Wu mun shu, Chuan djtsao shu! I want to open China to missionary work!

Cara Famiglia,

Well I hope Matt Gong doesn't hate me for the transliteration of the Chinese phrase in the subject line. It is currently the only Chinese I know. What I think it means is "We're missionaries from the church" or something. Either way, whenever we meet Chinese people on the street we say it to them and they understand who we are. I mention this because this week we have run into a lot of Chinese students that are open to the gospel.

The first is Kellan, who it is still very difficult to teach because neither of us speak Chinese, and he speaks little English or Italian. But we managed to talk a lot about the importance of the Book of Mormon these past couple lessons and re-set a baptismal date for the 19th of August. He is bravo, we just need some way to make sure he understands everything we teach. Fortunately we got a bunch of pamphlets in Chinese now so it should make it easier to teach.

We also found on the street the other day a Chinese student who goes by the name of Pietro. We fixed a tentative appointment for the next night but it wasn't really sure. Then the next day he called us and was like "Hey I want to bring a friend when we meet tonight!" And we said "Great!" So he brought his friend Giovanni (also Chinese), and both of them are awesome! Pietro is Christian but wants to strengthen his faith, and Giovanni is on the border whether to believe in God but asked those questions that make you want to be a missionary like "What is the purpose of life?" and "What happens after this life?" He is what we like to call a "golden investigator."

We also met a cool Chinese kid named Tino to whom we left a pamphlet of the Restoration in Chinese. Later we called and asked if he read it and he said he liked it! We are still trying to see him for an appointment though.

Other than that we are also contacting people of many different nations; you probably hear anywhere from 10-15 different languages on the streets of Siena every day between foreigners and tourists. It is awesome. I love Siena!

I liked a thought in Alma 44 this week:

4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.
5 And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, by our faith, by our religion, and by our rites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children, by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us—

I liked the source of their faith, from things like the support of the family, their 'rites of worship' a.k.a. ordinances, and by their desire to live a free, happy life. I know that this faith gives us increased purpose, direction, and security in this world that every day seems to need a bit more of it. I am grateful for the opportunity to see people change and grow through the gospel, including myself. I know that this church and the Book of Mormon are true. I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Pictures of the Palio

For background on what the palio is, see its wikipedia page.

Training!

Cara Famiglia,

Well well well, I have a new companion down here in Siena and he is a stud. His name is Anziano Benson and he is from Idaho Falls, coming to Siena straight out of the MTC. He is a really good kid and basically spent his time before the mission working. He also played soccer in high school! We drove up to Milano last Wednesday and spent the night there and on Thursday morning we met up with all the new missionaries and the other trainers. It was really cool to see that Anziano Scheurn is also training.

In doing street contacting and working in general, Anziano Benson puts me to shame. He talks with everybody! It is really cool to see how much faith he has and it gives me an example to work harder and remember the fundamental purposes of missionary work. Since he has come we have probably talked with more people and gotten more phone numbers and appointments in such a short space of time than I have in my entire mission. The work is definitely growing.

We found a really cool guy named Adam who is from Mali. He is living in Siena studying to be a doctor and his wife and two kids are still in Africa. He speaks French, English, and pretty good Italian, and really loved the Restoration. He grew up in a Muslim family but read the Bible and believed it, so now he is a Christian. He is going to love the Book of Mormon.

We are still working with Kellan, our chinese friend. He came to church again on Sunday! And even though he barely understands what is said he can feel the spirit and said he likes coming. We taught him on Monday and figured out that we were making things way too complicated for him with the language barrier and everything, so we basically just talked about the really simple concept of praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He agreed and promised that he would pray. He is super sincere and even after the lesson he basically said 'Hey Anziani, if I don't join your church, can we still be friends?' It was super cool and we just said 'Yeah of course!' It was a good lesson.

This week I really enjoyed reflecting on a talk from David A. Bednar in the November 2006 Conference called "And Nothing Shall Offend Them". I quote:

"When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not acondition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.

In the grand division of all of God’s creations, there are things to act and things to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:13–14). As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation."

The idea of 'acting' versus 'being acted upon' is a really cool concept that you can think a lot about. Every time we choose to not get angry, offended, upset, or bitter towards someone we are choosing to act instead of being acted upon. I am grateful that the example Jesus Christ gave was to act, and that by acting we not only better ourselves but are more capable to serve others and bring to pass our missionary purpose. I love this church and I love this restored gospel. I love you all lots too!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Transfers!

Cara Famiglia,

Transfers strikes again! My companion is being taken away and shipped off to Trieste where the wind will carry him into Slovenia. Just kidding! But he is really excited. My new companion will be fresh from the United States of America. It should be fun!

The Palio was awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwesome!!!! You probably saw me somewhere in the crowd if you were watching. It was a really cool experience and made me feel like I was in Siena in the middle ages. When we come back to visit we have to be in Siena either July 2nd or August 16th to see it. Also today p-day is special! We are spending the night in Milano tonight and so on the way we stopped here in Genova for pday. Genova is beautiful, and the focaccia is the best in the world.

This week was pretty good! It was hot but we worked really hard. We are teaching Kellan, the chinese miracle kid! We printed out Preach My Gospel in Chinese and basically for the lessons we just read it with him and bear simple testimony haha. But he is really cool and has sincere desire to know Jesus Christ more. We also found another new investigator this week named David who is from Nigeria! We found him on a park bench and taught him and he is interested in learning more, so we will see where that goes.

Other than that there's not much going on. This week I read over one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon, Alma 34, it's a hidden gem! I like verse 10 a lot:

 10 For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice.

It is an interesting thing to ponder the infiniteness of the atonement of Jesus Christ that passes all the way from the fall of Adam to the present day and on to the future! I am grateful that this power is infinite and therefore never runs out, because I need it every day! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I love this work and I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Palio Time

Cara Famiglia,

It's Palio time! That, together with the fact that Italy made it to the final for Euro 2012 in soccer, made it slightly tough to talk to people yesterday, especially because Italy got rocked. Oh well. The Palio should start officially in about four hours. Look for me on the campo.

The work this week went a lot better than last week. We were able to see a bunch of less-actives and members to introduce this missionary program we are starting in the branch. We told the members that the first purpose is simply to strengthen the faith and testimony of the branch, and then that missionary work will be a natural result. We are hoping and praying that it works!

We taught the miracle chinese kid on Saturday (Kellen) and he is awesome. He really liked the Restoration film in chinese, is going to read the Book of Mormon, and even said he wants to bring a friend to meet with us. So we are hoping that goes well. He is really busy during the week though and so we will probably have to wait to Saturday to see him again. We also found a new investigator named Jennifer who is from Nigeria. She met the missionaries about seven years ago and then they found her on scambio two weeks ago. She actually seems pretty brava and interested so we will also see where that goes.

This week I was really impressed with a line from Robert D. Hales' talk from the most recent conference. In talking about the Sacrament he said: "As we sing the sacrament hymn, participate in the sacrament prayers, and partake of the emblems of His flesh and blood, we prayerfully seek forgiveness for our sins and shortcomings. We think about the promises we made and kept during the previous week and make specific personal commitments to follow the Savior during the coming week." I really liked the idea of 'participating' in the sacrament prayers and also the idea of not only looking backward at the previous week we think about commitments and ways we can make the coming week more exemplary of the savior's life. I am really grateful that every Sunday we can partake of the Sacrament since we need to be reminded often of the eternal significance of the Savior's sacrifice. I know this is the Lord's work. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

P.S. I got the two letters mom sent in the mail. Grazie!