A very nice week

December 28, 2011

Well, this week's been a pretty good one. Wednesday night, we did some finding work and knocked into a couple, Ciro and Manjola, from Italy and Albania respectively. They have two beautiful children named Giovanni and Rebecca. As I and my companion had not gotten in doing casa in nearly a month, I had no idea what to say to them. So we taught probably the worst lesson of my life. We sorta presented the Book of Mormon and invited them to read it. They said they would and we said a prayer and set up a return appointment. As I walked away, I thought "Why in the world do people like that even let us into their homes?" In fact, I remember thinking at the door approach, "Look's like they're busy. Darn, another door knocked." Then they invited us in. Shortly afterwards we taught English Class and it was good. we talked about Christmas traditions.

 

Thursday, we met with Roger, and he didn't understand the baptismal invite the first two times we gave it. When we explained better, he said "If I come to know the Book of Mormon is true, it's normal that I'd get baptized." We then invited him to church on Sunday, which he commited to. Later, we did some strada and casa, and taught a few people on the street.

 

Friday, we did a lot of finding and we ran into the girl we gave a Book of Mormon to on Sunday the "where's my Book of Mormon?" girl. We got her number and set up an appointment to teach her. We then planned.

 

Saturday, we decided to make a tiramisù for our members, thinking it would take 1/2 hour. It took us about 1.5 hours. oh well. We went over to the Garcias house for a Christmas eve lunch and ate an incredible amount of food. then we invited their daughter's boyfriend to listen to the lessons. He said "later." Afterwards, we were exhausted, so we took a short nap, and then we got a call from the Rossi's asking if we could go caroling to their neighbors with them. So we did. This took the rest of the night, and we came home.

 

Sunday was fun. We went to pick up Roger for church, and he came. In our Sacrament meeting were 4 dry members, and Roger and a mother with three sons who are Gertrude's friends. That would be 9 investigators. Wow. The Lord dropped a good one there. We got an appointment with Yvette and her sons, and went to the Rossi's for Christmas lunch. We ate some delicious food and I called home. Shortly afterwards, my companion tried to call home, but... no one answered. He was a little distraught the rest of the night. Around 9 he tried again, but no response. Then we went home, and slept.

 

In the morning, we studied, and with President's approval, he called again. This time he got a hold of them, while I washed the Rossi's dishes. I learned some really good Italian language jokes from them too. Example: Qual'è il contrario di Abbondantemente? (What is the opposite of abundantly? Answer at the bottom) After that we headed to Rimini and did a scambio. Anziano Scalese from Maryland and I went back to Forlì and did some good work. I called a member wanting to pass by and they responded "Didn't you know that you are supposed to be coming for FHE tonight?" oops! Anziano Scalese is a great missionary with a great talent for being grateful. As we walked into Piazza Saffi, the main town square, I thought "eh, the thousandth time I see this piazza." He says "WOW! this is ITALY! It's so pretty in this country!" I took a step back, and agreed with him. We talked a lot about Faith and obedience and how he can help his companion. I was amazed. Our conversations the whole scambio were about gospel topics and ideas and how to help missionaries and investigators and why we're on missions and such, as opposed to normal scambio discussions like girls and america and JW's and such. It was an awesome scambio.

 

Tuesday, we studied and went down to Rimini for district meeting. It went pretty well. We talked a lot about Finding Work, and it was pretty cool. My companion is awesome. After that, we grabbed lunch at Burger King, and then went back to Forlì. We got back and I was exhausted, as was my companion. We had appointments in about 20 minutes though, so I just got on my knees and prayed for the strength and alertness to be able to teach after little sleep. We went, and miracles happened. The first appointment was with Ciro and Manjola. We taught them the restoration, and as we brought up baptism, Manjola was fascinated. She has always wanted to be baptized, but has never had the chance. This family has been prepared by the Lord. They accepted a conditional Baptismal date for the 28th of January, if they come to know it's true before then. Afterwards, we went and taught Yvette and her 3 sons. We started out talking with Yvette, and the TV was on, and then we asked to say a prayer to start the lesson properly, and so we turned off the TV. Suddenly her sons, ages 9, 11, and 13 are fixed on us. We start to explain the restoration, and these boys understand EVERYTHING. They are full of faith and I'm amazed. "What did Jesus do while he was on the earth?" I ask. "He was baptized by John the baptist, he did miracles, he called 12 men to be specially taught by him to then teach others and he was crucified." I look at my companion in utter disbelief that this is happening. As we explain the First Vision, the 9 year old says "I would die of joy if I saw God. How did Joseph Smith not die of joy?" As we explain the Book of Mormon, the 11 year old notices a picture of Alma baptizing and says "We've been baptized Catholic. Do we need to be baptized Mormon? Yes." Will you read the Book of Mormon? Absolutely. Will you be baptized? YES! Mom says, they've already been baptized Catholic. 13 year old says, No, mom, We have to be baptized again because the LDS church is the Lord's new restored Kingdom. I have NEVER met such amazing children. They were super excited to learn more. End result of day? 6 baptismal dates for the 28th of January.

 

Investigators as of now:

Roger from Burkina Faso

Yvette, Raphael, Cesare and Jean Jacques, from Benin, Baptismal Date, 28 January

Ciro, Manjola, Giovanni and Rebecca, from Italy and Albania baptismal date 28 January

 

Answer to joke above: A Berlino Petrarca dice il vero. (In Berlin, Petrarch tells the truth). Why is this funny? Abbondantemente spoken sounds like a sentence A bonn, Dante mente. (In Bonn, Dante lies).

 

I love you. Keep praying for us. We're seeing miracles thanks to your prayers.

 

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A scambio and some work

From: Benjamin Jolley

Date: Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 3:18 AM

Well, another week gone. Thursday was an interesting day. All of our appointments fell through, but we still had an opportunity to speak with someone and place a Book of Mormon. I love the feeling of a bag that has been carrying a Book of Mormon all day that is now empty. Another person has the opportunity to find truth. I hate the feeling of having a full bag at the end of the day. It feels so heavy on my shoulder, even though it's like 1/2 pound. It feels SO heavy. Otherwise, we taught Moreno and Laila about the Temple and Family History work, and they were pretty excited to get started.

 

Friday, we planned. My companion is senior companion this week. So far he's doing a WONDERFUL job. I feel like a huge burden is off of my back. And that frees me to just work super crazy hard. We went and taught our African friends, and gave an Urdu Book of Mormon to a man from Pakistan, and then we were able to teach several other people, including an adorable old man that looks like the grandpa from Up! who was an ex investigator and is now an investigator again. His name is Sandor.

 

Saturday, we were able to teach a father in a park about the restoration, he has wondered what we believe since he was a little boy, because he's seen the missionaries before but never talked to them. He wasn't particularly interested in learning more, but he was grateful that we satisfied his curiosity. We taught lots of people on the street. Then we went to our less active's house and talked about Temple work, and they got pretty excited about doing their family history and preparing a name to go get baptized for is the future months. We then taught Daniel one of the best lessons we've ever had with him. He was awake, active, and interested. He commited to church this coming Sunday.

 

Sunday, we didn't have any investigators in church. In fact, it was a rough day. But we worked anyways. We found our new investigator Raffaele, who tried to give us back the Book of Mormon, but he still has it, and he commited to English class, even if he dropped us as an investigator. Then we taught a few other people on the street. It was good. By the end I was REALLY wanting to go home, but my great senior companion kept us outside till it was time to properly go home.

 

Monday, we had a scambio with Rimini. I went down with Anziano Portellano, from Marseilles, France. It was an interesting scambio. I learned a ton about what I need to do better as a missionary and a district leader. We taught a wonderful member family about scripture study.

 

Tuesday, we had district meeting, and we talked about consecrating our missions. I realized how not perfect I am, but I'm trying. and especially I feel like I've made a lot of progress this week itself. That afternoon we did some contacting, and then we taught a member who has been coming back to church and is starting to understand things now as she reads her scriptures. It's super good to hear.

 

This morning we've come to email our dear families. I love you all.

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Some miracles

Well, it's another week gone. This week was interesting. Thursday, we went and did some casa after P day and found a family to teach, and then we went and taught a member family. We'll hope that that family turns out well.

 

Friday, we put up some english class publicity, around the city. It was pretty cool to see how in 4 days practically all of the little tickets we'd put up were taken. It was one of those ads that you see with the little things to pull off on the bottom. In theory, each of those went to a different person. If so, and they all come to english tonight, we should have an english class that is about 45 people, as opposed to our usual 5-8. That'd be cool. That evening, we taught Sorella Veronica about repentance.

 

Saturday, we were looking at having taught 7 lessons all week. We really wanted to get our 20 for the week. On Saturday, we taught our africans, then a cool guy named Davide, who we gave a Book of Mormon to and who wants to come to church, and then we talked to some ragazzi on the street who were decently interested.

 

Sunday, we were at 10 lessons. I was convinced that reaching 20 lessons for the week was impossible, especially given that we had zero appointments set up. Somehow, we did it. We talked to people on the streets and in houses, and we taught 11 lessons in one day. Some highlights: First person we stop is an ex investigator named Diana who has read nearly the entire Book of Mormon but hasn't prayed about it yet. We invited her to pray about it. We'll see her this evening. Raffaele is an engineer who really liked the analogy between a line with two dots and the bible and Book of Mormon. Several atheists started to doubt their atheism. It was a sweet day.

 

Monday, we did a scambio with Rimini, and Anziano Snedaker and I did some good work in Rimini. It was a good scambio. I learned some good stuff, and got to know him better than I think I know my own companion. We taught their investigator Aniko about the Plan of Salvation and baptism. She was excited, but doesn't think that she can possibly keep all of the commandments.

 

Tuesday, we riscambioed, and got many a bidone. It was a less than effective day. I think my companion and I were tired from Sunday and that scambio.

 

Today, we cleaned our apartment. and set up a Christmas Tree. Yay! Christmas! I have a advent calendar too. Anyway, I love you!

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