A Plethora of Pictures from Piacenza (and Pisa and plenty of peripheral places), plus pizza!

Benjamin's captions are included.

American Military Cemetery in Firenze

Anziano Benson and I at our favorite Pizzeria in Siena. I may have sent this picture before.

Anziano Thompson and I!

Me in Pisa

Botticelli painting in the Palazzo Farnese

Church where they announced the First Crusades (there is a funeral going on!)

Cinque Terre

Fratello Rotelli and I in the church in Siena, he was the Branch Clerk

In front of the Siena Duomo

Knocking doors in San Gimignano

Me and Sorella Feri, the Relief Society President

Me with Simone Rotelli, who was a counselor in the Siena Branch presidency

Painting of David with Goliath's head

Pizza. If my recollection is correct, it was a four cheese pizza. Delicious.

Streetlight decorations lining the streets of Siena for the Palio. Viva l'Oca!

The chapel in the church here in Piacenza

This is of me at the Palazzo Farnese with a skyline view of a church in Piacenza

This will be on the cover of my autobiography when I'm President of the United States

Birthday Space Transfer!

Cara Famiglia,

Ciao Siena! Ciao Piacenza! I love that you can use the same word for goodbye and hello in Italian! But yeah, I am now out of Toscana and in the great city of Piacenza. It is basically halfway between Modena and Milano, and in fact the district is us, Reggio Emilia, and Modena, so I will finish in the same district I started in! My companion Anziano Benson went to Busto Arsizio!!!!! He is so lucky, that city rocks! My companion now is Anziano Thompson, who is also from Idaho Falls(in fact he went to the same high school as Anziano Benson), and who is in his third transfer. He did his first two in Busto, so it has been cool to hear what was going on there.

Seeing as how I literally just got here this morning, I'm not super up to date on the work but I can just say that it is stellar! Piacenza has seven baptismal dates and a ton of investigators! When President called to tell us where we were going he said 'Piacenza is leading the mission in baptismal dates' and in the rest of the district there are seven other dates. So we will have our hands full! My companion is awesome, I can already tell!

Thanks to everybody for the Birthday wishes! Special shout out to Grandpa and also the Benson family who sent me a really great card. I hope they know how awesome of a missionary their son is and how much he is going to tear it up in Busto.

My spiritual thought is really simple, but I really loved President Eyring's talk from the Sunday Morning session of Conference about the 'pavilion' blocking us from God. I would also cross-reference Elder Holland's talk and encourage us all to leave our nets behind and join the cause of Christ with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. I know that this decision we make will change our lives, and as we pray 'thy will be done' we will find our lives more fulfilling than whatever we could fill them with. I love you all lots, and I know this work is true!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

General Conference!!!!

Cara Famiglia,

GENERAL CONFERENCE! It's like Christmas as a missionary. It was crazy to hear the age change for missionaries, and I'm looking forward to seeing all the missionaries that will now be coming out, I expect a lot more! It was a really really good conference, I will give a report later on.

The work in Siena is going really well, we are still working with Selifa and Noeline. Noeline is doing especially well, as we taught her twice with a member this week and she watched some of General Conference and liked it! We also watched the Restoration movie with her and it really helped her understand a lot. She is excited to prepare for baptism on October 28th!

Also this week I got to do an awesome scambio in Pistoia with Anziano Gibbons! He is also from Idaho Falls and is an awesome missionary. We taught a guy on a well, that is a first in the mission! We didn't have a talk about living water though. But it was a really fun and successful scambio. We placed a Book of Mormon with a cool Italian lady and also taught a nice Muslim man from Morocco who was also interested in the Book of Mormon.

So conference was truly awesome! I really loved President Uchtdorf's first talk. It was really cool to just think of life in a different perspective and how it illustrates the principle of 'acting' and not 'being acted upon.' I liked this quote:

Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect. “This is the day which the Lord hath made … ,” the Psalmist wrote. “Rejoice and be glad in it.”

I know that as we do our best to follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ and love every day as much as He did we will not have the regrets that President Uchtdorf talked about. I am grateful for the Savior's example of loving, daily, constant service and hope I can do better to follow Him. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Transfer Win!

Cara Famiglia,

Transfers! Oh man. Fortunately neither me or my companion is getting transfered, we get to stay in Siena and see more miracles happen! The work here is going really well and every day it is awesome to get out and do missionary work. We finished the 12 week training program so we even have an extra hour now to be outside! Birthday time! Happy Birthday to Dad on October 2nd!! Woohoo!! Also Happy Birthday to Jason Richards on Oct. 1st, Aeldste Richards on Oct. 3, and Emily Evans on Oct. 4th! There are a lot of birthdays in October!

The work is going really well and is progressing. We are still teaching Selifa and Noelli(I don't actually know how to spell her name! haha). They are progressing and Selifa really wants to be baptized. We finally got another copy of the Book of Mormon in French too so now they can both read on their own! We have also been fortunate enough to have members help us out at almost all the lessons, which helps immeasurably. Members make a huge difference in the lessons and in anyone's progress in the gospel.

I also had a really cool opportunity this week to contact a referral from my good friend Aeldste Richards. A guy he taught in Denmark moved to Firenze to go to school, and we had a surprise opportunity to work for an evening in Firenze on Saturday night! So my good friend Anziano Warren and I went and found him and he is awesome! And it was really cool to be able to teach someone that one of my best friends taught! I will try and find a referral for him!

I had forgotten to mention that this last week was the Firenze District Conference, and we had a visiting Area Seventy, Elder Clifford Herbertson! We got to go to a really good training for Priesthood leaders in Pisa and hear him speak. It was awesome! He gave a really cool thought that I would like to share. His son had a really powerful Harley-Davidson motorcycle and was going to make a long trip. Anziano Herbertson compared that to the Holy Ghost. Seeking and following the promptings of the Holy Ghost is like riding the motorcycle, but choosing not to seek and follow it's promptings is like walking to your destination while pushing the Harley-Davidson alongside you, it just makes things harder. I really liked that analogy and am grateful that the scriptures and prayer help clarify the voice of the spirit, that is the most important voice we can listen to in this world. I love this work and I love this gospel and I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Going on in so great a cause

Cara Famiglia,

This week was sweet in Siena!!! We had a bunch of cool miracles that we saw and the work is going really well. Also the weather is now perfect and General Conference is coming up! It's like Christmas! Speaking of holidays, I think Elder Goodsell forgot my birthday was October 19th, not September 19th, but I thank him for his birthday wish nonetheless. I sent him a letter a couple months ago but I got the address wrong or something so it got sent back. But I will write him a letter today. I also got a sweet letter from the Blake family! They are awesome!

This week we were finally able to make contact with Anna Maria again! She is awesome. We talked to her on the phone, and then her mom kind of dropped us and hung up. But then she called us back and said she wanted to meet again. She wants to be baptized but has to talk to her mom about it. She is super brava.

We also had a sweet miracle find this week! We were knocking doors down some random street and just happened to stop Selifa. She is from Togo and is a student here at the University. She's been in Italy for three years. She used to be Muslim but then converted to Christianity. So we talked to her about the Book of Mormon and set up an appointment for the next day. She even said "I have a friend I can bring too!" So we went the next day and taught Selifa and her friend Noelli(sp?), also from Togo. Now they both have a baptismal date for October 28th!!! They are really cool, and in between the first two lessons she read all the introduction stuff plus four chapters of the Book of Mormon! And we brought Bianka to the second lesson and she and Selifa instantly became good friends. It is awesome! Members make such a huge difference in the work.

We also taught a really cool kid from Cameroon named Crèpin. He was only in Italy for a week but it was a really cool chance to give him a copy of the Book of Mormon and commit him to read it. He seemed really excited to hear about it and hopefully will have a chance to meet missionaries in the future.

The branch is doing really well too, and with the BYU students here now the chapel is always full. They are also really helpful and willing to come to lessons with us and a lot of them speak really good Italian. Two of them gave talks on Sunday, and they were phenomenal!

This week I was reading talks in preparation for General Conference, and I came across a gem in a talk from Boyd K. Packer. He says: "If someone is looking for a church that requires very little, this is not the one. It is not easy to be a Latter-day Saint, but in the long run it is the only true course." (Guided By the Holy Spirit, April 2011). I am grateful for the constant sacrifice involved in serving in the church of Jesus Christ, because it helps us learn to become more like our Savior. I know this is His church, and that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

P.S. Big thanks to Aeldste Richards for the referral! Hopefully I can find him, but if not some missionaries will.

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

Life in the Mission

Cara Famiglia,

Life in the mission is very good right now, but it is always so unpredictable. We always see great miracles but then there are always some disappointments. Oh well. The weather is perfect right now and there are endless people to talk to, it is great! Today for PDay we are going to San Gimignano, which apparently has the world's best gelato. We will see!

Anna Maria almost dropped us! It was crazy. We had a member coming to our appointment with her and ten minutes after the appointment time we gave her a call. She didn't answer. Then she called us back! She said "my mom doesn't want us to meet anymore, I'm sorry, I can't come anymore!" And we were like "you can decide for yourself, come on!" But she dropped us, and it was a huuuuuuuuge bummer. Then, ten minutes later she called us back and said "I changed my mind, I'll be there in ten minutes!" So we had a sweet lesson on the plan of salvation with a member and she knows the Book of Mormon is true and wants to be baptized on October 14th still. However, she didn't come to church, so we are wondering what happened. It is kind of up in the air.

We haven't been able to meet with Rodrigo since our last lesson about two weeks ago. He is really busy with soccer and school, but hopefully we can see him sometime soon. He says he is still reading the Book of Mormon though!

Other than that we are doing a lot of finding work but finding some cool people, including Pasquale who is a student from Salerno. We talked to him on the street yesterday and are seeing him again tonight. He is a cool kid. We are working really hard to find some solid investigators and the next branch president, so keep praying for us!

This week I have pondered a lot about the spirit of revelation, which fits well with Dad's institute lesson! David A. Bednar gave a sweet talk on it in the April 2011 Conference, with a money quote from Joseph F. Smith: “Show me Latter-day Saints who have to feed upon miracles, signs and visions in order to keep them steadfast in the Church, and I will show you members … who are not in good standing before God, and who are walking in slippery paths. It is not by marvelous manifestations unto us that we shall be established in the truth, but it is by humility and faithful obedience to the commandments and laws of God”

I'm glad that the Lord lets us learn "line upon line...precept upon precept" as we come to know spiritual truths through the spirit of revelation. I know that as we diligently seek him with effort and faith, we will come to know our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. I know this is His church, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I love this work with all my heart. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Siena is on Fire (not literally!)

Cara Famiglia,

The weather is perfect in Siena and the work is going really well. Today we had a good Pday with the Anziani from Prato, where we got to go in the Duomo and see the floor that is only uncovered for about a month each year. It was really cool, the entire floor is like one giant mosaic and very detailed.

We have three baptismal dates! They are all for October 14th, which is good because it gives us a good amount of time to prepare. The first is Anna Maria who is progressing really well. She came to church on Sunday and loved Relief Society! It is cool because when she gets baptized it will be really good for Sorella Feri (the Relief Society President) because right now she is basically the only Sister that lives in the city of Siena and not like an hour away. She enjoys reading the Book of Mormon and really feels a difference in the message we bring, it is really cool.

There is also Rodrigo, the 14 year old Bolivian kid who is a lot like Joseph Smith. He is doing really well and likes reading the Book of Mormon a lot too, but plays soccer on Sundays which might be a slight obstacle. We still have to teach him about keeping the sabbath day holy and we will see what happens.

The last one is Luca, who is a really cool miracle but probably the least secure of the three dates. On Friday night we were sitting in the park making calls and he stopped us and said he had met the missionaries about 10 years ago. He didn't remember much though but when we taught him the next day he told us he had been praying a couple years back to find the right strada and when he met us he felt like it was the answer. We really focused on the authority for baptism when we taught him and he understood and accepted a baptismal date, but then the next day he went to another church for services. Doh! We will see what happens.

Other than that we are working with some other cool potentials, including a guy who has never met with missionaries but has read the Book of Mormon and admires Joseph Smith. We were so shocked! It was really cool to find him though.

This week we had a really good conference which had a stellar quote from a Henry B. Eyring conference talk about service in the Priesthood, although it basically applies in any gospel service:

We are to learn our duty from the Lord, and then we are to act in all diligence, never being lazy or slothful. The pattern is simple but not easy to follow. We are so easily distracted. Studying the daily news can appear more interesting than the priesthood lesson manual. Sitting down to rest can be more attractive than making appointments to visit those who need our priesthood service. 

When I find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests and when my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry: “Remember Him.” The Lord is our perfect example of diligence in priesthood service. He is our captain. He called us. He goes before us. He chose us to follow Him and to bring others with us.

I know that as we "remember Him" in all that we do we will be blessed with the strength necessary to bless others. I testify that Jesus Christ lives and that he is our Savior. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that this really is the "only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth." I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Miracles!

Cara Famiglia,

[Photo not taken by Benjamin]

Well I don't have much time to do email, today we are in La Spezia. We went to Cinque Terre for Pday, which is arguably the prettiest spot in Italy. I don't quite have enough time to send pictures so for now you can look them up. We are on our way to Milano because there is a conference for new missionaries tomorrow. Also quick shout out to Elder Dickson in Mexico, I got his letter! It was awesome. I laughed a lot at all the things he wrote, and I sent him a really good return letter but after placing it in the mailbox I realized I forgot to write 'Messico' on the envelope. It might still make it?

The real story is that this week we got blitzed by the traveling assistants, and we saw a ton of miracles. Everything is going really well! I was with Anziano Osborn who is in the group above me and we had some sweet success finding new people, including Eugenio, a student who is studying Anthropology. He let us in as we were knocking doors and we had a great lesson. We also taught Bismar and helped him see what he was missing out on by not reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it, and he is progressing now. We also taught Gerald, a really cool guy from Johannesburg, South Africa who is here studying. He had a lot of great questions and was interested in the Book of Mormon.

Then Anziano Benson and Anziano Sciarretta also had a bunch of success. They set a baptismal date with this new investigator we have named Anna Maria. She is a typical Italian lady from Siena and is doing really well. We brought our Relief Society president to the lesson and they hit it off. She has a baptismal date for the 29th of September! They also found apparently the Bolivian version of Joseph Smith, a kid named Rodrigo. He is super elect and is going to be baptized for sure.

I would invite everyone to read 4 Nephi again and see what happens when the happiest people of all time turn into super unhappy people in just a couple pages! It is a good reminder to be humble always, never thinking to ourselves that we've "made it" in anything we're doing. I know Jesus Christ is the perfect example of humility and following his example brings joy. I love this work and I know it is His work. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Pictures! Woohoo!!

I can't send it home, but I also have a video of the blessing of the horse of the Contrada del Drago! It was awesome! The priest splashed holy water on it, and then he touched it with the case that holds the thumb of Santa Caterina! It was sweet! Then he said to the horse: "Vai, e torna un vincitore!" which means "Go, and come back a winner!"

1) Me with the Oca flag before the Palio
2) Anziano Benson and I at our favorite pizzeria here in Siena with the best view of the city ever!
3) The head of Santa Caterina from the 1300s
4) The horse before it's blessing
5) Me!
6) Me again!
7) Inside the Duomo on the day of the Palio. It was awesome!
8) Me under the Oca flag in the Duomo
9) Waiting on the campo for the Palio to start
10) Me, Anziano Benson, and Matteo (new convert from Livorno living in Siena for a couple months) on the Piazza watching the Palio opening ceremonies!
11) Us with a little flag of the winning contrada after the Palio
12) Me on the track after the Palio
13) Kind of a bad picture but it's me with the tie that Anziano Richards sent me from Denmark with a view of the countryside in the background.
14) Pubblicità for The Dark Knight Rises ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Palio Adventures!

Cara Famiglia,

For another year the Palio is no more in Siena! Although this most recent Palio will live on in infamy! During the second turn of the race six horses fell down leaving only four to finish. Valdimontone, a contrada that hadn't won in 22 years, pulled out a stellar victory. The race was a lot more exciting than the last one to be honest. Other interesting note: we were actually right by the drain at the bottom of the piazza with just a couple people between us and the fence. In front of us there were a bunch of kids that were watching over the fence to see everything, including a 10 or so year old German kid. What happened, I didn't actually see, but Anziano Benson describes it like this "The valdimontone supporters as they saw that they were going to win, seemed to appear out of nowhere, and proceeded to tear the kid off the fence and throw him on the ground without a second thought." The poor kid was traumatized! He was crying afterwards. Seriously, these people are nuts for this horse race!

Other than the Palio the work is always progressing, although that isn't necessarily measured by outstanding numbers. We are teaching Chiara, who is still facing some serious economic and spiritual difficulties, but she is really visibly changing as she accepts the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is awesome to hear such sincere prayers! We are also teaching a cool guy named Bismar, he is from Bolivia. I may have mentioned him last week, but he apparently almost got baptized in Bolivia about 10 years ago but then moved. Now he's here in Siena, although he works in Firenze all week so we can only see him on weekends. But he is a stud.

We also had a cool finding experience the other day. Actually finding work in general is just better lately. We are seeing a lot of success from varying things up. Anyway, the other night we were out and it was kind of late. Anziano Benson felt like we should go down some side streets that I honestly wasn't too excited about because it was off to the middle of nowhere Siena. But we went and we ended up at a big, nearly empty piazza in front of a big church. There weren't very many people but we started talking. We ended up finding a really cool student named Andrea, who is this girl from Mexico City. She actually lived in Houston for a year so she speaks almost perfect english and was welcoming to see us again to get a copy of the Book of Mormon. We are teaching her tonight so pray that goes well.

This week my spiritual thought is an invite to read the 'Pray with Faith' section from Chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel. It is probably one of the most inspired things I've ever read! Then do the prayer evaluation activity on pg. 95 and see how you can improve! I would say one of the toughest but most rewarding testimonies I've had is my testimony of prayer, how it is a literal conversation with Heavenly Father and I'm glad we can pray about anything anywhere at anytime. It is unbelievable. I know that God answers prayers and that his Son Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I know this is His church. I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Palio 2.0

Cara Famiglia,

It's Palio time again! Siena is alive and there is tension in the air again. I am really excited and fortunate to be able to see both of them this year. It will be awesome!

The more important thing is that the work here in Siena is having it's usual ups and downs. We were working with this awesome 21 year old girl from Napoli, and she was doing really well. We taught her some good lessons and she was really searching for peace. But then today we got totally dropped by her through a text message which was a major bummer. We don't even know what happened but it's always sad when someone chooses to stop investigating the gospel. Hopefully in the future she'll have another opportunity to get to know the church.

We are also still teaching Chiara, the Sri Lankan woman who is super elect. She is still going through a really rough time and her family/economic situation is not really improving. But it is awesome to see the happiness that she shows when she learns about the gospel or comes to church. When we first met with her she was sad all the time, but now she smiles! It is amazing.

Last but not least is our Chinese friend Kellan. We found out he is moving to Firenze in September for some art school there, which means we will probably have to pass him to the Firenze Anziani. But he has come to church six weeks in a row and so he's doing well. We are just trying to organize a time when we can get some Chinese translators to help him understand everything, but he has definitely received a warm welcome to the church and the branch here in Siena.

This week I was impressed with the idea of a 'broken heart and a contrite spirit' and the 'heart and a willing mind' that the Lord requires to participate in his work. It is interesting to think about what it really means to have all those things specifically in our lives, since I would guess the feelings are unique in one way for everyone who has them but also somewhat universal. I would hope that every day even in a tiny little way we can commit to the Lord that we will show forth our 'broken heart', 'contrite spirit', 'heart', and 'willing mind' through the actions we perform throughout the day. I know that every day as we act like Christ and think more about others' needs than our own, we will see that we are happier and have a greater desire to serve. I'm grateful for the opportuntiy to serve the people here in Siena and invite them to come unto Christ. I know this church is true!

I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Miracles in Siena!

Cara Famiglia,

Another week in the mission always equals another week of miracles. This week it was really hot, but the work of the Lord moved forward. We saw some really cool miracles.

The first was a referral from a new convert, a Sri Lankan woman named Chiara who has been here in Italy for 20 years. She literally came out of nowhere, but when she says "We can even meet every day if it means I can get baptized faster" should tell you how elect she is! We have set a baptismal date with her for the 26th of August, and it will be a great day. She is so ready for the gospel and so humble. She is also going through a really tough time with no job and some family troubles, and it's somewhat tough to teach her because she doesn't have money to buy reading glasses so she can read the Book of Mormon. But we are helping her out and she is loving everything and the spirit she feels. Missionary work rocks!

We've also been having a lot of success finding with the most recent finding fad in the Italy Milan Mission -- the whiteboard! We have a little whiteboard and we write a yes or no question (our most favorite recently is "In these days does God still speak to us?") and just go around asking people. It's a really great way to break the ice and we always have great invites to people to hear more about the Restoration. It is a great way to switch things up.

We are still teaching Kellan although we are still trying to find a translator. We have a number of possibilities, the biggest problem is just scheduling.

Other than that everything is fine and dandy. It seems as though the Lord is blessing us in the month of August, when most people see the opposite because everybody in Italy goes on vacation for the entire month. The work is always increasing though. I am really happy here!

I am a big fan of some hymns recently. I have especially liked Lead, Kindly Light. Here are the lyrics:

1. Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom;
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene—one step enough for me.

2. I was not ever thus, nor pray’d that thou
Shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path; but now,
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years.

3. So long thy pow’r hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone.
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!

I especially like the second verse and the power we have in turning over our heart to the Lord. Yesterday in Interviews Sorella Wolfgramm gave an awesome training about living a Christ-centered life. I promise that as we give everything to the Lord we will be so much happier and really reach our potential as children of God. I love this work, I love this church, and I love the Book of Mormon. I know these things are true. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

It's Always Sunny in Siena

Cara Famiglia,

Well it is pretty hot in Siena. Although it isn't too bad because in Centro the streets are narrow so there's shade most of the time. But it is going really well here. Today we actually got hooked up by one of the BYU students who's doing his internship at the Palazzo Pubblico; he got us into the museum and up the Torre del Mangia for free!! We even got to cut the line! It was awesome, definitely one of the prettiest views I've ever seen. Mom would've loved the art tour he gave us too, he is studying art history at BYU so he told us all about the frescoes. Also later today we are going to play soccer with Kellan, the BYU Students, and some members. It will be awesome.

The work is continuing to grow, this week we had some really cool miracles. The first was that we were finally able to get an appointment with a potential investigator that Anziano Minà and I found. His name is Aldrin and he's probably 20, a student from Gabon in French speaking West Africa. He's only been in Italy nine months but he already speaks fluent Italian, along with French and English. He's a really smart kid. We taught him a lesson about the Restoration and it was one of those lessons where you suspect the investigator of reading out of Preach My Gospel because they are so elect. He is kind of like a French West African version of Joseph Smith. He is going to read the Book of Mormon and he accepted a baptismal invite; the only problem is that he along with most people in Italy goes out of town for the month of August. We will see where that goes.

The other cool miracle was with a certain Signore El-Nabawy, from Alexandria in Egypt! We met him at a piazza one night and set up an appointment for the next evening. We gave him the Restoration pamphlet, chatted a little bit in Arabic, and he's a very interesting guy. He owns a pizzeria on main street in Siena where his son and daughter work, and we're actually trying to help him find an apartment for them because right now they are sleeping in the pizzeria. He even came to church the day after our first appointment and enjoyed it a lot! He is a really nice guy and now whenever we walk by his pizzeria at night he always offers us free pizza!

This week I think an interesting thing to ponder is the idea of true joy. I wish I could just list all the scriptures that contain the word 'joy' but the email would never end. I did really like this one from Doctrine and Covenants though:

 61 If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.

I am grateful of how all the sources of joy eventually lead back to our Savior Jesus Christ and his eternal sacrifice that makes the purpose of this life to have joy obtainable. I am grateful for you all and your prayers and also the prayers that I've seen answered here on the mission and throughout my entire life. I love this gospel, and I know the Book of Mormon is true. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Wu mun shu, Chuan djtsao shu! I want to open China to missionary work!

Cara Famiglia,

Well I hope Matt Gong doesn't hate me for the transliteration of the Chinese phrase in the subject line. It is currently the only Chinese I know. What I think it means is "We're missionaries from the church" or something. Either way, whenever we meet Chinese people on the street we say it to them and they understand who we are. I mention this because this week we have run into a lot of Chinese students that are open to the gospel.

The first is Kellan, who it is still very difficult to teach because neither of us speak Chinese, and he speaks little English or Italian. But we managed to talk a lot about the importance of the Book of Mormon these past couple lessons and re-set a baptismal date for the 19th of August. He is bravo, we just need some way to make sure he understands everything we teach. Fortunately we got a bunch of pamphlets in Chinese now so it should make it easier to teach.

We also found on the street the other day a Chinese student who goes by the name of Pietro. We fixed a tentative appointment for the next night but it wasn't really sure. Then the next day he called us and was like "Hey I want to bring a friend when we meet tonight!" And we said "Great!" So he brought his friend Giovanni (also Chinese), and both of them are awesome! Pietro is Christian but wants to strengthen his faith, and Giovanni is on the border whether to believe in God but asked those questions that make you want to be a missionary like "What is the purpose of life?" and "What happens after this life?" He is what we like to call a "golden investigator."

We also met a cool Chinese kid named Tino to whom we left a pamphlet of the Restoration in Chinese. Later we called and asked if he read it and he said he liked it! We are still trying to see him for an appointment though.

Other than that we are also contacting people of many different nations; you probably hear anywhere from 10-15 different languages on the streets of Siena every day between foreigners and tourists. It is awesome. I love Siena!

I liked a thought in Alma 44 this week:

4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.
5 And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, by our faith, by our religion, and by our rites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children, by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us—

I liked the source of their faith, from things like the support of the family, their 'rites of worship' a.k.a. ordinances, and by their desire to live a free, happy life. I know that this faith gives us increased purpose, direction, and security in this world that every day seems to need a bit more of it. I am grateful for the opportunity to see people change and grow through the gospel, including myself. I know that this church and the Book of Mormon are true. I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

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

Transfers!

Cara Famiglia,

Transfers strikes again! My companion is being taken away and shipped off to Trieste where the wind will carry him into Slovenia. Just kidding! But he is really excited. My new companion will be fresh from the United States of America. It should be fun!

The Palio was awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwesome!!!! You probably saw me somewhere in the crowd if you were watching. It was a really cool experience and made me feel like I was in Siena in the middle ages. When we come back to visit we have to be in Siena either July 2nd or August 16th to see it. Also today p-day is special! We are spending the night in Milano tonight and so on the way we stopped here in Genova for pday. Genova is beautiful, and the focaccia is the best in the world.

This week was pretty good! It was hot but we worked really hard. We are teaching Kellan, the chinese miracle kid! We printed out Preach My Gospel in Chinese and basically for the lessons we just read it with him and bear simple testimony haha. But he is really cool and has sincere desire to know Jesus Christ more. We also found another new investigator this week named David who is from Nigeria! We found him on a park bench and taught him and he is interested in learning more, so we will see where that goes.

Other than that there's not much going on. This week I read over one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon, Alma 34, it's a hidden gem! I like verse 10 a lot:

 10 For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice.

It is an interesting thing to ponder the infiniteness of the atonement of Jesus Christ that passes all the way from the fall of Adam to the present day and on to the future! I am grateful that this power is infinite and therefore never runs out, because I need it every day! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I love this work and I love you all!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Palio Time

Cara Famiglia,

It's Palio time! That, together with the fact that Italy made it to the final for Euro 2012 in soccer, made it slightly tough to talk to people yesterday, especially because Italy got rocked. Oh well. The Palio should start officially in about four hours. Look for me on the campo.

The work this week went a lot better than last week. We were able to see a bunch of less-actives and members to introduce this missionary program we are starting in the branch. We told the members that the first purpose is simply to strengthen the faith and testimony of the branch, and then that missionary work will be a natural result. We are hoping and praying that it works!

We taught the miracle chinese kid on Saturday (Kellen) and he is awesome. He really liked the Restoration film in chinese, is going to read the Book of Mormon, and even said he wants to bring a friend to meet with us. So we are hoping that goes well. He is really busy during the week though and so we will probably have to wait to Saturday to see him again. We also found a new investigator named Jennifer who is from Nigeria. She met the missionaries about seven years ago and then they found her on scambio two weeks ago. She actually seems pretty brava and interested so we will also see where that goes.

This week I was really impressed with a line from Robert D. Hales' talk from the most recent conference. In talking about the Sacrament he said: "As we sing the sacrament hymn, participate in the sacrament prayers, and partake of the emblems of His flesh and blood, we prayerfully seek forgiveness for our sins and shortcomings. We think about the promises we made and kept during the previous week and make specific personal commitments to follow the Savior during the coming week." I really liked the idea of 'participating' in the sacrament prayers and also the idea of not only looking backward at the previous week we think about commitments and ways we can make the coming week more exemplary of the savior's life. I am really grateful that every Sunday we can partake of the Sacrament since we need to be reminded often of the eternal significance of the Savior's sacrifice. I know this is the Lord's work. I love you all lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

P.S. I got the two letters mom sent in the mail. Grazie!

Palio Time

Cara Famiglia,


Well the biggest non-spiritual news this week is the Palio! [A big horse race in Siena, see the Wikipedia article for details] In only 5 days Siena will go crazy. It is going to be awesome. Next week I will email on Monday since we're switching our P-day to see the Palio. Look for me in the middle of the campo. I believe the race actually starts at 19:30 our time. In other news, it was really hot the past week, but we worked really hard.


Andrea unfortunately did not come to church, but we taught him last Friday morning. We talked a lot about his doubts and his testimony, and he opened up a lot. Apparently he found some not so pro-mormon stuff on the internet, and fortunately wasn't totally shocked but was curious to find the truth. We will hopefully be seeing him and be able to just help him understand that the only real way to know for himself that this church is true is just like it says in Moroni 10:3-5, by reading and praying sincerely. We talked about Moroni's promise a good bit and what it means to have real intent. Keep praying for him to recognize and receive his answer!


Our bangladeshi friends are really busy with exams, so we didn't get a chance to see them this week. But we called and they are still reading the Book of Mormon which is cool. I think they are mostly excited because we actually have it in Bengali, which is probably a rare find here in Italy. 


We are still working a lot on finding every day, everywhere, and putting a lot of focus on getting at least 20 inviti per day again. It is helping out a lot. We can see good progress and more people are getting to hear about the restored gospel. I love this city!


This week I have two spiritual thoughts. The first is because on June 27th(today!) in 1844, the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred in Carthage Jail. I second what John Taylor wrote when he said "the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century." I testify that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God who saw what he said he saw, and was the instrument in God's hands for restoring the true church of Jesus Christ.


The other thing I wanted to share was the awesomeness of Amulek. In Alma 15:16 it talks about what Amulek gave up for the cause of the gospel:


16 And it came to pass that Alma and Amulek, Amulek having forsaken all his gold, and silver, and his precious things, which were in the land of Ammonihah, for the word of God, he being rejected by those who were once his friends and also by his father and his kindred;


The footnote mentions 'prophets, rejection of' and it made me think about how prophets, and a lot of people in the church, are rejected not only publicly, but privately by their own families for having accepted the gospel. It helps me appreciate how much of a blessing it is to have a family that loves me and helps me live the gospel. I know that this church is true, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I love you all lots!


-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Working in Italy

Cara Famiglia,

Ciao from Pistoia! I was here on a scambio yesterday and we are doing internet in the university library here. Pistoia is great, we had a good day yesterday and taught two lessons. We are going to riscambio in good old Firenze and hopefully get back to Siena in time to clean the apartment. The week has been going really well. Mom asked me to include more random details about life here in Italy so I will throw in a surprising fact that will shock everyone that knows me. My new favorite snack includes tomatoes! If you put cherry tomatoes with mozzarella di bufala, it is incredible. Mozzarella cheese here is amazing. Italy rocks. Also, the weather is getting really hot, it is great. I am getting an awesome farmer's tan.

This week has gone well with finding work! We even had a training at zone conference on Monday about how to really improve finding work and just talking to more people and helping them feel the spirit. Even just yesterday in Pistoia we saw a difference in finding those that 'hearken to the voice' and those that don't. Also I got a sweet letter from my main man Elder Goodsell who is now in the MTC. I will write him a nice return letter. It sounds like he is tearing it up in the MTC and will be an awesome missionary in Germany. I am really grateful for friends on missions that inspire me to be better!

We found three new investigators this week! They are from Bangladesh, and speak good English. They are students at the university, but finals are over so now they have a ton of free time and they were really interested in the Book of Mormon in Bengali. We also had the most success in finding work this week since I have been in Siena, we were able to teach a lot more lessons that the previous week. My pure joy level goes up when we are really able to find and teach people about the restored Gospel of Christ.

We are also working on improving our abilities to invite members to do member missionary work. It is so crucial! Share the gospel with your friends!

This morning I was reading Alma 7 which is a phenomenal chapter in the Book of Mormon not only about the Atonement, but the Doctrine of Christ. I really like verses 14 and 15, and I wanted to quote verse 7:

7 For behold, I say unto you there be many things to come; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people.

I like to pay attention when superlatives are used in scripture. I can testify along with Alma that the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the living of His gospel is the one thing that is 'of more importance than they all', because it is the only thing through which we can find eternal happiness with our families forever. I am so grateful to be able to invite people every day to learn of Jesus Christ, His church, His gospel, and the Book of Mormon which testifies of Him. I know this message is true. I love you all lots and lots!

-Anziano Benjamin Smith