transfer 16

From: Benjamin Jolley <benjamin.jolley@myldsmail.net>Date: Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 3:14 AM

Subject: transfer 16

Well. Transfers again. Anziano Nelson is off to Reggio Emilia. lucky duck. I'm getting Anziano Guest. My district is also changing significantly. The Rimini Elders are getting "Pinkwashed". They're leaving, and Sisters Simkins and Arume are coming in. So no more scambios for me! That's a huge change. There haven't been sisters in the Rimini District for a LONG time. maybe as much as 15 years. crazy.

 

So on Friday, we went out and taught Yvette about the plan of Salvation with our new convert, Moreno. He is awesome. Bore super awesome testimony of the restoration. the prayer at the end offered by one of the boys was funny. He had had the question "my teachers say that Christianity is the child of Judaism. what does that make Mormonism? So Moreno said look, this is the true church and this is why... so in the prayer, he said "Heavenly Father, we thank thee for making us know that the Mormon church is the true church." I'm sitting there thinking, "I have not seen so great faith, no, not among all the people of the Italians." It was awesome.

 

Saturday, we went with our Branch President and taught Moreno and Laila, and then we went and taught Roger. Roger has a question. "What are the doctrines of the church?" President Dago tells him, look, we want more specific questions. When you see something in church that you don't understand, ask questions. write down your questions, and ask them to the Anziani. That was an interesting lesson. It was really good for that fact. He commited to church on the 29th.

 

Sunday, we went and did some finding work and knocked into a house of students. It was funny our door approach. In the background, one of them is yelling "Jesus Christ!" obviously taking the Lord's name in vain. I say to the girl my usual approach, "Hi, we're here talking about Jesus Christ." She yells around the corner, "Don't Blaspheme! These guys are here talking about Jesus Christ!" So then we go and explain to them the restoration of the gospel and the Book of Mormon, and invite them to English class. They were curious, if not particularly interested in learning more. maybe in the future.

 

Monday, we cleaned up the apartment and I helped anziano Nelson packed his bags, on the surety that he's leaving. Then we went and taught Roberto, an interesting guy. We taught him two weeks ago, and we invited him to read the Book of Mormon from the introduction, then changed our minds and said from 1 Nephi 1, and then again to 3 Nephi 11 and 12. He read all three assignments. He has a rather interesting character. In my first transfer, we taught our member, Nick. He's a similar type of person. He commited himself to church on Sunday, and said he'd have to think about what we taught. He believes that "god will save all mankind". He also accepted the commitment to read 2 Nephi 2. Then we went and taught Sister Tassi in our branch, and she was super good.

 

Tuesday, we went and taught Padre Claudio again. The only reason we went back is because I didn't have the courage to say no. The man is very fixed in his beliefs. It really hurt when he said "as I opened the Book of Mormon, I saw that it was pure fantasy." Excuse me? I don't go around calling your most cherished beliefs fantasy. I don't tell you that your claims to an unbroken chain of priesthood authority are fantasy. Please be respectful at least! Then we left. He said he'd read the Book of Mormon from start to finish, and then he'd give us a call. Then we went and taught Moreno and Laila. Laila has been struggling the last several days, so we gave her a priesthood blessing. She felt a lot better afterwards. Then we went and saw the Garcia family, who are pretty discouraged about doing missionary work here. Fratello Garcia then inspired me with a vision for my last transfer. The Forlì branch has had to import branch presidents from other branches for years. So I am going to pray and work to find a Forlivese Branch President, and then baptize him. I'm excited about it. I love you all tons. Pray hard for me to finish well.

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