Siena is awesome! We have been having a pretty good week. The weather continues to be excellent and Siena is still beautiful. Transfers happened this week and my father finished his mission! Bummer too because his companionship is now in my district. But that means Anziano Warren is in the district, and he's training yeah! Today is a great day for P-day, we are going to play soccer/frisbee/gatorball with the BYU students. They are awesome and are a really great help to the branch.
Andrea and Miwako both came to church again on Sunday! It was awesome. It was fast and testimony meeting and Andrea got up and bore his testimony! At first I was a little nervous like 'Oh no, what is he going to say!' But he basically just talked about how the teachings of the church are really blessing his life. He also said (not verbatim) 'I was supposed to be baptized today (he had a baptismal date for the 3rd of June) but we had to move it, so I will be baptized in the future.' It was sooooo cool! He is doing really well and continuing to read the Book of Mormon. Also his son Leo who is 11 is almost finished reading the Book of Mormon kids stories book. This family is so golden! We also had another cool miracle in that Bianka, a new convert, brought another friend to church! She was visiting from Calabria just for the weekend but apparently is reading the Book of Mormon and is super cool. The branch here is great and there is a lot of potential for growth. We are working really hard to find people and are feeling your prayers helping. This morning we also taught a lesson to a Peruvian lady named Gloria who's nephew is 18 in Peru and apparently preparing to go on a mission. She seems super cool and accepted a soft baptismal invite so we should be able to see some good things happening.
I really liked the scripture Dad sent me in Alma 6:6 that talks about members fasting and praying in behalf of those that are not part of the church. It reminded me of a really awesome quote by Bruce R. McConkie in Preach My Gospel that talks about a usually less-common part of prayer: action. He said in a talk “Our deeds, in large measure, are children of our prayers. Having prayed, we act; our proper petitions have the effect of charting a righteous course of conduct for us”. I was reading conference talks the other day and an article that really exemplified this principle was by President Monson from the April 2002 General Conference called 'They Pray and They Go.' I have really been trying harder recently to not just pray for miracles to happen but have my actions, planning, and studies reflect that desire. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect, and that this is His church. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I love you all!
-Anziano Benjamin Smith
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