Malta | week 11

Azzures Window 

Boat ride to Gozo

Regan, Chati, Anziano Rivera, and Dayman

12.8.2014

This morning we took Anziano Rivera to the airport. He went up to Rome, and tomorrow he flies home. He finished really strong here in Malta, and he will definitely be missed. We will always think of him when we walk through the skatepark from now on as we look at his final mark he left on Malta. That would be a giant Book of Mormon graffiti. No worries, graffiti is allowed in skateparks here. We will see if any fruits come from this soon. 

Last Monday morning I had a really humbling experience. We went over  to Simons home and visited with him and his wife Elena. Elena was having bad back pains, and Simon suggested that she should recieve a priesthood blessing. She was reluctant at first, but then accepted the offer. Ok, this next part may sound gross, but it taught me an important lesson. Before I went into their home, I picked a scab on my finger and it started bleeding. I washed it off really good when I first got inside, but then I had to wash it again before I put my hands on her head to give her the blessing. It was a really spiritual experience, and she began to cry after the blessing because of the Spirit that came. It was a reminder to me that the only way we can ever invite the Spirit is if our hands and our hearts are completely clean. Just like I would have never layed a bloody finger on her head, I can never act in Christs name if Im not clean. It was a great motivation to me to always stay spiritually clean so I can serve in His name. 

The second really humbling event of the week was getting to hear the story of one of our Phillipino members this week. We cannot meet her at her house because she is a single lady, so we met her in the food court of a mall near her house. She ordered us food before we got there, because she knew we wouldnt let her buy anything for us. Then she told us she invited 2 of her friends to meet with us who would be there in 30 minutes. We asked her why she was so nice to us/engaged in missionary work even though she didnt even know us well at all. She told us that when she was a teenager, her 7 year old little brother had Lukemia, and her father used all of their savings to fly him to the best hospital in the Phillippines. He had prayed that if it was possible, God would take his life instead of his sons life. Long story short, 2 days after he flew his son up, he was murdered by some drunk men, and his son ended up being one of the only Lukemia survivors of the hospital. The next week she, her other brothers, and her mom flew up to see their brother, and visit and forgive the man in prison who killed their father. She told us that her family always taught her to share her blessings with everyone, especially the missionaries. It was one of the most tender moments of my mission by far. Then we taught her friends. Great day. 

So this week we were at Maltese course, and we were reviewing the progress we have made in our time here. As I compared my progress in Italian after 3 months to my progress in Maltese after 3 months I learned an interesting lesson. I remember learning Italian was one of the most stressful things I have ever done. I felt inadequate, not smart enough, and I messed up time and time again. Maltese on the otherhand has been different. We have been studying more the like the way we studied in high school. We have memorized words, studied grammar charts and so on. I have written it down and recited it back, but I havent been trying to use it other than in the class really. It hasnt pushed me out of my comfort zone, and because of that I have barely learned any Maltese at all. I realized that the growth I have made personally on my mission has been much the same. I have grown the most when I have fallen, made mistakes, and been taken out of my comfort zone. The difference with the mission is it is teaching us how to be like Christ instead of learning a language, and we will never fully achieve that goal. It is a constant process that will take much longer than 2 years. Im so grateful for the opportunity to serve full time for two years. It is teaching to be like Christ like the MTC taught me Italian-by immersion and making mistakes. Instead of earning a grade (like school style of learning), we are growing by his grace and mercy. I know that is true because I have felt his help in so many ways each and every day. 

Presbiteru Smith

Malta | week 10

Regan and Anziano Burkhart with Mount Etna (volcano) in the background

 Volcano!

 Regan at Thanksgiving dinner

A picture Regan sent home of one of his best friends Francesco (in the middle)

12.1.2014

After spending 3 days in Catania this week, I know why so many missionaries always say that Sicily is their favorite area. I loved everything about Catania. The best part by far was being able to see old friends. Some of them I hadn't seen since the MTC and others in just a couple of months, but it is always so good just to be able to talk and hear about others experiences and how they are doing. 

My second day there, I got to do an exchange with Anziano Fossa. He is from Venice and goes home next week. I didn't even know that he was going home next week until I asked. He was working like he was in the middle of his mission. It was the best example to me of someone who endures to the very end. We got to go and help a lady prepare her stuff to move back to Nigeria next week, and we also got to teach a less active family together. It was a great lesson about repentance, and I learned a lot from Anziano Fossa. He was a great teacher. That afternoon we went to an American family's house who lives near Mt. Etna for Thanksgiving lunch. I seriously lucked out on being in Catania at the right time. There were 40 Americans from the military base there who prepared a Thanksgiving lunch big enough for probably 100 people. They were so nice. There were the 4 Catania missionaries, 4 Malta missionaries, the 2 assistants, and a senior couple all invited. That night I got to teach English Course in the Catania church which was fun. It was the first time I taught English in forever, because we dont have it in Malta, and the sisters taught the course when I was in Rome 5. 

Zone Conference the next day was the bomb. Anziano Romano and Fossa are the zone leaders,  so they were responsible for the conference. Each zone conference, they are allowed 3 euro a person for lunch which would have been around 120 euro. Instead Romano cooked by himself for 40 people using 35 euro, and it was really good too. It was a dish he learned from a member-dont know what its called in English. It was quite impressive. The conference itself was one of the best I have been to. Every transfer, the messages are exactly what I need to hear. Im so grateful for the leaders in this mission-both the missionaries and the Waddoups. I seriously couldnt do it without them. 

We came back to Malta Saturday morning and had a miraculous day. We got to meet with our friend Paul for the first time outside of church. He is originally from the Congo, but he just moved here a couple weeks ago from the France. The night before I slept on the floor of the Catania apartment, and I woke up at 5 to leave for the airport without taking a shower. My clothes werent really clean either. We met with Paul 2 hours after our plane got in, and right when we met with him, I wasnt tired or anything. We had a great lesson, and he committed to read the Book of Mormon, and he came to church Sunday. I cant forget experiences like that. When the Lord needs us to be somewhere or do something, we strengthens us so we can do it. Saturday afternoon we found 2 new people who agreed to meet with us again. In both occassions we applied what we learned from our leaders at zone conference. 

Sunday was a really special day in church as well. Anziano Orfila and I teach young mens which just consists of Damyan for the moment. This week we taught the lesson on work and self-reliance. At the end of the lesson we watched the video "A Work in Progress" about Tyler Haws. It made me think of all the things I have worked for in my life. I especially thought about basketball, school, and scouting.. None have been nearly as rewarding as serving a mission. None of the other things have been nearly as challenging either. Not only is it worth it, but it is one of the greatest blessings of my life. I know that the blessings we receive from the Lord always outweigh any effort or sacrifice we make for him, and on the mission we leave everything behind and give all we have. Basically, I could never thank the Lord enough for all he has done for me.  

Sincerely,

Anziano Smith

Malta | week 9

11.24.2014

This week we got to help 2 people write their first talks ever. The first was Chaty. I think I wrote about him a couple weeks ago. He is from Ghana, and he just moved down here from Italy. He gave his talk on charity, and we outlined the whole talk for him (what it is, scriptures, quote from the prophet, ect), and then just told him to tell a short experience or example at the end. He closed by talking about the charity the missionaries had who found him, taught him, and baptized him. He talked about the sacrifices they made leaving school, family, and friends to serve. While he was talking, I tried to put myself In Chatys shoes. He never had the chance to go to school, and he left his family and friends in Ghana to find work so he could hopefully find a better life. He knows that we have families, and we will soon go back to them and school in America. When Moroni said, "charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own...believeth all things, hopeth all things, [and] endureth all things" he was describing Chaty perfectly. His talk touched everyone. Then we helped Damyan, who is giving his talk next week on faith. When we finished, we formatted it like a general conference talk-his picture in the top left, name, title of the talk, with the thesis sentence writen in italics on the top. He is good to go. 

This week we also recieved our first member referral in a long time. It was from a lady named Marjorie from the Philippines. She is friends with most of the Philippini on the island, and she has brought 3 different friends to church in the past 2 weeks. We taught one her friends last week and it was really great. It makes all the difference in the world when people have a good friend to be there with them to support them and help them understand everything.  

In our district meeting this week we learned about following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. A couple days ago we were on a crowded bus with a ton of people standing up. There was a really short girl in the back trying to get off. When she was behind me she tapped my foot and I moved so she could get by. The next guy was wearing some really big beats by dre. She tapped his foot and he didnt move. She nudged his foot a little harder and he still didnt move. Then she kicked his foot, and he still couldnt feel anything. I thought it was crazy that he was listening to his music so loud he couldnt feel someone kicking him. It made me think of the commandments, how they help us in ways we dont fully understand. It didnt make sense to me how someone couldnt feel a kick in the foot because of their music. I realized that it is the same way with spiritual things. It is really hard for some people to see and recognize Gods love because of the worldly things they are surrounded by even when God is trying to kick them in the foot spiritually to let them know he is there. 

Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving. We are going to Catania for zone conference this week, and we will be having an American Thanksgiving on the military base there! I cant wait. Take care. 

Anziano Smith 

Malta | week 8

11/17/14

On Wednesday of this week President D'Emmanuele passed away. He was the Ex-Branch President here in Malta for quite a while, and all of the people who knew him really loved him. Between the two companionships, we took turns taking him the sacrament each Sunday, and it was a very humbling experience. He had both of his legs amputated a few years ago, and the doctors made a mistake, and so he was in pain most of the time. Each week he was so grateful to see us; we are glad he is resting on the other side. 

He has 6 children, I think 2 are members, but they are not coming to church. They called us immediately and asked the funeral to be held at the church. We planned a very nice service, and about 60 people came. On Wednesday President De Carlo asked us to prepare a musical number in between speakers, and so we chose to sing Be Still My Soul. We showed up on Friday morning early to practice with him before the service, and after he heard me sing said, "uhh...these Catholic people are usually used to really good musical numbers. Maybe we should just all sing a hymn together instead." The funeral was much more spiritual because of this wisdom. 

This week we also had a visitor come down. She works for the translation department of the church in Germany, and she helped us out with some new church materials in Maltese! Anyways, she spoke in church on Sunday, and read this verse from the Book of Mormon: "But great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, and they are inhabited also by our brethren. For behold, the Lord God has led away from time to time from the house of Israel, according to his will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all them who have been broken off, wherefore he remembereth us also" (2 Nephi 10: 21-22).

It was really touching. There are about 30 active members here, and we are the last in the world to get everything. There isnt even a Book of Mormon in Maltese yet. Stake Conference is in Catania in 2 weeks, and I dont even think any members are going. This lady shared her story which was incredible. She was born in Eastern Germany when the Berlin Wall was up. President Monson came to visit Germany when she was young and promised that all the members in East Germany would enjoy the same members in West Germany one day. Not long after that they got a temple and the wall came down. 

She was able to participate the gospel principles class on Sunday which had 8 people. 6 more than it as ever had since I have been in Malta. Things are really looking up. 

Hope everyone has a great holiday season. 

Love,

Anziano Smith

Malta | week 7

11.10.14

This week was probably our best week since I have been here in Malta. We were able to meet two different families from Brazil. One of them from Rio and the other from Santos, Anziano Orfilas city. It was really cool. Anziano Orfila taught them for a while as I listened. I was actually able to understand about 60% of what was going one because Portuguese is really similar to Italian. Maybe our sacrament meetings will be in 4 languages instead of 3 soon!

About 2 weeks ago Anziano Rivera and I went to pass by a less active member and as we were returning home we decided to knock the doors that had lights on inside. The first door we knocked was a man named Joe who told us to come back another time. About 10 people tell us that everyday, but we had a feeling like he was for real. Last week Orfila and I passed back, and he said we could come in for 10 minutes. We had a great lesson about the Restoration with him and his wife for the next 45 minutes. They are very faithful people, and they opened up with us and shared some of the miracles they have seen in their lives. They actually live a couple blocks away from the church, so they have seen many missionaries, but never been able to talk with them. We left them the part of Moroni 7 that talks about how miracles never cease. We are excited to see them again this week.

We have been visiting a man named Brian each week since a got here. He is a really great guy. Unfortunately, he is going through a really hard time in his life right now. I spent 2 or 3 days this week studying 2 Nephi 2/the purpose of trials in our lives in preparation for our lesson with him. When I read verse 2 about the Lord consecrating our affliction for our gain I remembered what one of my history teachers in high school drilled in our heads, "the ends justify the means" (Machiavelli). It rained all that night, and we knocked doors in the rain for about 2 hours. On our way home, we were waiting at a bus stop where the road had flooded, and we got splashed pretty bad by 6 cars. I was with Burkhart that night, and we were both kind of laughing at how ridiculous that night was. It was really special though, because even though we were soaking and no one was listening to us, we could still feel the Spirit in our hearts. We got home and all the power was out, so we just ate a bunch of cake in the dark and chilled on the couch for an hour before bed. It was such a memorable day, but it was also really hard. Sometimes the means of bringing us true joy and memorable experiences is a long rainy day. Im grateful the Lord taught me that lesson this week, cause now I can teach it with personal testimony.

Church is still going really well here. Orfila conducted on Sunday, and Burkhart and I gave the talks. Small branches are the best. Honestly though, I have had the most spiritual sacrament meetings of my mission here in Malta. Damyan passed the sacrament for his first time on Sunday, which was really great. He enjoyed it. Hopefully he will bless it soon. The sacrament is the highlight of my week every week. The sacrament is something I have come to appreciate and love more and more on my mission.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Presbiteru Smith

Malta | week 6

10.27.2014

This week we had the responsibility of planning, preparing, and carrying out a Halloween party at the church for about 45 people. It was a great learning experience to say the least. We spent 2 full days, buying stuff, cutting stuff out, decorating the church, and making food-a lot of stuff missionaries dont usually do. Anyways, the party finally rolled around Thursday night. It was 3 hours long, and all 4 of us were busy serving food, running games, making announcements, and trying to talk to everyone who came. It was a little overwhelming to say the least. Over the course of the night I was told what do/complained to at least 20 times. At the very end of the night an 8 year old kid came up to me and said, "Thanks for everything. that was an awesome Halloween party." If it wasnt for that, I probably would have gone crazy. But because 1 little kid said thank you, I was calm and happy we did the whole thing. Now that I have run one party, I will be sure to thank the host of every party I go to for the rest of my life. 

This week was also special because a family of 5 came to visit the island for the whole week. The husband and wife both served here as missionaries 12 years ago. They were excellent missionaries, and they baptized many people here in Malta. Unfortunately, most of them are not attending church any more. 12 years ago there were about 60 members in Malta, and now there are 30. On Sunday the sister shared her testimony of how she knows the church in Malta will grow bigger than it was 12 years ago soon. She said, the theme for the missionaries in Malta was "miracles in Malta," and one of the biggest lessons she took away from her mission was that miracles have not ceased and will never cease as long as the children of men have faith, just like Moroni taught in the Book of Mormon. It was a really sweet testimony meeting, and I felt a great desire to have more faith to be able to find and teach people here. 

Sometimes I laugh on the street or on doorsteps when we are out proseyting, because the most common rejection is, "Im not intersting ta' (Im not intersted in Maltese style English)."  This couple cracked up when we told them, because they said it was the same phrase 12 years ago. They are the same people, and they always will be. The only factor that changes is our faith to make miracles happen. They thanked us for their efforts and told us that their kids, as well as their ex-companions, and they themselves pray for the members and missionaries here in Malta each night. It was really comforting to hear that, and definitely made me want to work harder. Another good week.

Presbiteru Smith

Malta | week 5

10.27.2014

We had another solid week in Malta, and we just got the news that all 4 of us will be staying another transfer together! Good news, good news. 

Almost each week I have been here, we have randomly met someone on the street or contacted someone who have been waiting to see the missionaries for quite some time. About 3 weeks ago, we ran into a man named Yohan (not sure on the spelling), from Sweden. He comes from an LDS family of 9, but he has not been to church in a couple years. He told us that when he arrived here to Malta, he was praying to run into the missionaries or come in contact with the church somehow. The next week he saw us on the street! He has been really busy with work, but we finally found a night last week where we could both meet, and it was incredible. We got to know him for about 15 minutes or so, then he just asked us to share with him our favorite scripture and biggest miracle of our missions. We just had like a mini testimony meeting together, and it was one of the best moments of my mission so far. He told us that his brother got home from his mission in Russia last month, and he was grateful for all the missionaries and amazed at how it changes boys into men. This week, one of his brothers is coming to visit, and he invited us back for dinner. Cant wait. 

We also called up a guy who met the missionaries 1 year ago, and he wanted to see us again. We went over, expecting it to just be the 3 of us. It turned out he had 5 roommates, 2 from Malta and 3 from Brussels. They were all between 18 and 26, really cool guys. They explained a little to us about their ideas, then we explained what we believe for like 5 minutes or so. One of the guys pulled out his computer and read like a 4 page anti-mormon article about how praying about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is not consistent with the Bible. We read 2 Nephi 32:8-9. Im so glad I went to seminary and learned the scripture mastery verses. 

Church yesterday was probably the most spiritual sacrament meeting of my entire mission. I had the opportunity the bless the sacrament in Maltese for the first time, and it was really special. I struggled pronouncing the words all week long, but when I knelt down to actually do it, they all came out right. I had the same experience a few times in Brindisi at the beginning of my mission, and it brought back a lot of memories. The talks that were given could have been given in General Conference. Giuseppe, from Sicily, gave a talk on obedience, and his words really touched me. He has no family here in Malta, he lives an hour away from church, and he is about to move to Gozo (another island close by without a church, but he will still take a boat over to church when he moves anyway). No one in church speaks Italian except the missionaries, but we are almost always busy, so he doesnt get much interaction, and church takes almost his entire Sunday, 1 of his 2 free days of the week. He said, "On Sunday morning when I wake up, I dont have to choose whether or not to go to church. I only had to make the decision once, and I made it a long time ago. I made that choice, when I realized that I couldnt get by without the blessings of keeping the Sabbath day holy. That is how it is with obedience to the principles of the gospel. Most of the time, we only have to choose to once." It was really inspiring to me. 

Thats pretty much how the members are in Malta. Bosses. So, things are going well with us. I sent some pics home of our last pday. I had to walk in the water up to my ankles with my church shoes and slacks to get some of those pics. Totally worth it though. 

Presbiteru Smith