Caserta | week 9 {Pozzuoli, zone conference, marco being a boss!}

Anziano Duffin and Anziano Smith 

Pozzuoli 

All 4 elders on the bus! 

English Gardens 

Regan with his friends Rafael and Caterina after church 

1.27.2014

This week was a lot of fun and full of memorable experiences. We had interviews with President Waddoups in Pozzuoli on Tuesday night before Zone Conference so we had to head down a day early. The good times started on the train ride down when we sat next to Malak, a Nigerian man moving down to Foggia for work. We talked to him for a while and soon found out that his biggest hobby is rapping. He knew 7 Nigerian languages, English, Italian, and Arabic. He sang this song for us in which he used all 10 languages. It was one of the coolest things I have witnessed on my mission. Anziano Hatch got the video, but unfortunately I did not have my camera. He was really smart and hilarious too. We got his number and referred him down to the Foggia Elders and I really hope they get to meet with him. After wandering around Pozzuoli for and hour and a half we managed to finally find the church just in time to help out with their English Course which was awesome. The first man I met was Pasquale who just so happened to be another rapper. It was unbelievable. We met two legit rappers back to back. It was really funny because President and Sister Waddoups were both at the Pozzuoli church that night to do some interviews and they were there to witness Pasquale put on a show after corso. It was quite the experience. That night we also had Anziano Duffin and Anziano Philips stay with us in the Pozzuoli house. They were also in the same MTC group and Anziano Hatch and it was great to see them. They are killing it in Battipaglia, and I am super happy for them. 

Wednesday was bomb. The only bad part was Anziano Hatch and I decided not to bring rain coats or umbrellas and it ended up pouring all day and the night before. I remember telling Anziano Hatch, "If we go down, we go down together." I felt so dumb the next day. We were drenched. It didnt even matter though, the Spirit was so strong at Zone Conference like always and we were truly motivated to be even better. This Zone Conference was a little special too cause President Waddoups said we can invite the bishop, ward mission leader, ward missionaries, etc. Marco came with us and it was so fun to have him there. It honestly feels like we have 5 missionaries in Caserta with him around. He is pretty much teaching with us every day. Wednesday night after ZC, he gave us a ride back and we stopped by a couple houses of people we needed to contact and we had one really neat experience. We were looking for a lady that hadnt been to church in a while and we went to the address, but apparently the woman had moved. We were leaving and Anziano Hatch had a feeling that we should go back and ask again. We knocked the door again and explained who we were and the lady talking to us (Loata) told us her friend had gone back to Fiji for 3 months. We ended up having an awesome conversation and she wants us to come back this week, so we are excited about that. 

Marco took us out again to contact a few people on Friday night and it was awesome. We have been trying to contact this man for a month or two now, but his family tells us that he is always at his work. He is a personal trainer at a gym right outside of Caserta and Marco found the address and he just went to his gym. It was unbelievably awkward as we walked into his gym with our suits and everything just to see how he was doing. Everyone was staring at us, and I couldnt help but think about our District Meeting last week and "becoming like a little child"-just always doing my thing no matter what. We stopped by his house after the gym and left a pass along card in his door saying we hope to see him in church some time soon. There is no way he will ever forget us. 

Saturday morning we had planned to go meet a couple people in Maddaloni which is a small down 10 minutes away from Caserta. We were talking to this man the whole train ride, and we were in the process of giving him a pamphlet/exchanging numbers as we arrived in Maddaloni. Right when we finished and were two steps from getting off the train the door shut in our faces. We got to the next city, Cancello, and found that there wasnt a train back to Maddaloni for over an hour and a half. At first I was mad, but then we went to a bread shop right by the station and met the coolest mom and son. They made us some unique Nopton sandwich and it was only a euro. It was unbelievable. More importantly, they were incredible people and we are planning on going back to see them again this Saturday morning if we are free. 

So this week we met with Marco and his cousin Rafael and his girlfriend Catarina a couple times and they are so cool! I will give one quick example. We were in Young Mens on Sunday and Brother Steele asked if any young man would be willing to teach the lesson next week. He hasnt been in church for a little while because his wife just had a  baby and he thought Rafael was a new member who had moved in because he was friends with everyone and really willing to talk in the lesson and stuff. Anyways, Brother Steele asked him to teach the lesson next Sunday and he accepted. He is such a boss. That was his second Sunday in church ever and he is teaching next week. I am pumped. Anziano Hatch and I are going to help him prepare a lesson on the plan of Salvation. 

Im about out of time, but I must say, this work is full of miracles. I know the Lord is watching over all of us and very interested in our small daily choices. I feel so lucky to have this time here with these people. Anziano Hatch is helping me learn and grow so much and the people we are teaching are unbelievable. Marco is making me want to be a boss member missionary my whole life. He seriously wants to help us teach every night. Hes way too cool. Ciao!

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

Caserta | week 7 {new companion, miracles, happy in Caserta}

Regan's companion sent us this picture labeled "Anziano Smith preaching the good word!" 

Regan's new companion Anziano Hatch! 

Regan: "We met these two ladies at the entrance of the Reggia Gardens and the Lord truly just placed them right in our hands. They began asking questions and we ended up becoming great friends, taught them almost the entire restoration, and then left with an invite to read and pray! Awesome! And they gave us Nutella sandwich's in return. Preachin the good word on P-Day!"  

Anziano Smith and Hatch at Reggia Gardens 

 Beautiful waterfalls at Reggia Gardens

 More waterfalls!

Regan's previous companion Anziano Heder making pretzels! (even though they aren't companions anymore, they still live in the same apartment)

A new haircut! He kinda looks Italian to me! 

Pizza man!

 Kebabs

Regan's first Napolitano pizza that he said was amazing!

I do not know where to begin for my email this week. This week has been absolutely amazing. In the mission call letter it says that more happiness and joy than you have yet experienced awaits you as you serve the Lord with all of your heart leaving behind all other personal affairs. I can honestly say that the past 4 or 5 days working with Anziano Hatch have been the best days of my whole life. Anziano Heder and I went to pick up Anziano Hatch and Tingey from Napoli Centrale on Thursday night and it was so good to see them. I got to know both of them fairly well in the MTC and it is incredible to see how different they are after 6 months. Seriously, they are both men. They are both extremely humble kids who work really hard. They also both have an incredible sense of humor which makes are house super fun. Anyways, Anziano Hatch came to Caserta really optimistic that we were going to do amazing work and see a lot of miracles here. The last 4 days we have not seen anything but miracles. It has been amazing and over all it has strengthened my faith and trust in the Lord. I seriously cant write the least part of which I feel about the work we have been doing the past few days. All I can say is that I know that this church is true and Heavenly Father wants all of His children to feel the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. This knowledge has changed my attitude that this service is a privilege rather than just a responsibility or a duty.

So this week has been a new experience for me as well because this is the first time I have been the missionary who has been in the city longer. For the first time I kind of had to lead the way around the city and lead lessons. However, it is kind of ironic because Anziano Hatch has taught me more in the last 4 days about missionary work than I have like ever known. It is such a blessing to be able to work with him in this city. It was really neat because we have not done any English Course publicity since I have been here and on Thursday night we had about 7 new students. I dont know how that happened, but it did. We split the course into two groups and Anziano Hatch and I took the new students. We had a really fun lesson and for the spiritual thought we decided to leave it open to questions which I have never done before. That was the best idea ever. Instead of guessing what people need to hear, just ask them. It was great and hopefully we will be able to have success from English Course going forward.

We had a linger longer (lunch) after church on Sunday and we dont even really have to introduce Salvatore and Alina to the ward anymore. They are tight with everyone. It is so cool. We also had a couple other investigators in church who we found Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and we have really high hopes for them.

Aside from all the awesome work, we have also had a lot of fun this week. I got a haircut and just told the guy to make me look good. I didnt think he would give me a fro, but he did. I rocked it for one night then when back to the normal. The people of Caserta are awesome. They make me laugh and smile every day, like when old women ask me to escort them past a park with scary dogs, haha. Anyways, I am excited beyond belief for this transfer and hopefully a few more here in Caserta with Anziano Hatch. Sorry for the short letter. There will be more next week for sure.

Love,

Anziano Smith

Caserta | week 6 {Transfer calls, New Years Eve, invitation for baptism!}

Anziano Heder and Anziano Smith 

Anziano Heder and Smith at New Years Eve dinner 

Grilling eel! 

Anziano Bird and Destiny 

With Anziano Graham and Cremonese

So, I have big news that I was not expecting. I thought I was going to be companions with Anziano Heder for the rest of his mission (two more transfers), but not so. We got transfer calls on Saturday afternoon and Caserta is going back up to a 4 man city! Anziano Hatch is going to be my new companion and Anziano Tingey is going to be Anziano Heders companion. I am so excited. Anziano Hatch and Tingey were both in my MTC group. They are both great missionaries and I cant wait to work with them. Anziano Tingey has been in Sciacca his first four transfers which is a tiny city in Sicily and Anziano Hatch has been in Catania. Im grateful he has been companions with an Italian for the last 2 transfers so Im sure he is a lot better than me at Italian. This is good news. Having a 4 man house will be fun as well. They come in Wednesday night. Looking forward to it. 

This past week I have gotten to know the missionaries from our district a lot better and really look up to them in many ways. So every Tuesday we have a district meeting in Napoli which consists of opening prayer/song, fun fact, italian tip, spiritual thought, 20 minute training, and then pizza at Sorbillos. Anziano Bennet is our district leader so he runs the show every week and blows my mind without fail with how amazing his lessons are. Anyways, he asked me to give the addestramento (lesson) last week. He is sure no easy act to follow, but he and the other Anziani made me feel good and seemed to appreciate it. I gave it on consecrating ourselves to the Lord based on a talk that Anziano Bednar gave at the MTC in 2011. That talk has really helped me understand how to fulfill my purpose as a missionary better and Im so grateful for living prophets and apostles who help us know how to be successful in happy as missionaries and throughout all of life. 

That same night was New Years Eve, and Joe and Vincenza invited us over. It was a lot fun. Vincenza went to college in the states back in the 90s and majored in art. She took us upstairs and showed us her portfolio which was super impressive. We then proceeded to eat the biggest meal of my life. We started of with some mozzarella di bufala with bread, ham, and salami, and olives, scones, green beans, and I ate a couple really good chocolate truffle things. Then we moved on to spaghetti which was followed by all of the sea food: clams, fried cod, fried squid, and fried/grilled eel. By that time we had to go, so it was probably a good thing I didnt get dessert. Joe is really nice and always drives us home even though they are only about a 20 minute walk away from our apartment. That was nice of him because it was a little dangerous here in Caserta on New Years Eve. Definitely the first time in my live I have heard legitimate bombs going off. 

So last week Anziano Birds companion had to get transferred early to fill another missionarys spot in Sardegna, so he was companionless. So...Anziano Heder and I went to stay with him all day on Saturday which just so happened to be the day that they had a baptism!  It was easily one of the best days of my mission. So we met Anziano Bird in Napoli that morning and then went to Pozzuoli and we were getting everything ready for the baptism all day. We cleaned to the church, made the program, got the clothes ready, and then filled up the font. It took 3 hours for the font to fill up and we couldnt leave it, so we just picked up some pizzas and ate while the font was filling up and talked about our missions for a couple hours. It was really cool, cause we never really have time to do anything like that ever. The Sister missionaries and Anziano Graham and Cremonese came down a little later as well. I feel so lucky to be able to serve with these missionaries here in the Napoli Zone. The longer I stay here, the more I realize that these kids are the most incredible people on earth. I love them all a ton. Anyways, the baptism was slated to start at 5 and Destiny showed up at 4 because he was so excited. He got all dressed and stuff and we just talked for a while and it was great to get to know him better. Everything went perfectly. A ton of members came and it was a really diverse crowd. The branch in Pozzuoli has a good amount of Nigerians, Ghanans, Americans (because of the military base), and obviously Noptons (not Italians-completely different thing). 

This week was also very exciting for us because we made a lot of progress with Salvatore and Alina. They accepted our invitation to be baptized at the end of this month on January 25th. We are going to have to push it back maybe a couple weeks because they have to attend at least 3 sacrament meetings first. Alina works Saturday night until 3:30am and has made it to church the past two Sundays at 10:30 which is right after sacrament meeting. She is so amazing for making that effort to come, however, we know they have to come to sacrament meeting as well. Overall, everything is growing great with them and the rest of Caserta. Definitley look forward to the new Anziani which should give the city a really big lift. Happy New Year everyone!

Anziano Smith