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