Buona Continuazione

Date: Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 5:57 AM

Subject: Buona Continuazione

Cara famiglia,

The subject refers to two things. It means good continuation. First, I've heard it 3 times this week from various people. Second, I'm still in Vercelli. Till at least the beginning of December, and possibly till february. I think till february. We got transfer calls, and I'm still with Anziano Jones here. After this, he'll have one more transfer, so I'm guessing I'll finish him off, and then I'll have another companion, then I'll head out of here. however, it's possible I take off in the first week of december. vediamo (we'll see).

In other news, it's getting cold here in Vercelli. I'm wearing my black suit with a sweater. I hope it doesn't get too much colder. speriamo bene.

Last wednesday, we found an older couple, who told us to come back. when we did, they weren't there, though. :(

Thursday, we did baby strada. It was a really refreshingly different experience. baby strada means we walked down the street, stopping all the people with strollers, and gave them a family proclamation. There are more babies in this city than I thought. and they are cute. I'm extremely jealous of my siblings and father and mother right now. with babies that are related to me. oh well. later on that day, we tried to acquire bikes that we found out are either stolen or "fell off the back of a truck". They're a little sketchy, so we didn't buy them. We then taught our peruvian family that I still don't remember their last name. the dad's name is Alessandro... I can give all of their first names. Alessandro, Marcella are the parents, then Sonia and her son Arrian, and her sister Sara. but I don't know their last name. odd. oh well. anyways, we read part of the proclamation to the world on the family with them. they said they'd read it and try to come to church. (they didn't come to church). Also, during the day as we were going to examine the bikes, I handed a pass-along card to a guy who was just staring at my book of mormon. 10 minutes later, as we were examing the bikes, he called back, wanting a book of mormon. so I set up an appointment for the next day. his name is Daniele.

Friday, we wandered the markets doing english class publicity, followed by a lunch with Nick. He came up from Alessandria, and we ate a delicious lunch. We then headed to Novara, then to Romentino, a little town on the outskirts, where Daniele lives. He is cameroonese, is about 27, speaks french natively, lives with his girlfriend and they have a son of 1 year. He's hit some really hard times recently, so he's about to move to novara to live with a friend. He is a soccer player who used to play for inter-milano, one of the best teams, and now he has no work and no team. His grandpa, after whom he was named, was a pastor who taught him a love for the word of God, which is why he called us. It was way cool. I love miracles.

Later on that day, we went to Paolo Manenti's house, where we taught him and his wife (member) about the plan of Salvation, which they had just talked about in Institute the night before. So... he understood well. He reads REALLY fast. He read out loud all of 2 Ne 2, and we taught and he talked in a half hour appointment. It was awesome. He's awesome. Unfortunately, he couldn't come to church because of various logistical problems. bummer. oh well. We taught Candide later on, about the family proclamation, and he showed us his new computer. It's pretty nice, but he can't get the internet to work, so he wants me to come over and look at it... (I think that's ok). He's awesome.

Saturday, we got in twice doing casa, the first 2 times we've gotten in doing casa in about a month. It's a really good feeling, and a really good lift to my attitude towards missionary work. Every time we get in though, I always wonder "Why did you let me in? would I let me in if I knocked on my door?" It's an interesting thought. Anyways, the first one was a couple that have been married for 3 weeks. They got back from the honeymoon that monday, and usually work different shifts than each other, so it was a miracle that we found both of them and got in. They invited us to come back this saturday. The husband's name is Davide. We then had lunch, then taught Edwin, our house-arrest nigerian friend about tithing. We brought a member, named Favor, who is also nigerian and they apparently have met. So... that was cool. He said he'd pay it when he's free and starts coming to church. after that, on the way to the train station, I talked to Favor about pidgin english and why his name is favor. His name is Favor because he's always willing to do you a favor, and one of his friends called him that in the UK when he lived there. He explained to me a few phrases in Pidgin. I felt about 3 shades darker in skin color after having learned them. for example: Howfa?= how are you? I day fine =I'm fine. Where you day? I day house= where are you? I'm at home. It's really interesting. I'm also working on my french now. I know how to say how are you? in about 12 languages now. Italian, english, pidgin, Benin, Romanian, Albanian, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, and a few more. There are a lot of immigrants in Italy from all over the place. Anyways, later on that day, we got into a young guy of about 23 doing casa.

Sunday, we had no investigators in church and our gospel principles class consisted of 4 missionaries, Candide, Favor and Uyi, two less active nigerians, and John a nigerian from Biella. So it was 4 white missionaries and 4 africans. That was fun. We talked about temples because....... the Rome Temple groundbreaking is next saturday!!!!!!!!! They got permission to start it! AND, the Catholic church is opening its archives to our members so that they can do family history work. WOOT! It's exciting. After church, I did a scambio with Anziano Shill, and we did casa in Vercelli, getting in twice in less than an hour, seeing an incredible amount of awesome using the new way of teaching. We got into this 90 year old man named Luigi, and he told us that he doesn't feel that repeating the same words over and over is really praying. So... we very quickly explained our way of praying, which he was very excited about. We then said a prayer with him, and set a return appointment for thursday. He's a cool guy. We then got into a guy named Noel, from Santo Domingo, who has been married for about a year, and that day he had an argument with her, and we explained to him that the message we bring would help him have happiness and unity in his marriage and then we set up a return appointment. He's awesome. When we asked if there was anything we could do for him, he said bring me happiness. That was cool. We then went to our Stake President's house, because he invited us, and it turned out to be the YSA FHE, which we thought we weren't supposed to be at. As we tried to leave, the YSA's were just like "just call your mission president to see if you can stay another hour"..... not ok. so not ok. anyways, as we drove to the train station with President Bellomo, he explained to us that we were supposed to be there, because our GANS (Giovani Adulti non sposati=YSA) need to know who we are, and need to have push to give us their friends as referrals. That would have been good to know before we got there. oh well. We know now.

Monday, we had District Meeting, which was cool. We read and discussed "the fellowship of the unashamed", as well as our investigators. We did casa that afternoon and got in to a really interesting man, named Francesco, who is atheist, holds us in really high respect, higher than any other kind of missionaries, and hopes that when the judgement comes, he'll be able to say something to God too. It was an interesting appointment that made me think a lot. That night, we contacted a referral from Temple Square finally, a man named Claudio, and his wife Elena, who love america and have gone like 6 times on vacation, most recently in Utah. They are more or less atheist, but love to read, so they'll read the Book of Mormon and try the promise at the end. It was another very interesting appointment.

Yesterday, we bought a bike off of a man in Vercelli, and a lock, then we taught Edwin again, this time the Word of Wisdom, which he mostly kept already, but said that he will keep it because I said it was important. That's a lot of trust. We then went out to Romentino again, to teach Daniele, reading with him 3 Nephi 11. He said he'd read it again on his own. He's a pretty cool guy, in the middle of moving to Novara. We then had Ward Council, and our ward has a lot of things to discuss. ugh.

Today we went shopping. YAY!
--
Vi Amo!
Anziano Benjamin Jolley

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