Buona Pasqua with a Broken Fridge!

Cara Famiglia,

This week was full of events! From the subject you might have realized that last wednesday our frigorifero(one of my favorite Italian words) broke. So last week we got all non-refrigerated groceries i.e. no milk, yogurt, cheese, meat, or veggies. This week our meal of choice at lunch was pasta with red sauce. Good times. We got out new fridge today, and it is great. We are looking forward to being able to eat cold things again. Also, apparently this week was Easter! The holidays really creep up on you here in the mission because you don't have all the decorations that build up to it usually. At least not in our apartment. It was good though, during Sunday School we watched the 'Finding Faith in Christ' movie which I hadn't seen in a looong time. I think it's really cool that they do it from Thomas' perspective. Then in Sacrament Meeting there were some good talks about the resurrection and the risen Christ. They also had a special musical number that I know is one of the CDs that Dad plays every Sunday, in English I think it's called 'The Lord is my Good Shepherd', but it's not the 'The Lord is My Shepherd' that's in the hymnbook. We also had the great idea to go around and give out copies of 'Il Cristo Vivente' to the people we talked too. We probably could've used the week before Easter a little more to our advantage, but oh well we will do better next time.

We had a couple good referral lessons this week, one was a referral from Napoli. He lived in a little town called Crevalcore (which reminded me of Zoppola!) that is about an hour away on bus from Modena. We gave him a Book of Mormon with a dedica from the guy who gave the referral and had a lesson about it. He seemed really interested and was an awesome guy, notwithstanding the fact that his accent was quite different. But he's moving back down to Napoli this week so we're hoping the missionaries there pick him up. We also went to lunch at a member lady's house on Pasqua and her companion (I dunno what the proper term would be) who isn't a member was apparently interested in learning more about the church, so we taught him a lesson about prayer and the Restoration. His name is Paolo and he's a really cool guy who lived in the USA for a while, so we're going to teach him some more and hope he progresses. Israel is still a stud, he is actually coming to church this week! The big hurdle is getting him to commit to not just come this one Sunday, but to covenant with the Lord so he can receive more blessings by coming every single week! Unfortunately, his mom kicked him out of the house last night, so he is currently out of living arrangments. Pray for him!

The music-ness never stops, fortunately! Since Sister Willey who is in Modena is amazingly awesome at cello (she played in the Orchestra at Temple Square for a couple years) our ward is holding a music fireside on Sunday May 8th! She is playing a couple of songs, and I even get to accompany her on a version of I Am a Child of God! I also get to play piano for Anziano Kimball singing Come Thou Fount, the same version that Anziani Bushman and Scheurn sang with me in the MTC. It's gonna be awesome, and we're giving out people flyers for that too.

This week we taught a cool lesson to a less-active member about the Liahona, and so we were planning on following mom's idea from when I was in Primary to spray paint this baseball in out apartment gold and decorate it like the Liahona. Unfortunately, all we could do was color it yellow with a marker and then we forgot to even bring it! But we still had the lesson, and I was impressed by 1 Nephi 16 and Alma 37, where much of the information on the Liahona comes from. It is a great allegory, being such a small device that works great miracles, of daily scripture study in prayer. I particularly liked the last four verses in Alma 37:

44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.
 45 And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.
 46 O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.
 47 And now, my son, see that ye take care of these sacred things, yea, see that ye look to God and live. Go unto this people and declare the word, and be sober. My son, farewell.

I know 100% that the little things are the most important. I am incredibly grateful for the Book of Mormon because every day I open it, read it, and feel the spirit while learning something new. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it answers our questions while at the same time bearing testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that my redeemer lives, and that this work in Italy is being directed by Him. I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Doin[g] Work in Modena

Cara Famiglia,

 

This week has been pretty good in Modena. The work has definitely slowed down compared to when I first arrived, but it is still going great. We had a big breakthrough with Israel this week where he agreed to just go in and tell his bosses that he couldn't work anymore on Sundays so that he could come to church and then be baptized! It only went okay though, the boss is apparently making him come in one last Sunday before he lets him not work on Sunday anymore. We'll see how that goes. Pray for him! He's too ready for baptism to miss out. Anziano Kimball and I are also liking doing this thing in our mission called 'Venti Inviti', or, 20 invites. Every day outside of scheduled proselyting work the mission goal is to invite 20 people to hear about the gospel, basically when you're in between appointments or finding areas. We usually kind of struggle to do it, which is a bummer. But recently we have been a lot more diligent! It is great, whenever we do the venti inviti everything in the day just seems better. Another great thing about the mission is that we just instantly start teaching and testifying when we talk to people, we almost never even introduce ourselves! It is awesome even when no one lets you in all day. You feel great because you spent your day bearing your testimony 100+ times!

 

Today we had a fun P-day where we went slacklining with our new convert Castro. Basically you string a really tight line between two trees maybe 20 or 30 feet apart at about waist height. Then it's just like tightrope walking! It was really fun, I definitely want to do it on some other P-days, and I'm attaching some pictures [included below].

 

 I very much enjoyed Dad's email about the things learned in Sunday School. I've always been impressed with the bread of life analogy and such. It reminds me of these awesome scriptures in 2 Nephi 26: 25 and 27:

 25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price. ...
 27 Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance.

Jesus is alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllways waiting for us. All the time! It's like how I was just in the post office waiting for my number to be called so I could mail a package, except it's always your turn. You just have to walk up to the desk! The atonement is such a miracle, it's so simple but unfathomable. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from all time fromBelieving Christ: "Mercy, by definition, is only mercy if we don't deserve it." It's amazing to think that for all the justice that everyone deserves, it can all be swallowed up by the mercy of the atonement! I'm grateful for the knowledge that Jesus Christ is my Savior and suffered, died, and was resurrected for everybody! We just need to come unto him. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and truly testifies of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His church. I know that the Lord is directing this work and I love being here to spread the gospel 100% every day.

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Working Hard

Famiglia!

 

This week has been a good week in Modena, the first week of this transfer. Anziano Kimball is still adjusting to being District Leader but he's doing a great job, he's a stud missionary. Today we had interviews and training stuff in Verona so that was cool, I should be going there on a scambio tomorrow or so. The work here in Modena is doing very well, we are basically going through our massive list of contacts we've gotten from talking to tons of people and finding out who is really interested. The other day we had a cool experience where we had about an hour free so we went to this park type area. We talked to the first person we saw sitting on a bench and he was super cool, a guy named Degraft from Ghana. We taught him a little lesson and got his info, so we're hoping to keep that going. Then, we biked like 20 feet to the next bench, and had another awesome little lesson with these two Peruvians! Their names are Amelia and Giorgio, Giorgio doesn't really speak Italian but we were able to throw some Spanish in there to help him understand. Thank you MHS for your four years of Spanish classes! They are really cool and we met them again in the park a couple of days later to give them each a copy of the BoM in Spanish. Anziano Kimball has a Spanish Preach My Gospel so we are working on getting the baptismal invite in Spanish for them haha. We also knocked into a kid named Michael the other day, also from Ghana. He is really interested but his Dad is really not interested to put it lightly, so we can't really teach him. But! He turns 18 on May 5, so we may re-start teaching him then. Also, keep praying for Israel to find work so he can come to church on Sunday, or just that he can put his faith in the Lord and come to church anyway!

 

I love this missionary work of helping bring people to Christ! We taught a lesson about parables to a recent convert the other week and it was really cool to learn about what a master teacher Christ was. Even from simple stories of stuff we can learn great and fundamental principles. It is truly refreshing how simple the gospel is! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it helps us become so much closer to Christ. I know that everyone on the earth is a child of God, with a Father who loves them unconditionally no matter what experiences we have on earth. Affliction is just an opportunity to show our love back!

 

Ciao!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

P.S. Also, happy birthday to Kevin! I wrote it down in my planner so I wouldn't forget to write in the email! Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours! Also I'm sending a present home for him.

Conference!

Ciao Cara Famiglia!

 

This week was basically highlighted by General Conference! We got to see the Saturday Morning session live on our Saturday night, and then Priesthood, Saturday Afternoon, and Sunday Morning(live) all on Sunday. It was great! They had some really good stuff, which I unfortunately cannot remember since I pulled an Anziano Smith and forgot my notes! I remember I liked President Uchtdorf's talk about living beneath Priesthood Privileges during the Priesthood Session, and hearing about the history of the Welfare Program. I also really liked the analogies David A. Bednar gave for receiving revelation; turning on a light switch vs. a sunrise. And the Waiting on the Road to Damascus talk from Pres. Uchtdorf. Too awesome! However, the best part was probably the shout out to the Rome Temple! We were talking to our Bishop about it afterwards and apparently he was at the groundbreaking ceremony and got to turn some ground! Right now I'm listening to some talks from Sunday Afternoon as I'm writing since we missed out on that session. We were going to print out all the talks we missed here in the internet place, but unfortunately the text isn't available until tomorrow! So I guess we'll just print them out next week.

 

Other than that this week has been pretty normal. Other big news is that Anziano Kimball and I are staying together for at least another transfer. They are actually adding a companionship of Sorelle here in Modena, so there are going to be six missionaries here in Modena and that will be our district! We will be the only Anziani, so Anziano Kimball will be the new DL. Should be good times. The new sister will be whitewashing here in Modena and training as well, and then one of the sisters who is already here is getting a new companion. The sisters are going to have the area divided for each companionship, and then we still cover the whole area.

 

Our investigators are going pretty well. Israel, who is Irese's brother and also Samson's cousin is really solid, he just can't get work off on Sunday! They also have a family friend named Sharon who has been present at a lot of the lessons we've taught their family. Both of them are basically ready to get baptized, they just need to come to church more. The main thing we're working on though is doing 20 invites every day to people we see in between finding activities and appointments. It's a mission standard of excellence to do so we're trying to do all 20 every day. It's cool because when we focus on doing it everything else seems to go better! The biggest hurdle is getting over ourselves and just not having fear of talking to anybody.

 

This week I received some missionary inspiration from 3 Nephi 7:18. Nephi is such a stud, he teaches so powerfully and strongly that it's impossible for the people to disbelieve him! And even when they couldn't not believe him, and they witnessed his miracles, they were still angry with him! I don't get some people. It inspired me in a couple ways - 1) We should try to teach with power and authority as much as possible, using boldness but not overbearance. This is a tough one for me because I have never been a super bold person, especially in sharing the gospel. But I have seen my fears of just walking up and talking to someone about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ diminish with lots of practice. 2) We are looking for the elect! Even when we teach really well and we know someone feels the spirit, they may not choose to act on it. It's a bummer, but we need to be finding the people that will receive us. I know that this work is truly the work of God! We are servants in the Lord's vineyard, and he is helping every day. I know Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, and that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I love sharing this knowledge with the people of Italy!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith