I love being a missionary !!!!

MARCH 14th, 2014

This week went, by quick. I like how you talked about the story of Naaman in the old Testament. I loved his faith about bathing 7 times. We actually learned about the importance of numbers. As you may or may not know in the European missions there is a promise by an Apostle that if you get 20 lessons weekly,our baptisms will double. So we talk a lot of how numbers are everything but nothing at the same time. We don't go teaching 20 lessons for the numbers but to help those people. It's like Naaman that had to bath 7 times, it's not the number 7 that matters, it's just what was asked of him. Like Peter denying Christ 3 times and then Christ asking him 3 times if he loved him, giving him 3 times to repent and say that he loves Him. In the scriptures numbers are important but sometimes we forget that it's not so much about the numbers. It's what's behind the number in this case like I said it's not our job to teach lessons but to teach people, we need to look for those people not those lessons, anyway thanks for sharing that with me :)

Today i bought 14 ties, they are soooo legit and look so awesome I bargained with the guy and he gave them to me for £2 a piece. You won't find a better price in all of Italy, I'm super tight with the guy so when we come back to Firenze ill show you where to buy cheep ties, and just because they are £2 doesn't mean they suck, they are top of the line, made in Italy, not some Chinese made stuff :)

So I'll give a run down of our investigators...

MICHELE- He's a man in his 60s who has suffered with depression for 20 years and wants to make a change in his life and has a baptismal date for the 7th of April. We had some trouble having him progress, but he's doing way better. We just found out that the medicine that he takes causes his brain to be empty. So he doesn't remember things he reads in the book or Mormon or the things we teach don't always stick in. But he's way cool so we made a program with him of reading only 5 verses a day and just keep reading them until he understands and its been working, and he has learned to say more sincere prayers, he's way cool :)

XIOMARA-  Is a 16 year old girl whose parents won't let her get baptized. So we had a fast and invited her to be baptized the 7th of April and we will be doing a weekly fast asking her parents to change their hearts. She's way cool and all she wants to do is get baptized. It's against rules to ask you to fast with us so I can't do that, but just keep her in your prayers. she will get baptized.

JESSICA-  Is a 24 year old woman who got married to an Italian 5 years ago, she's american. She's way open and cool and wants to learn more, she just has a great desire and just a real honest person. 

SAMUEL- Is a referral from a new convert. We invited him to baptism for the 7th of April but we haven't met him lately so we will have to move his date.

We have other potentials that will become more legit if we can meet with them this week, so we will let you know also we have some referrals from members. The work is just blooming with the warm weather, we just need to meet theses peeps to make them legit!

Yesterday we went to Milan, every month, the zone leaders all over the mission meet at the mission home for something called "consiglio". All 7 zones get together (14 missionaries) the APs and the travelling APs which are like assistance but they travel the mission going on scambi with other missionaries to train them. So in all it's a meeting at Presidents house with the leaders, its soo cool and they feed us, it's soooo good. All the zone leaders are  my good friends in the mission, its just so much fun. So yesterday we got taught on how to help our zones and how we need to be the best example and everything which is cool because just about all of us are getting 20 lessons a week or more. So the work is just going to explode as we continue to lead with example. I'm just sooooo pumped! I love Firenze, I love the mission and I love being a missionary, I almost don't want to come home ever, because this is what I'm good at. I don't know what I'll do when I get home... haha go out with the missionaries I guess :) 

Soo WHAT ABOUT MY DRIVERS LICENSE? 

Anyways just know that I'm doing well. I love my mission and I'm working hard. I just want to baptize and help people so much!! I love working, it's not easy and Satan tries to tell me that I don't want to but I do and I love doing it so much! The mission has changed me I mean I know I'm the same but I'm different, does that make sense? Anyway I love you all thanks for writing me, also please thank the Gagnons. I got the Christmas package they sent me thank them very much and give them a huge hug from me.... thanks !

I LOVE YOU

Love Anziano Glowa

Milan.... February 2012

First week in Firenze

MARCH 7th, 2012

HEY!

Wow, let me just tell you how busy I feel all the time!!! haha It seems like we are always doing something and have no time for anything, some how we were able to get 20 lessons but we haven't had ANY time to do finding work together let me explain...

THURSDAY-I got to Firenze at around 4. It was a 4 hour train ride or something like that. Anyway there were 8 elders in Firenze but 2 companionships closed and one of sisters opened, so we are now 4 elders and 2 sisters in the zone. There are 2 branches of about 60 people in each maybe more and the sisters are in our branch which is called Firenze 1. So we get home and I bring in all my bags Before I got there there were 4 missionaries living there, so 3 of them left and I came in. So lets just say the place was a super gross... and I've learned something on the mission, if your home is dirty, you can't feel the spirit. So it was worth taking a few hours to clean it so that we could have the spirit to guide and direct us. Anyway we were just about to start cleaning when we get a call from the sisters that their apartment was super dirty and there pillows were gross and didn't have sheets. Anyway long story short we had to go over, because we are zone leaders we are able to go into the sisters apartment with them there to investigate the place. Let me tell you, it wasn't half as dirty as ours, our pillows were 10000 times grosser and the sheets wasn't such a big deal anyway to make this short. We spent 3 hours, helping the sisters deal with their problem because we had sheets so we had to go all the way home and back again so we did that 4 times there back there and back and it takes 15 mins on bike just to get there. Anyway so that took forever and then we didn't even get to clean our apartment ... Also as zone leaders we have to make a zone vision for the zone and present it by Monday so we had to do that. We are doing 8 this transfer... so many!! Anyway we just had time to start thinking about the vision we wanted,.... long day but way fun, I LOVE ANZIANO WELLER, he's just like my trainer and I LOVE MY TRAINER. We are just such good friends  Anziano Weller and I and we just want to serve and work hard.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY-I don't remember exactly how everything went but we had to run a bunch of errands and make our zone vision and clean the apartment and everything! We got just about all that done with, I like cleaning it helps me think and I like the environment I create! :) Also dishes don't really bother me, so watch out Courtney I'll just be cleaning and washing dishes all the time! hahaha I'm sure you have no problem with that ;)

SUNDAY- We went to church and it was awesome. I bore testimony introduced myself .  We came home and had to finished our weekly planning and on top of having to make a vision for the zone we have to have our person vision...long story short, we didn't get the chance to leave our apartment...but everything is finally done, thank goodness now we can focus. 

MONDAY- We presented our vision to the district and then I had my first scambi as a zone leader. I went to the other part of town in Firenze 2 with Anziano Hess. It's only his second transfer,he's  just a fire ball. I was able to lead by example in casa, street contacting and teaching. I'm proud that the Lord can trust me in a zone leader position. I was happy to able to help this missionary grow, also I learned alot from him too. When you are so old in the mission you just get stuck doing things the same way. He was able to help me change and even do things better, it was a great scambi. My comp Anziano Weller stayed in our zone with Anziano Kimball who was my zone leader 2 transfers ago when I was in Busto.

TUESDAY- I never got to were I wanted to go , so we re-scambied and then we went to another district meeting to present our zone vision and do another scambi (yeah I haven't been home since Monday morning, my first week as zone leader and I do 2 scambi so awesome!) We went to Pisa. So we had district meeting and for the scambi I stayed with Anziano Hardy (Courtney you meet him in Treviso, he was the younger missionary, do you remember him) He's way cool we had a blast, he's not much younger then me in the mission. So I didn't have to  train him or anything we just really worked together and were both really good examples. It was a fun time, and because we were working and I'm 100% obedient, I didn't go take pictures with the leaning tower of Pisa... but I did see it and it's sooo amazing, so awesome to actually see it in person.

WEDNESDAY-my comp came back to Pisa so we could re-scambi and because today in pday we are able to take pictures so we did today, so no worries I got pictures and I would send a bunch home but I DON'T HAVE MY USB.....UMMM I WONDER IF THERE IS ANYONE AT HOME WHO COULD HELP ME WITH THIS PROBLEM.....COUGH COUGH HINT HINT..... anyway it was way fun

We have awesome investigators, I'll go through them quickly...

-Michele has a bap date for the 17 of March.

-Xiomara (pronounced sea-oh-marra) is a 16 year old girl whose parent's wont let her get baptized. We just set a date for her for the 7th of April, and we are going to do everything to help her parents say yes.

Those are our 2 baptismal dates. We have other potentials and the work is just going to well here. I didn't really talk about the lessons we taught this week and I'm sorry I just talked about the things I had to get done, I'll talk about the week better next week.

I just wanted to comment on dad's question if we have a car and if i drive...we don't have a car, we are on bike, YEAH! but if I was in car I wouldn't be able to drive...BECAUSE MY DRIVERS LICENSE IS EXPIRED....I WISH THERE WAS SOMEONE AT HOME THAT COULD HELP ME........COUGH COUGH HINT HINT...... 

Anyways I love you all and I hope you have a great week, I'm going to explain my zone vision to Courtney in letter form so you will hear about it its sooooo great. I'm so pumped to just help everyone and to BAPTIZE HERE!!!!

P.S. all my missionary friends like Anziano Bolnick and Anziano Dunshee got home last Friday, Courtney add them on facebook and tell them if you can, that I love them! :) 

I love you all

Love Anziano Glowa

New Posts !

Hello fellow blog followers.
I've finally updated Anziano Glowa's blog.
The next 6 posts are all new.... Enjoy !!!!!

I'm going to FLORENCE!!!!!!!

FEBRUARY 29th, 2012

 I have something huge to tell you, so this transfer was only 5 weeks because next week President Wolfgramm has to go to a mission president conference. So he did transfers early which means it was transfers this week... And the Lord has called me to be a Zone Leader, but not just anywhere. You're never going to believe this but I'm going to FLORENCE!!!!!!!  Can you believe that!!!??? I'm so pumped and excited, I leave tomorrow. I go to Milan and from there I go to Firenze(Florence in Italian). It's about a 3 to 4 hour train ride, my companion will be Anziano Weller. Courtney met him in San Remo last year, he's a cool guy .I was in the MTC with him he's one group older than me. Anyways so that's the huge news, I'm going to serve in one of the prettiest cities in the world!!! I'm just so excited. I'M GOING TO FIRENZE!!! The other cities in my zone that I have to visit are as follows, La Spezia, Pisa, Livorno, Siena, Prato and Pistoia and obviously Firenze!! I'm so excited it's going to be so much fun.  Its like a dream come true, everyone wants to go serve there but I actually get to :) haha anyways I'm not trying to be prideful I'm just excited!

Hey so I had a pretty good week, lots of work work work...

Friday we were trying to contact as many people as possible and we found this guy named Arshed Mohamed haha. Well he's Muslim .So we talked to him and he was really open and I offered a book of Mormon in his language which is ordo or something like that, and so we made an appointment for the next day to give him the book of Mormon.

The next day was Carnavale ( carnival) which is like Halloween, everyone dresses up, there confetti and rides and parade and food and candy and everything. Anyways Centro was packed and I mean packed and I thought it was going to be impossible to find Arshed Mohammed. But we called him and he was there like he promised and we gave him the book of Mormon. He said he would read it. We felt we needed to invite him to church...I didn't think he would come so the invite went something like this..."if you want to come to church, you're invited, this is the address" and he was like yeah I'll come tomorrow... Anyway we didn't think anything about it. Then we had an appointment with Winsin it was about the restoration. He's interested but he's always saying things like  "I don't have time" anyways he said he would come to church so we were pretty pumped for him to come.

On Sunday, at 10:30 we got a phone call and  I thought it was going to be Winsin but it was Arshed Mohammed haha. He came to church and Winsin didn't! haha. The person we didn't think was going to come came, haha He came in for sacrament meeting and answered his phone during the sacrament prayer it was so embarrassing but he came haha it was really funny, we had a good Sunday besides that, working hard and all that,

On Monday we went to Varese for d-meeting, at 11:05 we got a call from president, my companion anziano Mitchell answered the phone, and pres said he wanted to talk to me. It was nothing epic he just said that he was calling me to be a zone leader in Firenze and just gave me some expectations like how to be a zone leader. He said  you need to be an example in finding, teaching, baptizing and in obedience, everything I already know but anyway that was it.

Sorry I'm not writing more, I don't have that much time, but I'm soooo excited to go to Firenze.

Anyways all in all I'm sad to leave Busto because I wasn't there very long, but lets be serious here I'm going to friggen Firenze haha. I'm going to get soooooo many ties! Anyways that's not what's important. I'm going to do the Lords work there and to baptize a heck of a lot! I I love you all and I'm so grateful for the support I get.

Love Anziano Glowa

All in all I'm working hard, I'm loving my mission and miracles will come,

FEBRUARY 22nd ,2012

Hey!

So this week was interesting...right now we have no progressing investigators and we dropped Mary, it's not as bad as it sounds and I'm not crushed. It just means we have to do a lot of finding work this week to find legit peeps! Oh how I love finding work, I really do love it.  I was talking to the bishop and I kind of made a comment to him about how I'm sorry that I haven't baptized since I've been here. And he just like took me by the shoulder and was like Anziano, just because you haven't baptized doesn't mean you're not working. I know your working hard, and it means a lot to me.  It was just nice to hear that the bishop sees that I'm working hard, and he understands that it's not how many baptisms you have but its your dedication to finding, teaching and baptizing. It's your dedication to do those things, not the actual number, and I'm understanding that more and more in my missionary work with everyday that passes.

Anyway back about the work, we have some investigators that are pretty cool, but they just don't commit themselves to meet with us. Like I'll give you an example, we have referral we got a while back and we have met him once so far. He's so cool, He's a south American who's 29 years old, his friend's on a mission. But he just always says stuff like I'll see you at church, last Sunday he didn't come. Then after church my comp and I  saw that we had 5 missed calls. My comp had the phone and it was on silent. It turns out that we didn't see him but he did in-fact come to church. He was outside and couldn't find the building... So we called him and wanted to set a meeting with him ,he just couldn't commit to a day or time. Anyway all of our investigators was like that, so this week we are on the finding train just look for those elect people that we don't have to drag to church or to meet with us but we can draw them, anyway that's what we're doing.

Miracle of the week has to do with this guy named Valentino. First let me just say I love ward parties talking to people and seeing who's members and who's not. This story goes back a little bit to my first week at Busto at the Christmas party. Keep in mind it's my first week, even before church so I have NO idea who's members and what not. But I still had a fun time talking to people and what not. Then I start talking to Daniele and his cousin Valentino. Now Daniele is a member and Valentino's not, but to fix the confusion I just asked straight out, are you members here? I don't know anyone! Then they explained that Daniele was a member and Valentino wasn't. Anyway that night I made friends with Valentino just getting to know him talk to him about church and stuff, he's a cool guy. I told  we needed  to talk to him more some time, he agreed. Fast forward to about 6 weeks ago, we go with Daniele and Valentino for a lesson.Daniele tells me to meet him at the church so I'm pumped I'm thinking we are going to have a sweet lesson at the church. It turns out they just wanted to pick us up and go around centro talking....Not what we had in mind, but we found out way more about Valentino and about how he's read the new testament. How he's confused about if there's a God  and how to get answers from prayers. So we talked to him about Joseph Smith. It's super powerful and then  we told him that we needed to teach him more things. He said that was fine and to  just call him up. Nothing happened for about 4 weeks and then Daniele gave his cousin a Book of Mormon with his testimony in it. So now we are at what happened last Friday... We get picked up, (I already had thought we weren't going to the church) We ended up going to this sweet place to eat called old wild west, anyway it was awesome. Valentino had so many questions and we were just guided by the spirit and after ever response we gave, he would say that's what I needed to hear. Or he would say  that's so interesting. He had a lot of questions like is there a God? and  how do you know? We didn't just respond with  pray and read, but we were just guided by the spirit in the way we answered his questions. We even talked to him about baptism and how if he knew these things were true he would follow it by getting baptized and he said  of course. It was such a good lesson but this is the best part, he agreed to meet us at his cousin's house. We will finally be meeting with him and giving him a discussion. We don't know when we will start, but its just great progress. He just wanted to get to know us first and make things casual but now he's like so when will we meet our anziani at your house (talking to Daniele) anyways it was awesome

All in all I'm working hard, I'm loving my mission and miracles will come, this week will be fun with finding work, please pray that we will have success, I love you all and im so grateful for you!, 

Did you get my pictures I sent last week? Anyways also I did a scambi with Anziano Higgs, we are such great friends and he's sooo cool, I really love that guy, he's like one of those guys that you meet on the mission and you know you'll be friends forever :) 

Love you all have a great week

Anziano Glowa

p.s Tell Courtney that Anziano Higgs has a girlfriend named, Kiersten Knobloch, ask her to add her on facebook if she hasn't already. Also when she add her just send a small message to her telling her that your boyfriend is on the mission with her boyfriend and we're best friends :)

LOVE YOU!

I mean once you get, spit on, punched in the face, hit in the face with a cane, and get the cops called on you and get investigated, there is nothing you can't do.

FEBRUARY 15th,2012

Hey!

I dont have too much time to email this week, I'll just give a run down of our investigators and also talk about how interviews went with president...

As for investigators we have Kevin, he is no longer getting baptized on the 25th of Feb. He didn't come to church this Sunday and in fact this past week we have not met with him at all, because he wasn't answering his phone and it was off, we thought he was trying to ditch us because he wasn't interested. But, we had district meeting on Tuesday morning and we went to Varese and we found him! Well actually he found us, we were walking and I heard a "HEY!" and I turned around and it was him. He had forgotten his phone on the train and doesn't have money to buy another one so that is why we lost contact with him. The smart thing would have been to say "well we will come over tomorrow at such and such a time" but we weren't thinking and instead we just kinda said "when you get your phone this week call us" which isn't the best situation... But we are hoping on running into him again he's just one of those guys you see all the time at random times. So if we are doing the Lords work, the Lord will help us meet again, and when he does call us we will be able to see how legit he is! :) So for Kevin when we do meet with him we will move his baptismal date to the middle of March just so he can meet the bishop and everything like that...SIDENOTE: mom my bishops wife said she sent you a message on facebook, and you didn't reply... could you maybe reply hahaha thanks

Lets talk about Mary Brando and how frustrating she is... we went over Saturday night and had a bomb lesson, we talked about quitting smoking and her desire and everything. She is really scared to do it, like she thinks it's the most impossible thing in the world. I asked an inspired question..." how would you feel if we took all your cigs tonight" of course she just kinda laughed and said, "no anziano, you cant". I asked her how many she had here and I told her to get her pack, she had 5. I told her she could smoke 3 tonight and had to crush the other 2 and that the next day she was done forever! She seemed okay with that and crushed the 2 cigs in front of us and we thought we were making progress. The next day at church she didn't come, not to run away but because her son was throwing up, which was true because he looked really sick the night before. I gave her a call to see how it was going the whole not smoking anymore and she told me that she bought a pack and had smoked 10 of them!!! so frustrating!! I mean I understand its hard, but I just don't know what to do, I dont think there is anything, She will have to decide if she wants to quit to be baptized or not and if not we can teach her anymore, we have a lesson with her tomorrow, pray for us to figure something out thanks! :)

We got Winsin, he was a referral about a month ago and we just could never meet with him, finally we did. He's cool, he's from south America and he's 29. He wants to follow Christ but I can tell he'll do it when its convenient for him...he accepted a soft invite to be baptized but denied the hard saying things like im way busy with work and stuff. We will be meeting him this week again to teach him and help him come unto Christ.

Yesterday we were doing casa and the Lord blessed us, with all those hours walking and doing casa we found someone :) His name is Giulio pronounced (jew-li oh) He's way cool we committed him to be baptized he said yes. We didn't bring up a date, he's from south America and has been here 2 months he speaks really well and understands well too, we will bring a south American to our next lesson. He's 24 and I have a vision of him serving a mission in about a year :)

That's it for investigators, I talked to president about my extension, it made me feel good what pres said to me, he said "I would LOVE for you to extend, in fact plan on it" and then I said well pres "I'm not sure if im extending or not because of a few circumstances, like vovo and stuff. I told him I would pray about it and WHATEVER the Lord tells me to do I'll do it". He said I have time and I'll talk to him about it in about 4 months. So I don't know what to do, I want to extend but at the same time I'm getting more excited to see my family and I know it will be hard to extend. I know I'll have to pray about it and do what the Lord wants, just know that I love my mission so much!

 I love you guys so much and just know that I'm pumped to work, and I have been rejected a lot on the mission, haha. It reminds me of when I started my call centre job and the first "why the £$%& are you calling me" haha. I was so scared and just didn't like it, haha I feel like I can do anything with the rejections I've faced on my mission haha. I mean once you get, spit on, punched in the face, hit in the face with a cane, and get the cops called on you and get investigated, there is nothing you can't do. But I know that Lord is watching out for me and that as I continue and endure to the end Heavenly Father will be so proud of me :) I love you guys

Love Anziano Glowa
PS. Happy Birthday Cody !!!

This week has been the coldest Italy has seen in 15 years.

FEBRUARY 8,2012

Hey!!

 

So this week has been the coldest Italy has seen in years. I'm talking over 15 years, it's a cold that goes straight to the bones, its been sooooo cold!!! but we go on! haha

 

FRIDAY-we were on bikes so the cold intensified by 1000% haha it was freezing. We biked for at least a few hours, going to appointment to appointment, we were visiting less actives and things like that. The fun thing is that the day we went to Palladino's house and they did a step by step, how to make an Italian lasagne! So now I know how to make a lasagne but not jut that . I also know how to make 2 types of pasta sauce, I'll be coming home and make all this good food! It's so sweet! I made my own lasagne and it tasted so good, just like an Italian one!

 

SATURDAY-  That night we did a lot of finding work, 4 hours to be exact, but in the freezing cold it seemed like an eternity, what was worse is that the people were colder then the weather. There was no one on the streets because of how cold it was and if there was anyone they wouldn't stop and talk because of how cold it was. I don't blame them, but then we went to do casa and the people were just as cold, slamming doors, swearing at us, just being rude, it was just one of those nights where the Lord try your faith, we worked hard but didn't find anyone... But I'm proud of the work we did because we worked hard until the end. Thank Courtney for the click and heat thing she got me for Christmas, I think it saved my little hands from frost bite haha I'm sure I'm just sounding like a baby haha but its friggen cold! haha

 

SUNDAY-get this church was cancelled! a pipe broke and there was water everywhere and it was cold so we got a call Saturday telling us that there was no church. So we just set up an appointment with our baptismal date Kevin in the morning. We met him at about 10:30 or so we taught him the word of wisdom and he accepted, he is excited for his baptism and I know that he will be baptized the 25th of Feb. He made us pounded yam and vegetable soup it was sooo good. Pounded yam is like mashed potatoes you take a hand full and forum it into a ball and then push your thumb in it to make a spoon out of it and then you dip it into the soup which contains who knows what but its good. That pounded yam is very common in Nigeria, in fact when we contact Nigerians we tell them we love pounded yam and they go crazy knows that we know their food! They speak an English dialect called broken English or pigeon, and they say things like how you day? which being interpreted means how was your day, or there is what did the happen? which means what did you do today. I know so many of these phrases and they call ask me if I lived in Nigeria and they are so amazed that we talk like them and have eaten their food. I love contacting Nigerians for that haha anyway we also had an appointment with Mary Brando, she's doing well and she is still working for the 3rd of March. But i just feel she doesn't have a huge desire, like she does because she wants to be baptized but it seems like she's not even trying to try and quit smoking she uses it as a crutch. We will continue to try and help her but sooner or later if she doesn't improve or shows her desire we wont be able to teach her anymore because there will be nothing for us to do if she wont help herself.  We will do our best. We had the sacrament with them our bishop gave us permission to do so because 2 of her children are baptized.

 

MONDAY-we had district meeting and I talked about how to extend commitments, and we talked about 4 answers we get when we extend commitments. There's yes, no, I can't, and I'll try (which in reality is a soft no, they just don't want to offend us) anyways we did role plays on how to respond and help them commit themselves. It was good, I taught them that if we teach the doctrine so clearly and show them how it applies to them or why they would want to keep commitments the answer will almost always be yes. Obviously sometimes they can't, like come to church when they work, so that is when you change the commitment and invite them to talk to their boss to see if they can change schedules, something like that. But it was good, then after we did finding work and again in this cold couldn't find anyone.... we had a member lesson in the evening and it went well...

 

TUESDAY-we had lunch at the Isabella's house they are awesome. I feel like they are my grandparents, they just act like it its awesome. Sorella isabella made such a good pasta I asked her how there was so much flavour. She told me that she does it differently and she cooks the pasta in the sauce so the noodles absorb the taste. Its soo good I got the recipe and I am now a master chef haha.  I can't share these tricks or how its down, in the future everyone will want uncle Ben's pasta! haha or uncle Ben's lasagne or uncle Ben's sauce! haha anyway it was a good lunch, in the evening again finding work but not luck. I know that the Lord is preparing people and we just have to work harder, today is a lot warmer a lot! and so tonight we are free to just look for people and I know there will be more people in the streets and such,

 

I love working, obviously I'm human and I get disappointed or tired, or cold and stuff, but I'll NEVER STOP! I'm here for 2 years and although I'm not perfect I'll do the best I can and I will always improve! i love this work and I love my mission so much. I'm so scared for when I come home and I'm in a world that I don't know, this is what I know now and I can't even imagine what things will be like after. So that is why I'm focused on what the Lord has called me to do. In terms of me extending I'm leaning more on the terms of not doing soo for many reasons...

 

I love you all so much and just know that I'm working hard. I'm not perfect and sometimes I fall but that's normal. What I have to do what the happens is pick myself up and keep going until the end. Just like that racing story of that boy that fell 3 times but he got up every time. I will always get up, I love you and I know that this work and that this church it true! I LOVE YOU ALL

 

Have a great week!

 

Love Anziano Glowa

 

The Lord answers prayers, especially the prayers of hungry missionaries...

FEBRUARY 1st ,2012

First off, did you guys get the pictures that I sent last week? I sent like a whole bunch, but I don't know if you got them, if not then you can just wait till I send the usb back, which reminds me I never got it back, did you send it back in a letter or package??

THURSDAY-we had to go to Milan to get the sisters in my district, like I explained Varese got whitewashed and sisters were coming so we went to go get them, show them where their apartment was and the bus stop to go to church and all the other stuff, sadly that took up most of our day... I think the rest of the evening we just did casa or strada, talking to as many people as possible.

FRIDAY-we did weekly planning, and planned for our week and all the fun stuff, I cant remember what we did this day because I have a new planner because of the new transfer...I'm sure we just...oh I remember we just did finding work for like 6 hours.... haha and we didn't find anyone...I guess my brain is trying to make me forget that haha anyway yeah we just walked and talked to people and did some casa and sadly didn't find anyone really interested, but we will continue to look.

SATURDAY-we taught Kevin he has a baptismal date for the 25th of Feb. We talked to him about the book of Mormon and we found out that he doesn't know how to read... like at all, which is a little bit of a problem, in Mantova I had Book of Mormon CDs, but the missionaries needed them in Verona for investigators who couldn't read so I let them borrow them but I forgot them when I left. So I called the assistants to get a hold of them to tell them to send me my CDs so I will get them by next week. For now we will just meet with Kevin an extra time or two just to read with him and help him understand. He is doing amazing.

SUNDAY-Kevin came to church and so did Mary! We are working with the both of them, church was good as always, and then afterwards we went to Palladino's house. They are awesome, they just love us!! They were giving us a ride home and asked us if we wanted lunch. Since we were tight on money we didn't have that much food at home and I was praying that a member would invite us over for lunch and someone did! The Lord answers prayers, especially the prayers of hungry missionaries... FYI missionaries love to eat so mom and dad I hope the missionaries are getting fed by you 2!

MONDAY-we taught a Jehovah Witness, we  found him doing casa and he was way nice and we taught him the restoration and gave him a book of Mormon. He wasn't creating contention he was just really curious about what we really believe. Anyway so we got a return appointment, this time though he brought a friend. Like the first time he was nice and everything, he just wants to know what we believe in and why we believe that. I told him that the purpose was to help those who wanted to change or accept and we couldn't just come over and teach him if he wasn't open to change. He understood perfectly and told us if we feel it as a waste of time to go over to tell him, I think we will go over maybe 2 more times to see where this goes but if he is just having us over to be informed instead of searching something more we wont go back anymore... Anyway then we went to teach Mary Brando and we watched the restoration movie and gave her a baptismal date for the 3rd of March, this time we will teach her like a brand new investigator and give her reading commitments and follow up and really see her progress. It was different last time because I didn't know her and her husband had just died and I didn't want to be the person who just wanted to baptized her for the sake of it, but now I know her and I know that she's ready and I know that I will be able to better help her. Also she has more trust in us. anyway I know she will be baptized the 3rd of March.

All in all is was a good week, we need to find more investigators and help them progress, we have Kevin and Mary but besides them we don't have a lot going on, we need to get down and do the hard work that will find the elect!

I love you guys and I'm so grateful for your prayers and all you do for me :) I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

 extension

Love Anziano Glowa

p.s .. also I will be talking to my mission president the 10th of Feb. to see about my extension if its possible and what not, I'm not 100% sure if i wanna do it or not but I just want to see my possibilities :)

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Another transfer but staying in Busto

January 25th, 2012

Hey sorry I don't have a lot of time this week to write (sounds like Jason I know :P) hahaha

This was a good week we worked hard... like always... but I'm sure you want to know about transfers :) me and anziano Mitchell are staying the same :) Which is good because I like anziano Mitchell and I love Busto the bishop here is the best :) But my district is getting white washed which means they are both leaving at the same time and 2 new missionaries are coming in but instead of elders coming in sisters will be. President has asked me to be district leader... nothing new but it should be fun, it will be weird to be in a district of only sisters.  So tomorrow I have to go to Milan to help the sisters get to their area and show them a little bit around like where their apartment is and also the bus to take to get to their church, it should be fun :) I'm excited for another transfer, we didn't baptize anyone but we have some sick new investigators who are progressing well, now that the holidays are over :)

We have ALI, he is Muslim and is from Sinagol in Africa, he speaks French and Italian. In stead of teaching the restoration right away we figured it would be good for him to know who Christ is. So we did a lesson on Christ and he just ate it up he loves the idea of a Saviour and of someone who can take our sins if we choose to give them to him. We explained how we can follow Christ through baptism, we presented to Book of Mormon and taught how this book will help him better know his Saviour. Then we asked him when he reads and prays about this book and gets an answer that it is true would he be baptized and he agreed and then we invited him to prepare for the 25th of Feb. and he agreed, so we are really happy and excited about Ali and we will help him progress.

We have KEVIN, he is from Nigeria, and has met with the missionaries before and was actually going to get baptized last year but had to go to Switzerland for a year so he lost contact with the missionaries. We taught him the restoration and he understands the importance of baptism so we committed him for the 25th of Feb. and he agreed. So we have 2 baptisms set up for the 25th of Feb., anything can happen but we will do everything in our power to help these our brethren enter the waters of baptism and make there first covenant with God :)

We have the famiglia Digrazia, there is the mother Mary, and the father Roberto, and 3 children, the oldest has autism and twins that are 10, the children don't like to sit and listen so we are focusing on the parents for now. They had us over for dinner last night which I don't really like to do with new investigators because they sometime misunderstand our purpose but they caught us off guard. We went over for 7 and didn't tell us we were eating with them and then we got there and the food was ready, so we ate and then taught the restoration. They are such a sweet Italian family, we gave them the soft invite that goes like this " when you read and pray and know that this is true will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone who hold the priesthood of God?" they said if we get an answer yes. Then I felt to give them a hard invite that goes like this "we have a baptismal service the 25th of Feb., will you prepare yourselves for that day?" They didn't like that too much and were just like wow calm down there, haha I don't think they understood that it was all accordance to if and when they get an answer but anyway so they denied the date. But I'm happy we invited because now they know our purpose :) we will continue to help them progress.

Mary Brando, she and her family has been sick with the flu so we have not gone over to teach her. I have kept in contact to see how she is doing but they are just sick haha. Our plan is to go over and make a calendar with Mary with the goal of getting baptized the 25th of Feb., and just go through steps she can take to get to that date prepared, we want to figure out her desire and help her reach her goals, she really wants to be baptized. It's not like we are pushing her, she wants to and she is just asking for our help. It's frustrating because when we bring it up at ward council everyone is like..."her husband just died she needs time" and I just think time for what? It is only through the gospel of Jesus Christ that she can be fully healed, and she wants to get baptized to go to the Temple in one year to be sealed to her husband... but so many ward members are like "she needs time" They just don't understand that time will do nothing but make it harder for her to commit, we need to help her see that through the gospel of Jesus Christ she can be spiritually healed. Anyway the bishop understands and backs us up which is the best thing and so we are not lost but I will follow the prompting I get because I know I have been set apart to be a missionary here now, and that I can receive revelation for Mary and for Busto:)

Sorry I don't have a lot of time to write. I love you all so much. Dad I'm writing you a card for your birthday it might come a bit late but it will come. Just know that I love you and I'm proud of the old man you're becoming :) (quote from Jason) haha you truly are the best dad in the world and Im so glad that I'm making you happy by serving the Lord. Just know that I love this work so much and that is why this Feb. in interviews with president I'm going to talk more seriously about my extenuation that I want. I love this work so much and I only get these 2 years so why not make them a little bit longer, plus I am not a perfect missionary but I want to give more of what is expected of me, Christ did so much for me and for us that i feel i get serve a little longer, but in the end its just more blessings for me, every time i try to pay the Saviour back i just dig myself a bigger pit of debt because i learn and grow so much. Anyway just know that I will be talking to president seriously and that if i do get extended it will probably be for the November the 15th that I'll come home...unless I can extend for longer... but we will see what the Lord says, this is just me speaking. I've prayed a little about it but not as much as I need to, anyway dad happy birthday tomorrow, go see lots of movies for me, I love you so much and dad one thing...I FREAKIN LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

Love you guys have a great week...hope you get this email :)

Love Anziano Glowa

Lost letters.. from Jan.11 &18th 2012

Hey! Sorry you haven’t gotten my emails. I have been sending pictures and the emails haven’t been sending because of the picture attachments.

Jan. 11^th 2012

Hey, sounds like a lot happened this week... with all of Vovo’s treatments and with Rebecca’s baby. Wow!! That makes me happy to hear about the blessing Jason gave Vovo; it gives me comfort because I’ve been thinking about him the last couple days and thinking if I’ll see him when I get home. Now I know that I will :)

I'm feeling a lot better. I have a cough and it’s one of those coughs that will stay for about 6 months haha but my asthma is fine. I'm going out and I'm working! This week I don’t have that much to say just because I was super sick and it seemed like one thing would start and end and then another would start instead of just getting it all in one dose. But that’s life I guess…like I said things are going much better now and I'm happy about that.

We have one real legit progressing investigator, Mary Brando. Her husband died from cancer about 6 weeks before I got here. She has 3 children and 2 of them are baptized, the other one is only 5 and we have a plan for her to get baptized the 21st of Jan. I think she can do it. She knows the doctrine really well and has a great testimony and reads and prays with her children everyday, but she smokes... that’s the only thing stopping her, when we met with her last week she was smoking 20 a day and then we met with her yesterday and she is down to 8. We made her a calendar to follow to show her the things she must do for her baptism. She just needs to drop one cigarette a day and she will be fine. I made her "fake cigs". I made a box with Jesus pictures and then found like 20 powerful inspiring scriptures and then wrote each one on a slip of paper and rolled it into a cig. Every time she has a desire or craving to smoke she takes one of those and reads the scripture. I think it has helped a lot and I hope that it will continue to help. :)

Other then that, all the investigators that we found before Christmas have kind of dropped up which is too bad. One family we found asked us on the phone why we didn’t do the cross when we prayed with them. I said that it would be best to go over and explain it instead of trying to explain over the phone but he didn’t want that. He wanted the answer then and there. I simply explained how we realize and understand that Christ died for us and many Christians have a cross to remind themselves of his death but we prefer to focus on a living Christ and the fact that he lives and guides us today and we don’t use the cross because its a symbol of his death. He didn’t like that and said true Christians do the cross...its just too bad that some people can be turned off to the gospel just because of little things like that, but I know that Heavenly Father is preparing people to receive us and we just have to continue to find them. :)

That’s it for me! Today for pday we went to this place called Stresa; it’s a cool little town with nothing too special but I took pictures which will be attached to this email. I hope you enjoy! Next week I will be going to Milan because there are sales this time of year and then the next pday I’ll go to Switzerland! :)

Hope you all have a great week! Thanks for your prayers and support. :) LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

Love Anziano Glowa

January 18^th 2012

THURSDAY- I did a scambi with our zone leaders. I went to Como with Anziano Kimball, he’s a great missionary! He’s best friends with my trainer, so we had a lot to talk about. We taught amazing lessons; some of the most spiritual lessons we’ve taught on our missions. We just teach like bosses together.

FRIDAY- nothing special, we did weekly planning, and we just taught people and gave away copies of the book of Mormon. We don’t have like any legit investigators, thanks to the holiday seasons, like all our investigators have dropped us. Anyways we are still working hard looking for Heavenly Father’s elect. I love talking with people; it’s the best, this evening we had ward council also.

SATURDAY- same kinda deal…just doing casa and strada and talking to people and teaching lessons, like I said there really isnt anyone legit to talk about. We do have Mary Brando. She had a baptismal date for this Saturday but she can’t quit smoking and she won’t be ready for this Saturday. We had a good lesson with her about what she wants and how we can help her get that and then she asked for a blessing of comfort. It’s going to be weird when I come home and have to give blessings in English. Haha I’m just so used to doing it in Italian. :)

SUNDAY- we had church and then we got invited over for lunch by the Pallandinos. They are so awesome! They are a newlywed couple. We ate pasta with meat; it was good! :) Then we went outside and it was sooooo freezing!!!!! it was like -5...I’m sure you are all thinking right now “wow that’s really not that cold, Ben should come home and see how cold it is here,’ but its sooo humid here and there is no snow so its just such a bitter cold. So when it’s -5, I’m sure it’s like -25 for you guys. Either that or I’m just a baby who has forgotten the cold of Canada. :p

MONDAY- we did a scambi with our district. I was with our district leader and we stayed in Busto. We worked hard and we have investigators named Isaac and Rita. I don’t remember if I have talked about them but pretty much we are going to drop them. They were so legit but they are not married and they can’t get married because Isaac’s passport expired and he needs a job to get money to renew it. Anyways long story short, without the Holy Ghost it has just been hard on them and they don’t keep commitments. All they want to know about is the temple and stuff, which wouldn’t be a bad thing, but they just miss the whole picture and point of the temple. They are mad that they can’t go inside unless they are worthy members and this just brought forth other problems. When we go over they just create contention and we get no where because they are not humble, so we just need to drop them... Then that evening we went to the Brando's house the mother of the guy who died like 2 months ago. She is such a sweet lady and reminds me a lot of grandma Glowa. She made really good food! She is from Sicily originally and just made some great Sicilian food. Of course I don’t know any names just know that it was good! :)

TUESDAY- we re-scambied and then just began teaching lessons and looking for some progressing investigators. I know that the Lord is preparing people but it’s always harder this time of year. I remember last year in Collegno and how we would do 6 to 7 hours of casa...daily... I think about how Jason said he didn’t have a lot of time to do tracking. Hahaha he should come to Italy and do a split with me to see how we do things in Italy hahaha. Anyway in the evening we had set up an appointment with a lady we found before Christmas. Her last name is Digrazia. The family consists of a father, mother, 3 children, the twins are 10 and they have a mentally handicap child who is 15. They are way cool and I can really see them progressing in the future. We talked about the book of Mormon and how they can know if it’s true. We taught them how to pray and the father said the closing prayer. I know that with all the hard work we are doing, the Lord is blessing us and he will continue to bless us.

I know that this is the work of Christ and I know that I have been called to serve and I’m so grateful for this opportunity! I’m so grateful for Uncle Kim and Aunt Dawn and that they have come back. It just makes me so happy and I know that these are the blessing of serving a mission. I know that I’m led by the Lord and when I've gone so far that I can’t go anymore, I know that it’s in those moments that the Lord takes my hand and brings me the rest of the way and leads me to the miracles. I do believe in miracles and they come daily, and if we are putting in our effort and our attitude then we will make it over the miracle fence over and over again.

Please tell Uncle Kim and Aunt Dawn how proud I am of their choices, and that they are a great example to me, as you both are as well. I’m so grateful to have parents who are faithful and who do what is right and I’m so grateful for a brother who lead the way for me, and has always been the best example. I know that we can all do hard things and when we do all we can do and go as far as we can go, the Lord will ALWAYS bring us the rest of the way to the miracles.

LOVE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

Love Anziano Glowa

Sorry about all the confusion I hope you get this and I’ll write about this week tomorrow. I love you!

January 18th,2012

Still no letter just this SHORT note and one more picture that I have posted on the left.

 

I was at Palladino's house and they had a giant sword and a ninja star ;)

 

So I had some fun!!!

 

Love Anziano Glowa

 

January 11th,2012

No letter just one picture of Ben near water. I have poster it on the left hand side.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2012!!

HAPPY 2012!!! I can’t believe I was in Italy for all of 2011!!! That is so crazy and it’s even crazier to say that I’ll be home this year!!!

This was a good week.

THURSDAY- we were able to do some mad casa in the evening and found an Albanian family of 4 so that’s awesome! They accepted us to come back but we haven’t been because of the season and all. It’s the same story with all our investigators: they are super nice and want to know more but then they say they have family in and can’t meet and this and that and to try after the season. Which is okay with me because we will just try this week and next week.

FRIDAY- had some appointments with a less active and new converts and we had a lesson with a non-member; her member husband died about 6 weeks ago and 2 of her children are baptized. She comes to church and activities and such. She is so strong; we want to teach her the discussions and help her make the decision to get baptized. We have another appointment with her tomorrow night. AND IT WAS COURTNEYS BIRTHDAY!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!!

SATURDAY- was the mission’s "cleaning day". Usually in the mission, the 1st of January the missionaries spend the whole day inside cleaning the apartments but because this year that day fell on a Sunday, they moved it to the 31^st. So we spent the whole day cleaning and such and then just bummed around because we were not permitted to do work. We stayed up till 12 to welcome the New Year. We got a key from a neighbor and went on the roof to see all the fire works. It was a great experience. I didn’t take pictures because I forgot my camera haha but anyways I will always remember and I about it wrote in my journal. It was weird to think that when I was celebrating the New Year, it was still 2011 for you guys haha.

SUNDAY- had a HUGE headache, one of the worst I’ve ever had, but I had to go to church because I had a talk. I gave the talk on goals and making that step to not procrastinate but to do it now! Then some members invited us over for lunch but I told them I couldn’t. The room was literally spinning so we went home and I slept for about the rest of the day. It was not the best day haha.

MONDAY- I did a scambi with Anziano Guest in Varese. It’s a cool place. I was feeling better but not 100% but guess what it was raining outside. We worked and found them 2 new investigators from Peru so that will help the work. Later that night when we came in I wasn’t feeling good again. I didn’t just have a headache but more of a stuffy nose and a bad cough.

TUESDAY- we had a training in Milan and I was suffering all day with my nose and cough haha. I’m just getting sicker and sicker, but it was a good training and I learned a lot. Anziano Mitchell and I gave a 10 minute training on personal study and how to have an effective one. It went really well and we had great participation. After the training we went home and I went to bed early.

WEDNESDAY- we were going to go to Lugano today but Anzino Mitchell and myself were both not feeling well, so we just slept and bummed around. I feel a little better, but I’m afraid to go out and over work myself and just pro-long this sickness. I think if I just take it easy for another day I’ll be 100% better. I’m going to be smart about this so it passes as fast as possible! DONT POST THIS ON FACEBOOK!!! :P Just pray for me and that’s good enough. :) Other then that I will get better and continue to work.

I’m so happy about uncle Kim and aunt Dawn!! That really just makes me jump with joy. Maybe if you can get me their email and I can write them and tell them how proud I am because I really am proud of their decision!! :)

Also when you wrote that about Courtney and her mission call I jumped in my seat hahaha!! And then when I read that it was just a joke. I just laughed and laughed! Hahaha!

Anyways I love you guys a lot and I care for you so much have a great week!!!

 Love Anziano Glowa

I'm getting transferred to Busto !

DECEMBER 14th,2011

Ciao Family!

I'm sure the first thing you wanna know is where am I going!!! I'm going to a place far far away called Busto Arrizio!! Its right between Como and Milano. I'm going to be with an Anziano Mitchell, the ward there is about 70 people and apparently there was a death of someone in the bishopric like 5 weeks ago. He died of cancer, so I'm going to go and do my best to help the ward and the family out and get their fire back! I'm really grateful for the time I have had in Mantova. To tell you the truth I'm very sad I'm leaving, this has become my home and i've been here for about 7 months or so. Also the Dos Santos and Campos families have goten so close to me that it's going to be hard to say good bye. I know that I'm meant to go to Busto and to help the ward there. I'm happy with the work I've done here in Mantova and I know that the Lord will continue to bless me as I work hard.

This week Clifton got baptized!!!! I'm really happy for him he's going to do great!! I just love seeing someone enter the waters of baptism just willing to do anything to follow Christ. Unfortunately Clovis didn't get baptized, I did all I could but of course I feel like should have done more. I know I taught him well, and to his needs, in the end it was up to him. The good news to that he still comes to church and is still willing to learn he really does want to be baptized but he just has a problem with commitment.  I know that one day he will make the right choice and be baptized.

Friday the day before Clifton's baptism, he was getting cold feet and talking about how he wasn't ready...boy is a mission stressful. What would you do in a situation like that? You are 20 years old this is not your mother language you have a companion whose a great teacher but doesn't know the language as well, and someone says they can't get baptized the next day... Man the mission is stressful but with the Lord and His spirit all things are possible. We were able to get to the problem and set up a return appointment for the next day before his baptism  and to bring Cyro because he speaks Portuguese. Anyway in the end everything worked out and I know its because of your prayers.

I love the mission and I'm grateful for the growth I'm able to under go here. I've really learned how to adapt to situations and to just make things work. I like to think of myself as a "problem solver and not a problem identifier" Anyone can say "oh man my bike has a flat tire" but nothing will change until you get on your knees take out the flat tire and put in a new one. I think in the world there are too many people like that, that just identify problems and don't solve them. I know the mission helps people be better and helps people grow personally. I know that this church is true, and that this work is of God and that EVERY YOUNG MAN needs to serve a mission what's not for EVERY YOUNG MAN is to be unworthy! This is Christ's church and we are literally led by Him.

Love you and talk to you from Busto next week!

Love Anziano Glowa

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

As for my health, I'm healthy, I would say I'm 95%.

DECEMBER 7th,2011

Caio Family,

My ward members have told me that there was a post on facebook about how I'm sick and how everyone prayed and fasted for me. Thank you for all your prayers but I'm not that sick any more. Yes I've been sick but I've been working and its nothing I'm going to die from, haha. I'm sure the ward could have fasted for something more important then me, haha but I'm glad that I have this love from you my family and from the ward backhome. As for my health, I'm healthy, I would say I'm 95%. I finished the medicine and felt way better, I think it will just take time to get completely better. Just know that I'm healthy and you can tell people that I'm fine and not to worry :)

as for this week...

Due to the fact that I don't have that much time to email I won't be doing a day to day thing. I'm sorry its been like this, just know that I'm working hard and having fun :)

Pretty much our work is going well. We have 2 baptisms this Saturday, Clifton I'm 100% sure he'll get baptized he is so awesome and just has grown so much. It's so awesome to see the change in people as they accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. As for Clovis its more of a 50/50 kinda thing. It's so hard with him. He is just afraid of commitment but I know he's ready for baptism, and I know he knows that he's ready for baptism. Sunday night, Anziano Dunshee from Verona came to do a baptism interview for Clovis. Before the interview we had a lesson, and Clovis tried saying how he "wasn't ready" but we taught him so well. I've never felt the spirit so strong when teaching, I felt like I was speaking with the tough of angels it was intense! In the end he passed the interview with the exception that he has to say that he will keep the word of wisdom. I'll explain, when he was asked to keep it in the interview he said " I'll try" and he couldn't give a yes or a no. If it comes to the day of this baptism and he feels the spirit when Clifton is baptized and he decides to be baptized we'll have to call Anziano Dunshee and Clovis will have to tell him his definite answer.  He's so ready he's almost at that point, where he knows everything and if he doesn't get baptized this week I dont know when he will. He's at his peak and if he doesn't get in the water he'll keep going down.... I love this family so much and I just want to make them eternal. He's so ready I just want Heavenly Father to enlighten him or something or perform some kind of miracle but in the end Clovis has his free agency...We will just have to let him make his decision in the end. 

We are trying to do more casa and look for other investigators we have this cool Brazilian family. They are in their late 20s and have a baby girl. They are so awesome and we have an appointment with them tonight, they live right near the church so it should be easy to get them to come. His name is Juliano and her name is Paola. It's hard to find a lot of time to do casa this week, because we have to built a baptismal font thing because we want to do it in Mantova instead of going to Verona for the baptism. We also have to make the invites to give to family members and we have to make the program and on top of that we still have to meet our investigators this is the most important week. If we let down just a little Satan will just come right on in and destroy everything but we are doing good at daily contact.

I'm 100% sure that I'm getting transferred. President told me twice already, early in the transfer my companion was talking to another missionary about how I've been in Mantova for 5 transfers and he's been with me for 3 and he was joking and said that he thinks I'll be here another transfer. And president was there and said that I was for sure out of here haha. Then another time we called him to ask something and my comp asked jokingly if I was going to stay and President again said I was going haha. According to me it will be good to leave, I've goten really comfortable here in terms of with the branch and the area and everything. I think I will be good to go but at the same time this city is my favourite, the members are awesome and I'm going to be sad to go. Any guesses to where I'm going? I'm going to make 2 guesses, Mesrte and Florence :) hahaha those are my guesses.

Anyways that's it I got. I love you all so much thank you for your prayers and fasts, just know that I'm healthy now and that I'm working harder then ever for these people :)

Love Anziano Glowa

I found out that I've been sick for a month.

November 30th,2011

This was a good week!!!

I found out that I've been sick for a month. No wonder I've been so tired haha! I got used to being sick so I was working like I wasn’t and it has been destroying my body. Haha I have lost the will to eat so for the past few weeks at members’ houses I've said that I can’t eat a lot because I had a stomach ache. After 3 weeks, Fatima Campos asked me if everything was okay because for the past 3 weeks I've been saying the same thing. Anyways I called Sorella Wolfgramm and told her about my symptoms and she told me I have Giardia, which is a parasite in my small intestine...no wonder I've just been so out of energy. But I just kept working, thinking that it was just Satan trying to get me not to work. Anyways I got some medicine and for now things have gotten just a little worse. I have head aches and my stomach goes crazy. I finish my medicine on Saturday and if things don’t change I’ll go to the doctor. I'm not worried because I'm still working hard. Don’t think this will get Anziano Glowa down! I can see how the mission has changed me because before the mission, I would use any excuse to not go to school but I've been sick for a month and nothing has slowed me down! Haha the Lord does amazing things to his missionaries. 

I don’t have too much time to email Ill just tell you that we are dropping Stefania because she is not progressing and she didn’t come to church. I had a lot of faith in her but she has her own free will. Anyways,Clifton is doing great!!! He came to church for the 3rd time in a row and is pumped about his baptism and he is just such great friends with the members. And Clovis is doing great also he came to church and is really willing to change and be baptized. We just need to have faith in him. The branch is doing a fast this Sunday for our baptisms. They are pumped! I love it when the members are on board and help us a lot. If you would like to join us in this fast I wouldn’t oppose it. :) Things are going great.

We have progressing investigators but the tricky thing now is instead of just focusing on them is we still have to find other people so that we can have more investigators and baptize people after these baptisms. The trouble with missionaries is that they are usually in a finding mood, a teaching mood, or a baptizing mood. In order to be a good missionary you need to learn how to find, teach and baptize all at the same time so we need to get out there and knock and talk to as many people as the Lord puts in our path.

I'm sorry this email is shorter. Just know that I need to work hard and do the will of the Lord. Mom I really loved your talk; it meant a lot to me and I know that Lord has given me my arks in life. I love you all! Just know that Satan can’t get me down with this sickness and I’ll work till I die! I'm no longer Ben Glowa, I'm Anziano Glowa! 

I love you all so much! I have your package all ready to send off. Ill send it off this week or next. Did you like the photos I sent Courtney? 

LOVE YOU

Love Anziano Glowa

Please pray for these people.

November 23th,2011



Hey!

This week...

THURSDAY- we did some casa but had no luck. We had lessons with Clifton and Stefania and we gave them both baptismal dates for the 10th of December. The lessons were very powerful and I know that as they keep there commitments they will be baptized!

FRIDAY- we did more finding work. We went to our branch president’s house to eat and boy was it good! You can’t beat a good Italian lunch appointment. :) Anyways it was a pretty slow day. We worked hard but the people here seem to be getting colder and colder, maybe it’s because of the weather haha. No I know it’s because the Lord is just helping us move fast through those that aren’t ready in order to help us find those that are.

SATURDAY- we had English class today and we did some casa and found this cool Brazilian guy. He is about 25 and is married with a baby girl; they are a perfect new family. He was really sincere and said he would come to church the next day to see how things were. We taught him the restoration and I asked him if it was true what it would mean for him and his family. He said it would mean everything. He was just a really cool guy. I hope he gets baptized.

SUNDAY- CLIFTON came to church for the second week in a row! He is progressing so well!!! And CLOVIS came to church too! He is making some awesome changes and is just becoming more interested. Sadly Stefania didn’t come so we will have to move her baptismal date but Clifton is still on track and he is doing awesome. That night we went to the Dos Santos house and we gave Clovis a baptismal date for the 10th of December. I know that as he follows his baptismal calendar that we made for him and as he keeps his commitments he will get baptized. It would be awesome if he got baptized before I left because I would have completed that which I started when I first came to Mantova. Please pray for these people. I know that they need your prayers and that they will get baptized.

MONDAY- We went to District meeting but we didn’t do a scambi so I came back with Anziano Strong. Our branch gave us about 13 less actives to go visit so we did those but no one was home. We made some progress figuring out that some people moved and didn’t live there anymore. And by talking to the neighbours, I found out that one of them was arrested for drugs so we don’t even know where he is. Anyways that night we went to the Campos house and had a family night. We invited the Dos Santos and Clifton to strengthen there friendship. He came and it was a good fun night! The lesson was on prayer and we had games after and sweets. It was a good evening and I know that he is progressing.

Our week went really well this week. We want to focus on finding more people but our investigators are progressing well. Stefania has slowed down a little but we are still working with her. Clifton is on fire and I know he will get baptized on the 10th of December and I have a lot of faith for Clovis also. I love you all!! Have a great week!!

Love Anziano Glowa

We Taught 26 Lessons This Week!!

Hey all!

For this week....

We worked our butts off!!!! We taught 26 lessons; it was crazy we just did lots of casa and taught our investigators. I’m sorry I didn’t write about the work last week, but you guys are way behind. I’ll catch you guys up by talking about our most legit investigators. First there is Clifton, who is an 18 year old Brazilian. He is very open and even came to church. Then there is Stefania. She is a 30 something year old Italian who loves the book of Mormon. She has already read over 30 pages and has seen so many blessings. She knows it’s the book of Mormon and this church that is changing her life and she understands the need for baptism. We are getting really excited about her. Clovis, the Dos Santos dad came to church for the first time since his family got baptized in the end of June so things are picking up. Those are our biggest investigators. We have other people that we have found and we will see how they progress. On with the week...

THURSDAY- We taught Clifton with Bruna. He has only been in Italy for less than 2 years and doesn’t speak Italian that much and I don’t know how much he understands. So we bring Bruna to translate. Anyways we taught the restoration and he is open to learning more. He is just a humble guy but he’s shy and doesn’t talk a lot. Anyways he wants to come to church. Then we taught Stefania. We brought Pablo because there is no male at home. We taught about prayer, reading, and going to church and how to grow our faith and how to know if these things are true. She has already read up to 2 Nephi 13. When I was talking about and explaining the book of Mormon better, and using the Moroni’s promise, she interrupted me and asked if it was the same Moroni that appeared to Joseph Smith 4 times... I was like ummm how do you know that?? Haha she didn’t just start reading the book of Mormon but read all the testimonies so she understands everything super well. We didn’t even ask her to read that. she is just such a miracle to our work here.

FRIDAY- We just did a lot of finding work. We got in multiple times but just no solid investigators. It’s good because we are teaching but we need to move fast to find elect people and not waste time. I’ve really learned how to continue to grow my love for casa. It’s something that I’m good at. I remember when everything was so hard because of the language and not knowing what to say and just being awkward. Now it’s just like second nature, especially the language. I love just being able to talk and not think. It’s so sweet and for sure just a gift from God. Obviously when its late and I’m really tired my brain sometimes doesn’t work and I make so many mistakes or just words don’t come to mind. I know that I need to stay humble because the Lord sometimes does that to show me that I’m nothing without Him. Haha I love it. 

SATURDAY- We taught Stefania again with Pablo. It was good! We went over the restoration again, and she understood everything. At the end I committed her to be baptized, and she said that when she knows it’s true she’ll do it. So we asked her to pray and read and ask if this is what she needs to do. I was going to give her a date to prepare for but her friend walked in and was being loud and the spirit just left so we didn’t, but we know that she has a desire and I know that she will receive her answers. Then we went to the Dos Santos house and taught about going to church and really committed Clovis to come. He gave an indirect answer like “I’ll try”, and I just was super bold and direct (obviously following the sprit) and I was like if you don’t want to come you don’t have to. Just tell us but if you want to come say yes. And he said okay tonight I’ll really think about coming. I felt in his voice that he was being serious and that he was really going to think about it.

SUNDAY- CLIFTON CAME TO CHURCH!!! He came for sacrament and met all the Brazilians and they shook his hand and made friends and everything it was sweet. He loved it and I know he felt the spirit. ThenClovis came to church, which was such a great blessing. He loved it too and I know he loved being with his family and I know he felt the spirit. Sadly Stefania didn’t come. She called and said she fell and hurt herself so she couldn’t come. I didn’t talk to her because I was teaching the YM so my comp was the one who talked to her. So sadly she didn’t come but we still had a great Sabbath.

MONDAY-TUESDAY- I did a scambi in Verona with Anziano Webb. He’s a cool guy and is 3 months under me. We worked really hard and did a lot of contacting. We found this super cool guy who is on the search. We found him Monday night and set up an appointment Tuesday with him and then for the appointment we taught the restoration better and watched the movie. He said he felt something and said that he felt that he was like Joseph Smith (in case you don’t know: that’s what you want evert investigator to say!) It was so awesome. I really felt the spirit, and I just had one of those moments, like I know that happened and how great is it to say I know Christ lives because I KNOW Joseph Smith saw him and talked to him. I just love this church so much and I’m so grateful for your example, for your testimonies that helped me search for myself. Dad, thanks for making that promise to yourself that you would never fall, because of that I too made that promise. When I heard you tell stories of grandma and grandpa suffering because of your brothers and sisters, I remember telling myself that I never wanted you guys feel like that and I made a promise to myself that I would never fall. So you would never have to worry about me, and I hope you don’t have to worry about me because I’m on a mission. I’m serving the Lord and I’m trying my hardest to forget everything. I know the blessing from doing such because this week, I worked hard just leaving everything behind and I saw so many blessings and so many miracles. I know the Lord is guiding his work and I’m just an instrument in his hands. This is the church of Jesus Chris. I know it is because I have prayed and searched for myself. We are not here to convince people (that is IMPOSSIBLE!) we are here to only invite people to do the same thing we have done to know that this is true. And to read the Book of Mormon and to pray and if we do that with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, we will feel the Holy Ghost bear testimony to us that this is true and by the power of the Holy Ghost we can know the truth of all things (Moroni 10:4-5). I love this church with all my heart. I know that this work is true and these 2 years are not a sacrifice; they are 2 years of eternal blessings.

Young Men’s is going good. We have Cyro who is 17 years old and pablo who is 12. We are making a program where they come with us missionaries 1 hour a week at least to work by teaching lessons or by doing casa. We have fun, spiritual activities and I know they are thinking about missions. I know that Cyro is going to serve a mission. These young men are awesome and are changing my life. It’s so humbling to have a calling and be a missionary. I have no time but I have all the time. As I said before, this week we taught 26 lessons and miracles are happening because I am forgetting myself and going to work. I love this work.

I love you all and I’m trying to make the most of this last year. I’ve felt the increase of the spirit in my life while being on a mission. It’s weird I’m the same old Benda Boy but at the same time I’m a representative of the Saviour and I take that calling very sacred. This is the best thing that ANY YOUNG MAN CAN DO! I love you all

Love Anziano Glowa