Hard Work and Following the Spirit

 Buon Ferragosto a tutti!!


Me and Anziano Gorton!  A good friend from the mission.



 I'm really happy to be writing this letter but not so happy that it is Ferragosto!! It's a national holiday where everyone goes to the beach... It has been an absolute crazy, miracle filled week. I know I say I see miracles every week, but I really do and they happen everywhere.

I made cookies!

 

 We had zone conference on Thursday which really was the best. Our new mission president is like a spiritual giant and he is going to make amazing things happen here in this mission. The whole atmosphere and attitude of missionary work has already changed because of him. He also came to Bologna for a new missionary training on Monday and I got to eat lunch with him! President and Sister Allen are the best!

Zone Conference

 

 A huge miracle happened on Sunday as we were fasting. On our way to the church building we saw a couple knocking on the door trying to get in. They looked like they were new to the church so we got really excited and started running. It was funny because right as we started to run, a really pretty cat ran out into the street and I was tempted to pet it for a second. Obviously I knew these people were way more important but I felt like the cat was some kind of distracting temptation from the adversary haha. Well Silvia, who is the wife, is a member who hasn't been to church in years, and Marco the husband, is not a member and he told us that he is very interested in learning more! They stayed for all 3 hours of church and for me it was the happiest 3 hours of my week. I know that great things will happen with them. We will see them this week!

 This is the last week Anziano McPherson has in the mission (3rd in a row for me!) and we made it a goal to teach 21 people. He is a really good kid who has changed a lot because of the mission. He told me the other day that this is one of the hardest working transfers he's ever had and he's grateful it could be his last.

Gelato after a long day of hard work!

 Lately, because so many people have been out of town, we have been doing hours of street and park finding. Over and over again I've seen that prepared people have been put into our paths. Just in the last two days we have found 2 people who want to come to church and learn more. Lots of times lately I've found myself saying things like "If I hadn't been on that street, or in that park at that time, I wouldn't have found that person!"  A huge part of that has to do with following the promptings of the spirit. The Holy Ghost is such an important tool in this work and I strive to be worthy enough for it to guide me into the right direction. This work would not progress if it weren't for the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Ghost.

 I've really never been happier. This church is true and it is for everyone.

Me and Anziano Moss who went to BYU with a bunch of my friends back home.

 

My good friend from the MTC!  He had to spend the night at our apartment one night last week.

 

Anziano Castranovo and his companion.  We took this at 5:30am. haha!

 

Anziano Yuhasz, who is from Hungary!

 Love,
Anziano Hogan

Joy in work

Family and friends!!

Venice in the rain!

 I honestly still can't believe I am a missionary here in this city. There is nothing better than teaching the gospel to the people who live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world! I really feel extremely lucky and blessed to be doing this. Today was a great Pday despite having a homeless man almost pass out on me... We just biked around the city and went to some cool shops.

Me an Anziano Santoro doing some missionary work in Venice

On Thursday we did our exchange with the Elders of Mestre which was great. I was with Anziano Santoro who is from the south of Italy, and we did some door to door in Venice which isn't something you get to do everyday. We met some very nice people and had a great lesson at the end of the day in downtown Mestre.

Some missionaries took a picture of me and Anziano Santoro teaching someone during our exchange.

 Here in Bologna, the work is moving along well and I've noticed that miracles never seem to stop happening, as long as we work and try our best, of course.

Gelato!!

 We were finally able to meet with our new investigator named Salvatore who we found in the park. We taught him the restoration and I couldn't believe I was talking to the same person who laughed at us and told us God doesn't exist(Which is what happened when we first contacted him).

Our friend Tood, who is from Australia.  He gives us free Gelato!

 It is absolutely crazy how the spirit can change people and give them the desire to learn more. At the end of the lesson he said he has thirst to read the Book of Mormon. We hope for the best and I'm excited to see how he does. We have been teaching this new guy named Pablo. He is sort of a hippie who plays the guitar on the streets but he really has the desire to learn more about Jesus Christ! The gospel is literally for everyone.

My buddy Desmond

On Saturday we did some service for the Alessandro family who lives in the hills of Tuscany which was super cool. It was really tiring but I was so happy to finally meet with this amazing member family. At the end they fed us a super good lunch and I shared with them D&C 18:16 which reads "If your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!" I know I have shared this scripture in my emails before but its just too true not share it again. I challenged this family to share the gospel with as many people as they can because it will bring them so much happiness as it will strengthen them as a family. This work brings so much joy, more joy than I have felt at any other time in my life.

Bologna.   Everyone: we HAVE to visit here after my mission!

  Keep choosing the right! I really love and miss all of you. Ciao!

 -Anziano Hogan

Some of my happiest moments...

Hellloooo Mia Famiglia e miei Amici! 

 

Yes..I found a cat who kept wanting to come into church!

 

Pday pizza in Venice!  I'm the second to last one ha ha!

I felt like I was writing you just yesterday! I don't even know where time goes, I have 1 year left from tomorrow...so weird. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer because I sure am! I have been lucky enough to find myself in Venice once again for Pday! I really am so blessed to be in this mission.

 

 

This week wasn't easy but we did the best we could to keep the ball rolling in this beautiful city. Bologna is beautiful in a million ways except for the fact that it doesn't have the beach and that's where everyone goes for the summer! Lots of members and most of our investigators have been out of town so we have resorted to lots of finding and creative work to find new people to share our message with. The great news is that our hard work has brought us success with a new investigator named Salvatore. We will be meeting with him this Friday so i'm really looking forward to that.

This weekend our ward had a big Barbecue and it was really tasty and fun. The members here are like family to me and they are seriously the best.

This is Timoteo: the coolest member in the world!

Ward BBQ

I had a really cool experience this week while we were at a members house. This member and his family lives with another family who is from Nigeria. I started talking to the father of the other family about the church and I found out that he is a member of the church but hasn't been for 16 years. He has some pretty bad problems with alcohol but told us he wants to quit and change everything. I shared with him that we have a Savior who made it possible for us to have the strength to overcome addiction and become clean again. He came to church the next day for the first time in 16 years!! He is now on the path to turn everything around to be a better person and and Father for his Family.

Last Monday we had a mission wide fast so that we could find more people to teach the gospel to. In district meeting we talked about how important it is to show people that we truly love and care about them.

When people feel the love you have for them, they will become more open to hear what you have to say. Someone shared a cool quote that I really liked, "People don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care." It is so true! I really do care about each person here. 

The mission is the best. I feel like some of the happiest moments in life are experienced in the mission because here we also experience some of the most challenging moments. 

It's just the best. I love and miss you all.

-Anziano Hogan

 

"The way is prepared, .."

Ciao a tutti!

How is everyone's summer!

 

The famous umbrella street in Ferrara

Bologna couldn't be better. Well maybe if the weather was a bit cooler it could but other than that, it's the best haha. It got to 100 degrees!! Yes I've eaten tons of gelato, but maybe too much.

My good friend and companion Anziano Vasquez has reached the end of his mission and will be leaving on Thursday so I will be staying in Bologna and getting Anziano McPherson. We will be together for this next 5 week transfer and then he will also be finishing his mission.

Last district meeting with the peeps

 

 

"Dying" missionaries

This was another great week. We went and did an exchange up in Ferrara which was pretty cool. It's a really small city by Bologna that has always been pretty tough work wise. Me and Anziano George (Who is from San Clemente) taught a few lessons to some really nice people in a park.

San Luca, Bologna



 Last week we had to split up our Pday for a conference, so last Saturday, a member named fratello Mantovani took us to see the Headquarters/Factory of Lamborghini which was so cool. He also took us out to eat at some of the nicest restaurants of Bologna, which is in my opinion some of the best food in the entire world.

Black Pizza!!  It was the best pizza I've had yet

 

 

Not sure if this is safe.  ha ha

 

Anziano Vasquez and me

 

Lamborghini headquarters

I think I mentioned how last week we got a self referral from a man named Alessandro. Well, we met with him a second time and things couldn't have gone better. He told us how he wants to get baptized, so we will be working towards that goal with him! This Sunday was amazing! This Peruvian family from Milano came to visit the ward here and they brought a friend who lives here in Bologna and he told us he wants to join the church. He is going back to Peru for a month but wants to be taught by us when he returns. Also, some non member friends of mine from Trento came to church here in Bologna to surprise me. They went to all 3 hours of church and it really meant a lot to know that  they traveled so far just visit me. The mom has been reading the Book of Mormon and I hope she continues to read and go to church in Trento.

Friends from Trento who came to visit me.

The mission bring so many blessings! I can honestly say it's the most fulfilling thing I have ever done in my life. It's really helped me realize that we all have so much to live for and we all can do our part to make a difference in this world. I love this scripture in Alma 37:46 "do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way...
"The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever." The gospel is given to everyone, if we just look and follow it we be blessed.

I love Italy, I love gelato, and I absolutely love teaching people about Jesus Christ.

Willy

Eating Napoli food

 

They showed the Eurocup finals in the main square of the city!  So many people!!! We couldn't watch it obviously but we were able to get this picture of it.

 

Miracles, and President Allen

Ciao Everyone!

Me and the amazing Anziano Vasquez

I had another great week here in Bologna. Some really amazing things happened as we just continued to work hard and try our best.

It was 4th of July last Monday. There weren't any beachside fireworks or parties like at home, just nice classic missionary work to celebrate. We did get lunch at a place called "American Graffiti" with our district where we obviously got burgers and fries to be as American as possible.

4th of July lunch

President and Sister Allen arrived in the mission last week and they are definitely what this mission needs. I was able to meet them on Monday and they are seriously the most loving, energetic, and spiritual people ever! Today(Wednesday) we traveled up to Mestre to meet them again at a zone conference. He talked a lot about how this mission has so much potential for success and the Lord will move it forward.

New president and his wife!  They are awesome!

Sadly, this was Anziano Vasquez's second to last week, so we made it a goal to teach 21 lessons. After much hard work, prayer, and planning, we were able to reach our goal. This last week we were able to find 2 new investigators, and set a baptismal date with Temime for the 20th of August. One of the new investigators is a man named Alessandro who is a pizza chef/ holistic healer/ and professional musician, who actually came to us asking for a Book of Mormon. Everything went really well when we met with him yesterday and hopefully we will see him at church this Sunday.

A new family of 5 just from Sri Lanka just moved into the Bologna ward! They came to our family home evening we had on Friday night and they are the coolest family. It's great to see the work moving forward here in this city. This Saturday we will receive new transfer news so that will be exciting.

Part of my MTC district/zone

 

Family Home Evening

The clear lesson that I've learned in the mission is that working your hardest and doing your best will always bring you something. I heard of something called the "miracle fence". Where you work and work and work and boom, you are given a miracle. Climbing the fence signifies all of your hard work, and at the top there is a miracle.

The mission is seriously the best. It's not always easy but you learn a ton, you change people's lives, and very importantly, it will change your life. The mission will only change you as much as you let it change you. It's really such a huge blessing. I'm so grateful to be able to continue my mission where I was called! 

Love you all!

Willy

Italian countryside

 

Rocchetta Matei

 

Visiting Rocchetta Matei with some members

 

Rocchetta Mattei a fortress castle 45 km from Bologna

 

Inside a Rocchetta Mattei (from the 80s)

 

Hot summer, Gelato and Happiness

Buon estate tutti!! (Happy Summer Everyone)

 

Exchange I did with Anziano Horne!  We are eating at seriously one of the best gelaterias ever!  Called Bologna ride.

 Crazy good week here in Bologna! It is super hot and humid but like always, that just means more excuses to get gelato. This is the best city ever, I seriously hope to never leave. I'm not sure if anyone at home is keeping track of the Euro Cup of soccer, but Italy just advanced into the semi finals, so of course we found that out when the whole city was celebrating.

While we were waiting for a lesson, we saw this crowd of people watching the soccer game.  They all went crazy after Italy won!

 The work has been awesome and we are enjoying every minute of it. Anziano Vasquez and I thought we were pretty invincible until we found that someone liked our bikes enough to take them haha... The good news is that we found a university bike auction and got ourselves some more used ones for super good prices. As I mentioned last week, we found ourselves some new people to teach! One of them is a college student named Alberto who is super interested to learn more especially about the Book of Mormon. The university here is the oldest university in the entire world so it is such a cool experience to teach students there. On Monday night after a lesson fell through, we did some finding and taught a super humble man named Temime who we met with again the next day. There is an investigator who has been seeing the missionaries for literally years, and just this last week we were able to really get him progressing again which is great. In the last couple days we have received some high potential referrals, so we really look forward to meeting with them.

This is one of the parks where we do our  "finding".  Bello!

 This last Saturday night, I was asked to give a talk for sacrament meeting the next morning. And after praying about what to share, it was clear I needed to talk about how God has a plan and purpose for everyone. I'll be honest, while at home, my plan/purpose at times seemed a bit unclear to me. Thankfully I was able to see firsthand that God never leaves us alone and he will comfort us to know that things will work out. I'll never forget how much of a miracle it was/is for me to come back and start where I left off here in Italy. I'm so happy to be out here doing this work. Heavenly Father will always provide a way for us to do His work!

Selfie with the towers.

 Have fun at the beach and don't forget to get some waves for me.

-Anziano Hogan

Summer, getting hotter, finding people in Bologna to teach

Hey everyone! Ciao!

I can't believe that it is already officially summer! It is definitely getting hotter outside but it hasn't been too bad lately. We had a good week just trying to find more new people and getting the ball rolling in Bologna. Our new mission president, President Allen, arrives sometime next week which is pretty exciting.

 

 

Un bello lasagna dal mio collega

 

 As I wrote in my letter last week, we were able to go to Venice on Wednesday and have an exchange with the Anziani who live in Mestre. We were able to get some great work in over there and we even ended off the exchange with an all you can eat sushi buffet with gelato! While we were in that area we ran into about 6 different Mormon families from America who stopped and talked to us which was pretty cool.

 

The ward family night we had!  Such great people!

 We had some pretty awesome things happen to us this week while finding. While talking to people in the parks and on the busses, we've been able to find 1 family and 4 other people who want to meet with us again! The 1 family we met was while we were on the bus Monday night.  It is a mom, dad, grandma, and 9 year old daughter all from Ecuador!

I'm honestly super excited to see how things turn out in the next few weeks here. There seems to be so much potential with the people we have found, it's really exciting.

 This last Sunday was Father's Day! In Italy they actually celebrate it on a different day so it just seemed like any other day. I am honestly so grateful for my dad for raising me, supporting me, and inspiring me to be the best missionary I can be. I hope to be as good as a missionary as he was when he served in California. I am also so grateful for our Father in Heaven who has an incomprehensible love for each and every one if us. Being on a mission has really helped me realize even more how truly real and loving our Father in Heaven is.

 He is there, He is caring, and as real as our own Father is. I love you all!!

Willy