Buon Natale! Merry Christmas!

Ciao Family and Friends
Christmas was great and I really enjoyed getting to skype my family!
A lot has happened these past two weeks. With the work we found this
really cool guy named Alfredo from Ecuador and he is really open to what
we have to say. We have seen him once and we should be seeing him
again this next week after the Christmas holidays. We had a really
spiritual lesson with him where we bore strong testimony that through
Gesù Cristo his sins can be forgiven. He really liked that because
he's felt bad about the things he's done in the past. So we are
excited about him!
These past few days I have never eaten so much in my life! From
Christmas Eve all the way unto tonight we've eaten with members.
Dinner. Lunch. Dinner. Lunch. Dinner. So much good food. Christmas
day we ate with Claudio M. and his mom had 6 courses for us to eat!
Almost all of it was fish. It's a tradition here in Genova and I
think most of Italia to eat Fish for Christmas day. But I loved it
ate some salmon and shrimp which was great! After we went to Bishops
house and I got to skype my family for about 1 hr 30 min. It was
great to see everyone and here how everything is going. After I went
downstairs and hung out with the bishops family and played some soccer
with Alessio the Bishops son which was great!
Christmas Eve I had a really cool experience. We went to the Duomo of
Genova and had midnight mass there. I loved it. I was the first time
I went to Catholic mass here in Italy and it was very interesting.
After I got to shake the had of the Bishop and he saw my name tag and
he just commented on it a little saying "Thomas" and giving me a
thumbs up haha.
Today we went to Savonna for P'day. My comp Anziano Webb started his
mission here and he got to show me around. We went to the church in
Savona and it's really small because it's only a branch but we bumped
into one of the members and they took us out for lunch. After we
walked around centro and it ended up being a nice last day in Italy
for Anziano Webb. Tomorrow we go to Miliano and drop him off and I
get my new comp and we are coming back to Genova. We are going to
have a lot of work to do here in Genova especially because the other
companionship got closed so we are getting all their investigators.
I'm looking forward to having a lot of work and helping a lot of people
out. Things are going great and this Sunday I'm giving a talk to the
ward on my preparation to becoming a missionary. I'm really glad I got
this topic because I'm directing it right at the youth so pray that
everything goes well with that! Missionary work is going well I'm
about to finish The Book of Mormon again and am loving it. Especially
every time I read it I find something new. Right now I'm in Ether when
the brother of Giared crossed the seas. Thanks for all the support I
know that this is God's work and I am so thankful that I am a
missionary of Jesus Christ! Love you all and have a great year!!!!!
Anziano Thomas

Ben at Cinque Terre

Anziani Webb & Thomas

Ben's p-day December 19, 2012 at Cinque Terre

December 11, 2012

Ciao tutti!

This week was good. We taught Erminio again and we might see him again before he goes to Brasil for his 40 day vacation. The lesson went well we taught him the Gosple of Gesu Cristo. It was cool because we were talking with him and he was like, you know what.. I've been thinking lately. When I fly over to Brasil it's going to be a long flight, I was thinking to bring the Book of Mormon along with me. It was great and I talked to him a lot about this time in Brasil will be a great relaxing experience but at the same time he can make it a spiritual experience by praying and reading everyday. It's going to be tuff when he leaves because right now he's our only progressing investigator but we will find new people. As of with the work, it's been a interesting week. We have found a lot of new investigators. But the problem is we teach them once and then after that they don't want to hear anymore from us. As missionaries we have been invited to give the baptismal invite on the first lesson every time and I feel like that's why many of our investigators have dropped us. We give them the bap invite and then they realize what our purpose is and also what the goal is. It's great because it weeds out all those who are just there to "learn about what we believe" and not are serious about really changing. But we will find new investigators and find new progressing investigators as well.

Today started off terrible but then became one of the best p days I've had on my mission. So early in the morning around 8 I had an appointment for my documents so I can stay here in Italy another year. We planned to get the documents done real quick and hop on a train for Cinque Terre. We got down to the Questura and we were one of the first people in line. We got up to the sportello and the woman was like your missing 4 photos of yourself. So we sprinted all the way to the train station took a quick picture and sprinted all the way back to the Questura. Unfortunately it took too long and I ended up missing my train. I was very upset. Anyway we switched our plans and decided to go up to the Genova Forts. It was AMAZING. We climbed up the Genova mountains and got to one of the forts and couldn't get in at first. We searched everywhere and finally found a hole and got inside. It was so beautiful everything. We had a view of all of Genova and went all over the forts it was such a great day. Tonight we have English class and a new convert. This week was great and we are working hard looking for new investigators to bring unto Christ! Hope you all of feeling the Christmas Spirit because I am getting super excited for Christmas! I would like to wish two ragazzacci out there Spencer Murphy and Daniel Thomas a very special Happy Birthday and I hope all your birthday dreams come true ;) Much love to you all

Anziano Thomas

December 5, 2012

Ciao tutti!

Today we went around Genova again. It is such an amazing city so much to see. We went and saw some markets, went into some Italian stores for some clothes shopping and then ate at McDonalds... haha I know but every now and then you got to get a burger. This week went well. We had a new guy come to church named Dritan who we found on a train. He's from Albania we passed him to the other Anziani because Dritan speaks alright Italian but Anziano Mustaferaj is from Albania so it works out better. Also Erminio came to church which was way cool but the bad news is that he will be going to Brasile for a 40 day vacation so I'm really bummed about that, he leaves the 14.. Other than that he's still reading a doing awesome! I was kinda bummed this week some of our new found investigators dropped us. One was because HE was attracted to me.. this is the 4th or 5th time I've had one of my investigators be attracted to me.. all of them men. Awkward situation but this week we'll find some more investigators! Things are going well we are in a hurry this week we are teaching English class at 7 tonight and we usually have 8-10 students.  I really don't teach English it's all conversation and if they mess up I correct them. But thanks for all the prayers, hope all goes well this week for you. Grazie per tutto vi voglio bene!

Anziano Thomas

Beautiful Italy!

Birthday & Christmas Packages from home.
Ben is behind all the packages.

Buongiono!

Hope all went well for you this week! This week went by great. At first we had a rough start especially because we set up some appointments and the fell through but other than that the rest of the week went by great! This last week we had a conference in Genova. Now there are 12 missionaries between the two wards so it was like a mini zone conference. But President Wolfgramm came down and interviewed us all. Every 2-3 months we have interviews. So it went well we also learned a lot from the conference. We especially talked about being bold and simple. I really liked it because these are two things I've been trying to work on these past few weeks. Especially when someone says they're not interested to not give up because what we have is IMPORTANT. Also when we do finding work and we meet someone on the street to be simple. We don't need to overload them with information. President says the spirit testifies of short powerful statements. And it's true. The conference was great and we had alot of fun. After the assistants bring mail from the office and I walked in and there was a mountain of packages and mail from my family. All for birthday and Christmas. So for the 10 minute train home there was 6 missionaries each with a package for me haha. Thanks!

This week we did alot of area book. Area book is a book with all the past investigators that other missionaries taught and the have a outline of all the information about them that is how all the lessons went and what were their concerns. So we did a ton of that it's a different way a finding and I like it alot. We actually found a new investigator from doing this her name is Allessia from Peru. She has a weird story so about 3 years ago she was meeting with missionaries and progressing and all of the sudden they dropped her (stopped seeing her) so I called her and she was more than happy to see us, in fact for about 3 years every so often she has opened up the Book of Mormon and read from it. Two weeks before I called her she had read the Book of Mormon. I still haven't met her yet because I was on a companionship exchange but this Friday we should be seeing her.

Miracle: So we were doing what I call Book of Mormon fishing the other day. I'm a fan. What we do is stand on a busy street and as the people come to us we talk to them. I was getting pretty frustrated because no one was interested. "ho fretto" (I'm in a hurry) my companion could see I was frustrated so he's like alright lets pray that we'll find someone. So we said a quick prayer and I was waiting for someone to talk to and this guy walks by slowly and I'm thinking what is he doing (still a little annoyed) and I say "Salve signore la famiglia è più forte con i principi del vangelo di Gesù Cristo. Per lei perché la famiglia è così importante?" (Hey the family is stronger with the Gosple principles of Gesù Cristo. For you why is the family so important?) he stopped and we started talking and we have an appointment for this Friday! Super cool how the first person I talk to after a prayer we get a return appointment!

We weren't able to see Erminio this week because he was in Alessandria working and wasn't able to make it to church. But last night I called him just to see how he was doing and if he read the Book of Mormon or the pamphlet we gave to him and what was meant to be a how's it going phone call turned into a 45 minute conversation. It was awesome. Erminio was outside of Genova by himself in an apartment and he recited to me from memoria what he had read about the introduction of the Book of Mormon. Then I was like well you need to pray to know if it's true and he's like yeah your right.. But when I pray what do I ask. So I explained to him to get down on his knees and pray in a out loud voice if it's true. So we talked about his work and the gosple he said it's been a tough year and wants to get on with 2013. It was great and after he's like thanks Anziano you guys are like my angels. So cool! I love him. We'll see him this Saturday and give him a baptismal date.

We had Conference this Sunday so we all went to Alessandria. While everyone was waiting for it to start they were playing some clips of the church. All of the sudden I see Mountain Views Seminary on the screen and I was so confused. It was a clip that a seminary class had made from when I was in Seminary. It was about being honest and the kids from our ward were in it like Ally Taylor and Landon Schofield it was so weird being all the way in Italy seeing that clip because I've seen it before. It was super funny. But things are going great right now we are working hard and having fun. I really like my comp Anziano Webb super great missionary and he's finishing his mission this transfer. Thanks for everything have a great week!

Anziano Thomas

Italy's moving crew

Ciao-

This week was great! The beginning was interesting though. From Thursday-Saturday most of our time was helping people move! Thursday an Ecuadorian family asked for help because they were moving back to Ecuador. It was good but in Italy it's super hard to move for people. The family we helped move on Thursday lived on the 6th floor!! Luckily we had an elevator but the things that couldn't fit into the elevator we had to carry down all six floors. It was fun though I liked it a lot. I was a little sad because this family is super cool and because the economy here in Italy good, many of the families who have come from South America have to return because there is no work at all. But I was glad to help! Next day, Friday, the missionaries who live in the other apartment in Genova were switching apartments. So one of the senior couples came down and bought a ton of furniture to put into the new apartment. So we put a lot of the furniture into a small elevator and moved it like that. After for the rest of the day, we put together the furniture. So I was putting together wardrobes, chairs, and other things that the missionaries there would be using. The next day we had to move all the furniture out of the missionaries old apartment. This apartment was about 30 years old and was filled with garbage missionaries had just thrown around for 30 years.. Once again I felt like I was working for Wayne. It wasn't as bad as the cat house though!

Even though we didn't have too much time to do missionary work, we had a few miracles! Before Anziano Ibba was transferred, he set up an appointment with a part member family. I had never met the couple before so we got to their home and got to know them. The wife (sonia) is a member and is from Ecuador and (Erminio) is not a member and is from Sicilia (Sicily). Super cool couple. Sonia has been inactive for a bit but she knows that the church is true. They just got married 8 months ago and came to church about 3 times but I had never got to know them. I love Erminio super tall guy with gray hair 45yrs old. We brought a member and they are getting along great. It was funny, Erminio was like wait so you three (Me, Anziano Webb, and Sonia) were all born in the church. But the member we brought wasn't and he did great Erminio really like them a lot. Their house is amazing too, because it's right on the coast. But Erminio came to church this week and the members were always talking to him. The next lesson we had with him he said he really liked how friendly everyone was. We gave him a "soft baptism invite" meaning, I said Erminio, when you find these things to be true, will you be baptized by someone holding the authority of God? He was like yeah of course! So this week we might be setting a date for him around Christmas we'll see. I'm super excited thought he's such a great guy and has some problems but the gospel will help him for sure! This week has been benissimo! Grazie per tutto e ci sentiamo fra una settimana!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Thomas

Grandpa's Little Pumpkin Boy!

So an explanation about the title of this post...  When Ben was little his Grandpa used to sing him a song called "Grandpa's little pumpkin boy."  When Ben got older he kind of would tease Grandpa about that song.  Grandpa is known for finishing everything on his own plate and then some from others so he would not waste.  Ben has always been a pretty picky eater so after reading this letter Ben has come a long way with eating AND growing up!  Here is this weeks letter:

Ciao family!

Hopefully all is going well this week! This week went by quick. I have to say I have never eaten so much food in my life. Since Anziano Ibba is getting transfered this week we saw alot of members and ate a TON! But this week we got a call from president and Anziano Ibba will be transfered to Torino and I will be getting a new companion from Milano. His name is Anziano Webb and he's from Utah. I haven't seen him in the mission but I know he has one month before he goes home. But not much has changed here in Genova with transfers. We will be getting new missionaries and there will be a total of 12 missionaries in Genova so that will be interesting. We will still remain in 4 in our apartment but there will be sister missionaries opening a companionship in our ward. I will miss Anziano Ibba though I really enjoyed being with him and felt like we worked hard together. We are working alot with new converts and less actives still. This week we saw Ricchi and taught him "the big three" prayer, scriptures, and obedience. It went great he's such a great kid. This week we had to stay inside a day as well because in Genova there was a Flood alert and last year 6 people died from the flood. So we stayed inside and it rained soooo hard!! I felt like I was in Arizona during monsoons season! It just rained hard the whole day and wouldn't stop! But it stopped over night and we were able to go out and do work the next day. But I'm excited for this next week because we should have a zone conference in Alessandria!

The other day I had a scambio with another missionary and we ate at a south american's home. They made us this soup with platene and it looked a little stange but I didn't want to offend the family so I tried it and it wasn't that bad. They gave us a ton though. But as I was finishing I noticed that my comp hadn't eaten anything. He doesn't eat vegetables ever and there were vegetables in the soup. And you could tell the family was getting upset a little because the mom had spent all day cooking. I was full and didn't know what to do so I grabbed his bowl and ate everything. I was sooo hard. I wanted to throw up. But I did it! After I got on my comp a little and told him no matter what you eat everything. He was like what am I in prison? If I don't like it I'm not eating it.. But yeah it was frustrating hopefully he'll figure it out. But it's funny before the mission I was super picky with food but now I can eat anything haha. Things are going well we are still looking for investigators so with this Christmas season coming the miracles will come! Thanks for everything love you all and have a great week!

Anziano Thomas

Ben in Genova- A Happy/Handsome Missionary!

November 7, 2012

Ciao tutti!

These last two weeks have been a little stressful with the work but I'm still enjoying it. As of now we don't have any investigators we are teaching and much of our day is going out and trying to find new investigators. It's been a little stressful because we have been talking to EVERONE but haven't found anyone who has interest in our message. But it's alright because I feel like I'm working hard and enjoying the mission. However the highlight right now is that we are teaching a boy (Riccardo) and a girl (Tania) who are 7 and 8 years old! These two families asked us if we could teach them so they could be prepared for baptism. One family is Riccardo's family, and the other is Tania's family. But I love it because we get to go to their homes for lunch one a week and teach them one of the missionary lessons and we get great Italian food as well. Both families are super fun and love when we come over. First we teach Ricchi or Tania and then eat with the family. I love these two kids though because both of them have such funny personalities.

The other week we had the Halloween party and it was so fun. The members did a great job decorating the chapel and there was also Haunted houses (scary rooms in the church) the members needed my help so they asked if I could go in one of the scary rooms and hide behind the piano and when one of the members would say a key word I would pound on the Piano/organ and every time the kids would scream. The theme of my scary room was La famiglia Dracula. So a member would take the kids on a tour and members would jump out and scare the kids it was great! Also the food was great and they had a wii connect there and the kids were all dancing. At the end all four of us missionaries started dancing and the members went crazy. I really like my companion Anziano Ibba we speak Italian 24/7 but he knows a little English. We are always laughing and joking and it's great to be around him. It's interesting living in our apartment because we have 2 Europeans and 2 Americans it's super fun though Anziano Mustaferaj from Albania is always joking around and makes us all laugh. Things are going well here we just need to find new Investigators. Love you all and have a great week!

Ben

Pictures October 2012

Ahhhhh Italian Food!

Ben in Genova

Genova



Streets of Genvoa

Birthday Boy- 20 years today!

Ciao Tutti-

Thanks for all the Birthday wishes today! It's funny to think I'm 20 years old now. But thanks for all the letters and nice notes I got from you all! GRAZIE! Today will be a nice relaxing day not much to do we'll probably clean the apartment and go walking on the beach and then eat some foccacia. This last week has gone by quick! We've done alot of finding work trying to build our investigator pool right now. It was funny, yesterday we had a whole day of finding and talked to everyone we saw and no one really wanted to learn more and we did this for the whole day. Finally after awhile my companion thought it would be good if we would say a prayer to ask for some help. So we prayed and did some more finding work and no one. But that night we went to institute and there was 2 non members who came! So after it ended we talked to them and got 2 numbers and should be meeting with them sometime this next week! I'm still trying to get used to Genova. It is a huge city. And from what I've heard it sounds a lot like Miami. One because I heard that Miami is a long strip along the coast like Genova and two the majority of people I see outside are 65 years and older. It was funny we were knocking a palazzo and almost every door that opened, it was someone 65 yrs and up! I love it though. Here in Genova we take buses all the time we don't have bikes so a lot of our work is knocking on doors, walking through parks, or walking through Centro (center of the street).

Something funny that happened this week was we had an appointment with a member this week, and so we went over and he opens the door and what do I see? He's wearing a yellow shirt with Sparky on it! ASU! Hahaha it was hilarious and I was so surprised. He got it from some friends in Arizona.

Another great week in Italy! Thanks for all the support and the birthday wishes! Love you all pray this week that we'll find new investigators to baptize!

Anziano Thomas

October 17, 2012

Ciao-

Another good week! This week we found out that our group of three will be split up! President called and told us that we will have a new missionary coming in. His name is Anziano Mustaforia. He's the missionary who was in the group above me at the Mtc and is from Albania. So he'll go with Anziano Ellsworth and I will go with Anziano Ibba. Today the new missionary should be coming so we are looking forward to that!

This Sunday I went to our ward for the first time. It was great! I was expecting a ward really down but it was the opposite. It's great they are all really friendly. We have a lot of South Americans and most of them are from Ecuador. It's funny because in Italy the people from different countries gather in certain cities. Like in Bergamo Bolivians, Genova Ecuadorian's, Milan Peruvians, and Ravenna Nigerians and Ghanese. It's interesting like that. The ward is great though, we had a primary program this Sunday and it was great. There was around 150 people who came to church so it was HUGE.

Also this week we went to Milano and then Alessandria for a zone conference. The zone conference was great! President talked alot about desire and having a vision of who we want to be. He showed us a clip on Chris Paul (NBA basketball player) and Chris Paul's grandpa was murdered when he was in playing basketball when he was in high school. So Chris Paul made a goal for his next game that he would play to score 61 points. One point for every year his grandpa lived. The whole game that's all he was thinking about and towards the end of the game he did it. He even had time to break the state record but took himself out of the game because getting 61 was all he wanted. It was a great clip helping us focusing on our goals! They also talked about with our work to be more Bold, (don't sugar coat) and be direct and simple.

Things still are going well still enjoying being here in Italy and especially Genova because it's not a freezing city like Ravenna. Thanks for everything and the prayers!

Anziano Thomas

New Address

Here is Ben's new address although it is always safest to send mail and packages to the mission home address.

Anziano Thomas
Piazza Alimonda 4/4
Genova (GE) 16129
Italia

Olive Trees

Ben & Anziano Treadway in front of Roman Ruins in Sirmione

New City & New Companions- Genova!

Ciao tutti!

So I'm now in a new city and it is beautiful! Yesterday we walked around for a little bit to see the city! It's a port city and there is a ton of people. We have a lot to see, Christopher Columbus's house is right across the street from our church and the Duomo of Genova is really cool as well. With conference I haven't had a chance to meet the ward but I've met a few members and they are great! The city of Genova is much bigger than Bergamo. We have a bigger apartment and it's a bus city so there will not be any bike problems! The day I arrived I was so tired because we had been on the train for a few hours. We got off and I met my new comps Anziano Ibba and Ellsworth both are really great. First thing we did was I bought a ticket so I could ride the buses here in Genova. We got settled and right after had a lesson at the church. We taught some new converts and less actives. From what I've heard, the ward has been going through a tough time with some recent deaths/suicides. So we just need to be positive with them right now. This Monday we went to Alessandria for a zone meeting. It went well. Right now for the work Genova doesn't have really any investigators so that will be a big goal for us this transfer to find new investigators and get them to baptism. Conference was great! I watched almost all of it in Italian and was glad to hear that Arizona will have another temple! Also it's super cool to hear that the age for going on missions has changed. It will be cool to see the growth in missionaries that serve misisons. Also the talks were great. I really liked the last two talks given by Anziano Holland and President Monson. It was funny because I noticed that they used a lot from preach my gospel. Things are going well here I'm liking it a lot and glad to be in such a beautiful city. Thanks for all the support!

Anziano Thomas

Gaetano's Baptism

Transferred to Genova

Cara Famiglia-

Gaetano got baptized!! This last Saturday we had a really nice service and it went great! Everything went smoothly and Gaetano really enjoyed it! We started off singing Armies of Heleman (Gaetano's request) and had two talks by the father and the primary president. Then Gaetano was baptized! You could definitely feel the spirit. I was so happy that I was able to help The Di Stefano family come closer together and at the same time the gospel! Now they are preparing themselves to be sealed in the temple! Super happy for them! So for this past week I've been saying goodbye to everyone because I am getting transferred to a new city. Genova (Genoa in English) I'm excited to go but it will be hard to leave Bergamo it's gone by so quick I can't believe it. But it will be stange in Genova because in the mission there is an odd number of missionaries and I will be in a group of three? My new companions are Anziano Elthsworth and Anziano Ibba. Anziano Ibba is from Sardegna I've heard so we will be speaking Italian 24/7 I'm excited for that I wanted an Italian comp again. But some good things about Genova I've heard is that there are 2 wards in the city and that it is usually the city that leads the mission in baptisms every month! I've also heard there is a TON of South Americans there so once again I will have another chance to learn more Spanish. It is right on the coast and it has some of the best food in the world. I'm excited although it will be hard to believe that I'll be in my 3rd city already! I've come to love serving here in Bergamo. I was so hard at first though. Especially with the spilt of the wards. We went from working in a huge city, to working in small towns outside of Bergamo. We started with no investigators and it was just a tough time. But we just kept working and learning more about the area in which we were serving and little by little the work started picking up. I feel good about leaving Bergamo I really feel I worked hard and left the city better than how I found it! But now the Lord needs me to work in Genova and I'm excited to get to work in a new area! Also I've really enjoyed be companions with Anziano Treadway we had alot of fun and worked really hard together. It was funny the other day Moreno was telling us he was sad to see us split up because we worked so well together.

Today was great we went to Sirmione. It's a city on Lago di Garda (Garda Lake) it's really cool because we took a bus and right in the middle of the Lake there is a peninsula that goes into the Lake. Super cool place. We saw a castle with a moat, Roman ruins, olive trees, and ate some pizza in the centro. It was one of the coolest p'days I've had so far!

Before I end my weekly update I just want to finish with a quick thought. This last week I shared an article with some members. And it talked about our glasses being half full, or half empty. I talked to the members of having a positive outlook on all things in life because we can make the best of our situation. In Ether 12:4 it talks about having hope in all things. Hope leads to faith. I know that to be true and just want to invite you all is to always look at the glass half full, in any situation. We can learn from every experience we have! Thanks for everything and especially the prayers! Love you all!

Anziano Thomas

Ben's cooking

Parmigiana!  It's like lasgna but instead of pasta it's melanzane (eggplant)

Gaetano's Baptism this Saturday!

Ciao Tutti!

This week went by quick! I think mostly because I was sick Monday. It was funny because one elder in our apartment got sick and then all of the sudden the next day the other 3 of us were sick. It's easy to get sick in our apartment because it is so close and small. So all of Monday I was in bed with a stuffy nose, fever, cough, and a sore body. BUT I was able to go out for an hour to go see Gaetano so he could get a baptismal interview from our district leader. Although I seriously thought I was going to die on the way there. But we taught him about tithing and the word of wisdom and it went well. We did an example to help explain the law of tithing. We went to a store and bought a bag of candy and when we explained tithing we gave him 10 pieces of candy and then read Malachia chapter 3 which says if we pay tithing God will open the windows of heaven enough we will not have enough room to receive it. So we read that and told him tithing is 10% and he gave us one piece of candy and then we dumped the bag into his hands and he didn't have enough room to receive it! It was a great lesson and Gaetano loved it (because he got to keep the candy afterward) but then he had his interview and passed so he's ready! We are all excited for this Saturday! This last Thursday we went to Mestre which took us 3 hours in train and had a conference. It went really well and it was alot of fun. What's nice about conference is that each conference we always get lunch for free so they ordered pizza for us all. It went well we did some role plays when talking about the book of Mormon to someone on the street. This next week will be interesting because I will find out where I'm getting transferred. I'm probably getting transferred because I've been here for about 4 months and been with Anziano Treadway for 2 transfers so next email I will know where my next city is! But I've really come to love the ward and the city so that will be tough to leave.. Today we are probably not going to do much these last pdays it has rained and one of our members told us that today it would rain today. Things are going well we saw Mareno the other day and went to see his brother who has schizophrenia and talked about how God has a plan for all of us. Mareno has said he has stopped smoking a I'm super happy for him. His mom says he definitely seems happier. We've set another date for the 10 of October so we are looking forward to that! Things are going well and I know that the Lord is guiding us to those who are in need. Thanks for all the support and love!

vi voglio bene!

Anziano Thomas

U.S. Pen Pal- Joe

When Joseph (Ben's 10 yr. old brother) found out that there was a 10 yr old Italian boy who was going to be baptized in Ben's area this Saturday, Joe wanted to write to him and tell him how excited he was for him.  Joe wrote the letter in English then had it translated into Italian.  Here is the letter and response from Ben:

 

Caro Gaetano,

Ho sentito dire che si sono sempre battezzati. Questo e incredible! Si tratta di una grande esperienza per essere un membro della Chiesa di Gesu Cristo dei Santi degli Untimi Giorni. Ho sentito che hai incontrato io fratello Ben. Ho 10 anni, mi chiamo Joe, e vivo a Mesa, Arizona, Stati Uniti. Non vedo l'ora di sentire ome va. Ma a me piace mettere a nudo la mia testimonianza so questa chiesa e vero, e so che tutti andranno in cielo e dico queste cose nel nome di Gesu Cristo, Amen. Spero che tu write back!

II tuo amico,

Joe Thomas

 

Ciao Giuseppe Tomaso,

Come stai? Tutto bene? Adesso qui in Italia sto bene. Abbiamo una data di battesimale per il 29 di settembre e siamo molto emozionati per Gaetano. Lui è un ragazzino molto bravo ed anche divertente. Penso che questa settimana qui a Bergamo sarà il mio ultimo a Bergamo. Però la prossima mercoledì io ti dirò dove andrò per la prossima città. Come sta la tua braccio? Spero che senti meglio più presto! Ma Giuseppe sono grato per l'email e spero di ricevere più! Tu sei bravo. Non ti dimentichi, tu poui fare qualsiasi cosa! Grazie a mille per tutto a Bocca a lupo per baseball e basketball!

Ti voglio bene

Anziano Thomas

 Translation below:

Hello Joseph Thomas,
How are you? all right? Now here in Italy I'm fine. We have a baptismal date for September 29 and we are very excited about Gaetano. He's a very good kid and fun. I think this week here in Bergamo in Bergamo will be my last. But the next Wednesday I'll tell you where I'm going to the next city. How is your arm? I hope you feel better soon! But Joseph is grateful for the email and hope to get more! You are good. Do not forget, you can rank do anything! Thank you so much for everything Mouth luck for baseball and basketball!
I love you
Elder Thomas

Ben's brother- Daniel opening his Mission Call!

Daniel is going to the Keyna Nairobi Mission
He reports Feb. 7th!

La mia Famiglia-

Today I just found out that my brother Daniel is going to KENYA! I cannot believe it, Africa did not even pass my mind.. I'm so happy for Daniel. This week I've been praying that where ever he gets called to he will love it and know that it's where the Lord needs him! I have to laugh though. We will have such completely different experiences! I'm so excited for his experiences that he will have.. it still hasn't hit me but something I do know is that he will GROW and learn so much and that is a HUGE blessing! Haha I still can't believe it!

Well these last two weeks have been great! Especially with the work! Right now we have 2 baptisms scheduled for the 29 of Settembre! But as of now it's looking that it will only be one. Our baptismals dates are Mareno and Gaetano! We will probably have to postpone Marneo for a few weeks later just to make sure he's 100% ready! I'm a little bummed because I know that I'll probably be getting transferred before I see him baptized but all that matters is that he's getting baptized right? I love Mareno such a character with a strong desire to follow the Lord also something cool is that he has family that lives in our area and I believe he will be a great source for referrals! Our other baptismal date is Gaetano Heleman Di Stefano. He is a 10 year old boy whose family is from Sicilia. Super great family probably my favorite family in the ward. When I got into Bergamo I found out that Gaetano was not baptized just because his family had not been active for several years. But this last year his family is now active and strong and his father just received the Melchizedek priesthood. We've eaten at their house twice in these last two weeks and I've had some really good Siciliano food! I love their family though the Francesco (the dad) works for the Italian Army and both him and the wife talk super fast haha I love it! But right now with them we are teaching Gaetano the gospel principles because he didn't grow up and have a strong knowledge of our church! He's super cool though the first time we saw him he asked a ton of questions about what missionaries do and is really interested in serving a mission!

But those are our 2 baptismal dates. Our other investigators are doing well still working with Natacha and Fausto just trying to get them to understand that this is the TRUE church and has the AUTHORITY. They're great though. In fact this last week we had a cool experience. We were in Dalmine and we where going through the park. We saw this massive man riding on a bike and just totally biff it. He got up real quick and looked around to make sure nobody saw him. (We acted like we didn't see it) So we walk over and this guy is 6'4 320 lbs from Romania. We told him that there was a purpose in life and talked to him a little about God. He started crying and just told us that he's just lost his job and misses his brother who is living in the US. It was incredible because the day before that he told his wife, <<this week will be the week that I change my life>> and so we show up. Super awesome guy his name is Adreano and we had a lesson with him yesterday with a member and was one of the best lessons that we've had! The member was great I was a little hesitant to use him but was solid! So we will see him this Saturday! This week has been great lots of things going on today is raining and P'day last week was funny. We went to Lecco and and soon as we got off the train it was pouring! So we just went back to Bergamo and played calcetto and P'pong! Things are going great I still can't believe Daniel is going to Africa and know it's where he's supposed to be! Thanks for all the support I'm loving my mission and enjoying the experiences I'm having everyday! Love you all Vi voglio bene

Anziano Thomas!

Lecco

Catholic Church in Lecco

Ben, Destiny, Anziano Treadway

Destiny in his African suit

Citta Alta- Bergamo

The scorpion on Ben's wall.  He killed it!  Ben was stung when he was little, he had a bad reaction and spent hours in the emergency room convulsing.  He knows how to take care of scorpions now.

Investigators at Church and Scorpions

Ciao tutti!

This week was great! Especially this Sunday! These past few weeks we haven't really had anyone come to church and really this week we've been praying for them to come. So on Sunday when we get there, first hour of church no one is there. But we know for sure our investigator Mareno was coming he was just a little late. So I'm sitting in priesthood meeting and someone knocks on the door and it's Natacha!! I couldn't believe it she even brought her daughter Kait with her. So we ran out showed Kait where Primary was and then took Natacha upstairs for Relief society. After we were waiting awhile again and we were still waiting for Mareno. So I walk outside and in the distance I see this African in an African suit walking and I think, "that's not Mareno, where's Mareno!" So this African gets closer and I realize that it's Destiny! It was hilarious I couldn't believe it! We only taught this guy twice and he told us "by God's grace he would come to church" which means maybe probably not. So I took him into class and as soon as he walks into class he says "Gooooood morning everyone!" Hahaha and everyone in the class spoke Italian! And then finally Mareno came! It was amazing everyone in church had a great experience! Oh and by the way we had a lesson with Mareno and he has a baptismal date for Sept. 29!!! And he keeps asking about it he wants to get ready!! So we are super happy for that he's a miracle and really a great guy about 37 years old, born in Lombardia, right now he lives with his mom because he had an incident 10 years ago where he got into an accident and now is in "retirement" because he physically can't work but really nothing is wrong with him he's completely normal! Work is going great! Last P'day we went to città alta again and went to the top and checked everything out it was great and we had alot of fun. We went into alot of Catholic Churches up there and got to see all of Bergamo super beautiful. This week I also did a scambio in Brescia and had a funny experience. We were doing finding work and we bumped into this Family from Peru and I start talking to them in Italian and they're like "uhh.. we don't speak Italian only Spanish and I was like oh.. va bene. So I started speaking Spanish. Except it wasn't. I just put the letter s at the end of every Italian word. But it doesn't work like that hahah. It was terrible but the family appreciated it and after me and the elder in Brescia just busted up laughing! Other news, this week I made pigs in a blanket! Very Italian I know but I made it with my own bread I made and it turned out pretty good!

Also this week I saw something I haven't seen in a very, very long time. A Scorpione!! I walked into my room and saw it on the wall. So since everyone from my apartment was from Washington, California, and Utah. I had to kill it because I was from Arizona. It was funny. I dropped it on our electric racket we have for killing mosquitoes. This week was great today we are going to Lecco. A city on the Como Lake. Anziano Treadway served there so he's going to show us around! Things are going great loving the work and really appreciate all the prayers. This week pray for Mareno, Natacha, and Fausto as well as pray that we find new investigators! Thanks for everything and all the support! Vi voglio Bene! Grazie a mille!

Anziano Thomas

Daniel's Mission Predictions

Daniel (Ben's brother) has sent in his mission papers and we are waiting to hear where he goes!  We are now writing down all the predictions.  Ben & Dan are only 13 months apart.  Since birth they have shared the same room.  With missions overlapping they will not see each other for approximately 3 years and 2 months.  Here is Ben's prediction:

I say Daniel goes to France. State side I say he goes Florida.
** If you have a prediction for Daniel please email Kimberly at Runningmom1052@yahoo.com

Anziani Thomas & Treadway

August 29, 2012

Ciao tutti!

It was another good week here in Bergamo still loving it! Last P'day was great we went to Brescia because it was the last week of transfers and we knew that there would be some changes so 6 of us missionaries got together. I ate the best pizza I've had so far in Italy it's called "O sole Mio" (oh my sun) it was super good. After we went to Stelio (an Italian clothing store) and I bought 12 stelio ties. It was a fun p'day! So this last week we had transfers one Elder from our apartment went to Udine and now we have a new elder named Anziano May from Seattle Washington super good missionary! We have a really fun district. This Sunday was great because we had our investigators Paul and Richard come to church! We had translating equipment for them since Paul speaks a little Italian while Richard is almost none. So we translate for Sacrament. It was great to have them in church! What was cool about this week was we found this new guy named Mareno! Super cool how we found him. So when we do nightly planning we schedule what we will do for every hour of the day and when we schedule finding work we try to picture what kind of person we want to see. For example, one day we could plan to try and find a South American woman with a daughter. Well that night we planned to see an Italian man with Sunglasses and a button up shirt. That day we had to take a train way out to a cittadino called Roman di Lombardia and we started doing finding work and bump into this guy whose wearing sunglasses with a button up shirt and it was Mareno! He's super cool yesterday we took him to the church and walked around and he had a ton of questions and was very interested. It was great! Miracle! So it's been great we've been meeting aton of new people they're just popping up everywhere. Also we had another good lesson with Fausto (the one whose already read 80 pages of the Book of Mormon) we brought a member and talked about the plan of Salvation! Yesterday we had lunch with the Bello Family and it was great we talked about our favorite Book of Mormon character and talked about how we can apply them to our lives! 1 Nephi 19:23. It went great their family is hilarious Fratello Bello really wants to learn English so he kept trying to practice with us! Things are going great loving life right now! Today since Anziano Treadway and May has not been to Città Alta we will probably go today! Thanks for all the prayers!

Anziano Thomas

Some Silly Pics

Anziani Pectol (from Utah), Hess (from South Cal) , & Treadway- Ben's roommates

Pday Ping Pong

This is for Emmy

This is for Hailey - Go Toros!

This is for Daniel & Joe

August 22, 2012

Cara Famiglia!

It has been another great week in the great city of Bergamo! This week we are having transfers and nothing is changing between me and Anziano Treadway we will be together for another 6 weeks and I am grateful for that we have so much fun together I love it! But with the other coppia that lives with us Anziano Hess is leaving and going to Udine and Anziano Pectol is staying here and getting a new companion so we are excited for the changes tomorrow! This Sunday was great! I gave a talk and the theme was "being born of goodly parents" and I was a little nervous because the first two speakers went really quick so I had 30 minutes for fill since I was the last speaker. But lucky for me, the stake president was there and was able to talk for 10 minutes. But I thought I did well and the members came up and told me that they liked it. After we went to the Guidetti couples home for lunch. The Guidetti's are the funniest people you will ever meet. Just immagine that grumpy guy from the movie up and that's Fratello Guidetti and his wife Jolanda is funny as well. They are both 72 years old. It was awkward though. They invited a relative over and Fratello Guidetti started going into some deep doctorine, like how we do baptisms for the dead and temple marriges. But Sorelle Guidetti made some of the best pasta I've had so far! After we got home and rested for a bit and picked up this 18 year old Bolivian named Daniel and took him to church with his ward. Daniel was baptized in Bolivia but when he got here he was just inactive because he didn't know the language. One day he was looking out his appartment window and he saw two mormon missionaries go by in his appartment complex and he couldn't believe it. So since then we've been friendly with him and we invited him to come to church at 4 this Sunday! He came and loved it because everyone is the city of Bergamo who are members are all Bolivians so he could understand them! The members were great and greeted him so hopefully he gets active!

Right now the nights here in Bergamo are soo humid I woke up and was just drenched in sweat! But about the work we have this new investigator that we met the other day and when we rang his house and he let us in and we briefly explained the Book of Mormon and the Restauration of the church. Four days later when we came back to Fausto's home and he had read 80 pages of the Book of Mormon!! We talked a little bit about what he read and taught him how to pray if it is true. He is a very interesting guy. He's Italian, married to a Nigerian woman and reads all the time. We are bringing a returned missionary to our next appointment so we are looking forward to that! Pray for us! Today we are going to Brescia and going TIE SHOPPING! We are going there and then checking out the castle as well! Things are great here loving missionary life and my comp. and I are having fun everyday! Thanks for the support love you all!

Anziano Thomas

Ben's foot after being operated for his ingrown toenail

Anziano Treadway & Anziano Thomas serving in Bergamo

Ben made lasgana from scratch- yea!!!

Ingrown Toenail & teaching the Restoration

Famiglia!

This week was interesting. We had to go to Milano twice for my toe. I had an ingrown toenail and they had to remove it. So yesterday I went to Dr. Frielich an American doctor from Chicago and he numbed my foot and I got to watch him do a little surgery on my foot! It was great because I watched the whole thing and there was soo much blood but it was fine because I didn't feel anything. So these next few days I'm going to be doing missionary work in Sandals and socks to give my toe a break! Right now it's a little sore but I'm glad I got it taken care of because every time I bumped it against something it was the worst. It was funny also because we did get to Milano a little early so I got to pass by the duomo and we got to get pizza at a sit down restaurant!! It was so good and was pretty cheap. This week I made my first lasagna from scratch and it turned out great! I'm making it again this week so I can perfect it and I'm going to try to make the ragu more sweet! With the work things are continuing to pick up! We taught Natacha the Gosple of Gesù Cristo and it went great! The only problem is she will be leaving to France for two weeks but that's alright she's super excited to meet with us and appreciates everything that we do. I love her she is hilarious and her family is great! We are teaching a few guys for Ghana- Richard, Kingsley, Fouston, and Kent. We taught them the Restoration and right after Richard walked us down stairs and pulled out about 40£ and was like I've been going through a tough time take this money and pray for me. And immediatly we pulled our hands back and we like whoooaah.. Richard look we love doing this, our payment is the change we see in the lives of others. He really loved that. We are teaching them and have given 2 of the 4 dates for Sept. 15 but we'll see how serious they are about wanting to change! Another funny thing that happened this week was I had my first "bible bash". But really it was just some guy trying to attack our doctrine. He was a pastor for a Evangelical church and was from Ghana. We told him about the Restoration and he just went off. He used Rev. where it says there shall not be anything book written after this. But we were able to defend everything and we were not even attacking his church. After it was funny because I felt great because for some strange reason it strengthened my testimony that this was the true church! Missionary work is great! Grazie per il sostegno! Sono grato per l'oppertunità di essere un missionario della chiesa vera qui sulla terra! Continuate di pregare per me!

Vi voglio Bene! Forza Italia!!

Anziano Thomas

Anziano Parker

Anziano Parker just returned from the Milan Mission.  He was Ben's zone leader and went on scambios (exchanges) with Ben.  He is from Mesa and Hailey and I got to meet him and attend his missionary homecoming.  He is a wonderful missionary and had such sweet things to say about Ben!

Ben at a Zone Conference (I think) he is 5th from the left

Tough Times

Cara famiglia,

This week has been bitter sweet. I have to say the start of the week was tough. As you all know our baptism date with Carolina, it was tough but she dropped us. The problem she had was her mother in law who studies with Johova's witness had convinced her that she is waisting our time. Also she stopped having the desire to know for herself if these things were true. It was tough but in the end it comes down to everyone has the freedom to choose and she chose not to find out. We were disappointed and also it was tough because Rogelio dropped us as well because in the end he as well didn't want to change.

So the day after Carolina dropped us we had an appointment with Natacha. Natacha is a mother from the Ivory Coast (so she speaks French but has been in Italy for 10 years so she also speaks Italian) that we met through casa. Super great woman and has a family of six! This was our second lesson and we taught her Il piano di Salvezza (The plan of salvation) it went great and before she had read everything we asked her too. We gave her a baptismal date for the 25 of August and at first she was like noooo wayy that is way to early. We explained look, we are glad you know that this is a big decision but this date will be goal for you to prepare yourself for this date! We told her if we feel she is not ready we will not baptize her. It just clicked for her and she accepted the baptismal invite!!! We were so excited because before this week we were down that our other investigators dropped us! Right after she gave the closing prayer and it was perfect! She then told us how when we pray she gets goosebumps and we explained that it's the Holy Ghost confirming that what we are saying is true. She told us next time we come, she will have her whole family come listen to us because this Sunday she's making her family come!! It was funny also because right after we walked outside Carolina passed us in her car. I thought it was ironic how yesterday she passed up the blessings she could have and the day after we give a baptismal date to someone who really wants to know the truth!! We're super excited here in Bergamo, now in my area we are focusing on 2 cities Dalmine and Ponte San Pietro. I love Ponte San Pietro. It reminds me alot of Ravenna being small and lots of the people that are friendly and will hear us out. This Thursday we went to Verona, still beautiful, for zone conference. We got some great instruction on how to find more investigators. Presidente Wolfgramm has changed our approach from instead of walking up to someone and introducing ourselves, "Salve, sono Anziano Thomas della chiesa di Gesù Cristo ed abbiamo un messagio in marito lui". We don't intruduce ourselves anymore we just walk up to someone and give a "power statement" meaning I'll walk up and say "Salve, Abbiamo la famiglia per la felicità," then follow up with a question, "per lei, perché la famiglia rende la felicità?" We call in "awkward finding" because it just feels strange to not introduce yourself and walk up and say something like "In this life we have many obstacles, how do you overcome these obstacles?" Presidente Wolfgramm explained it like this, when we introduce ourselves the spirit doesn't testify of who were are, but when we give an eternal truth the spirit is able to work in that way. It was a good conference I really enjoyed it and also learned alot I can apply into my work.

Tomorrow I will probably go to Milano to get my toe worked on. I have an ingrown toe nail and it kills. I will go to an American doctor in Milano and he will cut a piece on my toe nail off so I'm looking forward to that! haha. This week has gone by great, I got some great Gelato as well as some pizzas. Anziano Treadway and I are getting along great he's hilarious and love working with him. He as well played baseball in high school. Today I'm going to play a little ping pong and then we'll play basketball with a Sud Americano member and so looking forward to basketball for the first time in 6 months! Next p'day we're planning to go to Cremona, I've heard that it's beautiful and also has the world's oldest violin!! Yeah!! No but things are going great loving every moment. I was thinking how lucky I am to be in Italy this morning, p'day moring we take a culture run. And every p'day I go running up città alta. Reminds me of toro hill haha but we run up it and explore a little bit every morning of città alta. So old and beautiful also I love it because no one is out that early in the morning. Anziano Treadway and I go running every morning and the rest of the day I feel great! Thanks everyone for the support again loving life here in Italy and love being a missionary. Grazie a mille!

Anziano Thomas

Ben's area just outside of Bergamo

African food

African cooks Destiny & Daniel

Crazy African Party!

San Pietro where Ben works everyday

San Pietro duomo

July 18, 2012

Ciao tutti!

This week has been great! I got a new companion because my other companion has been here in Bergamo for about 4 months and it was time for him to go, but my new companion is Anziano Treadway who is from Sacramento, California. His dad is a stake president there and Anziano Treadway is a super great missionary and is hilarious! This week was great because we had an "African Party!" Which was all the members/investigators who were members all came to the GANS center and we had two new African members make us all food! I have to say African food is spicey. We had this wheat mixed with water and it was like bread dough then a soup we would dip it in. The texture was super wierd and it tasted awful but I can gladly say I ate all of it!! It was a great turn out and we brought our less active african and he really had a great time! Work here has been picking up, we are finding new investigators everyday in Ponte San Pietro! This Sunday was pretty funny we had a lunch appointment with the Guidetti couple who are both about 72 years old. The husband was hilarious he was such a grump while his wife was making pasta he yells "Jolanda are you going to make any good pasta today?" (all irritated) then his wife says "when have I not made good pasta??" and he just mumbles angrily. After there was flies in the house so he goes and grabs his flyswater and smacks it right on the plate of bread. Everything goes flying everywhere! It was crazy. But I ate way to much and I felt so sick for the rest of the day but it was worth it because the food was sooo good! This last week we met in ward council and they know it's been hard for us these last few months with all the new changes so they are really getting everyone excited about missionary work! Tomorrow we are going to Verona again for another zone meeting. Things here are going great and my new companion Anziano Treadway is great everyday is hilarious! Well thanks for everything I love Italy, the people, and my mission! Thanks for all the prayers I know God answers them!

Anziano Thomas