Rome 5 | week 3 {Easter, Because of Him, BBQ}

Lunch at Momma Gigantes 

Boy with a UGA sweatshirt on! Go dawgs! 

Dinner with Lorenzo 

Elder Smith with Nem 

Regan loves making fruit smoothies! 

Mumtosjon and his beautiful art 

4.22.14

I really enjoyed this past week cause I got to know our members and also the people we are teaching a lot better. Our ward mission leader is Fratello Arena and he works for the church in an office in Monterotondo with Fratello Bruno. They are both from Sicily and they are hilarious. Each week we try to go to their office for correlation and it is really cool. They have incredible desires to help us out with our work and make it a lot of  fun as well. It will be a lot easier when we get our own chapel to have activities, english course, etc. I think I already wrote about that. 

So last Tuesday we were walking home to lunch, and this really nice guy stopped us to ask who we are. We talked for like 10 minutes on the street about our purpose as missionaries, and we set an appointment to meet him the next day at his school. It turns out he goes to school right across the street from our apartment. We met him on Wednesday, and we went into his art room and had an incredible lesson. His name is Mumtasjon, and he is from Afghanistan. He has an incredible story. Anziano Gemmell and I both felt a lot of compassion for him, and we were incredibly impressed with what he has made out of his life. He speaks Persian, Urdu, Italian, and English fluently, he is really good at art, and he is also studying something else that is really complicated-cant remember what right now. Anyways, he does not come from a Christian background, so we explained the plan of salvation very simply-how Jesus was chosen before the world was created to be the Savior and Redeemer. Teaching the plan of salvation really simply was extremely powerful. I learned that is not important at all to be elegant with my words if I am just sincere. We also briefly touched on the fact that there is a living prophet and he got really curious. Seriously though, we have met him twice and he is already like a brother to us. I cant wait to see him again. 

So last week Lorenzo told us that he wanted to invite us over for dinner and another lesson. I honestly wasnt expecting much since he is a single man. He came out of nowhere with easily one of the top 5 pastas I have had on my mission. I was in shock. When I was in the MTC they taught us that we need to teach the Restoration according to peoples needs and concerns. Honestly, I havent been great at the my whole mission, but Friday with Lorenzo I think I figured out the key. I have to get to know them well before I teach them! We talked about his life for like 30 minutes before the lesson. It made teaching the lesson so much easier because we knew what he cared about and was important to him. Then it was so easy to teach that God has given us the Gospel of Jesus Christ and living prophets to lead us and guide us so we can be our happiest as we live our lives. It made me realize that I have to truly get to know people before I ever teach them and leave them committments to do. I cant believe it took me quasi 11 months to learn that. 

Easter was great! Most of our branch was on vacation so only like 15 people were expected in church. Due to that, it was decided that we would only do 1 hour of church. Turned out we had like 40 and the Stake President came to visit which was unexpected. He did not even know that we were only doing one hour of church, haha. Anyways, it was a great meeting. After church we went to Fratello Brunos house and his wife cooked us a really good Easter pronzo which included lamb. It was delicious. After pronzo we watched some of the Bible videos on the Resurrection. If you have not seen the Bible Video "Because of Him" watch it right now! It is incredible. Then Fratello Bruno shared a video with us that he made from his mission. It was a video of funny stories/testimonies/exeriences of people that he taught on his mission. It was incredibly touching and made me want to work more diligently cause Italians are seriously the best! After that we went to an investigators home whose basement got flooded the night before. There was a bad rain storm and their basement is underground so about 15 of us cleaned out his basement for about 2 hours. Service is the best! Sunday night we went and visited Nem. I think I wrote about him last week too. He is from the Congo and he was baptized like 10 months ago. He is preparing to go on a mission right now. We went over and read some of Alma 26 with him and got him psyched to go on a mission. He told us about how he is already be a missionary at his work through the language he uses. He told us that everyone notices that he has changed his language, and it allows him to talk about the church. He is the man! 

Yesterday was a holiday here in Italy, so it was a deep cleaning day for the apartment and we also had lunch with Mamma Gigante. She is probably the most famous member here in Rome 5. Her last name is Gigante and everyone calls her Mamma Gigante. We went over to her house along with 3 other families from the Branch and had a BBQ in which we ate for a solid 3 hours. Im still full today. 

Anziano Gemmell and I are working really hard and we are also having a lot of fun together. I have really come to appreciate his sense of humor as he is always finding a reason to be happy. Like, when we get someones number on the street or get an appointment with someone, he says "I get buckets." It is funny, but at the same time we realize that any time we have any success it is only because of the tender mercies of the Lord. It is not us at all. The morning we found Mumtasjon we talked to a solid 60 people. Then when we were 2 minutes away from home, he stopped us and asked to meet with us. Prime example of how we are only instruments just like Ammon said in Alma 26. It is incredible to see the hand of the Lord as we try our best to serve him. I know that this is his work and his church, and it has brought me more joy and peace than any other time in my life. I cant put it any better than Ammon: "This is my life" (Alma 26: 36). Ciao!

Anziano Smith

Rome 5 | week 2

4.14.14

This week I talked to a lot of people. Holy cow. Anziano Gemmell and I have 1 investigator right now, and he can only see us on Thursdays before English Course. So...we hit the streets hard this week for a lot of hours. It was a good bonding experience for Anziano Gemmell and I, and we actually had a lot of fun doing it. I tried to talk to one lady getting in her car, and she told me in not the most polite way that she wasnt interested, was in a hurry, and didnt want a picture of the Rome Temple. I threw in some mormon.org cards to her babys stroller when she wasnt looking and told her to have a nice day. Gemmell was just like, "what is she going to do? call us?" We have been saying that all week. It was so funny. Anyways, we found a lot of solid contacts, but we have only met with 1 for the second time. His name is Lorenzo, and he is way cool. He lived in Malta for 5 years and met the missionaries down there. In fact he has already read about half of the Book of Mormon. We went over to his house Saturday night and talked to him for an hour, and it went really well. He is extremely smart. His living room is full of book shelves, and he  said he has read pretty much all of them. We left him Alma 7 to read, and he was like, "Thats it?" He invited us back over this week for dinner and a lesson which we are excited for. 

So the Sister missionaries gave us 6 referrals last week. They are unreal. One of them is a man from Nigeria named Emeka. We did a passoff lesson with the sisters and Emeka Saturday morning which went excellent. He is really funny and a really happy guy. Right now he is studying at 2 different schools right now. He moved here about a year and half ago, so he still doesnt speak Italian that great, but we have several members who served missions in England or America so they can all talk with him. Sunday morning Fratello Malara and I went and picked him up for church. It was my first time having church in a hotel, and it actually was great. The church has about 4 pretty good size rooms and a conference room for sacrament meeting, and it is nice. All of the members are incredible. Seriously. They are all willing to come teach with us, we just dont have so many people to teach a the moment. Sunday after church we went over to our Branch Presidents house and it was a special experience. He divided up the ward between Anziano Gemmell and I and the sisters. He  told us that we need to give every family with a challenge to invite us over to dinner and a lesson with some of their friends within a four week period. Then he promised that he would invite each companionship to his house within the next month or so for pizza and a lesson with some of his friends. We were in shock. 

Brother Arena is our branch mission leader and he said that he is going to start organizing activities every single week for the members, English Course students, and other investigators. Our leaders our so amazing we really have to work hard to keep up with them. 

Saturday evening we went to Monterotondo which is the most populated city in our area to set up a little stand type thing with the sisters to stop and talk to people. We had no idea, but there was a chocolate festival at the same time. There were booths representing every major city in Italy with their specialty dessert lined up down a really long street. It is the same street we got permission to do the mostra on. We decided to go ahead and do it anyways. It was fun. Everyone wanted to talk to the sisters. Not many people wanted to talk to Gemmell and I. Thats pretty much how the cookie crumbles. The sisters are incredible missionaries and less scary than us I guess. 

Sunday night we got to go see Nem. He was baptized almost a year ago by Anziano Peachey who is serving down in Malta right now. Anyways, Nem is 18, from somewhere in Africa (forgot what country), and he met with President Criscione yesterday and said he wants to go on a mission! He is and will be such a good missionary. He reminds me exactly of Elder Oke. Really funny, everyone likes him, and is rock solid in the gospel. Anways, thats about all Ive got for the week. Take care!

Anziano Smith

Rome 5 | week 1 {Sad leaving Caserta, excited arriving to Rome 5, new companion}

Regan leaving Caserta and saying bye to Elder Hatch...they were both so sad to leave eachother! 

 Double rainbow after a hail storm

 Gelato after General Conference

 Regan's new view! He is living about 20 minutes outside the heart of Rome

Regan with his new companion Elder Gemmell from New Zealand

4.7.14

Im not going to lie. Leaving Caserta was really tough. It honestly reminded me of leaving home. I love the missionaries, members, and all of our other friends down there so much. My last night Daniel, Antonio, Marco, Tingey, Hatch, and I went out to Alinas restaraunt for dinner. It was a ton of fun. I remember when we were saying bye outside and there were a bunch of stars in the sky, and I said, dont worry guys, we will be brothers forever. Antonio looked up at the sky and said, "hai capito?" (Do you understand?) It was so funny. Everyone there is being left in good hands with Hatch, Tingey and the most recent additions to Caserta- Anziano Jepson and "Wrangler tough" Rutlidge. They are all incredible missionaries, and I cant wait to talk to them after the mission about everything that happens there. 

Last week I was telling Anziano Hatch that I wanted a new study journal. When we get transferred, we write dedicas (goodbye/thank you type letters) for all the anziani. When we were saying bye, Anziano Hatch gave me a sweet study journal with his dedica on the inside. It was really hard saying goodbye. Anyways, I say this because there was a girl at the train station who saw this all go down and was really touched. We asked her to take a pic of us, and then she started asking us who we were. I took the train ride up to Napoli alone, cause Hatch had to wait for Jepson. I ended up teaching her and her friend on the train. Then the people sitting across from us wanted to listen. Then the ragazzi in the back of the cart came to listen. It was so weird. My first time being companionless on the mission I was teaching like 9 people.

Anyways, I was so happy when I got up here to Rome. Anziano Gemmell is awesome. Like I said last week he is from New Zealand, he has the coolest accent in the world, he plays rugby, and he is hilarious. The past couple days have been a blast and I cant wait for the rest of the transfer. I hope we get at least 2 transfers together up here. Anways, about Rome 5. It is absolutely unreal. We are about 20 miles outside of the heart of Rome and it is beautiful green rolling hills everywhere. We got a brand new apartment 3 weeks ago, and we have a car. One of the best parts of having a new house is that our neighbors dont hate us, haha. At least not yet. We met 1 of our neighbors Saturday afternoon and she was so nice. We are planning on taking her something this week. One of the downsides of Rome 5 is that everything cost a fortune. It is a really, really nice area. Like all of the apartments are well kept up, the streets are clean, the stores are nice, and there are no dangerous places. I took my suit to get it dry cleaned when I got here in it was almost triple what I paid in Caserta. Nonetheless, we are lucky to be in such a sweet city.

Also there are two Sister missionaries here in Rome 5. This is the first time I have had Sister missionaries in my ward, and it is actually really cool. Sorella Palmer is a greenie (this is her 2nd transfer) and Sorella Vincent is in her 9th. They are seriously great. We watched conference at the church Saturday night and most of the day Sunday. General Conference was absolutely incredible. We only got to watch 3 session- 1 in English and 2 in Italian. Listening to the words of the prophets made me so happy. At the beginning of President Monsons talk in Priesthood session I committed myself to share my testimony about the gospel at every chance I get after my mission cause I never want to stop being a missionary. It is seriously the best. His talk only got better when he quoted Jabari!! Honestly though, I know with all of my heart that he is a prophet of God. At the beginning of conference I had the question written on the top of my notebook, "How can I feel/show the love of God." I got 3 pages of really good notes, and all of it was about how I can show Gods love. I realized that we feel it when we show it. That is why our mission calls say that greater happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you serve the Lord leaving behind all other personal affairs. When we do our best to show Gods love to His children, then we feel it stronger than we ever have for ourselves. I am so excited to work with the missionaries and members here.

 Everyone I have met so far has been so nice and incredible. Almost all the men in this branch are returned missionaries and over half of them speak perfect English. Also, the Stake Patriarch is in our branch. Last Friday we were right by his house and there was a hail storm so we stopped in. His wife made us dinner and we left a spiritual thought...and then we saw a double rainbow. So cool. Song long until next week,

Anziano Smith

Caserta | week 18 {baptism, transfer calls, going to Rome}

Elder Hatch, Daniel, and Elder Smith 

 Elder Smith and Elder Hatch with the Salvitti family!

 Casertavechia

View from Casertavecchia 

Dinner with the Cloves 

3.31.14

Unfortunately this was my last full week here in Caserta, as I will be transfered to Rome 5 this upcoming Thursday. It will certainly be bitter sweet to head out, as I have had experiences here that have certainly changed me, and I have made friends here that will last a lifetime. It is kind of ironic that we come on missions to help change the lives of other people, when in fact they change ours. Antonio and Daniel have seriously become brothers to Anziano Hatch and I. They were both planning on getting baptized this Saturday, but unfortunately Antonio is not able to be baptized at this moment because of his current situation. However, I will say two things. The first is that I have never witnessed anyone with more faith in Jesus Christ than Antonio. His faith and desire to do what is right is unbelievable. The second is that I know that the Lord always prepares a way that is wiser than our own when things dont go according to our wish. People become more spiritually refined and more people end up being blessed. Anyways, Antonio told Daniel to go ahead and get baptized instead of postponing the date for both of them. It was a really special experience. We went to Pozzuoli where they have a nice baptismal font and the beautiful view of the ocean. There were about 12 other missionaries there and they all invited their investigators and we had a great turn out from our ward as well. Everyone in our ward loves Antonio and Daniel because they are awesome, and we need more youth here. Antonio shared his testimony in church on Sunday, it it was such a powerful moment that it was difficult for Anziano Hatch and I to hold back tears. He has been the most incredible example to me of someone who was completely put his faith and trust in the Lord. I could talk for days about both of those kids. 

This week was also great as I got to see pretty much everyone who I have come close to since I have been here in Caserta. Marco, Anziano Hatch, and I went over to one of our investigators house last week before she went to work. She is an incredible example to me of someone who works so hard to bless other peoples lives without expecting anything in return. She works all day 6 days a week to help support her family that lives in another country and she always has a smile on her face. It always brightens my day when we teach her. Tonight we will teach her at the church for my last time and then we are going out for a gelato. It will definitely be memorable. 

Last week we had a missionary open house for all of our English Course students, investigators, members, and ther friends last Thursday night. It was a huge success as about 70 people showed up with good food, and our members were total champs. English Course students talked with a bunch of Americans and they also felt the love of the people in our ward here. 1 family even set a dinner appointment/lesson with 3 girls from EC. That is what I am talking about. Strangers seem to trust normal families than teenagers in suits. Actually they dont seem to, they totally do. All of the best lessons I have had on my mission have been with members who share personal experiences and conversion stories. Marco and the Salvitti family especially have helped us in our work and did things we never could have done. So, my people back in Peachtree Corners, help the missionaries out! Missionary work is the best. 

I have heard all good things about Rome 5. My new companion will be Anziano Gemmel. He is from New Zealand and has been out on his mission a little over a year. I met him at the mission conference a couple weeks ago and he is hilarious. I already know we are going to be like brothers. Probably going to love him so much, I am going to have to go back and visit him at his place after the mission. I know there are amazing members in Rome too and we will have a car. I am excited to head up Thursday afternoon, but I will certainly soak up these last few days with Anziano Hatch and Tingey. I love them like brothers and same with our friends here. Anziano Heder headed out for America this afternoon at 2. So weird. He was an awesome missionary and had a big influence on all of us. We will see him on the other side next summer. 

Anziano Smith