---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 8:14 AM
Subject: going a little craz
Dear family,
Well, I'm in Pesaro. Since many of you asked, I'll describe in detail
our trip here. I went to Milano from Merate Thursday morning, where we
met up with the other trainers, and we went to Milano 2, where the new
missionaries were all waiting. We had an EXCELLENT trainer meeting,
getting our new missionaries just super excited about life, and then
we were paired up, one at a time. The 4 companionships that were
whitewashing, the assistents before saying who it was asked the
trainers (including me) if they'd ever been to their city. "Anziano
Jolley, have you ever been to Pesaro?" "nope, not in my life"
"Someone's in for an adventure, and they might be russian. Anziano
Russo from Sacramento California hops up and gives me a big hug. we
get our things together, and we get on a train at 3:30 to Bologna,
getting there at 6:30 PM, and then another train to Pesaro arriving at
8:37 where our Branch Mission Leader picked us up in his car and drove
us to the apartment. We arrive, unpack a little, and don't find ANY
information about the city. we find some lasagna in the fridge, throw
it in the oven, and I get a call from one of the former inhabitants of
the city. He explains to me where to find things of importance, where
the church is, and a little about our members. Also he transmits a
VERY negative attitude about the city. "It's tiny! you can't work
there!" "Have you ever been to Merate?" "no, why? because it's a tenth
the size of this city." "wow. suddenly 100,000 people seems like a
lot." Come to find out that we have... 0 investigators. ZERO.
wonderful. well... casa here we come. at least there's a lot to do
here. It's the biggest city I've served in, so... all good.
Friday, we wake up, study, do our groceries, I pay for both of us in
the largest spesa I've EVER made. 55 euro. wow. ouch. Then we go home,
plan, which mostly means that we discuss what our transfer goal is. I
ask Anziano Russo how many baptisms he wants to see this transfer. He
says 10. I say... wow. That's going to take a lot of work. It's
possible I guess, but... wow. The whole mission got 25 baptisms last
transfer. He says, let's do it. I say... wow, ok... that's intense. I
think what are they teaching them in the MTC these days? all right,
since I have no idea what to expect, that's our goal for the transfer.
We eat the rest of the lasagna and I realize that this kid doesn't eat
as much as Anziano Ballif. not even close to close. So we go out, and
we do some casa and some 10 inviti. I'm doing some of my best work my
whole mission, and he's following. We get in once doing casa. We give
out three book of Mormons, and get 2 potential investigators. The
other one isn't from Pesaro. So then we go home, tired like crazy, and
somehow we don't get lost. Thank you navigation skills.
Saturday, we go out and we do a lot more casa. We get a call from
Alberto, a New convert, he wants to meet us in the church at 7. phew.
I was not looking forward to casa all day. We go crazy on casa, and...
don't find anyone. ouch. But we teach Alberto, and he's a SOLID guy.
Sunday, we show up to church, and it's branch conference. By the way,
we have 15 active members here. 4 new converts and 15 less actives.
Small branch. This ain't piemonte. Or Lombardia. We're part of the
Rimini district. not even a stake. wow. Anyways, we get a new branch
president and our current branch president is now our branch mission
leader. We go out after a delicious lunch (My cooking skills are
awesome now.) and casa like crazy. We get in at the last door to a
psychological house... for minor cases. We talk with the caretaker and
one of the patients, who is apparently an ex-investigator.
Monday, we hit the casa, and then we go to start Anz. Russo's permesso
process. Then we meet with Maurizio, the psychological case.
Apparently he's been taught everything, he just won't give up
cigarettes. so we set a return appointment with him. and ask him to
come to church and read and pray. he says he will. We go out and do
more casa. niente
Tuesday, we go do some more casa, and then we eat lunch, once again
cooked by me. then we go look for bikes in a store because only one
works. Also, we go do some casa, and Anz. Russo starts to get a little
discouraged. We say a prayer, and find two potential investigators
about 20 years old. exciting! At 6, we meet with our new DLM (branch
mission leader) who has a plan all worked up for how we're going to
get referrals out of our members. we call half of them and get
appointments for every evening this week. WOOT! then we teach english,
and go home.
Today, we wake up, study, do our shopping and then go on a quest to
find an internet point. we eventually find this library that uses IE2
and windows me and I start this email. we have a lovely city. and....
that's my week.
Training is interesting. The kid barely speaks italian at all. He's
far too similar to me in that he doesn't like to plan lessons. uh oh.
It's going to be an interesting transfer. I'm a little stressed, but
mostly just happy. I'm in a city again. that gives us SO many
possibilities. we live way on the periphery of the city though. by the
way, my address is
Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Strada di Borgheria, 15
61100 Pesaro (PU)
The fact that we have only 2 investigators is driving me a little
crazy. we need a lot of prayers. We're working ourselves like crazy.
hopefully we start to find people this week. we're not going to see 10
baptisms this transfer if we don't (goodness that's a lot.)
I love you all!
Anziano Benjamin 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.
From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 8:14 AM
Subject: going a little craz
Dear family,
Well, I'm in Pesaro. Since many of you asked, I'll describe in detail
our trip here. I went to Milano from Merate Thursday morning, where we
met up with the other trainers, and we went to Milano 2, where the new
missionaries were all waiting. We had an EXCELLENT trainer meeting,
getting our new missionaries just super excited about life, and then
we were paired up, one at a time. The 4 companionships that were
whitewashing, the assistents before saying who it was asked the
trainers (including me) if they'd ever been to their city. "Anziano
Jolley, have you ever been to Pesaro?" "nope, not in my life"
"Someone's in for an adventure, and they might be russian. Anziano
Russo from Sacramento California hops up and gives me a big hug. we
get our things together, and we get on a train at 3:30 to Bologna,
getting there at 6:30 PM, and then another train to Pesaro arriving at
8:37 where our Branch Mission Leader picked us up in his car and drove
us to the apartment. We arrive, unpack a little, and don't find ANY
information about the city. we find some lasagna in the fridge, throw
it in the oven, and I get a call from one of the former inhabitants of
the city. He explains to me where to find things of importance, where
the church is, and a little about our members. Also he transmits a
VERY negative attitude about the city. "It's tiny! you can't work
there!" "Have you ever been to Merate?" "no, why? because it's a tenth
the size of this city." "wow. suddenly 100,000 people seems like a
lot." Come to find out that we have... 0 investigators. ZERO.
wonderful. well... casa here we come. at least there's a lot to do
here. It's the biggest city I've served in, so... all good.
Friday, we wake up, study, do our groceries, I pay for both of us in
the largest spesa I've EVER made. 55 euro. wow. ouch. Then we go home,
plan, which mostly means that we discuss what our transfer goal is. I
ask Anziano Russo how many baptisms he wants to see this transfer. He
says 10. I say... wow. That's going to take a lot of work. It's
possible I guess, but... wow. The whole mission got 25 baptisms last
transfer. He says, let's do it. I say... wow, ok... that's intense. I
think what are they teaching them in the MTC these days? all right,
since I have no idea what to expect, that's our goal for the transfer.
We eat the rest of the lasagna and I realize that this kid doesn't eat
as much as Anziano Ballif. not even close to close. So we go out, and
we do some casa and some 10 inviti. I'm doing some of my best work my
whole mission, and he's following. We get in once doing casa. We give
out three book of Mormons, and get 2 potential investigators. The
other one isn't from Pesaro. So then we go home, tired like crazy, and
somehow we don't get lost. Thank you navigation skills.
Saturday, we go out and we do a lot more casa. We get a call from
Alberto, a New convert, he wants to meet us in the church at 7. phew.
I was not looking forward to casa all day. We go crazy on casa, and...
don't find anyone. ouch. But we teach Alberto, and he's a SOLID guy.
Sunday, we show up to church, and it's branch conference. By the way,
we have 15 active members here. 4 new converts and 15 less actives.
Small branch. This ain't piemonte. Or Lombardia. We're part of the
Rimini district. not even a stake. wow. Anyways, we get a new branch
president and our current branch president is now our branch mission
leader. We go out after a delicious lunch (My cooking skills are
awesome now.) and casa like crazy. We get in at the last door to a
psychological house... for minor cases. We talk with the caretaker and
one of the patients, who is apparently an ex-investigator.
Monday, we hit the casa, and then we go to start Anz. Russo's permesso
process. Then we meet with Maurizio, the psychological case.
Apparently he's been taught everything, he just won't give up
cigarettes. so we set a return appointment with him. and ask him to
come to church and read and pray. he says he will. We go out and do
more casa. niente
Tuesday, we go do some more casa, and then we eat lunch, once again
cooked by me. then we go look for bikes in a store because only one
works. Also, we go do some casa, and Anz. Russo starts to get a little
discouraged. We say a prayer, and find two potential investigators
about 20 years old. exciting! At 6, we meet with our new DLM (branch
mission leader) who has a plan all worked up for how we're going to
get referrals out of our members. we call half of them and get
appointments for every evening this week. WOOT! then we teach english,
and go home.
Today, we wake up, study, do our shopping and then go on a quest to
find an internet point. we eventually find this library that uses IE2
and windows me and I start this email. we have a lovely city. and....
that's my week.
Training is interesting. The kid barely speaks italian at all. He's
far too similar to me in that he doesn't like to plan lessons. uh oh.
It's going to be an interesting transfer. I'm a little stressed, but
mostly just happy. I'm in a city again. that gives us SO many
possibilities. we live way on the periphery of the city though. by the
way, my address is
Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Strada di Borgheria, 15
61100 Pesaro (PU)
The fact that we have only 2 investigators is driving me a little
crazy. we need a lot of prayers. We're working ourselves like crazy.
hopefully we start to find people this week. we're not going to see 10
baptisms this transfer if we don't (goodness that's a lot.)
I love you all!
Anziano Benjamin 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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