well, improvement is improvement.

Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Italy Milan Mission
Via A. Gramsci,13
20090 Opera (MI)
Italia

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 7:24 AM
Subject: well, improvement is improvement.

Dear family,

This week has so far been my best week in Merate so far as numbers are
concerned. It's still worse than any other place I've served in that
respect, but... improvement is improvement.

Last wednesday, we had a rather different Ward Council meeting.
Instead of having a normal Ward Council where we discuss all sorts of
things, our bishop (who was made bishop when I got here) decided that
we needed training on how we do Ward Council, and why. It was quite
refreshing. Apparently, we have local church leaders to do what
Captain Moroni did in Alma 43:48, to inspire us to do better. That was
very different. I like this bishop.

Thursday, we tried a new method of finding that we got in a packet
about how to improve teaching and finding. The idea was to use a
whiteboard on the street. So we did. We wrote a question of the soul,
"Is there a life after death?" with "Yes" and "No" written underneath.
we then asked people what they thought. If they looked in the
slightest interested, we'd then talk a little more with them. in
short, our results were 30 yes, 20 no, and about 20 I don't knows or
not interesteds. Also, we got one lady that responded "My husband just
died. Now's not the right time to ask that question". That was a
rather unexpected response. We later ate lunch with Giuseppe, a
widower of about 75 years who is one of the first members here. He's
been more or less less-active since his wife died, though his entire
posterity of about 30-40 are members, most of which are active. He's a
cool guy, and very interested in astronomy, so when I told him grandpa
was an astrophysicist, he was very interested. Later that day, we
taught Marcel and his sister, Giordana. He's 19, and wants to go on a
mission, but for some reason is still less-active. She had some
strange questions about some words and how they relate. It was odd. We
then taught Yusuf, a Moroccan, who was interested in having a book in
arabic. We'll give him a book of Mormon in arabic next time we see
him.

Friday, we did another whiteboard survey, this time "Is there a God?"
we got very different results. 37 yes, 7 no, and 41 not interested or
in a hurry. We think the 41 people weren't sure or didn't want to say
no. That was very interesting. That evening, we taught Manuel and his
wife Ingrid for the first time. They're ecuadorians who met the
missionaries about a year ago in San Remo, which is near Genova. We
tried something I'd never thought to try before, to offer a kneeling
prayer at the end of the lesson, and since we'd never taught them
before, it wasn't awkward. One of the important concepts we're
spending a lot of time and effort on is how to begin teaching. The
concept is that the first 5-10 minutes with an investigator in their
home set the tone in a very real way for the rest of the time we teach
them. so I've tried to improve the way I do so using the suggestions
in Preach My Gospel chapter 10. It makes a difference. a big
difference.

On Saturday, it rained. a lot. and sunday. and monday. We spent a lot
of time stopping people on the streets, that's how I know. a lot of
people were really open... until we wanted their phone number, which
they wouldn't give us. bummer. oh well. That evening, we had a ward
party, involving a lot of meatballs. And logic games. I won the logic
game. and therefore a lot of meatballs. It was delicious.

Sunday, I had another really good day in church. It's amazing the
difference taking notes seems to make. I learned a lot. we then did
some casa and some street. After a while, I asked Anziano Clove to
recount to me the entirety of the Star Wars trilogies. It was amusing.
He has seen those movies too many times. We got in doing casa to a man
from buga ne faso (sp?) a country near the Ivory Coast. He was muslim
and wouldn't let us pray or come back, but he did tell us where two
nigerian Christians live, who we'll be teaching tomorrow, I think.
that was nice of him. We also did some area book work, finding a few
people to recontact. one of them gave us an appointment for saturday,
and we'll do another pass-by probably tomorrow. so... that was good.

Monday, I exercised fully 30 minutes, for the first time in a long
time. normally I do 10-20 minutes in the morning. I've been sore
yesterday and today because of it. oh well. We taught Ousman, a
sengalese man who was interested in the Book of Mormon as well. He
brought his friend who doesn't really speak Italian as well. Also, he
was unfortunately a little inebriated, so I'm not sure how much he got
out of the lesson. oh well. We did a lot more strada that day.

Yesterday, we had another "Leadership Training Meeting", where we went
over all 8 of the "Fundamental Principles" that the 12 recently
released, which are 8 priniciples designed to help missionaries learn
better how to teach. They are as follows:
The Doctrine of Christ -The Missionary Purpose
The Role of the Holy Ghost
Revelation through Prayer
Revelation through the Book of Mormon
Revelation through Church Attendance
Teach People, Not Lessons
We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up
How to Begin Teaching

These 8 points each have an 8.5x11" page of scripture and Preach My
Gospel references and questions connected with them. Very simple. Very
effective, when applied. Mostly things I didn't do before. It's pretty
cool.

That evening we ate dinner with Paola, during which I was tired and
distracted. There was an interesting discussion of Hindi religion,
which I could've taken advantage of to bend towards a discussion of
the gospel, had I been less distracted. 6.5 hours of your mission
president teaching you and you focusing a lot are... exhausting. Oh
well. I'll do better the next time.

Today, Anziano Clove got a haircut. I thought about it, but 15 euro
seemed WAY too expensive.

I love you!
Anziano Jolley


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Another week gone

Benjamin's new address is: (To answer his request that is at the end of his letter).

Anziano Benjamin Jolley

Via V. Monti, 3

23870 Cernusco (LC)

Italia

For those who want to know how to send packages,

USPS Priority Mail International Packages are recommended with the words "dalla famiglia" at the end of the list of contents. This means that the contents are "from the family" rather than having been purchased via mail order to prevent problems with customs. The Italian gov't often charges an import fee of 25% or more of the value of the package. Candy and food items are generally fine, except jerky. I have had a package returned but couldn't figure out why except I didn't list the contents and they said the address wasn't an address--I sent it to his current address. ( May Ensign, recipes, photos of his new niece)( ?)

Packages need to be sent to the mission office:

Anziano Benjamin Dean Jolley

Missione Italiana di Milano

Via A. Gramsci 13/4

20090 Opera (MI)

Italy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 2:24 AM
Subject: Another week gone

Dear family,

I'm still here in Merate, and I'm a little more content about my
situation. I have had an interesting week. On Thursday, we did some
finding work, and then we taught a less active 19yo named Marcel, who
we're trying to get out on a mission. He's a good kid. Really likes
his Xbox, though... we'll see what happens with him. We also taught
English class, which was a lot of fun, because there's an interesting
mix of different students with different ability, and they're all
related. It's interesting.

Friday, we went to Lecco, where we had lunch, and then I did a scambio
with Anziano Malku, a missionary from Albania. We taught a member
family, a cameroonese named alexis, and a part member family. We
taught Moses, and Faith, Ruth and Godwin. That's the part member
family. They're from Nigeria. Ruth and Godwin were baptised in the
past 2 months, and Faith got baptised on Sunday. Moses should be
baptised at the end of the month.

Saturday, Anziano Malku and I did some casa in Lecco, and met a 85yo
man who let us into his house, spoke to us in dialect, which was hard
enough to understand, on top of the fact that he had no teeth. He told
us to leave when we asked if we could say a prayer. huh. odd. That
afternoon, we had Anziano Malku's 21st birthday party of eating Indian
food at a kebap restaurant. Anz. Clove and I then went to teach Jules,
one of our investigators. That was a really good lesson. We started
teaching the plan of Salvation, and then I asked him a question like
"why are we here on the earth?" he then recounted the story of the
creation, the fall, the atonement, and then his story in search of the
true gospel. He studied with the Jehovah's Witnesses, but when he saw
the conduct of the members that were teaching him, he decided not to
be baptised into their church. His mother is muslim, but told him to
keep searching for the true path, which she was never able to find. I
then bore testimony that his understanding of the fall and atonement
were good, and we said a prayer. I love asking questions like that.
That evening, we went to the Pogetti family, who fed us some rather
delicious eggplant/cheese dish, after we talked with them about
enduring to the end and ETB's Beware of Pride. It was a good lesson.

On Sunday, we had Stake Conference in Milano, which was good. Our
Mission mom, Sorella Wolfgramm's italian is improving! She spoke,
among other people. After the conference, we went to Lecco with one of
their members, had lunch, and then went to Faith's baptism in Como.
When we got back to Lecco, we found that the next train back to Merate
wasn't for 3 hours. So we were stuck there all day. oh well.

On Monday, we had a lunch with Giuseppe Nicotra, an old man who
recently has gone less active. He's very interested in Astronomy. It
was a very interesting appointment. He really likes SOHO, for those
that know what it is. That afternoon, we taught Gaetano, who is a new
convert who likes motorcycles. He's a good guy. We then did some
finding work, getting two phone numbers, but both of them were muslim.
We'll see if they develop. Mostly I try to leave muslims alone, but
when you have 2 investigators... you're grateful for what you get.

Tuesday, we went out for a giro (a walk?) and we met a man from Ghana,
to whom I gave a first lesson pamphlet. We then had district meeting,
after which my companion got sick, so we stayed in till 7:30 PM, when
we had an appointment with Paola for dinner. Those dinner appointments
are interesting. We teach them sneakily, by sort of directing the
conversation towards gospel subjects as we eat. I ate a peperoncino
during the meal. Those are really hot. (They're the tiny red hot
peppers. I don't remember the name in english).

I love you. I have a request for you all. I would appreciate it if you
would send me your testimony of going to church on Sunday, what
blessings you see from it, etc. Thank you.


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transfers

Date: Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 4:10 AM

Subject: transfers

Dear family,

I just spent an hour writing an email that I was about to finish, but
because the computers here are old, it didn't save draft and I
randomly signed out. So... you're going to get a less exciting and
detailed version of my week.

First of all, Merate is tiny. It's got about 10,000 people in it. and
no palazzi. My companion is Anziano Clove. My mailing adress is

Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Via V. Monti, 3
23870 Cernusco (LC)
Italia

Wednesday evening, I taught Iro, who read all the way to Alma 9. He's
probably finished the Book of Mormon by now. We talked about the Plan
of Salvation. We then did some casa and found a lovely family of 4,
who told us we could come back. Then we went home, did planning, and
then I got a call from Anziano Bona in Alessandria, who asked if I was
being transferred. I said no. I then got a call from the zone leaders
telling me I was transferred and I had until the next noon to pack up.
So I packed, did my laundry, and was in bed by midnight.

Thursday, we sent off that email to y'all, and then we finished my
packing, did a short giro of Vercelli, and went to the station. On the
train, I talked to a man and got his number, which I forwarded to the
missionaries in Udine, where he lives. We then found out that we were
in Milano 2 hours early. oops. Eventually, after getting mcdonalds,
our companions showed up and we went off to our cities. I'm taking
Anziano Bolnick's place here in Merate, and he's taking Anziano
Baxter's in Pavia whose taking mine in Vercelli. odd. oh well. Anziano
Clove and I went to Merate, I unpacked, ate a little dinner, and then
we did a giro of the town, It is tiny, and then we knocked the two
palazzi in town that have more than 3 stories. we got in once, to a
man named Manuel.

Friday, we did a giro of the town, then we planned, and then we ate
lunch with the remnants of our food supply. While I spent a large
amount of money on shopping on P day, Anziano Bolnick bought a loaf of
bread. so... we were out of food on Sunday. We then went to Lecco,
where the missionaries have prepared a girl named Faith for baptism.
We got there several hours early because we didn't look at the time
properly, and then we left late for the same reason. We got back to
Merate around 7 PM, where we did a bit of strada, encountering 2
people in a half hour. The city is kinda small.

Saturday, we taught one of our 2 investigators, Elisa and Jules. We
taught Elisa about baptism, and how she needs to be a little more
comitted and actually come to church. We then went home, had lunch,
and went to Carnate, a small city nearby, where we knocked every door
in the city, followed by a dinner appointment in the city with the
Pogetti family, a lovely member family of a married couple about the
age of my mom and dad. woot.

Sunday, I had a particularly good block, where I felt the spirit
stronger than I have in a long time. I learned a lot. We then had
lunch with the last of our food, and then we went to Osnago, another
small city nearby, where we knocked a few doors, and then we realized
it was Halloween, because we saw trick or treaters and a few people
answered the door with candy in hand. We didn't get any though. oh
well.

Monday, we had district meeting, which was a little more different
than I'm used too. Anziano Clove is a different kind of District
Leader. We read Moses 7 and discussed. We then ate lunch with the
Lecco Anziani, (we had to go buy some) and then we did a bit of casa
in a nearby city called Robbiate. It was raining hard, though, so we
were a little discouraged and wet, and Robbiate is even smaller than
we thought, so I suggested we try supermarket finding work. We tried.
I felt super awkward, and wasn't very successful because my companion
just was standing nearby more awkwardly. But I think the concept has
potential. That's how we spent the entire day. It was rather
ineffective. The city is so small that I often feel I'm wasting time
just being here.

Tuesday, we did some errands, and then we ate lunch and then we went
to Villasanta, a city too far away, and we did some strada. This
strada was also ineffective. We then got on a train to come back, and
we talked to a nice pair of Albanians who were interested and we got
their numbers. We then went to Paola's house, a nice ex-english
student who has fed the missionaries for forever, but knows
surprisingly little about the gospel and is definitely not baptised.

This morning, we came out here to the library, where the computers are
old and can't use normal gmail, hence my draft wasn't saved. grumble.

I love you all. Please pray for me to have a good mood about this
city. on Monday as we walked through the rain, I went on a rather
self-destructive thought pattern that was rather unhealthy. I wasn't
particularly happy. I'm feeling ok now, though.

Anziano Benjamin Jolley


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