Miracles!

Cara Famiglia,

[Photo not taken by Benjamin]

Well I don't have much time to do email, today we are in La Spezia. We went to Cinque Terre for Pday, which is arguably the prettiest spot in Italy. I don't quite have enough time to send pictures so for now you can look them up. We are on our way to Milano because there is a conference for new missionaries tomorrow. Also quick shout out to Elder Dickson in Mexico, I got his letter! It was awesome. I laughed a lot at all the things he wrote, and I sent him a really good return letter but after placing it in the mailbox I realized I forgot to write 'Messico' on the envelope. It might still make it?

The real story is that this week we got blitzed by the traveling assistants, and we saw a ton of miracles. Everything is going really well! I was with Anziano Osborn who is in the group above me and we had some sweet success finding new people, including Eugenio, a student who is studying Anthropology. He let us in as we were knocking doors and we had a great lesson. We also taught Bismar and helped him see what he was missing out on by not reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it, and he is progressing now. We also taught Gerald, a really cool guy from Johannesburg, South Africa who is here studying. He had a lot of great questions and was interested in the Book of Mormon.

Then Anziano Benson and Anziano Sciarretta also had a bunch of success. They set a baptismal date with this new investigator we have named Anna Maria. She is a typical Italian lady from Siena and is doing really well. We brought our Relief Society president to the lesson and they hit it off. She has a baptismal date for the 29th of September! They also found apparently the Bolivian version of Joseph Smith, a kid named Rodrigo. He is super elect and is going to be baptized for sure.

I would invite everyone to read 4 Nephi again and see what happens when the happiest people of all time turn into super unhappy people in just a couple pages! It is a good reminder to be humble always, never thinking to ourselves that we've "made it" in anything we're doing. I know Jesus Christ is the perfect example of humility and following his example brings joy. I love this work and I know it is His work. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith