Ciao Modena!

Cara Famiglia,

 

Well, the time has come. I am leaving Modena to go to Busto Arsizio, a city north of Milano in the Como Zone! I am actually pretty sad to leave, I love this city! But I am also really excited to go to a new city and meet new people. My companion there will be Anziano Webb, who was in the MTC with me at the same time and he's a stud!

 

This week has been great! Although our investigators are kind of bumming us out with not coming to church and being free for appointments, they are still all great. Paolo will be baptized sooner or later, he is too good not to be. Also we picked up this awesome guy named Ciro from the Sorelle. He is a stud and also needs to get baptized. He's tight and he makes us amaaaaaazing food all the time. He's from Napoli so he's a great cook and is basically the coolest guy ever. If I ever visit Napoli I will stay at his house, it is already decided. He's also teaching me a bit of Napolitano, it's awesome. Chris, a friend of Castro, is also a stud investigator but super busy and doesn't have a working phone right now so it's almost impossible to see him.

 

I am really going to miss all the people here, especially the amazing ward. The people here are seriously awesome, and I love them all.

 

I was reading Alma 5 again this week, which is definitely my favorite chapter in the whole Book of Mormon. It's amazing. I've probably written home about it before, but it is definitely something to write home about. This time I was struck by verses 48 and 49, and I kind of want that to be my theme as a missionary, just bearing pure testimony of the Savior and the Restoration of His gospel all the time! I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer who has indescribable love for us. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity I have to Preach His Gospel here in Italy and help in the great work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. I love you all so much!

 

-Anziano Benjamin Smith

Doin' Work

Cara Famiglia,
 
This week was good in Modena! Anziano Hutchinson and I are having a lot of fun and working super hard as well. We are doing a lot of finding work currently because our investigators are all super hard to reach/see. For example, Paolo, who is the man and will be baptized, works all week long and we can only see him on Sunday. If we could see him more he'd be baptized by the end of the week. Also Move to Napoli day from last week. But we are doing a lot of solid finding work, talking to a ton of people each day. My companion jokes about how many pass along cards I give out, I seriously go through like 50 a day. I'm hoping in the end it will work out! Even if one person reads one pass along card my entire mission and actually decides to listen it will be a victory! We are also cruising along on our goal to give out Books of Mormon this transfer, it's awesome.
 
We had our last District Meeting on Monday and had the Traveling Assistants come and do a sweet addestramento about how to get investigators to pray! It was sooo good and obvious and simple, but so genius. So we are excited to help investigators pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true. We also had a sweet in-depth discussion about Moroni 10:3-5, it's such a solid, true passage of scripture. Other than that Modena is going great. Dunno if I mentioned last week but we got a new Bishopric in the ward, which was surprising. But it was our Ward Mission Leader, and now we still don't have one, so we're kind of in limbo.
 
 This week I really liked a passage from 2 Corinthians, chapter 12 verses 6-10. It's a super good passage about humility and overcoming weaknesses. Every day as missionaries I think it's good to work on a weakness, because through Christ our weaknesses become strengths! It's like the mathematic example from Believing Christ, where even if my talents are only 2 on a scale of 10, with the infinite power of Christ it equals infinity! Kind of a cool thought I think. Can I just say I love being a missionary? This is already decisively the best two years of my life, and it's not even halfway done yet. I love this work, I love bearing my testimony every day, I love sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ every day, and I love you all! Thanks so much for everything!
 
-Anziano Benjamin Smith

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