Modena Week 17!

Cara Famiglia,

 

Well it sounds like everybody at home had a busy and fun week doing lots of things, but I have you beat because I'm on a mission in Italy! Ha! Pride aside(and also bad rhymes), this week was excellent, and today we are going to Parma for P-Day to go bowling with the Anziani from Reggio and Piacenza!

 

We had a sweet lesson with Paolo this week, he basically taught us about prayer and feeling the Holy Ghost. I love teaching him because the spirit is always super strong, probably how it should be in all lessons. He's really humble and sincere and definitely has a strong desire to strengthen his relationship with God, so we are excited to help him progress. He's sooo going to get baptized and sealed in the temple. The only problem is he works a ton during the week so we can only see him on Sundays after church. We also taught a good lesson with the miracle guy, Giuseppe, who is also trying to find God in his life. He's given us three bidoni though, and each time we had a member there with us. But we are still workin with him. Unfortunately we dropped Michael for now, he wasn't really progressing enough, but we are working hard to find some new investigators and help them progress. The work is going really good here.

 

This week also had the worst day of my mission. Last Friday we had four straight awesome appointments fall through, including two with a member. The worst part is that as part of one of the appointments falling through, one of our best investigators, Bouba, moved to Napoli without saying anything! It was a major bummer. And then literally 30 minutes later we called one of the other investigators who had given us a bidone and he had also moved to Napoli! It was literally Move-to-Napoli day, and it was not fun. But it was a good learning experience about how to cope with some major disappointment.

 

There was also a sweet zone conference this week, again held in Modena. We learned a lot about just how to be better in every way, especially in using the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon! I dunno if I mentioned but we had a goal to give out 50 copies this transfer and we are currently at 29, so we are on track to reach the goal. It's awesome to give people a copy of the greatest book in the entire world, for free too! We always try to literally pour out our testimony to people when we give them the Book of Mormon, it's really great.

 

Well this week I really liked reading some stuff in Doctrine and Covenants Section 6. My favorite is verses 22-23, which was conveniently already highlighted in my scriptures. It's a really good thought that we don't really ever lose a testimony, we just forget it momentarily! It made me think of the part in the New Testament where Jesus says the Holy Ghost will bring all things to our remembrance. A lot of times I think we need to simply confirm our testimony, not ask for a whole new one. I'm really grateful for the testimony I have that Jesus Christ lives as our Savior and Redeemer, who atoned for all of us. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know this church is true, and this work is amazing!

 

I loooooooooooooove you all!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Sempre a Modena!

Cara Famiglia,

 

Buon Giorno! E oggi veramente è un buon giorno, perchè siamo venuti a Verona per P-Day! It's a good thing we weren't here two weeks ago when you guys were, but this city is more beautiful than I remember! It is awesome to see everything.

 

This week has had some good work going too. We are continuing to work with Michael; when it comes down to it his biggest hurdle is coming to church. I think we simply need to get him more involved with the members and help him get rides and stuff, so we'll be working on that. I second Palmer's comment about the killer no-show of progressing investigators at church, it's a major bummer, but life goes on. We also on a whim gave this potential investigator about his 10th chance to meet with us after a ton of no-shows for lessons. We show up to teach him, and he is super receptive to the gospel and totally gets everything! His name is Asantis, he is from Ghana and currently staying at a Caritas place while he's looking for work to help his family out back in Africa, but he is reading the Book of Mormon and loving it, and now has a baptismal date for July 2nd! We are really excited!

 

This week we had an awesome experience. We had gotten a bidone and were on our way to do some finding when a guy who was driving his car past us stopped his car and called out to us. He asked 'Are you those Americans that talk about Jesus with everybody?' And we said 'Yeah!!' and he then said 'Great! Here's my address and phone number, come see me tomorrow!' His name was Giuseppe. We ended up meeting him two days later, and found out he is the father of a less-active teen in our ward who is going through a really rough time in his life and needs the gospel. I know that the Lord has prepared this person to hear our message and that through the Atonement he will find new peace in his life that he is searching for. It is amazing to see how the Lord prepares people!

 

Another awesome thing was that we had four investigators in church this week! It was really cool, and we are working with some of them to help them progress more. One of them is a potential miracle of a lifetime, I will explain when the success happens though.

 

I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, who gave his life to help bring this cause to light, and I am glad I get to share this knowledge with people every day, no matter how many people reject it. Bearing testimony everyday rocks. Loving the people rocks too. I know this work is true.

 

I loooooove you all!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Italia!

Cara Famiglia!

 

[Background note: Benjamin's mom, two brothers and a cousin just visited Italy... without telling Benjamin that they went. Only after leaving did they inform him, to which he responds:] That is....insaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaane!! I am actually quite impressed you kept that trip a secret so well. Unbelievable. My mind was literally completely blown when I read that email. But glad you enjoyed Italy, it is the bomb.

 

Modena is doing great! It's too bad you guys didn't stop by, the weather has been pretty nice and Modena is a good city. Today we are going to the Ferrari Factory with the Anziani from Piacenza and Reggio.

 

Our investigators are....doing well? Michael has basically stopped progressing, we can tell he's just not reading the BoM or really praying about the stuff we leave him with, kind of a big bummer. We had a lesson to try and jump start him on keeping commitments that went pretty well, we will see if he can do that. We have also found some other new investigators that we are hoping to have progress. Castro is a gold mine for referrals, we need to ask him more! He is so good, he always has someone who he thinks would be ready to hear about the gospel. One of his friends is named Chris and accepted a baptismal challenge so we are going to be working with him to get there.

 

We had another Zone type mission meeting here in Modena yesterday, it was awesome. We had some really awesome training things from President and the Assistants about utilizing the spirit more in teaching. I think it was something specifically aimed at us, to help us become better teachers. We also talked a lot about the doctrine of Christ, that is, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. It is cool to see just how much we need to make it not just a thing we can recite but to make it a way of life! It gives me a lot of focus and drive to get better, and just generally become more Christlike.

 

I really liked reading over some stuff in Doctrine and Covenants section 84, it is way good. Verses 79, 85, and 88 are some of my favorites, and the promises they give are really good. My testimony about missionary work has definitely grown (obviously!) since I have been out here on the mission, and I am so grateful to be able to serve the Lord for two years. I know the Lord really is watching over us and all we do, and the promises in the Doctrine and Covenants about missionaries are real. I love you all, all the time!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

 

P.S. Pictures! From around Modena, with Anziano Scheurn and Anziano Portellano, the tomb of St. Geminiano, and making pizza!

Anziano Hutchinson!!!!

Benjamin's email this week:

Ciao!

 

So Anziano Hutchinson is my new companion! He is a stud, he was in the group above me in the MTC and is super cool. He's from Bountiful, Utah, and got 5th in states in HS Wrestling in the 119 weight, after being ranked 2nd (look out Elder Dickson!) But yeah he is a really cool guy and I am looking forward to working with him this transfer. He came from Prato, a city right next to Firenze, and says Modena is a prettier city. Today in Modena for P-Day we also have the Anziani from Siena who stopped by on the way home from a permesso appointment in Mantova, and the Anziani from Mantova also came to spend P-Day here. It's fun stuff, especially since Anziano Portellano from my MTC district is here, he is the man.

 

Our investigators are going good, we have some solid ones that I'm feeling really good about that are progressing well. Michael should be baptized on June 11 if all goes well and he gets to church a couple more times. We are working well with him and he is a really good guy. Also Paolo is great, even though we couldn't see him this week he assured us he would read the assignment we left him. We are hoping to teach him a good lesson about eternal families this week to really help him see the potential of blessings that are awaiting him. Also I don't know if I mentioned this last week but we are teaching this lady named Gabriella who is Italian and believes basically everything! She has all this Buddhist, Hindu, and Islamic art and stuff literally covering her walls at her house. We're trying to get her focused on figuring out the gospel as the one way we can return to live with Heavenly Father.

 

Also, I don't if I mentioned before but they re-aligned our district this transfer to include Reggio and Piacenza, so now there are 10 people in our district! It is huge. And yesterday at the District Meetings the Zone Leaders came too, so it was packed. We are also holding some cool mission Zone Meetings here next week for the Firenze and Bologna zones, so that should be good.

 

Spiritual thought for the week is appreciation for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This morning in companionship study Anziano Hutchinson and I listened to this awesome talk Jeffrey R. Holland gave to mission presidents a couple years ago where he basically says "We obviously preach the Atonement as the single most important event in human history, but we shouldn't shy away or try to teach around the Restoration for fear of offending people! The Restoration is what gives us and all of God's children the access to the Atonement that is necessary to return to live with Him!" I'm not as good at saying it as Elder Holland unfortunately, but it was a really good talk. I was also really struck again by the section in Doctrine and Covenants that talks about the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. I am constantly impressed by what he did to help bring this gospel to light and that he had enough faith to go and pray in a grove of trees almost 200 years ago. I know that Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God who saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, who was called as a prophet to help bring all of God's children to salvation. I know the Book of Mormon is true and testifies of Jesus Christ. I know that this work is the work of the Lord!

 

Lots of love! (especially for Mom!)

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Still in Modena?????

Cara Famiglia,

 

The answer is yes! I am staying in Modena. Anziano Kimball, however, is not so lucky, as he is being transferred to GENOVA!! He is going to be training again aaaand opening a new companionship! Pretty intense! He is super excited though, his brother served in Genova in the Milan mission about 10 years ago. My new companion will be Anziano Hutchinson, who is one transfer above me, I knew him in the MTC and he's a really good guy, so I'm looking forward to serving with him.

 

This week was pretty exciting. The first thing I would bring your attention to would be last Thursday. Guess how many lessons we had planned? Answer: 9. Guess how many fell through? Answer: 9. Buuuuuut, it was still an awesome day because we taught three new lessons and picked up three new investigators, two of which are now progressing! And one accepted a baptismal commitment! And they were all even Italians! So even though that day was kind of rough it ended up being dang good. Also, for the second time in my mission so far, a family invited us over for dinner after knowing us for only about 10 minutes. It was great, but unfortunately they weren't really interested in the gospel. But we did get a nice Italian dinner. Our other investigators are doing well. Paolo is an awesome guy who is the companion of a sister in our ward, i.e. they are not married but live together with a kid. He's known the church basically his whole time being together with this lady but only just recently said he'd be interested in learning about the gospel. I don't know if I've mentioned him in previous emails since we've only taught him two or three times, but he is a stud, really sincerely wanting to find God in his life. At our appointment on Sunday after church, he showed us that he had taken a bunch of notes on the Alma 32 reading assignment we left him! It was awesome! I loooove when investigators keep commitments. Our other investigators are doing great too, progressing along pretty nicely. Pray for them!

 

This week in studying for Paolo's lessons we were reading about faith and I was really impressed with the Hebrews 11 and Ether 12 team-up. They both just give a run down of amazing miracles all throughout scriptual history wrought by FAITH! It was literally awesome, to see how much Faith is a principle of power. It is also good to know how to increase your faith based on Alma 32. I still always remember the quote I think from Sister Hekking who wasn't even my seminary teacher, but who says 'great faith has a short shelf life.' I know that as we read and hear the word of God, and pray, our faith will increase! I've seen it go up a lot since I've been out here, and every day and night I pray that I can have enough faith to work miracles here in Italy. And it works! I challenge everyone reading this to improve their faith every day, it makes life much better.

 

I love being out here in Modena! I love Italy! I love being able to wake up and go out to spend 100% of my time serving the Lord, without having to worry about school or anything! I know Heavenly Father answers prayers, even if it's not always the way we expect! I love you all!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

The Saga of the Fridge Lives on!

Cara Famiglia,

 

Sorry I keep mentioning the fridge in the subject line. Let it be known that even with being fridge-less for 3 weeks now we are still working super hard. But yeah, they said it should be ready today, so we are really hoping and praying it is so we can get some real groceries again.

 

The work is going good in Modena! We are continuing to work with Michael towards baptism, although he is a little flaky on appointments recently. We will probably have to push his baptismal date back to early June. But one cool thing is that we recently picked up an awesome investigator named Bouba! He is a Muslim guy from Guinea who doesn't speak Italian very well (apparently they speak French there), but after reading the Book of Mormon and praying he believes in Jesus Christ being the Son of God and wants to be baptized! The only problem is he doesn't want to do it anytime soon because if he does his brother will kick him out of the house and he doesn't have anywhere else to go. Pray for him! He is super solid. Fortunately one of the recent RMs speaks French though, so we will be taking him to most of our lessons with Bouba.

 

Other than our major investigators we are doing a lot of finding work. Also, this is my week to be Senior Companion for this transfer! It is kind of nerve wracking since I am still by all standards very young in the mission making calls and setting up appointments and stuff, but I am learning a lot. Anziano Kimball is a great example of a missionary too, so I don't have to pull things out of the air as to what the Senior Comp. should be doing.

 

Recently in district meeting we had an awesome discussion about the 'Bear Testimony Frequently' section in Preach my Gospel (Pg. 198 in English). It has some really great stuff about why testimonies are so powerful and how to use it. They taught us a lot in the MTC about how our testimony is the most powerful thing we use to teach, and I have definitely found that to be true. I would encourage everyone to read it and think about how you can strengthen your testimony by bearing it frequently! It really works. I'm grateful for the testimony I have that the Book of Mormon is true, God is our loving Heavenly Father, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It feels good to bear your testimony all day, every day, no matter what the results are. I know that this work is true and is led by God. I really liked the simple remark from Marcel's letter where he talks about how everybody, no matter what their circumstances, needs Christ. It's so simple but true! We run into people all the time who say 'Oh my life is good right now, don't worry about it.' And I just think 'ahhh but there is so much more!!' I'm truly grateful for this wonderful opportunity to be a servant in the Lord's vineyard, and to help bring about the Lord's work daily.

 

I love you all!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Food poisoning! And another broken fridge!

Cara Famiglia,

This week was pretty interesting. It started off good last week, when we got our new fridge! But it only worked for an evening, so...still waiting on the repairs for it. Hopefully it arrives either tonight or tomorrow morning. Modena is still great though, the weather is awesome and we are picking up the pace with finding work since a lot of our potential investigators aren't panning out. We have a couple awesome ones though, including a surprise one who now wants to be baptized, named Eric! He's tight. Also we have Michael who should be baptized on the 28th. Pray for them both!

To explain the first part of the subject, let it be known that over the weekend about 150 of the Young Single Adults (GANS) in Italian came to Modena for an activity. They had a dance Saturday night and then a Sacrament meeting Sunday morning, so the regular ward meeting was pushed back to 4:30 in the pm. After church on Sunday, some of the ward members pushed some food off on us, including a rice meal. Naturally, as polite missionaries, we gladly took it home. Fast forward to Monday lunch time, and we're like, "Hey, let's eat this leftover rice from the GANS activity for lunch! Good plan, Anziano!" So we each heat up a bowl. Anziano Kimball wolfed his portion down, but I only took a bite cause I wasn't feelin it. I ended up just eating chips and some other random stuff in the kitchen for lunch. An hour later the party began! Anziano Kimball succumbed to food poisoning, and so we ended up staying in the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday. It was rough on him, although he didn't seem as bad as when I had food poisoning in High School. He's feelin about 90% now though, and it's P-Day so we should be ready to get back on track tonight and finish out the week strong.

This week since we were inside for a couple days I got to read and study the scriptures a lot, which was pretty enjoyable actually. It kind of felt like being in the MTC again, where you just have a ton of time to study. I was really impressed by another verse about the Stripling Warriors, in Alma 53:20:

And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

I love reading about the stripling warriors because they are examples of absolute obedience, unrestrictive of time or place. The example they set for us is ridiculous! But the blessings the received are so true. I know that obedience is the key to success here on the mission, and I'm grateful for a trainer and companion who helps with that. I know that this work is true, and that Heavenly Father prepares his children to accept the Gospel. I know that Jesus is the Christ, and he leads his church today through living prophet. I know the Book of Mormon is true!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith