Continuing to recover and hoping to get back out to the field soon

Hello Everyone!

I want to thank everyone for all of the kind letters, prayers, and support I've received in these last two weeks. I have seen countless blessings during this all.

Thanks for the visits! (and letting me hold my favorite kitty)

 

Thank you so much, Bekah, for the goodies!

 A lot of you probably wonder what I do with all of the time that I have being at home while still being a missionary. I could describe it as a fish being out of water, I sort of feel out of my element. Its definitely hard going from a busy planned out lifestyle to petty much the opposite but I have been able to deal with it pretty well. This has all been a great opportunity for me to explore gospel principles and topics of the gospel that I didn't really have the time to out in the mission field. I have started studying more in depth the history and life of Joseph Smith, along with the pioneers who sacrificed everything to be able to freely live the gospel. I have also been trying my best to communicate with members and investigators in Italy to stay focused and practice the language. Today I was able to Skype one of my favorite families from my first city which was so nice! As I start feeling up to it, I am going to work with the missionaries here and also try to spend as much time as I can at the temple before going back out.

This is how I was feeling after the surgery

 Everyday I see improvements with everything healing the way it should. I was able to see my doctor last Monday and he told me that everything seems to be healing well. For the next few days it is up to me to feel and decide if the surgery fixed the problem I previously had. This Monday will probably be when we decide if I will go back out in 2 weeks or not. Im just hoping and praying that everything will feel great so that I can hop on a plane to Italy in just 2 weeks!

I got a nice, yummy package from the Goodrich twins in Utah

 Thank you everyone again for all of your prayers and support. Ive been able to learn some pretty valuable lessons from this whole experience. Most importantly I've been learning that that Heavenly Father is at the helm and we must learn to trust that he won't lead us down the wrong path. When we can't see whats ahead, we need to remember He can and it requires our faith and trust in Him to make it through our challenges. I love being a missionary and I always will continue to love this work. I continue to hope and pray that I will have the opportunity again to pickup what I began in Italy. I am so grateful and love you all! Have a great week.

I get to practice my piano skills.

 

Lunch with my mom at Tutor and Spunky's

 Elder Hogan

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

Exciting week: Easter, a car accident and coming home for surgery

Ciao Tutti!

I hope everyone had a Buona Pasqua!! (Happy Easter)

 

 

 

An Italian Easter dish.  It was good!!

 We were able to meet with a lot of people this week to get everyone excited and ready for Easter! If any of you are wondering they do celebrate Easter here in Italy haha Actually the Italians go all out on Easter, I love it. We were able to show a bunch of people the church's Easter initiative video which everyone seemed to love.

The Nicotras and their friends.  Probably the best Italian family out there

 

Awesome Nigerians that we teach.  The one on the far right served a mission.

This Sunday was Easter! Church here in Merate was super great as always. After church we had an amazing Easter Lunch with the Nicotra's. Unfortunately, after lunch my companion I and were in a pretty scary car accident. As we drove into an intersection to turn left, a car coming from our left side hit us head on.

Anziano Richardson got hit on his side and he hit his head pretty hard from the impact so he got a concussion. After the crash, I made sure all my arms and legs were still attached and I ran to see if the others were okay and thankfully they were. We had to pry my companions door open because it got jammed in from the impact. He had to be taken by the ambulance to the hospital so we got an ambulance ride and he was later released from the hospital that night. He has been recovering so we have been stuck in the apartment for the last couple of days. Luckily he is feeling better and everyone is alive. Things could have been way worse so we thank Heavenly Father and any guardian angels who were watching over us.

The car after the crash

 

He is alive!  My comp waiting in the ER.  He got a minor concussion

 

Ambulance ride in Italy

 As many of you may already know, for the last 3 months I have been struggling with a health issue that needs surgery and I will temporarily come home and get the care that I need. It really has not been easy knowing I will be leaving these amazing people and this beautiful country, but after much prayer and fasting I know that it is what I need to do. If all goes well I will be able to return to the Italy Milan mission in about 4 weeks or maybe even less which really makes me feel better about everything. This whole situation has constantly brought me to my knees asking God for help and even if there is any other way I get this all fixed. The answer I received to come home wasn't really the one I wanted but it was the one I needed.

 Our Heavenly Father is the only one who truly knows what's best and that's why we must pray and put our trust in Him. Sometimes life throws you some pretty big obstacles but thankfully we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that we can leap over them. I am looking forward to feeling better so that I can return to the mission that I love so much and continue to teach the people Heavenly Father has prepared for me in Italy. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend watching General Conference. I know I'm so excited!

 Ciao!

 -Anziano Hogan

Cat high five

 

All you can eat sushi.  I got the boat.

 

Happy Spring and Easter!!

Ciao Tutti!! 
 
And Happy Spring and Easter!!

This is me shaking Elder D. Todd Christofferson's hand!  Best day ever!!



Me and Anziano Thomson

 

Me and some of my MTC district

 


 I seriously love Holidays that focus on Jesus Christ because it gives us missionaries more opportunities to share more about Him. This week was one of the most eventful weeks of my mission yet. On Thursday I was blessed with the opportunity to personally meet one of the 12 apostles, Elder D. Todd Christofferson. All week I had prayed so that I could receive a strong witness of him and of the words that he spoke. The moment I saw him and met with him I knew with everything in me that he was an apostle called of God. The words he spoke and the council he gave brought me so much comfort and help with my mission.

 It was an experience I'll never forget. Later that day we went to the Hospital in Merate to give a member a blessing who had fallen off of His bike and was seriously hurt, Thankfully he is recovering and feeling better now.

 Anzaino Richardson(my companion) and I were able to go to our ward activity last Friday which was country themed. We dressed up like Cowboys and seriously had a blast. I love the ward and the people here so much!!

Country activity

 

The best member in the world.  His name is Kahlidi

 

Dinner at the Perez/s house.  They come from the Dominican Republic, Equador, and Peru.  It was so yummy!

 

This was the Dominican Republic food and it was super good

 
Saturday we taught 2 people in the morning, were fed lunch by the Prigottis who fed us again on Tuesday, taught 2 more people after that and then had a dinner with a family who made a massive Santo Domingan (Dominican Republic) meal. It was such a great and crazy day. I was able to meet most of the members at church the next day and was constantly amazed at how incredible they are. Some members from Boise Idaho gave us Peanut Butter from the US and that was like the coolest thing ever!!

 My companion and I were given permission by our mission President to see a very famous opera called "I Due Foscari" by Giuseppe Verdi at the Scala Theater in Milano on Tuesday night! It was honestly the coolest thing in the world being in one of the most popular theaters in Europe and hearing the Orchestra and Opera put together with a really interesting story line. I'm pretty sure we are only able to see one opera for the whole mission so I was very lucky to be a able to see such a good one.

 

 

 I just want to share a little bit of what Elder Christofferson some about last Thursday. It was really awesome because after he spoke, he gave us an hour to ask him questions. One missionary asked why people pray to receive a testimony and yet they still don't feel/receive anything. Elder Christofferson said that there are a many things that could stand in the way of a response. He said that we must first have a heart and the desire to completely follow any answer we receive. We don't receive answers if our sole purpose of praying is to satisfy our curiosity. If we show God we have real intent and a sincere heart, He will give us the answers we seek I hope everyone has a great Easter this weekend. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ. I know He lives and I know we can become like Him if we follow Him and if we love Him.

Watch the new Easter video!FollowHim.mormon.org

I miss and love you all!
-Anziano Hogan

 

 

 

 

 

Never forget to thank Heavenly Father for all that we receive

Mamma Mia!!

 

 

Me and my new companion Anziano Richardson

 

What an eventful week in my new area of Merate. This city is just about 45 minutes from the Centro of Milano and it is really amazing. It is very flat with bright green spacious fields and farms everywhere.

Merate  - farm beauty

 

 

 

 

This blog wouldn't be complete without a cat picture!

 

 It really is a totally different and unique part of Italy. It is very different and also kind of similar to Trento in that there are no mountains towering over the city but it still feels like out in the middle of nowhere. Here we have a car which is very efficient for missionary work because we can get to like 5 people In a day with not much of a problem. In just 6 days my companion and I were able to teach 21 good quality lessons so as you can imagine I am pretty happy with the work we have.

 

One of the best parts of this city is the members and people we meet with. There is a huge ward here with lots of strong and outgoing members. As far as baptisms go, this transfer should be great with about 4 scheduled baptisms so far. Last Monday when we we driving, we had some extra time so I looked in my planner and said we should go and see this less active member named Victor. I guess the missionaries haven't met with him in a really long time but we were able to see him and it was seriously so amazing. He is a little humble man from Equador who lives in just a small room with his scriptures besides his bed. He told us he was so grateful that we thought of visiting him and for lifting up his spirit.

So a really nice miracle happened this past week. One of our investigators is getting married on March 26th and her baptism will be on April 9th! She is so excited and so are we.

 Some fun/funny things that happened this week was I decided to cut my own hair which was kind of scary at first but I was able to fix things up. There are huge grocery stores here, a lot like wallmart, so I was able to find things to make Mexican food!!!! I made fajita burritos and I was seriously crying with joy because I've missed my Mexican food. Our washing machine has been broken since I arrived here but a guy is coming on Friday thank goodness.

I made Mexican food!

 

 This weekend we had stake conference in Milano and Elder Johnson from the seventy spoke about gaining a testimony and it was really great. It was so awesome seeing so many members of the church in one place here, I loved it.

I've just been thinking lately about some of the blessings received from a mission and I've decided that I am most grateful for is being able to expand and learn certain lessons which one may not have been able to learn anywhere else. There are things about this world and about myself I have come to realize thanks to the experiences and people I have met here and for that I am so grateful. One of my favorite scriptures of all time is Alma 7:23-25 which reads "And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works. And may the Lord bless you..." As long as we strive to be the best that we can be and ask God for those things in which we lack, he can teach us the things necessary for us to reach our full potential. And we must never forget to thank him for all that we receive. I strive ever day to have these characteristics.

 I know I am so far from perfect but one of our main goals in this life is to learn and try to become better than we were the day before.

 Here is my new address!
Love you all! Ciao!

New Address:
Via Vicenzo Monti 3
23870 Cernusco Lombardone
Italia

-Anziano Hogan

A river near our city