Coming Home....General Conference....Surgery

Ciao Family and friends,


I think it would be safe to say that this week was definitely different than all the others I've had so far on the mission. On Wednesday afternoon, some Elders picked me up from Merate and brought me over to the mission offices so that I could be ready to take a plane the next morning. I spent my last night with the office Elders which was really fun. We taught a member family about the importance of Jesus Christ and His resurrection, it was a very special and spiritual lesson, a great way to end my last night there. 

The next morning I hopped on a plane from Milano to start my journey home. All of the traveling went very smoothly and I met some really awesome people on the way. When I got to Amsterdam I bumped into 4 sisters who were finishing their missions in Norway. One of them was Sister House who is cousins with the Kimballs. All of our seats were all next to each other which was fun because I didn't have to travel alone and we were able to talk to people about the church. When we landed in Minneapolis we all went our separate ways and I tried to exchange some of my Euros so that I could buy some yummy looking American food. While I was trying to do that, I met a member from San Diego who ended up buying me a cookie and a mango smoothie and even let me use his phone to call my parents. Some people are just so nice. I hopped onto the plane which took me to Orange County and everything felt pretty unreal, almost like some dream. Right as I sat down on the plane I heard the guy in front of me speaking Italian on the phone and I was saying to myself, what are the chances if this!! haha. So we talked for a while in Italian before we left and after we landed, that was so much fun. I was able to tell him a little about the church and he thought it was super cool to meet an American who knew Italian. 

On the plane with some other sister missionaries coming from Amsterdam.

 I finally landed in Orange Country and met with my family which felt super unreal but it was so great to see them. Most of this weekend was spent home trying my best to continue following the missionary schedule with studying and everything like that- because Im still a missionary!!

Arriving in Orange County Airport

With my brother, Jack

 
 I was able to watch General Conference which could not have come at a better time in my life. So many of the talks made me feel so positive about everything going on and so many prayers and questions that I had were answered. I loved President Uchtdorf's talk about obedience. He said that obedience is just the process by which we discover what we are truly made of. The more obedient we are, the closer and closer we get to reaching our full potential as mortals. I especially loved what our amazing Prophet, Thomas S. Monson said about the importance of choices. He taught that it is much better to choose the harder right than the easier wrong. I loved that so much because It is so simple yet something we don't really think about too often.

General Conference half time in Carlsbad, CA with Jack and Slater.

 

On Monday I was able to have my surgery at Mission Hospital which went really well. These last couple days have been spent recovering and resting a lot. I should be fully recovered and ready to return to Italy in just a couple weeks! I will find out more after my post operation appointment this upcoming Monday. 

Right before surgery at Mission Hospital, Mission Viejo, CA

This last week has been pretty tough and challenging with having to come home from the mission that I love so much. I definitely thought I would be one of those invincible missionaries that would never have any problems, but I had to learn and accept that unplanned things just happen to us. When challenges are thrown at us its important that we always stay positive and try our best to learn and grow from it. Sometimes we just don't know why certain things happen to us, but one thing we should know for sure is that when we follow Heavenly Fathers plan, everything thrown at us will be conquerable and easier to overcome. 

I'll definitely try my best to keep everyone updated on when I will be heading back to Italia!

Love you all, thank you for all of your prayers and support.

-Anziano Hogan