October 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment
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 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.
July 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Several months ago I created my first video with the story of when I met the Mormon missionaries and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many people have watched it and I have received some good feedback. I wish my English was better, but I know that my accent did not prevent good people from appreciating it (or detractor from criticizing it anyway…).
Last week I decided to record a similar video that contains the story of a few experiences I had before meeting the Mormon missionaries. Those experiences prepared me over the years to understand and accept the message of the Restoration.
At this point I can’t avoid making fun of myself and comparing it to Star Wars movies. The second trilogy tells the story of what happened before the first trilogy….
Similarly this second video tells what happened before the first video. But I am not Darth Vater…
I have the impression that in this second video my English is better, but natives will better judge if this is true.
Giuseppe Martinengo: before becoming a Mormon
July 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
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…
He is discovering where he will go…
Opening the booklet…
The 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!
June 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I have found some interesting statistics about what nonmembers of the Mormon Church think of the Church at LDS Media Talk:
According to a recent Pew study of 1,461 American nonmembers of the Mormon Church:
I am sure that these statistics are a lot worse in most of the other countries around the world.
Someone commented to that blog post by saying,
it seems to me that we may never change some people’s minds, because frankly, they don’t like us, and will believe any negative ideas they hear.
It is a good point, many people will never change their minds. But is this what we are really trying to do?
I really think that the Internet will be key in letting millions of people know about the LDS or Mormon Church. Missionaries waste too much time trying to find people. However, we are not trying to change some people’s minds, we are trying to find those who will listen to the voice of the Lord, those who
are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it (D&C 123:12). They will change their own minds.
When I met the missionaries (see my conversion story) they did not have to change my mind. I changed it. I only needed to know that there was the true Church of Jesus Christ on the earth. A willing heart and the Spirit did the rest.
June 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I have found a relatively new and interesting blog, LDS Media Talk whose authors are Larry Richman (LDS.org Product Manager), Joel Dehlin (LDS Church CIO), David Nielson (Managing Director, Audiovisual Dept, LDS Church), and David Frischknecht (Managing Director, Curriculum Dept, LDS Church).
The purpose of the blog is to “share ideas with LDS parents and youth who are interested in learning how to use technology to strengthen families and build The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes referred to as the “Mormons,†the “Mormon Church,†or “Mormonism†).
The blog is not an official official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the information and opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors, but I am happy to see that the use of technology at Church headquarters is gaining momentum.
April 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I have already blogged about it, but now I have found the link to the complete talk by Elder Ballard. We, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) need to make sure that our influence is felt not only in person, but also in writing on the Internet. We can reach many more people in this way. The people we will ever meet personally will always be a limited number, but on the Internet we can make a difference in a larger scale.
Quoting from Elder Ballard:
I think most of you know that I have a great concern and love for our full-time missionaries. The leaders of the Church constantly pray for every missionary to be spiritually strong and powerful teachers… The 53,000 missionaries currently serving face the same challenge, I believe most of you had on your missions – that of finding people to teach. You can help them! You can help remove the barriers that stop individuals from learning about and eventually accepting the gospel. Some barriers are geographical and some doctrinal, but many are due to misconceptions or misunderstandings. The Internet enables you to bypass some of these barriers. You can use your testimonies, education, skills and associations to be a great support to the missionaries who are now serving.
Do you know another language? Then you can do even more:
Each of you who know another language can continue through the Internet to prepare people to receive the missionaries. As you visit with them in their own language and share with them your experiences and love of the gospel, you can find more people for the missionaries to teach. This will have the added benefit of keeping your language skills fluent.
Be a member missionary has never been more exciting. Even if we live in Utah, where we often say -as an excuse perhaps - that everybody already knows about the Church, we can do member missionary work by using the Internet and reaching people across the earth who never heard or never really understood what the Mormon Church really teaches and stands for.
This is another way for you to be a member missionary. With more and more people living in apartments and gated communities, we need to use every wise way to make contact with the honest in heart who are seeking the truth and to kindle an interest to know more about the Church.
Link to the full text: Making Your Influence Felt by Elder M. Russell Ballard
January 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Recently Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke at BYU-Hawaii’s graduation ceremony on December 15, 2007 about the importance of using the Internet. That talk was so important for what we do at the More Good Foundation that after writing a blog about it, I decided that I wanted it translated in several languages.
Interestingly, a few weeks after that, I started teaching a Marriage Preparation class at BYU and I decided to modify the syllabus by changing one assignment. Instead than a traditional paper, I asked the students to create their own personal blog at blogger.com or at our new social networking website LDS.net and write 8-10 posts over the semester.
Initially I was a little concerned to ask students to do this assignment, since it is probably the first in the history of BYU, but because of Elder Ballard’s talk I felt that I could do it.
Most of the students have already blogged a couple of times and some of those entries are very interesting.
To write a journal, or in this case a blog, is useful for the students because they have a chance to think about what they read or what we discussed in class. However, I am discovering that it is also useful for the teacher, because those blog entries can give valuable feedback. Obviously, since it is a public expression of their thinking, the students will not be completely open if there is something they do not like in the class, but still, from their comments and reflections I am able to understand better what they are really learning, and what topics and discussions are most interesting for them. Moreover, I can get to know them a lot better through those blogs than by giving them multiple questions tests (and for some of them even by what they say in class).
We are just in the beginning and I hope that they will get better and better at writing blogs. I also hope that at least some of them will continue blogging about the Church and families during their lives to help others to know the wonderful principles that we learn in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church).
These are the links to some of those blogs:
http://kelseympc.blogspot.com/
http://www.melissaonlovenmarriage.blogspot.com/
http://byumarriageprep.blogspot.com/
December 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
On December 15 of this year Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) gave a speech at Brigham Young University-Hawaii’s graduation ceremony about the use of New Media to support the work of the Church.
I am really glad that Elder Ballard gave such a talk. I work for the More Good Foundation, and we are concerned abaout and committed to spread good information about the Church online. We want to make sure - using Elder Ballard’s words - that we “define the message of the Restoration rather than letting others define our beliefs.”
Elder Ballard explains,
Now all of you know that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are reminded and encouraged continually to share the gospel with others. The Church is always looking for the most effective ways to declare our message.
For some unfortunate reason, until recently there was a prevalent feeling among members of the Church that we were not supposed to use the Internet to talk about our beliefs. The problem with this attitude is that if we do not define who we are and in what we believe, others will do it;Â and they will do it without enough knowledge or even with malicious intent.
Elder Ballard’s talk is very welcomed, because it explains clearly why members need to be involved online. He draws an interesting parallel between the invention of the press and the Internet:
There are perhaps few inventions that have had a greater impact on the world than the printing press, invented by the inspired Johannes Gutenberg in 1436. The printing press enabled knowledge, including the Holy Bible, to be shared more widely than ever before. Ultimately, the common people had access to the truths of scripture, and the clergy no longer held the populace hostage to their interpretations.
He continues:
Today we have a modern equivalent of the printing press in the Internet and all that it means. The Internet allows everyone to be a publisher, to have their voice heard, and it is revolutionizing society. Before the Internet, there were great barriers to printing. It took money, power, or influence and a great amount of time to publish. But today, because of the emergence of what some call New Media, made possible by the Internet, many of those barriers have been removed.
This is really amazing. The Lord has found a way to spread the gospel to billions of people, bypassing the usual barriers created by the lack of money or power. We need to use this window of opportunity as fast as we can because there is always the possibility for new barriers to emerge, limiting the freedom allowed by the Internet.
In the meantime there are a few simple things that almost any member can do. For example, a blog:
A Church member living in the Midwest makes a concerted effort to share the gospel everyday, in person. He then writes a blog about his daily endeavors to share the teachings of the Book of Mormon and to give pass-along cards to all he meets.
Or we can share our conversion stories and other uplifting experiences:
Others have recorded and posted their testimonies of the Restoration, the teachings of the Book of Mormon, and other gospel subjects on popular video-sharing sites.
We (the More Good Foundation) have created a website where we invite people to share their stories at MormonTestimonies. We would like to have thousand of members sharing their stories online.
I am really grateful to Elder Ballard for his speech that explains the principles behind our need to use the Internet to do good or even. . .more good!
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Link to the full article: Using New Media to Support the Work of the Church
