MTC | Week 2

Second week in the MTC was a lot smoother than the first week. We are all in a lot better rhythm and we all feel like we have been here forever. However, it has gone by fast at the same time. It doesn't really make sense. Anyways, I learned a lot this week. The World Wide Missionary meeting thing was incredible. I can't believe I got to see 11 of the 12 apostles in person! When they walked in the Marriott Center, everyone stood up and it was dead silent. The Spirit came into the room very powerfully. I learned so much about missionary work during all of their talks. I got some awesome notes. I don't want to talk to much about it though since everyone got to listen to it at home. There is only one point I want to share. President Packer said that he wished he could promise us we would be successful if we worked hard and studied hard but he couldn't. The only way he could promise we would have success is if we followed the guidance of the Holy Ghost. That pretty much sums up missionary work. It's not my thoughts, my words, or my actions that are going to do any good. It's only when I am humble enough to listen to the voice of the Spirit and follow it with faith and courage. It will be the same principle for everyone I teach. I also learned that I have to live every principle I teach or else I'll be a hypocrite.

Anyways, we had devotional last night, and I have to talk about that for a little while. I walked in with Anziano Kelly, Romano, and Kekoolani. We were all banking on an apostle speaking since they are all here to train the new mission presidents (btw: we have had sac breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 5 days because the apostles and mission presidents get the cafeteria. It's been rough). We walked in and saw on the sceen that it was Sister Janice Kapp Perry. Anziano Romano and I looked at each other and in perfect unison said, "Naptime!" She proved us so wrong. She was so funny and her message was incredible. She told us when she was a freshman at BYU she had a midterm in her music program where she had to play the flute or something. 2 minutes before she went, her future husband (who she had never talked to before) walked up and said, "Your lips were made for something much better than playing the clarinet." Everyone lost it. Then her husband got up and kissed her in front of everyone. Classic. She told us that she wrote about 20 hymns in the children's hymnbook and a few in the regular hymnbook. She led us and we sang 1 verse of 6 of them: A Child's Prayer, I Love to See the Temple, I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus, Army of Helaman, Love is Spoken Here, and one more. It was so powerful when we were sing Army of Helaman because ususally it goes, we will be the Lord's missionaries, but instead she changed the words to "WE ARE NOW THE LORD'S MISSIONARIES." There were about 4,000 missionaries at the devotional and probably half were crying. It was incredible. She then shared a quote with us from President Packer that said we can learn lessons quickly through music that would otherwise take us a long time to learn. So true.

So, the lady we have been teachinng whose name was Valeria turns out to be Sister Miles. She started teaching our class this week. She got back from her mission to Rome in March. She told us that when we were teaching her, she was acting out someone who she actually taught on her mission. She showed us pics, and it was really cool. She is such an amazing teacher. She said one thing yesterday that really hit me hard. She said that we will be home from our mission before we know it. If I don't lead those I teach to Christ, then they won't make any real progress. If they don't come to know Christ and I leave, then I didn't really do anyting meaningful. She told us to challenge every person we teach to commit to read and pray about the Book of Mormon because it is the best tool in the entire world in converting people to Christ. I really do know that is true. My whole mission is about helping others come to know the truth of the restored gospel and become spritually indepent because I won't always be there to teach and testify to them.

This week our dorm got powerful hot. I have no idea why but it is getting stuffy and a lot of kids are sick. There are kids from all over the entire world here which is really awesome. The other day someone said, "That means all the diseases from the entire world are probably here too." There might be some truth to that statement. I have managed to stay healthy though. Anziano Gardenhire (tubo del giordino aka "gardenhose") has gone running with me everyday the past week. He ran cross country and track in high school so he is way better than me. I'm so grateful though cause he is keeping me in shape. The only time we get to work out is either or after a solid 12 hours of work/study. Either way we are exhausted during our workout time. Most kids don't workout. Everyone in our dorm does though. Hence, we have earned the name "Swole Patrol." It's starting to get serious. I won't name any names but someone grabbed a brownie today at lunch and another elder through it in the trash and was like, are you part of the swole patrol or not? We are having a bunch of fun. It's part our language learning program to SYL (speak your language) as often as possible so we started putting sticky notes on everything in or room with the Italian word on it. We keep getting better. It's hilarious though cause we mess up all the time. Anziano Mortensen told us a story from his first month on the mission. A family asked him what the purpose of temples was he started talking about how we make covenants with God and we can be sealed together with our families so we can be with them for eternity. The Itaian word for seal is "suggelare" and the word for deep freeze is "sugerlare." It turns out he told them we deep freeze families together forever in temples. They were like, does the government know about this? And he was like, yes of course. Another funny story about the language. The Italian word for thank you is pregho. Ther were a bunch of Sister missionaries coming to the door and Anziano Romano opened it for them. When they were all saying thank you he was just like "pregho, pregho, pregho." They didn't know that was the Italian word for thank you and though that he was making a reference to them looking pregnant. It was so funny. Another random funny story, we were at a meeting early this week and there was a kid sitting in front of who need to scatch his back and didn't know his been was open. He wrote all over the back of his white shirt with his pen and didn't even know it. I died. Okay, I'll stop now. I don't want to waste anyone's time with my dumb sense of humor.

Today 7 of the 10 kids in our district had to go up to Salt Lake to get their visas. That left Anziano Romano, Kekoolani, and I here all day for pday (for those of you who aren't familiar with mission lingo, pday is our day off to do laundry, write, take a nap, ect.). It was great. We have to do service every pday from during which I cleaned toilets and dusted pictures. After that, the games began. The three of us went to the temple after that. I got good pics with Anziano Kekoolani and Anziano Romano. I will send them shortly. It was said because the temple is closing for cleaning for a month or so, so I think that is the last time until I get to go in Rome. I totally forgot! I met the mission president night. He's awesome! He told us the target date for the dedication of the Rome temple is September 2014 and it was his goal to let every one of us go before we go home. I can't wait. He told us all about the Rome temple. He said that in Rome, no one can build anything if there are ancient ruins underneath the site. The church found the only plot of land that would work and they dug to look for ruins and there were none under the whole temple grounds. 50 feet outside the temple grounds, there are ruins. Miracle. He also told us there can't be any building in Rome in which there isn't a public part that can be used by anyone. In the visitor's center is a family history center for anyone to come and do ther family history. He also told us that the Christus statue is going to be the biggest one ever! It will make the one in Salt Lake look small. That is so cool. I can't wait to see everything down there.

Thank you for everyone who wrote me this week. Mail is much appreciated! Sorry this email is all over the place. I think I covered all the highlights of the week. I miss everyone a bunch, but the first two weeks of the MTC have been eventful and if they are any indicator of the rest of my mission, I know it will be great. This isn't my time right now. It's the Lord's time, but is for me. I'm so grateful for this opportunity, and I can't wait to get on that plane! Btw, there are 22 of us going to Rome, and we'll all be on the same flight. Looking forward to it!

With love,

Anziano Smith

Worldwide Leadership Training

Last night at the Marriott center the church held a Worldwide Leadership Training conference. This meeting was intended for mission presidents and anyone who was part of the ward leadership, which included my husband Rhett, since he is the Elders Quorum President in our ward (and of course, spouses were encouraged to come too!). At church yesterday he was able to get us two tickets so we could go to the live broadcast, instead of watching from our local stake center building. I knew all the missionaries would be there, but considering the thousands of people that would also be there, I had no hopes of seeing him. Also, before Regan went into the MTC he specifically told me not to come find him while he was there. He did this out of love, but it was hard for me to accept it! Being the only one in our family to live in Provo while he is in the MTC is a blessing, but extremely hard too. I have not roamed around the temple on Sundays, or searched for him on his Pdays, and I have been very obedient to his request! Excited just to know I would be in the same room as him, I went to this meeting with Rhett as a perfectly normal, non-stalker, sister :)

Well to cut to the chase, I ended up sitting one row across from him! I was so nervous at first because I did not want him to think that I was there tracking him down. I could not control myself, and just wanted to wave to him, so I caught his attention and smiled and waved. The look on his face was priceless! He waved back and then I could see him telling his companion and other guys in his district that his sister was over there! (they know me through all the letters and packages I have sent Regan that have included them too) They all waved at me smiling, and it made me so happy that Regan was excited to see me! Regan made the hand gesture of "take a picture", so I got my phone and took a picture of him from where I was sitting (I wanted to keep my distance so I didn't come across as overboard). I sat down in my seat and just STARED at Regan for the rest of the meeting! When the meeting was over, I walked right over and introduced myself to the elders in his district. I then walked out with Regan and was able to talk to him the whole way. As we walked out of the Marriott center I took one last picture with him and said bye. It was so much happier than the last time I said bye when we dropped him off at the MTC! I am grateful for the opportunity I had to see him, and I feel like it was an answer to prayers. Knowing that he is still alive is one thing, but seeing how much he has grown already, and the great elders he gets to be with, is very comforting. I knew that this was the "for real" last time I am going to see him, but I feel like I was able to have closure this time. Normally I will only be posting the words of Regan, but I had to post about this crazy happy experience!

The missionary choir. I could not believe how many sister missionaries there were! All the missionaries looked (and sounded) like the Tabernacle Choir 

Love this picture Rhett got of Regan! 

I LOVE this picture!

I could not let go of his arm haha! 

Pictures | Week 1

First Week in the MTC!!!

Hello Everyone!

My first week at the MTC has been quite the experience. When I first got here, I was picked up by an Elder from Tonga. He was so nice and helped me with my luggage and find my class. I walked into the the class and my teacher, Fratello Mortenson, said some stuff to me in Italian, and I kind of laughed but it wasn't a joke. We are only allowed to speak Italian in class. It really stressed me out the first two days, and I kind of got frustrated because I couldn't understand anything or express myself. However, they definitely know what they are doing at the MTC because immersing myself in the language has helped me learn a ton in only one week. Anyways, I first need to introduce you to the district. There are 10 of us. 6 going to Rome and 4 gong to Milan. My dorm room is all of the Rome missionaries. It's pretty tight since we all have two years worth of luggage, but we are having a blast.

First, we have Anziano Kelley. I feel so blessed to have him as my companion. He is probably the hardest worker at the entire MTC, yet he is still really funny and is also smiling. He brings an enthusiasm to the work that is contagious. We get along great, and we are both pushing each other to be the best missionaries we can be. All is well here.

Next, we have Anziano Gardenhire. His personality is a lot like mine. We have gone on short exchanges with each othere twice this week. Once to chior practice for the world wide missionary conference thing this Sunday, and we sang Called to Serve and Hark All Ye Nations with 1400 missionaries. It rocked. We also went to pick up something I left in the cafeteria one day, and we stopped in a classroom and he played a sweet rendition of Be Still My Soul on the piano. That really calmed me down when I was super stressed about the language.

That brings us to Anziano Rigby. He is the spiritual giant of us all. He is from Idaho Falls, and he told me that he built his own truck. I thought that was pretty cool. More importantly, I have learned a lot from him. The first thing we learned to do in Italian was share our testimonies and pray. Even though we don't know the language, he still does so with so much sincerity and power. He has definitely made each one of us take this work more seriously.

Anziano Rigby's companion is Anziano Jones. He is probably the most gifted kid I have ever met. We nicknamed the book we are learning Italian out of the purple dragon. Don't ask why. Day 2, Anziano Jones earned the nickname "The Purple Dragon Slayer." He can teach the first 3 discussion in like perfect Italian already. We are all jealous.

Lastly, and surely not least, we have Anziano Romano from Boston. He is going to be the best missionary of us all. He is also the funniest kid I have ever met. We have class 3 hours every morning, 3 hours every afternoon, and 2 hours a couple nights a week. Not one minute of it is boring because of Elder Romano. Yesterday I talked to him for the first time about life back home. I found out a couple things. He was his student body president, the starting quarterback, has Red Sox season tickets, and was the Elders Quorum President his freshman year at BYU. Nuff said. He's the man.

Every night we have an hour in our dorm before we go to bed, and I don't think I have ever laughed harder or had better deep conversations. I feel so blessed to be able to serve with these 5 Elders. They are so great!

Anyways, I will talk some about my teachers now. I'm not even going to lie. My second day in the MTC was one of the most discouraging days I have ever had. I couldn't understand a word that Fratello Mortenson or Fratello Weller said. About 4 of us were almost in tears cause we didn't feel like we were going to be able to do this. Fratello Weller whipped out D&C 90:11, and I don't know if I have ever felt more peace and assurance in my whole life. It says, "For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of thegospel in his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power, by the administration of the Comforter, shed forth upon them for the revelation of Jesus Chirst." We then read Ether 12:27. I've read it a million times, but this time it was different. I have been ordained of God to learn this language and bring these people a message they have been waiting for for a long time. The grace of Christ is sufficient to give me power to do it. It's not in me, it is only through me. That is so humbling. The first night at the MTC, we learned about our purpose as missionaries for a couple hours. Now I know why they did that. If I don't remember my purpose, I would give up. My purpose, "Inviting others to come unto Christ" is such a simple statement, but there is more power behind that invitation than we can comprehend much less put into words. However, I can feel the love of God through the gift of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost is how we are learning so fast. I have learned this week that God endows us with power when we work our absolute hardest to do his will. I have studied Italian a ridiculous amount of hours and humbled myself before God more than I ever have in an attempt to learn this language. Every day at 3, Anziano Kelley and I teach a girl named Valeria who acts as an investigator for us. The first 2 or 3 times is was a trainwreck. I was reading of questions and scriptures the whole time and I couldn't even pronounce the stuff right. Yesterday, I was able to pray, share my testimony, and 4 or 5 principles without notes. I can't believe that happened in a week.

Other notable experiences from the week: our entire hall wanted to sing Called to Serve one night, but we couldn't fit anywhere with enough light, so we went into the bathroom haha. There are about 60 missionaries on my hall (probably 40 Italian and 20 Romanian). Singing Called to Serve in a bathroom with 60 missionaries was pretty awesome. Devotional last night in the Marriot Center was great. Elder Gay of the First Quorum of the Seventy spoke. There were 4,000 missionarieis there. I feel so much better when I see the kids with Russian, Chinese, or Finnish tags. I know they have it way harder than I do, haha. Today our whole district went to a session at the temple together today. It was so great! I have been worried a lot about the language, but it was great to enter the House of the Lord and just ponder the big questions: Where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going? That is why we are going on missions. We know the truth to the answers of these questions. The temple always gives me so much perspective/motivation to keep going.

Also, thank everyone who sent me emails/letters. All the missionaries sprint to the mailbox every day like kids running down the stairs on Christmas. Mail is worth more than gold here.

I almost forgot, Fratello Weller wrote the most powerful thing on the board ever when we were all pretty discouraged. "Italiano non e un muro. E non vi blocca." Italian is not a wall. It does not stop us. This gave me so much hope. When I get to Rome, my words will be simple, but they will be powerful because the Spirit will be with us. That's what it is all about.

Take care everyone. Please keep sending letters. I only get 60 minutes every Wednesday to email so letters are preferable because reading emails cuts out of my emailing time. Love you all!

Pace,

Anziano Smith

He is Off!

Hi everyone! Regan went into the MTC (Missionary Training Center) yesterday June 12th! It was an amazing experience, but quite hard for the family. We are just going to miss him so much. We know he is so happy to be where he is, and we are especially proud of him. You can reach him at his email address throughout his entire mission. His email address is: Regan.Smith@myldsmail.net

He will be in the MTC through July 23rd, and his address for that location is:

Elder Regan Smith

JUL 23 ITA-ROM

2007 N 900 E

Unit 97

Provo, UT 84602

AFTER July 24th, he will be in Rome and can receive packages and letters can be sent to the following address:

Elder Regan Smith

Italy Rome Mission

Piazza Carnaro, 20

00141 Rome RM
Italy

Regan's Mission Farewell Open House

Regan and Jacob Winters both gave their farewell talks on Sunday June 9th. They both gave amazing talks and were followed by returning missionary Nathan Harries. It was one of the best meetings I have ever been to! After church, we held an open house for Regan and Jacob. Numerous friends and family members attended and it was a special night. Afterwards, Regan was set apart as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Viva Italia! 

Pam Winters made a variety of desserts, including these mini-missionary cookies!

Jacob's mission call to Richmond, VA speaking Mandarin Chinese & Regan's call to Rome, Italy

Jacob Winters, Nathan Harries, Regan Smith, Matthew Harries

Regan Opens His Mission Call!

Regan opened his mission call on March 1, 2013 right when he got home from school. Mom, Dad, and his two friends Joe and Allan were there in person, but Allie (Regan's other sister) and I had to be on Skype since we were in Utah. I was the only one taking pictures, so that is why these are pictures of him on our iPad! They still do a good job of capturing the moment :)  I don't think our family has ever felt that type of joy and excitement that we experienced when Regan read his call. We all went crazy when he read that he was going to be serving in Rome, Italy! We are all so proud of Regan for his life-long dedication and preparation to serve a mission. I am truly happy for the people in Italy that will have the opportunity to be touched by such a special spirit.