Willy has been called to Merate

Ciao Everyone!!

Sorella Benedetti's cat!  He is a chubby cat!

 So much happened this week with transfer calls and saying goodbyes. I have been called to go to the city of Merate. It is pretty close to Milano and the cities of Como and and Lecco. The cool thing is that I will have a car in my new city because everything is all very spread out. It is one of very few cities in Italy that has a car. Another thing is that Merate will be my first city with a ward and not a
branch so that will be great for more work. It is honestly so weird leaving Trento after being here for almost 6 months. So much has happened here in Trento in these last months and it almost feels like
a really crazy amazing dream. The members became like my family along with all of the investigators and friends I have made. I never thought it would be so hard to leave this beautiful place! I will miss it so much! Although I'm sad I'm also very excited for a new adventure and a new city.

Saying goodbye to my Trento family.  Sorella Pavan on the left (helps us with everything), and Claudio, my ward mission leader in the back.

 

 

My ward mission leader Claudio

 Well this week really was great. It was mostly filled with seeing members and new converts which was really nice to do. I did an exchange with Anziano Jaques from Bolzano and we went to Merano for a part of the day to do service for a family. It ended up snowing really hard so we weren't able to get home till late because of the weather but it was a super cool experience to see it snow so hard. That was the day I received the news of being transferred so it was exciting.

The dinner Anziano Jaques made me on our exchange.  Buono!

 

It SNOWED so hard this weekend.  This is in Merano from my exchange this weekend.

 

Pizza Dante in Trento covered in snow.

 

Winter wonderland in Merano

 

This was after we did service for someone in Merano.  That's why I'm wearing jeans and running shoes.

 The next day, Sunday, was really nice because I was able to bear my testimony and just share with everyone how grateful I was for being able to work with such strong members of the church. After church we met with an investigator and then had a great meal with an English class member who invited over some friends who were very interested in us and our church. 

Last district meeting in Trento with Lott, Jaques and Olsen.

 

Saying goodbye to my new convert Gerard,  He is so awesome!  He is preparing to go to the temple and serve a mission!

 

This was the last night when we had dinner at a members house.  His house is a tiny room so we squished in and it was fun.  haha!

 

This is Stanley, one of our branch missionaries.  I'll miss him!

 It's crazy to look back at my first day here in Italy and just see how much I've learned in such a short amount of time. So much joy can be found through service for others and following Jesus Christ. I know this because I have been trying my best to follow Christ and serve other people and it sure has brought me more happiness than anything else. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and continuing the Lords work in Merate. This will be an exciting week to come!

Anziano Hogan

WEEK 28!

CAT! This is my favorite cat here.  His name is Atilla.

Me eating Mac n Cheese!  It's not every day you can find this in Italy ha ha ha!

Happy March everyone!

This last week was pretty great for us here in Trento. This Saturday we will receive transfer calls so I may be called to a new city which is very exciting and also sad. After being in a city for almost 6 months, everything starts to feel like home and the people become like family.

 Last Thursday, I took a try at making breadsticks and it turned out great so I probably got lucky. We made delicious brownies from some people. We were really lucky and got fed 3 times this week by families and that was super yummy and great. It rained for the majority of the week but the mountains are fluffy with snow once again and it makes this place look unreal and beautiful.

Me and Elder Lott with the fluffy white mountains behind us!

 This week was slightly slow for us so we did a good amount of finding and found some really nice people who gave us their phone numbers!

This Sunday was so wild and crazy. I had to translate for sacrament meeting which wasn't anything new but I wanted to do an extra great job because there were a lot of english speaking people there. I said a prayer right before it so that I could have the ability to understand and translate well enough for the visitors and investigators. Throughout the whole meeting I was able to understand clearer than ever what the speakers were saying. It honestly was a miracle.

 After Church we had lunch and a lesson with members and an investigator which went super well. This girl we have been teaching will be getting baptized in 2 weeks!!

A cool church in Spormaggiore

On Monday we had the opportunity to eat with this family who literally lives in the side of a huge mountain. It was pretty cool and the family is awesome! We took a train and a bus up to this small village called Spormaggiore to do a pass by a referral we were given by a member. Unfortunately this person was not home but we had a nice sack lunch on a ledge over looking this huge valley with castles and snowy mountains. We were able to catch a bus back to Trento and have a couple great lessons with some of our investigators.

the castle

The famous Tiroi castle

We made it!

 For Pday today we traveled to Merano with the Bolzano Elders. Merano is basically Switzerland and it is probably one of the nicest, cleanest, most beautiful parts of the world. We hiked up to 3 medieval
castles that were hanging on the edges of mountains overlooking the green valley of Merano. It was beautiful!!

A nice stream we found on the trail

 It was another wonderful week. I love the members here so much, they are such special people who love the gospel. I am truly so blessed to be here and teach and learn about Jesus Christ. Something I had started at the beginning of my mission that I am so grateful for was write down all the blessings I've seen each day or week. Each time I look back I am able to realize how great life is and how truly blessed I am. I'm really glad I did that because it is one way I can remind myself of how frequently Heavenly Father is present in my life. I hope everyone has a great week!

Liebe Sbank which is the "lovers bench" in German

 Love,
Anziano Hogan

I couldn't stop smiling the whole three hours.

Hello Everyone!!

This week was really great! The weather here warmed up a lot last week which was a first since like November. Unfortunately it is going to rain all week next week but its okay because the rain makes things more adventurous and the mountains will turn white again! Trento is so beautiful!

With my companion, Elder Lott, looking over Trento

The war monument in Trento

On Saturday night we went with our branch president to the house of a less active member who is pretty old and has a really bad problem with smoking. I have met with this man every week for the last 5 months and we haven't been able to get him to come back to church. We had a super powerful lesson about the importance of the Sabbath and how our branch really loves him and needs him. Well this Sunday, right after sacrament meeting began, this man walked into the door dressed all nice in his suit with a bright smile on his face. I was seriously so happy; I couldn't stop smiling the whole three hours.


On Monday we headed down to Verona to do an exchange with the elders there. I was with Anziano Bickam from Iowa and we worked hard. We did some tracting in the downtown area of Verona for about 4 hours so we were able to meet some nice and interesting people. We were walking and biking all day so we decided to make doughnuts that night and ton of pancakes the next day before going back to work so that was really fun!

Me during the exchange in Verona

Me and Anziano Bickam on our exchange in Verona

We made pancakes with the zone leaders in Verona and they were so good!

One of our investigators who was going to be baptized this weekend is being baptized in the middle of March because she moved about 2 hours away and we can only see here once or twice a week. What is really awesome is she told us she will drive the 2 hours up to us because she wants us to teach her and she loves the members here. It is so cool to see people so dedicated and motivated to do something they know to be true.

I am really so grateful to be here in Italy. It is a beautiful country with such great culture and people. The mission is definitely not an easy task but it sure does bring us some of the happiest moments life will ever offer. With lots of hard work and tough moments comes some of the happiest and most fulfilling moments ever.

This is a classic Trentino Strudel covered in custard.  Yummm!

The pizza I made this week

Gelato on Day

There was a guy on a stand up paddle board.  The tiny wave along the Verona river.  I was seriously so happy to this.  This was the first surfer I've seen in six months

The best medicine for having a bad day is....

Hello my family and Friends!

Crazy week with Zone conference, my birthday, and an exchange with Bolzano. Such a good week!
 

The birthday on the mission was definitely an interesting one but it was still really fun making the most out of it. That day just happened to be the most wild, busiest, and  slightly unlucky days yet but it was also one of the most fun days yet. I did make a birthday cake for myself thanks to Rebekah who sent me all the ingredients haha. OH my that cake was very very yummy.

Birthday cake...Ingredients from Rebekah

 Zone Conference was great! It is always fun seeing people you know and friends from the MTC. We talked a lot about teaching with the spirit and pre-paring ourselves well for every lesson. We all got a cord to hook up our ipads to any TV so that we can share videos and messages to families and investigators. We are truly so lucky to have the ability to use this technology. If we use it wisely we can do so much great and effective work with it.

A pday last week!  Playing Settlers.

Train ride home after the birthday party.

 We did an exchange this week with Bolzano and I took Anziano Olsen up to Trento with me. He is a farmer from Idaho and he's a cool guy. We did a lot of work and had lots of fun. Monday night after teaching a couple people, we did some street contacting as we walked home. As we were walking and talking to people, we came across this cool park that had some pull up bars. I decided I would give it a quick try to see if I still had it in me. Before we knew it, it turned into a little competition with me and Anziano Olsen. Then this guy walked up to us so we challenged him haha. After some minutes we started talking about the gospel and we ended up giving him a book of mormon after testifying of it. It was great! I'm sure glad I tried to see if I could still do some pull-ups.

 

A nice birthday meal from English class members

 Last night we ate dinner at the Bolts house. They are the service couple from Switzerland. We had an amazing Swiss meal called Rōschti which is like sausages and hash browns. It was buonissomo!!!

Swiss dinner called Roschti!  With the most amazing napkin in the world.

 For Pday today, we were given permission to leave our zone and spend the day in Milano. We walked around the Duomo and got the best gelato In the world!! There are way more people in Milano than Trento which was cool to see because there aren't very many people in my city.

Duomo in Milano

 Wow being a missionary is so fun! Man it's a ton of work and it's not easy but it is so extremely fulfilling helping people become more like Christ. I have certainly learned the importance of living everyday the best that you can and finding ways to serve and help other people. The best medicine for having a bad day is to turn away from your self and sacrifice some time to help someone else. Love and miss you all!

 -Anziano Hogan

New haircut

Trento