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| The Alps! |
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| Ben at Valle d' Aosta |
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Hit by Car but OK!
Ciao tutti!
This week was really cool. We had a conference in Milano this last Monday and we had Elder Allen from the area 70 come talk to us. It was really great because he was one of the guys who was part of writing preach my gospel. What was cool was he had some cool insights on the prophets and apostles. They talked a lot about repentance. Actually most all of it was about repentance and explaining to our investigators how repentance should become part of their lives. Really cool so we've been applying that to our work and it works really well. Funny thing that happened on the way here to the Internet point I got hit by a car while on my bike! But it wasn't bad they just swerved into me and hit my hand and I bent back their side mirror. The guy swore immediately and then asked if I was alright and I told him everything was good haha.
We talked to Daniele on the phone and he said that he's thought of a date for baptism so tomorrow he'll tell us! Really exciting so pray for him that he'll have a date that will be soon. Today was AWESOME! We went to Valle d'Aosta and we were right in the Alps haha the mountains were HUGE and the weather was perfect! We walked around and saw some Roman Ruins. But I will definitely go back! Next time we're going to try to go to the Matterhorn and Monte Bianco (largest Mountain in Europe) but we just walked around the city.
This week was also cool because I did a scambio with Anziano Betzsold! Because he's an assistant he does scambios with us and it was really cool that I got to do one with him because in two weeks he's going home! It's crazy how fast time has flown by. But it was really fun. We talked a lot about Ravenna and how work went and funny things that happened. We also went to our members restaurant this week and it was super good! They have the best pizza that I've had so far.
As for the work the work went great this week. We taught 20 lessons! Not counting members it went really good and we had a lot of fun. We were just running around the whole time. This week we'll here from another general authority Elder Callister so this Wednesday you will not be getting an email from me but you will this Thursday instead. Thanks for all the support I read Alma 5 this week and something that hit me was when they talked about Jesus being the shepherd and he calls out to the people of the world but they don't listen but he's always calling! Really interesting but I got to go I love you all have a great week!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
April 10, 2013
Ciao Tutti!
Conference was great! For conference we went to the other side to Torino to watch it. We watched it in the other chapel and I watched it in Italian again. All the talks were great. I especially like the talks from the priesthood session. All of the talks were BOLD haha. Just what we needed as members to stay strong in what we believe. Really great experience. Unfortunately our baptismal date for the 11th won't happen. But it should happen this month though. He just wants to be 100% sure which is good this is a big decision that he's making. I was looking forward to having a baptism this Thursday but we're just waiting for Daniele to tell us when he'll be ready. One of the coolest investigators I've had so for though. We're playing basketball with him today and after we're going to the circus?? Hahaha it will be my first time going to the circus so I'm interested to see how it is.
Great news! One of our investigators who we thought was gay is not!!!!! I was worried I didn't want another problem with investigators hitting on me again haha but he's a really cool guy! He cuts hair since he's been 12 and that's maybe why he's so femine but he's great.
We found a new investigator this week who is really cool. His name is Fabrizio and he's Native American haha weird I know but his parents moved here when he was young. Really cool guy has only one arm and super humble! I'm looking forward to continue to teach him.
This week we had a conference in Alessandria and it went great! Also we went to Vercelli for a district meeting. Super small city and surrounded by rice fields. This week was great and this Monday I'm going to Milano for a conference. I think a general authority will be there but we'll see I'm excited to see. Thanks for the support love you all!
Anziano Thomas
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Happy Easter!
Ciao!
This week went by really fast! A lot happened this week. Especially this Sunday we had a good time because it was Easter Sunday!! It was great! The members gave us a ton of chocolates and the talks in Church were great. After church we went to the Tonon family who are really strong in the church. They have 5 kids which is the most I've seen in Italy it was super fun and it reminded me a lot of my family. The food was great also. I ate so much we had some lasagna and so much sweets after I was really tired from eating so much. But overall Sunday went great! It was interesting though to see that there we're many Catholics who had olive branches which brought blessings.
We are teaching alot of new converts and less actives. Two new converts who were baptized the day before I arrived was Alessio and Lisette which are both super cool. Lisette is from Peru and Alessio is from Italy but they are a young couple and we are teaching them about twice a week. Also we are teaching Max a 16 year old new convert from Peru and Tirso a 33 single man form the Philippians. We have a ton of lessons so we are just bouncing back and forth from lesson to lesson. Our investigators are really cool as well. One, Daniele, is about 33 years old and studied to be a catholic priest but decided not to but he has a baptismal date for the 11 of April. Also Giorgo who found us. He works alot online and he met some Mormons and would get baptized but his family is a little against it so he hasn't had the chance to come to church.
Something we did this week was we went out for lunch with our new converts Alessio and Lisette and they took us to a buffet which was soooo good. All the food was amazing and I had my first Sushi haha it was good. Anything in Italy is delicious. Also today they took us around the city and took us to the point where you could see the whole city but unfortunately everything was cloudy.. we some some cool other things instead like a medieval bridge. Last week we didn't do anything because it was cloudy but in two weeks we are looking to go to Aosta which I'm so excited to do right in the Alps!! Right now things are going well love you all!
Anziano Thomas
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
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
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