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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Fwd: Investigators that progress!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 7:02 AM
Subject: Investigators that progress!

This week, for the first time since I've been in Pesaro, we had some progressing investigators! Yay!!! They are the Peruvian family that we taught for the first time on my birthday. Julio Manuel, and Mary, his wife.

 

On Wednesday evening, we taught the incredibly old Glauco. He's 90. He speaks English. Unfortunately, he wants company, not conversion. So.. we had to drop him. darn. Cool guy though. His name means blue eyes.

 

On Thursday, we did a lot of casa, and then we taught one of our less actives, the DiCosimo family, who have a son that turns 8 in May. So we and the primary and everybody else in the branch are scrambling to get them active and get Andrea to understand the gospel enough that he can be baptised the day after his birthday. It was interesting.

 

Friday, we did our planning and did a lot of casa and strada and then we taught Manuel and Mary. They'd read from the Book of Mormon, and they were excited to learn that they'd been praying in a perfectly acceptable manner. That was exciting. Unfortunately, Manuel plays soccer on sunday mornings with his friends, so it may be a little difficult to get him to church. But Mary did come! Real investigator in Church!!!

 

Saturday, we taught our new english students a lesson on the restoration, and gave them each a Book of Mormon. They were very interested to find out that we have another book of scripture, and such, but they feel no need to learn more for the moment. They will however, read the Book of Mormon, so there is still hope. After that, we did a lot of casa.

 

Sunday, Mary came to church for all three hours. And loved it. She'll be at General Conference next week in Rimini, with her member friend! yay! After church, we taught Marina, a Russian lady, about the Book of Mormon, and gave her a Russian copy. She was pleased with it, and will come to church the week after Conference. She's busy this week, unfortunately.

 

Monday, we had district meeting and a lot of casa. At around 7, Anz Russo was done. in every sense. So we talked. For about 20 minutes. On the stairs of a random Palazzo. That was fun. Then we found someone who was interested.

 

Yesterday, we did a lot of casa and strada, and taught Laura, a contact from several weeks ago, with her boyfriend. Unfortunately, they aren't interested in hearing more for the moment. They have a Book of Mormon, though. And she said she'd read it. So... that's a little success.

 

Today, we did our shopping. That's about it. I love you muchly!

Anziano Jolley

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Fwd: A long week. But awesome.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley
Date: Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 7:11 AM
Subject: A long week. But awesome

It's been a very long week. I'm very sleepy as a result. Last p-day was rather uneventful. We just stayed at home. did some cleaning, etc. didn't find anyone that evening.

 

Thursday, we taught Alberto, our new convert from Congo, did some casa, getting in several times, and finding Glauco, a 90 year old man who gave us an appointment for this evening, as well as a scoutmaster who said to call in a couple weeks.

 

Friday, we did a scambio with Ancona, so I was with Anziano Murray from Idaho for the next day. we had three appointments, and they all fell through. so we did a lot of casa. we didn't find anyone. ouch. whatever.

 

Saturday, my birthday, we unscambioed, and then Anziano Russo and I planned for the week. then we had a frustrating casa day, with some delicious food for lunch. I cooked myself chicken mushroom pasta (thanks for the recipie!) and then we got pizza in the evening. Then we went to a member's house after a bit of confusion. I thought we were going to talk with her friends about the church, so I called the Ward Mission Leader. He called back telling me that she was inviting us over to give us some food for my birthday, and we went, and turns out that it was both. So we got a young recently married peruvian couple as new investigators. They were very excited to have a Book of Mormon and to meet with us again. woot! That was the best birthday present ever for a missionary.

 

Sunday, we had a good day in church with two of our dry members and like 5 less actives coming. Later in the evening, we had coordination, then we talked with Alberto again, he wanted to give us letters for missionaries, and then we taught a less-active, Victor, who is making his way back into the church.

 

Monday, we had Zone Conference in Firenze, and then on the way home I just felt I had to talk to this girl on the train. I talked to her. she was interested. I gave her a Book of Mormon and got her phone number and gave it to the missionaries in Prato. Then I talked to another person while we waited for our next train. He was interested in talking, but not in our message or the Book of Mormon. another girl in the room piped up saying (in English... the guy was English) "I'm interested, what's that book?" So we talked with her, gave her the book, and got her number. I talked to another man, who was also interested, and then another who was totally atheist but ok with talking. It was the most amazing train ride of my mission. Literally everyone was interested in our message. We gave about 5 referrals to various missionaries in the course of about 2 hours. and gave away 2 Book of Mormons, 2 pamphlets, etc. It was amazing. The best thing was seeing the other missionaries I was travelling with start to follow my example. Anziano Murray and Roberts started to talk to people on the train too, and it was amazing. We got home to Pesaro, starting a scambio about 11 PM. Anziano Roberts and I spent the day yesterday together.

 

Yesterday, we had an appointment fall through, and then we did some casa. We didn't find anybody in our efforts the whole day but one who said to call in a month, and then we had English Class. After English Class, our 5 new students from last week asked if we could talk about the gospel. We didn't have time then, but we have an appointment to talk with a family of 5 (a woman with her sister, her husband, her mom and her aunt) on Saturday. EXCITING!!!! Then we taught one of our Peruvian members with our Ward Mission Leader, and he wanted to invite 2 of his friends to hear the missionary lessons within 2 weeks. WOOT!

 

This morning we riscambioed, and then we came here for email. exciting stuff is starting to happen! I love you family of mine!

 

Anziano Jolley

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Fwd: What a week

Oops! I forgot to forward this last week!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Benjamin Jolley <benjamin.jolley@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 3:39 AM
Subject: What a week

My dearest family,

This week has been quite the week. We taught Maurizio two or three
times, and when it became clear he only wanted to talk with us, not
quit smoking or be baptized, we dropped him. Our Ward Mission Leader
has started us off on a great start to our ward mission plan. (read
branch where I write ward.) We have gone by half of our members and
asked them to write a list of their friends that could be interested
in the gospel. Then we asked them to fix a date by which they will
invite their friends to hear the gospel. two of them said by the end
of this week, and the rest by the end of the month. exciting? I think
so.

On Thursday, we had a Leadership Training Meeting, in which we talked
about faith, and several rule changes, the most important of which is
that our email time has been reduced by one hour. Meaning we have an
hour. and we can email immediate family and the mission president
only. So all of you not immediate family members that email me, this
is the last week. I would appreciate your letters. they are absolutely
still allowed. We also discussed memorization of the scriptures to use
in teaching and a teaching technique called teach to find. maybe ask
the missionaries near you if they do it. It's a very effective finding
technique. in essence it is this.
1. teach a principle (45 seconds)
2. ask a question  (10 seconds)
3. bear testimony (30 seconds)
4. companion bears testimony
5. companion teaches a principle
6. etc.
Very effective. and cool. We're trying to put it in practice. It's
tough, though.

Friday, we acquired a bicycle, and we did a lot of casa, and then
passed by two of our members. It was a long day. We've done a LOT of
casa.

Saturday, we got in three times doing casa, but to people who weren't
interested in us coming back. We also taught Alberto, a new convert,
and dropped Maurizio. not a very cool day.

Sunday, we had a good testimony meeting and sunday school. I liked
when our ward mission leader bore testimony that the members need to
invite people to hear the gospel, and also talked about an experience
we had friday night. I stopped a man on the street, asking him what he
thought happened at death. He then asked me who I was, I explained,
and he yelled at me. I was very proud of myself for remaining
perfectly calm in the face of a man that was rather... angry. We did a
lot of casa that evening, and my companion kinda broke down near the
end. We hadn't gotten in after 3 hours, and he just sat down. We
talked, and then we knocked a few more doors, finding a really cool
contact and some really old people who didn't understand that we
weren't catholic. oh well. Luca is a cool guy.

Monday, we had a good district meeting and then the Zone Leaders,
Anziani Duersch and West did a blitz with us. (a scambio with both of
us in Pesaro). I went with Anziano West and we taught an excellent
lesson to Nerina, our contact from the week before, who commited to
coming to church and reading the book of mormon and praying about it.
Her son, Marco commited to reading the book of mormon, and he
introduced us to his girlfriend. When Valentina, his girlfriend,
showed up, he was super excited. Nerina said "He hasn't seen her in a
week, he's excited", Anziano West and I both said "It's been about a
year for us." I thought that was a funny moment. We then did a bit of
casa and strada and found 7 or 8 new contacts, which was great. That
evening, I cooked some gingersnaps, and was very pleased with them. in
other news, I'm very pleased with my cooking skills. I'm awesome at
cooking now. Though I would very much appreciate a few recipies. Like
for the various cookies mom makes, and maybe like tuna casserole or
something.

Tuesday, Anziano Russo and I went out and worked a lot. I was very
pleased with myself in some of the stuff I did that I would not have
done before. such as, talking to a girl of about my age, and getting
her phone number for another time, walking into a house when it looks
like they're going to let us in anyways. etc. It was a cool day. The
Zone leaders left us with a powerful talk by Gene R. Cook titled
"Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ". It's crazy.

Today, we shopped. and studied. and now I'm down to crunch time on
email. I love you!
Anziano Benjamin Jolley


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