Hey Hey, Likely my Last

Hello everyone!

This is probably my last Pday Email to you. The last time I write a
group email in Italy. The last time that you have to read about a week
that's gone by.

I mainly just have to say that this mission has been so great. I
cannot express a fraction of the feelings that I have experienced or
now experience. Italy is beautiful, and the mission is even more
beautiful. These two years have really changed me.

Thank you Brad, Jarom, Jacob, Brody, Jeff, Jarrett, and other
missionaries that have finished their missions and been examples! And
of course the fabulous sisters that served and made such a difference
here in Italy; Heather, Sarah, Alyssa, Baylee, Whitney, and Abigail!
Thank you Anziani Hansen, Harris, Young, Wheeler, Freckleton, Green,
and Douglas who are all still serving the Lord and doing His will.
Keep it up my companions!
Thank you Mauro, Augustine, Iyke, Robert, my wonderful friends in
Toscana who have made the best choices and done so well! You're
amazing.
And of course Thank You, friends and family of Novara! Serena, Maryke,
Martie and Hans, Ting, and Ester. I think I only enjoyed those 5/6ish
months because of you!

And again, Mauro, Augustine, Iyke, and Ester. You are some of the
strongest members I have ever met! Remember how many people watch you
and your example. We will see each other again. Love you!

Sunday was awesome and spiritual, and after church was the American
Linger Longer, with delicious food and a great turn out!
Other than that, This last week I have nothing to report (except our
water is not working in our apartment, today for Pday we're doing a
baptism interview in Treviso, it's finally raining, and nobody answers
their phone.) so...I guess what a strange way to finish. Hopefully we
can meet with Felix, Elvis, and others before I go.

(No news of my Homecoming, I'll get it to you, maybe find me on
Facebook under my name)
May God Bless you All
--Anziano Isaac Benge

Milano, Padova, Muggiò, Firenze, Novara, Livorno, Pordenone. Tutti
undran la verità!
(A terrible IPad photo of Anziano Douglas.)

Approximately " " That Farther

Sorry everyone, the email sent with just that phrase. #awkward
#applesucksnotusererror

So, as I was saying. Approaching the end is strange because all the
good you do feels like a last ditch effort. Members come to the
missionaries, asking if we can be at a service project on Feb. 11th,
but I won't be there.

I gave my final talk in the Italian Ward on Sunday. I spoke about the
important topic of living prophets. One part went much like this:
Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, seer, and revelator for this world and
time, and is the only man whom we sustain as so. The twelve Apostles
are special witnesses of Christ, and they too are chosen and called
specifically for our day. Adam didn't receive revelation on how to
build an Ark, and Abraham didn't receive commands on how to free the
Israelites from Egypt. Just as it is today, the prophet of 2017 has
been set apart to give God's words to us today in our need. We cannot
fully compare a living prophet with a defunct one, for they are there
to give tailored advice for that generation.

I hope someone was touched in the Ward by my words, and more
importantly, by the Holy Ghost. For all you reading this, just follow
prophetic counsel okay? If you don't know what was last testified by
President Monson, go reread the Ensign or Liahona. It will bless you
as you follow direction and promptings you feel.

Other than my talk, our week was a simple repetition of passing by
inactive members as the Bishop has asked. Nobody really does member
reactivation or Family home or visiting teachings, so it falls on the
missionaries. I disapprove, although it gives some good practice and
something to do. The bishopric could pass all of the members in a week
with a car, but instead we bike hours to come to find that the address
isn't even valid. Bene, oh well, we use the outside time to talk to
random people out walking their dogs. Others see our name tag. I guess
that's success.

Saturday we spent up in the mountains, talking with investigators,and
then we had a BBQ dinner with Daniel and his military friends. Good
discussion there, and good steak. We took home 2 kilograms of steak.
Wow

On Monday we were blessed to finally meet with a Ghanaian, Elvis, who
lives next to a beautiful Catholic Church in San Giovanni di Casarsa.
It was a 25 minute walk from the Casarsa train stop, so we were
worried when he didn't answer his phone at all that day. We instead
showed up, were let in, and we gave a brief 15 minute restoration
lesson to Elvis and his wife. They were grateful, and promised to read
and meet with us next week. Cool! They both treated the Book of Mormon
preciously.
I'd like to point out that we met with these people because Elvis
requested a Book of a Mormon online. His words were "I was on the
internet, and I saw this book. I knew ai had to read it, so I asked
your church to send me one, or a Bible, or anything. God Bless you
that you came."

The lesson was short, and the Spirit was a brief fleeting tingle (the
only lighting was a disco ball and kids were wrestling each other),
but in that one moment we were a miracle to someone else.

Anyway, that is all! Here are photos from last Pday (Vittorio
Veneto/Serravalle) and Saturday.

Love you all!
--Anziano Benge
P.s - Again, I am sorry for the one-liner email, and especially those
who were unfortunate to get three emails from me today.

1- Ruins near Tramonti di Sotto, usually they're underwater, but the
lake is 9 meters too low.
2- Serravalle
3- Somewhere along the Meduna river?

Approximately " " That Far

It is quite a strange sensation approaching the end of a mission.

--Anziano Benge

Busier than Normal

Every day we've had stuff to do! Meno male! Admittedly, Thursday was
especially nice. We did a lot of passes of inactive members, Italian
Class for the Americans, and then we were at Marta's house until 9:30.
We snacked, talked with her friends, and of course HAD A BONFIRE. It
was for a holiday called Befana, or 'witch'. Only celebrated largely
here in Veneto and Friuli, Befana is a pagan tradition where a massive
fire is lit (usually a cross is burned, yikes) and if the smoke goes
towards the mountains it will be a good year of harvest.
Our bonfire had smoke blowing towards the sea, which denotes a bad
coming year of harvest. This doesn't surprise me much because Italians
keep telling me that this is the driest winter the area has had since
1862 or something.

Yesterday, we met a faithful Christian named Felix (feh-lis) from
Ghana. He called us because he was having a hard time and one of his
friends (someone I've never met) told him the missionaries would
surely help. He accepted the restoration lesson and said he'd come to
church and think about baptism.
Yay!

Anyway, we've been busy. Appointments every day, contacts everywhere,
and a package that I sent got lost in the mail. We're always doing
something. Right now we're on our way to Vittorio Veneto, for some
hiking and sightseeing. That's all for this week!

--Anziano Benge
1- I finally beat Brother Giurintano in chess. (Scaccomatto!)
2- We passed the Noncello River one day...
3- Befana bonfire

(Some clever subject line about) 2017

2+0+1+7 equals 10. That means 2017 is not divisible by 3. So sad... I guess that just makes it a prime year to get stuff done.

Our New Year Eve here in Pordenone was fun. At 8 a.m we had to be at the church to clean it. I vacuumed to whole church and did the trashes. It was fun, (well, boh, it gave me time to think). Then we had leftovers for lunch. At 4:30 there was an 8 yr old baptism for the American Ward and then everyone was off to New Year parties. The missionaries were asked to be inside by 7, unless there was a Ward party, which there wasn't. So, we sat inside, staring at the wall in the general direction of exploding fireworks until 2 a.m. (It finally quieted down so we could sleep).

The next day, Sunday, we had 6 hours of church because now we are the only missionaries over two wards. Yay. Fortunately the Bishop Kongaika (of the American Ward) brought us New Year leftovers from their party (ribs, BBQ, and islander foods) so that we could eat. Italian church went until 6pm. Oh well, whatever. I don't know if we can do 6 hours of church every Sunday, but we'll do our best.

Monday we found two new investigators, Boateng and Olivia. They are a Ghanaian family with a two year old son. They live up by Sedico, BL, Italia. And.. you know it was really really really time consuming to go up there and come back. It was beautiful, but they don't have a car so they'll maybe never make it to church. 2 hours in car, one way, makes that so hard. On train, it's the same or longer. Anyway, they loved the restoration lesson, and we'll be seeing them again in 2 weeks. They were referrals, and I just wished they lived closer. 

The next referral we are supposed to meet is a resident in Portogruaro, another even more unreachable town. Sighs all around.

We do lots of work with inactive members, and we'll be busy with two wards. I'm no longer sick, and my companion is hale as well.

Really nothing more to say. (Today for Pday we're...doing housework, ooh exciting)

Love you all!
--Anziano Benge

1-combined district meeting yesterday.

2-near Belluno

3- our stop at Sedico

The Happy Holidays

I am talmente stufato with writing emails. But hey, it's all good. I
only have a few left.

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year. I will recount the
holidays, and that should be all.

Christmas Eve, we went over at 11am to the Senior Couple's home.
Sister Rust had prepared lunch for us, and it was a delicious lunch if
I may say. We then played cards with them, and their daughter who was
visiting. We rode our bikes home, and then had to catch a bus an hour
later to Aviano. We met Renato at a Pizzeria for dinner, shared our
Christmastime testimonies, and Anz. Douglas gave him a copy of Jesus,
the Christ. Since Renato is an English-speaking Italian, the copy was
in our native tongue, and should help him practice !

Christmas was nice, a beautiful Sunday. We made it to both Ward
services; the Italians read scriptures, The Americans had a musical
program. Then we took ourselves out to The Moschetta family's home.
She is an English student, who's always loved the missionaries, but
never has been interested in being a member. She made us Hungarian
dishes (where she's from originally), and also Italian dishes. They
were all so good! And the best, Ravioli with Gorgonzola and Walnut
inside....oh so delectable. We stayed and talked after dessert (a
Hungarian poppyseed roll) and they showed us almost every photo from
their vacation to Argentina...but hey, It was really fun. It was nice
to meet her son and husband, and to bring a joyful spirit into their
home. (It's a rare wood home...while most in Italy are cement) oooh

Of course, that night after we made it home, we were able to bike to
the church and Skype our families. They're doing great, and in my
opinion it was the best video-call session I've had in the
mission...the last one!

Cool, that's all for now. Love you!
Don't forget to make someone's day.

--Anziano Benge
1- La vigilia di Natale, Anz. Douglas presents Jesus, the Christ to Renato
2- Natale. Il pranzo. The Moschetta Family (the son took the photo)

Christmas, Sickness, it's the time of the year...

Another Pordenonese week over here for me! How is everyone doing?
For those lucky enough to Skype me on Christmas, you can tell me on
Sunday! I am extremely happy to have a mission in a country where
celebrating our Savior's birth is a big thing!
Last Thursday we went to a Mission Conference in Modena (home of
Balsamic Vinegar!) and met with Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy.
It was by far one of my favorite conferences! He is a very intelligent
man, and a very good teacher. I was able to walk away at the end with
ideas on how to serve better here in Pordenone. Of course, the office
had bought our tickets home, which means everything was ill timed. We
ended up getting home from Modena at 11:10pm...exhausted, and tired of
trains.
Friday was less appealing. We did visit Renato in Aviano. But the
rest of the day was phone calls. Saturday was finding and showing the
Christmas video on the street. Then I made phone calls to prepare for
Sunday.
And kaboom, Sunday worked out perfectly. We had a wonderful sabbath
meeting, and a new move-in inactive named Daniel showed up, (the main
calls I made on Saturday were to him). Afterwards he was happy and we
took Luca (a strong new convert who hopes to move to the U.S.A soon)
to visit Daniel's new home and get to know him. He hasn't been active
for almost four years, but was extremely impressed with every member
he'd met and wanted to take baby steps to becoming active again. It
was a really good visit. After that, we had a delicious dinner with
the Senior couple Rusts, and Luca. (Sesame Chicken, just like my
mom's)!
Monday I was sick. I think it was food poisoning, but my stomach
was NOT ok. Darn that Chicken. It's the only thing I can openly blame.
Anyway, Monday night was also the Ward party for the Italians. We
went, and it was a really good experience, there were a handful of
non-member youth that came. (And some how I beat them all in Foosball)
Yesterday was just our normal meetings, with District meeting, and
Correlation with the Ward mission leader, and the Family Home Evening
thing we did. But different than normal, we had a service project from
8:30-11 in the morning. Lifting all the furniture tore some of my
muscles, and I'm pretty sore now. But everything is ok.
Nobody expect me to return with massive bulging muscles, cuz it's not
going to happen. Even with all these furniture movings up flights of
stairs and the morning exercise, I seem to only get weaker.

Well. Sorry. That was a lot to read. Love you all! I know God's
kingdom is here on the earth! Do what you can to build it!
Arrivederci
--Anziano Benge
No new photos