Casa

Oops! I forgot to send this last week! Still waiting for today's letter.
Carrie

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 2:56 AM
Subject: Casa

This week was very... empty. We did a lot of casa. That was the large part of the week. The frustrating part was that we didn't get in except once the whole week. So basically I'll just say that this week we did a lot of casa, getting in Saturday in a cool story. We knock doors and for the thousandth time we hear "non mi interessa" (I'm not interested), and we ask if he knows anyone who WOULD be interested. He says... yeah. In that palazzo next door. Go there. So we do. We find out that in this palazzo there's a part-member family. They show us some pictures of old missionaries they knew, including Anz. Petersen. They're good people. Maybe we'll be able to get the husband to finally get baptized. His wife was baptized 15 years ago.

Otherwise, we taught Stefano, a contact from the scambi with the zone leaders several weeks ago, who had read 50 pages of the Book of Mormon. He's super busy, and angry at God for taking his mother. His sister is also angry at God. Hopefully as we teach them they'll find peace with God. I hope. And then they'll get baptized.

Sebastiano, the brasilian evangelist we were teaching we dropped this week. Bummer.

The Muçe's we taught three times. Once about following the prophet and baptism, once about the Word of Wisdom, and once watching "the restoration" with them. The two older daughters, Clara and Brigilda have fixed baptismal dates for the 5th of February. The dad, Albert, is struggling to quit smoking. When he does, he'll be baptized, though. The mom is trying to read and to quit coffee. We're praying a lot for them, and hoping that things go well for their baptism. The youngest daughter is 7, turns 8 in april, which makes my goal to baptise Albert before then and have him baptise her. Her name is Greta and she LOVES Primary.

We also told Paola, the lady that feeds us once a week but isn't particularly interested in our message that we can't come back. so she's more or less dropped. This means that our investigators at the moment are essentially the Muçe family and sort of Stefano and sort of Manuel. (Manuel is the ecuadorian that Anz. Clove and I found.) Also Saydi, the Peruvian lady and her son, but we didn't see them this week. We're doing a lot of finding work at the moment.

I love you. I'm probably going bowling this afternoon, it being one of the few attractions of Merate.

Benjamin

Rain

Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Via V. Monti, 3
23870 Cernusco (LC)
Italy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 3:27 AM
Subject: Rain

Dear family,

It has rained for 4 days straight. It finally stopped this morning. I can see the blue sky and the sun again. It's a very happy thing. On Wednesday, we had ward council, which was effective. Before that we taught a super short lesson to Marcell's cousins with him there. That was exciting.

Thursday, we did a lot of casa, finding a muslim guy from Morocco, who was decently interested. We then made a baptismal calendar for the Muçe's who should be baptised the 5th of february. We taught them about the importance of enduring to the end, and then responded to Clara's and Brigilda's questions. Anz. Ballif was amazed and is amazed by the kind of questions Clara asks, because she's the same age as his sister and Caroline. I wasn't particularly amazed, because I've talked with Caroline. But they're good questions. "Why don't I remember the pre-earth life?" "Why do so many people believe in the pope if our church is the correct one?" "Why are there no priests or nuns in our church?" "Why is it the Church of Latter-day Saints?" Good questions, no? As I tried to respond with my companion, he said to Brigilda "He knows the scriptures WAY TOO WELL" after I pulled the fifth or sixth scripture in response to these questions. Thank you seminary and BYU religion classes. And parents. and Sunday School. etc. That morning, we also taught Sebastiano about the Plan of Salvation from death onward, and he asked "You teach the same stuff as I do. Why does it matter which church I join? The only thing I disagree with is that Book of Mormon." My response... was the response of every missionary to every question... "READ THE BOOK... and then PRAY." Also, that night, as we were walking home, we both screamed like girls when this HUGE black dog snuck up on him and then barked and good grief. It was terrifying. We then laughed for about 10 minutes at how we had screamed.

Friday, we planned, and then we casa'd into an agnostic who was decently interested and said that he'd read the book that we gave him, but didn't want us to come back. We then went to the pogettis and taught them shortly about Mosiah 2:17.

Saturday, in the morning, we did casa, getting in once to a family that then offered us lunch. It was delicious, but they weren't particularly interested in our message, though they'd been to Utah 4 times. The pasta was the black squid ink pasta that is not bad. It has a slight fish taste, but actually quite good. That afternoon, we taught our muslim friend Tayeb again, giving him an Arabic Book of Mormon, which he said he'd read. When he said what Muslims say about Jesus, that he didn't die, I tried to pull out Alma 7, but accidently pulled Alma 8, because I don't really read Arabic. He was a little confused. Then I gave him Alam 7 and he was less confused. He said he'd read it and then give us a call. That's what we do with Muslims. Book of Mormon, give us a call. We then went to the church where we taught Geoffroy, to whom we gave a Book of Mormon, which he said he'd read, but that he's too busy right now to meet with us. We then booked it for Saydi, Marcell's aunt, with him, and taught the restoration, which they were pretty ok with. We invited Valentino, her 9 year old son to church, he said he'd come, with Marcell, but then they didn't show up. bummer. Then we taught the Muçe's about the importance of the Sabbath day with Sorella Arianna Gessati and her boyfriend. It went very well. They are praying as a family every night, and the daughters are reading, and they come to church EVERY WEEK!

Sunday, we had church, to which the Muçe's came, and Fabio taught a lesson about the freedom to choose, and every hour we talked about keeping the sabbath day holy. If we didn't teach clearly, I think they get it now. After that, we went to Calco and Olgiate to do casa, getting in 2x. Once to a family that was very... interrupting, and open, but not particularly interested in a return appointment and then to a 25yo named Roberto, whose sister had been given a Book of Mormon by Arianna Gessati 3 days before. He was extremely interested, we gave him his own copy, got his contact information, and then sent it down to Rome, where he actually lives. He was at home at his parents just for the holidays, but he said at the end "You've convinced me. I'll read the book. You seem happy, my sister's friend seems happy, I'll read it." That was WAY cool.

On Monday, we taught Sebastiano again, watching "The Restoration" with him. He understands. He just refuses to read the book. It's SO frustrating. oh well. We then did a lot of casa, getting in once, but no return appointment. Then we taught the Muçe's the importance of prayer and scripture study, inviting them to also read the Book of Mormon a little as a family every night. I told them many personal experiences about family scripture study (scripture study at 6:30 with blankets and falling asleep and being woken up to "It's your turn to read" groggily reading a verse and falling right back to sleep). That was a lot of fun.

Yesterday, we knocked doors all day. We got in... 0 times. a girl gave us her phone number for another time when her brother's at home, though. So... a little success. Then we ate with Paola. That's my week. We got transfer calls yesterday, and I'm... staying in Merate as senior companion to Anz. Ballif. yay! We'll see a baptism together!

I love you. Thanks for your prayers!

Clean Apartment

Date: Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 3:04 AM

Subject: Clean Apartment

Dear Family of mine,

This week has been a very strange one. I'm finally recovered from my cold that actually DID get worse and develop into a nasty cough, but I'm better now. thank goodness. In general though, strange week. Wednesday, we did some casa and got in once, then we went home. During that day we found some napolitano cards, which are much cooler than normal cards, and we've played an italian card game called scopa, which is pretty fun. Anz. Ballif always wins, though. oh well.

Thursday, we went to Sartirana, which is at the top of the biggest hill I've ever biked. I practically died at the top. I'm out of shape. That morning, we found a Sri Lankan man named Hardeep who is sikh, which I've heard of but cannot remember anything else about. He then fell through the next day. oh well. That afternoon, we taught Alberto, a street contact that Anz. Ballif practically forgot about, but was very curious at the very least in what we bring. When I taught him again, he'd read the entire introduction to the Book of Mormon and 1 Nephi 1. Bravo. We then got a new washer from Bergamo, which is... MUCH nicer than the one we had. and smaller. but fits about the same amount of stuff. sweet. That evening, we taught the plan of Salvation to the Muçe's with their relatives there, who are all members, one is american and only speaks english... That was weird. But they are reading, the dad came to church on sunday, and just... YES! We then taught English class... they had questions about hunting in the states.

New Year's Eve we bought our cleaning supplies, planned, and then we went to Osnago where we did some casa and got into a... Pentecostal (I think?) man who was a catholic priest, and shared with us his "Testimony". When we tried to read from the Book of Mormon, he wouldn't let us, because he's convinced that the bible says that you can't have any more scripture... MANAGIA! his testimony reminded me of Alma 36. It was a cool testimony, the missionaries just didn't find him fast enough. now he's stuck in his own beliefs. oh well. We then dropped some banana bread by the Muçe's, helped set up a ward party, and went home by 8 because "It can be dangerous"... oh well. We played a lot of scopa that night.

Saturday, New Year's Day, we cleaned the apartment like we did on Ferragosto. Those are the two deep cleanings of the year. why? because NOONE is out on those days. literally, when we went to a kebaperia for pizza for lunch, we were the ONLY people on the streets. anyways, the apartment is very clean now.

Sunday, the whole Muçe family came to church, including their member relatives, who gave testimonies in fast and testimony meeting,and we taught Gospel Principles, Chapter 3. We made the mistake of starting the class 10 minutes early (almost), and then we breezed through it, and then at the end there were 30 minutes before Sacrament started. oh well... It was a terrifying lesson... 15 people is scary when you're used to 1-5 people. ah well. That evening, we did a lot of casa.

Monday, we had District Meeting, followed by a scambio with me and Anz. Malku in Merate. We did some casa, which was very odd. We taught two lessons about the Book of Mormon at the door, to people who didn't want us to come back. One was Italian, the other was Indian and worships Hare Krishna (for reals. not like me.) We then found 2 ex-investigators who are OLD. and can't read anymore. oh well. They said to come back in about a month. Then we went to the Muçe's, in which Anz. Malku explained a lot of things in Albanian. Which was awkward for me. Thankfully, Brigilda at least accepted a baptismal date for the 5 of February. the rest weren't so sure. But. Clara, said that she likes our church more than the Catholic church. She'll get baptised too. I'm very happy about them. After the Muçe's we were 20 minutes late for an appointment with Alberto, who was still there waiting for us. Bravo. and he read. We taught him more or less the plan of Salvation and explained church. Then we went home.

Tuesday morning, Anz. Malku and I did some whiteboard strada asking "Is it important to pray?" Everyone said yes practically. why? because I believe in God. Which is interesting, because when we asked if there was a God, people weren't so sure. Doing that, we found a Peruvian family who are the relatives of a member, with whom we're teaching them tonight. Woot. We riscambied, and Anz. Ballif and I went to a part of Merate beyond the death hill I rode earlier in the week. This time I made it up the hill without walking. We did casa there, among houses and castles built probably 400+ years ago. It was bizzarre. We had dinner with Paola, and came home. This morning, we shopped. and yay. Cool week, huh?

Christmas and such

Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Via V. Monti, 3
23870 Cernusco (LC)
Italy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 3:11 AM
Subject: Christmas and such

Dear Family,

This week's been an interesting one. On Wednesday night we taught Wassil, an albanian man with his family. after, we started a scambio. That was cool. Thursday, we had like 4 lessons planned, and we were on scambio, all of the lessons fell through, so we did some casa, getting in to 2 old men, Giovanni, and then Vittorio. Giovanni showed us his Nativity set, which was AWESOME. it moved and had lights and music and just... yeah. unfortunately, he wasn't particularly interested in our message, so we said a prayer with him, then he said a padre nostro, and then we left. Vittorio says he believes in prophets and not in God, which was odd, and then didn't want us to come back. bummer. I was on Scambi with Anziano Brown, from southern missouri. He's a cool kid. It was a weird scambio.

Friday, we made a ton of brownies and banana bread and took them to our various investigators, and contacts and neighbors, and then taught Marcel, asking him about his desire to serve a mission, which is there, but very... I dunno. something doesn't fit with what he says to us. He has a desire to be a missionary, but he doesn't come to church. It's... odd. We went to the Pogetti's that night, for whom we had made some banana bread, and we had a nice christmas eve dinner. That night, we went to the Oratorio di San Luigi in Cernusco for midnight mass. It was packed, and interesting. I found the part where they blessed the bread and wine the most interesting. and sorta weird. mostly interesting. before the mass started, we sang all these weird hymns that were accompanied by an organ and an acoustic guitar. That was fun.

Saturday, we chilled around the apartment after sleeping till 9, and then we wrote a couple letters, and then Emmanuele Dallari picked us up to go to his house for lunch. We stayed there till 9. 12 PM till 9. that's a long time. we had lunch with them, then we watched Monster's Inc (called Monster's and co. in Italian.) I then called you , and then I went downstairs to where they were watching "Jesus". My comp was still on the phone, but that movie was... um... perhaps a little more violent than I was expecting. but I liked it. We had dinner with the Dallaris, and then went home.

Sunday, we went to church, where NONE OF OUR INVESTIGATORS SHOWED UP!! NO! So we called them. two of them showed up about 20 minutes before sacrament. We shortly taught them the second lesson in gospel principles, and then went to sacrament meeting. phew. It was then snowing, so we did some finding work in Osnago, finding a guy named Tulio, and a catholic priest named Lorenzo, who speaks english. He likes talking with other faiths, and the missionaries in Milano gave him a Book of Mormon shortly before. He apparently goes to school in the States, though, at Georgetown. He also introduced us to his OTHER catholic priest friend, who lives near como, so I called Anz. Petersen and gave him the referral. His name is Ivan.

Monday, we had district meeting, and then we grabbed a kebap from the delicious ridiculously spicy kebaperia in Lecco. It was quite delicious. we then headed back to Merate. On the train, I thought "I think I'm getting sick." Turns out I was right. But not badly. We taught Manuel, watching The Restoration with him, but in Black and White because the connection to his TV is bad. That was different. We went down to Carnate, where we looked for Luli, who wasn't at home... and didn't give us his phone number. bummer. We came back to Merate, and taught the Muçe family part of the plan of Salvation with Valerio Dallari, who helped a lot.

Tuesday, we taught Sebastiano, who is a way cool guy. He had all sorts of questions about the fall, and just... reads the scriptures really well. I love that man. After that, I started to get a little sicker, so we went in, and I slept the rest of the day. Just so you know, my illness is just a minor cold that mostly just gives me a headache and is annoying, more than an illness that actually is threatening. It's just really hard to smile and be happy when you have a bad headache. and people don't listen to a message about happiness from people that aren't happy. I'm thinking I should be all the way better by tomorrow.

This morning, I broke the key to the outside gate of our palazzo. in the lock. because it was frozen. managia. I love you!

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Transfers again? Already?

Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 2:27 AM

Subject: Transfers again? Already?

My dear family,
I'm doing quite well in all aspects. The work here is picking up
again, and as always when that happens, someone got transferred.
Anziano Clove is headed to Biella, in my old district. Anziano Millar,
who's currently in my district is headed to Vercelli. And I'm getting
a new companion. I'm apparently the senior companion now. hmm... that
should be... interesting. In other exciting news, my new Zone Leader
is Anziano Petersen! This'll be the first time I see him since May. I
can't remember my companion's name... ballet, dallet, something like
that. I'll tell you next week.

This week has been an interesting one. since I forgot to bring my
planner, it may be a little less detailed of an email. Last wednesday,
our bishop gave us the job of meeting every member that he doesn't
know, and finding out their stance toward the church, as hostile,
indifferent, or willing to meet with him. So we proceeded to attempt
this task. Unfortunately, half of them live in areas that we cannot
get to without a car. Trains to those areas simply don't exist. oh
well.

Thursday, we taught one of our less actives, Marcel and his sister
Giordana. She had some rather... odd questions about several things
that led us to decide that she doesn't really have a testimony. This
conclusion came from the fact that she doesn't understand commandments
that breaking doesn't have an obvious affect on others. As we
listened, her brother fell asleep. That was pretty funny. So.. we'll
be trying to help both of them develop a testimony, probably starting
from the beginning of the missionary lessons. Should be an interesting
experience.

Friday, we did some whiteboard survey, asking another question.
Apparently people believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world, but
aren't so sure that God exists... how that works, I'm not entirely
certain. oh well. That evening, we tried to contact a few of the
inactive members the bishop gave us, and then we went to the Pogetti
family, who we taught about missionary work.

Saturday, we had an appointment with Manuel and Ingrid, to which we
were going to bring the Carcelen family. We went to the carcelen's,
and it turned out that Manuel and Ingrid had gone to visit their
children in San Remo for a week or so... oh well. We did some strada
for a bit that evening.

Sunday, after church, we ate lunch with Ken, our new Convert, and then
we taught him about several of his questions. We were going to go to
an appointment with him to Tina, another Nigerian, but she was in
Milano for church still. So we rescheduled for Monday. We then did
some finding work, during which I found that Anziano Clove was
discouraged and down, and I tried to help him out of it. It sorta
worked. As I was doing so, Ken called, telling us he had scheduled an
appointment for Monday with Tina. That cheered me up a lot.

Monday, we taught Tina, with Ken. Tina was very open to our message,
but she kinda had trouble understanding me an Anziano Clove, because
we speak American, and she speaks African. Ken was able to translate
for us, thankfully. He also invited her to church. She then asked if
she could feed us. I didn't want to, because we had an appointment
shortly thereafter, but apparently Ken had asked her to cook something
for us. So we ate her food. I hate being fed on the first appointment.
Then they think they have to feed us every time. I hate that. Anyways,
after that, we had district meeting with Lecco, and then we did a
scambio, me going to Lecco with Anziano Millar. We did some
interesting finding work, and since he doesn't sleep well, neither did
I. Also, they live right next to a bell tower that rings every hour.
That's annoying when it's 4 AM and you're trying to sleep. oh well. It
was a fun scambio. We came back to Merate, after being delayed by
several trains being cancelled due to snow, and then Anziano Clove and
I went to Paola's for dinner, as always. We got transfer calls, and
Anziano Clove started packing.

This morning, it was snowing pretty hard. and it hasn't stopped.
There's a good inch or two on the ground now.

I love you all!
Anziano Jolley


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well, improvement is improvement.

Anziano Benjamin Jolley
Italy Milan Mission
Via A. Gramsci,13
20090 Opera (MI)
Italia

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 7:24 AM
Subject: well, improvement is improvement.

Dear family,

This week has so far been my best week in Merate so far as numbers are
concerned. It's still worse than any other place I've served in that
respect, but... improvement is improvement.

Last wednesday, we had a rather different Ward Council meeting.
Instead of having a normal Ward Council where we discuss all sorts of
things, our bishop (who was made bishop when I got here) decided that
we needed training on how we do Ward Council, and why. It was quite
refreshing. Apparently, we have local church leaders to do what
Captain Moroni did in Alma 43:48, to inspire us to do better. That was
very different. I like this bishop.

Thursday, we tried a new method of finding that we got in a packet
about how to improve teaching and finding. The idea was to use a
whiteboard on the street. So we did. We wrote a question of the soul,
"Is there a life after death?" with "Yes" and "No" written underneath.
we then asked people what they thought. If they looked in the
slightest interested, we'd then talk a little more with them. in
short, our results were 30 yes, 20 no, and about 20 I don't knows or
not interesteds. Also, we got one lady that responded "My husband just
died. Now's not the right time to ask that question". That was a
rather unexpected response. We later ate lunch with Giuseppe, a
widower of about 75 years who is one of the first members here. He's
been more or less less-active since his wife died, though his entire
posterity of about 30-40 are members, most of which are active. He's a
cool guy, and very interested in astronomy, so when I told him grandpa
was an astrophysicist, he was very interested. Later that day, we
taught Marcel and his sister, Giordana. He's 19, and wants to go on a
mission, but for some reason is still less-active. She had some
strange questions about some words and how they relate. It was odd. We
then taught Yusuf, a Moroccan, who was interested in having a book in
arabic. We'll give him a book of Mormon in arabic next time we see
him.

Friday, we did another whiteboard survey, this time "Is there a God?"
we got very different results. 37 yes, 7 no, and 41 not interested or
in a hurry. We think the 41 people weren't sure or didn't want to say
no. That was very interesting. That evening, we taught Manuel and his
wife Ingrid for the first time. They're ecuadorians who met the
missionaries about a year ago in San Remo, which is near Genova. We
tried something I'd never thought to try before, to offer a kneeling
prayer at the end of the lesson, and since we'd never taught them
before, it wasn't awkward. One of the important concepts we're
spending a lot of time and effort on is how to begin teaching. The
concept is that the first 5-10 minutes with an investigator in their
home set the tone in a very real way for the rest of the time we teach
them. so I've tried to improve the way I do so using the suggestions
in Preach My Gospel chapter 10. It makes a difference. a big
difference.

On Saturday, it rained. a lot. and sunday. and monday. We spent a lot
of time stopping people on the streets, that's how I know. a lot of
people were really open... until we wanted their phone number, which
they wouldn't give us. bummer. oh well. That evening, we had a ward
party, involving a lot of meatballs. And logic games. I won the logic
game. and therefore a lot of meatballs. It was delicious.

Sunday, I had another really good day in church. It's amazing the
difference taking notes seems to make. I learned a lot. we then did
some casa and some street. After a while, I asked Anziano Clove to
recount to me the entirety of the Star Wars trilogies. It was amusing.
He has seen those movies too many times. We got in doing casa to a man
from buga ne faso (sp?) a country near the Ivory Coast. He was muslim
and wouldn't let us pray or come back, but he did tell us where two
nigerian Christians live, who we'll be teaching tomorrow, I think.
that was nice of him. We also did some area book work, finding a few
people to recontact. one of them gave us an appointment for saturday,
and we'll do another pass-by probably tomorrow. so... that was good.

Monday, I exercised fully 30 minutes, for the first time in a long
time. normally I do 10-20 minutes in the morning. I've been sore
yesterday and today because of it. oh well. We taught Ousman, a
sengalese man who was interested in the Book of Mormon as well. He
brought his friend who doesn't really speak Italian as well. Also, he
was unfortunately a little inebriated, so I'm not sure how much he got
out of the lesson. oh well. We did a lot more strada that day.

Yesterday, we had another "Leadership Training Meeting", where we went
over all 8 of the "Fundamental Principles" that the 12 recently
released, which are 8 priniciples designed to help missionaries learn
better how to teach. They are as follows:
The Doctrine of Christ -The Missionary Purpose
The Role of the Holy Ghost
Revelation through Prayer
Revelation through the Book of Mormon
Revelation through Church Attendance
Teach People, Not Lessons
We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up
How to Begin Teaching

These 8 points each have an 8.5x11" page of scripture and Preach My
Gospel references and questions connected with them. Very simple. Very
effective, when applied. Mostly things I didn't do before. It's pretty
cool.

That evening we ate dinner with Paola, during which I was tired and
distracted. There was an interesting discussion of Hindi religion,
which I could've taken advantage of to bend towards a discussion of
the gospel, had I been less distracted. 6.5 hours of your mission
president teaching you and you focusing a lot are... exhausting. Oh
well. I'll do better the next time.

Today, Anziano Clove got a haircut. I thought about it, but 15 euro
seemed WAY too expensive.

I love you!
Anziano Jolley


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Another week gone

Benjamin's new address is: (To answer his request that is at the end of his letter).

Anziano Benjamin Jolley

Via V. Monti, 3

23870 Cernusco (LC)

Italia

For those who want to know how to send packages,

USPS Priority Mail International Packages are recommended with the words "dalla famiglia" at the end of the list of contents. This means that the contents are "from the family" rather than having been purchased via mail order to prevent problems with customs. The Italian gov't often charges an import fee of 25% or more of the value of the package. Candy and food items are generally fine, except jerky. I have had a package returned but couldn't figure out why except I didn't list the contents and they said the address wasn't an address--I sent it to his current address. ( May Ensign, recipes, photos of his new niece)( ?)

Packages need to be sent to the mission office:

Anziano Benjamin Dean Jolley

Missione Italiana di Milano

Via A. Gramsci 13/4

20090 Opera (MI)

Italy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 2:24 AM
Subject: Another week gone

Dear family,

I'm still here in Merate, and I'm a little more content about my
situation. I have had an interesting week. On Thursday, we did some
finding work, and then we taught a less active 19yo named Marcel, who
we're trying to get out on a mission. He's a good kid. Really likes
his Xbox, though... we'll see what happens with him. We also taught
English class, which was a lot of fun, because there's an interesting
mix of different students with different ability, and they're all
related. It's interesting.

Friday, we went to Lecco, where we had lunch, and then I did a scambio
with Anziano Malku, a missionary from Albania. We taught a member
family, a cameroonese named alexis, and a part member family. We
taught Moses, and Faith, Ruth and Godwin. That's the part member
family. They're from Nigeria. Ruth and Godwin were baptised in the
past 2 months, and Faith got baptised on Sunday. Moses should be
baptised at the end of the month.

Saturday, Anziano Malku and I did some casa in Lecco, and met a 85yo
man who let us into his house, spoke to us in dialect, which was hard
enough to understand, on top of the fact that he had no teeth. He told
us to leave when we asked if we could say a prayer. huh. odd. That
afternoon, we had Anziano Malku's 21st birthday party of eating Indian
food at a kebap restaurant. Anz. Clove and I then went to teach Jules,
one of our investigators. That was a really good lesson. We started
teaching the plan of Salvation, and then I asked him a question like
"why are we here on the earth?" he then recounted the story of the
creation, the fall, the atonement, and then his story in search of the
true gospel. He studied with the Jehovah's Witnesses, but when he saw
the conduct of the members that were teaching him, he decided not to
be baptised into their church. His mother is muslim, but told him to
keep searching for the true path, which she was never able to find. I
then bore testimony that his understanding of the fall and atonement
were good, and we said a prayer. I love asking questions like that.
That evening, we went to the Pogetti family, who fed us some rather
delicious eggplant/cheese dish, after we talked with them about
enduring to the end and ETB's Beware of Pride. It was a good lesson.

On Sunday, we had Stake Conference in Milano, which was good. Our
Mission mom, Sorella Wolfgramm's italian is improving! She spoke,
among other people. After the conference, we went to Lecco with one of
their members, had lunch, and then went to Faith's baptism in Como.
When we got back to Lecco, we found that the next train back to Merate
wasn't for 3 hours. So we were stuck there all day. oh well.

On Monday, we had a lunch with Giuseppe Nicotra, an old man who
recently has gone less active. He's very interested in Astronomy. It
was a very interesting appointment. He really likes SOHO, for those
that know what it is. That afternoon, we taught Gaetano, who is a new
convert who likes motorcycles. He's a good guy. We then did some
finding work, getting two phone numbers, but both of them were muslim.
We'll see if they develop. Mostly I try to leave muslims alone, but
when you have 2 investigators... you're grateful for what you get.

Tuesday, we went out for a giro (a walk?) and we met a man from Ghana,
to whom I gave a first lesson pamphlet. We then had district meeting,
after which my companion got sick, so we stayed in till 7:30 PM, when
we had an appointment with Paola for dinner. Those dinner appointments
are interesting. We teach them sneakily, by sort of directing the
conversation towards gospel subjects as we eat. I ate a peperoncino
during the meal. Those are really hot. (They're the tiny red hot
peppers. I don't remember the name in english).

I love you. I have a request for you all. I would appreciate it if you
would send me your testimony of going to church on Sunday, what
blessings you see from it, etc. Thank you.


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