Elder William Cannon Hogan: True miracles were happening left and right!

Buon Natale e aguri!!

We won the gingerbread contest!

It is so hard to believe that Christmas is already here. Last week we had a Zone Training with the President and His wife which was very fun. They had a "ginger bread house" contest at the end which Anziano Beaulac and I won! We were given a pandoro cake to add to the tons of desserts we already have. We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday night which was a great turn out.

Anziano Beaulac made his secret doughnut recipe so we brought tons of doughnuts to the Christmas party and everyone was going crazy over them. Our next door neighbor's husband passed away last week so we thought it would be nice to put some doughnuts in a Christmasy box with a note on the "A Savior is Born" pass along card saying "the Savior is always there for you and so are we". She felt so loved and was so grateful that we did that.

The doughnuts we made for our activity and our next door neighbors

So I had one of the most amazing weeks of my mission yet. My city has apparently received 1/4 of the whole missions referrals from a "Savior is born" but there was something wrong with it all because none of the referrals were at all interested. But while we were attempting to contact all of our referrals true miracles were happening left and right.

Sunday was a true miracle day for me and Anziano Beaulac. It all started in the morning at church. Our new investigators Viacheslav from Romania and Gererd from the French speaking part of Africa both came to church! I remember in the middle of church I said a little prayer in my head asking for some help from Heavenly Father because I was feeling a bit down.

Well after church we were going to skype the missionaries from Romania so that we could have a solid lesson with Viacheslav but they never responded so we taught Viacheslav the best we could because he is still learning Italian. He said he has studied every single religion and has decided that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints is the true church on the earth.

Later in the day we taught Gerard (all in French) and in the end he said that he wants to be baptized and knows the church is true! After Gerard we headed to Meano( a small suburb outside of Trento) to stop by some of the referrals. On the bus ride there we met a man named Leandro who said he has a Book of Mormon and went to church a few times in the years past. He told us he wants to meet with us and talk about the Book of Mormon so we are meeting with him today(Wednesday) after English class!

The first referral we stopped by had no interest in us, but we knocked on the next door neighbors house and she answered and let us share "A Savior is Born with her" she told us to come back and teach her family!!! We then crossed the street and rang up a house and they let us inside!!(my first time being let inside from doing casa) It was a father and his son. We shared "A Savior is born", a brief restoration and we gave him a Book of Mormon and challenged him to read it and he said he would. He invited us to return after the Holidays so that we can teach more to him and his Family!!
On our bus ride back towards our next referral we met Leandro again with his mom! We talked more to him and his mom and he is very excited to meet with us(what are the chance of this.. .seriously)!! On our way to the next referral we found a super cool nativity scene by this church. Two people came up to it and as we were walking away we felt inspired to talk to them. We showed the "A Savior is Born" right in front of this nativity scene! It doesn't get cooler than that.

Nativity Scene by a church

Well, the next referral was not interested either, but we decided to ring some apartments in the complex and sure enough a lady opened up the door and we walked up to her apartment. She said she didn't have a whole lot of time but she will share the "A Savior is born" video with her daughters. On the way home from this amazing day, we were at the bus stop and a man named Aldo started talking to us. He said he is totally interested in meeting with us and hearing our message and he offered us free haircuts when we want!

I am so grateful for Heavenly Father for placing us in the path of those whom he has prepared for us. As long as we do our part, Heavenly Father will make up the rest. Not only was my prayer answered but we were able to experience so much joy as missionaries. There is truly no other place i'd rather be or any other thing i'd rather be doing around this Christmas time than to see miracles wrought and to teach others about Jesus Christ.

I really do miss you all, but I know this is where I am needed and this work is so wonderful. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ! The greatest gift we could ever give Him is to try and be like Him and follow His footsteps.

Buon Natale!