That's my miracle

Dear Mom, Dad, Amy, Megan, and Hay Hay

Sorry for not writing a letter home since my birthday. I have been having some motivation issues about writing and distractions. Anyways so here is whats happened over the past two months. 

I got to Caserta on my birthday to find the apartment here completely destroyed. We spent a lot of time cleaning and fixing the apartment including repainting the walls.  I was very excited to have a new companion because I was tired of my last. I had heard a lot of cool things about him and how he liked to travel and on the train down we made a list of places we wanted to go, but we didn't see one thing the whole transfer. I still haven't decided who was the biggest let down, him or Anz. Roe. Well its not really important. I just know if I tain or follow up train every P-day we are going to go see something. I decided if you want to stay in on a P-day ask to be transferred to state-side cause I know the elders there would kill for P-days here.

We did have two baptisms last transfer. Two Americans. They were pretty much taught and everything by the Rebers so I don't really count them as "my baptisms".

However there is a kid here named Marco. His family is loaded. He is a cool guy, speaks English, is school and likes to travel. After the American baptisms we set a date with him because he saw the water and just felt ready. He is getting baptized on the 7th of January. We are very excited. He started off as an English course student probably about the time I decided to go on a mission. He slowly progressed I guess.  One vacation he went to like Toronto to a ward of like 400 members and was just completely different than here.  I guess he felt something and things just turned uphill.

Now we have four elders here. Work here was split. During this season we have been doing a lot of finding which I can't stand. I don't enjoy the style of finding here as much.  

Happened like 5 mins ago:

The other two elders just got back from Napoli and they received a call from that Marco kid and he dropped them.  I guess when a baptismal date falls through stuff just happens.

We have been teaching this other girl named Liliana.  She is 28 and is normal as far as a normal American would be (has a job, a house, and a car). Well, we found her when we were walking home from the train station when we first arrived here. She helpe dus back to our house by carrying bags. She hasn't progresses a lot but we have made very good friends with her.

Right now we have like 10 passbacks from doing house that we are waiting for. We really need the new year to start so we can get back to work.

We did find this one inactive guy named Gennaro. He now drinks and smokes, but he has a great heart and gives us big hugs every time we see him. He was baptized a couple years ago and looks at the photos with the elders that baptized him. I am hoping we can do something to help him out. There are a few other things going on here. In addition to our English course we are tyring (more thinking) about starting a bible study course.

We are trying to get creative with our finding ideas. We really need help from the branch for this. Technically, this branch has 8 missionaries (4 anziani, 2 senior missionaries, and the chaplain and his wife). To keep the church assigned missionaries we need more work from the members. I will bring it up in branch council. The branch will only keep them if the members want it, but its not going to last.

So I guess you want a miracle story and I finally have one.  I see a lot of miracles, but I choose not to look at them cause I really only like seeing big miracles.

When I left Pozzuoli, I was very mad and disappointed because I felt I did nothing, no less/inactive had come back to Church and no investigator had been baptized or at least changed their life. Even though I had made a ton of friends, I still had this pit/feeling that I had wasted the last 4 months of my life. But during my fourth transfer here (first in Caserta) I found out somethings that were really humbling.

During my second transfer towards the end, we found this guy named Alessandro at work watching cars. We told him about the Book of Mormon and he wanted one. Personally, I didn't think he was that interested, but well splits ended that night and the next day we brought him a Book of Mormon. His work wasn't too far away, but enough if you are feeling lazy you wouldn't want to walk there. I am so glad I wasn't feeling lazy that day. After that second visit, we passed by him about twice a week for a bit.  Then the transfer ended and I got a new comp.  We went through all of our investigators/contacts seeing who was really interested.  I still didn't think Alexxandro was very interested, so I gave him one last shot with my new comp and if we didn't receive a number or directions we were going to eliminate him. We received directions to this section of town I call the Socavo, triano, Pianura, & quarto section.  Lower income and a little iffy, but those things don't bother me at all.  One afternoon we went out hoping to see him a couple weeks after we got directions.  He wasn't there but his wife was and apparently she know who we were. I was pretty happy. she was feeling sick so we didn't come up, but planned to come back.  (sidenote:  their apartment was hard to find with the design of the streets.  We almost gave up when I remembered how Anz. Anderson taught me about finding addresses ... you just go to have fun with it and have a little adventure.  It didn't take us much longer to find their house.)  After than first visit, we came back a couple of weeks later, had a lesson "zero", and received a return appointment two days later. Taught them the first lesson.  Even though it went very well and they were very open to hearing our message, they still had their traditions and beliefs.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to see them before coming to Caserta. I heard he lost his job, wife was having some health problems, and their son Antonio remember my b-day and gave me a call.  That was the last I heard from them for a couple weeks.

Well during this last transfer, my old comp came down for an interview and I found out that they had gone to church and the church was helping them with their financial problems.  Still working with the missionaries and progressing.

Then a couple weeks later at the zone conference in rome, I found out that they wouldn't be baptized unless they both had dreams.  Well guess what?  They had dreams, they committed to be baptized.  A date hasn't been set. I need to call and see what's going on.

That's my miracle.  A family of three.  Alessandro, Maria, and Antonio.

Well I am quite out of words for this letter. I want to tell everyone at home I miss them and for my friends to write to me. Love you mom, dad, Amy, Megan, and Hayhay.  I will get better at writing again I promise.  Send me stuff!!  Anziano Hosford

PS - the return address is the full and 100% correct address.  I received a Christmas card from the first presidency and that's how they wrote it!

Prophetic?

i dont like rome that much. i want to go to sicilia soon though

Growing pains

but with the headaches and the sleep...and now this. i really am having a hard time pushing through. how many times do i have to ask God for help? because i am not receiving any it feels like. i will not finish this mission without his help...it would be impossible for anyone. i am just tired of asking and not receiving. 

Music boxes from Sorrento

look up music boxes from sorrento. they make this hand made music boxes. i am going to buy one. if you or the girls want one let me know. they might be a little pricey though. i will see in a couple weeks when i go there. search for them online. and ask the girls. then tell me next week if you want one or not.

One big long headache

Email conversation:  

I'm sitting here impatiently waiting for you!!

Haha well. i am on now. how are you?

What are you up to today? Fun p-day adventures?

not really. we had to be at the church at 10am to let some guy in. and we are teaching on the base at 7pm tonight. so we are not really able to go anywhere. there is really only one place in caserta to see and we have both already seen it. 

So can you leave your area to see sights in Naples or do you have to stay in Caserta? I remember you said there are 5-6 other things you still want to see in Naples. Sister Kelly hasn't emailed. Is it about your headaches? 

we can go anywhere in napoli to see sights. its hard with the 6 to 9pm work session. plus my choice...i would skip lunch to see stuff. the stuff i want to see i will see with you guys when i come back depending on how much time i have left here. mostly islands. i will save ercolano which is like pompei for the family. caserta doesnt have a method in city transportation so we use bikes which i hate. it doesnt help with the headaches and we cant do street which is my favorite method of finding. its a rush though. i have been almost hit by a couple cars.

i am working with sister kelly on headaches right now. i am trying some of her suggestions. one was getting off of melatonin. which i want to do...but i dont fall asleep till about 2 or 3am most nights...everynight. but i sleep in till about 9am. i am honestly dying with the headaches right now. i tried doing some the combinations she gave me. asprin and excedrin. that made it alot worse. nothing works. its very depressing and its weighing alot on me. i have no idea what to do. i am trying to put up with it as much as i can for as long as i can, so we will see. i blame dad for not being able to shut down his mind and passing it on to me. and i blame your dad for his chronic headaches. so any ideas you have let me know. i am not willing to use prescriptions or anything though. i dont want that.

This is my suggestion for headaches. 1) limit sugar intake, eat fruits for dessert, 2) get off excedrin and aspirin... too much caffeine which causes lack of sleep which adds to headaches and aspirin eats your stomach- stick to advil or motrin. get it at the Navy base, 3) go through a routine at bedtime so your body knows it's time to sleep. I have to do this to get to sleep. All of us wake up in the middle of the night working things out in our mind. I'll research headaches. Where is the pain? nape? around ears? top of head?

Be careful on the bike. I know it would cause headaches. Why can't you street contact?

my comp rides ahead of me on bikes. so if i stop he wouldnt see.

headaches. i dont eat very many sweets anymore. i only took excedrin and asprin twice at about 2pm. nothing. advil and motrin. don't work anymore. i took 4 advil and nothing changed. i have been on the same sleep schedule for the last 6 months. i am taking care of myself a lot better here than in the states. it hurts in the back of the head always. literally always. i am so tired of it. i get the throbbing headaches about once a day about 10am. its driving me nuts. i cant eat breakfast or i throw up.  i think about everything like the investigators here, in pozzuoli, and sunny, the family. every problem. my mind doesnt turn it off. it was like that at school with less problems. even before sunny. it just doesnt want to sleep.how is baby doing?

Dad says you are teaching some great people and have baptismal dates?

ya. as of now we have 3 fixed dates and 2 pending dates.

well the headaches dont go away at night. they dont go away when i use anything. so now i dont use anything. honestly nothing gets rid of them. literally one big long headache is what i have now.

From Napoli to ... Napoli

Mitchell was transferred from Napoli to .... Napoli (or more commonly from Pozzuoli to Casserta). The moved about 30 minutes from his first area to an area closer to the US Navy Base. He emailed yesterday saying "I'm in America!" About gave us a heart attack until he explained that he was on US "soil" at the base. His new address is:

Via Matteotti 9
81020 San Nicola La Strata
Italia

Caserta with Anziano Lemmons

i like the new area. not as much as the last though. ya i am on the navy base here. its pretty sweet. the branch is another half american half italian. new companion is pretty sweet - anziano lemmons. we got a pretty large apartment.

Mission birthday probably the best it could be

Family,

Okay, well you will find this out tomorrow, but I am going to Caserta on Thursday.  Birthday present?  I think not! It's very close.  I have been there a couple times already. Its still in Napoli and the Navy Base is there also. The branch will be 1/2 English and 1/2 Italian. Its only a two-man house. I am getting blown in with another elder who is in state right now. His name is Anziano Haberl.  He was Anz. Roe's companion in the MTC. He did one or two transfers there already, so we will both be pretty new there. I am very very sad to leave Pozzuoli. I fee like I did nothing. Looking back at it, I wish I would done all less active work it ... not all but focused on it more. Done finding in the way to visit less actives. The work won't progress until the branch maintains or tries to maintain its members. Maybe I didn't forward the work here, but I think I learned what needs to be done in Caserta. I am very sad to leave Pozzuoli, but its a relief in a way. Maybe I will see something of the work after I leave here.

Well, today we went to the VanCleeves and started our P-day. They wanted to have us over before I left. We played laser tag and one of their daughters made me a birthday cake. It was really good.  It was chocolate cake with a blueberry (?) layer in the middle. Normally I would have passed on the cake but since I have come to Italy I just eat everything ...ya.  Honestly...  for a mission birthday it was probably the best it could be. They have a great family.

November 2

Our work here pretty much came to a halt.  Last week we had a bunch of no shows and ZL splits. So we had not work moving forward. It carried over to this week also. I want to teach right now, but I still have to pack. I might send a package home soon with my Napoli stuff so I don't have to haul it around here. Don't worry about mail that coming here to Pozzuoli.  I can still pick it up.

Here is my new address:

Via Matteioeti #9
San Nicola La Strada (NA) 81020
Italia

Make sure to put Anziano or elder on the letters.  We have a drop box. I will make sure its the right address, but if not, you now can ask Anziano Lemmon's mom or McAfee or Haberl.  They have all lived there before and should know the address.  I will make sure its the right address.  I don't know the apt number or the floor number.

It was really nice to talk to Mom today. I had been having a rough couple weeks here.  First I hurt my back at the middle of transfers. Its fine now. then I had a sore throat which is almost healed. Now the headaches are back they are worse than ever. It's been one headache for about 3 weeks, but I deal with it cause I just don't care. It doesn't go away if I sleep or take advil so I decided just to work.

Now packing I have been thinking about why I am being blown to Caserta. Hopefully that reason will be made known to me soon.  I am ready to go I think. 

I have been getting everyone's letters and it has been nice to read them. Its been nice getting a little break from missionary work to hear how people are doing.

So the work going on that I am leaving behind:

Courage: we haven't seen him for about a week.  He has been working trying to get his papers.

That was about all the work.  We took some big hits. Well, I hope everything is going well at home.  Looking forward to letters in Caserta.  Love everyone.  -- Anziano Hosford

The Walmart of Italy

food is very cheap here. the major meal is lunch. we normally have had atleast two meal appointments every week. this week i prepared to get transfterred so i didnt buy alot of food. normally i buy about 3 liters of milk. 3 liters of blood orange juice. about 1000 grams of pasta...which is less than a euro. some meat...and then sauce. everything is super cheap. its the walmart of italy.

People are ready for baptism

Mom + Dad + Baby + Amy + Megan,

Well today is P-day and I thought I would write you an update on our investigators and what happened with our x-investigators.  

Okay, first with our baptismal date. His name is Samuel Morgan from Sierra Leon. Pretty cool guy. He had a baptismal date 12 years ago in Denmark. Got deported in here from Liberia. Our second baptismal date is this guy named Courage from Nigeria. We received him as a referral from Napoli. We have fantastic discussions with him. He's 22, has some college, and is very intelligent.

I really think God is showing us there are people ready for baptism, but the ward isn't ready yet. 

We are also teaching this one guy named Pino who has a hard time believing in God thanks to the Catholic church. He has two parents in the hospital and works.  So for now he has been put on halt.

The 3 families we lost: Bruno and Concetta -- they just like to feed us and feel bad for us living so far from home. Anna and Armondo --- keep standing us up. Christopher and Federica -- they want to baptize their 2 month old son. Well that's not going to happen. We've had some great discussions but nothing.

Well other than that things are going pretty well. The language is coming still ... slowly but it's coming. I still don't feel ready to leave. I have about 7 more things I want to see on P-day. I want to see Iscia, Procida, the very tip of Monte Santo, Cuma bacoli-baia, Pozzuoli, and Heroculano (like Pompeii). I have seen Reggia di Caserta which was a royal palace and Napoli Underground. I've seen lots here, its quite incredible.

I really enjoyed general conference. The only session that we didn't see was Sunday afternoon since it was playing from 10-12pm or later. We stop at 11pm because the systems stop at 11. The missionaries used to watch all sessions when they lived across the street from the church but that flat was destroyed. I love where we are not. It's a great place. We live by 3 metro lines and a bus station.

It's starting to cool off which is nice. I have had to use a blanket now when I sleep.  We completely skipped fall here. Hope everything else is well at home.  Looking forward to your letters --  Anziano Hosford

(We finally go ahold of our dead buy who isn't dead anymore)

Oh!  So everyone at home has been asking for spiritual insight.  This may not be one but oh well.  Lately I've been reading the Book of Mormon in Italian. Before I thought that there never was very much on Nephi's brother Same, but I think Sam was just like Laman and Lemuel.  Read 1st Nephi and tell me what you think.

Can someone look up the golden Wedge of Ophir and tell me why it's important? I know Ophir is pretty closely related to Adam and the place he founded was a huge gold producing place. I have no clue what the wedge is though and why so valuable. 

Found some pretty cool investigators

Dear Family,

Sorry it’s taken me a while to write more, but I just found the time so I decided to include it with the old letter which was written before the transfer and this is being written after. Ok.

Okay. Dad asked how the work is going after vacation season. The work has really picked up. Anz Roe and I found some pretty cool investigators doing street. We have 3 pools of people to draw from (not including members). The first is our active investigator list which are the people who are the most curious and most promising. And into mom’s question about investigators:

The most promising and nicest family would be Bruno and Concetta’s family. They are grandparents. They have family that lives below (daughter, husband, two boys). They are the most promising and the nicest. They are all interested but only Bruno and Concetta have shown progress. They said they would come to general conference on Sunday. We will see.

Next we have Steven who is from Ghana. He is pretty cool. We meet him regularly and we are trying to get him to church.

Next we have Anna and Almondo. They are super sweet. We had a basic lesson with them and are going back to teach them on Monday. They have 4 married sons in the apartment complex that we are still trying to see. 
Then we have this guy named Gianfluance who we see every week at English course. We used to see him on Saturdays but his wife has been getting sicker and its not really possible now. 

Last we have Pino who we showed the church to in August. We are teaching him today.

Our second pool is sort of our investigators that aren’t serious, but we are still trying to see them. There are about 10 or more of those.

Our third pool is our contact pool which has been growing a lot lately. We have some great NEW contacts that we will try to meet with next week. About 20-30 people.

The work is not really a lot. We are still working on booking our days up. Tonight we are going to go through 15 years of missionary work and see if we can find these old investigators and see if anyone is interested. We really do have a lot of work going on. You just need to see it! This area with missionaries is only about 6 months old and when I got here we really didn’t have anything its safe to say. You should see our white board – It’s CRAZY!
Okay to the photos I sent you. I sent home a memory card and on that card are two photos with me and these two old guys walking with a cane and a dog. Send those photos back to me with a frame so I can give it to them. The two old guys are named Pasquale. The pictures are jokes. Anziano pretty much means old guy. In the photos they are helping me walk around with a cane and a dog since I am “old”. That place is a park in Fuorigrotta, and it’s pretty close to our apartment. It’s this park that they made into a garden and we do service and talk with people there. It is a pretty cool place. 

Right now I am studying a few things. I am reading the Book of Mormon in Italian. I am reading the Bible for history and such. Also the ability to defend our religion from crop. I am also reading the Teachings of Joseph Smith during lunch-ish time.

So this last p-day was really fun. After we finished emailing we went and ate kebabs which are this port sandwich. They are so good, but you wouldn’t approve (too fattening?). After that we saw a couple of Catholic Churches and a temple. They looked like that one picture you sent me when I first got here. Well, Napoli has 5 massive churches within a couple blocks of each other. After that we saw the underground city of Napoli. Napoli was pretty much built over itself. They buried this huge amphitheater. We got to see a small section of it which was sweet and an old roman-greek waterway/minethat was sweet. I had been wanting to see this for a while and now I did.

Well, I think that’s about all from Napoli for a week. I hope things are well at home. Watch the fish with Yeti (Mitchell’s cat) and baby for me. She has gotten a lot bigger since I left. Love everyone. Don’t do anything stupid!

End of flower season

Sent: Sept 21, 2011

Well not a lot is changing here. I am staying in Napoli for at least another 6 more weeks. My companion is getting transferred to Tropani in Siciha. The other companionship is losing one to Bavi. However, we will be getting our new comps tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a very long day. However, things are going really well here. We are teaching a bit. Well, it’s a lot for Europe, but not a South American a lot. I am sad that Anz. Anderson is going, me and him get along great, but I do think I’m ready for a new comp. I have almost completely booked us for the first three days he (referring to his new comp) is here which is a good thing. He is over his year mark so I hope he speaks well, but I’ll have to show him everything around here which should be fun. I’m excited.

Oh, so the next transfer ends on November 2nd and if I leave Napoli…I will be leaving on my birthday which will really suck to park and travel, but exciting to go to a new area. It’s hard to believe that I have finished 1/8th of my mission here. I really want to stay here through Christmas and New Years. That would mean staying here for 3 more transfers which is unlikely, but it could happen. 

Okay, well flower season has pretty much ended here. We have been having cold nights lately which is nice because it is colder at night instead of the blazing heat. The only bad thing is that the cold kills the flowers so you might have to wait till the spring before I send them again. But if I see them I will pick them. (a cute thing with Mitchell is that he normally sends me a pressed flower with every letter ) 

I do a great job with writing in my journal …it helps me drain out my thoughts even if it’s boring, but I like it. It’s taken me 5 months to fill up half of my journal so far. 

Well, you probably won’t meet everyone I’m teaching. That really could be a lot. As of right now I really want you to meet Concetta and Bruno. They love us for some reason. We go over to their house a couple times every week. They want us to come back when our missions are over. 

Listening to the crowd cheer

Dear Family,

Right now I am sitting in my apartment listening to the crowd cheer for Napoli’s soccer team. I bought a huge Napoli flag and its hanging off our balcony at the moment. It’s pretty cool living this close to the soccer stadium in a city that loves their team. It’s the AC Milano and Napoli game … huge game. As of right now Napoli is up 2-1. (We think Napoli won by all the honking we heard after the game).

Well my second transfer officially ends on the 21st which is this Wednesday. Fortunately I am staying here for another transfer. Unfortunately, Anziano Anderson is going to Sicilia. We had a really good last three weeks and about the time that we got our work going he is leaving. We have 7 companionships in our zone and 5 of them are changing. I am sad cause Anz. Anderson and I really just got the work going after summer vacations.

I will meet my new comp on Thursday. I haven’t met him yet but his name is Anz. Roe. I heard he is pretty cool and laid back which works for me since I am laid back here and so was Anz. Anderson. We are also getting another missionary from the group ahead of me in the MTC which will be pretty sweet. He was pretty cool. I decided I am going to make peanut butter cake for my b-day here. I think I am at least. I might need the recipe for the frosting.

Okay. So in response to mom’s letter.

I would love to come home 300 pounds but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I am pretty good about doing pushups morning and night along with an ab workout. I try not to eat after 9:00 but that’s hard some nights especially this week with all the meal appointments. We have 7 for 3 days, but we can’t go to one because we teach English course every Tuesday ngiht. That and we do a lot of walking. We found an investigator that we play soccer with on a concrete court.

We have tons of mosquitoes here. Only at night though. I always have like 3 or 4 bites but I don’t really care that much. Plus if I were a mosquito I would want to bite me as well. So I guess I really can’t blame them.

So Sunny’s birthday is on October 10th. She is turning 19. I finally got something for her that I think she will like, but I am not sure. I am sending it in a package home with other stuff. 

You asked how the end of Agosto party went. It went pretty well. We played laser tag and ate dinner at the Van Cleeve’s house which was a lot of fun. (Mitchell told us not a lot of people are home in the month of August and their teaching pool suffered.)

Really after that our week started picking up. We taught 5 lessons in a couple days then 9 lessons the next week. This last week we taught 7. Over all it’s been getting a lot better. It will be alitle hard this next week with someone new and Anz. Anderson leaving, but I am trying to book us all week. So far I am up to Friday afternoon completely booked with lessons and I need a couple more. I will work on it.

It’s nice to know so many people here that we can just call people and set appointments. Two weeks ago we had everyday booked top to bottom. We would have gotten 12 lessons but a few at the end of the week fell through.
We are still trying to teach the whole ward the Restoration. Which will slow down for a bit. Se we had some good teaching experiences, nothing extraordinary. Hopefully something will change.

As of right now we are working with the ward mission leader trying to have a ward monthly or bi-monthly social. The first one is set for this Saturday and I have no idea if it was announced in church. We have to do all the planning for it which sucks. I wanted it to bring it into branch counsel but it doesn’t happen here. So we will see how it will work out. We want to use it to invite our investigators to a more casual setting so they can meet the members. We also want members to invite their friends to this. We thought it would be a good idea. We don’t really receive referrals anways. So maybe something more will come out of this.

So that’s is really the whole deal here. This week will be busy. I hope all are doing well at home. I just realized if I get transferred next time I might be traveling on my birthday! I might celebrate it the night before. Can’t wait to hear from everyone.

Specialized Training

All you ever need to know about pizza

Well Napoli is dangerous, but it’s not the typical US dangerous. I have never felt in-dangered yet. It’s a wild place. We live in a very safe area. I am bigger than just about every Italian. You have nothing to worry about, but yes they do have legit mafias. I have met some. They are very nice. Business is still business to them but to us they’re nice.

So the trash was a terrible part. Not so much anymore. they have been doing a good job about picking it up lately. They also have been cleaning up areas. It’s really difficult to say if this will continue until September.

My comp is pretty cool. He is very easy going and we get stuff done without any problem. We are both pretty laid back which makes things very nice. We do good work finding people. We have a lot of fun and some quite epic adventures here.

The members here are way awesome we might actually eat more with nonmembers than members. We do eat very well here. Honestly, picture of the day is over. We gave more to take pictures of but I just don’t have the time. I take pictures when I can though. I just thought about it, I can skype home in 4 months! it’s way cool to think about. 

The language is coming along. After being here for a little over 2 months I can understand what people are saying. I have adjusted to the accent here. It’s honestly wonderful to know what people are talking about. I don’t understand every single word of what people say, but I understand enough. I only have a hard time speaking to people. When I get warmed up with talking I do alright. But for me speaking the language is a lot harder than understanding. I am not too worried about it. It’s coming along. I used to see this lady about once a week and she would always complement me on the fact that my Italian had gotten better. Well I didn’t see her for a month and I saw her yesterday and she was shocked about how much I had learned. We actually had a full conversation. Given my grammar wasn’t the best, but it was good enough. So, that’s how the language is coming.

Pompeii was nice and interesting but I think there are cooler places to see. They have removed a lot of the art from it which is really sad. There is a museum around Napoli somewhere with some its art. But Pompeii really isn’t worth the money to get in it.

There was a lot of the pollution in the water so people couldn’t go swimming for a few years unless they wanted to get sick. I think everything’s fine now though. We are about to go on the beach…on the beach on the colder months. not that it makes a difference anyways because we see the beach every day. Beaches here aren’t like American beaches with tons of sand. They have more rocks and such. There are so many misconceptions about Italia it’s funny. I will tell everyone little by little what they are as I think of them. Italia really isn’t what you expect.

Well, our teaching pool is slowly growing. I was never worried about a small teaching pool. We are slowly increasing the lessons we teach each week. Like my first week here we averaged 3 a week to investigators (we also taught members, new converts, and less actives but these are just investigator lessons) and as of right now (Wednesday morning) we have taught 4 lessons this week and have pretty much the rest of our week planned with appointments. So the work here is progressing and for a newly formed companionship we are doing well. 
Okay, j-dubbs and tj’s are Jehovah’s witnesses. That’s a common missionary name for them and tj’s is another name for them. It’s a long stpry about telling where it came from. I don’t really give them the time of day because they are not interested in learning the gospel. We do talk to them for a couple of minutes when we see them and ask (generally older, smarter people) basic gospel questions that primary children could answer. In 2 months, we haven’t received any answers from any of them. It’s sad nd amusing. It really makes me happy that I am LDS.
Okay, gelato can be compared to American ice-cream, but it’s not the same thing. Gelato is softer and just more rich. You just gotta have it. So many foods have been ruined for me in the states, ice cream is one..

Well, I know you asked about the pizza in your most recent letter…
1. Pizza was invented in Napoli
2. Pizza in Napoli is the best in the world (no joke, it’s not just me saying that)
3. American crap…I mean pizza is not real pizza and is not the same as the kind made here. 
4. Pizza here uses fresh ingredients, no grease. The juicy parts of the pizza are a mixture of sauce and olive oil which is fantastic.
5. I love the pizza here!
6. Also, every pizza is made in a brick oven (or Napoli at least)

The pizza here isn’t served in slices. It’s more of a personal pizza. I have had 35 so far. All of them the same cheese pizza…they are really called Margaritte (plural) Margaritta (singular). It’s the traditional pizza here. It’s incredible. Well, enough about pizza….

You asked me what my favorite part of each day was…I don’t have an answer for you. I really love each day and each hour here. My least favorite part though would be talking to people in the morning because everyone is busy for the most part and don’t want to talk. Really the mornings aren’t even that bad. They just aren’t my favorite.
Well, I get around everywhere on trains and buses. I like being able to use them. We live next to 3 train lines (we don’t hear them) and we also live near the bus depot. The trains and buses are hot, but I love them. They are fun to take naps on. I get tired fairly quickly.

So, today (Wednesday) was the end of day 134 here. So I only have 580 days, give or take a few.
I sent photos home of what my apartment looks like. It’s a really nice apartment for Italy. It’s big and it’s home now. 
(:
I hope you enjoyed this letter as much as I did! (even if it did make you kinda hungry for pizza, haha)

Time flies by so quickly

Dear Friends and Family,       

                                                                

How is everyone doing? It’s always nice getting a stream of letters in from everyone. I actually found time to write everyone in the family as well. I finally caught up on my journal and now I can start writing to people.

Ok. So this week has been pretty great. Its’ the first full week of Settembrew and everyone has returned from vacation and we have been teaching a bit.  This week … so far … we have taught 7 lessons and we still have 3 more days as well!! It’s been a good week. I am also come to the point with the language that I understand what people are saying most of the time. There are certain words I don’t’ understand.  I have finally adjusted to the accent and it’s wonderful. I try to speak as much as I can to people. Sometimes it just comes out wrong like if it’s the first time I speak Italian that day. It takes me a while to warm up to speaking.

Well, we finally have one progressing … ish … investigator.  He is a little crazy, but really nice. It’s hard to tell what exactly he is looking for, but technically his is. We met him last Saturday on a train and we gave him our number. So far we have met him twice and are teaching him again on Saturday. He isn’t in our zone but he doesn’t want to meet with other Elders yet. He said he is moving back to Milan in a couple months anyways. So it might not matter that much. He said he would come to church with us on Sunday.  We will see.

We have seen more progress from a guy named Frankie who struggles a bit with faith, but is a pretty cool guy who can really cook. We teach him every week after English course and some Saturdays. We have a good amount of investigators but none are really worth bringing up.

I hope you have been enjoying the photos I have been  sending home. I just hope I can stay here longer. We have transfer calls not this Saturday, but the next.  (Mitchell was not transferred but his companion, Anziano Anderson, was)  I would really like to stay in this house my whole mission. I have a box that is almost ready to send home.  I will put something in it for Sunny and some Napton playing cards. They are different than regular playing cards. I’m also putting in a sealed package that no one is to open.  Does the ward have my mission plaque yet? I want to see it.

Well, overall everything is going well here. I am trying to get some Napoli soccer stuff. We are allowed to see a game, it just needs to be approved. Life here is pretty good.  It’s starting to cool down a bit which is really nice.  Regardless I still drink a lot of water. It’s very rare that I can sleep through a whole night without getting up.  Last night I woke up at 3:00 am to the smell of smoke. Last night some kids set some tree clipping on fire and everything was really smokey outside. Than about 7:00 am the fire fighters came and put the fire out.  It is funny.  The nightlife here is interesting. Most people are out till about 3:00 am or a bit later every night. I am glad I was raised where I was raised, but it just looks like a lot of fun here.

We can skype in 3 ½ months or so. Time flies by so quickly. We just planned for the 5^th week of this transfer which has flown by.

I thought I’d talk about Roma for a bit. Rome was interesting. I definatley like Napoli a lot more. The sites there were nice, but not incredible. It is a nice and interesting city thought. I had fun there, but I really missed Napoli a lot. We got back and the first thing I wanted was a pizza. Rome was nice, but I think now that I have seen the cooler stuff in Napoli.  Plus its along the coast which makes it cooler anyways. So I sent Sunny a letter yesterday that has more details about here. Maybe she can post some of them.

I hope you all enjoyed London. You should have come down and seen me.  It’s alright thought. Do fun things at home. Play with baby for me. Hope to get letters from everyone soon.

Anz. Hosford

Naptons

i want to hang a napoli flag from the apartment. people like americans here. well its really hard to explain why naptons are different. i will do it over skype or when i get home. you just gotta seethem. and have an explanation. i might send napoli scarves home then. i want everyone to have something little from here. napoli is quite the area. i just cant explain it. they are just prideful and they speak napton first then italian...and they arent as smart. really lazy. idk. they are sooo funny. we call people from napoli naptons. they also speak napton.

Street vs house

Question:  How do you find the people you teach?

House, street, referrals, service.  i like street and service and referrals. honestly. i could go the rest of my mission without doing house. its just not effective. if i feel a prompting that's something different. but that method is not my first. i like street, train-bus, service...which is going very well for us, referrals which is probably the best, and we do a display on this boardwalk along the pozzuoli bay. did you know that pozzuoli is actually referenced by name in the bible. i have yet to find it though. i am only in the last book of moses right now.  

Acts:

 12 And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days.

 13 And from thence we ^afetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli:

 14 Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.

Puteoli is now spelled Pozzouli.  Later in my
mission I served in Syracusa.

I was born Catholic! I will die Catholic!

Dear Family and Friends,  

                                                           

Well, let me start off by saying … Happy Birthday Mom! 

I am staying in Napoli for my second transfer which is nice. In our zone we have 16 missionaries … or 14. I think only one is leaving the zone.  One in our zone is switching areas and we are getting another greenie.

How I broke my retainer story:  Last Thursday we went to a small park in Posillipo after getting free ice cream.  (he says that older men are always inviting them to their shops for ice cream) We saw all the normal old guys in the park.  Like always we got on the subject of food.  This one guy was about to have a heart attack over us making our own food, so he went to the store, got some food, and took us to his house.  His wife had already make lunch and was waiting to see who he was bringing with him.  We she was shocked to see Mormons.  She turned to us and said, “I am Catholic! I was born Catholic!  I will die Catholic! My daughter teaches in Catholic School!”  Before she could finish I asked her about her daughter and what she taught.  I really shocked her for some reason.  Well after that she was the nicest and sweetest old (not old, old but old) lady.  She was really funny to talk to over lunch.  She said not drinking wine was a sin. Haha. She made an awesome lunch with a potato, onion, and tomatoes.  It is simple but very good.  I will make it for you.  Then we moved on to fish which was so good.  I ate about 3 or so.  They were only about the size of my hand. I was using the bread to soak up the juice and eat the tomatoes from the fish.  Well, it was on that bread that I chipped a piece of the cement off.  It’s not that bad and it was so worth it!!  The bread crust here is very tough, but so good.  After the larger fish we moved to a smaller fish.  These ones were about the size of a finger.  The guy wanted us to eat like a napton where you eat the whole fish except for the head.  So we did and we chewed the spines very well.  Surprised I ate fish???  (of course we are!) I guess it would be safe to say that no one in America can cook fish like that.  I need to ask her to teach me how to make it.  It didn’t taste or smell like fish. Plus I seriously doubt you could find fish that fresh.  After the fish we had antipasta. 

Lunch today was bread, cheese (maybe provolone?) and prosciutto (cured meat). Its incredible! I imagined it to be something different,  more like the pork chops we eat for dinner, ground up, and cured.  It would be a crime not to eat it!!  We need two things in America:  Buf Motts (it’s the best cheese) and prosciutto.  Well that’s how I broke my retainer. 

FYI:  IT APPEARS MITCHELL DOES NOT TRACT … THEY DO STREET CONTACTING ONLY.

So we have been slowly finding more investigators.  It’s very hard to do.  Now in August everyone is on vacation, but we still do a good job at teaching.  We gave this one guy a tour of the church on Sunday. We can really only wait for people to come back from vacation.  Referrals are really the best way to teach people.  Everyone who is giving to us as a referral turns out to be a good investigator. Unfortunately, we don’t receive that many.  Pino (who we gave a church tour) was a referral.  He is pretty cool.  He said we could teach him the 5 lessons.  I think that sounds good. A lot of our other investigators are out of town, but somehow we kept our lesson count up.  Which isn’t hard. We only taught 4 lessons last week.

Sorry for not writing for so long.  We get really busy out here.  I don’t really think I have enough time to write everyone who writes to me.  So if you would explain that to Sister McCall and Aunt Marsha.

Okay.  So the language is coming along.  I am trying to use direct and indirect object pronouns which is hard. That and understanding people.  Understanding people is probably my biggest problem.  I also want to take Dad to this suit store. Even though it’s run by the mafia.  The people are very nice.  The trash problem isn’t over, but it got a lot better. They are becoming better at picking it up.  I got up this morning to see they took out the trash and I was surprised. 

Well, I hope everyone is doing well at home.  Sorry I don’t have a lot of time to answer Amy’s email on this letter.  I hope everyone is doing well at home. I hope baby is doing well.  I love thinking about the days when she would knock on my door and say, “Mitcho, Mitcho”.  She is quite the baby.   I’m out of time to write more.  Love everyone at home.  Hope to hear from everyone soon. 

Love, Anziano Hosford

Blue with white stripes. A mafia thing.

Email conversation with Mom

So what's up for P-day this week?  Going anywhere fun or exciting?  

Well, we were going to go to the castle but no time. I did buy a new suit.  Blue with white pinstripes. Only 40 euro! But, I need to get it fitted. I will bring it home.  It’s a business-ish suit and an Armani knock off. I am going to get a few more suits from this place because they are nice and cheap.  Promesso is once a year here.  The suit retails for about 100 euro but i got it a lot cheaper.   A mafia thing.

I still haven’t received the box you sent. I am trying to get a box from the army base to send stuff home. I still have my warts and I have no idea what to do about them. I need to talk with Sister Kelly about them. I just don’t have time for them here.  I have like 3 small ones, but they need to be dealt with by next week.  Sorry I haven’t sent a letter home in a while. just been so busy dealing with others problems here and finding people. Haven’t had time to write in my journal in like 4 days because I am so tired all the time

Well today it’s 99* here.  BTW happy birthday today plus 3.

The hot water in the shower doesn’t work so kids are in the shower for like 30 to 45 minutes each morning. It’s so stupid. and I can’t cut out sleep cause i don’t get enough. I hope they are not stress warts. You gotta ask me questions.  

Tell me about your apartment

Okay the apartment is nice. we have two rooms like bedroom rooms. one is where everyone sleeps and we have the other for study. we have a small kitchen. one bathroom. nice eating room and a patio. third floor. its nice. except no hot water.

Ward members are very nice. we are taken good care of by the people here. We are having 4 more baptisms next month....Brazilians....not ours though. We missed the referral call but we have found more cool people. Missionary work is hard. Not like physically hard hard but hard you know. 

Send photos if you have time.  Have your figured out how to send your photos home?  I don't think it wise to send the memory card.

I can send photos but I always forget my cord and today its not possible because we are in a different Internet cafe. The bars here are not like bars from home. But we normally email from this one internet cafe that is in Napoli. But its closed for agosto. Lots lots of people go on vacation. 

We get free ice cream whenever we pretty much like. And the ice cream is probably the best in italy

What cool things have you seen?  

Everyday is like p-day with stuff that we see. I saw Il Tempio di Nettune which is the Temple of Neptune...the god. And water enters around the temple depending on Mount Vesuvio with pressure. Its awesome. We see a lot of interesting stuff. We are going to go the port that we think that Paul from the bible entered on. Haha! It even mentions this area in the bible. When i find the reference I will email it to you

Okay. Well, I have to go. My time is up. Well next week we can talk more. I will try and send stuff home