Venice-Mestre

Buona Settimana di ringraziamento!!

Probably one of the most insanely crazy busy weeks of my mission!

Anziano Bruggeman and I both arrived in Mestre on 
Thursday and had to just read what the other missionaries left us and go from there. We have a sweet bright red Toyota Yaris which is great. We also have the stake center here so it is the biggest ward I've been in yet. 

Day in Venice

On Friday we were making lots of calls and a part member family invited us over and they treated us like their own! The dad, who isn't a member, is a chef in Venice and he made us food that made me cry a little bit. They came to church on Sunday!! 

On Saturday I was given the opportunity to travel down back to Bologna to baptize Salvatore, the man I found in the park back in August. Such a huge blessing.

We are so busy here in Mestre, Anziano Bruggeman and I have a lot more responsibility up here but we are having a blast. I'm so excited to work here and get close to the Venetians.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving! I have so many things to be
grateful for, it wouldn't be possible to write them all down. One of
them would be my mission, I wouldn't be the person I am now without
these last 15 months. I am also thankful for my savior Jesus Christ.
His sacrifice has made so many things possible for us. I am thankful
for all of you! I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Anziano Hogan

Miracle of my mission and moving to Venice - Mestre

It feels good to be writing you guys again even though It feels like I wrote you all yesterday!



Visiting the Ducati Factory!



 

Believe it or not, this is in downtown Bologna
 
 

Life has been great. The 3 elders I have been living with are like best friends to me. We laugh our heads off every time we are together. Yesterday Anziano Jensen picked up a pigeon, just an example of his wildness. Its great and I am sad to leave!

I have been in this city for 6 months and it has become such a huge part of who I am. I will never forget the people, the experiences, nor the food! Transfers are happening this week. Anziano Minnoch, whom I just trained, is going to train a new missionary next transfer, which
is the first time that's happened in this mission in a long time. I have been called to go to Mestre, which is where Venice is!! Who would have thought.. I hope to make any difference I can to this new city.

Benjamino: an awesome member!

Last dinner with Erica and Giuseppe

Another mostra!

 These last several days have been some of the best days of the misison. My great friend Max was baptized this last Saturday. I will be surprised If I will ever meet someone with a more amazing
conversion story than his. As I mentioned in other letters, Max served as a Catholic Priest for more than 10 years, and has been given a few very tough trails in life. About 3 years ago he started reading the Book of Mormon after he met the missionaries on the street. He read the whole thing and gained a testimony of it that he said he would never forget. For two years he stopped meeting with the missionaries because he felt his trail was too much for him. 3 months ago we met him on the street and last weekend he was baptized. I've never prayed harder, worked harder, or felt so inspired for just one person in my entire life. On Friday night, the night before his baptism, we gave him a blessing for a really bad headache he had been dealing with for a few weeks. Immediately after the blessing he said that for the first time in 3 weeks his head had no pain. I know that the priesthood works. That was the first time I was really able to see it work so quickly and swiftly. The next day, President Allen and Sister Allen came to the baptism and everything went perfectly. I am so grateful to have played a part in this whole thing.

Il Battesimo di Max

Last shindig with Max

 Its moments like these that make everything seem more than worth the effort. I love all of you and I cant wait to share with you all my experiences in Venice and Mestre! Have a great week!!

The "funeral" for Sorella Visconti who is going back home to France

Ciao
-Anziano Hogan

New Address- Via Cappuccina 19/F, 30172 Mestre, Italia

The chairs represent how many transfers you have done.  This is the last pic with the Bologna District!

 

Baptisms!

 

This week was great! After a few days we got over whatever we were sick with.

People here do not stop asking us about the elections haha, its pretty funny. It rained a lot and the weather is so cold! But that didn't stop us from having the baptism for my good friend William. He really is such a good and kind person. We played a celebratory game of ping pong with him the other night and he beat all of us. Everything went super well with the baptism and the members sure loved it. He told me how he feels so clean and like a new person ever since. 

 

 

 

Unfortunately my time in Bologna may be winding down. I have been here since May! Transfer calls come this weekend so I will find out where I am going and with who. Next Wednesday I will let you all know! I will never forget this city, the people, and the good and bad, mostly good.

 

Today we went to Venice! Which may be the last time if I get transferred. We walked all around the island just exploring cool streets and finding new things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend we should be having two more baptisms for Max and Salvatore. I pray that everything will work out so that I can see these two men be baptized before I leave this city. The story behind Max is absolutely amazing. Unfortunately I am not able to explain everything here in the email but his baptism would be one of the biggest miracles and blessings of my entire mission. Not to mention the baptism of Salvatore as well. I was doing finding in a park one day in early August when I met a man who was smoking and telling us God doesn't exist. That man was Salvatore, who is about to be baptized and become a member of the Church.

 

 

The power that comes from a testimony of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon can help someone get rid of any addiction, or bad habit. It truly is real and powerful. I have seen it first hand. Vi voglio bene, buona settimana!

Dio ci ama! 

Our Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Ciao everybody!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! I was surprised to see how many people were celebrating it here. Sadly, the day after, my companion and I woke up super sick so we stayed in all day and all day today as well. I hope we can get better asap because being sick on the mission isn't very fun. There were 2 earthquakes last week but we are totally okay! We felt the one on Sunday and it was super scary. We are on the 6th floor and everything was rolling back and forth. We are alive!!! No need to worry.

On Friday, me and Anziano Minnoch, along with 16 other missionaries including the mission president and his wife, went to Ferrara to do a full day of finding. It was a pretty sweet experience, and at the end of the day we had a testimony meeting and dinner with the branch members. In total everyone taught 24 people and found 9 new people for the elders to teach. We all fasted the day before and thats probably why we had so much success. 

On Saturday night we had a super awesome ward Halloween party with a haunted house and tons of food! It was also super cool because lots of members brought their friends and we met lots of new people. 

The work here is moving along and we cant wait for our baptisms coming up for Max, Salvatore, and William!

Well the mission is really amazing. There are some days which feel like will never end and most days that feel like it went by too fast. I came across a quote from Elder Holland which reads “There really is light at the end of the tunnel. It is the Light of the World, the Bright and Morning Star, the ‘light that is endless, that can never be darkened’ [Mosiah 16:9]. It is the very Son of God Himself.” In those moments where it feels like a trial will never pass, we must always remember it will and that our Savior is our light at the end of the tunnel. He didn't suffer for just our sins but for all our trials too. This life is a life to be happy! Not sad. I love life and I love all the great things I get to do each day. Have a great week!

-Anziano Hogan

The Work is Moving!

 

Ciao carri!!!

The mission is great, it makes me happy, sadly it all moves by too fast. I try my best to make each day the best I can make it. I also try to never let myself forget how lucky I am to be serving where I am. I never knew a city as awesome as Bologna existed!

William is getting baptized next week!

This week was definitely one I will remember. We did a Family Tree display in downtown Bologna on Sunday and it was a huge success once again. I got super artsy and drew a big tree with lots of little people in it. We talked to so many people!

 

An awesome thing that happened this week was setting a baptismal date for Max and William for next month. William is a dentist and Max is a school teacher here in Bologna. We have also continued to work with Salvatore who has a goal to be baptized next weekend on the 5th of November. We have been working so hard with these three awesome people. Each of them have completely different life circumstances but have all accepted to be baptized which is a testimony to me that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone. 

My experience working with Max has been a huge testimony builder for me. For a long time, Max has been facing a pretty big trial in his life. There was a point a few weeks ago where he felt like this trial was too much for him to continue to meet with us. Never have I felt the spirit so strong, telling me to not give up on someone. I was as persistent as I have ever been with someone as I kept telling him that he could do it. To make a long story short, he has a date to be baptized. He thanked me for not giving up on him, all I could tell him was that Heavenly Father was the one that wasn't giving up, I was just following the sprit. 

The "Tree of Life"

Anziano Young in the back of the bishop's truck

The mission is great. I've learned so much but I know that there is still so much to learn. One thing I better learned this week is that life will always have its ups and downs but we can never give up, especially on other people. 

I love and miss you all!!

-Anziano Hogan

Plan of Salvation

Hey guys,

 

Its scary how fast the time moves by. I have never liked a city as much as Bologna!! 

All is well in the apartment of four. The first week was pretty hard trying to split the work between us four but now it seems like everything is back to normal. Its honestly a totally different experience but we are all like best friends so its awesome. We all got anklets on Pday so you could say we all get along.

 

We have had tons of rain and thunder in the last week. Its starting to get cold!!

 

This week was super sweet. We had some really solid lessons and just overall good work. 

  

Anziano Minnoch and me

 On Saturday we helped our Bishop move into his sweet house, which looks a lot like a museum. He put us in contact with one of his friends who is interested in the Book of Mormon. I love seeing the members doing the best they can in helping us with the work.

 

 

 

I was finally able to organize a Plan of Salvation display in downtown Bologna last Sunday afternoon. It blew our minds how successful it was. I drew everything out with chalk and it was so cool to see how interested people were. We talked to so many people. It is definitely something we want to do every Sunday if we can.  

The Plan of Salvation display

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday we had a zone training at the Mestre chapel where we learned lots of things and carved some pumpkins! I haven't carved a pumpkin in a while so that was super fun.

The Venice Zone

 

 

San Luca Basilica

 

 

At the beginning of the world's longest covered walkway to the San Luca church

 

 

 

 

Something we talked about a ton in zone training was the idea of consecration. What it means, and how we can apply it. Being consecrated is giving your ALL towards a certain purpose or goal. A mission is the best for you and the people the more consecrated you are. I try my best, I am really happy here, things are crazy busy and I love it.

 

 

I love all of you!

 Ciao cari 

-Anziano Hogan 

Craziness and miracles

Hey fam and friends! 
This was the most busy and insane week ever! The weather here literally switched from super hot to cold within just a day so that was something interesting. 
 On Thursday the new Elders got here in Bologna and we helped them move into our apartment. We spent a good while building new beds and dressers and in the end everyone was situated. The new elders here are Anziano Jensen and Anziano Young from Utah. They are super great and fun to live with.   We have had to split the work between us four and it has pushed us all to hit the streets with more of a desire to find more people to teach and its been working! Some really sweet things have happened to us in the last week. 

The new district.  The guy in back making a weird face is Anziano Jensen whom I live with...

Church on Sunday was crazy as always because now there are 6 missionaries in one small ward so I think the members are loving it. 

Saying goodbye to Sister Taylor

We have done lots of finding and door knocking which has brought us a couple new people to teach. While Anziano Minnoch and I were doing door knocking in an 8 story building we finally got let in by a super nice Nigerian family. We are seeing them again this week so that was all a miracle. 
We had such an amazing lesson the other day with Salvatore. His desire to be baptized is so strong but unfortunately he is held back by his addiction to cigarettes. This member we brought with us used to smoke 3 packets each day but quit completely in one day after having fasted and prayed and received a testimony of the church. Salvatore is on the same path and we will also fast and pray that he is able to quit. I believe that everything will work out. 

Salvatore and me

There is lots more to talk about but unfortunately there's not much time. I want to share something I've thought about a lot recently. We all have our own cross to bear or rather trail to face. The best thing we can do while facing these very difficult moments is accept it and try our best to choose to be happy. We shouldn't continually ask the "why" but rather the "how" can I take this trail and move on. 

Beautiful Bologna

I love my savior and I love teaching others about Him. This church is true everybody! 
Love all of you