Oct

27

Luca’s mission in Massachusetts keeps having consequences in connecting me again with my past, the time when I was first baptized as a member of the Mormon Church in Italy, long time ago…

In a previous blog I mentioned how he helped me to reconnect with the missionary, Elder Burton, who first found me in Italy.

Now, through the same James Burton, I got a picture of Emanuele Smorta, who was baptized just a few months before me in Asti, Italy, and who was one of my first good friend in the Church. I remember him exactly the way it looks in this picture, but I suspect that currently he looks a little older…

Emanuele Smorta and Elder Burton

Emanuele Smorta and Elder Burton

Oct

22

Elder Luca Martinengo and Elder Burton, the Younger

Elder Luca Martinengo and Elder Burton, the Younger

This is really a very interesting experience that happened to my son, Luca, while in his Mormon mission in Boston, Massachussetts. He found the son of the missionary who found me more than 20 years ago in Italy.

These are Luca’s words to me in one of his recent emails (in parenthesis are my comments to help understand what Luca is implying)

I don’t know why I had it, but it was interesting and a testimony builder to me… this is what happened…

I had asked you to give me Forbes’ email (Forbes is one of the two missionaries who taught me the gospel more than 20 years ago in Italy) and you did so. That week I wrote to Forbes and asked him to tell me a little bit of the story about how they found you in Italy and what happened… Forbes wrote back the following week and I read the email kinda fast, printed and put it in a backpack, not really paying much attention to it.

Well, I usually pray every morning to find out what the Lord wants me to study and for some weird reason I was not getting any idea, I did not get my answer, so I got frustrated and just almost gave up, until a thought came upon me, to open my backpack and look at what was inside, which I did and I found that email from Forbes. Then I felt inspired to pull out your conversion story that I had printed from the internet, so I decided to read those 2 papers.

I think I read your conversion story first, then I  went and read Forbes’ email, and I read it all the way through but nothing special came, until i decided to read again and pay more attention. When i did that again, I noticed the name that i saw on the email was BURTON, who Forbes told me was the one that found you, and at that exact time I saw a missionary’s face in my head, who was trained by my good companion in Pittsfield, right as i came to the island, whose name is also Burton…

I had about 10 different questions pop in my head and the thought of him being the son of the missionary who was with Forbes when he found you…. Because Forbes told me that Burton got transferred right after they found you. So I called Elder Payne who was not serving with Burton anymore but I asked him a few questions, to see if maybe it would hint to that possibility, of this Elder Burton being the son of the Burton who found you in Italy. The Spirit that i felt was so strong that i could not really describe it. As I asked the questions Payne answered them and asked me why i was asking that, and I told him that maybe BURTON’s father was the one that found you.

So then i called BURTON and i asked him the same questions and he answered the same way and we both basically started crying and could not believe the Spirit that we felt. I don’t know why i had this experience, but…ya… so his son is serving 40 minutes away from me. I don’t know if you remember him at all or if he ever found out weather you were baptized or not…but that was an experience for me…

I do not believe in chance, but at the same time I do not know exactly why this happened, but at least it was another great experience that my son, Luca, had in his mission. Really Mormon missionaries do the work of God, and when they serve faithfully, they are entitled to many blessings, including this type of experience that strengthens their testimony of the truth of the gospel and of the importance of serving missions for the Lord.

Oct

6

I have written before about my conversion story and how I became a member of the Mormon Church.

This is a very interesting picture of the day of my baptism.. I was skinnier and younger, obviously


Elder Forbes, Giuseppe, Elder Stout

Elder Forbes, Giuseppe Martinengo, Elder Stout

Now Luca, my son, is in the mission field, looking for people like me, ready to accept the Gospel and the Church. My son had an exchange of emails with one of the two missionaries who taught me the gospel first, and the one who confirmed me a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

This is an excerpt from the email that was written by Lynn Forbes (Elder Forbes) about how he remembers those times:

I would be happy to share my recollection of how I met your dad…. It was sometime in December of 1984. I had only been in Italy a little over two months, so was still in the process of really learning Italian. Me and my senior companion (Elder Burton) were doing street contacting in Asti, where we would go to the busy streets and try to talk to people about the gospel, and arrange to visit them in their homes if they would let us. I actually think I remember some of our conversation with your dad on the street that morning. We would typically look for men who would be in the age range where they might be married, so your dad was younger than we might usually stop. I really believe that Heavenly Father knew your dad was ready for the gospel - so, we ended up stopping him anyway. I think I totally messed up what I wanted to say, but, somehow your dad invited us to come to his house with our message. It wasn’t until January that we ended up getting to talk to him. By that time, Elder Stout (I think you’ve met him) was my senior companion. I do remember the day that we finally spoke with your dad, because I wrote about it in my journal. That afternoon, we had been tracting (knocking doors) without much success. At one apartment building, we actually had a couple of interesting things happen to us - first, on one floor, after we knocked and told the person inside who we were, we heard a dog barking as someone who was angry was unlocking the door - we decided to leave that floor and go to another floor. On that floor, a lady got really angry with us and told us we better get out of the building or else. So, we left the building. As we left, that lady dumped a bucket of cleaning water on us from above. We talked about what we should do - and decided we would try to pass by some of our street contacting names. Your dad was the one we decided to see (he was only a name on a sheet of paper, at that time). Anyway, we went by his place (his mother’s home), and he let us in, and we taught him the first discussion. We asked him to read from 3 Nephi (Christ’s visit) and we made an appointment to return in a couple of days. When we came back, he had read all of 3 Nephi, and had started at the first of the Book of Mormon. He said he knew it was true and that he wanted to be baptized. It seems like we returned every day, or every other day for a week or so. He finished the BofM soon. The only problem we ran into was his mom. Because of her, we put off his baptism until February - she was still very angry - you probably know that part of the story from your dad. But, he ended up being baptized. Elder Stout baptized him and I confirmed him. His confirmation is still one of the times of my life that I felt the Spirit the strongest. I don’t think that Elder Stout and I were “special” missionaries. We were just out, doing our best, and Heavenly Father did the rest. That is the key to missionary work, I think - to be out “opening your mouth” and doing your best - it sounds like you’ve learned that. I’m glad you are having a great mission - seeing the gospel change people’s lives - it really is a beautiful thing. You will look back on your mission as a great time in your life - when you had the privilege of devoting all your time to the Lord. There will be times in the future when you will miss that.

Oct

1

We have received another email this week from our missionary. It was in Portuguese, since Luca is working with many Brazilians at Martha’s Vineyard and he is practicing his Portuguese more and more.

Luca's in Martha's Vineyard

Luca

This is a little excerpt from his email,

This week was good, but a little slow, it rained a lot, no hurricanes, but strong winds.

This week we had a wonderful lesson with the Brazilian who will be baptized in few weeks. He told me that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and he believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet but he already changes church once and he want to make sure that this is going to be the last time. He really wants an answer from Heavenly Father. Therefore at this point we can only wait and pray for him…
Yesterday I taught in Sunday School for the first time in Portuguese. Was very good, I loved it, I like to teach.

We are teaching several people and I am improving my Portuguese every day…

Mormon missionaries - Luca's group

Mormon missionaries - Luca's group

Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard

Sep

19

Luca, the Mormon missionary, actually the first official missionary from our family, has been transferred and he is now in Martha’s Vineyard.

From the pictures he sent it looks like an amazing place, and over there Luca can use his knowledge of the Portuguese language, since many Brazilian live there.

Luca Martinengo in Martha's Vineyard

Luca Martinengo in Martha's Vineyard

This is an excerpt from Luca’s email to us:

you have no idea how fast this transfer (this past few weeks here in the island) have gone by, it is so amazingly fast, wow I basically feel like we don’t have the time to do everything that we want to do, but I guess we do the best that we can. President calls me the firecracker, i can’t be still for a minute, I just feel kind of bad when we are not doing anything, so whenever I come to those times when there is no one in the bus or whatever, I always have a few good talks that I haven’t read or i pull out the scriptures and I read them, now i have even more to read because I have to read the lessons and the scriptures in Portuguese also.

The people here in the island are amazing, especially the members and especially even more the Brazilian members, they are such humble people and have the strongest testimonies I have ever heard.

I love reading the scriptures and also conference talks, i have made like a book full of my favorite talks and i try to read at least one a day, i have learned a lot.

I am having a lot of fun translating at church, it seems like i do everything there, because sometimes i have to translate and also play the piano and also make sure that the investigators are happy and also talk to members because they don’t really understand my companion very well, hehehe

Mormon Missionary in vacation... not really

Mormon Missionary in vacation... not really

Great Picture!

Great Picture!

Mormon missionaries' bikes

Mormon missionaries' bikes

Mormon missionary's study room

Mormon missionary's study room

Aug

12

Luca has been in a mission (a Mormon mission) for several months now. He went from the Missionary Training Center in Provo, to Amherst, Massachusetts, then Greenfield, and finally in Pittsfield where he has been for the last five months.

Luca Martinengo - Mormon missionary

Luca Martinengo - Mormon missionary

He has been writing every week, and even more, and we have all noticed his amazing improvement as a person and how he is really loving his mission in spite of all the difficulties and challenges. People use to say that when missionaries go into a mission they leave as boys and come back as men.

We have already noticed a great change for better in Luca and what is more impressive - but we were expecting it - he says that he has never been happier in his life. These are really the fruits of service in the gospel.

Luca was blessed with the opportunities of seeing several people enter the water of baptism, that is always a great moment for missionaries, even if it is not the only or even the most important indicator of a missionary’s success.

Jul

10

As I mentioned in a previous blog, my son Luca Martinengo received his mission call for February 6, 2008. However, since he received the mission call around November 10, I thought that it would be a waste to wait for three full months. He had already finished school (he got his associate degree from UVSC a few months before) and even his institute (religion) class would end in the beginning of December.

So, I could not see any benefit in having him stay at home for another 3 months. Moreover, to leave on February 6 means to come back also on February 6 or 5 (Mormon missions for males last 2 years), right in the middle of a school term. In short, that would be another waste of time.

Based on this reasoning, I decided to call the missionary department and ask if it was possible to anticipate his call to serve. I was told that they could anticipate his mission to December 26, but that the Stake president should call the missionary department and authorize the change. We all thought that December 26 was a great day to leave, right after Christmas.

However, when the Stake president called the missionary department he was told that they did not have any groups leaving on December 26 and that the only option would be December 19.

Well…we found another good reason to accept the new date. To leave on December 19 means that he will come home right before Christmas…a great timing!

In short, Luca left on December 19, almost 2 months before the date he was originally called. Many friends were surprised that the missionary department had accepted to make the change. Probably many members of the Church think that even the date of a mission call is 100% inspiration. In reality, most of the time, it is simply the first date available, after the date the missionary indicate he will be ready to go on a mission. So, once we told them that we could anticipate our date, they were happy to anticipate theirs.

Follow a few pictures of Luca when he went to the MTC.

Jul

1

Tonight I found a very interesting page on the Internet. In fact, it was a page about me and this blog that was created by someone who is of Italian descent.

It is titled “Testimony of an Italian Mormon Convert”

He made this comment:

I really enjoy these immigrant stories where someone comes from somewhere else and makes something of himself/herself and what they will pass on to their offspring and the magic of the whole process. Reminds of my great-grandparents who left Italy with their kids on a ship and started a new life in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. I am grateful for them because had they not done what they did, well, I simply wouldn’t be here or possibly even exist. The implication of that for me and my family would be astronomical.

I hope my kids realize it. In fact, this is a good opportunity to share a few pictures of my first son, Luca, who is serving a Mormon Mission in the Boston Massachusetts Mission. He has been in the Mission field for a little more than 6 months and from his letters we realize how much he has already improved his life.

We can feel from his letters that he is happy as never before. Since he went to the Missionary Training Center we noticed a change for better.

To join the Mormon Church in Italy, many years ago, was an important step not only in my life, but in the lives of my future kids (not yet born at that time). For this reason I always told my sons that it is their responsibility to go and find many other people like me, and baptize them, so that they will someway repay for the blessings they received in their lives, thanks to what two missionaries did many years ago in Italy.

This is him, when he received the mission call…

opening_mormon_mission_call

He is discovering where he will go…

discovering_which_mormon_mission

Opening the booklet…

mormon_mission_booklet

The Mission call….

mormon_mission_call

The Mission call was saying that he would leave on February 6… but this is not what happened… infact, he left before that? Why, it is all his daddy’s fault!

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