Firenze by night

Ben in front of the rolling hills of Toscano

Ben wrote to Daniel and said "remember on the James Bond video game
we used to play the Siena level?  haha I was there!"

Duoma in Siena



Siena a super old city

Siena

In medieval times Siena was known for their banks.  This is one of the
oldest running banks in the world.

Modena, Firenze, and Siena

Ciao Tutti!

This week went by quick!  The beginning of the week we had to go to Modena a city known for Ferrari's, Lamborghini's and nice cars.  We had to go to Modena because there was a new missionary training meeting there for all the new missionaries.  It started on Friday so on Thursday night we had to head over and sleep the night in Firenze (Florence) it was pretty cool because we got into Firenze a little early and so we just walked around and checked it out during the night.  Such a beautiful city!  We slept the night there on the floor... haha it was fun and early in the morning we took off to go to Modena.  The conference went well we went over a lot but it was good. 

We are still doing a lot of finding work and the other day we had a miracle!  We set a baptismal date!!  With a guy named Claudio really cool so right now we are working with him.  It was really cool because Anziano Larson got to set his first baptismal date and he was really excited when he accepted!  Haha it was fun.  Monday we had district meeting and I did a scambio in Pisa, it was really cool doing work in Pisa at one point we passed the leaning tower but I had a good time there.  We teach English class in Livorno and we had about 35 students we teach advanced so we just make conversations but unfortunately the power in the church wasn't working.  In fact for about a week it hasn't been working.. because our check didn't get transferred or something this Sunday was interesting but everything went well.  Today was really cool we went to Siena and I loved it super old medieval city.  Things are going well still looking for investigators so keep praying for us love you all!

Anziano Thomas

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.  This is in Ben's area.

The leaning tower!

La Torre di Pisa

Beautiful buildings in Italy

Ben at the top of the leaning tower

The top of the tower

The Pope

The city of Lucca

Livorno, Florence, Pisa!

Ciao!

So this week went by really fast.  To start this last Thursday we went down to Firenze (Florence) for a zone meeting.  It was really cool because we got there a little early and we just stopped by real quick by the duomo and it was HUGE.  Then we ran down to the church.  It's funny because right now all of Toscana (Tuscany) is a district but there has been some talks of it becoming a stake within 6 months so that's really exciting for us!  Also this last week we helped with Spanish class haha  a woman in the branch who's from Honduras has started it up again and asked for the missionaries to come so I learned a little Spanish.  Right now with the work it's still going slow we are talking to alot of people just looking for someone to consistently teach.  A cool miracle we had this last Monday was we were riding to doing finding work in a certain area and we get a call that the power in the church was out.  So we turn around because we had keys for the church so we had the doors opened , waiting for the member to come and these two woman walk up and kinda look in so we greet them and start talking.  They say they pass the church every so often but it's always closed so we go with them and give them a tour and then taught them the restauration.  It was really cool they were really impressed we gave them a book of Mormon in Italian and invited them to read it they said they could come Sunday!  Also we've been trying to get to know members better.  Trying to see at least 3-4 a week so they know who we are.  We saw some members this last week and all of them are great.  Sunday I had a talk and I talked to the branch about Unity referring to president Uctdorf's talk "Lift Where you Stand"  basically it talks about working where you are and magnifying your calling.  I talked about how the church can't move forward if everyone doesn't work together and do there part I thought it went well.  I had alot of time to prepare for it because the new missionaries had to go to residency permits.  Things are going good we are doing ALOT of finding work and just trying to find new investigators so pray that we'll find some new people this week to start teaching!  Today we went to Pisa and Lucca both cool cites.  Love you all!

Anziano Thomas

Roberto's Baptism Day

Roberto

When Ben first went to his new apartment the missionaries had 2 baby pigeons that they
had left there on the balcony.

One of Ben's favorite families Pipo!

Ben said goodbye to Tirso.   This is where he works for one of the coach's of Jueventus (soccer team)

Goodbye to Torino

Ciao!!

Wow so much has happened this week.  Well to begin with, Roberto got baptized!!!  It was an amazing experience to get in the font and baptize him!  The baptism service went great and my favorite part was when Roberto bore his testimony at the end.  It was really powerful how he talked about all that he went through to get to that point.  The baptism itself went well also.  We did a few practices to make sure there would be no problems and at first I was a little nervous, (he's a grown man pretty heavy) but all my morning workouts payed off!!  

Also this last week it was weird leaving Torino I've been there for about 6 months and it was nice to say goodbye to all the people I've met.  Also I was bummed that I left Anziano Colemere he was another great companion that I've had.  

Anyway that Thursday was transfers so I needed to be in Milano before 9 because I was training.  So President Dibb talked for awhile and then, we got to meet our new comps!!  What we did was we would go up there, say something about the city where we are and then the assistants would give us the name of the new companion and they would run up to you and give you a hug haha.  So I went up there said a little bit about Livorno (I don't know much) and my new companion is.. Anziano Larson from Provo, Utah!!  Haha.  Just a little bit about him, he's a dancer and he likes latin music so that's great!  So after that we left to go to Livorno.  So the missionaries that live in the apartment are Anziano Olsen (Kansas city) his trainee Anziano Scott (Logan, Utah 18yrs old) and my comp Anziano Larson.  So we took a Freccia-rossa (red arrow) it's one of the fastest trains in Italy because it would take forever to get there from Milano.  One of the coolest things was when we started going through the rolling Tuscan hills hahahaha finally!!!  We got settled in and right after we did a little bit of finding work.  Livorno is an interesting city.  It's old but it was carpet bombed in WW2 and a lot has been redone but it's still old.  The end of last week was spent doing finding work and getting to know the area and members as soon as possible.  I called the Branch president, elders quorum president, and a few other members just to introduce myself.  Also one of the first things we had to do was buy a bike.  So we went to a few different bike stores and all of them had just new bikes or terrible used bikes.  So we walked around searching for places and finally we found two new bikes!  They're two nice bikes so I'm glad.  The Monday was also cool because we went to Pisa!!! For district meeting it will be cool because I think I'll be doing a scambio there as well.  I haven't see the leaning tower of Pisa yet but soon we'll see it!  Today was pretty normal but pray that there will be people ready here in Livorno to here the gospel We need to find people but hope all is well Love you all!

Roberto will be getting baptized!



Anziano Grimaldi from Sicily and Ben as the "showmen" for the "Serata Musicale"

Transfers - LIVORNO!

Ciao Tutti!!

This last week a lot has happened and today is really exciting!!  This last week we had a "Serata Musicale"  which was a night where all the missionaries from the mission came into Torino and what happened was they all sang, played the piano, or anything musical and showed off there talents.  I didn't end up singing but the sister's who coordinated everything asked me and Anziano Grimaldi (from Sicily) to be the "showmen" haha we just announced who was going up next, what they were singing.  It was a good night and we had a lot of fun!  The next day I had a scambio (companion exchange) with other Anziani of Torino 2.  I ended up going with Anziano Betchi who is from Canada but came from Cameroon Africa after he was born.  It was a really fun scambio his first language is French and where he's from in Canada they speak only French so it was interesting to hear his story.  Then later in the week the Anziani from Cuneo came because one of the missionaries needed to email Roberto for the baptism!  What ended up happening was we got there I went into another room and he got interviewed and passed!!!  So today he will be baptized and he asked me to baptize him so tonight hopefully all goes well..  he's really excited and knows that this is a big step in his life.  This last Monday I got a call from president and he told me that I'm getting transferred!  He told me that I was leaving from Torino and that I've been hereby called to serve in LIVORNO!!  I'm really excited because I've wanted to serve there since I've gotten into the mission.  Just because one it's in Tuscany and it's another port city like Genova.  Another thing he told me was I will be opening the companionship with new missionary whose just coming from the MTC so I'm looking forward to that.  There's two other missionaries there right now so it will be a good experience.  Tomorrow I will go to Milano to pick up my new comp and then we will go together to Livorno!  I will miss Torino a lot though I've learned a lot here and am sad to say goodbye to the people but am looking forward to this next step in the mission!  Things are going good hope all is well at home love you all!

Anziano Thomas

Ben in Switzerland!

The Matterhorn

Ben took a funivia to get to the top of the mountain by the Matterhorn

Everyone was skiing at the top.

More Alps

Skiiers 

The ski resort, it was freezing at the top.

August 28, 2013

Ciao tutti!

Hope all went well this week!  This week went really good for us.  In fact we set two new baptism dates with a cool couple both from Nigeria.  His name is Charles and he met the church through his friend but he lived in another city.  His friend told Charles to join his church but Charles said "Sorry I can't go all the way to your city to go to church it's too far" but his friend said don't worry there's a church in Torino so that's how we got to meet him.  He's a really cool guy.  I didn't get to set the baptismal date with him though because I was on an exchange but I met him two days ago and he seems really cool.  Funny thing that happened during the lesson was it started pouring down super hard and it was late at night.  So we finished the lesson and it was pouring still!  The worse part was we were 40 minutes away from our house and it was getting late so we just went.  The rain was FREEZING especially because two days before that it hailed...in August haha.  So we went through huge puddles,  and freezing weather but we got home alright!  It was fun we just laughed the whole way.  Also this last week we did a scambio with the assistants.  It was fun we had an appointment with Roberto and it talked about the plan of salvation we are still working towards the 4th of the September but he's having a few problems with the people he's living with so I'm not sure if he'll be able to make it.  But we are hoping that everything goes well.  Then after we found a few people so it was really good.  Today we went to the Matterhorn and it was beautiful we loved it.  We hiked a ton.  Things are going good hope you all have a good week!  

Anziano Thomas