A Plethora of Pictures from Piacenza (and Pisa and plenty of peripheral places), plus pizza!

Benjamin's captions are included.

American Military Cemetery in Firenze

Anziano Benson and I at our favorite Pizzeria in Siena. I may have sent this picture before.

Anziano Thompson and I!

Me in Pisa

Botticelli painting in the Palazzo Farnese

Church where they announced the First Crusades (there is a funeral going on!)

Cinque Terre

Fratello Rotelli and I in the church in Siena, he was the Branch Clerk

In front of the Siena Duomo

Knocking doors in San Gimignano

Me and Sorella Feri, the Relief Society President

Me with Simone Rotelli, who was a counselor in the Siena Branch presidency

Painting of David with Goliath's head

Pizza. If my recollection is correct, it was a four cheese pizza. Delicious.

Streetlight decorations lining the streets of Siena for the Palio. Viva l'Oca!

The chapel in the church here in Piacenza

This is of me at the Palazzo Farnese with a skyline view of a church in Piacenza

This will be on the cover of my autobiography when I'm President of the United States

Teaching in the Rain!

Cara Famiglia,

It's raining a lot here! Although I probably have no right to talk since there is a hurricane going down on the east coast. We hadn't even heard anything about it until last night when we were teaching a part member family. I'm grateful that everyone is doing alright! It was also really sad to hear about Chris Lewis, that is such a bummer. I was always impressed with his testimony and commitment to the gospel, and I'm especially grateful for all the times we got to go home teach him and learn from him. He was awesome!

Happy Halloween! Today we toured Piacenza a little bit, we went to a place called the Palazzo Farnese where they have a bunch of art, including a painting by Botticelli that was really cool. There was also a great one of the giant battle in the Bible where Joshua stops the sun so the battle can go on. Then we went and saw the church here in Piacenza where the Pope signed the document that authorized the first crusades. There was actually a funeral going on though, so we didn't really get pictures. Italy is awesome.

This week the work continues to grow! We are seeing a lot of progress in our investigators. Also, Gianpaolo got baptized!!!! It was really cool, even though I barely know him haha. He had a really great baptismal service and this next week he is going to baptize his wife. The unfortunate thing is that since there is no font here in Piacenza, we have to do baptisms in either Modena or Brescia. Fun stuff.

Alex, the Ukrainian guy, is awesome! He believes the Book of Mormon is true but is still waiting on a concrete solid answer and a direct answer on baptism before he takes the big step. It is tough because he has learned everything we have to teach and is moving back to Ukraine on Saturday. But we have his info to give to the missionaries there and found out the church is right by his house in his city there, which will be great. He is a stud.

Another couple we are teaching is Angelo and Paola. They are both from Ecuador, and have two little daughters! Angelo was baptized about three months ago, and Paola just recently started meeting with the missionaries. It was really cool in our lesson yesterday to hear her say "I can already see the difference in my life from reading the Book of Mormon." But she smokes and is kind of hesitant to set a baptismal date. But they are so awesome!

Valerio, who I don't know if I talked about in recent emails, is getting his baptismal interview tomorrow! We hope he will pass! He is such a cool guy and just looooves reading the Book of Mormon. Every time we assign him chapters he calls us the next day telling us what he thought about them. After yesterday's lesson we forgot to give him stuff to read and he called us a couple hours later and reprimanded us for that haha, it was funny. If all goes well he should be baptized November 10th.

Other than that nothing much is really going on. The weather is getting slightly colder but it's not so bad because fortunately we just have a ton of appointments to run to! Missionary work is so great when it is the busiest.

So this week we also had stake conference, broadcast via technology to our branch here in Piacenza since Verona is a two hour drive away. One of the former counselors in the Stake Presidency talked a lot about David in the Old Testament, and so I decided to re-read some of his story today. I love the verse that describes when he faces Goliath:

1 Sam. 17:45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

It is a pretty epic story that exemplifies the strength of the Lord that is with us as we face trials. I was also thinking about it more since in the art we saw today there was a big painting of David holding Goliath's head. But the point is, God will help us face the impossible trials in our life! Obviously David was the favorite to lose, but he won because of his faith, diligence, and obedience. I know that as we follow Jesus Christ and His gospel we can have the strength of the boy David and overcome any doubts, discouragements, or difficulties that we face. I know this church is true. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Piacenza = City of Miracles!

Cara Famiglia,

Welcome to Piacenza! This city is awesome! The work here is going amazingly. It is awesome! We are so busy with appointments and stuff we have barely had time to do finding work. Piacenza is a bike city too, which is really nice.

Well I will run through our awesome investigators! Gianpaolo is an awesome Italian guy. We went to his wedding on Saturday where he married Rosa. He should be baptized this week and then Rosa the week after! They have been taught everything and are ready. Gianpaolo is Italian and his wife is Ecuadorian. They are really cool. Another awesome investigator we have is Alex, who is from Ukraine! He even understood when I said hello in Russian(Thanks Diana!) He is a Seventh-day Adventist, but is really loving everything we teach and even came to church on Sunday! It was an interesting experience haha. We are also teaching a really interesting guy named Valerio who is a 60 year old Italian man who used to be Shinto but now really wants to change his life! He loves the Book of Mormon and came to church on Sunday and loved it! He and Alex both have baptismal dates for the 10th of November! The work here is so good!

We are also teaching some other cool people including Silvia, a student from the English class who's looking for real happiness, and Betty and Daniele, who are a family from Cape Verde in Africa. All these people are super cool and it is awesome to work with them. The work here is just on fire, and everything is going well. I have never had so much work to do!

We had a really good zone conference this last week too, and they highlighted a quote that I really enjoy from Preach My Gospel. On page 19 Boyd K. Packer quoted says: “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.” It really is true! I'm grateful that the gospel really addresses every single concern we could have about becoming our best self, that's why we constantly need to study it every day and apply it in our lives, so that every day we can try to become a little bit more like the Savior. I know He is the perfect example and I'm grateful that every moment of our lives we have the opportunity to choose to become more like Him. I love this gospel and I know this work is true! I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Birthday Space Transfer!

Cara Famiglia,

Ciao Siena! Ciao Piacenza! I love that you can use the same word for goodbye and hello in Italian! But yeah, I am now out of Toscana and in the great city of Piacenza. It is basically halfway between Modena and Milano, and in fact the district is us, Reggio Emilia, and Modena, so I will finish in the same district I started in! My companion Anziano Benson went to Busto Arsizio!!!!! He is so lucky, that city rocks! My companion now is Anziano Thompson, who is also from Idaho Falls(in fact he went to the same high school as Anziano Benson), and who is in his third transfer. He did his first two in Busto, so it has been cool to hear what was going on there.

Seeing as how I literally just got here this morning, I'm not super up to date on the work but I can just say that it is stellar! Piacenza has seven baptismal dates and a ton of investigators! When President called to tell us where we were going he said 'Piacenza is leading the mission in baptismal dates' and in the rest of the district there are seven other dates. So we will have our hands full! My companion is awesome, I can already tell!

Thanks to everybody for the Birthday wishes! Special shout out to Grandpa and also the Benson family who sent me a really great card. I hope they know how awesome of a missionary their son is and how much he is going to tear it up in Busto.

My spiritual thought is really simple, but I really loved President Eyring's talk from the Sunday Morning session of Conference about the 'pavilion' blocking us from God. I would also cross-reference Elder Holland's talk and encourage us all to leave our nets behind and join the cause of Christ with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. I know that this decision we make will change our lives, and as we pray 'thy will be done' we will find our lives more fulfilling than whatever we could fill them with. I love you all lots, and I know this work is true!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

General Conference!!!!

Cara Famiglia,

GENERAL CONFERENCE! It's like Christmas as a missionary. It was crazy to hear the age change for missionaries, and I'm looking forward to seeing all the missionaries that will now be coming out, I expect a lot more! It was a really really good conference, I will give a report later on.

The work in Siena is going really well, we are still working with Selifa and Noeline. Noeline is doing especially well, as we taught her twice with a member this week and she watched some of General Conference and liked it! We also watched the Restoration movie with her and it really helped her understand a lot. She is excited to prepare for baptism on October 28th!

Also this week I got to do an awesome scambio in Pistoia with Anziano Gibbons! He is also from Idaho Falls and is an awesome missionary. We taught a guy on a well, that is a first in the mission! We didn't have a talk about living water though. But it was a really fun and successful scambio. We placed a Book of Mormon with a cool Italian lady and also taught a nice Muslim man from Morocco who was also interested in the Book of Mormon.

So conference was truly awesome! I really loved President Uchtdorf's first talk. It was really cool to just think of life in a different perspective and how it illustrates the principle of 'acting' and not 'being acted upon.' I liked this quote:

Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect. “This is the day which the Lord hath made … ,” the Psalmist wrote. “Rejoice and be glad in it.”

I know that as we do our best to follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ and love every day as much as He did we will not have the regrets that President Uchtdorf talked about. I am grateful for the Savior's example of loving, daily, constant service and hope I can do better to follow Him. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Transfer Win!

Cara Famiglia,

Transfers! Oh man. Fortunately neither me or my companion is getting transfered, we get to stay in Siena and see more miracles happen! The work here is going really well and every day it is awesome to get out and do missionary work. We finished the 12 week training program so we even have an extra hour now to be outside! Birthday time! Happy Birthday to Dad on October 2nd!! Woohoo!! Also Happy Birthday to Jason Richards on Oct. 1st, Aeldste Richards on Oct. 3, and Emily Evans on Oct. 4th! There are a lot of birthdays in October!

The work is going really well and is progressing. We are still teaching Selifa and Noelli(I don't actually know how to spell her name! haha). They are progressing and Selifa really wants to be baptized. We finally got another copy of the Book of Mormon in French too so now they can both read on their own! We have also been fortunate enough to have members help us out at almost all the lessons, which helps immeasurably. Members make a huge difference in the lessons and in anyone's progress in the gospel.

I also had a really cool opportunity this week to contact a referral from my good friend Aeldste Richards. A guy he taught in Denmark moved to Firenze to go to school, and we had a surprise opportunity to work for an evening in Firenze on Saturday night! So my good friend Anziano Warren and I went and found him and he is awesome! And it was really cool to be able to teach someone that one of my best friends taught! I will try and find a referral for him!

I had forgotten to mention that this last week was the Firenze District Conference, and we had a visiting Area Seventy, Elder Clifford Herbertson! We got to go to a really good training for Priesthood leaders in Pisa and hear him speak. It was awesome! He gave a really cool thought that I would like to share. His son had a really powerful Harley-Davidson motorcycle and was going to make a long trip. Anziano Herbertson compared that to the Holy Ghost. Seeking and following the promptings of the Holy Ghost is like riding the motorcycle, but choosing not to seek and follow it's promptings is like walking to your destination while pushing the Harley-Davidson alongside you, it just makes things harder. I really liked that analogy and am grateful that the scriptures and prayer help clarify the voice of the spirit, that is the most important voice we can listen to in this world. I love this work and I love this gospel and I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith