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
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