Caserta | week 11 {cake bake, sorgy, kebaberia}

Gelato of the week! 

Group "scambio" (exchanges) picture  

Cake Bake 

2.10.2014

I have a lot to report on this week and not very much time. This week started off by walking past a "Mexcian Grill" that caught my eye. Anziano Hatch and I looked at each other and then walked in without saying anything to each other. I have not seen Mexican food once in Italy. We walked in and instantly made friends with the 3 workers who apparently knew the missionaries from the past. We talked about the church for a while then Mexican food. The Burritos we got were actually pretty close to what I had at home. They opened up last week and havent had any customers so we told our whole English Course on Tuesday to go and told them the Anziani told them it was delicious. We gave them all the address and everything. They also told us we could come by any afternoon during pronzo to talk about our church when it wasnt busy. We  are planning to go tomorrow afternoon after DDM in Napoli to see how many EC students went and get burritos. Hopefully it goes well.

On Friday I went to Napoli and did an exchange with Anziano Sogriacamo. Exchanges are usually a little awkward cause you dont want to eat the other anzianis food, so I ate a big lunch at 2. I showed up to Napoli at 4 and Sorgy told me they had dinner appointments/lessons at 5 and 730. My stomach was destroyed, but it was amazing. The families we visited were really awesome and Napoli itself blew my mind. I have been each week for DDM at the church, but this time I got to see a lot more since the two appointments we had were on opposite sides of the city. Its absolutely unreal. Anyways, I learned a ton from Anziano Sorigiacamo. He is from Milan, speaks fluent English, 25, and already has a degree. He is an amazing guy who is an amazing teacher. Saturday morning on the train back from Napoli we stopped in a city called Madaloni to see Sorella Bove and her family from our Branch here in Caserta. I am really glad Sorgy got to meet them because they connected really well since he was Italian. We taught an awesome lesson about how the Book of Mormon can help us come to know Jesus Christ and the character of God better. This week in Language Study I read from Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and he said if we dont understand the character of God we dont understand much more than the beasts of the earth who only know how to eat, drink, and sleep. That hit me really hard and made me want to search the Book of Mormon with that question in mind. The lesson went really well and I felt cool going around for 2 days with Sorgy with my bookbag with my toothbrush and towel teaching lessons for 2 days. This is why the mission rocks.

Saturday night we had a cake bake here at the church which was the bomb! We had about 25 members, investigators, and english course students bring cakes and we had 12 meter long pizzas as well. Over 100 people came and it was so much fun. I was exhausted by the end of it, but it was so good for everyone. This week we are hoping to show the Restoration video after English Course and invite everyone to come to church this coming Sunday. Should be great.

This Sunday morning was epic. So there is a kebaberia (sandwich they make in Italy that is delicious) right by the church. We go there all the time and are good friends with the lady who works there. Anyways, we invited her to church, but she said Sunday Morning is her deep cleaning morning and it takes her like 6 hours. Anziano Heder and TIngey suggested we go help her clean it so she could come to church, but I thought it was all a joke. Sunday morning our alarm went off at 5 and everyone was getting up. I couldnt believe they were serious. I got up because I had do and we left the house at 620. It was cold and raining the whole walk over and I was so mad inside. Suffice it to say, we cleaned with her for 2 hours and it was one of the coolest things I have done my whole mission. She was so happy when we showed up and we were talking and laughing the whole time. We seriously saved her like 5 hours, and we are thinking of making it a Sunday morning tradition. Only problem was 5 members told me I smelled like a kebab at church. Whatevs.

Sunday we had a linger longer (pronzo) after church and it was great. I talked with Sister Salviti and we had a really funny/spiritual conversation I want to briefly recount. She was telling me of a story when she was driving her kids back from the airport in Rome to go to EFY up in Germany and how they ran out of gas half way back from Rome. They prayed with faith to be able to make it back and somehow they made it on fumes and it was a total miracle. She said how it was awesome to see how if the Lord wants us to be somewhere and we have faith, things will always work out. She brought this up because I told her of a story of some sister missionaries who ran out of gas and desperately needed to make it to an appointment. They decided to put some water into the gas tank and pray that it would be changed into gas. Instead it destroyed the engine. Sorella Salviti told me, The Lord can turn fumes into gas, but not water. I almost died laughing. But seriously, there is a true principle from the statement. I have seen how when we have faith and do the best with what we have, the Lord makes a whole lot more out of it than we we ever could. We actually have to give him something to work with though first. Nothing against the sorelle though. We live and we learn.

Enjoy the snow in Atlanta! Love you all.

Anziano Smith

Brindisi | week 10 {Circus, Stake Conference, Zone Conference, Bari}

Train ride to Bari, Italy for Stake Conference 

Pictures from last Pday when they went to a circus that came to Brindisi! 

Freaky! Tigers! 

Haha looks like a good missionary opportunity going on! 

Such a pretty horse! I'll bet it reminded Regan of America, specifically Utah :) 

More tigers at the circus 

This is my (McKenzie, Regan's sister) husband Rhett's friend Ettore Pappagallo that lives in Bari where Stake Conference was! He served with Rhett on his mission in Manchester, England. Small world! 

Ettore and his wife with Regan. He is SO nice and took these pictures on Sunday at Stake Conference and emailed to us :) He said Regan's Italian was really good too!

This week started off with an eventful pday. We went to the circus! Yeah you read that right. I had to call President to get permission. Kind of an awkward conversation, but it was worth it. A lot happened this week so I wont waste my time talking about it. I was pretty fun, nothing spectacular though.

The next day was Thursday and we had a bit of a rough morning. I was a bit discouraged and Anziano Pizza gave me the talk "The Divine Gift of Gratitude." I totally changed my perspective and decided I would say one prayer of only gratitude every day the rest of my mission. I did right after I read that talk and it immediately changed my day and whole week in fact. That night we talked to about 8 or 9 kids who were 14 to 16 years old. It was my first time talking to a group of kids. They were all smoking so I thought at first they would just make fun of us or something, but they ended up being super nice and asking some really intelligent/deep questions. We gave them english course bigliettini and hopefully they will come. We talked to another group of kids later this week and I have found that it takes a certain level of humility to talk with/teach kids because of the culture that surrounds them and the temptations which are in the world, most dont have a basis for moral standards. We have to be 100% real with them and let them know from our hearts that this is the way to true happiness. It took a lot of guts. I need to get a lot better at it though. That night something hilarious happened at English course. We were teaching a lesson on how to order at a restaurant and we made a menu which included the word "cheeseburger." Hearing Italians attempt to say the word cheeseburger about killed me. I felt bad because Anziano Alvey and I were both laughing uncontrollably to the point where it got a little awkward.

Friday we contacted that American family we met about 5 or 6 weeks ago. They live far away and are only free on weekends at night. It was amazing. The dad was home with his kids and we got to talk to him for about 45 minutes. We found out he served a mission in Argentina. We talked to him for a bit about his mission and it was way cool. He is just found out last week he is getting transferred back to Charleston to work but will still come back to Brindisi every couple of weeks. There was a poem Anziano Alvey gave me earlier that day that we read and discussed with him for the lesson. I sent it home to my family earlier today and they will put it up on my blog when they get it. It was an amazing experience. He said when he comes back to Brindisi he will bring back stuff to make tacos and he will bring us some nutter butters. I cannot wait for that phone call!! That night I thought about how God leads us to those children who he needs us to bless. My Italian still isnt very great at all, and I thought about the people I have taught. Verah, Victor, Blessing, and this man all speak English. Like .0001% of the people in Brindisi speak any English. Maybe that is an exaggeration, but you get point. He truly does place people in our path who he needs us the reach out and help. We are only on his errand.

On Saturday we taught Gery and Dedy and Gery said something that blew my mind. We asked him how he could know for sure that our message was true. He said that he has been meeting with missionaries for over 20 years and he knows how the moral standard in the world is decaying so fast and it shows in peoples eyes. He said that he can see light and purity in the eyes of every missionary who has been in his home the past 20 years and it is not a coincidence. I thought that was so powerful. It is amazing to be part of the this army of missionaries throughout the world! It was sad though; we had to end the lesson early to catch our train to Bari for Stake Conference.

Sunday was Stake Conference! It was bomb! There were so many children, youth, and young adults I was inspired. The church has a real solid future here in Italy and I saw it with my own eyes. I will talk more about the meeting at the end of this letter. Anyways, that day I met one of the coolest missionaries I have known yet on the mission. His name is Anziano Esparza. He is from Equador, but he has lived in Germany the past 10 years. He speaks fluent Portuguese, Italian, German, and English. I asked him how long he had been on his mission and he said, "I have no idea, I just enjoy every day out here." I asked again, and he literally didnt know. He is hilarious too.

Monday night was the highlight of the week. Anziano Kasper who is an AP came down to Brindisi and went on a scambio with me. I literally felt like I was walking around with the apostle Paul all night long. We left the apartment at 4:35 to go to an appointment at 5. On the walk there he got 3 peoples phone numbers. That is how many numbers I get on a good day. During the lesson we taught to two Romanian girls we truly helped them feel the love that the Savior had for them. I cant describe it in words. They asked us why we left home and paid to come here and walk around all day to try to talk to people. He then bore an incredible testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the truths that have been restored to the earth about the nature of God and how we are his children. They were both moved to tears as we prayed at the end of the lesson. We then did an hour and a half of street contacting. Once again, unreal. We talked to so many people and he applied to so well to each person according to their needs/interests. Then we had another lesson around 7:30 in which we taught of family of 8. There is mother of 102 and she has 6 kids who are around their 70s. They are amazing. We also taught them the full Restoration lesson and read some of 3 Nephi 19 about the Holy Ghost and Baptism. Once again, I learned an incredible amount from Anziano Kasper.

Tuesday was Zone Conference in Bari and I received a lot of amazing training. The assistants gave a really inspiring lesson on obedience. They taught with such power and authority that I really desire to develop on my mission. I was talking to Anziano Bird who is the other assistant after the conference, and he told me that he and Anziano Kasper have not had a pday in 8 weeks. That is consecration to the max. I have truly been inspired.

Ok, spritual thought for the week goes back to what our Stake President said at Stake Conference on Sunday. He said I have 2 questions which may seem contradictory, but they are not. First, Do you have the faith to be healed? Second, do you have the faith not to be healed? At first I thought I misunderstood his Italian, but then I asked Anziano Pizza and I understood him correctly. That second question is very deep. Sometimes, we will do our best to show God our love for him and do what he asks, and his answer may be no because he knows another way that is better. Maybe he needs us to have a little patience. In the end, we will all have times when there is situation or circumstance that is not right. In those times, we need to trust God when it is not fixed immediately. Even if it may not be fixed in this life. We need to press forward with steadfastness in Christ with a perfect brightness of hope as it says in 2 Nephi 31. We need be strong enough to keep our faith even if God doesnt heal us immediately. He will heal us and that is the faith we can never lose. 

Sincerely,

Anziano Smith