Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas News!!


Hey!!!
This week has been a weird week for me. Let’s just say that all the miracles I had last week didn’t carry on to this week. Haha, everyone that we met stood us up so this week was a finding week again, which I don’t mind because I know that I’m doing the Lord’s work.

THURSDAY
After I wrote to you, we were going to go to Seberga (I think that is how it’s spelt). It’s a castle and it was a nice day but we ended up doing other stuff and would have had time to go but we went to the Torino 2 ward and played ping-pong with other missionaries. It was fun. Later that night we just did casa but didn’t find anyone.

FRIDAY
We did a super split; the zone leaders from Torino 2 ward came to Collegno and we blitzed the city. I went with one zone leader and my comp went with another and all 4 of us stayed in Collegno and did casa. Together, we taught 4 lessons and found 2 more investigators so that was a blessing.

SATURDAY
In the morning we just did casa and tried to find some people. That night we had our Christmas party/dinner. It was fun; we watched the Christmas message by the first presidency. I didn’t understand a lot of it because it was in Italian but I got the jest of it.  Then the young men and young women did a presentation thing where they sang and read quotes and scriptures; it was really nice.  Afterwards we had dinner and it was good but it was more just like snock stuff. Not really like 5-course dinner or anything but nonetheless it was good because it was Italian. Haha I love the food here!!!

SUNDAY
We went to church like always and I’m talking to more and more members. The unity between the missionaries and the members is amazing. That night we did casa and this Atheist let us in and we just talked and he was very open he was a cool guy but its hard to get return appointments for anyone now because it’s the holiday season and the Italians like to drag on the holidays as long as possible! Haha but my comp and me haven’t given up on finding investigators but we decided that we are just going to find members instead, haha. We were leaving the apartment of the Atheist and we saw this women and she was like you're Mormons right? And we were like yeah how do you know us? She was like “I was baptized 4 years ago but I don’t go anymore,” so we got her number and we'll meet her next week. Haha so that was a cool experience.

MONDAY-TUESDAY
Nothing really happened. We did a lot of casa and didn’t really find anyone. We had a bunch of pass bys but we got stood up on all of them but that’s okay. We all have trials for a reason; we may not be able to see them all right now but we will sooner or later.

I’ll tell you what my plans are for Christmas. So I will sleep in until I wake up and then we have lunch at the bishop’s house. Then we have a dinner appointment at a member’s home that night we will get there at like 5. After we eat, we will watch a Disney movie and then head home and get ready to work the next day.

I love you all and I’m so grateful for your love and support and I will talk to you on Saturday! :) I love you

Love Anziano Glowa

Friday, December 17, 2010

Italian Christmas Miracles!!

Hello to all,

I’ll start off my e-mail by telling you that we found 8 new investigators! :) It’s really a miracle how it happened.

I thought this week was going to be another hard week of not finding anyone haha, but the miracles started on Saturday. Because we got bikes on Friday, we decided to bike into Torino because we have a little chunk of it.  We decided to do this huge apartment building and found no one, haha no problem, we went across the street and the same thing…no one.  We decided to walk up the street and my companion had his eyes on these huge apartment buildings so we headed there. While walking I looked to my right and saw this small nothing of an apartment that had 4 people in it, not really worth trying to get in but I felt we should. So I told my comp and he agreed with me. The first 3 doors resulted in nothing and I was ready to give up but then I knocked on the last door and a little girl answered. I asked her “are your parents home?” She ran away and got her dad haha and spoke in my broken Italian and said “can we speak to you for 5 minutes about a message we have about the family?” With no hesitation, he said yes and invited us in, and to sit down.  We sat down and asked if his wife was home and if she wanted to join us, which she did. In no time at all we had 3 new investigators, the parents and the little girl who I think is 9.  It was a beautiful short lesson where we promised blessings and said we can come back Thursday at 7 so that’s tonight haha I’m really excited!

Next, we found another apartment and tracked it. We found another family!! And there were another 3 there but we already went back and they weren’t there, so well have to try again.  On Sunday we were doing casa and we were just about to head back when my comp decided to do one more so we did and we found this really cool family. The mom is probably in her 60's and the son in his 30's the mom is Christian and the son is Atheist but both really receptive and wanted to hear more. We are meeting with them on Sunday, so there you have it! Eight new investigators in 2 days!! I know that the Lord is truly preparing people for us to find.

I’ll go through my week with you now:
THURSDAY:
After I wrote you guys last week, we did our shopping and then headed to Torino to hang out with the other missionaries.  When we got there we ate at...drum roll please..........MCDONALDS!!! And it tasted soooo good; I didn’t know how much I missed it hahaha. Anyway, so then we went to Centro (its a part in Torino) and we walked around went into some stores and some Catholic churches. It was pretty sweet to see the culture, I pulled a Rockie move and forgot my camera but I won’t today so no worries. Also I can send pictures through the computer so I’ll do that next week. That was pretty much all we did on pday. After we had a DA with my first member family the Tribastonis. They're awesome! They got baptized 2 years ago and I had a real Italian meal. First we started with cheese and bread, then with pasta, and then with the meat and salad, and for desert fruit and cookies. I was sooo stuffed I thought I was going to die but it was so good!!!!!!!!

FRIDAY:
Friday we didn't do much casa because the first half of the day we do weekly planning and then after we had to get bikes. I have this pretty sweet blue one and my comp got the same model but red. We also have matching helmets haha we look soooo cool!!!! Not hahaha! It’s still fun. Don’t worry, you will get pictures next week hahaha and that’s really all we did. We got the cheapest bike there but it’s not bad. That night we went to the Bishop’s house for some Italian cake and just to talk about the mission work. He’s a really cool guy. I like him and his family a lot, he and his wife served in the south Italy mission.  Also, while we were there they invited us to have Christmas lunch with them so we are so going to be doing that.

SATURDAY&SUNDAY:
We found 8 investigators and also had church. All of the member are so nice and we have this really old sister that just brings us food every week. Haha it’s pretty sweet because we don’t have to buy so much food ourselves haha.

(If i dont mention a day its because all we did was track haha)

TUESDAY:
We tracked the first part of the day and then we had a lesson with our recent convert Vanessa. We spoke about temples and the work we do there and why they are important.  After that we had English class, which we teach and it is sooooooo funny!!!!! I taught the differences between there, their and they're and then we played the game pyramid.  That’s when we write a bunch of words on the board and one person is facing the board and the other isn't and they have have to describe the words to them. Haha we put Jesus as one of the words and the description that was said was "the Son of God" and the guy just replied I don’t know! It was so funny, maybe you had to be there but it was just hilarious hahaha! Then we went and I got a Kebab, which is a Greek food or something. It’s really good; it’s like what they serve at Amir’s but I like it a lot better hahaha.

WEDNESDAY:
We had zone conference, which is why I’m writing on Thursday again.  It was really effective and good we learnt on how to use to Book of Mormon more and why it’s important. It was really spiritual and really uplifting, this zone conference probably changed how I’m going to do missionary work now.

And that was my week pretty much. Now I’ll answer the questions you had:

How is your weather?
It’s sunny everyday, which is weird because usually its cloudy and it doesn’t get much colder then -4, which is nice.

Do you need boots?
No I’m good. There isn’t any snow for now and if it does snow I’m on a bike and it shouldn’t snow too much.

So yesterday at Zone conference I did get the package. The tap was ripped as if the Italians opened it but I don’t think they took anything because everything was wrapped so we got lucky there. Don’t forget to start putting Mother Mary pictures on the packages hahaha. :)

Anyway, that’s it for me for now Sorry if I missed a question of something. I love you so much and I will talk to you next week.

I LOVE YOU!!!! :)
Elder Glowa

P.S Thanks for the pictures they're awesome and I love where the tree is! :)

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Finally in Italy !!!!

I AM FINALLY IN ITALY!!!!!!!!!!
Hello my family,
So I arrived safe and sound as you already know because you talked to my mission presidents wife. So mom my town doesn't start with a P it starts with a C I'm serving in a small town 20 min west of Torino ,I'm in Collegno!!! :) It's so tight, we have a ward of 50 people and our church building is only 6 years old so its brand new its awesome.  My trainer is such a stud his name is Anziano Meszaros,  our unity is awesome we're pretty much best friends. He's super tall ,he's 6'6 he reminds be of Patrick haha .He was born in Canada and moved to Utah when he was 6.  Are you ready for the surprise? He's only been in Italy for 3 full transfers I'm his second comp and he is training me ,it's so awesome. He's really good with the language because his trainer was a native.  We're both young but because of our faith and because we have no fear we are going to see miracles happen, as we like to say "we're going to destroy Collegno" :)
I'll go day by days so I can tell you all that I've been doing:

WEDNESDAY-I arrived in Italy and had dinner at the mission home with the mission pres and his wife and then we went and stayed in a hotel for our first night nothing too special.

THURSDAY- We woke up and went to the Milan's two church building(its called Milan two because there are 3 wards in Milan) We went there to meet our trainers and find out where we were going. That's where I met my super cool trainer:) Then we had lunch and we were off to our new city.  To get from Milan to my city you have take a 2 hour train ride to Torino and then either take the metro and a bus or just a longer bus ride but either way it takes 20 mins. On the metro on my first day there was a guy there and I felt like I should talk to him. As you know my Italian isn't the best yet but I tried my best. I explained where I was from and why I was here and so on . I then  went on to say since it was my first day ,would he mind if i practice my Italian? He said sure so I taught him that God is our loving Heavenly Father and how the Gospel blesses families .I would have continue but it was time to get off so I said bye. By the time we got back to the apartment it was later so we only had time to knock on a few apartment buildings.
Let me tell you about my apartment.  The location is amazing and I'm sure I'm going to make you jealous when I explain how awesome our apartment is. The apartment is  right in the middle of the town ,so its close to everything. Also we live over a bakery and the baker and  everyone that works there love us ,so we sometimes get free stuff it's so awesome . Italian i LOVE IT!  My town is called Collegno but we also have other little towns to take care of . We have Rivoli and also Grugliasco or something like that.  A week before I got there our bikes got stolen so I need to buy a bike this week so it should cost no more then 200 £ just to be safe . For this whole week we've been walking everywhere which I don't mind anymore I'm really used to it but that was my first real day. Also we got the best pizza ever!!!!!!! and then we ate gelato and it was the BEST Coconut EVER!!!!!! Italian food rocks!!!! :)

FRIDAY-  We planed for the whole week so for example we make goals and stuff for how many people we want to talk to and how many lessons we want to teach. Then we spent the rest of the 6 hour day doing casa( casa means tracking and that just going from apartment building to apartment building) at first I was nervous but now it's not big deal. I just talk to whoever hahaha. It was hard and long but fun. Then at 7 we had a lesson with this guy named Encrio. We taught him half of the 2nd lesson. He's doing well and he understands and agrees with all we are teaching him. For the moment he's the only person we're teaching which means we do casa every other time of the day.
SATURDAY-this day was rough but fun we did casa for like 8 to 9 hours ,it was fun though. I'm just glad I have a companion who I get a long with ,it just makes things so much easier and more fun.
I'll tell you how my days go; I wake up at 6:30 get ready and eat till 8 . Then personal study ,so studying the scriptures from 8 to 9 and then from 9 to 10 its with my comp .We learn together, plan lessons etc. Then from 10 to 1 we go do casa or if  we have an appointment and then from 1 to 3 we have lunch/language study/power nap!!(pres said he was a fan of power naps so we eat for half an hour study for an hour and then nap for half an hour)! I never knew I was going to get to power nap. Any ways then we do "casa" from 3 to 8 and then from 8 to 9 we do "strada". We just walk to streets and find people to talk with because after 8 its too late to be ringing door bells. Then from 9 to 9:30 we plan for the next day makes goals and plans. Then 9:30 to 10:30 is hangout ,talk and get ready and then go to bed.  I love being here it's so awesome. I wake up in the morning and can't believe that I'm here it's amazing.

SUNDAY- We have church at 9, church was super fun I met all the members and they are way nice and awesome. I explained that  it was my first week and they understand when I speak to them haha !! I gave an opening prayer and that was fun ,I wasn't nervous at all and then I went up and introduced myself and bore testimony. I hope they will be able to trust me as a missionary and know that I can do this even if i don't speak the language as well as I would like to hahaha .Then during Sunday school we taught a new member that got baptized November 20th. We taught about the importance of church on Sunday and so on and then we had priesthood 3rd hour I didn't understand a lot because it was just a lot lot lot lot lot lot lot of talking in Italian but it was still awesome.

MONDAY- We had to start my temporary residence forms for being in Italy for 2 years so we had to go to Torino, that was at 10:00 and it went fast and then we had District meeting at 11:00. That's when our district has a meeting and we talk about investigators that we're having a hard time with and just ask for help on how to fix situations and so forth. There are 4 people in my district(very small) there is me, Meszaros, Dean and our district leader Gammel.  after district meeting I went on splits and stayed in Tornio with Gammel. it was fun I got to stay in Torino and see what Tornio was like. It's pretty ghetto but cool I sure like Collegno way better I love it because there are only Italians no immigrates like in Tonino ,its hard to find an Italian in Torino. We got pizza and we got gelato and it was AWESOME!!!!

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY- we pretty much just did "casa: and work hard its fun but hard because we're not finding anyone. Our effort and attitude is there so it's just a matter of time before we see a miracle. This week we're going to try some new finding methods should be awesome :) Oh also yesterday was "Immaculate Conception" day for Italians its a famous holiday. No one works ,   I guess it's just another day for Italians to take off work hahaha !!

Anywyas that's it for me this week tell me if you want more detail and give me questions of things you wanna know haha all right I love you all have a good week !!!!!!!!!!!

Love Anziano Glowa

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Anziano Glowa is now in Italy

Here is how you can write Anziano Glowa now . 

By Mail:Here is how you can write Anziano Glowa now
Anziano Glowa 
Milan Italy Mission 
Via Gramsci, 13/4 20090 Opera (MI),, Italia 

By Dearelder:
Anziano Glowa
Milan Italy Mission

By email:
benjamin.glowa@myldsmail.net
Although you can email Ben now. I think he would still prefer dearelders,
because it comes in letter form and he can keep them and answer them any time.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Last day at the MTC.....Anziano Glowa leaves for Italy today.

The next 24 hours for Anizano Glowa.
A 45 minute drive from Provo to Salt lake City.
Then on a plane to Denver .
Then on another plane to Germany and finally on a last plane Milan ,Italy !

Safe fights Ben , we love you .....

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Anizano Glowa Leaves for Italy next Tuesday , Nov. 30th !!!!!

HEY!!!!
So , I'll start this letter with some very exciting news!!! I GOT MY FLIGHT PLANS!!!!!!! I leave on Tuesday November 30th. 
I was so excited to get my flight plans it's so real and I can't wait to get out of here it's been sooooo long but it's finally come time to go to Italy!!! :) I've made a promise to myself that I'm going to talk to whoever I feel inspired to talk to ,on the plane ride there. I don't care if I'm shy or whatever I'm going to lose myself in the work and rid myself of pride and of thinking about myself. The same goes for when I get to Italy, even if I can't have my comp right away I'm just going to talk to people. I can say quit a bit and I understand a lot too so we'll see how that goes. I'll only be blessed with the gift of tongs if i need it, like if I'm not talking to people why would God bless me with that? So I need to show my Heavenly Father that He needs to bless me :)
 
So I didn't send back the coat and it's alright I guess I'll keep it till I get another one but yeah it's warm and stuff it's just that it goes down to mid calf so it's just weird I guess but oh well :)
 
Last Tuesday : we had a devotional with someone from the 70 it was really good. He talked about becoming a Disciple of Christ and how we need to honour that and forget who we were because that's not who we are now and we're not that person for the next 2 years. It was a really eye opener.
 
Wednesday : nothing big, gym got cancelled because 700 new missionaries came because this week is Thanksgiving. New missionaries aren't coming in today so they needed the gym so that was a bummer but its past and over with all .All is good and fine :)
 
Friday: I went to Temple Square so we got there and we went to do a session and it was cool. As I was walking back to get changed and I saw Jeffery R. Holland at the end of the hall. It was so crazy! So I went up to him to talk to him and the first thing he says which was so casual was " hiya guys" hahaha .It was awesome so we shook hands and I told him where I was going and he told us "God Speed" and whatnot ,but it was such a cool experience, hahaha . You can all be very jealous hahahha. It was amazing how I could just feel the spirit around him it was amazing! After that we just went to the conference centre and that's it .Then we left and came back to the MTC but it was such a cool experience.
 
THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE!!!!! I really appreciate it and I love the shirt you found thanks so much, you're all so kind and I love you all so much.
 
FOR VAVA- happy birthday I love you and you're not old you're younger then me :) so don't worry just be happy :) also I'll write you a letter and you'll get it early next week.
 
TRC was yesterday and it was the last one we had to teach the 2nd lesson in Italian and teach the law of tithing it was pretty fun I feel my language skills growing so much it's intense.
 
So that's pretty  much it for me for now . I love you so much stay safe and I'll talk to you next Tuesday on the phone, I won't write an e-mail because I won't have time. I'll try to write you a letter next Monday if I have time. I love you all so much and I'm so excited to hear your voices! :)
 
LOVE YOU ALLL!!
Anziano Glowa

PS
I don't get mail till next Monday because of Thanksgiving .So if people want to dear-elder me they still can I'll just get it all on Monday and make sure your last ones are on Sunday ,because if you write Monday they get there Tuesdays and I'll be gone. ! so yeah if you wanna write me Sunday is the last time that you can address it to the MTC. From now on they can email directly at my email : benjamin.glowa@lsdmail.net 
I love you all so much and I'm so grateful to be on a mission and to do the Lord work.  I'm sorry that everything is misspelt and all I'm just trying to write as fast as possible it won't be like this next week when I get 2 hours to e-mail everyone!! :) I LOVE YOU ALLLLLL!
 

Friday, November 19, 2010

WEEK SEVEN AT THE MTC !


Hey Everyone!!!!
            I'll start with my week: so last Tuesday night I heard from another Apostle. :) And it was my favorite one!!! Elder Bednar!!!! :) It was so awesome; he talked about Doctrine and under the Doctrine are principles and under that are applications.  He told us the answer is always in the Doctrine. Missionaries try to fix problems with applications but the answer is always in the Doctrine, for example you may say obedience is a doctrine and a principle is the word of wisdom and the application is no drinking. Applications are important but if the investigator doesn't understand the Doctrine, he won't follow the application.  Anyway, it was such a sweet talk I really love him! He's one of the few Apostles that when I just look at him I feel the spirit.

Wednesday we got new missionaries we got 2 new districts with a total of 15 missionaries: 11 elders and 4 sisters. There are 7 going to Milan and 8 going to Rome from that group, they're pretty cool. It's fun to be the "older" group and to show them around and tell them how they should be acting and all the fun stuff. 

Thursday Anziano Neff and I had to do a devotional for them explaining how to use MDT(study time) and how to plan and have a good comp inventory. I sent a paper of what I really have to do in a letter to Courtney but yeah that went well. The branch presidency was there and they said that in the 2 and a half years they've been here they've never seen it done so well. :) That made me happy.

Friday was service, as always. I had to take out the garbage and I didn't get to scrub showers. :( Instead I got to clean toilets!! :) Oh joy!!!! Haha it wasn't soo bad, it was kind of gross but service is service and it was fun. :)

This weekend nothing really happened. We got new zone leaders for the Portuguese because they left but besides that nothing much. I didn't give a talk and I'm not sure if I will just because I’m zone leader and they give me a lot to do and they choose more people that are quiet to give talks.

Monday was TRC and it was fun. We had to give directions on how to get to church, which was fun and we taught the 2nd lesson in Italian and the spirit was so strong it was amazing. Also, we taught a progressing investigator whom is really our teacher acting as someone he knew on his mission named Giacomo, a 14 year old boy. It’s really fun and I really feel the Spirit when teaching in Italian. It’s weird how much the Spirit is really communicating to the investigator with my broken Italian.

So that’s it for my week now let me get into some other stuff:
So there aren't really any DA's (dinner appointments) in Italy because people eat late and it takes like 3 hours. We often have lunch with members; dinner doesn't really exist in the field for us. Our lunch is from like 1 to 3 because everything is closed and then we come back at 9 or so, plan and eat. So yeah but I'm so excited to just get outta here. I think I was bored with the MTC within the first week I've was here. Hahaha but yeah, I know I'm probably not ready but I just want to go so that I can actually teach to the Italians. I just want to bear testimony sooo bad and there is only 2 more weeks!!!! I can't wait, hahaha, November 30th here I come! :)

Oh, also I think uncle Mike sent the wrong coat. I got the coat that goes down to my knees so I'm sending it back today. Maybe just call him and explain that I want one that goes to my hips. I guess like I tried on at the missionary mall; it was probably just an accident.

Thats exciting to read about the stake being split in 2013! That would be so awesome!! It just means that the missionaries there have to work harder.

I can't believe Ashley is moving to Montreal right when I leave for my mission! You're going to have to give her a hard time about that one from me, hahaha thanks! :)

Oh guess what!!! Because I’m an international missionary and I'm from a far away land called Canada, I get to go to Temple Square on Friday and do a live session and go to the visitors center and all that. :) I think I'm so excited for that just because I'll be outside of the MTC and even though there are only going to be members in Temple Square, I'm still going to bear testimony and place some books of Mormon. :) I love this gospel so much and I just want to do missionary work so bad it's like a bad craving for like chocolate or something hahahaha. This gospel is truly amazing and to think that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to bring it to the people in Italy, I'm truly humbled and honored.

Thanks for these pictures. I really love them. Oh also I forgot to mention, so yeah I’m leaving on November 30th, do I need my flight itinerary or will they give one to me? I don't have it. I have the photocopy of my passport but not the flight itinerary. Also, my old visa is still cracked so am I going to get another one maybe when I get to Italy? Anyway that’s about it. Are you excited to talk to me on the phone in 2 weeks Tuesday? I'll have to tell you next week what time I'm actually going to call you at :)

Can you thank Nick Gould for me on Facebook or something for sending me a dear elder. I got to hear from him and it was really nice. I miss everyone back home, but I know that I'm here at this specific time for a reason. I don't know why I was called to serve in Italy but I was and I'll be able to teach and baptize all those that the Lord has prepared before hand just for me because he knows that they will only be receptive to the gospel from me and obviously from the spirit.  I honestly love this gospel so much and I'm so grateful for the love that you've given me and in showing me this great church and truth. The church is true. Jesus is the Christ. We are God’s children. He calls prophets and we call can receive personal revelation. I love you so much and it's because of your testimonies that I borrowed as a child that I'm here today. You may say how you're grateful for me to be serving but really I’m grateful for you and it is because of you that I’m serving. I love you so much and I'm so grateful for all that you've done and that you continue to do. You are my life! I can't wait to be with my family for eternity :)

Love Anziano Glowa

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

WEEK SIX AT THE MTC !


          Hello my dear family and friends,
For my scripture plaque I'm going to use Alma 26:27 and 29 because that's how I  feel as a missionaries from time to time but I must not turn away I must relay on the tender mercies of the Lord :) I really love that Scripture so much.
Secondly I'm so proud of you dad and expanding from your comfortable zone and watching movies with your friends, you're growing up right before my eyes im so proud :) ha-ha
 So last Tuesday night guess who came and spoke? M. Russell Ballard!! Three apostles in a row. His talk was really awesome it was on becoming a master teacher and communicator, I cannot believe how blessed I am to have heard 3 apostles talk and testify it's truly amazing I took notes and I will send them with Courtney's letter today.
For service guess what I got to do :) my favourite thing, as soon as I got there  just asked if they needed any showers scrubbed and I scrubbed the heck out them :) ha-ha
So I have this pretty funny story to tell you. Friday nights we have gym from 8:10 to 9 so I played b-ball till like 8:55 and then figured I'd play some volleyball. Two mins before gym ends and my first play in volleyball that night, I go up to make a block and come down on my ankle and heard a crack!. So I just limped off the court and to the medical care unit. They gave me ice and a thing to but on my ankle and gave me crutches.  The next day I used them but it was so hard to get around anywhere and it was super annoying.The next day I told myself I didn't need them and it was like a miracle my ankle just stopped hurting. It was pretty cool because I actually thought I fractured my ankle, sure glad that didn't happen :). So right now my ankle is fine and there's nothing to worry about :)
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and I really wanted to bare my testimony but it was awkward because as a zone leader I sit on the stand so I'm not "in line" so it would have been rude of me to just stand up and cut in front of everyone. So that night I went to talk to my German friend Anziano Schwing and I bore my testimony to him in Italian it wasn't perfect but I was able to say much more then I thought :) I truly feel the gift of tongues in my life :) I've learned more Italian in the 6 weeks that I have been here, then I have French in the past 19 years of my life ,crazy eh :P.

So because it was fast Sunday we had a mission conference. We all went to the gym and listen to the MTC president and his counsellors speak. It was really uplifting and just pumping us to do missionary work :) That night we had a fireside and Sister Sheri Dew ,the old 2nd counsellor in the General Relief Society spook. That was cool and she gave really uplifting words.  I really enjoy being here because I can feel the spirit in all that I do.
TRC yesterday was good we had to pretend to buy stuff and then set up an appointment to teach them the 1st lesson and it was all done in Italian obviously it wasn't perfect but the spirit was there and that's what counts, I love barring testimony :)
Thanks for sending my running shoes I haven't goten them yet but thank you also if you want to send me another pair of Steve maddens you can because mine are getting worn out, what do you think because I will be in Italy in 3 weeks I could just buy shoes there :D hahahaha
I met this sister here and she left for Montreal yesterday she's short and has blond hair, I know that doesn't help much, and I don't know her name but you can look out for her if you want :P
I don't now if you know this but I live on the 1st floor and there are 4 floors for each building. There are 2 sets of zone-leaders on each floor, anyway the 2nd floor makes sooooo much noise and I don't know what the zone leaders are doing. So last Sunday morning when we had our meeting I brought it up and they totally lied saying they didn't hear anything anyway we'll see if things change this week or not hahahaha.
I think that's it ,thanks for your letters. Between your letters and packages and Courtney's and Uncle Mike's ,I feel so blessed and spoiled. Thanks again uncle Mike and aunt Meredith you're the best. And thank the Blakemores for writing me if you can get me their address so I can write them next week that would be good.  Sorry if I didn't answer some of your questions I love you and will talk to you next week :)
Love Anziano Glowa

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

WEEK FIVE AT THE MTC !!!

Hey Everyone!!!
 
There are a few questions dad had that I'm going to answer first okay ha-ha
So the sports I play in gym are "knock out" and sometimes volleyball , thats pretty much it. We get gym 5 times a week and each day I get 50 mins. I don't get it on Tuesday because thats p-day and also Sunday :) . The people that go to my gym time are people in my zone so the Italians and also a bunch of people going Spanish speaking.  Its weird how we don't have our whole branch in the same gym time but whatever ha-ha. Also I did join the choir, they practice 2 times a week, on Sundays during dinner so I skipped that one ,and on Tuesday just before the fireside. I'll go to that one because the speaker of the fireside on Tuesdays are usually General authorities and that way I'll always get a good seat because I'm in the choir :) Haha !
This week we started  progressing an investigator in Italian. It actually wasn't too bad we didn't teach the first lesson we just taught to her needs so we asked a bunch of questions to get to know her. Then she seemed interested in the book of Mormon so we explained about it and gave her 3 Nephi 11 to read and pray about. We meet with her tomorrow, her name is Jlenia . She is actually a teacher here that service in the Catania mission which is the Rome mission now. She's our progressing investigator because the older anziani are in Italy now and she doesn't have anything to do till next Wednesday when new Italians come in.
So the TRC was yesterday it was pretty fun we started with having a fake day so we had to talk about food and get to know her . She is really cool she is actually a native from Rome and has been living here for 9 years.  The lesson went fairly well, I truly believe in the gift of tongs. I thought it was be impossible to teach in Italian but we were able to cover every topic of the 1st lesson and answer questions ,share scriptures and also bare Testimony.  I love teaching and I love teaching in Italian . I'm pretty much starting to be able to formulate sentences faster and faster and I'm able to talk more and more. I think what helps with that is SYL(speak your language) in our district. We set time apart that we only speak our language and right now we have  3 days a week where we speak only Italian so that really helps a lot to practice :). Obviously we're not perfect and I mess up but it's so cool that I know Italian way more then I know French. I even think I've lost almost all my French now because when I want to say something in French it just comes out Italian hahaha.
For service this week I got to scrub showers I LOVE this job so much because there are 4 of us .Three with brooms and one with the hose and it's so fun because we just chill and scrub :)
For Halloween I was a pirate with vampire teeth I'll have to send pictures. My roommate anziano Sanders got some stuff from his girlfriend , so we had eye patches and earrings hahaha. It was alot of fun ,we didn't go trick or treating because we had sooooo much candy :) ha-ha
I listened to the recording you sent me. Thanks so much, its good to hear your voices. I miss you all so much but at the same time I don't because I'm really happy here .I hope that makes sense . I'll be taping a recording soon here , but I won't send it till I record some stuff about Italy when I'm there hahaha.
I want to thank some people who wrote me this week Brigitte Kaufman and Jon Kaufman, Nancy & Chris Gagnon, and Alex Morales I don't have time to write everyone back but I'm so grateful for your letters it gives me such hope and strength I love you all.                                                                                                                               If you want to write me so I can respond, you should write dear-elders on the weekend because I don't get dear-elders on weekends. They all come on Monday and I only get dear-elders once a day so if you write me Monday chances are I'll get it Tuesday which means I've had already written my e-mail to all of you. 
I'm loving the MTC it's just an amazing place and I love feeling the spirit all the time :)
I love you soooooooo much!!!!
 
love anziano Glowa
 
P.S I'm getting Phil's dear-elders and I'm writing him today I just didn't have time last week so no worries .I'm loving all the dear-elders :)  THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH !!!!!

Friday, October 29, 2010

WEEK FOUR AT THE MTC !!!

Hey everyone!!!
Thanks so much for the Rome temple pics. We've been talking about it all this week just because this saturday was the ground breaking. :) It's such a blessing that the Italians will have a temple to call their own.  So I'll give you some details in case you don't know but it's going to be the church headquarters in Europe, there is going to be a hotel so people can stay the night and also there it going to be a visitors centre, which is great because from what i've heard Italians love visitors centers :) hahaha oh also I've known this for a while but it's just taken me a few times to remember when I'm at the computer but guess what... so there are now only 2 missions; Rome and Milan. And guess what Milan extends to... We reached to all of Tuscany now. :D Isn't that awesome! So now I get every city that I want. Haha I think my mission just got a bit cooler. :)
So yeah also I was at a fireside and after the fireside I ran into an elder by the name of Elder Browne. Guess what, he was the kid that got into the mtc a week after me and was in the ward that Jason is now serving in... isn't that awesome??? :)
So last tuesday night we had a devotional and Russell M. Nelson came and spoke to us. :) It was so amazing. I could feel the spirit so strong as soon as he came in.  He talked about missionary work as all the speakers do, so it wasn't really anything different but the spirit was so strong. I can testify that he is a true apostle of the Lord.. haha starting to sound a little brainwashed like Jason I guess haha but it's true he's such a powerful man.
Thursday for MDT (which is study time for comp/languauge study) my comp Anziano Neff and I went around the MTC bearing testimony in Italian to random people. It was so much fun! :) and it seemed like I was in Italy. :) Haha it made me want to go soooo badly!!!!
So for service this week it wasn't too bad. I just had to change garbages and also clean tubs but it was so fun when I went to the third floor to clean the tub. It was full of water and there were toys in it and army men EVERYWHERE!!!! It was so funny!!!! :) Hahahahahaha! So on Saturday, the same day as the temple ground breaking, we had zone conference because the older missionaries left today. It was spiritual and awesome they just gave us advice which was cool.
So this sunday was my first full sunday as zone leader. I'll tell you my responsibilities. So we have to make the schedule for church which includes songs, sacrement and prayers. Also we get to sit on the stand, which is a little weird but whatever haha. Also we have to get the sacrement bread for those preparing it. One of our more difficult jobs is making sure people are in their rooms and quiet at quiet time which is 10:15. So yeah we always get some that try and brush their teeth at 10:14 and I guess they will never understand that it takes more then 30 seconds to brush their teeth... oh well haha. We also have meetings... a lot of them. So we have them at 6:45 in the morning on Sundays, which is tiring but not bad. We have branch council on Sundays at 7:30 and a traning every Tuesday night at 9. We have to interview all the DL's to see how the districts are doing and if we can help and give council for anything. That's about it for my responsibilities.
Let's see what else... OH YEAH!!! THANKS FOR MY PACKAGE!!!!! I got it yesterday and I really appreciate it. I love getting pics; so awesome!!! I'm so grateful for all you give me and that you write me. It makes everything so much easier knowing my family supports me. Can you thank the Blakemores and the Perras for deareldering me. It gives me hope when I get letters from people in our ward. So TRC was yesterday and it was our last time teaching in English. The lesson went well and the spirit was strong. We committed him to baptism for November 19th (random date) and he accepted! :) So that's awesome! I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous to be teaching in Italian next week hahaha.
I'm so happy for Chris and I can testify that he is needed in the Philippines and that there are people who need to hear the gospel from him only... Its a call from the Prophet of the Lord and I know that he is going to do great. I'm also going to write him this week but just tell him how proud I am of him and that I love him. 
Also can you send me a jacket because it is getting a little colder here like it's going to snow any day now haha so yeah. I can say that I truly love the MTC. The spirit here is so strong but I can't wait to go to Italy and preach the gospel to those who need the message that families can be together forever. I testify that this is true, that Jesus is the Christ. He died for me as he did for all of you and it is ONLY through the atonement of Jesus Christ that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father, our Brother Jesus Christ and also our families.  It is only through our Saviour that we can obtain eternal life; I testify that this is true and that we can live much happier lives with the gospel. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God who restored this Church and brought back so many truths that had been lost, that Thoms S. Monson is the current Prophet  and he leads and guides his children today. I testify that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I wear his name on my chest everyday and I've never felt more responsibility in my life; I will do all I can to represent our Savior and to bring our brothers and sisters home... I love this Church as I do all of you and I say this in the name of Jesus Chisrt, Amen.
It's weird how you just feel like bearing your testimony sometimes. It just feels great and thats what i'm most excited to do in Italy. I love you all and am so grateful for your support. Talk to you next week. I love you all
 
See you in 2 years
Anziano Glowa

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

WEEK THREE AT THE MTC.

HEY!!!!!
Just to start off, I kind of need a coat, so if you want to send that one we looked at, that would be awesome!! :)
So this week was nothing special ha-ha ,we switched to studying the 2nd lesson which is the plan of salvation.
I was having trouble learning how to switch from each topic but our teachers told us to just apply the atonement into each aspect and it really works.  I'm not going to say I'm the best or anything but I feel really good about my self when teaching the 2nd lesson.
So my teachers names are fratello(brother) Merrell which is elder Merrell's cousin, the one he wanted me to call and also fratello Calder. I love both my teachers they both served in Milan which is awesome because they sometimes just talk to us about the area.  This week in Italian we learnt how to follow up and re-commit investigators and also we learnt how to repent in prayers.
This week has also been a little weird. In case you didn't know I had 10 people in my district and there were 12 people in the other district but 3 people have gone home in the other district.I think its better that way because they're getting a chance to cleared up things that they needed to.  
So this week for service, I had the grossest job EVER!!!! I had to clean the drains of the showers which means pulling out the hairs and gross stuff like that. It wasn't too bad but it was pretty gross. Oh well I love service any ways , so it was awesome.
I have even more exciting news to tell you, because the other anziani are going home next week they needed new zone leaders and guess who that is!!! that's right everyone, me :) hahaha
There are a set of Italian zone leaders and a set of Portuguese zone leaders going to Brazil. As zone leaders we are in charge of watching over 100 people so its pretty awesome.
I'm doing all I need to do to serve the Lord. It's weird to think this way but I can't imagine the MTC without the extra responsibility that I've been given.  So yeah, besides that nothing really happened. 
I miss you all so much and I wish that I could have watched Ron Burgundy with you dad ,hahaha.
Anyway so you know I just sent out the pictures this Friday. It was the 15th or 16th or something ,so you might get them this week.  Also Temple walks are cancelled on Sundays because some stupid elders have been meeting their parents for picnics. It is so retarded, so they are cancelled till further notice.
Oh I almost forgot to tell you about my TRC yesterday thats when I teach a fake investigator, I didn't make anyone cry this time but the spirit was so strong and we bore really strong testimony on the atonement!! I love teaching the 2nd lesson! :)  Tell the Feths that I'll be praying for them ,I hope all is all right and it's nothing too serious. Dad I'm sorry you had to build the tempo by yourself I wish I could have help you just like the good old days when I helped you with the back yard. Make sure it stays nice and leaves don't get in there :P 
I love you all and I'm praying for you all everyday. I love this gospel with all my heart and I feel as though in Alma 29:1. I just want to preach with the trump of God. I love you my family with all my heart. Take care and I'll talk to you next week. Thanks for the DearElders! :)
 
Ciao Anziano Glowa :)
LOVE YOU ALLL! :)
P.S. Please thank John Blackmore for the dearelders. Hey just so you all know, I have lost weight .I'm down to 154 to 156 it varies but I'm keeping it under control. I now know how to control what i eat (somewhat) hahaha. I love you all and I can't wait to hear from you.



Wednesday, October 13, 2010

WEEK TWO AT THE MTC !!!


Hey! So how is everyone?  
So first off I don't have time to read everyone's e-mails every-week so unless you're sending pics I would rather you send dear elders (dearelder.com) just so I have time to send e-mails more. So let's see what happened this week: Wednesday we learned how to talk about our families so I'm learning more and more Italian. It's so awesome and I truly feel the gift of tongues :)
Also I'm really good friends with this older missionary in an older district going to Milano and his name is Anziano Healy he reminds me of myself :)
I love the food and I've gained so much weight I've gained 7 pounds, so I'm going to have to fix something or I'll come out of here pretty fat hahaha
My companion and I had a cool experience of teaching our zone leader.  He was being a fake investigator, and we bore strong testimony as he was talking about not being able to pray or that he didn't want to because he was comfortable living the way he was without prayer, and I was directed by the spirit to ask him where we would be if people stayed comfortable? Where would we be if Joseph Smith didn't pray, or if the other prophets stayed comfortable, so yeah that was awesome.
Friday we do service and me and some people in my district cleaned showers it was pretty fun because we had to spray them down with a huge hose and then scrub them :)
Oh and one of my elders found a really cool scripture that you have to read Hebrews 13:24 I'm not even going to tell you what it is because it's so amazing :)
Yesterday was TRC did I explain what that was? I'll re-tell you, it's when you go in for the first introduction and set an appointment in Italian and then teach a lesson in English to a real member pretending to be an investigator.  So the Italian part was pretty funny because I understand a lot but I can't say too much or I think I can't but when I'm put in the situation I always pull through.  haha
The lesson part was so spiritual :) we taught to this guy and were trying to understand his needs, he was concerned with God really loving his children and I bore testimony that I know everything happens for a reason and gave experience on how when you have trials you gain patience and experience, and he started to cry.   I don't know if he was faking it or if he was a member that needed to hear something that I said, so I guess I'll never know but it was an awesome experience. haha
So I'm going to be sending pictures with the letter I write to Courtney this week I should be sending around 50 of them I haven't decided if it's going to be a CD of pictures of the actual pictures.
Thanks so much for the pictures, I loved them, I miss you all so much but I know that I'm here for a reason and I'm glad that I'm doing the lord work.
 
I love you all
Anziano Glowa :)
P.S. also who's to say if you were to send me a box of wonderful candies :) haha I love you! :)
P.S.S.OK I have time for one more cool experience. We have 3           sisters in our district and one of them wasn't feeling well so I had the opportunity to give her a priesthood blessing for the sick and I felt the sprit and the blessing I gave was truly from God . The sister's name is sister Steber so when I send pics you'll know who I'm talking about haha okay that'Is about all the time I have left.  I love you so much and remember DEARELDERS AND NOT E-MAILSS haha well some e-mails like one but not too many until I enter Italy I love you!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Benjamin's first letter from the MTC

Hello my family so as to quote Jason I only have 3 mins to write hahaha joking joking !!!!
I just started to I have 30 mins any ways so let me start off when I said good bye to you at the MTC. So they bring us into this gym and it feels like the holocaust because they move us from line to line filling in info and stuff until we get our name tag and my name tag read Anziano Glowa pretty awesome eh!
so yeah and then we went to our class room to meet the other people in my district oh and guess who my language teacher is it's elder Merrell's cousin the one I was supposed to call but never did so I guess everything just works out great :).
Lets see what to tell you about  my comp, his name is Anziano Neff and he looks like the kid from James and the Giant Peach which is pretty awesome he's a cool kid and we're learning a lot of the gospel.  In our district we have 10 people including me there are 3 sisters and 7 elders and guess who the District Leader is? that's right you got it it's your very own son Anziano Glowa :) At the beginning I was feeling a little home sick which was weird because I've never felt such an emotion but the letters from you and Courtney really help. I truly love you all.  I want to thank Nancy for writing to me it was nice to get something from someone in our ward. I also want to thank you for everything you've sent me, the chips, donuts, jerky, etc.. oh and the PIE!!! that was awesome I shared with with my district it was sooo good thanks for truly thinking about me :)
On Wednesday I learned how to pray and that's awesome because I got to practice the language, then the next day Thursday we learned how to bare testimony so now I can pray and bare testimony in a broke a Italian hahaha.  As a district we also memorized our missionary purpose found in peach my gospel page 1 all in Italian so that was awesome!  I love being district leader because I can be a leader and an example to my district.
How amazing was conference? I especially loved the priesthood session , I was not in the choir because they already had the choir but there were people in my zone that sang so that was awesome, oh and I have some excited news I heard  my mission president in Italy allows 2 hours of e-mail time and I can e-mail anyone I like, I guess because postage is expensive and it takes a long time ,so thats awesome, although it could also be a rumour but I hope it's not. My favourite talk at conference was on gratitude by President Monson it was so awesome I love that man he's a great prophet.
Another cool experience I want to leave with you is something that happened last night . Let me start by saying that for the companionships there is Neff and myself also there is Anderson and Sanders and then there is a threesome which is Hopper, Schwin and Mcaffee, so with the threeo Hopper is the senior comp and he's a bit different then everyone which isn't the worst and he just feels overwhelmed with the language because he can't get it as fast and he feels that no one respects him in his companionship. As a district leader I met with the senior comps so I was meeting with him and he broke down and told me all his heart aches and I felt the impression to give him a priesthood blessing so I gave one to him and I think he truly felt the love of the Lord and understand that we all just got here and that there is nothing to be worried about so I guess I did my job as district leader and helped out one of my fellow district members. One more thing , we had our TRC which is like a training session where we teach fake investigators and we had to do the greetings in Italian to get to know them which was fun and hard.  It was a real eye opener to how much I don't know the language but it was so awesome.  Then we taught the first lesson in English it went really well my comp and I split the lesson up and when he didn't know what to say I would jump in and when we answered the questions the investigators had I was the one who answered them because my comp is a little bit less experienced.  But yeah we're going to work on it more together.  The TRC training that i talked about is something that we do every Monday so it's something that we practice and work for and later on the investigators will take the role of someone they knew on their own mission and if we don't do a good job on teaching them they could actually drop us ha-ha.   It is a good motivation for us to work hard.  Anyway that's it i love you all so much and i hope this is the type of e-mail that you're all looking for ha-ha is it like Jason's e-mails? Ask me anything and I'll do my best to answer your questions i love you all so much.
 
Love Anziano Glowa
 
Other cool info- there are about 30 elders going to Italy 9 of them going in 2 weeks and 21 of us in 7 weeks and it's split pretty even. the mission has split to 2 parts Milan and Rome and Milan now gets everything that we hoped for it includes Tuscany just and everything down to Rome which is awesome.
I sleep on the bottom bunk and I love the MTC it's a powerful place and I've learned to humble myself and to pray always I love you all write to you next week :)
 
LOVE YOU MOM LOVE YOU DAD!!!! THANKS FOR EVERYTHING YOU"RE THE BEST PARENTS EVER and dad don't apologize you're the best dad ever and I'm grateful for the example and the things you've done to help me be closer to my Father in Heaven I love you both. :) <3

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Benjamin reading his call letter on May 17 2010

Missionaries LOVE receiving letters


ELDER BENJAMIN GLOWA IS NOW IN THE MTC SINCE SEP 29 2010

You can register to DearElder and send  letters at no cost while Elder Glowa is staying at the MTC.
HIS MTC BOX NUMBER IS: 336.  Click the link above (the blue text at the bottom of the picture - above) and register to DearElder.
All you will  need are:
  • Elder Benjamin Glowa's  MTC box  number : 336   
  • The anticipated MTC date of departure : 1201
  • The Mission Code: ITA-MIL  (for Italy Milan)
  • An email address 
  • Creation of a  password
SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO REGISTER 
IN 9 ILLUSTRATED STEPS 
BY CLICKING THE PICTURE BELOW:

From References
Once the picture is opened, you can enlarge it by clicking the magnifier icon located at the top right corner. 
 Once enlarged, the picture does not appear completely in the widow, so you need to use the mouse to see more of it.  Click on  the picture, then by holding the left button down, move  up and down or left and right to navigate the whole picture. Just like a map!
 Missionaries LOVE receiving letters.