Rome 5 | week 9

6.2.2014

This past week was full of interesting experiences. That is partly because the week started of with a 3 day exchange in Terni because the Zone Leaders needed to borrow our car. For the first night of the exchange I wanted to stay here in Passo to work with Anziano Morgan. However, he convinced me to go to Terni in the evening to spend the night. It ended up being one of the best decisions anyone has ever made. We show up to the end of their english course and one of their students invited the 4 of us out to dinner with her at her friends restraunt. At first we thought it was just going to be like a random pizzeria or something. It ended up being the nicest place I have ever eaten in my entire life and easily one of the most memorable nights of my mission. No joke, the dinner was 10 courses. We were a little late getting home, but it was totally a one time thing that will never happen again. It was Anziano Blairs first time eating out at an Italian Restaraunt, and this place set the bar pretty high. I dont think either of us will eat better than that the rest of our missions...maybe lives. 

2 days later I had a cool experience with Anziano Morgan again. His grandmas cousin lives in a city really close to Terni, and we went over to her house to have lunch and just talk about the family. She told us straight up when we got there that she wasnt interested in our church, and on the way out she made sure none of her neighbors were out cause she didnt want them to know the Mormon missionaries were at her house, haha. President has been emphasized that we use family history to find people to teach and that lunch appointment really helped me understand why. This lady and her husband were great and they loved their family a lot, but they didnt want anything to do with our message. 

Given that, we decided to shake things up a little bit this weekend. We met a lady on the street last week from Ethiopia, and she invited us to some sort of intergation festival where they would celebrate all the different nationalities of Passo and Sunday at the Catholic Church in the middle of town. We showed up right before it was about to start and some people were looking at us really wierd. Anziano Blair and I were kind of hesitating on the choice to go, and then I was just like Why not? It ended up being so awesome. There were kids from about 8 countries who dances and sang songs that represented their country. It was kind of cool just being with the community in a normal atmosphere. We saw quite few people there who we have talked to on the street. Anyways, we met up with this woman from Ethiopia right afterwards and she said we had to come to the Mass and afterwards we would all eat dinner with food from every country. It was really awesome to have someone of another faith be so welcoming to us and invite us to their stuff. At the same time it was a bit awkward standing in the back of Mass with our white shirts, ties, and missionary tags, and everyone in there knew who we were. It was a really neat experience nonetheless. Afterwards, the priest came up and talked to us for a minute thanking us for coming, and then on our way out we got to talk to two more guys who were studying to become priests. We told them about the church we would get in Passo in about 5 months, and they told us they would come visit when it opened. Cool stuff. I wish our church was tighter with the community here like it is an America. We are totally trying to make that happen from now on.

So Anziano Blair and I have been talking the past 2 weeks about how we want to go on a hike one pday, but we knew nothing about trails nearby. We were about to take a bus and tell it to stop and a random mountain and just hike it. On Friday we ran into a nature reserve park out of nowhere with like 7 different hiking trails. We went today and it was the sweetest hike of my life. We decided we will do that for pday at least every other week for the rest of our time together cause we saw some sweet stuff. This country is seriously beautiful and the people rock if I can just show them that they are important to me and I compliment their food. The trick is just figuring out how to do these two things.

I cant believe it is already summer again. Watermelon and cherry season just started, and I am going hard because this is officially my last season of everything. Im doing my best to make the most of everyday cause I know that the mission is short and this time is really special. I decided that everytime a door opens, Im just going to take it and hope things work out, just like yesterday with that festival thing. It helped me realize that the Lord opens doors, I just have to realize it and have courage to walk into them. 

Anziano Smith 

Rome 5 | week 8

5.26.2014

This week has been full of awesome miracles. It totally all because of Anziano Blairs incredible faith too. He is so incredible and has taught me so much this last week. Even though doesnt speak very well yet (as no greenies do) he has touched the hearts of so many people doing the best he can with what he has got. Example number one: we were walking to the ATM to get some money, and we saw these two African guys selling some drums. I noticed Anziano Blair wasnt next to me anymore, and I looked back and saw him on the ground jamming out with these two African guys. It was so cool. We ended up talking to them for like 45 minutes and giving them a Book of Mormon in French (their native language). Unfortunately they live in Ladispoli so we referred them the next day. Then we went to get a sandwich and the guy had a ukulele. Anziano Blair asked for it and played it for like 10 minutes while the guy was making our sandwiches, now he wants to meet up with us next week. It has been so awesome to see how he has already been able to show his love for these people even if his language isnt great yet. That is seriously all God asks us to do-to do our best with what we have. Speaking of Anziano Blairs epic first full week in the mission, Jenny (the first girl he stopped who was Philipino), turns out to be a member of the church. She was baptized 19 years ago and then moved to Qatar and then Saudi Arabia where it was against the law to have a Book of Mormon and there was obviously no church. She just recently moved here to Italy, and unfortunately has a stomach ulcer which never allows her to leave the house. Last week she left her house to walk around for the first time in a couple months and we were the first people she saw. Last night the Sisters went over to visit her and it turns out that she and Sister Matthews are from the same place. They talked for like 2 hours and also started teaching her friends. Anziano Blair and I were in shock when we found out about all of this. It was incredible. 

On Wednesday we had to go to the post office to do some stuff for Anziano Blairs permesso in Rieti which is easily the prettiest city/drive to get their I have seen here in Rome 5. We were there all morning and no one in that city has ever seen missionaries. Everyone was really curious about who we are and stuff which was a first. When we were at the post, one of the manager ladies walked up to us and just asked if she could learn more about who we are. That has not happened my entire mission. On Saturday night we drove to her house which was like 15 minutes past Rieti. The city where she lives is stuff that you see paintings of. It was absolutely unreal. They lived on a mountain looking over a super green valley with a river running down the middle of it. Im so mad I did not have my camera. Anyways, we got to her house and she had a cake ready for us and her son and husband were all waiting for us when we got there. That never happens. Never. Being able to share the message of the Restoration with them gave me a lot of joy. I honestly felt true joy and happiness being able to teach a family who was so kind to us and respectful of who we are. We invited them to come to church with us one week and found out they live 30 minutes closer to the Terni church. It broke my heart, but in the end it is all the same because I know the church up in Terni is just as amazing as Rome 5. Unfortunately we might have to give them to the Terni Anziani to teach from now on. This week we worked really hard and found a lot of awesome people. Everyone we found was referred to Terni, Ladispoli, the Sisters, and Rome 2. It made me think of Alma who had more joy in the success of his brothers. I still havent gotten to that point, but I have another year to do so. 

Saturday morning I fell into my old ways of forgetfulness. I left the keys in Fratello Arenas office (keys to the car and house) which was closed for the day and Anziano Blair left his keys at the house. I also left the phone in the car which was locked at the time. Since we couldnt call anyone or get anywhere, we had to take the train to Rome to the office to get the spare keys. That was totally inspired because we met Gaisa who was on the train going to Rome as well. She is a woman we met from Nigeria last week but didnt give us a number or address to reach her again. She is honestly just as humble and curious as Calra (post lady) and we cant wait to meet with her and her husband sometime soon. It was funny because I make a lot of mistakes (like locking up our phone and losing all the keys) but Anziano Blair always says, "Dont worry, its all in the journey." Its so true. That is like my new life motto. Seriously though, talking to Gaisa for 45 minutes was so humbling. She was telling me about how she has been searching for work here for 2 years and cannot find anything. She said, "America is my dream. I hear that people there can get 2 jobs if they want." Every time I have heard of someone working two jobs it has been with a complaining attitude. I have never heard anyone say it is their dream. Im learning so many lessons from everyone I meet. It is incredible. Gaisa made me want to be more grateful, Carla made me want to be more respectful and loving towards other people, and the guys from Senegal just made me want to make everyone have a good time. So awesome. Have a good week!

Anziano Smith

Rome 5 | week 7 {new companion, Ostia, training}

Queresima and Sorgiacamo

The missionaries in their district! 

Their super fly car! 

Driving by the Coliseum

Regan's new companion Anziano Blair! Regan already loves him 

5.19.2014

This past week has been incredible and a bit crazy at the same time. It started off by seeing a lot of people who Anziano Gemmell wanted to say bye too. We got to eat dinner with the Criscone family and also Flavio and Francesca. Both dinners were delicious and a lot of fun. We all miss Anziano Gemmell. He really is a great missionary, and Im sure he is doing great work in the Sard land. His travel plans to get there made me laugh really hard. He had to take two trains to get to the coast, a 20 hour boat ride, and then another train and lastly a bus. Haha, I hope he made it alright. I had no idea Sardania was so far away.

I had two days from when he left to when my new companion got here, so I got to choose any companionship in the Rome Zone to work with for two days. It was a no brainer. I went to stay in Ostia with Anziano Baggaley and Anziano Zemp. It was in awesome two days. I have to tell one funny story from my time in Ostia. There is a family there who has an 8 year old son who was a little scared to get baptized for some reason. His mom asked the elders to come over and teach him the lessons to help him get ready for his baptism. Anyways, they have been trying to set a date with him withing the next month or so. He turns 9 in July, but he keeps saying that he wants to get baptized in August. If he gets baptized in August, it is a convert baptism on the records of the church. Anziano Baggaley was like, "Come on man, you do really want to be a convert do you?" It was hysterical. I will never forget it. On a more serious note, I learned so much from that lesson. Anziano Baggaley taught so simply and so clearly, and it was one of the most spiritual lessons I have witnessed on my mission. It made me want to teach everyone like I was teaching a child. Another cool part of going to Ostia was going to their correlation meeting. They had an awesome ward missionary and 5 ward missionaries who all came. They were so awesome and really inspired me. It was funny because their ward mission leader works in tourism and hasnt been able to come to church the past 5 weeks or so, so they wrote his name on the progress record, hahaha. Anyways, they are doing awesome missionary work in Ostia and their members are incredible. After correlation we all went out and got gelato together by the beach which was fun. 

Friday morning at 7 I went to pick up my greenie from Roma Termini. His name is Anziano Blair, and he is the coolest kid ever! He has taught me so much. In the MTC he  got to hear from 5 apostles! He is so ready and excited to do missionary work that is has increased my faith a lot. Our first night together, we got to teach Lorenzo a lesson with Fratello Calabrese on the plan of salvation and then Lorenzo made us dinner. It was a really good first lesson for Anziano Blair. He is definitely better at the language than I was as a greenie, so I was really impressed. He also did an awesome job introducing himself and sharing his testimony in church for his first Sunday. Also, the first lady he stopped on the street was Philippino. She spoke English and he got her number, no big deal. We are really excited to work together for at least the next 6 weeks and hopefully more. I am also excited because for the first 12 weeks of the mission their is in extra hour of comp study where we do this program to go over the basics of missionary work. I feel like I need it for myself just as much as Anziano Blair does. It will be really nice for me to be able to review and improve a lot of things. Other than that, we didnt have a lot of time to see people this week cause we were all over the place/getting adjusted. However, we are good to go now, and it should be an awesome summer!

Anziano Smith

Rome 5 | week 6 {Gemmell transferred, Regan training new companion, more miracles}

 Anziano Gemmell

5.12.2014

This week started with some awesome scambi magic in Terni. We go there for an exchange once a transfer to work with the other elders. We helped them a lot and learned a lot from them as well. I got to go out and work with Anziano McClellan (aka McCmillionare) in the morning and Anziano Stephens at night. It was incredible. Right after language study, Anziano Stephens and I went to a park and the first lady we talked to was a lady from the Dominican Republic who moved here with her daughter a few years ago. She was really funny and extremely nice to us. We talked about the church for about 25 minutes and then at the very end we left her a pass along card for English Course, but we didnt say much about it at all. That night at 7 she showed up to corso with her daughter and friend! It was the coolest thing ever. The English Course at Terni rocks too. They have a member who is the coolest guy ever. Hes ripped and has long hair and speaks perfect English. At the end of English course every Tuesday he brings his laptop and speakers and teaches everyone an American song and then everyone karaoke's together. It is so cool. I havent seen anything like it my whole mission. Im kind of jealous.  

This week we saw some serious miracles when we were finding. It was really humbling and taught me that I always have pray for inspiration to be guided by the Holy Ghost or I will never find those who are wanting to learn more about the gospel. Friday we went to Monterotondo to their downtown area and the entire city was just chilling there. There were food stand, preparing for a concert, people were shopping, ect. It wasnt a great atmosphere to stop and talk to people and a lot of ragazzi were making fun of us. It was kind of awkward, but I had a feeling that we had to be there. I literally had no idea why. I saw this lady walking towards us in sunglasses, heels, and a shopping bag (not usually the type who gives us the time of day), and I randomly decided to stop her. We talked for 30 minutes and she is totally searching for the gospel in her life. Anziano Gemmell and I were speechless as we were walking away, because neither of us would have ever wanted to do finding in that atmosphere but we were totally guided. The same thing happened on Saturday. We planned to take the train to Monterotondo for the morning, and we waited at the station for an hour and a half. 4 trains were suppose to come and everyone waiting was mad cause it was hot outside and the trains were messed up. We decided to stay in Passo Corese for the morning, but it was so hot and there was no one on the streets. We were just walking around aimlessly looking for anyone, but it was close to lunch and everyone was just inside cooking. We said a prayer that we could find someone before lunch, and then we totally did. We went to a park and there was a lady from Moldova who was a about 25 with her 2 year old son. She has struggled with her faith in God, but was really willing to listen to us. We didnt talk about anything other than the love of God and how is just waiting for us to come unto Him so he can bless us. She felt the Spirit for sure and promised to come to church the next day, but she wouldnt give us her number. Yesterday she didnt come to church and we were super bummed. Last night at 10:45 I was like 2 seconds away from falling asleep and the phone rang. It was her (Tamara) and she said she wanted to come but something with her son came up and she couldnt but promised to come next week. Anziano Gemmell and I were so psyched we talked until like 2 in the morning last night. Neither of us could sleep worth our lives. Biggest miracle ever. 

Other awesome news. There was a Young Single Adult activity at Rome 1 last week for all the YSA in Napoli and Rome. Daniel and Antonio went and called me on President Crisciones phone! It was so good to here from them and they were really happy. I am so glad they have made some other friends in the gospel cause I know it can be tough to live the gospel without friends who support you. There faith to live the gospel in a city where the church is small is so inspiring. They are true pioneers.  

Also, Saturday night we had Stake Priesthood meeting which was great. I leaned over to Gemmell and said, "If our members were true ballers, they would take us out to pizza or gelato after." There is no way Canzachi or Criscione heard me cause they were sitting on the other side. When the meeting finished, he looked at us and immediately asked if we wanted pizza or something. Our members are true ballers. President Criscione and Fratello Canzachi are incredibly funny, magnify there callings in the priesthood, have amazing families, and are always happy. They really are the best guys in the world. It is incredible to think missionaries have only been here in Italy since 1965, and all these amazing people have already been found, taught, and baptized by the missionaries. Thinking of that gives me the strength to keep going no matter how hard it is sometimes. President Kearon told us a couple weeks ago, "There are so many cultural, religious barriers between you guys and Italians that your only shot is the  feelings they have when you testify." It is true. It is incredible to see the people living in a society such as this who are so converted to the gospel. And now they are getting a temple!!! Serving here in Italy has opened my eyes to so many things that is one of them.  

I have one more piece of big news. Anziano Gemmell is getting transferred to Sassari in Sardegna Thursday afternoon and I am getting a greenie straight from the MTC! There are two greenies coming in. One is from Texas and one is from Maryland, and both of them look sweet. I cant wait to pick him up Thursday morning. It will be a huge learning experience for me to train. Im really looking forward to it. I will miss Gemmell too cause we have become so tight. I have more inside jokes with him than anyone and we have worked so hard together. Im excited to go visit him at BYU-Hawaii after the mission! That is happening for sure. He finishes in December, then he will be going there. Hope everyone has a stellar week. Take care. 

Anziano Smith