20 Lessons!

Cara Famiglia,

Well well well. We got 20 lessons! It was really awesome because it had been a good long while since the goal had been reached. We worked really hard and things are looking up. Also the weather is perfect now!

Unfortunately, we have been out of contact with Anna Maria for about a week. She didn't make it to the appointment we had set up on Friday and then she didn't come to church, and she hasn't been answering her phone. Bummer. But hey! We will find out what is happening eventually.

We also found this really cool American girl named Sarah, who is a student from Chicago here until November. She was really interested in the Restoration lesson and the Book of Mormon, and it seems like she is really looking to develop her relationship with God. We should be seeing her later this week and we will see what happens. It was strange to teach in American english though.

We are also teaching a cool Bolivian kid named Victor. He's 18, and he's kind of reserved but I see a lot of potential there. He is reading a little bit in the Book of Mormon so we will see what happens.

We finally got out to visit Sorella Lunghi! That was really cool. She lives in a really picturesque town north of Siena. Basically it is just tough because she works on Sundays and also there aren't really buses from her town to Siena on Sunday morning anyway. But she is really nice and it was cool to have the connection there. I showed her a picture of mom and she said she remembered her!

The bad news of the week is that for the second time of the mission our fridge is broken. If Anziano Kimball is reading this, I hope he knows that we are not eating leftover rice though. We are getting a new fridge on Monday. Woohoo!

The spiritual thought comes from 1 Nephi 4, a very famous chapter since I started the Book of Mormon over again this week. In verse six he says: "I was led by the spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." Then in the footnote it has Hebrews 11:8 where it says "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." And then in the footnote for that it has 2 Chronicles 20:12 "O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee." I love the examples of prophets who act in faith not completely knowing beforehand the things which they were doing, but trusting in God and seeing it work out in the end. I especially liked the reference in Chronicles, that reminds us when "our eyes are upon [God]" it doesn't matter as much what else is happening because we will be on the right track. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that this is the greatest work I could ever be doing. I love you all lots!

-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

Buona Pasqua with a Broken Fridge!

Cara Famiglia,

This week was full of events! From the subject you might have realized that last wednesday our frigorifero(one of my favorite Italian words) broke. So last week we got all non-refrigerated groceries i.e. no milk, yogurt, cheese, meat, or veggies. This week our meal of choice at lunch was pasta with red sauce. Good times. We got out new fridge today, and it is great. We are looking forward to being able to eat cold things again. Also, apparently this week was Easter! The holidays really creep up on you here in the mission because you don't have all the decorations that build up to it usually. At least not in our apartment. It was good though, during Sunday School we watched the 'Finding Faith in Christ' movie which I hadn't seen in a looong time. I think it's really cool that they do it from Thomas' perspective. Then in Sacrament Meeting there were some good talks about the resurrection and the risen Christ. They also had a special musical number that I know is one of the CDs that Dad plays every Sunday, in English I think it's called 'The Lord is my Good Shepherd', but it's not the 'The Lord is My Shepherd' that's in the hymnbook. We also had the great idea to go around and give out copies of 'Il Cristo Vivente' to the people we talked too. We probably could've used the week before Easter a little more to our advantage, but oh well we will do better next time.

We had a couple good referral lessons this week, one was a referral from Napoli. He lived in a little town called Crevalcore (which reminded me of Zoppola!) that is about an hour away on bus from Modena. We gave him a Book of Mormon with a dedica from the guy who gave the referral and had a lesson about it. He seemed really interested and was an awesome guy, notwithstanding the fact that his accent was quite different. But he's moving back down to Napoli this week so we're hoping the missionaries there pick him up. We also went to lunch at a member lady's house on Pasqua and her companion (I dunno what the proper term would be) who isn't a member was apparently interested in learning more about the church, so we taught him a lesson about prayer and the Restoration. His name is Paolo and he's a really cool guy who lived in the USA for a while, so we're going to teach him some more and hope he progresses. Israel is still a stud, he is actually coming to church this week! The big hurdle is getting him to commit to not just come this one Sunday, but to covenant with the Lord so he can receive more blessings by coming every single week! Unfortunately, his mom kicked him out of the house last night, so he is currently out of living arrangments. Pray for him!

The music-ness never stops, fortunately! Since Sister Willey who is in Modena is amazingly awesome at cello (she played in the Orchestra at Temple Square for a couple years) our ward is holding a music fireside on Sunday May 8th! She is playing a couple of songs, and I even get to accompany her on a version of I Am a Child of God! I also get to play piano for Anziano Kimball singing Come Thou Fount, the same version that Anziani Bushman and Scheurn sang with me in the MTC. It's gonna be awesome, and we're giving out people flyers for that too.

This week we taught a cool lesson to a less-active member about the Liahona, and so we were planning on following mom's idea from when I was in Primary to spray paint this baseball in out apartment gold and decorate it like the Liahona. Unfortunately, all we could do was color it yellow with a marker and then we forgot to even bring it! But we still had the lesson, and I was impressed by 1 Nephi 16 and Alma 37, where much of the information on the Liahona comes from. It is a great allegory, being such a small device that works great miracles, of daily scripture study in prayer. I particularly liked the last four verses in Alma 37:

44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.
 45 And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.
 46 O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.
 47 And now, my son, see that ye take care of these sacred things, yea, see that ye look to God and live. Go unto this people and declare the word, and be sober. My son, farewell.

I know 100% that the little things are the most important. I am incredibly grateful for the Book of Mormon because every day I open it, read it, and feel the spirit while learning something new. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it answers our questions while at the same time bearing testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that my redeemer lives, and that this work in Italy is being directed by Him. I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith