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