Training!

Cara Famiglia,

Well well well, I have a new companion down here in Siena and he is a stud. His name is Anziano Benson and he is from Idaho Falls, coming to Siena straight out of the MTC. He is a really good kid and basically spent his time before the mission working. He also played soccer in high school! We drove up to Milano last Wednesday and spent the night there and on Thursday morning we met up with all the new missionaries and the other trainers. It was really cool to see that Anziano Scheurn is also training.

In doing street contacting and working in general, Anziano Benson puts me to shame. He talks with everybody! It is really cool to see how much faith he has and it gives me an example to work harder and remember the fundamental purposes of missionary work. Since he has come we have probably talked with more people and gotten more phone numbers and appointments in such a short space of time than I have in my entire mission. The work is definitely growing.

We found a really cool guy named Adam who is from Mali. He is living in Siena studying to be a doctor and his wife and two kids are still in Africa. He speaks French, English, and pretty good Italian, and really loved the Restoration. He grew up in a Muslim family but read the Bible and believed it, so now he is a Christian. He is going to love the Book of Mormon.

We are still working with Kellan, our chinese friend. He came to church again on Sunday! And even though he barely understands what is said he can feel the spirit and said he likes coming. We taught him on Monday and figured out that we were making things way too complicated for him with the language barrier and everything, so we basically just talked about the really simple concept of praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He agreed and promised that he would pray. He is super sincere and even after the lesson he basically said 'Hey Anziani, if I don't join your church, can we still be friends?' It was super cool and we just said 'Yeah of course!' It was a good lesson.

This week I really enjoyed reflecting on a talk from David A. Bednar in the November 2006 Conference called "And Nothing Shall Offend Them". I quote:

"When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not acondition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.

In the grand division of all of God’s creations, there are things to act and things to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:13–14). As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation."

The idea of 'acting' versus 'being acted upon' is a really cool concept that you can think a lot about. Every time we choose to not get angry, offended, upset, or bitter towards someone we are choosing to act instead of being acted upon. I am grateful that the example Jesus Christ gave was to act, and that by acting we not only better ourselves but are more capable to serve others and bring to pass our missionary purpose. I love this church and I love this restored gospel. I love you all lots too!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith