permesso di soggiorno headaches

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Date: Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 4:21 AM
Subject: permesso di soggiorno headaches

This week, I've had to deal with trying to get my permesso and putting Anziano Jones's in order. In sum, we lost an entire day because we tried to go pick it up, and our connecting train left before we got to it, so it was too late. Therefore, today I'll be going down there instead of a p-day to pick it up.

On thursday, we were still sick, and we worked on the other side of the river here. We didn't find anyone, and I felt like garbage. that afternoon, we taught a member's friend, named Simonetta, who is a chatter. she talks... a lot. but that's ok, because a lot of the changes in the way we teach is letting them talk more. It's interesting. the lesson went well. We talked about the plan of salvation. Later on that night, we taught Candide about 1 Peter 3:15, and missionary work. He gave us a referral the next day. He is so cool.

Friday, we went to Novara, and taught Javier, a less active, about Mosiah 2:41, and then he taught me how to cook about a million things. we did our planning, and then we went to teach Paolo, who is a newlywed of one of our members. It was a way cool lesson. He wondered why his church (catholic) doesn't practice the law of tithing, and we essentially diagnosed him as knowing his church is apostate, but not knowing yet that ours is true. so... we asked him to read the book of mormon, and suggested a chapter. It was cool. We then went to Biella to start a scambio. I picked up Anziano Brawdy, and we came back here.

Saturday, with Anziano Brawdy, we taught Prince, our soccer player, and we invited him to church. Essentially, the whole day was inviting people to church. We talked a lot on this scambio. I like him. he's a good guy. We passed by David after lunch, and told him he needed to come to church, and he said he would. We taught our friend Edwin about prayer and scripture study, and he told us he already does so. 3x a day. He's pretty cool. That night, we taught Alessandro about coming to church too, and he said he'd come. Every time we teach him, it's a struggle at the beginning. It's YOUR turn to pray, Alessandro! no, no, you pray... I can't. NO! it's YOUR TURN! I eventually got him to choose something he's grateful for, and something he needs, and then had him follow my words. It was a really good lesson though. normally, he doesn't talk much. this time he wouldn't stop. it was awesome.

Sunday, I was rather disappointed. None of the people who said they'd come came. BUT, members brought their friends and family, and so we still had a good sunday. That afternoon, we taught Maria, our buddhist about the plan of salvation. She understood really well the concepts of 2 ne 2, because buddhism teaches a lot of those same concepts. We then went to Galliate, a outlying town outside of Novara, where a french family had asked us to come. they gave us a return appointment, and asked that we bring Candide the next time, who speaks french. We then taught our less active, Uyi, about reading the book of mormon, and about Conference. hopefully, he watches it, and reads the book of mormon, like he said.

Monday we had District meeting and a birthday party, because Anziano Shill and Brawdy are both 21 now. it's pretty cool. We then went down to Alessandria to try and get my permesso, but the train from Mortara, our connecting station had already left, so by the time we would've got there, the questura (police station) would have already been closed. Btw, Permesso di soggiorno essentially is my green card, my residency permit. thought you all might not know that. we had our FHE that night, where Candide started to preach to one of our less actives. it was pretty intense. He knows the doctrines, and he is well on his way to being a fully active member.

Yesterday, we moved stuff in the church the morning, and the afternoon, we talked with Edwin, about keeping the sabbath day holy, and about conference, inviting him to watch it this weekend. He's under house arrest, so... I think he will. It was cool in the lesson, though. at the end, he explained to us the concept of tithing, in a way that was exactly correct, telling us about his experiences with black pastors. some of them have messed up concepts... or corrupt because they want money. we then taught Candide about Lehi's vision, explaining to him the concept of a less active member as someone who is ashamed after they eat. It was really good. We then did some casa, and 3 people told us they'd call the cops on us. that was exciting.

This morning, I read some Jesus the Christ. I'm currently working my way through that book. I'm about 2/3s done. We saw Roberto outside of church on sunday, with an awful cold. he's apparently been on his bed all week, reading Jesus the Christ. He's mostly done.

I'm mostly better from my illness. It's starting to get chilly here.

To Joe and Camille: It's a girl.
--
Vi Amo!
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.

I'm getting sick again. pray for me.

Anziano Benjamin Jolley

Via XX Settembre, 37

16100 Vercelli (VC)

Italia

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 8:02 AM
Subject: I'm getting sick again. pray for me.

My dear family,

This week has been wonderful. I won't say much this time, because I usually use my planner to remind of things that happened, and I am carrying my new planner instead. hence, this may be shorter.

On friday, Candide got baptized. I mean... CANDIDE GOT BAPTIZED!!!! scuse me, I was a little confused. the baptism was awesome. Candide brought three of his friends who said they might be interested in hearing our message if we work through Candide. it was awesome. I now have done what anziano Jones wants too, cioè to baptize someone I found. On Saturday, we taught Edwin again, about the tree of life, and about Nephi's vision. He still wants to be Nephi. we also taught Candide about the priesthood. On Sunday, Candide was confirmed by Anziano Jones, who was SUPER nervous. he shook like a leaf. literally, as he was giving him the blessing, his hands were shaking hard. But it was good. He said something about finding a wife and getting married in the blessing, which Candide was pleased about, and which several of our YSA's took notice of. It was pretty funny when he told us later what he thought about it. Sunday night, we did a LOT of finding work.

Our Bishop, Walter Zafarana baptised Candide. He also directed. we sang Choose the Right, and Joseph's first prayer. Anziano Jones and Sorella Accardo, a member here, gave talks, about the holy ghost and baptism respectively. They were both good. after being baptised, Candide gave an awesome testimony, involving the dream I think I mentioned earlier. He is so cool. He was totally serious then, though. AND, he wore a sweet suit while he gave his testimony. I don't know where he got it, but it was good looking.

On monday (I have my planner now.) we had district meeting in the morning, to which Anziano Bona, from my MTC group came for the first time, which was a lot of fun. That night, we taught Candide, and then we had our serata familiare, where we found out that one of our members essentially doesn't have a testimony. So.. we taught a lesson about how to find one. It's unfortunate, that.

Tuesday, we taught a sister and her mother, about the family, and found out that their family situation is not a happy one, so we'll be teaching them the gospel, which should improve said situation. we taught Edwin again, about baptism, and what it is. he said he'll come to church when he's free. that will be fun, when he does. later, we had the best ward council meeting I've had here. it was awesome. we got everything we needed.

Today, we picked up Anziano Brawdy from the station, because the mission leadership (including his companion) are all in Milano doing a leadership conference till friday, so we're in a threesome with two areas till then. we went to the church, where we had an appointment, which fell through, so we instead talked and found a man named Mauro, who is interested, and I got his number, after giving him a tour of the church. We then had lunch with a family here, the famiglia Simoncini. they're awesome.

I don't remember the rest of my week. but Anziano Jones got sick, and now I'm getting sick. pray for me.
--
Vi Amo!
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.

Excitement and not excitement

Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Via XX Settembre, 37
16100 Vercelli (VC)
Italy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 4:03 AM
Subject: Excitement and not excitement

This week has been really exciting, because Candide is set for his baptism on Friday the 10th, at 8 PM, so around noon your time. Also, we got a referral this week from the assistents of a man who is just about ready to be baptized, named Jerimia, from Peru. (I love you Elijah!) In due povere parole, quello è la nostra settimana. oh... also, I didn't get transferred. Neither did Anziano Jones. In fact, this transfer didn't change much at all. Just the people going home changed in our zone.

In longer words, it went like this:

Giovedì, (thursday) we taught Roberto again, who is just swallowing the Book of Mormon, reading it once quickly and at the same time once slowly. He's at the beginning of Alma in his quick reading, and at the end of 2 Nephi in his slower reading. We then taught Candide about the baptismal interview, going over the questions with him. He's super ready, it's awesome. He's finally getting baptised, a month after we originally planned. It occurs to me that in this email, I've used two different spellings of baptised/baptized. That's funny. Anyways, we then found some members in Novara to teach and get to know.

Venerdì, we taught my friend Edwin, who is on house arrest. He's always home. He's got some cool dreams, and when we taught him about the tree of life, he said, "I wish I could be Nephi. He saw a cool vision." That was a fun lesson. I love teaching him. he wants his firstborn son to be a pastor, or maybe even a prophet. Later on that day, we taught Simonetta, a friend of a member, Sorella Martorana. Simonetta is a long talker, and interrupts, but in her head she's come up with mostly right ideas, she just needs to listen a little more, less than explain to us some of the false doctrine she believes. Time for the Tactfully Take control Triangle that Sister Dunaway taught us! I'll look over that before I teach her again. We then started a scambio, with me and Anziano Shill, my district leader working here in Vercelli. We did some casa together, and found a really good area. How do I know it's a good area? people listen and windows are broken and it's in the middle of nowhere. The only problem with such areas is that there are generally a lot of muslims, who we can't teach. but Christians who live with Muslims usually listen to us more readily. In that area, we found a man who smokes 5 packs of cigarettes a day, and tried to get him to respond. when he didn't, we left him with a prayer and our number. It was depressing, and he was hooked up to two 20 gallon things of oxygen. It was kind of depressing to see. We'll get back to why this matters later. Later that night, as we made phone calls for the next day, our peruvian friend Alessandro biked by, and told us to come over in an hour when they'd finish dinner. So we did. And we finally got a response. The one daughter told us she wasn't sure she believes in God, and the mom told us that she feels something different when we come over and teach. That was a special experience.

Sabato, we did Candide's baptismal interview, he's getting baptised. During his interview, I waited outside and had an interesting study of the Book of Mormon, reading Alma chapters 27-29. I especially liked Alma 27:17-18. I want to be Ammon. that is all. We then went back to Biella, and riscambioed, missing the first train back by 30 seconds. But that's ok, because it gave us some time to talk and think. Later that night, we taught our friend Sunday again, about faith, and what it can do for us. He told us once again that he still wonders about the existence of God.

Domenica, we had church, to which Candide, Maria, and Paolo showed up. It was a good sunday, we taught Gospel Principles with Anziano Shill and Brawdy, and Candide explained very clearly what baptism means to him, and he was dead on. He said something like "I'm not doing this for them or for anyone else. I understand the importance of my own baptism and I'm doing it for my own relationship with God." That was cool, because it helped our other investigator Maria a lot. She had a lot of questions, and she understands much better now. Later on that day, we first met Jerimia, who opened up to us, explaining to us his whole story, and praying at the end that he could be on the right path, with our help instead of Anziano Biddulph, the first missionary that taught him, saying that it would be the same because we're from the same source. It was way exciting.

Lunedì, we put up a bunch of ads for our english class, and then in the afternoon, we taught Jerimia again, reviewing with him the 1° lesson. He remembered everything. He expressed to us several concerns that he has about his girlfriend that he lives with and wants to marry. We explained to him that he will have to marry her or live apart if he wants to get baptised. We'll see how that turns out. We also invited him to Candide's baptism. Later, we finally contacted a referral from a member, Merlee, who is Peruvian, and very good. It was special for me, because as we taught she was pretty quiet, but when I asked her questions, she'd answer in a way that I know she understood. At the end, when I prayed, I prayed that the Holy Ghost would be with us, and she said after the prayer, "I feel something... different... in my heart." This was the first time that I have told an investigator what they were feeling was the Holy Ghost. It was really special.

Yesterday, we gave a blessing to a member's non-member sister, who is suffering with a severe disease. As I talked with her before, I told her, if you believe in Christ, this will work. Do you believe? her response was to break down in tears and say... I don't know. Anziano Jones anointed, and I sealed. It was really special. Later on that afternoon, we taught Edwin again, teaching him about the concept of faith, and I understood better, as I was teaching, the concept that moroni teaches in Ether 12. It was by faith that Nephi saw the vision of the tree of life. The angel asks, what do you desire, and then do you believe, and then says that he will get what he desires because he believes in Christ. (1 Nephi 11:1-6) That was cool, and Edwin is awesome. unfortunately, being under house arrest makes it very difficult to get baptised. We later on taught Candide the concept of missionary work, which he already understands, specifically inviting him to invite his friends to his baptism. So... his baptism will be awesome! on Friday! Then we had Ward council. We then got the phone call for transfers, and I found out that I've been called to serve as... Junior companion to Anziano Jones in Vercelli! Woot! I would have been rather upset to have been transferred. I would have missed Candide's baptism by a day. but I didn't. I'm pleased.

That's my week!
--
Vi Amo!
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.

20 lessons! 20 lessons!

Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Via XX Settembre, 37
16100 Vercelli, (VC)
Italy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 5:34 AM
Subject: 20 lessons! 20 lessons!

As you may have guessed from the subject, this week we successfully reached one of our standards of excellence for the first time since I left Alessandria. We taught 20 lessons last week. I love weeks like that. Instead of knocking 5000000000 doors in a week, we actually TEACH people. I love that. This is primarily because we have investigators again. It's awesome.

Because someone asked, I will give a short description of all our our investigators. 1. Candide, from Ivory Coast, who will be getting baptized the 10th of September. He's ready, not looking for work, and everything is set for his baptism. 2. Sunday, from Nigeria, who we haven't seen for a while and is still struggling with cigarettes, but he's making progress. He's down from a pack a day to 4 cigarettes a day. 3. Pedro, from Peru, who came to church and is making good progress, and should hopefully be baptized the 25th of September. 4. Roberto, Italian, who is reading the Book of Mormon from start to finish, with the footnotes. He really likes the footnotes. 5. Edwin, from Nigeria, who really likes Mormon.org. 6. Jolly Monday (Jolly is the first name, Monday is the last name), from Nigeria, who is part of a very active church. He goes to church 3 times a week for several hours. 7. David, from Nigeria, who really likes the Book of Mormon, because it teaches the same things as the Bible. 8. Davide, from Italy, who is a hippy. 9. Salvatore, Italian, who really loves the Bible and doesn't see the need for the Book of Mormon. 10 Alessandro and his family, from Peru, who have lots of health problems. 11. Prince, from Ghana, who is a soccer player that is hoping to return to soccer after an injury. 12. Emiliano, Italian, a recovering alcoholic. 13, Maria Rosa, Italian, who has had all of the lesssons at least once. Other than these 13, there are 4 or 5 potentials, primarily spouses of members.

There you go. We're working with 12 people and 1 family, of whom 1 is french african, 5 are english african, 2 are peruvian, and 5 are Italian.

As I've taken to the habit of telling you about my week in chronological order, I will continue in this way. On Thursday morning, we gave a blessing to a member's non-member daughter-in-law, and taught her a modified version of the restoration lesson. We then did an exchange with members (Is the word splits in english?) I went with Paolo out to Novara, and we taught Prince about the Doctrine of Christ, which climaxed with a baptismal invite, which was not accepted, because he will not have enough time to see us for a good while. We then went to Candide's and taught him the Law of Chastity, a lesson I've taught once, and wasn't really sure how to teach. Thankfully, Paolo, our member, is an ex-missionary to London, and has taught it many times, and so the elements of the lesson I forgot, he was able to fill in. We then ended our exchange, and Anz. Jones and I went out to do some finding work.

On Friday, we woke up early early again, to teach my friend Pedro, about gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. We taught him with our members in his city, who are also both ex-missionaries (It occurs to me that I'm using the Italian terms. In English you say Returned Missionary, right?), and helped us a lot, and also provided him a ride to church on Sunday. We then went to this member's house and had lunch with them, and taught their family, which is half-active. We took a train back to Vercelli, and then to Novara, where we taught Jolly about 3 Nephi 11, which I love, by the way. Unfortunately, we had to be kind of short in that lesson, because we found out we were double booked, and we rushed to our next lesson, with David, about the plan of Salvation, which was also rushed, and then we hopped on a train back to Vercelli, barely in time, and went to a member's house, with whom was Maria Rosa, who we taught a rather interesting lesson with one of our member's disrupting a lot and making a lot of reference to deep doctrine, that was entirely unnecessary. I have said this, and I will say it again. Let us teach. Missionaries KNOW how to teach the doctrines of the gospel, which to teach, and which not to teach. For a buddhist woman who hardly knows anything about the bible or the Book of Mormon, the concept of who is Jehovah, or even the concept of Jehovah at all doesn't matter and cannot help. (that's what our member was explaining.) As you can tell, I was a little frustrated with our member. Later, we went to church to teach Salvatore. As we waited, our constantly drunk friend Mario passed by, so I gave him a quick tour of the church, and taught him a short lesson. He has very interesting beliefs. "I believe in Jesus Christ, but in God, no." How that works, I'm not going to ask. That's called a drunk man who has read the bible 4 times. Anyways, we then taught Salvatore, reading with him 3 Nephi 11. He started to understand better why the Book of Mormon is useful. (By the way, yes, we did teach 7 lessons in one day.)

On Saturday, we taught Candide the Law of Tithing, and then we had lunch with him, of baguettes, cheese, delicious meat, and such. It was good. We then had to cancel an appointment and received several bidoni. It was a decent day.

Sunday, in church, Candide, Pedro, and Maria Rosa came, along with one of Maria Rosa's friends, Paolo, the husband of one of our members who agreed to take the lessons starting in September, and the parents of one of our members. It was a really good Sunday. Later on, we taught our friend Edwin the Plan of Salvation from start to finish, and then did finding work.

Monday, we had district meeting in the morning, before which, I talked with Anziano Gallacher for a good bit as we waited for the Biella Elders. Anziano Gallacher took my place in Alessandria, and is currently teaching nearly all of the same people I taught there. He's from Salt Lake City, and goes home in February. He's a good guy and I enjoy talking with him. Thought I'd mention him because I think someone may know him... maybe. Anyways, later on that day, we taught our member, Favour, who we're trying to help get ready to be able to officiate on the Sacrament. He's got a lot of put right in his life though. We then used a map we found in our apartment that missionaries in the past made of all of the members in Novara. We went to about half of there houses, and met a sorella Bonezzi, who reads the Book of Mormon every day, but hasn't come to church since the church left Novara because it's too hard. She lives with her non-member son. Later, we taught our friend David about the promise in Moroni 10, and he commited to put it to the test. We then went back to Vercelli, and taught our Family Home Evening, with about 10 people, 2 of which were Candide and Maria Rosa. That was really good.

Yesterday, we taught Candide in the morning about Confirmation, and talked about his baptismal service's program. He's really excited, and 3 of his friends should come. It's going to be an awesome baptism. I'm superbly excited. (I hope I don't get transferred, because if I do, I'll miss his baptism by one day.) We then taught Edwin about the promise in Moroni 10, and very surprisingly and pleasingly found him checking out Mormon.org. That was exciting. We came home for a delicious lunch, and then went out again to teach Sunday, who is really struggling with his belief in God and why God blesses wicked people. We took the next train to Vercelli, and had Ward Council, followed by teaching Salvatore again, this time about 1 Nephi 13. He understood, I think, the importance of the Book of Mormon.

This morning, we taught Maria Rosa about the Doctrine of Christ, contained in 2 Nephi 31, with a failed object lesson. We tried to baptise and confirm and egg into a glass jar labeled the Kingdom of God. I think it was too rich of an egg. The object lesson is supposed to suck the egg into the jar, but it didn't work. oh well! Maria Rosa has a lot of questions, and is reading the Book of Mormon.

It's been a really good busy week. I'm happy.
--
Vi Amo!
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.

Candide and Pedro

Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Via XX Settembre, 37
16100 Vercelli (VC)
Italy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 7:41 AM
Subject: Candide and Pedro

This week has been really good. On Thursday, we taught 5 different lessons. We taught Salvatore, an ex-investigator about Alma ch. 7, and halfway through his lesson, another investigator, Davide the hippy character came in. We then taught both of them a first lesson, and Salvatore seemed to understand a lot better. It was a good lesson, but pretty long. We went out to Novara, and we taught Jolly about the Book of Mormon, giving him one, and asking him to read 3 Nephi 11. Later, we saw Sunday for the first time in nearly two weeks, teaching him the principles of the stop smoking program. (unfortunately, we haven't seen him since, except a pass-by yesterday, which involved smelling a significant amount of smoke, and a seemingly drunk Sunday.... I hope he starts doing better soon.) The Stop Smoking program we do involves essentially prayer and hygiene. We taught another man in his palazzo, David, and his two friends about the book of Mormon. It was an interesting lesson...

Friday, we got up at 5:30, and hopped on a train to a small city called Mortara in our proselyting area. We there contacted a referral, named Pedro, who is Peruvian, and who at the end of our lesson I felt the need to extend a baptismal invite. He accepted, and should be baptized the 25th of September, if all goes well. He's a funny guy. That same morning, in Mortara, we talked to a man who doesn't believe in God and thinks we should be dolphins. I didn't understand what he was really saying, just that it involved being dolphins. We headed out to Novara, and taught Prince, a Ghanan man whose number was randomly in our phone and we don't know how it got there... anyways, he's a new investigator. Later on we taught our friend Edwin, who is under house arrest, about Alma 36, one of my favorite chapters. He liked it a lot. He also explained to us a really cool dream he had twice, once in Nigeria and once here in Italy, asking us if we knew what it meant. The general idea was this:

I heard strange music, and then all my friends were taken up to heaven. I wasn't at first, but then I prayed for forgiveness and was also taken up. There, I saw many people in bright white clothing, the leader of which gave me a mission. He told me to go among my friends in Nigeria, and fight. I was given weaponry, like a sword and shield and such, and sent back down. I then fought animal-like creatures, maybe demons, and later killed their leader. While I was doing so, I freed my friends from working for them, who were in chains, and... it was like I was preaching the gospel and fighting at the same time. Then, my friends and I went back up to heaven, and I saw the leader of the bright people again, and then I woke up.

I personally think this guy is going to serve a mission. I don't know what the regulations are for convicted felons going on missions, but... he's 22. and he wants to repent. The whole time he was telling me his dream, I felt he was telling the truth. That this was something that will happen. It was cool.

Later on we taught my companion's project, a constantly drunk man named Emiliano. Anz. Jones tried to get him to destroy his cigarettes, and he didn't, unfortunately.

Saturday, Candide came back, and we saw him for a few minutes, after which he went to another spectacle in a paesino (village?) nearby, which lasted till 2 in the morning... he didn't come to church. We also taught David again, rereading 3 Nephi 11 with him, and almost arguing with him that it teaches the same thing as the bible. At first, we didn't understand. We thought he didn't get why we need the Book of Mormon, and was saying "it teaches the same things as the bible." No, he said that, but he was excited about it. When I figured out that we were agreeing, I just cheered him on. It was really good.

Sunday, none of our investigators came to church. one of our member's non member husband did, and we'll teach him in a week or two, but... none of our investigators did. bummer. Later that night, we taught Alessandro, a peruvian man and his family of 4. They didn't respond at all. But they didn't not like what we taught. I was confused. I'd say something, and... nothing. We then went to a YSA (GANS) activity with Candide, during which I taught him the gist of the law of chastity and temple marriage. It was fun.

Monday, We taught Prince again, reading 3 Nephi 11 with him, explaining to his half drunk friends the concept of the Godhead. It was fun. After that, we went to Candide's in the same palazzo, and taught him basically what happens in the Book of Mormon. He has a friend who we've seen many times, who sorta speaks Italian, that I'd like to start teaching with Candide's help with translation. Later, we went to Jolly's, and he wasn't there, so we talked to a group of old people playing cards nearby. One of them was straight up atheist and made me just ANGRY. I asked him to pray, and he just said no. He made an example of how he would believe. The Americas were discovered by Christopher Colombus, and I can feel them. When you discover paradise, come down and show me, ok? It was so stupid. The Americas existed before Christopher Colombus discovered them, in the same way that Paradise/Heaven/God exist. People may not have seen them yet, but that's not because they don't exist. I was just angry. Anyways, Ether 12 made me feel better.

Yesterday, we taught Pedro again, about 2 Nephi 31, or the Doctrine of Christ, which is officially my favorite. This morning, I studied it, and was amazed at how many times the Doctrine of Christ, or the 4th article of Faith, or the 3rd Lesson, cioè (which is) Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end, shows up in the scriptures. That is THE doctrine. Jesus suffered for our sins, so if we do those 5 things, we're saved. That is it. Everything else is just an outgrowth from that. I love it. It happens to also be the missionary purpose. Help others to come unto Christ by (Doctrine of Christ). I love it. anyways, we taught Pedro about that, and explained to him how we do baptism.

Later on, we taught Candide the 10 commandments and the importance of Obeying the law. He was d'accordo (ok with it?). He also wants to memorize all ten in order. That was cool. He's awesome. I've missed him, and I'm super happy he's back. We then taught Edwin about Alma 40, reading it with him, and teaching the resurrection, connecting it to his dream. It was good. His girlfriend Jennifer was there too, and she read the 2nd lesson pamphlet.

We then went to Sunday's palazzo to teach him or David, neither of them were home, and I almost got mugged by 3 2-year-old Nigerians.

In sum, it's been a much better week than previous weeks.
--
Vi Amo!
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.

Ferragosto

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Date: Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 5:32 AM
Subject: Ferragosto

Dear Family,

As you know, we are currently in ferie season. I've explained what that means. In the middle of ferie, there is one day, equivalent to labor day in the states, where no one works, everything is closed, and missionaries do spring cleaning. This day is called Ferragosto. It is always the 15th of august, but since that was on Sunday this year, we did our cleaning the 16th. It's been a very good week. Much of the pain and annoyingness of last week have since been taken care of.

Last week, coming back from scambio, I met a Nigerian man on the train, named Jolly. Jolly Monday. That made me very pleased for somewhat obvious reasons. I taught him a short gospel principle on the train, doing an "invito", essentially teaching a short idea then inviting them to investigate the church by asking for their phone number. Doing "dieci inviti" (10 invites) is one of my favorite finding methods. I have seen a lot of personal growth and success doing them. essentially the idea is that during the day, when you haven't programmed (sorry, planned, in italian is programmato... missionaries use programming and planning interchangably here) finding work, you do an invito, during the day, you personally as a missionary do 10. It is absolutely my favorite. It's the best way to cry repentance to people I know. I've said many times that we do a lot of casa here in Milano, which is true, and we see success from it. quite a lot. That's essentially how I spend my time. but as we're going from palazzo to palazzo (apartment building), and city to city on the trains, I LOVE just starting up a conversation in any way and then guiding it to a teaching situation ending with me getting their phone number. It's a lot of fun. I'm getting pretty good at it.

On thursday of this last week, we taught a drunk man that my companion thinks we can save from his drunken state. I have less hope. When someone tells me they see Jesus standing in the distance, and this person is very drunk, I assume that they won't really remember what I'm saying. but... we'll see. His name is Emiliano. He drinks 4 liters of wine a day, and smokes 2 packs of cigarettes or more every day. We'll see. wait. that may have happened some other day this week. Because on thursday it rained a lot, and we weren't in that park. nevermind. This lesson happened, but not on thursday.

Actually on thursday, it rained. and rained. I found out my shoes aren't waterproof. that was exciting. by about 7 o clock, my shoes were full of water. around that same time, we knocked on a door in an alleyway that looked empty, which went directly into a house, unlike a palazzo, which goes to a lot of doors for houses. My companion was very convinced we should go down that alley. We did. We knocked the door, saying essentially "we're missionaries with a five minute message about the family. can we come in?" They let us in. we taught them a very short version of the restoration lesson. This was a man and his wife (actually they're not legally married, but... same idea) who are both practicing catholics, who were just finishing dinner. We sat down at their table and taught them. The wife, Cinzia, was struck by the idea that every church has a piece of the truth, but a restoration was needed to have the whole truth. We then got their phone number, and set a return appointment. It was really good. Unfortunately, they went on vacation the day before our appointment, but they actually want to meet with us when they come back in september. so... that'll be fun!

On Friday, we taught a lot of contacts that we got over the week before, and five people accepted return appointments. We taught my friend Edwin, from several weeks ago, who is a nigerian under house arrest, who just moved out of a house that doesn't like us. We gave him a book of mormon, and taught him the story behind it, with a short introduction to it. He gave us a return appointment. that's one. On the way from Edwin's house, back to the station in Novara, and then to Jolly's house on the other side of the city, when we got on the bus, who's there but Jolly himself, and his friend Kennedy. They escort us to his house, where we've never been, and we teach them a short restoration lesson, and get another appointment. Jolly wants to be a preacher. He wants to get a bible in Hebrew English and Greek side by side like his preacher in Nigeria. He was extremely grateful we came over. that's three. then, we met with a man named Alessandro and his family. They are peruvian, and have at least prayed with missionaries in the past. He and his wife have 2 daughters living with them, along with one grandson. Only the wife and he speak Italian though, so it was an interesting lesson. that's five. We then went home, superbly happy about having finally contacted these people, and having new people to teach.

On Saturday, we taught several more contacts, and received referrals from Temple Square... which has never happened before. anyways, since that point till today, we've been trying to contact 7 referrals from different places, and teach them. It's made sure we've been busy enough. We were unsuccessful in contacting them, but we did teach Francesca, an investigator we haven't seen in over a month, and won't see in over a month, who was very sincere. We read with her 3 Nephi 11, and wished her buone vacanze (good vacation?). We'll teach her again later in september. We also met a man named David in Sunday's palazzo. (I'll call him Domenica from now on to remove confusion. His name is Sunday, but in Italian it's Domenica. To remove confusion in letters home, I'll call him that.) David was very interested, and gave us an appointment for later on this week.

Sunday, we went to church. I gave a talk, based on President Boyd K. Packer's The Power of the Priesthood, from conference. It went well enough. As I always feel when giving talks, I felt silly, but later our Relief Society president told me she was very touched by part of it. So... apparently I did well enough. Later on that day, we went to Novara, and walked from the station to Edwin's house. We watched "The Restoration" with him, and he loved it. We explained a few of his questions, and he asked if he could have the DVD. we gave it to him. it was really good. We then walked back to the station, came home to Vercelli, and did some casa. It was raining again. I also had a funny experience doing an invito. I was talking to a man walking his dog, walking alongside him, and trying to teach a principle, and he says several very true things, like the Father and the Son aren't the same person. And then he said Jehovah and the Son, and then said the Bible is the only way we can know anything. I then tried to get his number or give him ours. He refused, explaining what I'd already figured out, and I hope you have too. "I'm a Jehovah's Witness" (Sono Testimoni di Geova). He then told me that their church was nearby if I ever wanted to come. That was my first experience teaching an active JW. It wasn't too bad. most everything of what he said was true. Unfortunately, I didn't get his number or give him ours, because he didn't want to, but... that's ok. It was fun for me.

Monday, we cleaned the house. when I say that, I'm being serious. We spent the entire day, from 8 to 8, cleaning. I learned what ammonia and bleach do (not together. that's called killing yourself.) But I used both separately, and our apartment is very clean now. very clean. During the day, I had a funny experience. We ordered pizzas on the phone from the pizzeria below our house, and when I went to go pick it up, the conversation was like this. "ah, eri tu su telefono, no?" "Yes, for Jones... Scusi, sì, per Jones. Parlavo in inglese" "Mi parli in una lingua che non comprendo?" (in english, "it was you on the phone, yeah?" "Sì, per Jones... excuse me, yes, for Jones." "you're talking to me in a language I don't understand?") I answered in English, if you couldn't understand that. It was pretty funny. I've gotten to the point with my Italian that it doesn't matter to me whether someone speaks to me in English or Italian. And my companion is essentially the same. Other people don't speak english. That was... interesting. and very funny.

Yesterday, which would be tuesday, we had Zone Conference in Alessandria. I got up really early, around 5:30, and we caught a train to Alessandria. We then chilled with the missionaries from our zone and Genova for a few hours, when President Wolfgramm showed up and we got started. It was a lot of fun to be in my old city again. They're in a new church, which used to be a university/college. It's WAY nice. It was a massive upgrade from the chapel I went to there. During Zone Conference, President announced all sorts of big changes to the way missionary work is done. It's basically this. The church, over the past several years has done a lot of study and experimenting with how to help missionaries be better teachers. All of the answers are in Preach My Gospel, so there's no new book. It's just a new approach to the same book, and how we use it. The results are a new training program churchwide, which will be rolled out between now and July 2011. It involves 8 basic ideas that are in PMG, but will receive signifcantly more focus. the first is "Doctrine of Christ" (2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 11 pay attention to the word "doctrine"). this was the focus of our conference. The other 7 points will be the focus of the next several zone conferences. In relation to these changes, there are several logistic changes. first, Zone Conferences, instead of being once a transfer, are now once a quarter (2 transfers... 3 months) Interviews are once a quarter, and much shorter. Two new training meetings are being implemented, which are "Leadership Training meeting" a meeting for several days in a central location for all trainers, district leaders, zone leaders, and the assistants. The other isn't really a meeting. It's "specialized training" or essentially having the mission president directly train missionaries one on one in actual teaching situations. It's a very interesting change.

On the train ride back yesterday, we saw an investigator from a few weeks ago, named Davide, who now has a cell phone. We got his number, and set an appointment with him. That was cool.

This morning, we taught Roberto again. We read with him Moroni's Promise, Mor 10:3-5, and he said "you have put me in crisis. I have devoted my entire life to the study of God, Theology. I would like to do something, with your help. over the next 10-12 days, I would like to read the entire Book of Mormon, meeting with you for 10 minutes every 2 days to resolve my questions and problems, then spend two days in prayer, by myself, doing exactly what Moroni asks. Can you help me with this?" the answer is obviously yes. So, between now and two weeks from now, he will read the Book of Mormon. Pray for him. Pray for his understanding. I'm excited.

I've had a good week this week. I love you all. I hope all is going well at home. I pray for your welfare always.
--
Vi Amo!
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.

Another baptismal date!

Oops!!! I totally forgot to forward this letter from August 4th! Sorry!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 5:07 AM
Subject: Another baptismal date!

So... I have exciting news. Sunday accepted a baptismal date for the 21st of August. So... we'll be having a double baptism that day, assuming all goes well. We'll see. I'm very impressed with Sunday. I'll say why later.

My week this week is as follows. On wednesday night Anz. Zippro said goodbye to our english class and we ate pizza with them at the pizzeria below our house. Thursday morning at 6 AM we headed to Torino, where I waited for my companion till 3 PM. During that time, I did some finding work with our Zone Leader, Anz. Van Kan. We found a family to teach as we did casa, then we ate some ice cream, wandered Torino, and just talked. Apparently the Zone Leaders had an insane week last week. They taught 55 lessons and had 10 people in church. For perspective, a good week here is 20 lessons and 3 people in church. The 55 lessons was a mission record. Anyways, I picked up Anziano Jones at the train station, and we headed home to Vercelli. There, I made some banana bread, we did shopping for the week, and he unpacked. Around 7, we went out to do some finding work. We did casa, which apparently is just not done in the Rome mission. so... he was amazed when I got into a palazzo on the first citofono I rang. (Palazzo=apartment building, Citofono=the phone thingy at the entrance of a palazzo.) We then got someone's phone number and he was more amazed. Since then, we've done a good bit of casa, but we still haven't gotten in and taught a lesson. oh well. we will eventually.

Starting Thursday, I have had to make all the phone calls to set up our appointments. It's been hard, but I set up a good day for friday.

Friday, we taught a homeless guy named Davide, who we had met on the train the week before. He doesn't have a cell phone though, so we haven't seen him since. We planned, and went home for lunch. I made a delicious tortilla/rice/vegetable thing, and then we went out again. We taught Stefano, who I may or may not have mentioned before. He's an ex-Jehovah's Witness, who really likes the bible, and was really excited to get a companion book, the Book of Mormon. He's about 30, and lives with his mom. he's a good guy. Likes the madonna a lot. He may end up getting baptised, because he thinks we're angels from God. Which... in a sense, we are. Anyways, then we went to Candide's, and taught him about a way to make prayer a little more effective, that is, fasting. He was excited to fast on Sunday. We had two more appointments that fell through, then we taught Sunday. Sunday, as I said, now has a baptismal date. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and read 2 Nephi 31 with him. He had read it 2 times, and understood the doctrine of it very well. When I asked him if he would be baptized, he got a little upset and said, Baptism's not just something I wake up and decide to do. It's a serious decision. After a bit more explaining and two more tries of inviting him, he explained, I'm not going to get baptized until I've repented. Every man knows how he offends God. I smoke, I drink, I know those are wrong. I've tried quitting many times, and haven't had success. I then assured him we'd have him ready to accept baptism by the 21st, and he said, certainly I'll get baptised that day if I'm ready. So... we haven't taught him the Word of Wisdom yet. and yet he already accepts the two most difficult parts, and he's already trying to quit. We'll need to work with him towards quitting fully by that day, but I think he'll be ready.

Saturday, we taught Candide the Word of Wisdom, which he accepted wholeheartedly, and commited to keep. We had other appointments, but they all fell through. So we did a lot of Park contacting, with little success.

Sunday, Candide came to church, and Sunday tried to, but wasn't able to for various reasons. We then taught a man named Yusuf about prophets and the first lesson, and then our other appointments fell through. So we did some more park, with equally unsuccessful results. We met a drunk guy who gave us his number, and was somewhat interested, and we met a guy who apparently investigated the church like 30 years ago, who was albanian, named Illyrian. He didn't give us his number, and he was going on vacation that week, so... oh well. Speaking of vacation, here in Italy, we are in the time of year called Ferie. Which means EVERYONE is on vacation, or going next week, and so an invite to hear the gospel is answered with a "when I'm back from vacation 2 months." grr. oh well. I'm happy.

Monday, we had district meeting, sort of. Alessandria didn't show up, so we had correlation with our Ward Mission Leader, Matteo. We then had a pretty open day, so we went out to Novara, and taught Kingsley, a contact from a week or two ago. He introduced us to about 5 other people, and they all seemed moderately interested. We set a return appointment for this saturday, and then we did casa nearby. We came back for our FHE, and Candide came, because he's awesome. We taught a lesson about prayer.

Tuesday, we taught Roberto about the apostasy and restoration. It was a really interesting lesson. He's a very logical character, so when I said "important religious questions were settled by councils, rather than by Apostles with revelation, and doctrines were changed," he asked for an example, so I said baptism. This led to a 10 minute discussion of baptism and what it means and why it's important, and then I brought it back to apostasy, and I THINK he understood the concept and the importance of the restoration. He then asked us if the next time we could read the Book of Mormon together, which is precisely what I wanted. also, he has a great respect for the book of mormon. This appointment took 2 and a half hours. He's a talker, and so is our high councilman, Fratello Simoncini. Later that day, we taught Candide about how his baptism will be, why it's important, why we'll be teaching commandments, and how to repent. It was a real good lesson. I love Candide.

Our appointments then fell through, and we did some casa and strada and such, with a little bit more success.

In other news, I feel like a real missionary now. I speak Italian well enough to talk to anyone, I'm confident enough to just start talking to anyone, and I'm practically (still working on it) always inviting people to hear about the gospel. I think that if I can continue this way, we'll see a lot of success.
--
Vi Amo!
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.