Miracles!

Cara Famiglia,

Well it is getting nice and cold in Piacenza. Although after reading Elder Richard's email [who is in Denmark] I probably don't have much to complain about. But we are staying warm and are teaching a bunch so it's not too bad. Today we had a good Pday, we went to Parma (which is a surprisingly cool, big, and beautiful city!) with the Anziani from Reggio Emilia and Modena. It was a good time. We saw some a cool opera house that got bombed in WWII and of course ate pizza.

The work is still going well! We are doing a lot of finding work every day and it is great to just hit the streets and talk to people. There is no limit of people to talk to about the gospel. We have found a bunch of cool potentials this last week and the Lord is blessing us a lot.

Esther is doing well but we haven't been able to meet with her and she couldn't come to church because she was sick. Also we haven't been able to meet with Angelo and Paola since Angelo found a new job and is now super busy. However, we did meet with Tony, and he is awesome! He is just a stud. He and his wife are reading together from the Book of Mormon, and he says he just feels different when he reads or prays or meets with us! We are seeing him again tomorrow. One thing you can pray for is that he'll come to church! He is awesome though.

We had a really great miracle this week! We were talking to people on the street last Friday and we stopped and talked to this lady for maybe two minutes and just got her phone number. We barely talked to her. So we called her on Saturday and invited her to church and she actually came! It was awesome! She came to Sacrament Meeting and the members were so awesome at greeting her and we met her again on Monday. It was sweet, we are seeing her again tomorrow! She is really Catholic though, but she has a lot of potential.

I really love Alma 7; it is probably one of the most awesome chapters in the Book of Mormon. This morning I really liked verse 13 which says: "Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me." I liked the connection with some talk by Henry B. Eyring, where he talked about how Jesus Christ could have learned how we feel in our trials by revelation, but instead he chose to experience it himself. Kind of like the difference between knowing something by reading it in a book and by actually going through it. It's probably one of the most comforting thoughts of all time to know that Jesus Christ knows every single feeling we have ever felt and can help lift us in our afflictions. I have felt that many times in my life, sometimes without even realizing it! I know this is His work and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I love you all very much!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith