March 27, 2013

Ciao!

Wow this last week was crazy! My first week in Torino and things are going really well. Torino is VERY different from Genova but I love it the same. Big difference is in Genova the streets are super tight and small and there's no room to move but here in Torino it seems almost American because the streets are more structured like a grid. But other news we are constantly teaching people non stop it's so weird. Last transfer they baptized 4 people and this transfer we already have a few people who can be baptized. Really cool how things are going right now. My new companion is Anziano Pitt he's from Farmington, Utah but lived in San Diego as well. He has about 3 months left before he finishes the mission. Really fun missionary we are having a lot of fun. We have 2 really cool investigators one is Daniele who wanted to be a Catholic priest when he was younger but was a member referral and should be baptized before the end of April and Giorgio who was a referral from the United States he just has to clear some things up with his family situation and everything will be good for him he really wants to be baptized a really great guy. In Genova the way we would get around would be through buses but now here in Torino we have bikes!!!!! It's been 6 months since I've been on a bike... I don't know what it's called but I'm sure my parents do but my seat is really hard and now it's super sensitive when I get on because I guess I don't have butt callus yet? Haha but things are starting to go well with that situation. Church was great this last Sunday the only problem was it was raining and we were going to take the bus but there was a bus strike!! So we had to walk about 45 minutes to the church. There are 3 wards in Torino and in our ward 135 members came this week which was really cool it's huge and I'm trying really hard to get to know all their names as fast as possible. But I got to introduce myself in Sacrament meeting I told them where I was from, what cities I've serve in, and my testimony. Also I gave a few blessings of comfort this week, it was really cool how the words flowed right out of my mouth. Priesthood! This week I saw the movie 17 miracles for the first time, after we planned we watched it right before we were about to go to bed. It made me really thankful for the pioneers and their sacrifices for us- really made me thankful to be doing the Lord's work! I just wanted to share with you my favorite talk from conference and I would suggest you all read it, really good. "Lift where you stand" Dieter F. Uchtdorf amazing talk I think this will be something I would like to shard with other missionaries in our area I love it just do your best where you are. You can apply this talk in so many different ways. Things are going well it's pretty cold but I think after Easter things will start to heat up but thanks for all the love, love you all!

Anziano Thomas

Ben's city- Genova!

Ben at Christopher Columbus' house

Clemente loves his new Book of Mormon.  Clemente is in Ben's English class.

Ben and Rafaele  (an investigator) after eating at "Da Maria!"

Alessio's baptism.  Ben got to teach him a few times.  His father is not a member but Ben says they are a really cool family.

Flor, Marco and Ben.  Some of Ben's favorite investigators

Ben eats here a lot.  He says it is soooo good they love the focaccia.

Ben's 4th Transfer

Sorry I don't have a lot of time this week, I'm packing because I am now serving in TORINO!!!! Emmy got the prediction right, you all owe her a pizza haha.  but this last week has been really cool I've said goodbye to so many people that I've gotten to know here in Genova and i am a little sad that I'm leaving but know that the work will go forward! Things are going good right now it's raining though. Maybe we'll play soccer in the rain I'm not sure but we'll see. My new companion will be Anziano Pitt from Utah I think, so I'm excited for this new experience. Tomorrow I'm waking up early and taking all my luggage down to Milano and from there I'll to Torino!! Sounds like everyone is doing good pray that I'll have a first good impression of Torino haha love you all sorry this is so short but there is lots to do love you all!

Hospital Visit

Dear famiglia-

Haha wierd week. So this week on Thursday and Friday I had two consecutive scambios and I did work in the other Genova Anziani area. It went well I did a scambio with Anziano Johnson who used to be my companion when we were in a three some and Anziano Squarcia. Both went really well I had a lot of fun and for one of the days I helped them clean up their apartment because it had to be inspected by a senior couple. Anyway both exchanges went well and it was cool because I did Anziano Squarcia's last exchange with him. This transfer he finishes his mission. By the way before I continue I would like to wish Barry and Kimberly Thomas a wonderful happy aniversary Aguri!! 25 years wow che vecchietti!

Other news we had a trip to the Emergency Room this Monday!!! Yeah! So what happend was Anziano Hansen had not been feeling so well so Sunday morning he took 2 ibiprofen pills and that night his stomach was hurting so he took two more Ibiprofen pills and he started telling me that his stomache was hurting. So we went to sleep and at 4 in the morning he wakes me up and asks me to give him a priestood blessing because his stomache was killing him so I give him a blessing and go back to bed. At 5 in the morning I here him moaning a little and am like uhh... Anziano are you okay? And he's like can you call the mission president's wife Sorella Wolfgramm? So I call her and she doesn't answer and he's really bad now like laying on the floor, bad. It was pretty bad so I tell him to get up we're going to the hospital I knew where the hospital was and it was about 10 minutes in bus. So we started walking out it was a little cold outside and my companion starts crying telling that he's never been in so much pain before so I'm thinking that his appendix burst or something. We start walking to the bus stop and he's crying and asks me <<Anziano, why don't people just repent??>> I was like uhh.. that's a wierd question to ask haha the he goes on to say because I can't imagine the eternal pain of people who don't repent.. so uh.. you could say he's a missionary haha but before we got on the bus I said a quick prayer with him that everything would be alright. But we got there got inside the emergency room and they gave him a wheel chair and shoved a needle into his arm and immediatly the pain went away. So, I was waiting outside the emergency room and there was this woman and her husband (who was older) fell out of the bed and and a bad cut on the back of his head. So we get talking and she asks me who I am and I explain everything and jump into the restoration and ended up giving her a Book of Mormon! She was really cool and after we stopped talking for a bit she started reading through i,t really cool though. She gave us her number but I think she's more interested in feeding me Italian food haha then hearing about the gospel but we'll see. So what ended up happening with Anziano Hansen was that he took to much ibprofen pills and it was bad for his stomach. I was a little annoyed I thought it was something really serious but I'm glad that he's alright so that's what matters. For the rest of the day except for appointments we stayed inside and rested. It was a nice morning adventure though.

As with investigators we only have Rafaele with a baptismal date but have found some new investigators so things are picking up again. It's up and down with the work, oh nice this drunk guy just got on the computer next to me haha the internet point we go to is so ghetto but it's only 1 euro for an hour so that's nice. It's in a ghetto area too if you walk out and go deeper into the allyways there are prostitutes everywhere it's gross. One time when I first got here we took a wrong turn and walked passed some and they're like hey baby.. nasty. Also we saw this creepy guy ask one of them if she was working.. the world is nasty time for a second coming?

Other than that the work is picking up so hopefully this next week all goes well as I'll find out where I'm going so I would like some city guesses haha.

Thanks for everything love you all!

Anziano Thomas

Tough Week

Ciao tutti!

I have to say this week was pretty tough especially with the work. The other day we lost our baptismal date with Jamal. It was sad and I was so sure that he was getting baptized. What happened was we gave him a baptismal date and he said yes but a few days later he called his mom and she said "no we are Muslim" so after that he just dropped everything and didn't even see us to give us an explanation. It was tough and we're really bummed that it happened. I'm just so thankful for free agency. Anyway we don't see Jamal now. Another tough thing that happened this week was also with Mario we lost his baptismal date as well. What happened was he didn't answer our calls for a reminder to come to church and didn't come to church so we passed by and talked to him a bit about what's happening and told us right now he doesn't feel ready at all for his baptism. He said it was too soon, so we were like alright that's fine, we're not here to force anyone just to help them understand that these things are true. So it's fine I'm just bummed that I will be leaving Genova without any baptisms but I know I worked hard and was obedient. But we still have some baptismal dates 2 actually. One is Rafaele still and the other is Mauro. Mauro is for the 23 of March but we are going to have to reschedule it for sure because he's not ready yet. It's funny the work here in Genova has been like a roller coaster. One week everything is going real well and then the next week it stops for whatever reason. The focus for this week is going to be finding new investigators because right now we are losing some.

Today and yesterday it has been raining in fact we tried to go to Cinque Terre for P'day but when we got there it was pouring pretty hard so we saw a little bit and took a train back to Genova and grabbed some McDonald's. Things are going well just pray for us this week to find new investigators because we really do need some more. With the apartment we finally found one and it's in a really good place. So maybe this next week we might be moving some things around because by the 31 of March we have to be out of our apartment we have now. Thanks for all the support and prayers love you all!!

Anziano Thomas