happy when I got up here to Rome. Anziano Gemmell is awesome. Like I said last week he is from New Zealand, he has the coolest accent in the world, he plays rugby, and he is hilarious. The past couple days have been a blast and I cant wait for the rest of the transfer. I hope we get at least 2 transfers together up here. Anways, about Rome 5. It is absolutely unreal. We are about 20 miles outside of the heart of Rome and it is beautiful green rolling hills everywhere. We got a brand new apartment 3 weeks ago, and we have a car. One of the best parts of having a new house is that our neighbors dont hate us, haha. At least not yet. We met 1 of our neighbors Saturday afternoon and she was so nice. We are planning on taking her something this week. One of the downsides of Rome 5 is that everything cost a fortune. It is a really, really nice area. Like all of the apartments are well kept up, the streets are clean, the stores are nice, and there are no dangerous places. I took my suit to get it dry cleaned when I got here in it was almost triple what I paid in Caserta. Nonetheless, we are lucky to be in such a sweet city.

Also there are two Sister missionaries here in Rome 5. This is the first time I have had Sister missionaries in my ward, and it is actually really cool. Sorella Palmer is a greenie (this is her 2nd transfer) and Sorella Vincent is in her 9th. They are seriously great. We watched conference at the church Saturday night and most of the day Sunday. General Conference was absolutely incredible. We only got to watch 3 session- 1 in English and 2 in Italian. Listening to the words of the prophets made me so happy. At the beginning of President Monsons talk in Priesthood session I committed myself to share my testimony about the gospel at every chance I get after my mission cause I never want to stop being a missionary. It is seriously the best. His talk only got better when he quoted Jabari!! Honestly though, I know with all of my heart that he is a prophet of God. At the beginning of conference I had the question written on the top of my notebook, "How can I feel/show the love of God." I got 3 pages of really good notes, and all of it was about how I can show Gods love. I realized that we feel it when we show it. That is why our mission calls say that greater happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you serve the Lord leaving behind all other personal affairs. When we do our best to show Gods love to His children, then we feel it stronger than we ever have for ourselves. I am so excited to work with the missionaries and members here.

 Everyone I have met so far has been so nice and incredible. Almost all the men in this branch are returned missionaries and over half of them speak perfect English. Also, the Stake Patriarch is in our branch. Last Friday we were right by his house and there was a hail storm so we stopped in. His wife made us dinner and we left a spiritual thought...and then we saw a double rainbow. So cool. Song long until next week,

Anziano Smith

Caserta | week 18 {baptism, transfer calls, going to Rome}

Elder Hatch, Daniel, and Elder Smith 

 Elder Smith and Elder Hatch with the Salvitti family!

 Casertavechia

View from Casertavecchia 

Dinner with the Cloves 

3.31.14

Unfortunately this was my last full week here in Caserta, as I will be transfered to Rome 5 this upcoming Thursday. It will certainly be bitter sweet to head out, as I have had experiences here that have certainly changed me, and I have made friends here that will last a lifetime. It is kind of ironic that we come on missions to help change the lives of other people, when in fact they change ours. Antonio and Daniel have seriously become brothers to Anziano Hatch and I. They were both planning on getting baptized this Saturday, but unfortunately Antonio is not able to be baptized at this moment because of his current situation. However, I will say two things. The first is that I have never witnessed anyone with more faith in Jesus Christ than Antonio. His faith and desire to do what is right is unbelievable. The second is that I know that the Lord always prepares a way that is wiser than our own when things dont go according to our wish. People become more spiritually refined and more people end up being blessed. Anyways, Antonio told Daniel to go ahead and get baptized instead of postponing the date for both of them. It was a really special experience. We went to Pozzuoli where they have a nice baptismal font and the beautiful view of the ocean. There were about 12 other missionaries there and they all invited their investigators and we had a great turn out from our ward as well. Everyone in our ward loves Antonio and Daniel because they are awesome, and we need more youth here. Antonio shared his testimony in church on Sunday, it it was such a powerful moment that it was difficult for Anziano Hatch and I to hold back tears. He has been the most incredible example to me of someone who was completely put his faith and trust in the Lord. I could talk for days about both of those kids. 

This week was also great as I got to see pretty much everyone who I have come close to since I have been here in Caserta. Marco, Anziano Hatch, and I went over to one of our investigators house last week before she went to work. She is an incredible example to me of someone who works so hard to bless other peoples lives without expecting anything in return. She works all day 6 days a week to help support her family that lives in another country and she always has a smile on her face. It always brightens my day when we teach her. Tonight we will teach her at the church for my last time and then we are going out for a gelato. It will definitely be memorable. 

Last week we had a missionary open house for all of our English Course students, investigators, members, and ther friends last Thursday night. It was a huge success as about 70 people showed up with good food, and our members were total champs. English Course students talked with a bunch of Americans and they also felt the love of the people in our ward here. 1 family even set a dinner appointment/lesson with 3 girls from EC. That is what I am talking about. Strangers seem to trust normal families than teenagers in suits. Actually they dont seem to, they totally do. All of the best lessons I have had on my mission have been with members who share personal experiences and conversion stories. Marco and the Salvitti family especially have helped us in our work and did things we never could have done. So, my people back in Peachtree Corners, help the missionaries out! Missionary work is the best. 

I have heard all good things about Rome 5. My new companion will be Anziano Gemmel. He is from New Zealand and has been out on his mission a little over a year. I met him at the mission conference a couple weeks ago and he is hilarious. I already know we are going to be like brothers. Probably going to love him so much, I am going to have to go back and visit him at his place after the mission. I know there are amazing members in Rome too and we will have a car. I am excited to head up Thursday afternoon, but I will certainly soak up these last few days with Anziano Hatch and Tingey. I love them like brothers and same with our friends here. Anziano Heder headed out for America this afternoon at 2. So weird. He was an awesome missionary and had a big influence on all of us. We will see him on the other side next summer. 

Anziano Smith