Italy Milan Mission
Via A. Gramsci,13
20090 Opera (MI)
Italia
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 7:24 AM
Subject: well, improvement is improvement.
Dear family,
This week has so far been my best week in Merate so far as numbers are
concerned. It's still worse than any other place I've served in that
respect, but... improvement is improvement.
Last wednesday, we had a rather different Ward Council meeting.
Instead of having a normal Ward Council where we discuss all sorts of
things, our bishop (who was made bishop when I got here) decided that
we needed training on how we do Ward Council, and why. It was quite
refreshing. Apparently, we have local church leaders to do what
Captain Moroni did in Alma 43:48, to inspire us to do better. That was
very different. I like this bishop.
Thursday, we tried a new method of finding that we got in a packet
about how to improve teaching and finding. The idea was to use a
whiteboard on the street. So we did. We wrote a question of the soul,
"Is there a life after death?" with "Yes" and "No" written underneath.
we then asked people what they thought. If they looked in the
slightest interested, we'd then talk a little more with them. in
short, our results were 30 yes, 20 no, and about 20 I don't knows or
not interesteds. Also, we got one lady that responded "My husband just
died. Now's not the right time to ask that question". That was a
rather unexpected response. We later ate lunch with Giuseppe, a
widower of about 75 years who is one of the first members here. He's
been more or less less-active since his wife died, though his entire
posterity of about 30-40 are members, most of which are active. He's a
cool guy, and very interested in astronomy, so when I told him grandpa
was an astrophysicist, he was very interested. Later that day, we
taught Marcel and his sister, Giordana. He's 19, and wants to go on a
mission, but for some reason is still less-active. She had some
strange questions about some words and how they relate. It was odd. We
then taught Yusuf, a Moroccan, who was interested in having a book in
arabic. We'll give him a book of Mormon in arabic next time we see
him.
Friday, we did another whiteboard survey, this time "Is there a God?"
we got very different results. 37 yes, 7 no, and 41 not interested or
in a hurry. We think the 41 people weren't sure or didn't want to say
no. That was very interesting. That evening, we taught Manuel and his
wife Ingrid for the first time. They're ecuadorians who met the
missionaries about a year ago in San Remo, which is near Genova. We
tried something I'd never thought to try before, to offer a kneeling
prayer at the end of the lesson, and since we'd never taught them
before, it wasn't awkward. One of the important concepts we're
spending a lot of time and effort on is how to begin teaching. The
concept is that the first 5-10 minutes with an investigator in their
home set the tone in a very real way for the rest of the time we teach
them. so I've tried to improve the way I do so using the suggestions
in Preach My Gospel chapter 10. It makes a difference. a big
difference.
On Saturday, it rained. a lot. and sunday. and monday. We spent a lot
of time stopping people on the streets, that's how I know. a lot of
people were really open... until we wanted their phone number, which
they wouldn't give us. bummer. oh well. That evening, we had a ward
party, involving a lot of meatballs. And logic games. I won the logic
game. and therefore a lot of meatballs. It was delicious.
Sunday, I had another really good day in church. It's amazing the
difference taking notes seems to make. I learned a lot. we then did
some casa and some street. After a while, I asked Anziano Clove to
recount to me the entirety of the Star Wars trilogies. It was amusing.
He has seen those movies too many times. We got in doing casa to a man
from buga ne faso (sp?) a country near the Ivory Coast. He was muslim
and wouldn't let us pray or come back, but he did tell us where two
nigerian Christians live, who we'll be teaching tomorrow, I think.
that was nice of him. We also did some area book work, finding a few
people to recontact. one of them gave us an appointment for saturday,
and we'll do another pass-by probably tomorrow. so... that was good.
Monday, I exercised fully 30 minutes, for the first time in a long
time. normally I do 10-20 minutes in the morning. I've been sore
yesterday and today because of it. oh well. We taught Ousman, a
sengalese man who was interested in the Book of Mormon as well. He
brought his friend who doesn't really speak Italian as well. Also, he
was unfortunately a little inebriated, so I'm not sure how much he got
out of the lesson. oh well. We did a lot more strada that day.
Yesterday, we had another "Leadership Training Meeting", where we went
over all 8 of the "Fundamental Principles" that the 12 recently
released, which are 8 priniciples designed to help missionaries learn
better how to teach. They are as follows:
The Doctrine of Christ -The Missionary Purpose
The Role of the Holy Ghost
Revelation through Prayer
Revelation through the Book of Mormon
Revelation through Church Attendance
Teach People, Not Lessons
We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up
How to Begin Teaching
These 8 points each have an 8.5x11" page of scripture and Preach My
Gospel references and questions connected with them. Very simple. Very
effective, when applied. Mostly things I didn't do before. It's pretty
cool.
That evening we ate dinner with Paola, during which I was tired and
distracted. There was an interesting discussion of Hindi religion,
which I could've taken advantage of to bend towards a discussion of
the gospel, had I been less distracted. 6.5 hours of your mission
president teaching you and you focusing a lot are... exhausting. Oh
well. I'll do better the next time.
Today, Anziano Clove got a haircut. I thought about it, but 15 euro
seemed WAY too expensive.
I love you!
Anziano Jolley
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
Date: Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 7:24 AM
Subject: well, improvement is improvement.
Dear family,
This week has so far been my best week in Merate so far as numbers are
concerned. It's still worse than any other place I've served in that
respect, but... improvement is improvement.
Last wednesday, we had a rather different Ward Council meeting.
Instead of having a normal Ward Council where we discuss all sorts of
things, our bishop (who was made bishop when I got here) decided that
we needed training on how we do Ward Council, and why. It was quite
refreshing. Apparently, we have local church leaders to do what
Captain Moroni did in Alma 43:48, to inspire us to do better. That was
very different. I like this bishop.
Thursday, we tried a new method of finding that we got in a packet
about how to improve teaching and finding. The idea was to use a
whiteboard on the street. So we did. We wrote a question of the soul,
"Is there a life after death?" with "Yes" and "No" written underneath.
we then asked people what they thought. If they looked in the
slightest interested, we'd then talk a little more with them. in
short, our results were 30 yes, 20 no, and about 20 I don't knows or
not interesteds. Also, we got one lady that responded "My husband just
died. Now's not the right time to ask that question". That was a
rather unexpected response. We later ate lunch with Giuseppe, a
widower of about 75 years who is one of the first members here. He's
been more or less less-active since his wife died, though his entire
posterity of about 30-40 are members, most of which are active. He's a
cool guy, and very interested in astronomy, so when I told him grandpa
was an astrophysicist, he was very interested. Later that day, we
taught Marcel and his sister, Giordana. He's 19, and wants to go on a
mission, but for some reason is still less-active. She had some
strange questions about some words and how they relate. It was odd. We
then taught Yusuf, a Moroccan, who was interested in having a book in
arabic. We'll give him a book of Mormon in arabic next time we see
him.
Friday, we did another whiteboard survey, this time "Is there a God?"
we got very different results. 37 yes, 7 no, and 41 not interested or
in a hurry. We think the 41 people weren't sure or didn't want to say
no. That was very interesting. That evening, we taught Manuel and his
wife Ingrid for the first time. They're ecuadorians who met the
missionaries about a year ago in San Remo, which is near Genova. We
tried something I'd never thought to try before, to offer a kneeling
prayer at the end of the lesson, and since we'd never taught them
before, it wasn't awkward. One of the important concepts we're
spending a lot of time and effort on is how to begin teaching. The
concept is that the first 5-10 minutes with an investigator in their
home set the tone in a very real way for the rest of the time we teach
them. so I've tried to improve the way I do so using the suggestions
in Preach My Gospel chapter 10. It makes a difference. a big
difference.
On Saturday, it rained. a lot. and sunday. and monday. We spent a lot
of time stopping people on the streets, that's how I know. a lot of
people were really open... until we wanted their phone number, which
they wouldn't give us. bummer. oh well. That evening, we had a ward
party, involving a lot of meatballs. And logic games. I won the logic
game. and therefore a lot of meatballs. It was delicious.
Sunday, I had another really good day in church. It's amazing the
difference taking notes seems to make. I learned a lot. we then did
some casa and some street. After a while, I asked Anziano Clove to
recount to me the entirety of the Star Wars trilogies. It was amusing.
He has seen those movies too many times. We got in doing casa to a man
from buga ne faso (sp?) a country near the Ivory Coast. He was muslim
and wouldn't let us pray or come back, but he did tell us where two
nigerian Christians live, who we'll be teaching tomorrow, I think.
that was nice of him. We also did some area book work, finding a few
people to recontact. one of them gave us an appointment for saturday,
and we'll do another pass-by probably tomorrow. so... that was good.
Monday, I exercised fully 30 minutes, for the first time in a long
time. normally I do 10-20 minutes in the morning. I've been sore
yesterday and today because of it. oh well. We taught Ousman, a
sengalese man who was interested in the Book of Mormon as well. He
brought his friend who doesn't really speak Italian as well. Also, he
was unfortunately a little inebriated, so I'm not sure how much he got
out of the lesson. oh well. We did a lot more strada that day.
Yesterday, we had another "Leadership Training Meeting", where we went
over all 8 of the "Fundamental Principles" that the 12 recently
released, which are 8 priniciples designed to help missionaries learn
better how to teach. They are as follows:
The Doctrine of Christ -The Missionary Purpose
The Role of the Holy Ghost
Revelation through Prayer
Revelation through the Book of Mormon
Revelation through Church Attendance
Teach People, Not Lessons
We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up
How to Begin Teaching
These 8 points each have an 8.5x11" page of scripture and Preach My
Gospel references and questions connected with them. Very simple. Very
effective, when applied. Mostly things I didn't do before. It's pretty
cool.
That evening we ate dinner with Paola, during which I was tired and
distracted. There was an interesting discussion of Hindi religion,
which I could've taken advantage of to bend towards a discussion of
the gospel, had I been less distracted. 6.5 hours of your mission
president teaching you and you focusing a lot are... exhausting. Oh
well. I'll do better the next time.
Today, Anziano Clove got a haircut. I thought about it, but 15 euro
seemed WAY too expensive.
I love you!
Anziano Jolley
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
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