Wednesday, March 16, 2016

This is a message for: You


--Anziano Benge

You know who you are. :)
Ok, let's talk about this week... It wasn't great.
We had sun, we had cancellations, we had lunch. I'm not sure I can
expound much. Our favorite part of this massive finding week was going
down to Montelupo, where we passed by a few inactive members and an
ex-investigator. We had no success there, but did some finding, had
some conversation, gave out pamphlets. It's a beautiful little town!
Our main focus of our work is with Luigi, who we saw Saturday and has
a very strong testimony (he's just SO busy), we have Alessandro and
Manuela who decided to move again because they found mold spores
everywhere (we bought them a Winnie the Pooh hat and boots for their
soon due daughter). We meet with Joseph and his wife and daughters in
Empoli, but they don't understand anything we teach or our purpose,
they'll have to be dropped unless they begin listening and committing.
I'm happy, even though my shoes are falling apart around my swollen
feet, and the Spring has arrived. Tuscany is awesome, the work is
marvelous, and the truth is real... Next Sunday, Elder D. Todd
Christopherson is coming to our Stake Conference, hopefully I'll say
something on that!
Ciao
(Here is a picture of a Toscana seesaw in front of a massive Villa, in
Montelupo)
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Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Another Email

Now that I'm done volleyballing and 'footballing', and I'm covered in mud, I decided I should probably write an Email. Sorry I've been so bad a writing, sometimes it feels more like I'm rewriting journal entries instead of actually talkin to anyone. I just need to realize that these emails are going to people, and that some people read them, so they should be fun or something.
This last week was our last week with Sorella Hogan, her release date is the end of this week. It's been a great time, and she's one of the best missionaries.
Our district held a funeral for her:

​Top: (me, Anz. Stanley, Anz. Taylor, Anz. Castronovo, Anz.Harris, Anz. Kenny)
Middle: (Sorella D'Aleo, Sorella Taylor, Sorella Castro)
Front Center: Sorella Hogan

It was the best funeral ever. We even carried her out in a 'coffin', I don't know why, but we did.

​All was well.
This week for the work was slower, but on Saturday the other Anziani's investigator Jerry got baptized!! He's so cool, and is helping me to learn Twi, which may not be the most useful language but.. whatever.
Richard, our Ghanian Twi speaker came to the baptism, and decided he wanted this covenant himself, so we set a day for April 9th. He's excited and told us he already knows the the Book of Mormon (in Twi: Mormon Nwoma No) is true and he loves our message.
Alessandro and Manuela are really close to the due date of their baby, so they disappeared and we can't reach them.
Malu, or Brazilian investigator and boyfriend Paolo still love us, they interrupt our lessons with worldy comments and questions like "Did you play lots of videogames before the mission?"
I have to tell them that we were talking about Joseph Smith, not videogames and they aren't that closely related. It's really hard, and I'm learning that my Italian still really needs improvement, no matter how many compliments I recieve. Anyway, Harris was given a free Playstation Control custom made with AC Milan style and logo print... it's probably worth up to 70 dollars or so, and he got it for free and can't even use it.
We love it here in Italy, in Firenze, and we are happy. The cold rain makes it hard on us, and our shoes and socks, but it's awesome still!
So che questa missione è la cosa più preparato per me, imparo tanto e mi sto svilupando ogni giorno. Questo vangelo è perfetto, questa chiesa è il regno di Dio sulla terra. Nel nome di Gesù Cristo, amen
Until later!
Ciao

--

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Still Florence, Still Awesome

(Galluzzo, a tiny place— we were passing an inactive's house)
--Anziano Benge

Our week was slow, I had a stomach bug, it rained when I felt well. We
made a lot of phone calls which went unanswered. Alessandro and
Manuela canceled, so did Malu, Alex disappeared. We had new missionary
training, right after church, so we sat for that entire day. Monday we
had President's last zone conference, so we sat practically all day
for that as well. Sorella Hogan got sick that night, so we gave a
blessing. That turned into a blessing ourselves because we ran into
John Bravo, who also seemed like he'd vanished. We had a lesson on the
street, he told us he was getting kicked out of his house and all his
work problems but asked the Lord for help, which then we ran into him.
He promised to come to church.
We run into a lot of people on 'accident'.
They aren't accidents.
Yesterday we met Richard and gave him a restoration lesson. He's from
Ghana. Immediately after, two different people stopped US while we
were applying for a bus pass and asked if they could come to church.
It was awesome.
Ah well. I'm out of time! Until next week, Ci sentiamo. If you don't
know the church is true, find out now!
P.s. (It's hot and rainy here!)
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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

No Subject, ever

I apologize for not writing last week, sometimes I get just half an
hour at the end of Pday to write and I use it for rest time. We do so
much walking here, because it's the safest and fastest, I get
charley-horses in my feet every night, but you know, there's nothing
wrong with just walking. There's always a thousand new people to stop
or hand pamphlets to.
The biggest news you missed out on was that we contacted a potential
named Malu, and her boyfriend Paolo. She is a Brazilian woman who
adores missionaries because her son his far from her in Brazil, and
he's a member. She's been investigating the church for over 25 years,
and then when the branches became a ward here, she just disappeared
until we found her.
Her 'companion' does optics for eyeglasses, he loves sports and
Americans, but knows nothing about the church (well, now he does),
they both love birds (they have like 50), they want to get married,
they hopefully will be baptized immediately after, and they give us
loads of food every time we stop by. Last Sunday she gave us both
really nice haircuts for service because we 'needed them'. And they
look good. They are pretty well off, and have an exciting house in
centro.
Alex hasn't come to church yet, though he commits every single time.
We are waiting for that before we reset the baptdate
Alessandro and Manuela haven't come, and our member present lesson
fell through, but since she's pregnant, they're hesitantly doing
nothing with only minor commitment.
We are having a great time here in Firenze. Anz. Harris and I get
along really well. We laugh, we bought a cactus and did finding with
it, we are happy and busy.
Yesterday we did a 'scambio', Harris didn't like it a ton, but I went
down to Montevarchi. Castronovo and I made our way in train down to
Castiglion Fiorentino (the best), and I interviewed Kenneth for
baptism. He's totally ready and I realized what good friends Nigerians
are. If you don't have any African friends, go get some, because they
rock.
I am learning to speak pigeon English.
:)
Vi voglio bene
--Anziano Benge
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Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Ahimè, I am Training

I am training a 'greenie' here in Firenze. His name is Anziano Connor Harris straight outta Utah (Brigham City). We get along quite nicely, and Training really isn't that bad. He doesn't speak a lick of Italian, but that was expected, and I already know how to deal with that; Language study, talking on the streets, constructive criticiscm.
It's been raining a lot, but its fine. Before I picked Harris up in Milano, I stopped by in Padova to grab my long-awaited Permesso. I finally have it! (Except it expires in the first week of May) I have to start the reapplication process over AGAIN this coming week.
The first day with Harris, we finally got a hold of a man named Alessandro, an Ex-Investigator who had stopped meeting the missionaries a year ago. He invited us over, and so we went to Scandicci, found his house, and he let us in. His wife is pregnant, and they are really nice people! Even better, they had realized that they were happier when they had been meeting with us and they'd been praying for recontact. They've read the entire Book of Mormon, they want to relearn all the discussions, they missed us a lot! That was awesome.
I am still the District leader here in Firenze. The new District is Harris and I, Anz. Kenny and Taylor (the Zone Leaders), Sorella Hogan and Taylor, and also the Montevarchi missionaries: Stanley and Castronovo, and Sorella D'Aleo and Castro. The district is large, and we had District meeting all the way down in San Giovanni Valdarno because the Firenze Training Sisters and 'Capi Zona' (ZLs) were in Milano for a conference.
All of our contacts seemed to have evaporated again. I really have no idea why nobody answers their phones. Alex was too shy to come to church again, so we postponed the Baptism. Life is changing, and it's good!

​We found a villa, we did finding at it (success!)

​
​(Harris and I with Fratello Forni, Festa Carnivale)​

​Last night Harris and I went to dinner with Riccardo (the blind and deaf member whom I love), and his family and friends. We ate some good food and brought a 'CioccoSalame​' for desert. (100g Melted chocolate, 150g crushed cookies, 50g butter, an egg, some 25g of sugar or so, cooled into a roll shape)
I'm not 100% sure what 'Carnivale' is, but it's some Italian celebration that is known especially in Venezia or something. Anyway, we are happy and we love ITALY!
Remember Heavenly Father's love for you! Remember His Son's atoning sacrifice. Remember Faith, Love, and Charity!
See you next year!
--
Anziano Isaac Benge

​ps: Anziano Harris' dad served in Italy. His last area was Firenze. Harris is beginning where his dad left off!

pps: He also plays soccer​

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Fiesole, That's Where I Went Today

   Pday! We went to a small town called Fiesole, over looking Firenze. There was an antique ampitheater of ruins. There was beauty all around. There was greatness. There was a tower. Here is an okay photo of one of the views:
​If you look closely you can see the Arno River.

Another great part of this week was that Fratello Brighella had his 50th Birthday party at the church. He wanted us to help him set it up, because he's blind and deaf, so that was fun. I don't speak Italian sign language that well, but it was alright. It only took 3 hours to set up, and I got a chunk taken out of my leg. Italians are pretty stuborn and OCD on how things should be. This Fratello was perhaps even more OCD and everything had to be perfect. In the end, the party was fun and the food was great. I was totally exhausted.
None of our investigators came to church. In fact, nobody came to church including members really.
We have done a lot of finding lately, but everyone that seems willing in the end are either Muslims (who drop us after they find out we are teaching them not vice versa), or women that we have to refer to the Sister missionaries. Oh well.

This is all I have time for today. I'm really sorry. Love you all!
​

--

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Fwd: Buon Anno: 2016


----------
​....​


It rained today.
It also rained yesterday.
Oh yes, it is also a New Year, so Happy New year y'all. For our celebration, a Moldovan (who fortunatel spoke English and not just Romanian) called us up, and asked to meet with us. He is an investigator, that was touring Firenze and he LOVES the missionaries, he travels the whole world looking for them and talking with them. We showed him around, and even better, he brought two of his friends (both Moldovan ladies) and we taught them some stuff. They had fun and hopefully we planted some great seeds.

​(the other friend is taking the photo)

We did a scambio two days back, I was with Anziano Brown, and we started the day off with a lunch with Riccardo. He is deaf, and 89% blind or so. I barely speak any Italian sign language, but I said the prayer, but it was a very very very very quiet meal. It was fun and I am content.
The work has slowly picked up, people answer their phones, people want to meet. It is all cool (cold) and yeah!
We had to let Chelazzi go, he owns a tie and shirt shop, which is cool, but he told us that he really isn't that interested. We tried to finish the restoration, but he had none of it. We invited him to consider studying, we prayed, but that was it. We will pass by him in a week or two... but, yeah....

I am looking forward to this work, not the rain too much, and everything is great!
Read the scriptures, it will do you well!

So che nostro Salvatore vive e che la nostra chiesa è diretto da Gesù Cristo, nostro pietra angolare. Abbiamo profeti viventi, gli apostoli che ricevano ispirazione; Thomas S. Monson è un profeta e rivelatore!
vi voglio tanto bene
ci sentiamo

--