Caserta | week 16 {Pompeii, St.Patrick's Day, ugly ties}

Sister Salviti took the missionaries to Pompeii for P-day today and these are some of the photos she took!

Sunday lunch 

Anziano Hatch and Anziano Smith with the Fusco Family 

3.17.2014

This past week was seriously too good to be true. Anziano Hatch and I feel like we have found our long lost brothers in Antonio and Daniel. I remember the first time we met them at the train station in Maddaloni and I knew they were awesome from the beginning. They seriously just make everyone around them happy all of the time. It is incredible. Today after we go to Pompeii with the Salvitis, they are coming over for dinner with us and I can already guarantee it will be a night never to be forgotten. The thing that is most incredible about them though is their desire to learn the gospel. We taught them a whopping 5 lessons last week which included watching a talk by President Monson, church movies, reading from the Book of Mormon, and other stuff. Anziano Hatch and I try our best, but we arent necessarily the best teachers in the world. Their progress is seriously coming from within themselves and not from anything we are doing. We are nothing more the instruments in the hands of the Lord that are presenting the gospel. They will seriously be our brothers for life.

Last night we went over the the Fusco family's home and it was a very special experience. That family is beautiful and they are incredibly nice. We stop by their bakery to talk and see how things are going almost every day, but Sunday is their only day off of the week. Last night we spent a solid two hours at their house getting to know them better and then we had an incredible lesson with a Plan of Salvation puzzle thing that Anziano Hatch has. Then we read the Family Proclamation together. It makes me so happy to see families like them who are so happy and such good people. Anyways, two weeks ago Anziano Hatch and I went to Napoli, and we found a tie stand near the station that was selling the ugliest ties I have ever seen for 1 euro. We bought a bunch and have  been wearing them every day the past two weeks. Last night I think our ties were hurting Maurizios eyes so he brought each of us a tie from his closet. He gave me this white and black checkered tie that is honestly my new favorite tie. It is something I will wear the rest of my life and I will never forget that family. Teaching in their home last night really helped me understand the importance of having charity, or the pure love of Christ. If I dont have charity for those I am teaching, then I am really just saying words. But last night was really special because we really felt love for that family and we were not just saying words. We were sharing the things of our soul and the Spirit was really strong. It has been an incredible blessing to get to know them and teach them.

Last night Hatch, Tingey, and I read our mission journals to each other from our first week in the MTC and it was absolutely hysterical. It is funny to look back and see how far we have come. Reading statements like "The gift of tongues is real" from day 5 and "The days are flying by already" on day 8 were some of my favorites. Coming on the mission was the best choice that I have ever made for several reasons. One of which being the personal growth that I have made, but more importantly for the relationships that I have made and the joy of sharing the gospel with other people. It fills me with incredible joy to here about mission calls that are being received by those who will leave this summer. It is really humbling to know that missionaries are working hard all over the globe the bring this glorious message to all who are wanting to learn more about Jesus Christ. Im am sincerely grateful to be a part of this work.

Anziano Smith

Caserta | week 5 {Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, tremors in Napoli}

Our Christmas week was absolutely amazing! It was obviously a new experience for me being away from home and everything, but it was definitely a special one that I will never forget. First off, I hurt my foot about 10 days ago (not sure how) and I have been limping on my foot. Last Monday night we had a dinner appointment with Joe and Vincenza that was probably the most memorable night of my mission thus far because of that familys love and awesomeness. Vincenza noticed I was limping pretty bad and immediately pulled out a bucket of hot water with some salts that she told me to soak my foot in. I thought that was the most considerate thing ever, and then after about 10 minutes she came over with a towel and gloves and started rubbing my foot. I know it may sound a little wierd, but it was the nicest thing any one has done on my mission so far. I always care the picture of the Savior washing is disciples feet that Joe sent me a couple months ago and that is exactly what it reminded me of. More on them to come later in the email.

Christmas Eve was at the Salvitis (an American family who lives on the base) which rocked. We made 4 types of cookies with ham, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and some other stuff. All the other Napoli missionaries are super jealous of our American hookups They take care of us so well. Anways, after dinner we read some christmas story that made everyone cry. I zoned out a bit after so much food and had no idea what the story was about. Then we read Luke 2 together and called it a night. Fun stuff.

  Chirstmas day was way fun because we got to go with the Willies (senior American couple) to visit a family who lives about 45 minutes away in some super pretty mountains. The Willies dont speak any Italian and this family doesnt speak any English so I think there was some miscommunication on who was in charge of food. The Willies brought a feast that could have fed the branch. Laura also made a ton of Romanian food that was delicious. Anyways, there were 2 huge feasts prepared. Laura was over the top nice to us because she has a son serving a mission in Romania right now and she definitely wanted to spoil the missionaries. We had a really good meal and it was awesome to visit with her. Highlight of the day/week/month/ever was talking to the family. Best thing ever! Nuff said. 

The next day was some sort of saint holiday here in Italy so everything was closed and no one left their house all day, so we watched our two xmas movies then. We watched Brave and Toy Story 3. Classics. 

We went to Joe and Vincenzas house again Friday and then they did the new nicest thing anyone has done for me on my mission. I walked in limping again and they had a box to give to me. I opened it and it was super durable black walking shoes. He said he spent 2 hours to find shoes with this much support in my size. They have helped my foot out so much. I have no idea what I can do to repay that family. After they gave me the new shoes, we shared a spiritual thought about eternal families and about the temple coming to Rome. I love that family with everything I have. Afterwards they gave us an awesome dinner and invited us again for New Years Eve. We cant wait for tomorrow night! We still have to be home super early though. 

Salvatore and Alina came to church this Sunday and it was really cool. All of the members were so nice to them and they instantly felt like family. Everyone was so busy talking to them Anziano Heder and I barely got a chance to. They can definitely feel the goodness of the people here and I am really happy and excited for them. Sunday night there were little tremors all over Napoli and it was kind of scary. Everyone was out of there house just standing on the street. I was laughing cause it made me think of my Mount Vesuvius project I did in Latin in 8th grade. I was literally looking right at it and the ground was shaking. Definitely made me laugh. Anyways, I couldnt be happier right now. The members here treat us great, there are amazing people here who need the gospel, and nopton pizza is exceptional to say the least. So long and have a good week! 

Anziano Smith

Caserta | week 2 {district meeting, exchanges, all is well in Caserta!}

A beautiful Christmas tree in Caserta

Anziano Smith, Matteo, and Anziano Prieto 

Lunch with the Giuseppes family

Anziano Prieto with Joe and Vincenzas family

 Anziano Bryant (assistant) and Anziano Smith

Anziano Prieto (assistant) and Anziano Smith

Napoli 

More shots of Napoli! Sure looks like a beautiful place 

Streets in Napoli

 The district waiting for a table at Sorbillos, a pizza place in Napoli!

That's a lot of pizza! 

I have absolutely loved working with Anziano Heder here for the past 2 weeks! I think I said this before but Caserta used to be a 4 man house, but now it is just Anziano Heder and I. Therefore, we have double the work to do. It has been really nice to have a full schedule and always be busy with appointments. First of all, I want to say that our district here in Napoli is really amazing. Anziano Heder and I go to Napoli ever Tuesday for district meeting at the church there. There are 12 missionaries that all meet there (2 districts of 6). We talk about missionary work together and then Anziano Bennett who is our district leader always gives us a short lesson. His lesson last week and yesterday were two of the best I have ever heard. He talked about change and growth which really helped me out a lot. It is kind of easy to fall into a routine doing the same thing day after day, but he talked about the need for constant growth or the gifts that we do have will be taken away. Yesterday our lesson helped me even more. Just like falling into routines with habits that are not good, it is also easy to fall into a routine with teaching the same thing or approaching everyone person the same. He talked about how we need to focus on what people need and what they are capable of accepting (aka not feeding people meat when they need milk). He also taught the coolest way to teach the gospel. He told us that as missionaries, we cant just tell people the truth and expect them to accept it. We have to help them discover it for themselves. We have to ask good questions and open the scriptures and guide people to discovering the truth. Instead of a lecture, our lessons should be a conversation. This is much easier said than done. 

 Anyways, I had the opportunity to go on an exchange on Monday with Anziano Prieto who is one of the assistants. He is from Brazil and has been on his mission about 22 months now. He was the absolute perfect example of teaching a family according to the principles that Anziano Bennet talked about at District Meeting. We went over to the home of a couple named Joe and Vincenza. They are from italy, but he lived in the states for 23 years and she did for 6 so they both spoke fluent english. They have two daughters though who only speak Italian and a friend named Matteo came over so we did it all in Italian. Anyways, they fed us a really good dinner and then Anziano Prieto led a lesson on how this gospel is a protection for our families in a spiritually dangerous world. It was absolutely perfect. After that lesson I just wanted to talk to Anziano Prieto for days about how he developed such amazing teaching skills, but more importantly the power he has behind is words. That night it was like 10 and we were all getting ready for bed, and we were all exhausted. Anziano Prieto was in our bathroom trying to fix a leak in our shower even though he was leaving back to Rome first thing in the morning. He also wrote thank you notes for Anziano Heder and I before he left and hid them in our stuff. I found mine this morning. It is amazing to me how that is just who he is. No one in the world knew or ever would have known (unless I put it on the internet) that he fixed our shower. He just wanted to do it because that is who he is. 

So we also taught a lady named Adele twice this week who knew the missionaries from a long time ago. She has been way over the top nice to us, and it has been awesome to get to know her. On Monday morning, she gave us this cake that she told us was unique to Napoli that we had to try. I ate it, and it was soooo good. Then I found out it was soaked in rum. oooops. Other than that, everything has gone super smoothly. 

We also met this guy named Salvatore on the street last week, and he blew my mind with how open he is and willing to listen to our message. He is an active Evangelist, but he was intrigued by the fact that we were young kids from America sharing a message about Jesus Christ. He said he would meet us the next day at church to talk and he actually showed up!! We just talked to him for a while about his religious background and gave him a brief overview of the Book of Mormon and how it can strengthen our relationship with the Savior. He said he wants to hear more and is meeting us again tonight! 

We have met with about 5 other potential investigators this week i wish I had time to write about. However, I do want to talk about the members here for a minute. There are a bunch of way cool American families here who treat us so well. For example, the Salviti family has been so awesome for us. We have an investigator named Giuseppe who we know through english course, and his family invited the Salvitis over to learn how to make lasagna from scratch and they invited us over as well to translate. It was really cool to get to know the Salvitis and Giuseppes familiy better. Brother Salviti has been in the Navy for almost 18 years and has a way cool story. They invited us to come over for dinner next monday night and share a message to their teenage son and daughter about preparing to serve missions. They also invited us over for xmas eve. Definitely looking forward to it. 

Overall, I have enjoyed my first 2 weeks in Caserta immensely. The branch rocks and we have a really big teaching pool right now which is new for me. Im definitely learning on the fly, but Anziano Heder is a super experienced and awesome missionary who always knows exactly what to say and do. District Meeting and pizza at Sorbillos in Napoli is way fun and a highlight every week. Our district is full of super cool guys as well. Side note, Anziano Graham ran a 4:07 mile in high school and is training for the 2016 olympics right now. Im definitely getting to know some really awesome guys and growing spiritually more than I could in any other place. All is well in Caserta!

Anziano Smith