Fwd: home

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley <benjamin.jolley@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 3:57 AM
Subject: home

I am blown away. This is my last email that I'll send from this email address as a missionary. wow. I don't really understand what is happening. It feels to me like all other transfers, I'm off to a new place to go preach the gospel meeting different members and seeing a different city. That's how I feel. I don't really feel like I'm going to be released soon. I know that the church is true. And maybe that's exactly what I'll do. I'll just continue to preach the gospel and meet new members and new people while also learning to provide for myself and figuring out what this mysterious "school" is. I ask myself often "what is it that normal people do every day? I don't remember." Maybe I'll have to have the missionaries come by shortly after I'm released to explain the plan of salvation and the purpose of life. I think I'd be a golden investigator. I love my mission. I love these people. I'm excited to come home, but more just sad that everyone will only speak english and not the myriad of languages that you speak here. A missionary who had been in Italy previously told me that the first thing I'll notice about america will be that everyone is fat. I guess I'll find out. This week has been a good one. Our apartment has lots of paint fumes in it because for three days some painters came down and painted our apartment. It makes it look a lot nicer.

 

This wednesday we taught the Zanchini family and invited them to invite their friends to hear the gospel. They said "you look tired. It's because your about to end your mission, isn't it?" maybe so. Then we biked across the entire city top speed to Sorella Tassi's and talked with her about the plan of salvation inviting her to think about people who'd recently had a death in the family who could need this message. She mentioned 4 people. hurray!

 

Thursday, we went down to Rimini for a baptismal interview for Claudia. Super cool girl. Super ready. As I asked her about her if she believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet, she said, it has to be true. Everything in me tells me it is. Well done sister missionaries! in there a month and already baptizing. later on we taught Moreno and Laila about genealogy work because Laila wanted to know why it's so important. I gave her a few scriptures to read and ponder on. She then asked me if I'd ever thought of going career. So I explained that's not how it works. I would. but fortunately for us and the church, that's not how it works. The church would be in trouble if I was in a high leadership position right now.

 

Friday we taught Esli, a new contact about the Book of Mormon. He has 4 children under 4 years old. Among which are triplets. crazy. His wife was pretty interested as well. It went pretty well. Then we taught a girl named Lorodaina with her brother in law Claudio from Romania about the Book of Mormon. She said she wanted to come to church. Pretty cool girl, hopefully she gets baptized. That evening we taught the Young Men in the branch about missionary work. It was hilarious. here's why: 1. All of them were investigators. There were Yvette's three boys, Cesare, Raphael and Jean-Jacques, and then one of the De Simone boys, Maurizio. They were super rambunctious and crazy. Our YM President after about 10 minutes was exhausted. Anziano Guest and I were just laughing our heads off thinking "We were exactly like that as kids!" Crazy night.

 

Saturday, we went out to Kenneth's, a new convert from Nigeria who just moved into our area. That was tough. They're in a tough situation. They're refugees from Libya. They have people assigned to take care of their temporal needs who didn't give them food or money for over a week and a half. That would be hard. Anziano Guest will be going to them with the branch president soon. Later we taught the De Simone boys about the Restoration. They understood super well and in general are just amazing. We asked them to get permission from their dad to be baptized, and sunday they had it, written. Then we taught Roger who unfortunately has stopped making progress, and is moving to Cesena, which makes teaching him and getting him to church a lot harder. But it'll be ok.

 

Sunday we had church and the youngest De Simone boys, valentino 6yo, stole my planner and pen and drew dinosaurs and super saiyan Jesus and all sorts of funny drawings. Afterwards we taught them the Plan of Salvation, which they drew out for us. They are so bravi. They read every night and pray every day. YAY! Later on we went and did some casa and taught several people, a cool kid named Precious from Nigeria who wants to come to church next week, and a college student in the next door who accepted the Book of Mormon. funny story. As we knocked doors a lady yelled through the door, I can't come to the door because I have to wash my husband! Then we went and taught a man named Tony the restoration, and invited him to church, and he said yes.

 

Monday we taught Fratello Nzoungani about obedience to commandments and then we went and visited sister Garcia in the hospital. That was a special experience to read about the atonement with her.

 

Yesterday we found a super cool guy named Andrea who accepted the invite to read the Book of Mormon and a return appointment. Yay! Then we went to Moreno and Laila's, who just talked and talked and told us some funny jokes and were just grand fun to be with. And then we talked about missionary work and went home.

 

Today is my last p day. I'm flipping out. I love you.

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Fwd: time

Oops! Almost forgot to forward this!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley <benjamin.jolley@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 3:35 AM
Subject: time

I'm tired. I've worked for almost two years. I realized this this morning. I'm really tired. I'm working hard, but I'm just about exhausted. And I think that's ok. So long as I keep working to the end, I think all will be well for me. This week's been an interesting one. Wednesday, we did a bit of casa and taught an old man named Giuseppe who had a super funny way of speaking that I've noticed in other italians. he repeated all of his verbs. Mi vengono a prendere tra una mezz'oretta, mi vengono a prendere. (They're coming to pick me up in a half hour they're coming to pick me up). That was super funny. He accepted a pamphlet and maybe we'll go back some time. maybe. Afterwards we went to Moreno and Laila's and they had read "The Doctrine of the Father" from the most recent ensign. They had a question "We can become like God???" That lesson went nothing like I thought it would. in the end it was ok. and they're still coming to church, and studying and praying about they're questions, so I feel ok about it.

 

Thursday, we went and found a new convert who recently moved into our area. Kenneth lives in the middle of nowhere, and is a refugee from Libya. His wife was raised in the church and we're hoping to help them get integrated into the Forlì branch. He was baptized in Trapani, right at the very bottom of Italy. Later we taught Yvette, who still won't accept a baptismal date, but her sons specifically said, "after today I feel a lot more like we could be ready for baptism." So that's exciting. I'm hoping to set up 7 baptisms for next transfer. Imagine if Anziano Guest trained. and that new missionary saw 7 baptisms his FIRST transfer. That's my hope.

 

Friday, we planned, and then we taught Roberto who we dropped because he said he doesn't really want to be baptized. Though he did thank us for helping him increase his knowledge about Jesus Christ. Then we had English Class and taught one of our students the restoration. She rejected all of our invites, to read the Book of Mormon, come to church, everything, on the idea that she's not really looking for more in her life right now, even though she seriously doubts the existence of God. Now she knows what we believe and if she decides it's time to search for God, she can talk to the missionaries.  later we talked with Fratello Nzoungani about the gospel. It was a pretty decent day.

 

Saturday we went to Rimini for interviews, and I had half of my exit interview with President Wolfgramm. Wow it is weird to think that I'm that close to home. Then we went home and did a little bit of contacting. I also bore my final testimony to the missionaries at the conference.

 

Sunday, we had a good day. Friday, a less active came for the first time in a LONG time. I've never seen him in church before. and he was with his wife. Also the De Simone boys were there, and Yvette and her boys, and Roger. a good sunday. Afterwards we taught the De Simone boys and set a baptismal date with them for the 24th of March, because they have very little time to meet with us. When we asked them why they wanted to be baptized, here were the responses "I want to go on a mission. and go to the temple. And receive the priesthood." How very prepared they are.

 

Monday we had district meeting about follow up. and then we did a scambio with the capi. I went with anziano Brian Parker from Mesa Arizona to Bologna. We taught a really cool lady named Giuliana who is about 60, doesn't think she has faith, but wants to find it, and was just in general a super cool woman. I think she'll get baptized.

 

Yesterday, we riscambioed, and then we went and taught Don Felice, a catholic priest that our new converts told us was basically a "mormon priest". So we talked with him. He accepted a Book of Mormon, commited to read and pray about it, prays similarly to us, was not entirely closed to baptism "I don't think so, but I'll leave the door open to the Lord", and was just super cool. after lunch, we went and taught Felix, one of our african refugee friends, and found out that he doesn't know how to read. so we told him that if he will put his faith in Jesus Christ and try to read from the Book of Mormon, God will teach him to read. Then we found a couple of people doing casa. Esli is a member of the Assemblies of God from the Ivory Coast who was pretty open and wanted a Book of Mormon. It's been a good week. I love you.

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lots of snow.

Dearest family,

 

It has snowed for almost a week straight. It has snowed every day except two this week. It was crazy. Church was cancelled because of the snow so we spent some time on Sunday helping members take the sacrament. We have spent a lot of time shoveling snow. We cleared our apartment's parking lot and got the opportunity to share the gospel with our neighbor who invited us up to his apartment for hot chocolate afterwards. It has been pretty ridiculous. The incredible amount of snow has also caused most people to cancel their appointments with us on the ridiculous excuse of "It's snowing outside!" So? We're coming to you, not the other way around! oh well. I don't really remember super well which days things happened on since this whole week has felt like one continuous snow day.  Anyway, one day we went to Centro and dug out pedestrian paths and got a couple opportunities to share the gospel that way. One day we dug out a path right by our house, but I was kicking so hard with my shoe that the next day it was bent out of shape and I had to bend it back into shape. Sunday we went to the Rossi's house and blessed and took the sacrament with them, then helped them dig out their van so that they'd be able to get to the other members in the city without problems. then we did a little casa afterwards and found Luigi and his family. It was actually kinda funny to explain the story of Joseph Smith to them, because his brother's name is Giuseppe, and their last name is Fabbri (Joseph Smith).

 

Monday we went and did some finding work and found Guglielmo, a 80ish year old man who took the Book of Mormon and said he'd read it the next day. ok.

 

Tuesday, we went and taught Augustine who we found earlier in the week and we brought him a Book of Mormon. He told us he had to leave in 7 minutes, so we explained the Book of Mormon to him and commited him to read it in 5 minutes time. That was probably the fastest lesson I've ever taught. Then we taught our less active, Nzoungani about the plan of Salvation, and he asked a question that I was glad to know the answer to. "was the forbidden fruit a sexual act, or a fruit?" Answer: a fruit. See Jesus the Christ chapter 3, note 3 at end of chapter. then we went and dropped our african friends because none of them have EVER read from the Book of Mormon.

 

In all it's been a very cold, kinda depressing week. all my excitement of the last several weeks feels like it's been buried under the snow, which, thankfully is starting to melt. Hopefully I can dig my desire out of the snow now and go find some more people to baptize. a bit of justification for my attitude: It's really hard to get investigators to church and then baptize them when you don't have church. Oh well. Things will be better this week.

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SNOW!

From: Benjamin Jolley <benjamin.jolley@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 3:58 AM
Subject: SNOW!

Dear family,

 

It is snowing REALLY hard now. We've got the most snow I've EVER seen in Italy. and apparently some of the coldest temperatures in about 10 years. So I'm in Russia/Alaska for about a week. We had to walk down here to the internet point and it took us about a half hour. usually it takes us 5 minutes. so it's pretty crazy out here. This week has been AMAZING. We've seen many miracles in our work. Probably the biggest for me has been the increase in my commitment and ability to follow through on the commitments I make. For example I've been able to wake up every single day at 6:30, work out, and do a full morning routine without problems. Secondly, I've been able to do four "two minute drills" that our mission President asks us to do. normally I do one or two. he asks us to do four a day. (a two minute drill is a section of PMG that we memorize and practice to our companion with a question and a memorized scripture).  As a result of this increased commitment and obedience, we have seen many miracles in our finding and teaching and such. On Thursday, we went out to Milano and I picked up Anziano Guest, and then we taught our English class. On Friday, we did our planning and set our vision for this time we'll be together, for three baptisms, and to pray every day and do the things I've mentioned above. Then we got a call from Yvette cancelling our appointment, but we still went over to Moreno and Laila's to teach them, and they're doing great. Then we did some casa, and we found Luca, a really cool Italian guy who had little time, but accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We'll be back to teach him tonight.

 

Saturday, we did a little bit of area book finding, and found a couple people to teach. Then we taught Roger about the Word of Wisdom and commited him to all three hours of church the next day. Then we went and did some casa, and found a family, the Simone family, that was pretty open. A little older, but pretty open.

 

Sunday, we had Roger in church for all three hours, as well as the De Simone boys and Yvette for the second hour. Roberto and Achille came for sacrament. After Sacrament meeting, our Primary President came up to us with the De Simone boys and said to us "These boys want to be baptized, and we need to help them get ready for that. I think that we could start the missionary lessons next Sunday after church." Then Michael said "I want to get baptized right now!" so... that's a nice miracle. Then we went and did some finding work and found Mauro and Maria, a beautiful Italian couple of 28 years who were about to eat so they said "can you come back in a half hour?" so we did. and we taught them. They were on the edge of their seats and as we invited them to baptism, Maria said "If I come to know the Book of Mormon is true and this is my church, I will go to my baptism a volo!" (I'll fly to my baptism). She had come to english classes in the past but had never heard what we believe. Then she asked "What other sacraments are there?" so I pulled out a picture of the Rome Temple and explained that marriage in a Temple is forever and she said "How romantic! We need to get married!" Yeah. That was awesome. On the way home we went a little too fast around a roundabout and I wiped out, tearing another pair of pants. I now have two left.

 

Monday, we had an awesome District Meeting with the sisters in Rimini and talked about faith. little miracle there... we did it in a good schedule. they're supposed to last 90 minutes. It lasted 90 minutes. usually they go way over. That was super cool. Then we came home and had lunch, and then we went and did a little strada because an appointment fell through and found a lady who is in desperate need of the gospel. That was super cool. Her name is Franca. Then we went and dropped Sandor because he doesn't want to be baptized, though he did thank us because he feels like his faith in Jesus Christ has grown. That was cool. Then we did some casa and got in to Antonio and his son, sister-in-law and father-in-law. Amazing family. He had read a bit of the Book of Mormon 15 years ago, but just for curiousity. As we explained the restoration, his sister-in-law Rita was on the edge of her seat. They both accepted the invitation to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. They also accepted the baptismal invitation. like this "Well if I know the Book of Mormon is true, it's OBVIOUS that I'd get baptized." Then we invited them to pray. Rita was very hesitant. the son. 7 years old raises his hand and says "Can I pray?" then he says a beautiful prayer. and then he asks if he can say another, and another. He says about 5 or 6 of the most innocent prayers I've ever heard. Then Rita finally gets up the courage, and prays that God will guide her to know of the truth. The only bummer is that she lives in Chieti, in the Rome Mission, and that Antonio is got heart surgery the next day, so that we won't be able to see him till next week. I'm sure those missionaries will be thrilled to teach her, and will do a great job, though.

 

Tuesday, we did some park and found a really cool guy, in fact the only guy we saw in the park. He's been to prison, and really rethought his life there. He talked to the JW's, and said, if I listen to them I ought to give you all a chance too. So that'll be cool. Then we went and had correlation with fratello Raveau, who's now out of a job. So we're praying for him. His story is pretty cool though. His company decided to be open all sundays, and so he prayed and decided he had to quit so that he could come to church. So there you go. I'm certain the Lord will provide for him. Then we went and taught the african house that we went to a lot with Anziano Nelson. They commited to reading the Book of Mormon. finally. so we will also hope for them. It has been snowing continuously for like 24 hours. Also, my hands have broken out in a lot of eczema. I've never had such bad eczema. oh well. I love you! keep praying for us to see success. I love you tons!

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