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