It's Cold!

Cara Famiglia,

So today is actually pretty nice, but the cold weather is arriving here in the Busto Arsizio/Legnano Metropolitan area. I got to wear my big coat for the first time since February! Other than that, the work is going good! We are working on finding new investigators, but the ones we have are progressing nicely. Last week I may have mentioned that we were seeing Blandine last Wednesday, the first time we had seen her since two months ago when we saw her for the first time and taught her the Restoration. Turns out she is golden! She had been praying ever since then in the way we taught her and is just awesome! She has a baptismal date for November 19th now and we have seen her three times in the past week with solid members! She loves reading the Book of Mormon and learning about the Plan of Salvation, so she is awesome. Saul is also still the man. We saw him on Monday and he finally opened up to us! We talked a bunch about prayer and the Holy Ghost and how it works and the spirit was really strong! He is doing great, and will be baptized for sure! He even came to Stake Conference in Milano this past Sunday! Those are the main two investigators for now, and we are also still working with Ravith/Elisabeth, our Sri Lankan/Ecuadorian couple, Roberta, and Arthur. So things are going very well.

We had our bikes stolen this week! That was a fun experience. It was kind of our bad, because we left them locked up overnight at the Busto station, but we had done it before and we were already getting a ride home late from the member who took us to see Blandine. So now we're rocking out on a nice new mountain bike. Look out Legnano! Also, I now totally understand in the Godfather the line 'Leave the gun, take the cannolle.' Cannolli siciliani are soooooooo good! I recommend finding if there are real Siciliani anywhere in DC that make cannolli. They are really delicious. 

Today we went to the San Siro Stadium in Milano! It was really cool! We got to see the musem they have that tells the history of both Milano teams, the field (but not go on it), and walk around the stands and see the Inter locker room (Milan's was closed today because they play tonight). It was awesome, and I will send pictures too.

Today I wanted to share a cool scripture I found reading the Book of Mormon today. In 2 Nephi 5 it talks about how Nephi and fam keep all the commandments, observe the law, and heed the Lord's advice to flee from his brothers who are trying to kill him. Then they get to build the temple! I liked how it describes their life in verse 27:

27 And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness.

Living after the manner of happiness seems like a really cool idea to me. We can see from Nephi and his family's example what the manner of happiness truly consists of. I know that as we are obedient and seek to follow Jesus Christ, we can live 'after the manner of happiness.' I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Miracles and Birthday!

Cara Famiglia,

 

Well this week was just awesome! Anziano Webb and I are having an awesome time here in Busto Arsizio. The work is picking up too! We have unfortunately not been able to see Arthur though this past week. He stood us up when we had a member come to the lesson on Saturday and everything, so we passed by the next day and he was super sick, wrapped up in a blanket and just about to go to the hospital. So we gave him a blessing! It was cool, and when he gets back from the hospital we hope to be able to keep teaching him. He doesn't know how long he'll be there though. Saul is also good, we just keep teaching him and he's super open to everything. He kind of shares the opinion of his parents in that he doesn't want to be baptized if it's a mistake, so we just have to make sure he gets a super solid testimony. Pray for him to get answers to his prayers! Another miracle we had this week was with an Italian family of five! Anziano Dean and I found them on a scambio two weeks ago, and they gave us a bidone the Sunday after when we were supposed to see them. So we called them and they had read the pamphlet we left and said 'Look, we don't really think we're going to change our religion', but they agreed to let us come over again anyway. So we went over on Sunday and had an awesome Restoration lesson with them! They understood everything perfectly, and agreed to be baptized when they know it's true! We are super excited for them and will go back to see them on Saturday. Miracles just pile up here. I dunno if I mentioned but it's actually a mission standard of excellence to recognize a miracle every single day. So for the past couple weeks we have been writing a miracle on a sticky note every night during planning and putting it up on the wall. And the wall is getting full! It helps us remember how much the Lord has blessed us.

 

We are also working with some other people who I may have mentioned in the past: Ravith and Elisabeth. He is from Sri Lanka, she's from Ecuador. They live together and have a seven year old daughter named Mariam. They are super nice but they are really busy and hard to teach because neither of them speak Italian perfectly, and we don't have any material except selections of the Book of Mormon in Sindhala for Ravith. But they are awesome, we had a good lesson with them with a member last night. Roberta is also cool, we weren't able to see her this week because all of a sudden Monday morning we went to give a blessing to the Second Counselor in our ward who is suffering badly from cancer. He went to Germany for a special two month treatment today, so pray for him!

 

Other than that everything is great. We have interviews tomorrow, and then Saturday we get to go to a special meeting with missionaries with Walter F. Gonzalez of the Presidency of the Seventy! And then Sunday is Stake Conference. So we will be spending a good amount of time in Milano this week. Today was great, Anziano Webb even woke up early to make me breakfast in bed! Haha it was really funny, I did not see it coming at all, but Anziano Webb is the man. Then we went and did shopping and slept and threw the (american) football around. A relatively normal P-day. Next Tuesday is Anziano Webb's birthday though, so we are going to go see the Milano Stadium for P-day next week.

 

So today I read 2 Nephi 2 during personal study and it just about blew my mind. It's amazing! It covers so many aspects of the Gospel and really brings in the full effect of the Fall of Adam and Eve as a personal thing. Anziano Webb and I were talking about it and thinking how every single emotion we feel is thanks to the Fall. So thanks Adam and Eve, you guys rock! I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, and that this is His work. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is led by living apostles and prophets! I love you all a lot! Thanks for your prayers!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Hey Arthur

Cara Famiglia,

We set a baptismal date with Arthur about 20 minutes ago! It was awesome! In fact, to explain who he is, he is a referral from a less-active family in our ward. He is from Peru and is 19 years old. This family took us over to see him last Friday because he's going through a rough time in life suffering from Hemophilia. But he has remarkable faith and really wants to follow Jesus Christ. So we went over and talked a little bit about faith and gave him a Book of Mormon in Spanish. Then we called him earlier today to find out when we could meet again and he said 'Come over in the next hour or so since I'm really tired from work.' So we sacrificed some P-Day time to go see him and asked him how the reading was going. He had read nine chapters in the Book of Mormon! And some various other parts. Then he started asking us some questions about life after death and such, and we proceeded to rock his world with the Plan of Salvation! We weren't going to but we said 'We can either teach you about what our church is(the Restoration) or the plan that God has for us in this life.' He answered 'the second one!' He understood everything and said it answered a lot of the questions he had! So then we set a baptismal date for November 12th! He is so awesome and humble and we are really excited to help him progress towards the waters of baptism. So pray for Arthur! 

In other investigators news, the pool is a little thin. But our teenagers are awesome; Saul is the man as is the aforementioned Arthur. We saw Saul last night and started talking about the Gospel but then ended up talking a good while about the Word of Wisdom with our all star member that we brought with us. However we still feel like he is holding something back, but he is still reading and praying and is really humble and has great desires. So pray for us to have the spirit of discernment so we can help him feel the spirit and see the need to be baptized. We also finally saw Roberta today, who is a referral from the Anziani in Varese. They taught her about six or seven times, and since they started the following things have happened in her life: her sister died of cancer, her daughter is addicted to drugs again, and she moved to a new city in our area. So her life is really hectic but she needs the Gospel really bad and recognizes that there must be something stopping her from meeting with us. She talks a lot during the lessons but says really good stuff! She is great, we can't wait to start teaching her more. Today we kind of re-passed the Restoration and next time we will watch the film with her about it to clear it up.

So the work is going really well. We are really stepping it up trying to talk to everybody and thus find more people to teach. Money quote from Preach My Gospel: "Nothing happens in missionary work until you find somebody to teach." The Lord is truly blessing us with lots of miracles and we can see his hand preparing people to receive the restored gospel. I am really grateful for the opportunity to participate! 

This week my spiritual thought is from 1 Nephi. I started over reading the Book of Mormon and I'm doing the activity where you color every time a reference to Jesus Christ is made. There are a lot! It's awesome to see. But anyway, in chapter 15 Nephi is talking about how Laman and Lemuel don't understand everything that Lehi says. And I quote:

6 And it came to pass that after I had received strength I spake unto my brethren, desiring to know of them the cause of their disputations.

7 And they said: Behold, we cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken concerning the natural branches of the olive tree, and also concerning the Gentiles.

8 And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?

9 And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.

10 Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts?

11 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.

I would echo what Nephi says in verse 11. I know that if we will soften our hearts and ask in faith, believing that we shall receive, with diligence in keeping the commandments, these things shall be made known unto us. Remember -- he that seeketh diligently shall find. Nephi is the man. I know the church is true!

I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

General Conference

Cara Famiglia!

 

Well this week was awesome, highlighted of course by General Conference, which was a spiritual powerhouse. I really liked basically every talk. I liked Robert D. Hales saying "Many times we pray for patience, but we want it right now!" and also Tad R. Callister's talk about the Book of Mormon was really good. But like I said, they were all amazing as you know. I love that we have living prophets and apostles guiding the church and receiving modern revelation! It is incredible! And a second temple in Provo, Utah! That will be awesome.

 

This week was good with investigators. We've taught [Saul] five lessons in a row with members present and he is the man. He's really sincere and super humble and understands everything really well. Unfortunately he stood us up to come to General Conference in Milano but he's still awesome. He just needs a super solid testimony of the Book of Mormon and he'll get baptized! But he is progressing really well. We kind of dropped Umberto, he just was not reading or praying and didn't understand why he should, even though our member just tears it up the lessons. We just bore testimony and talked about how prayer and scripture study are exactly what he needs but he wouldn't commit to do it! We might see him sometimes in the future. Also we had an awesome scambio two days ago where we found an Italian family of five! They are really nice and we are going back to see them on Sunday, so we're super excited to teach them. Basically everything is on fire in Busto Arsizio.

 

This week's spiritual thought is one of my favorite scriptures of all time in the Book of Mormon that I read this morning, in 2 Nephi 26:27:

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.

It's great! Christ forbids absolutely nobody from salvation, we are the ones who forbid ourselves! I have gained a great testimony on my mission of the power of us to determine our own salvation(in a way) by making the right choices. I know that the best choice is to follow Jesus Christ and his perfect example, and I know that this is His church!

Lots and lots and lots of love!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Miracles and Conference Time Again!

Cara Famiglia,

Well we had some more great miracles this week! Busto Arsizio is amazing. It is good Anziano Webb and I are staying together because we are absolutely tearing it up over here! Last Thursday was amazing! (Probably because it was Austin's birthday!) It started in the morning, when we went to do some Parco. We weren't having much success, but then we found this guy named Renzo who was fixing something on his bike. We stopped and talk to him a bit, and then asked if he wanted to sit down. So we proceeded to sit down and present the Joseph Smith story and the Book of Mormon. We were about to just leave the Spanish Restoration Pamphlet because we didn't think we had a Book of Mormon in Spanish with us, but then BOOM! Anziano Webb pulled it out of his magic backpack! It was sweet. Then we proceeded to fix a baptismal date with him for October 22nd! Right there on the bench in the park. He is the man. We've taught him again since then and he actually gets it! He is awesome, so definitely pray for him. Then that afternoon we taught two lessons in casa! One was with a teenage kid from Morocco, the other with a 17 year old kid named Fanso from Senegal. We gave Fanso a Book of Mormon in French and taught a lesson in the hallway. It's really apparent that a lot of the teenagers here actually do want to know God, and are just trying to find out the way! Then we finished Thursday strong with a member present lesson with Solomon, our awesome Ghanaian kid who is progressing really well. He's another really sincere and smart teenage kid just trying to find the truth. He wants to be baptized but his parents are kind of against it, so pray for a miracle to happen there!

Other than that we are just keepin' on. We had a sweet lesson with another Temple Square Referral named Valeria, but she asked for a bit of time before she meets with us again. Oh well, at least she has a Book of Mormon now, and she even gave us one of her friends as a referral! We are still trying to work with [Ravith] and Elisabeth, but they are super busy, as is Luis. Umberto is doing okay, last night's lesson didn't go to well but we really want him to succeed. He just doesn't pray! Pray for him to pray! Anyway, the work here is just awesome, thanks for all your prayers and support!

This week's spiritual thought is centered on General Conference this weekend, for which I am soooo excited! It's gonna be awesome. I was reading through a bunch of the past conference issues and I found two talks that I really liked. One is called "That Your Burdens May Be Light" by Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy. Money quote: "Burdens provide opportunities to practice virtues that contribute to eventual perfection." The other awesome talk is called "Love and Law" by Dallin H. Oaks. I would recommend both as some warm-ups for Conference this weekend. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, and that the Book of Mormon is they keystone of our religion. I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith