February 27, 2013

Ciao tutti!

This week was amazing!! We set 3 baptism dates and have been having some really cool experiences. To start we are still working with our two baptismal dates, Jamal and Mario and as of now everything seems to be looking good for the baptisms on the 16 of March. We just have to teach them a few more commandments and they should be ready by that day so we are really excited. This week we set another baptism date with Rafeale! We saw that the missionaries had met with him in the past and we called him and he met with us. So for these past 3 weeks we've been meeting with him on and off and for one of our lessons we talked to him only about prayer and why it is so important in his conversion. So this last week he said that he has been praying more and told us that things have been going alot better for him. He's a really sincere guy and I don't know if I've told you all this before but he's blind. What he does is listen to the Book of Mormon on line. So he can't come to church until March and for that we set his baptismal date for April 6! We also set a date with Mauro, his date is not so strong. We gave him the date as a goal and he has the attitude of we'll see if I get an answer by then so I don't know he definitely needs to commit himself more into the work. So right now we have 4 baptismal dates and our district is on FIRE haha but things really are going well for everyone and we all have baptismal dates and it looks like maybe everyone in the district will have a baptism by the end of the transfer so just keep praying we can help these people come closer to Christ though baptism!! Funny story, so about the end of last transfer when I was still with Anziano Webb we met this guy named Dino who is like 80 years old. Well he's more interested to learn English so one day for Lunch he took us to a (Trattoria) family owned restaurant and dropped 40 euro on us haha. Such good food. Anyways we talked to him about our church and he has a hard time believing that God can hear all our prayers and once, like there are so many people. But we explained to him and he still has a hard time believing it. So the other day he calls me again and I answer and he invites us to come to a "banquet" and told us it would be a great way to get our message across. Hahaha so I called president and he gave us the permission to go and we brought another coppia of Anziani. It was fun there was alot of people and we got to explain who we are and what our message is. But unfortunately nothing came of it. But it was fun to see Dino doing some missionary work for us really good guy. This week I had two scambio's and they both went really well both we worked really hard and the missionaries were hard working so I really enjoyed it. I went with Anziano Klemm from Colorado and Anziano Christensen from Spanish Fork. Things have been great in Genova it snowed the other day but when it snows the next day everything is gone. We have also been working alot with the ward. The ward is still going through a tough time with all the things that have happened this last year so just trying to offer service and get them involved in our missionary work. It's good to here that Daniel is finally in Kenya and sounds like things will be going really well for him. I had to laugh when I read the first thing he saw was Zebras!! Haha that's so crazy but anyways things are going well thanks for all the support and love pray for my investigators that they can keep progressing towards baptism! Thanks love you all!

Anziano Thomas

Ben's District:  Anziani- Hansen (Bountiful, Utah), Clem (Colorado), Johnson (Denver, Colorado), Christiansen (Spanish Fork, Utah), Squarcia (Rome, Italy)

8 yr old Tania's Baptism

Anziano Johnson amazed by the jellyfish at the aquarium- pday

February 20, 2013

Ciao!

Ciao tutti! This week went by great! Yesterday we had interview and they went well. We learned a lot especially since the announcement they've talked alot about "the hastening of the work" which is true! It's really cool because here in Italy there's going to be an explosion in the mission with missionaries. Especially with Sisters. We have 146 missionaries in the mission and it's projected that by this summer there will be 250 missionaries!!! Haha so many people but it's exciting I've also heard that there's a chance that they'll split the mission and have two missions in Northern Italy. But that's just people talking we'll see. Anyway this week was super busy we had alot of people to see but we also had to drop a lot of investigators as well just because they weren't willing to commit. But this week we'll find some new people instead. As for our investigators Jamal is doing well we finally got a book of Mormon in Arabic so we will give it to him soon this Thursday. We weren't able to give him a baptismal date this week but we'll try for one tomorrow. Mario we saw the other day and gave him a baptismal date for the 24 of March which is great. The search for our new apartment is still going we are still looking to find something so today we are going to pass by a few agencies we got to find a new apartment by the 31 of March we got about a month until we are out on the street. I just finished the new testament again love reading about the early days of the church. Now I'm starting D&C as well as reading from the Book of Mormon.  But things here are going well not doing much for p'day just relaxing thanks for all the love have a great week!

Anziano Thomas

Goodbye Daniel & Happy Birthday Dad

Ciao!!!!

Wow so much has happened this week and it sounds like so much is happening at home!! This week it's been pretty funny. I've been looking at the calender alot and thinking how Daniel is finally leaving for his mission. Haha I can't believe it! It's so weird like it seems like I was in Bergamo with Anziano Treadway when I found out he was going to Kenya!! I just can't say how happy I am and how weird it was to see the photos of him leaving from the Airport!! I remember being pretty nervous leaving from the Mtc in Utah I can't even imagine going by myself to South Africa!! So weird.. But I'll know he'll do great because one he has such a strong testimony and two I've taught him well ha! Still can't get over it but I know he'll have such great experiences because I know that missions bring these experiences that will last us for eternity. Get them Daniel!!

Also I would like to wish my dad a happy 53rd birthday! He's been a great example in my life and has really prepared us boys to serve missions and taught us great principles that will last us forever. Always say thank you at Del Taco or else.. But hope you have a great birthday and thanks for everything you've done for us!!

Well this will be the last day in the three some haha FINALLY. I loved it though, Anziano Johnson and I have been laughing the whole time and cannot stop it's ridiculous. It was a great experience in the end the whole time we had fun but at the beginning we were thinking this is soo hard theres no way we can do this trio and cover two areas at the same time... Impossible but we did it and did good work! So transfers are tomorrow and I found out that I'm staying another 6 weeks in Genova HOLLA' so I'm really excited for that.

1.) It's winter and is perfect weather

2.) The food here is soo good

3.) We are going to BAPTIZE this transfer

4.) I love the ward

There are many other reasons why I would want to stay longer but I'm glad I'm here. I'll still be companions with Anziano Hansen. And also we will have 8 missionaries in this district which will make district meetings great. Anziano Johnson will go back to his side of the city so I'll still hear from him which is great. So it means I'm here in Genova for another 6 weeks. Also right now my job is to find us a new apartment because ours is super old and gross. But I have to say the apartment in Bergamo was by far much worse. It seriously was a small box we had to live in. And we were in four missionaries there.

In fact cool miracle so about 4 nights ago I planned that we would go knocking on houses but at the same time when people would open there homes we would kinda get a glimpse in the home and could tell if it would be a good place to live. Anyway the place I planned turned out to be terrible haha it was all office buildings and we were super bummed. So I was like alright let's just go do knocking doors by our house and also like yeah let's just let the office figure out where we are going to live. So while we were walking to our home we bumped into a woman and found out she had sold to the missionaries a home a long time ago and for that we started talking and turns out she said yeah I can help you guys find a new apartment so yesterday we went around with her husband looking for apartments. There was one that I liked but we need to find a really good location.

In terms of the work we had a blessing from heaven come down haha. So this member who stayed in Brescia (a city by Bergamo) came back down and was married. In sacrament meeting she introduced us to her husband (jamal) whose from Morocco the wife is from Venezuela. Anyway his mother tounge is Arabic and we taught him the first lesson and he's like when can I get baptized?? Uh... NICE! Super cool miracle I'm not sure though because usually people from Morocco are Muslim and it is sometimes dangerous to teach them because if they convert they're lives are in dangerous so hopefully that's not the case. But Jamal is great and we just need to make sure he understands and not is just doing it for his new wife. But we just ordered a Book of Mormon in Arabo and looking forward to teaching him. The other day we got condemned by a Catholic Nun.. haha she was screaming at us at the bus stop and saying Leave the people alone! And then condemned us. Wow che esperienza! Funny we just smiled and waved at her. The work is picking up I'm a little bummed though because Erminio just got back from Brasil and now his mom is having some heart problems so we can't see him this week. Also when we were in the other area and we did area book and taught this guy named Silvano. We went to his house and we sat down and the first thing he starts doing is (he has true to the faith) and start arguing with us.. We just kinda took it and didn't say anything for about five minutes and he really started getting worked up and starting screaming haha we sat down and literally said nothing. Finally I was like (tranquillo, Silvano, non vogliamo un infarto) calm down, Silvano, we don't want a heart attack here. And then he felt ridiculous because he was getting worked up for nothing. He didn't belong to any church and lived by himself about 60 and was a little crazy and at the end I was like look this is our number and address of our church call us when you don't want to argue and actually want to learn. Fun week to cap off our trio together but it will be nice to just take care of one area. Things are going well here I'm excited to stay here for another transfer thanks for all the support again keep Daniel in your prayer and Happy Birthday Dad!

Vi voglio bene

Anziano Thomas