Transfers

Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Via XX Settembre, 37
16100 Vercelli (VC)
Italy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 4:30 AM
Subject: Transfers

My dear family,

For the third transfer in a row, I will have a new companion. I'm staying in Vercelli, so you can continue to send letters to my current address on Via XX settembre. Anziano Zippro is headed to Piacenza with Anziano Dunshee, an anziano from my MTC group, who lives in Bountiful, so the Clark and Brenda Petersens know him. Taking his place here in Vercelli, after 9 months, is Anziano Jones.

No, it is not the same Anziano Jones that trained me. He's headed to Verona as a Zone Leader. This Anziano Jones is coming from the Toscana zone, which means that he used to be in the Rome mission. He's been out longer that both of my earlier companions, and that's about all I know about him.

In our mission, there are somewhere above 77 companionships. This transfer, only 4 of them are staying the same. This means that in my district, I only know one anziano, the one that took my place in Alessandria, Anziano Gallagher. The other city in our district, Biella, is getting whitewashed, meaning both of the anziani this transfer are new to the area. It's exciting, transfer time.

In other news, missionary work is going well here in vercelli. Candide sees us every day. literally. I've seen him every day since last wednesday. He's great. In that time, we've taught him the plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and started to teach him the commandments. He has a firm baptismal date for the 21st of August, and asks us about it every time we see him. He's wonderful. Really, if I was a bad missionary, he'd get baptised in spite of me.

This week, we've tried to pick up our investigators in Vercelli from the beginning of the transfer. We've had little success there. This week, Sunday had a serious health issue. He went out and about looking for work so hard that his blood pressure spiked, he went to the hospital, and then was told to rest and recover at home. So... that made for an interesting few lessons.

We met a man named Stefano this week. He's 34 years old, tall, skinny, very white, and gets REALLY excited when we talk to him. He asked us the second time we taught him how he can join our church, but then said something else... so... he very likely could get baptised. He was born Catholic, joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in 2000, and then went back to the Catholic church in 2008. We are now teaching him, and he's very excited about it.

Roberto Ladetto, our theologist friend, has seen us twice. He's convinced that I've had theological training, so he asks me if I know all of these random Catholic theologists from the 1200s, which I don't, so I say no, and he doesn't believe me. It's kind of intimidating to have him be so convinced of my training... which I DON'T have. anyways, we're going to be teaching him a really in depth Apostasy and Restoration lesson next tuesday... pray for me? and him? and Anziano Jones?

Yesterday, as we were sitting in a park in Novara making phone calls, I met some Pakistanis playing Cricket. That was very interesting. It reminded me of last semester at BYU, with my friends who loved Bollywood movies. I think they were speaking the same language as in those movies. Except that I didn't have subtitles this time, and they don't speak english OR Italian. We asked them the rules of Cricket, and they didn't really understand.

Candide LOVES country music. I told him I'd write home asking for a country CD for him. If Camille or Caroline or one of my siblings could help me with this request... that'd be nice.

I've had a good week. I hope you all have too.
--
Vi Amo!
Anziano Benjamin Jolley

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Week of AMAZING!

Date: Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 4:28 AM
Subject: Week of AMAZING!

So... this week... was a week to remember. mostly because of one of our investigators, Candide. I'll tell the story with him. On Thursday, we saw him at his house, he had read the entire 1st lesson pamphlet, and read all the definitions in the back, and did the homework at the end. No one does that. He then told us as soon as he was finished, he wanted more to read. He then went over the questions with us, understood them all very well, and then went to the definitions at the end. He pointed at baptism, and asked if we do baptisms. We said yes, and he asked when he could get baptised. He read the definition, and said "Covenant with God... I want that." (All of this took place in Italian). We said august 14th would be the best, and he was super excited. We then gave him the Book of Mormon, in French, and he was very excited to read it.

On Friday, he came to the ward activity, and jumped right in with the Young Single Adults. On Saturday, we went to his spectacular, a group of africans doing drums and dancing and awesome. Sunday, he wasn't able to come to church because he'd been dancing and drumming till 3 AM... who could blame him? we saw him that afternoon, and talked with him a little about his reading, and church and such, and he told us he'd read up to 1 Ne 17.

Tuesday, we taught him the Gospel lesson, and talked about his reading. He has read up to 2 Nephi 12, and intends to finish the Book of Mormon by August 1. He told us he really wants to get baptized. His every 3rd word is baptism, I swear. Since he didn't come to church Sunday, and the guide is 4 times in church, we had to move his date back to August 21st. but boy howdy... He's amazing. He understands everything he reads. He asked us about the fall, which is precisely what we want to talk with him about the next time. He ALSO told us that he feels people are starting to treat him worse, even though he constantly feels better inside. Satan is kicking it in high gear against him. Pray hard for him to keep on chugging and to be protected. He's amazing, and deserves every prayer he can get on his behalf.

In other news this week, I'm apparently a theologist, or at least had theological training, according to our theologist investigator Roberto. Apparently Biblical hebrew counts as theological training. This man Roberto is a pretty cool guy. He really likes what we teach, and knows the Catholic church is at least misled, if not false. But he hates saying that.

Our friend Sunday is making a lot of progress too. Pray for him. He's come to church twice in a row, and understands everything we teach him, and says that he was depressed the last several months, but the message we bring has brightened his mood. He's great. I hope we can get him to the waters of baptism as well. He also understood 2 Ne 2 really well.

The bizzarre thing about our investigators this week is that the idea of the kingdoms of glory is almost visible in the speed they make progress. Roberto is slowish, not as slow as others, but still solid. Sunday progresses at an amazing rate, but he's totally outshined by Candide. It's like the Sun compared to the Moon compared to the stars. It's really cool to see them all absorb the message and change their lives.

We've taught other investigators too, but their stories aren't nearly as exciting. I will however mention a less active peruvian family. Javier and his mom live in Novara, and are really nice. We taught them on Sunday, and the mom, as always, speaks half Italian half spanish, which I understand a very large portion. She cracks jokes about differences in Italian and Spanish, and then laughs. It's quite amusing to see. She told us a story about when she first came to italy and her signora that she lived with asked her to get the burro out of the fridge. She wonders... why is there a donkey in the fridge. Doesn't find one, and the signora shows her that butter is burro. She says... that's mantequila, not burro, then decides that when italians say burro that's what they mean. It reminded me of the bad spanish at the dinner table at home, when we'd say pass the burro per favor. That's actually good badly pronounced italian! who knew?

Anyways, I love you all. Please pray for our investigators. Also another named Angelo... that he'll want to meet with us... and Marinella the same. Thanks.
Vi Amo!
Anziano Benjamin Jolley

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Happiness

Date: Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 5:35 AM

Subject: Happiness

Carissima Famiglia,

This week has been really hard, but I LOVE missionary work. We've done a lot of casa. a lot. and even more walking. My feet are sore. But I'm happy.

This week, on Thursday, we taught our theologist investigator, Roberto, who is incredibly smart and truly looking for the truth. He knows everything about the Catholic church, and knows that it's false. woot. That day, we also taught Sunday. Sunday is amazing. I love him. We read 1 Nephi 1 with him, and he understood it really well. That same day, as we were leaving the station in Novara, another Nigerian stopped us. He said "Do you have a word for me?" yep... yes we do. We went out to his house, and talked to him for a while, doing a short lesson asking for questions. He had some good ones, and then told us about his life. He studied Microbiology, but works in a factory here, and continues his studies, and hopes to go back to college in a year, this time in England. He's pretty cool. We haven't seen him since, though. Also, that day, we taught our Peruvian friend Carlos, but he was rather unresponsive to what we taught... it was a little odd. We asked him lots of questions, and he just didn't respond. Oh well.

Friday, our appointments fell through, and there was a strike on the trains... which apparently happens often... so we couldn't go to Novara. Anziano Zippro has casa'd almost all of Vercelli, so I led and decided where we were going, and found an area he hadn't done. We met a man named Graglia, who is 70 years old, a painter, and nearly entirely blind. I like his paintings. they were pretty, but from his half blind point of view, which made for a really interesting effect. He's very interested in many things, including astrophysics. He didn't seem to understand properly what he was talking about, but it was interesting to see how he related it to God. I like him.

Saturday, we casa'd into a Muslim couple who let us teach them a short finding lesson, and then just said straight up no to a return appointment. That's the first time that's happened to me. Usually people either don't let us in, or let us teach a return appointment at least. It was interesting. We then taught Sunday. He had read 1 Nephi 1-14. And took notes. And asked questions. We answered his questions, and then taught him about the sabbath day, and invited him to Church on Sunday. He said he'd come, at least for Sacrament.

Sunday, Sunday and his friend Prince came to Sacrament, and then left, just as they said. I sat with them, and Prince flipped through my quad, looking at different things... but I stopped him on the last page... where a certain patriarchal blessing is... yeah... he didn't read that. Sunday doesn't speak Italian very well, so I'm not so sure how much he understood, but oh well. Also in church were our Bishop's friend and his wife, and Angelo and Lisset, who I think I've talked about before. We then had a really good Gospel Principles class.

Later that same day, we found this man named Candide, from the Ivory Coast, who speaks Italian, and is amazingly friendly. Literally, everytime I talk with him, all of my worries go away, I'm full of energy, and I leave smiling and practically running. His presence is like a drug. Seriously. AND... he's superbly interested in our message, sincerely looking for the truth, and... I love him. a few minutes after we taught him, Anziano Zippro decided that we needed to visit an old investigator he hasn't talked with in over a month. We went there, and this man Luxson, wasn't there. But his friend Edwin was, who asked us a lot of questions, like "How can I make my dreams come true?" "How can I get wisdom?" and such. He's a pretty good guy.

Monday, all of our appointments fell through till FHE, which we taught a short lesson, and made brownies for. We also updated our area book and knocked a lot of doors.

Tuesday, which was yesterday, we met with Sunday again, as well as Candide, and Edwin. Sunday told us he hadn't read since Sunday, which was a little disappointing, but ok, because he commited to reading 2 Nephi 2 for the next time we meet and teach him about the Plan of Salvation. Candide we met with again, taught him a rather scattered Restoration lesson, with badly spoken Italian, and a lack of focus on our part, but he's been praying every morning and night like we asked him to, and said he'd read the pamphlet, and once again, I left with a super happy mood. I love this man! and we've only taught him twice! We then went and taught Edwin again, approximately the same lesson, this time in badly spoken English. A few minutes after the lesson, he called us and said that his friends didn't like us coming over, and that we can't see him again till he moves in a week. Good thing he moves next week.

This morning, we went shopping, then wandered around one of the malls on the outskirts of town. Here in Italy, there are several kinds of food stores, which I'll organize in three categories, family-owned little stores that sell one kind of thing, like bread, pastries, gelato, etc. supermarkets, which are like a smaller sized smith's or other normal sized grocery store (one of which we live directly above, called Carrefour), and Ipermercato. Which means Hypermarket. Essentially it's like a Super Target, or an Ikea, or Costco. It's one of those disgustingly large stores like that. That would be what we wandered this morning on the outskirts of town.

Anyways, I love you, and my week has been wonderful, mostly thanks to this man Candide. He's awesome. Also Sunday.

--
Vi Amo!
Anziano Benjamin Jolley

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My Week this week 7/7/10

Dear family,

 

We've had a fun week here in Vercelli.

 

Wednesday night, we repicked up an ex-investigator named Angelo, and his cuban girlfriend Lisset. We also taught english class.

 

Thursday, we taught Alessandra, one of our more colorful investigators, about change of heart. It wasn't particularly eventful. We also taught the less active we found, Milagros. She finally came to church on Sunday. I'm very pleased about that. That night, we found Sunday and Carlos doing casa. Sunday is Nigerian, and really solid. Carlos and his family are Peruvian. We're teaching them again tomorrow.

 

Friday, we taught a guy that Anziano Zippro found last transfer for the first time. His name is Patrizio, he's from the Ivory Coast. he's a good guy. We also taught Sunday and Carlos a second time. Sunday looked even more solid that day. We left him a restoration pamphlet, and another appointment for Sunday. (Yes, that would be Sunday on Sunday).

 

Saturday, we did a lot of casa, with no one even answering the door... 4 people answered, none let us in. We then helped with a member baptism, for an 8-year-old in our ward. It was good, but I don't really know why we were involved... oh well. It meant that we actually did something that day.

 

Sunday, we picked up Milagros and brought her to church. We then introduced her to a member named Yanina, who made a friendship very quickly. Milagros is from Santo Domingo with a 4 month old baby girl named Israeli, or something very close. Yanina has a 1 and a half year old girl, who is adorable. They made a quick friendship, and Yanina offered to pick her up and drop her off for church every Sunday. I'm very pleased with that fact. During Sunday School, Yanina's daughter crawled off her mom's lap, and came up to me, and tried to give me a kiss. As a missionary, I'm not allowed to give little girls kisses or even let them sit on my lap. So she looks at me, trying to give me a kiss, and then turns over and kisses my leg. It was adorable.

 

Later that day, we went out to Novara, and went to John's house, where we were supposed to meet Pastor Charlie. Neither of them were there, but 5 other Nigerians who were interested in our message were, so we taught them a first lesson, and got a return appointment for tomorrow. Every time we go to that house, we see a different group of Nigerians. Usually about 5. I've met about 20 of them by now.

 

Later, we taught Evans, watching the Restoration movie with him. It helped a lot more than the pamphlet, since the last time we found out he can't read very well. finding out that made me very grateful for the ability to read, something I've never really thought about before. He seems to understand, though.

 

We then taught Sunday, who is superbly smart. He had read the pamphlet, and practically memorized it. We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and gave him one. We taught him about it, short on time, so we did a 2 or 3 minute explanation of it, and asked if he understood. He then repeated back what we had told him, almost verbatim. He also speaks better english than me. He used the words "render" and "zeal." I like him a lot. The difference between him and Evans is striking. They're both Nigerian.

 

On Monday, we had district meeting, followed by more endless unsuccessful casa. That night, though, we had FHE with our less actives, which made me feel a lot better.

 

Yesterday, we finally taught the man, Silvio, that I found last week on Scambi. We taught him and his mom, who are both very interested in our message, have plenty of time on their hands, and have lots of questions. That's ideal for us. I hope we can teach them well and get them to baptism.

Later, I had a pretty cool experience. We were doing casa, yet again with no success, with a few more people answering their doors. After a while, both Anziano Zippro and I were not feeling the area. So he decided that I would say a prayer, we'd get on our bikes, and I'd guide. So I asked Heavenly Father to lead us to those who we were looking for. We got on our bikes, and I just started going, not feeling particularly guided, but feeling like I'd find someone. We rode in one direction, and I felt like we should go to a palazzo in the distance. we went in that direction, and then I saw another palazzo, stopped, and locked up the bikes. We then saw one of our English students, then went into the palazzo. Before we even got into the palazzo proper, we said hello to an old couple, talked with them and they let us in. We didn't get the opportunity to teach them later, but I felt much better about the work we're doing.

Vi Amo!
Anziano Benjamin Jolley