Week

From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 3:44 AM
Subject: Week

So this week was awesome. We taught lots of lessons, and it was just good. My companion is a genius. Wednesday, we taught Sorella Nardini a sweet lesson about member missionary. She told us that it was exactly what she needed. So that was sweet. Then we went and taught Claudio Marengo and his wife Lucia. They were super open and Claudio really wants to know what church is true. He recently had a lot of time to think while he was in prison, so it's pretty cool to teach him now.

Thursday, we had a sweet district meeting and then a scambio. Three of our four appointments fell through, but we still had the opportunity to go and do some finding work and have a very spiritual experience of doing so. It was probably one of the coolest experiences finding I've had, even if no one gave us a return appointment. We talked to this lady who's separated from her husband at her door for about 20 minutes about prayer and the purpose of life, just bearing awesome testimony to her. She started crying and the spirit was amazing. Then we taught some young girls in a baseball field about Joseph Smith. They listened super intently and seemed super interested, but I wasn't sure whether to try to get another appointment with them because they were 14. But they seemed super interested. Hopefully we meet them again with their parents.

Friday, we riscambioed and then taught Teresa Santoro, a super less active member. She claims to be catholic and mormon and I dunno... it's a weird situation. Then we went and taught Renzo, reading 3 Nephi 11 with him. He was saying "I returned to the catholic church recently, but now I'm seeing that there are problems with it and that your church is more true. But I can't come to church yet." Then we went and did some finding work.

Saturday, we planned, then taught Fratello Marengo about missionary work, then we found Albert on the street after he'd cancelled our appointment, and we taught him a short lesson. Then we went and taught Claudio and Lucia again, this time about the Book of Mormon, and Claudio prayed.

Sunday, we had church and only Livia our dry member grandma type person came of all our investigators. Then we went out to this area where we knew an inactive member lived, and we found him, taught him, and taught a man in his palazzo, and then taught a really old man ( 97). They gave us return appointments.

Monday we had Zone Conference. It was awesome. Then on the ride back to the train station, I started talking to the nearest person. His name is Umberto, he's in his 20's and he was covered with tattoos, and wore earrings with skulls on him. Last person you'd expect to accept the gospel, right? So I ask him "Have you ever had an experience that made you think there's a God?" He explained that one time he was scuba diving near the island of Elba, and he had gotten separated from his group. He was in the middle of two bits of land and he was out of energy. He was expecting to die there. Then something happened and he was able to swim to shore. He believes that God helped him. Then we talked a little more and we gave him a Book of Mormon, and got his phone number and address and gave his contact information to the missionaries there.

Tuesday, we decided to go to this area where there's another inactive. We found her and then did finding work in her area. We found Michael and Mensen and their son. They are Nigerian and awesome. They're now investigators. That afternoon, we very quickly taught Oscar Ridolfi, and then went to the church where we taught Viola with Sorella Falchi, watching the "Restoration". Then we taught English and taught Claudio and Lucia again. They committed to read and pray every day. Then I woke up this morning at 8:20 because the alarm didn't go off. And now I'm writing this email. I love you.

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A scambio, getting sick, getting better

From: Benjamin Jolley <benjamin.jolley@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 5:22 AM
Subject: A scambio, getting sick, getting better

This week, we started out by teaching one of our members and them giving us 7 referrals, two of which became investigators. Exciting! Then, Thursday morning, we had a district meeting in Pesaro, about prayer and its importance. It was pretty cool that at the end, Anziano Sciarretta said "I wanted to invite an investigator to pray, but I wasn't sure how to, you inspired District Leader you." Then we did a scambio with our Zone Leaders and Anziano Dunshee and I went and taught Viola, a nice lady that we found doing casa, who we taught in our RS President's house. That was a cool lesson, they made friends. Then we went and did some finding work and taught a lady, did some cool finding, but didn't find anyone new to teach.

 

Friday, we did some cool studies, where Anziano Dunshee and I talked about how we are both one pregnancy from going home. That's weird to think about. Then we went out and worked some more, we sent our CapiZona home, and then I got sick with a fever and stuff. So then we chilled at home and updated the area book. We then taught Renzo, who had the intention of dropping us but by the end of the lesson had commited to reading more in the Book of Mormon, and also he prayed at the end. Then we went home because I was still sick.

 

Saturday, we went and taught Alberto, planned our week where we discussed a plan to teach all of our members twice a week. It's working. Then we went to go teach Carlos, who wasn't home. I was also sick and sitting at home during some of this time.

 

Sunday, we had a good day in church, with 3 of our less actives coming with an investigator, Tony coming again, and yeah. it was good. We taught Tony the plan of Salvation which he enjoyed, and then we went home and chilled, then we taught Carlos, one of our inactive members. We taught him the message of the restoration as if he'd never heard it, and he was fascinated, commited to read the Book of Mormon and pray and stuff, so that was cool. Then we went home again.

 

Monday, we taught Emiliano, a man we'd found in centro previously, who had been reading the Book of Mormon when we showed up for the appointment. We taught him a very short lesson of what the Book of Mormon is, finding out his background and asking him to pray at the end. He did, and commited to read the Book of Mormon, pray and come to church on Sunday. Wow. That's cool. We went and worked some more, until there was a rainstorm of ridiculous proportions. Literally, we left the house and 3 minutes later we were completely soaked. The raindrops stung, they were big and it was ridiculous. We taught our Branch President a short lesson on missionary work and continued to do casa.

 

Tuesday, we wandered around the city in the morning and a man stopped us, and we gave him a Book of Mormon. The weather was really weird and affected my ability to focus. It was bizzarre. In the afternoon we went out like crazy. First we taught some ex-investigators that were a referral from the Falchi family from last wednesday, they were super open and ready and commited to reading and praying and even prayed kneeling at the end. Then we taught Viola again and she talks a lot, but was really interested, and she prayed at the end. Then we went to help a man who was interested in Genealogy and had been using PAF and needs a PIN to unlock the full version of PAF companion, but doesn't speak english. He was also interested in the church, though he is a "convinced atheist". Then we taught our english class. One of our students wants us to go to a steakhouse with them. I dunno if I want to.

 

This morning, we took care of Anziano Rockwood's fingerprinting. After today, our week is very busy. We have a district meeting, a scambio, a lot of lessons, and in general a lot of cool stuff happening. Anziano Rockwood's organizational skill helps a lot. It helps me to set appointments that aren't conflicting. It's very nice.

 

Much love,

Anziano Jolley of Pesaro

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Fwd: Week of some sweet stuff

From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 3:35 AM
Subject: Week of some sweet stuff

So... this week, we did the following. Thursday, we went to the hospital and found Tony Eucera, the hondurasian man that we met previously, and we taught him a short lesson with his daughter. We prayed with them, and he commited to coming to church. Then we went and we taught the Di Cosimo family, who we taught a short lesson on the restoration and organized the baptism. I don't think they remembered anything about the restoration, except the broken chocolate bar.

 

Friday, we did some finding work and taught a man named Renzo Tonucci, who had begun reading the Book of Mormon. He explained to us that he has no intention of changing religions, but was willing to talk anyways. He explained his story of how he was communist earlier in his life, and then accepted Jesus again in his later years, and was now reading everything he could about the savior. Cool. He was interested to read more in the Book of Mormon.

 

Saturday, we went and taught Albert, our new convert, practicing with him what to say to his friends when they ask him the classic "What's the difference between your church and my church?" I decided to do that with all of our members during weekly planning, and the experiences that have come as a result lead me to believe that it was straight revelation. He had never thought about how he could respond to his friends and coworkers questions before, and so he was happy to think about it. Then we set up the baptismal font, and ate lunch, then we taught Manuel shortly reading 3 Nephi 11 with him. Then we had the baptism which was pretty cool. Manuel was there.

 

Sunday, we went to church, to which Tony Eucera showed up for the last two hours. This gave us the opportunity to teach him the first lesson, and then he enjoyed sacrament meeting and got to know our members. After church, we went and taught Liz, with one of our members who totally stole the teaching out of our hands. oh well. It happens. It wasn't really the best lesson. Then we went and taught our Ward Mission Leader and his family about the same "how to answer questions from friends," and in the end of the lesson, our relief society president expressed exasperation and frustration at the fact that we are so few here in Pesaro, and I had the opportunity to bear testimony to her that if she keeps praying, they will have the opportunity to see the church grow. This very obviously touched her, as she started crying. We left literally 30 seconds later. That was intense.

 

Monday, my companion dubbed "Miracle Day". In the morning, we decided to go and find one of our less actives, teach him a lesson, place a Book of Mormon, and find a contact. That is exactly what happened. Which is amazing, because we'd tried to find that member before, and he wasn't at home, ever. He told us he didn't have a Book of Mormon at his home, since he was in the process of moving. So we gave him one. Then we knocked on another of our less actives, who claims to be Buddhist, and taught her non-member son an interesting lesson. Then in the evening, we continued to find people. It was sweet.

 

Yesterday, we went to Leadership Training. This was a very good meeting, but the more interesting parts are the people we talked to on the trains. I love my district, because when we travel together, we talk to people on the train. And we do a good job of it, too. We first talked to a man who talked very softly, about various things, till he looked at our nametags and said "Why Latter-day Saints?" when we explained and proceeded to give him a Book of Mormon. Then we talked to a lady who was very interested, but told us frankly that she wouldn't read the Book of Mormon. Then on the ride back, we talked to a Ghanan named Ben, who told us he'd love to read the English Book of Mormon that we gave him, and also would love to talk to our friends in Modena.

 

Today, we'll be doing a nice little P-day, and then we'll teach the member that went rogue on us how to talk to his friends and also how to act in lessons with us.

 

Much love,

Elder Jolley

 

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Fwd: Anziano Rockwood

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley <benjamin.jolley@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, May 25, 2011 at 3:20 AM
Subject: Anziano Rockwood
To: Ariana Black <ariflutie@yahoo.com>, Camille Jolley <melers20@hotmail.com>, Caroline Jolley <caro.jolly@gmail.com>, Christopher Jolley <tophinator@gmail.com>, Dad <deanjol@gmail.com>, Elijah Milne <elm2164@columbia.edu>, Joseph ballsteadt <jgballstaedt@gmail.com>, Megan Milne <nutmegnut@gmail.com>, Mom <carriejolley@gmail.com>

Dear family,

 

I got my new missionary. His name is Anziano Theodore Rockwood from Fort Collins, Colorado. He is awesome. Speaks Italian really good for the amount of time he's studied it. I love him. Anyways, onto our good ol' travelog.

 

So, last wednesday, we went to Bologna after we emailed you, and we wandered around centro and it was insane. There are a lot of people there. I was intimidated. We stayed the night down there and then we woke up at 4 AM to get to Milano in time. After a long train ride, we got there, and picked up our new missionaries. On the ride back to Pesaro, we rode with Ancona, and we talked to a lot of people on the train. The first was a catholic priest, who said "We can't talk, until you pray to the virgin mother of God." That was strange. Then we talked to a young lady, who was interested, doesn't believe in God, has never had faith, but would like to have faith. I read Alma 32 to her, we bore testimony, and talked a little more, and she commited to reading the Book of Mormon, asking us if she could have it. That was awesome. Then we talked to a lady who wasn't particularly interested, but as we testified to her, a young 14 year old next to me was listening intently. I talked with him and got his phone number and address and passed it to the Forlì missionaries. We're hoping it goes well.

 

Friday, we planned, did some strada (a lot. I probably contacted 50 or more people. I was in a good mood). In the end, we found a young lady in a park who believes in God, has read the bible, the koran, and was very interested in reading the Book of Mormon. So we gave her one. Unfortunately, she lives in Bologna, as it turns out. So we get her information and pass it to those missionaries. (I am a referral MACHINE!) 

 

Saturday, we teach the marengo family, one of our less actives, and then do some casa in their palazzo. We find a couple of people in their palazzo who are pretty interested. "I'd love to talk with you. I'm going to work now, come back wednesday night." We ended up finding a couple of people to teach, including Renzo Tonucci, a nice 70 year old man who didn't believe in God when he was younger, but does now, having read the gospels and the bible (he listed them separately). He said he loves to read anything about Christ, so we shortly explained the Book of Mormon, and he commited to read it. Sweet! This may have happened on Sunday. I don't remember correctly.

 

The last two days have gone by very quickly, involving a leadership training and doing Anziano Rockwood's permesso di soggiorno. It was cool. I learned lots. The permesso had problems. (Anziano Rockwood's middle name is Wendall, and it was spelled Wendell. This took us three hours to fix). That's more or less it.

 

I love you tons and a lot.

Anziano Jolley

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Fwd: Transfers and a cool week.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley <benjamin.jolley@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, May 18, 2011 at 2:49 AM
Subject: Transfers and a cool week


Dear Family,

This week has been quite the week. I will start with transfer news. Anziano Russo is leaving for Brescia, which is east of Merate, as junior companion to Anziano Blaga, who is romanian and a transfer older than him. I will be training again, in Pesaro, and I will be the District Leader. In Ancona, Anziano Osborn will be training. I will be the district leader over us and Ancona, so I have two new missionaries in my district and Anziano Osborn who is barely past 6 months in the mission. I'm old. Missionary old. It's downhill now.

This week has been a lot of fun. well, a lot of fun since Sunday. We did a lot of finding work, got a lot of bidoni and didn't teach at all for 4 days. It was... depressing. However, on Thursday, Anziano Russo started to get really upset around 7 PM. He threw his nametag on the ground, then he threw his backpack in the air. Also, he said something like "If the Lord is helping us, now's the time for him to show it." It was kinda ridiculous. For some reason, when his mood was SUPER down, I was SUPER happy. And I was determined to make a long finding day not a failure and to show that the Lord WAS helping us. So I started inviting everyone I saw to listen to the gospel. I got about 4 numbers and 2 return appointments in about the last half hour of the day, making my companion a little... well... surprised. And angrier. because now he couldn't be angry about the day. what now, depression?!?

I'll skip to Sunday, because I don't really remember Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, we went to church, where an ex-missionary showed up, so the members had prepared a lunch in church for him. Because of this, two of our less active families came to church, and one of them, Jackelin, came with her boyfriend Ricardo. I chatted with him during the lunch, and got his number and an appointment to teach him on Friday. sweet! referral! Then we went and got a couple bidoni, and then we taught Liz, a peruvian, with her husband Sergio, and their adorable 1 year old son. (I was thinking about my nephews). They were very interested and gave us a return appointment, even though they are very busy, for the end of the week.

Monday, we went out, did some casa, and found two fathers who were conveniently at home with their children for the first time in a long time. they became new investigators. Then we got separated while we were riding home, I went left, Anziano Russo went straight, and then I just decided to head home when I didn't immediately find him. I called President when I didn't see him, and while I was talking to President, he came back. President said "ciao anziano" and as I was about to hang up said, "wait, wait!" he told me then that I would be training again, and I would be the district leader. That was exciting. We went back out after lunch, and nothing particularly exciting happened.

Tuesday, our Zone Leaders came down to Pesaro to have companionship study with us. Random, but OK. As we studied, Anziano Dunshee asked me to read a talk by Elder Holland out loud, about how all the prophets before had their dispensations in failure, but this one won't. I was very touched. So then we went out, gave a man a Book of Mormon, and I was filled with power as we went and did finding work. I stopped everyone. and everyone was interested. I had 3 people stop me as we were going around, who asked "who are you guys? I've always wondered that!" We found a nice old lady doing casa who tried to give us back the Book of Mormon, saying "I don't understand how someone could write their own Bible!" We then bore testimony to her and she then asked if she could keep it and started crying, saying that when she has a bad day, she pulls it out and reads a little, and is happier. It was a little strange how she went from so angry and trying to give us back the book to wanting to keep it and humble and happy after we testified. Yeah, that was awesome.

Today, we woke up, ate food, and studied. We're heading to Bologna later tonight so that we can get to Milano early tomorrow morning.

Much love,

Anziano Jolley

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Fwd: Well, a week.

Dear family,

This week started with a scambio with our Zone Leaders. Anziani Dunshee and Duersch came down and blitzed Pesaro. We picked them up at the station around 7 PM, and then Anziano Duersch and I went and called people to repentance. It was awesome. First, I jokingly said "Hey we should talk with that couple that's blatantly making out 15 feet away." So Anziano Duersch started talking with them. In the end, we gave them a Book of Mormon and talked with them about 20 minutes, explaining how we came to know that there is a God and that the church is true. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to a casa area nearby and set up two appointments for the next day, with an old lady named Elsa and a younger man named Ricardo. Also, we gave a pass along card to a 98 year old lady named Eva. She talked to us for a while.

Thursday morning, we woke up, worked out, and then Anziano Duersch and I studied together. We talked about teaching other missionaries, and specifically my companion. It was interesting. Then we went to a park near the church, and talked to a Romanian lady and gave her a pamphlet. She told us we could come back any time. We then had District meeting, about Baptism. It was a good meeting. after that we had lunch, and then we went out and taught Elsa and Ricardo who weren't super interested, but let us teach them anyways. Then we were walking along, and I saw two young men smoking on a bench. I went to talk with them, and Anziano Duersch and I ended up teaching them an entire first lesson, and giving a soft baptismal invite, and getting an 18 and 17 year old as new investigators. Giuseppe and Antonio. They're going to be my replacements I've decided. They can go on a mission in a year and two years, and take my place here in Italy. or anywhere. That was an amazing find. And conveniently, they live right next to our branch president. After that, we sent the Zone Leaders down to Ancona, and then we went to teach Barbara. Her parents were a little... hostile. She's 30 years old, and lives with them. They wouldn't let us pray because we pray to a different Jesus, and wouldn't let us say a word. So we just left. That was a bummer of a way to end a day.

Friday, we went out and did 4 passbys, teaching 2 lessons. we first went by Susy, a lady I found in the cell phone. She apparently was going to be baptised, but then like a week before because of personal problems, wasn't. Then we went to Abdul's, and gave him a Book of Mormon in Arabic, but he didn't have time to talk. We then rushed to centro, where we talked with a referral from one of our members, who wasn't really interested. Then we were stopped by a young lady who said that she was a member, was baptized in Brazil, and wanted to know where the nearest church was. She lives about 40 miles from us, so I got her contact information, and gave it to Ancona. Then we ran to the park, where we taught Maurizio, who wants to start his own church, giving him a Book of Mormon. That evening, we planned, made a baptismal calendar, and did a little strada. It started raining.

Saturday, we went out, did some finding, and then came home, me angry for no reason. Then we went back out to meet with Giuseppe, but it was raining cats and dogs, so that appointment we cancelled. We then went to our less active's house, taught him, and then went and taught 2 lessons placing a Book of Mormon. In all, we got 4 appointments fall through, but taught 4 lessons anyways.

Sunday, we had a decent day in church, but none of our investigators showed. Darn. Then all of our appointments fell through, but we still taught two lessons to people we found in the park.

Monday, we had district meeting, and then our appointments fell through. that was a little disappointing.

Tuesday, we went out, found a man in the park that was asking all the right questions, and we just bore testimony and gave him a Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, Armido didn't want to give us his number. bummer. That afternoon, we went and taught Luca, a pizzaiolo, who was interested and is now an investigator. Then we taught English, and then we taught our Ward Mission Leader with his wife, and went home. It's raining a lot this morning. We had a plumber fix our shower this morning. now we have two showers. yay!

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Fwd: surprises

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley <benjamin.jolley@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 3:16 AM
Subject: surprises

dear family,

 

This week has been very interesting because a missionary from my district went home. So we've been in three the past 3 days. The space bar in this keyboard doesn't work, so, I'll maybe have some space problems. Anyways, on thursday, we updated our area book and then did a little parco. we went to the park and taught a man that was decently interested.and then we made about a thousand phone calls.

 

Friday,we went to the local high school and taught a class of 17 and 18 year olds. They had many questions and then we gave out 5 book of mormons to the students who were the most interested. That was a way cool experience. Afterwards, the teacher asked if we could come back several hours later to teach his 18 and 19 year olds. We came back and they had a study period that he didn't know about. so he told us we could come back later in the next week. We then did some finding work,and we taught one lesson.

 

Saturday, we did some finding work and we found a couple of people who were interested, and gave out 4 book of mormons. We also taught our investigators MAnuel and Mary. They are super cool and our members love them.We found a young man named Diego from Colombia in the park and gave him a book of mormon and got a return appointment to teach him again.

 

Sunday, I gave a talk in church, about service in the church to close and reinforce the door to the adversary. It was an interesting talk.We then went searching for our members in Fano, who we were assigned to find by our district president. We found that they do live at the address listed, but they weren't home. Sunday therefore wasn't a particularly effective day.

 

Monday, we did some finding work in the morning, ate lunch, and then picked up Anziano Roberts from the station because his companion was flying back to America. That was a bummer. We went and taught our new convert, Alberto, and had a way good lesson with him.

 

Yesterday, we did some finding work in centro finding a man who tried to convince us that we are wasting our time as missionaries. I don't know why we talked to him so long. we then did a little more finding and went to English class, which went well,and one of our students tried to give me 20 euro for our service. That's against the rules, so I refused. Then we jumped on a train to Ancona,and slept here in Ancona, where I'm writing this email.

 

Not a very exciting week.

 

I love you!

Benjamin.

 

P.S I'll clean this up with spaces and resend it in a few minutes.

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