Wednesday, March 20, 2013
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!
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
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
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
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
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
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
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
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
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
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
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