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