Some Wins, some fails, some postponing

From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 2:40 AM
Subject: Some Wins, some fails, some postponing

Dear family,

 

We've had a crazy week. Once again. Things are happening here in Reggio. When our Bishop got back in town, we told him we have five baptisms coming up, the sisters need an apartment and he was just taken aback. He joked that he should stay on vacation longer. Also he invited us to Bishopric meeting so that we can bring him up to speed on what we are doing. I'm pleased.

 

Thursday, we went to Kobe's with Paul Martin, and when I asked him if he'd prayed about the Book of Mormon he said "well, I haven't seen an angel yet." "But I feel inside of me that it is true." He is so cool. We then rushed to Budrio where we ate lunch with Marco, and while we ate his friend Antonio showed up. We started to teach Antonio, and he was super cool. I feel like he's not becoming an investigator solely because we don't currently have time to teach him. Maybe in a month's time? Then we taught Sasha about the Word of Wisdom. He's not currently keeping it, and it's his biggest obstacle to baptism in my opinion. Pray that he'll be able to stop smoking and drinking and such, please.

 

 

Friday, we planned and we went and taught Paul about the Word of Wisdom, and he's been obeying it since the sisters taught it to him. Then we went and talked to Shafkri, a pakistani who called us the day before wanting to meet. He has read the entire Book of Mormon in Urdu (his language), and wants to learn more. He doesn't speak very good Italian so it's hard to understand what he wants.

 

Saturday, we did some area book work and found about 30 records to give to the sisters. Hopefully that will help them to get a teaching pool again. (since they gave us practically all their investigators). That afternoon, we taught Paul about keeping the sabbath day holy and determined that he has trouble reading. Then we taught Pacomeo the plan of Salvation, and he is just solid. That evening we went to Parma and taught Perla and Gabriella a short lesson on Prayer and scripture study.

 

Sunday, Sasha, Salome, Opare, and Pacome all showed up in church. We had gospel principles about work and personal responsibility, an interesting topic since half of our investigators are looking for work. Sacrament meeting the talks were about all of the major commandments. It was interesting. The bishop gave an excellent talk about tithing. In the afternoon, we went and taught Abraham, who had taught Sunday School in his church that morning about "how to be great in this world". His church is sort of all about money, and he doesn't like that, so he taught about Shadrach Meshach and Abed-nego being great because they kept God's commandments. His pastor didn't like that. He'll be coming to our church next week. Then we went and did a lot of finding work, determined to teach 2 more lessons to round off 20 in the week. So we went and taught some people on park benches. One of them was actually a cool guy. Kwame just moved here from Ghana, but he's lived in Columbus, Ohio for a large part of his life. So he knew a lot about America and that Mitt Romney was a member of our church. It was cool. That evening, just before I called our district for numbers, a man named Bartolome, who I couldn't remember for the life of me called and said that he liked what we had said and wants to be a member of our church. "I will be in church next week. I am already a member of your church." So.. that was cool.

 

Monday, we went to the church to teach Sasha about tithing, and he said that it is a good commandment and he will keep it. Then he stayed for district meeting, and called my district out on complaining about their situation. Then I shared ideas about finding work and felt the spirit SUPER strong. Then we taught Sasha during the meeting and he helped us a lot on improving our teaching. We then started a Scambio, and I and Anziano Wilkins taught Pacomeo about Tithing, he's ok with it, then Paul about the plan of salvation, and he had a question about chastity. So we talked about it. Then we went and did some finding work and taught Issac the man from Burkina Faso, Vincent, a Ghanian, Bright, who is a "Fasting man", then Godfrey stopped us. Godfrey is a man that has been taught about 100 times by the missionaries. His teaching record is 6 pages long. So I sorta just held a baptismal interview as we walked "Godfrey, have you ever commited a crime?" "Yes. I was in prison for 4 years. But now I'm free and I don't want to do that stuff anymore" "Godfrey will you be baptised?" "If God wants me to change my life and will help me, yes." Yes, we now have 6 investigators with a baptismal date. Godfrey is from Nigeria, FYI. He was taught by my old District Leader, Anziano Shill. Then we went and talked to some people in another park among whom was Dominic, the Polish man. He is a cool guy. He doesn't want to be rich, just wants to live well with his family. And maybe quit smoking. So if we see him around we'll see if he wants to quit.

 

Tuesday morning, we went to Kobe's, and we moved his baptismal date, because he didn't come to church on Sunday. He will be baptised instead the 10th of september. We read with him 3 Nephi 11, and he wanted us to clear up about the Godhead. So we did. Then we riscambioed, and we taught Paul about the rest of the Plan of Salvation, then Pacomeo about the Law of Chastity, which he liked a lot. He obeys it. He wants to know about the Word of Wisdom, though. We'll teach that tomorrow. Then we rushed to teach Sasha, who we also taught the Law of Chastity. He will continue to obey it. We also read 1 Nephi 11 with him, which is his girlfriend's favorite story.

 

Today we'll meet with our Bishopric, and probably go on a bike ride. Not in that order. I love you!

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Fwd: What a week!!!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley <benjamin.jolley@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 11:28 AM
Subject: What a week!!!
 Wow. What a week. Literally crazy. This week, we had 8 investigators in church, and we now have five investigators with a baptismal date. whoa.

 

Wednesday, as we did shopping, our Croatian friend Sasha invited us over for lunch. He fed us a 4 course meal. pizza, pasta, fruit and salad. It was delicious. He also commited to come to church next week.

 

Thursday, we taught Kobe the plan of salvation, and he was ok with it. I'm not sure he understood really well, but he understood repentance. That's the most important. That evening, we taught Ludovico, our JW friend, who couldn't deal with the idea of the Book of Mormon. It was an interesting lesson. He's 19 years old. weird.

 

Friday, we got all bidoni, but we went and taught a man named michael. Also, the sisters called and wanted to talk. Apparently they had prayed, and decided that all of their single male investigators (all of their investigators more or less) should be referred to us. So we suddenly have 5 new people to teach. whoa! This was super good, because I was getting a little... well... discouraged for a bit. the results of the following days brightened my spirits a lot.

 

Saturday, we planned, taught Paul, one of the sisters' old investigators, who is pretty cool "I believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet." He should be baptized the 17th of September. Then we went to Kofi's house, one of our less actives that showed up in church last week. We made him some delicious banana bread. Then we went and taught Bright, a man the firenze capi had referred to us. He commited to read the Book of Mormon, pray, come to church (next week), repent of his sins, and be baptized the 17th of September.

 

Sunday, we went to church, where we had 8 investigators, and like 5 of our less actives we've been working with come. It was super gratifying to see our work start to pay off. I taught Gospel Principles about Sacrifice, and our investigators really liked it. The people in church were Kobe, Pacome, Sasha, Fratello Bonini, Katya, Opare, and the daughters of fratello Appiah. sweet! That afternoon, we went with our high priest group leader to teach Abraham and Agatha, some of our cool investigators, who have commited to coming to church the 4th of september. They refuse to come any sooner. But they are the kind of people that get baptized. We told them, and Fratello Asare told them too. (Asare=high priest group leader). Then we randomly knocked on Samuel's door, another of our less actives who the sisters found. His records are in Ghana still. So we commited him to come to church, and got his info so we can get his records moved here.

 

Monday, we went and taught Pacome, who is a stud. He studied to be a catholic priest, and wants to be baptized. He will be baptized the 10th of September. That afternoon, we taught Kobe an intense lesson with Fratello Borelli. We taught the law of chastity, the word of wisdom and the law of tithing in the same lesson. He's a stud. We set up a baptismal interview for him. Then we came back, and we taught Salome and Giovanna a short brief on what happened in church, since they missed it.

 

Tuesday, we had a scambio with the capi. I and anziano Anderson went to District meeting, which I loved. We talked about the Atonement. I felt the spirit super strong as I bore testimony to our district. In the afternoon, we taught Pacome, gave him a baptismal calendar. He's so solid. Then we taught Paul, who will be baptized the 17th of september. We taught about repentance to them both. In the meantime, Anziano Armenise and Ellsworth went to interview Kobe for baptism, he passed! then they taught Sasha, our croatian friend, and set a baptismal date with him for the 17th of september. That evening, we went to teach Bright, who we taught about scripture study, since he hadn't read the Book of Mormon since we'd seen him. We also gave him a baptismal calendar.

 

Today we went to Verona. It was sweet. Our train was late though, so I'm writing a little later.

 

Since Dad asked, here's a list of investigators we are teaching.

 

Kwabena (Kobe) 17 years old, from Ghana baptismal date 3 september

Pacome 30, Ivory Coast, BD 10 September

Bright, +-25, Ghana, BD 17 September

Sasha, 25, Croatia, BD 17 September

Paul, 35, Ghana, BD 17 September

Abraham and Agatha, +-35, Nigeria

Salome and Giovanna, +-55, Cuba and Italy

Katya, 17, Moldavia, BD 11 November

 

 

Less actives we're teaching

 

Mensah, 30, Ghana

Nuredini, 45, Albania

Kusi, 35, Ghana

Dan, 35, Ghana

Samuel, 30, Ghana

Emmanuel, 30, Nigeria

George, 30, Nigeria

Pianegonda, 40, Italy

Anna and Salvatore, 25, Italy

Nicola, 28, Italy

 

As you may guess, we are BUSY. This is simply actual investigators. We have about 5 more legit referrals from the sisters that we'll start teaching soon. For example Tony from last night. He stopped them and said "I am looking for truth. Can you teach me?" Since he's a single man, we'll be teaching him. Crazy right?

 

Anyway, we're super busy, so bye!

Love

Anziano Jolley

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Fwd: A new transfer

From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 3:22 AM
Subject: A new transfer

So, in case you were wondering, we didn't get transferred. We're here until at least Sept 22. Returning to my travelog, Thursday, we went to Kobe's, and he said "I want to do everything you guys ask me to do. If you ask me to come to church, I'll come to church. If you ask me to be baptised, I'll be baptised." That was intense. We gave him For the Strength of Youth as part of a lesson on following the prophet. We then went to Issac's house, the member that accompanied us. We met his family, who are quite lovely. Then we did some finding work, and then we taught George, one of our less actives. He is an interesting man. Got baptized in Holland, and then moved here. He hasn't had work in nearly 8 years. And now he finally found decent work.

 

Friday, we went out and worked with Fratello Borelli all day long. We went to Maryam's, a really sweet nigerian member who's pretty active, then we saw where the new church building will be here in Reggio. It's a much better location, and much more obvious. I'm pleased. Then we ate lunch with the Borellis, and then we went and taught Franco, who is an interesting guy. Then we went to Salome's, and taught them tithing. They accepted it full heartedly, and just said, yeah, that's true. We'll pay it. CRAZY! Then we went and met one of our assigned less active families, the Nuredini's, from Albania. They have apparently had serious troubles since the economic downturn. And hence, they went less active. We talked more or less about the church's welfare program.

 

Saturday, we started going to Kobe's, and he said he was busy. So we looked for a member in Cadelbosco, a tiny town nearby, and placed a Book of Mormon to a man on the bus home. Then we went to teach some of our less actives, who weren't there. darn. And then we went and contacted a referral, this legit young man named Federico, who we had met through his dad Roberto a few weeks ago. (The guy with a bunch of guns). He said he'd read the Book of Mormon, and wanted to talk about God. We'll go back tomorrow.

 

Sunday, we went to pick up Gilbert for church, and he was already in church! Hurray! Some of our members came back from vacation, so I met Katya and her sister Tonia, who are an investigator and new convert respectively. Yay. After church, we ate pizza with Danso, who's in the bishopric, and he explained some things about how he got to know the church. He loves the hymns like I do. They are legitimately my favorite part of church, when I feel the spirit the strongest. Later, we visited Lucy, one of our new converts, and then Abraham, who really just needs to come to our church and get baptized. He understands basically all of the doctrines. Then we found a man named Ludovico, a Jehovah's Witness that accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon. That makes him the most elect JW I have ever met. It makes me excited.

 

Monday, we cleaned the apartment, gave Sorella Jones a blessing of comfort, and searched for members in Parma. Tuesday, we had zone conference in Modena, where they gave us DVD players.

 

Today is P day, and we're going to have a good one. I love you all.

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Fwd: Africa

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 3:12 AM
Subject: Africa

Family,

 

I realized once again that I am serving my mission in Africa. About 50% of this ward is african, and more than that of our investigators are African. Anywho, Wednesday we had a cool training meeting. We did lots of role plays. Also, President announced that the trainers in the mission will have new instructions. They will be with their missionaries for 12 weeks and will have an extra hour of study time. That was interesting. We talked to some interesting people on the train ride back. A french woman and an Italian man, that are muslim originally, but don't believe in God.

 

Thursday, we went out to Kobe's house, the 17 year old ghanan. He accepted a baptismal date for the 3rd of September! We then returned to Reggio where we taught English, and then we taught this man named Jude who we found earlier. We asked him to be baptized. He is preparing to be baptized in another church. Interesting. Then we did some casa and found Jackson and Anna, a nice Ghanan couple.

 

Friday, we planned, did area book, made a baptismal calendar for Kobe, and then we went to Andrews' house. He is now in Holland, but we were able to teach him and his friend Hope a short lesson. Hope wanted to know if drinking alcohol is a sin. He commited to live the Word of Wisdom. And he's a new investigator. Hurray referrals!

 

Saturday, we went to Kobe again, and explained to him what we do in church. He's solid. In the afternoon we taught Ernest the plan of Salvation. He said "Whenever you come to visit me, I feel so happy." He's super cool. He's also one of 16 children, his dad has 4 wives. interesting, huh?

 

Sunday, we had Ernest and Salome and Giovanna in church. We had a super spiritual testimony meeting, and Sorella Chambers said goodbye to the ward. I felt the spirit super strong during church. Then we taught Salome and Giovanna a short lesson, and then we did finding. During lunch, I found a less active's number in the phone. I called, got his address, and we went out there. Gilbert is a stud. He's an Elder, and promised to come to church on Sunday. He also said his brother John would be interested to hear more about the church, so we're going back to teach them on Saturday. Referrals!

 

Monday, we had an awesome district meeting that I turned into a testimony meeting. "how did you come to know the church was true?" It was awesome. Then we did a scambio. Anziano Wilkins and I worked in Reggio, and had all of our appointments fall through. We just did finding work with little success till a group of younger people waved at us from a park bench. We went over and taught them the restoration and gave them each a Book of Mormon. It was awesome. One of them said she'd love to meet with us. So we gave her to the sisters. Also, in another park, we talked to some drunk Ghanans, and I was confused as to why I talked to them until one of them said that he was baptized in the church, and I got Yaw's contact information. We'll teach him on Saturday too.

 

Tuesday, we taught a Liberian named Charles on the street, and then we headed to Piacenza to re exchange. on the way, we talked to a very attractive napoletana girl, who was decently interested in the gospel. Thank goodness she doesn't live here. That would be difficult. Then, as we got lunch at the McDonalds, a man stopped us and said he was a member from Nigeria. We talked to him, and he even called his brother who is a bishop. He hadn't been able to find the church since he's been in Italy. His name is Emmanuel. In the last week, we have found 5 members. 3 have records outside of Reggio. They all live in our boundaries though. It's bizzarre. All of them look like good prospects to reactivate. In the evening, we taught Nicola, a less active, and his girlfriend Antonia about scripture study, and then we went to Danny, one of those 5 people we found. He said he'd come to church. Exciting!

 

Today, we should teach George, another less active, and Hope, Andrews' friend. I love this place.

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Fwd: KOBE!

From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 5:00 AM
Subject: KOBE!
ok. cool story of the week. We start to talk to a kid on the street last week, and he says he'd love to hear our message. He gives us his address and it's FOREVER away. (45 minutes on a bus). We go there. Kobe picks us up and his whole family is interested in the message. six people want to hear more. Yes, they live a long ways away, but... there are members somewhat nearby. So worth it. This was thursday morning. Later that afternoon, we meet Roberto, who talks... a lot. I try to get out of there, but he keeps talking. and then he shows us his prize collection. He opens a door and shows us his collection of about 1000 firearms. Pistols, rifles, every shape size everything. He owns every berretta pistol except one. He hands me a gun and I say... wow. these fit way too well in the hand. And then he explains to us that he dislikes killing things. He went hunting once, and hit a bird that looked at him as if to say "what did I do to you?" he doesn't kill things with his guns. He just has a lot of them. That evening, we get stopped by a man as we walk past a bar. He asks who we are and explains that he wants to come to church. So we explain a little, and he is very pleased with our responses. We see him the next day and he explains that he told the catholic priest what we'd said. He was like "he didn't know what to say." apparently he went a little overboard with that though, and got himself kicked out of the local caritas (homeless shelter). oh well. He also didn't come to church because he had slept through it. bummer.

 

Later on Friday, we found an awesome Cuban man named Olevares, who is an endocrinologist and was loving everything we said. So he said we could come back whenever.  Saturday, we had a bunch of appointments, and they all fell through. It was super disappointing. We went to Salomé's, who was pleased to see us. We taught them about the sacramental prayers. The next day, his wife/compagna came to church for the first time in months. WOOT! They're waiting on a divorce so they can get married and then get baptised. Also in church was Spalanzane, our dear conspiracy theorist neighbor.

 

Sunday, we taught Abraham, who told us he couldn't come to church, but said that he'd read the book of mormon and that if he found it was true, he'd be baptized and come to our church. That's an interesting response. Rosa told us that she hadn't watched the movie we left her, and more or less understood our message, but said she can't come to church.

 

Monday, we got all bidoni again. BUT! we went to our backup plans and found 4 women... that the sisters will teach. oh well. Better for them. One of them was amazing. A chinese woman named Francesca who speaks Italian and is an evangelical Christian. she asked "if this is true, what do I need to do?" BE BAPTIZED! She accepted the invite to read the Book of Mormon, and the sisters will teach her and I'm certain baptized her whole family. This was an amazing experience because chinese people almost NEVER speak Italian, and are even more rarely Christian, at least here in Italy. I have spoken with my companion many times about my racism in general. I can generally tell you how much a person will listen to our message by just looking at them. BUT sometimes you meet those people that breaks those molds. I love it when racism is proved wrong by people like Francesca. That evening, we found one of our members at home, a girl named Chantal. We taught her a short lesson about prayer with the rest of her family. It was sweet.

 

Today we'll go to a member named Dan who we've never met. That'll be fun. I love you.

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