Dear Hosford Family,
Today is really the first year that I remember being leap year. To celebrate, we went to a little and beautiful town called Noto. It was a beautiful day to see it as well. Nice and warm without a cold breeze. We saw a good amount of the town and are planning on coming back and seeing the rest during the spring when they do their flower display. I hope I am still here for it. I should be if I do another transfer here.
I was thinking about it and its really unfair we only have one P-day a week because we really need more time to see everything here. However, I am lucky because I only have one more major thing to see and I can do that next P-day if I get transferred.
Speaking of transfers ... we receive transfer calls on Saturday. I don't know really if I will stay or go. President told me that I might do one here. I will miss the area if I go, but I will be happy to stay and do another. Especially now that we actually have something going on. Regardless it means the end of my 6th transfer and as of now, I hit my year mark in 55 days, exciting and sad.
We were supposed to have an area seventy and his wife at our zone conference. I heard she is a real box breaker. I had several lines prepared for her if she did. If she is going to call someone to "repentance" she better be perfect. Lucky for me and more lucky for President Kelly ... they didn't come because of a strike or something in Rome. Close call? Zone conference however was very inspiring. It was geared more towards finding new investigators which is exactly what I wanted to hear.
So the week went pretty well. We found 4 new investigators last week and eliminated all of our potential contacts, which meant this week would be focused on finding again and teaching.
The week started with a split and it went very well. I did splits with an elder from Peru and he lived here in Italy for a while as a kid. We had a great time and found like 3 new contacts on like 16 doors. Which is pretty incredible. The better news is ... two of the contact have families. So it hopefully goes somewhere during this week.
We continued to work with one less active. He just won't open up and we have used a variety of members to use while teaching him. We are starting to run out of teaching material. Then we are working with a couple more less actives, but for the most part they are busy or sick. Less active work is hard. It's fun to go out with the members and do it though.
We saw Rita again and had a decent discussion. She had a friend there who just a bone head. He was asking about the priesthood and why women don't hold it and why 6 men and 6 women weren't called as apostles. We tried to explain our beliefs, but he just views the priesthood as a sign or something of power/stature. I was a little bold and asked if he was questioning the ministry of Jesus Christ and what he did on the earth and that series of questions shut him up real fast. (Italians are very prideful ... anything that doesn't make them superior or richer isn't important). So he left after a while and we just talked to Rita about various gospel subjects and coming to Church and we saw her open up more. She is really a fantastic person who just needs to come once and meet our bishop and really it would change and help her whole idea about church. She has an awesome family.
Our African with a baptismal date found work and a place to live... he just can't find the time to see us anymore. We haven't seen him in a week. He has been blowing us off. He said we would be in Church on Sunday... we hope. good thing my salvation isn't based off his. It has been nice that he blows us off. We have been able to find and teach more Italian families.
It may not seem we have a ton of investigators. We have a couple more and now like 10 contacts ... more than 10 people we are working with. Things are going great honestly. Just need to plan to passby everyone. Be interesting to see where we are at next week. Well, love everyone and I hope everything is okay at home. Anziano Hosford
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Pizza and wood ovens
Dear Family,
So I finally hit my 300 day mark… today was the 302nd day. To celebrate we got pizza. It wasn’t as good as Napoli pizza, but it was a lot better than most pizzas here. In no time It will be a year.
So I learned the difference between pizza made with an electric oven and a wood oven. A wood oven makes pizza a lot more flavorful. A week ago we ate a pizza from this place with an electric oven and it was horrible. I felt like I was back in the MTC. However, for my 300 day mark we got a pizza from this wood oven place and it was a lot better. Lately we have been searching for a pizza place to eat at always … well I think we finally found it!!! Still not Napoli pizza. I also like this pizza place because there is this old couple who run it and they are very curious about the church which might be the reason we go back there.
Well the work is really what you probably want to hear about.
So the work has finally picked up. We did a lot of house to develop something. In about 3 or 4 days … we knocked about 1000 doors or like apartment intercom system things. We might have received 10-15 new contacts, might have given out 100 pass along cards, 30 pamphlets, 200 rejections probably a lot more, and a lot of still doors.
So our first day doing a lot of house we met this lady named Rita and she told us that missionaries passed by her like 28 years ago while her twins were still young. They gave her a Book of Mormon which she still has. While we found her she told us to come back next Tuesday. So we did and did a basic lesson and somehow taught the last half of the Restoration. We had a great time with her and were there for a while talking. After that appointment we got her number and on Monday set up another appointment with her. So we went and taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation to her, her husband, and one of her sons. They really liked us cause they want to see us again every Tuesday at 4:00 pm. They are wonderful people. They see life in a bit of a negative way because of the hard lives they have had. They see the bad stuff in the Catholic Church. It’s really the perfect situation. We are hoping they feel something. The wife is more open to our word and is more ready for accepting. The son and husband just see the bad things in life. I just bore testimony of the family and its purpose now and in the next life. I hope they understand that the family is where happiness lies, not in dishonesty cause we know that wickedness never was happiness. Either ways. I am very excited to see this family progress.
Next we have a contact/investigator who owns a shop in Ortigia. He is very interested in learning about the church. We have mini lessons with him at his store and we are trying to move them to someone’s house. This last time before leaving, my companion asked, “if you learned that the Book of Mormon was true would he change? He gave us the answer about being born Catholic and it would be hard to change. Then I brought up the story of Paul which I think he liked a lot because it was from the Bible and it’s an incredible story. So hopefully things move forward with him.
We are also teaching a guy named Aka from Ivory Coast. We teach him twice a week atleast and he comes every Sunday. He is great cause he goes and talks with the members and I hope the members love him. He found a job doing construction and a place to stay which is wonderful. We got through the first and second lessons and set a baptismal date for March 31. We are pretty excited.
Things are going better here. We are hoping to hit the Standard of Excellence for the mission which is 21 lessons in a week. We have been seeing slow progress. Either ways. Jus t know I am working hard out here and loving every minute of it.
Love your son, brother, friend, w/e,
Anziano Hosford
So I finally hit my 300 day mark… today was the 302nd day. To celebrate we got pizza. It wasn’t as good as Napoli pizza, but it was a lot better than most pizzas here. In no time It will be a year.
So I learned the difference between pizza made with an electric oven and a wood oven. A wood oven makes pizza a lot more flavorful. A week ago we ate a pizza from this place with an electric oven and it was horrible. I felt like I was back in the MTC. However, for my 300 day mark we got a pizza from this wood oven place and it was a lot better. Lately we have been searching for a pizza place to eat at always … well I think we finally found it!!! Still not Napoli pizza. I also like this pizza place because there is this old couple who run it and they are very curious about the church which might be the reason we go back there.
Well the work is really what you probably want to hear about.
So the work has finally picked up. We did a lot of house to develop something. In about 3 or 4 days … we knocked about 1000 doors or like apartment intercom system things. We might have received 10-15 new contacts, might have given out 100 pass along cards, 30 pamphlets, 200 rejections probably a lot more, and a lot of still doors.
So our first day doing a lot of house we met this lady named Rita and she told us that missionaries passed by her like 28 years ago while her twins were still young. They gave her a Book of Mormon which she still has. While we found her she told us to come back next Tuesday. So we did and did a basic lesson and somehow taught the last half of the Restoration. We had a great time with her and were there for a while talking. After that appointment we got her number and on Monday set up another appointment with her. So we went and taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation to her, her husband, and one of her sons. They really liked us cause they want to see us again every Tuesday at 4:00 pm. They are wonderful people. They see life in a bit of a negative way because of the hard lives they have had. They see the bad stuff in the Catholic Church. It’s really the perfect situation. We are hoping they feel something. The wife is more open to our word and is more ready for accepting. The son and husband just see the bad things in life. I just bore testimony of the family and its purpose now and in the next life. I hope they understand that the family is where happiness lies, not in dishonesty cause we know that wickedness never was happiness. Either ways. I am very excited to see this family progress.
Next we have a contact/investigator who owns a shop in Ortigia. He is very interested in learning about the church. We have mini lessons with him at his store and we are trying to move them to someone’s house. This last time before leaving, my companion asked, “if you learned that the Book of Mormon was true would he change? He gave us the answer about being born Catholic and it would be hard to change. Then I brought up the story of Paul which I think he liked a lot because it was from the Bible and it’s an incredible story. So hopefully things move forward with him.
We are also teaching a guy named Aka from Ivory Coast. We teach him twice a week atleast and he comes every Sunday. He is great cause he goes and talks with the members and I hope the members love him. He found a job doing construction and a place to stay which is wonderful. We got through the first and second lessons and set a baptismal date for March 31. We are pretty excited.
Things are going better here. We are hoping to hit the Standard of Excellence for the mission which is 21 lessons in a week. We have been seeing slow progress. Either ways. Jus t know I am working hard out here and loving every minute of it.
Love your son, brother, friend, w/e,
Anziano Hosford
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Mom ... she likes to hear from me
ortigia...just got to see it...here let me add some photos.
okay the first one is the duomo. its built on and with the remains of the temple of athena....ya....got to love catholics. this place was pretty much and old greek fortress
the next is in the same courtyard...piazzo we say here...and its a smaller church that was pretty beautiful.
the next is the arm of the patron saint of siracusa...gotta love catholics. her whole body is somewhere up north. i really want to see a saint parade. its...ya. then the next is a secret library built by some bishop...and its very hidden and very beautiful.
the last is a canolo which is my favorite thing here since the pizza isnt the best. its like a waffle cone with sweetened ricotta cheese on the inside with a nut that i can spell. pistascio...i cant spell it in either language.
so i read our search for happiness and i came across something talking about our heavenly mother. i know i asked you once about this a long time ago. i tried searching for her on my ipod through all the churches stuff and through all the standard works...there is nothing. dad. what is the churches view on her? i have been thinking a bit about it...and well with my own mom..i know how much she likes to hear from me...i assume my heavenly mother might be the same way...but i dont know how to approach it.
We do believe in heavenly parentage. Our creeds include a Heavenly
Mother. Read the lyrics to the hymn "O My Father". However, the scriptures
instruct us to pray only to Heavenly Father. We do not pray to Jesus Christ,
the Savior of all men.
Those communications began as prayers to Heavenly Father. Christ or other
messengers appeared to deliver messages to Joseph Smith on His behalf.
We all have roles to fulfill in the kingdom of God, including Heavenly
Messengers. These callings and assignments are given to his messengers based on
their keys, gifts, talents and experiences.
Think of the angel Moroni delivering the plates to Joseph Smith, multiple
times.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Members want to do missionary work
Dear Family and Friends,
So I’m trying to get better at writing every week. So to do this I am starting my letters a couple days early. I also bought enough stamps for the rest of the transfer.
The ward is fantastic. Just has a couple problems. After our last week here, I really think I was sent here to work and more importantly to learn how to work with these members. I learned in like 7 days that members want to do missionary work, they just need to be invited. I always glanced over the member sections of PMG without very much care. I learned that member work extends outside just visiting members … it includes going out with them. The member here (at least some members) want to help with the work… they just need to be invited. Also when we bring people to church, we need to arrange for people to sit by them and such.
This last week, we went out with this member, Fillo Beto to see less-actives. The two families we saw both wanted us to come back. One of the ladies came to church with her nonmember granddaughter. We called the relief society president the day before to let her know and to have her surrounded by sisters and she was. We didn’t know the granddaughter was coming so after sacrament meeting I had some young women to talk to her. I don’t know how that went. We are just trying to make the ward family bigger here. We also had the EQP sit by another less active. People just need the invitation to act.
We are finally starting to pick up new investigators. We started seeing more results from doing house. So far we have 5 days this week completely filled with appointments. Hopefully they all go through.
We started teaching this guy names Aka from the Ivory Coast. He wants to be baptized, so we are going to set a date with him tonight. Right now he is homeless. The police wrongly accused and put in jail. When he got out he had lost everything… his home, his clothes, everything. We had him meet with the bishop and the bishop is going to help him. Not with money but with shelter and clothes.
The Bishop here is wonderful. Convert of 4 years and really reminds me of Dad … just a bit younger. He is really on top of things. We didn’t tell him who would be coming to church and after he was doing interviews with our less actives and investigators. He is really great.
We don’t have other investigators worth mentioning. We have some sweet contacts and hopefully by next week I will be writing telling you about them. We are just getting this work started and it’s wonderful. We are starting to see the fruit of our labors.
Okay on to Mom’s letter
Sicilia is wonderful. Not really any beaches here, but we run in the mornings on this cliff that touches water. Only thing I really miss in Napoli outside the work is the pizza. The pizza here is still good just not as good.
Well sounds like things are going well there. Things are going great here. Just be nice if it weren’t cold. It would make getting up a lot easier!. Well, love to everyone at home. Can’t wait to hear from everyone. Love, Anziano Hosford
A couple comments from his UNEDITED emails:
Mitchell: pday. yesterday and last night it poured....and it was pretty nice today just really wet. we tried to go see this arcological park and museum...but the park was closed and we want to see them together. so we are going to try...not this next wednesday..but the one after...the last pday of the transfer. next pday we are going to a broque town called noto. i forgot how to spell broque in english. so today we went to ortigia to get a companionship tie...by the place was closed. i really like this place because they have alot of shirts with french cuffs and ties and cuff links that match. so we will be back there some time next week to get stuff from there.
Mom: If you're going clothes shopping I better check your account!!! I've been decluttering. Going through the storage closet, finishing old enrichment night projects, taking some stuff to Goodwill (Hayden's clothes -- we have way to many to save them all), I have too many dishes but don't know which ones to get rid of, etc. I want a simpler life. I also put a sticker with Good, Better, Best on my computer to remind me to say NO.
Mitchell: right now. i am looking at this. there is a deal for three french cuff shirts. 75 euro instead of 100. and the ties and links would be like 55 for 3 different ties and 2 sets of cuff links. one shirt would be a white shirt and the other two kind of colored. i havent decided yet.
Mitchell: by the way...some members here want to know if there is a way to print out a family history tree from that website? i told them that i would ask you. They want to do genealogy to go to the temple when it opens. I teach them what I can on the computer. just curious. how many generations back have you found with our genealogy?
Mom: Have them go to lds.org / menu / family history / getting started -- use this for basic info on starting your history. You have to have your access info to do research. Is LDS.org available in Italian? While in lds.org you can type pedigree chart into the search box to print out one. You can also order them through store.lds.org but they don't come in Italian just spanish.I'll see if I can find a link to print one in italian.
We have genealogy that goes back to the 1100s on dad's side. The Dutch were very good at keeping records. On my side I'm stuck in 1820's Germany on most of the lines. I think one line goes back to the 1400s but most I've deadended. Do you want me to mail your pedigree charts? With as old as Italy is and with the Catholic church records genealogy should go way back for them. I think it would be cool if the church would call missionaries to Italy to teach people how to do genealogy as they prepare for a temple in Rome.
Mitchell: i just wanted to know with genealogy how many complete generations back you have completed. i saw like 7 generations back. the catholic church has been very good about keeping records. i was at the cathedral here and its the oldest catholic church in italy and the only one older is in greece.
So I’m trying to get better at writing every week. So to do this I am starting my letters a couple days early. I also bought enough stamps for the rest of the transfer.
The ward is fantastic. Just has a couple problems. After our last week here, I really think I was sent here to work and more importantly to learn how to work with these members. I learned in like 7 days that members want to do missionary work, they just need to be invited. I always glanced over the member sections of PMG without very much care. I learned that member work extends outside just visiting members … it includes going out with them. The member here (at least some members) want to help with the work… they just need to be invited. Also when we bring people to church, we need to arrange for people to sit by them and such.
This last week, we went out with this member, Fillo Beto to see less-actives. The two families we saw both wanted us to come back. One of the ladies came to church with her nonmember granddaughter. We called the relief society president the day before to let her know and to have her surrounded by sisters and she was. We didn’t know the granddaughter was coming so after sacrament meeting I had some young women to talk to her. I don’t know how that went. We are just trying to make the ward family bigger here. We also had the EQP sit by another less active. People just need the invitation to act.
We are finally starting to pick up new investigators. We started seeing more results from doing house. So far we have 5 days this week completely filled with appointments. Hopefully they all go through.
We started teaching this guy names Aka from the Ivory Coast. He wants to be baptized, so we are going to set a date with him tonight. Right now he is homeless. The police wrongly accused and put in jail. When he got out he had lost everything… his home, his clothes, everything. We had him meet with the bishop and the bishop is going to help him. Not with money but with shelter and clothes.
The Bishop here is wonderful. Convert of 4 years and really reminds me of Dad … just a bit younger. He is really on top of things. We didn’t tell him who would be coming to church and after he was doing interviews with our less actives and investigators. He is really great.
We don’t have other investigators worth mentioning. We have some sweet contacts and hopefully by next week I will be writing telling you about them. We are just getting this work started and it’s wonderful. We are starting to see the fruit of our labors.
Okay on to Mom’s letter
Sicilia is wonderful. Not really any beaches here, but we run in the mornings on this cliff that touches water. Only thing I really miss in Napoli outside the work is the pizza. The pizza here is still good just not as good.
Well sounds like things are going well there. Things are going great here. Just be nice if it weren’t cold. It would make getting up a lot easier!. Well, love to everyone at home. Can’t wait to hear from everyone. Love, Anziano Hosford
A couple comments from his UNEDITED emails:
Mitchell: pday. yesterday and last night it poured....and it was pretty nice today just really wet. we tried to go see this arcological park and museum...but the park was closed and we want to see them together. so we are going to try...not this next wednesday..but the one after...the last pday of the transfer. next pday we are going to a broque town called noto. i forgot how to spell broque in english. so today we went to ortigia to get a companionship tie...by the place was closed. i really like this place because they have alot of shirts with french cuffs and ties and cuff links that match. so we will be back there some time next week to get stuff from there.
Mom: If you're going clothes shopping I better check your account!!! I've been decluttering. Going through the storage closet, finishing old enrichment night projects, taking some stuff to Goodwill (Hayden's clothes -- we have way to many to save them all), I have too many dishes but don't know which ones to get rid of, etc. I want a simpler life. I also put a sticker with Good, Better, Best on my computer to remind me to say NO.
Mitchell: right now. i am looking at this. there is a deal for three french cuff shirts. 75 euro instead of 100. and the ties and links would be like 55 for 3 different ties and 2 sets of cuff links. one shirt would be a white shirt and the other two kind of colored. i havent decided yet.
Mitchell: by the way...some members here want to know if there is a way to print out a family history tree from that website? i told them that i would ask you. They want to do genealogy to go to the temple when it opens. I teach them what I can on the computer. just curious. how many generations back have you found with our genealogy?
Mom: Have them go to lds.org / menu / family history / getting started -- use this for basic info on starting your history. You have to have your access info to do research. Is LDS.org available in Italian? While in lds.org you can type pedigree chart into the search box to print out one. You can also order them through store.lds.org but they don't come in Italian just spanish.I'll see if I can find a link to print one in italian.
We have genealogy that goes back to the 1100s on dad's side. The Dutch were very good at keeping records. On my side I'm stuck in 1820's Germany on most of the lines. I think one line goes back to the 1400s but most I've deadended. Do you want me to mail your pedigree charts? With as old as Italy is and with the Catholic church records genealogy should go way back for them. I think it would be cool if the church would call missionaries to Italy to teach people how to do genealogy as they prepare for a temple in Rome.
Mitchell: i just wanted to know with genealogy how many complete generations back you have completed. i saw like 7 generations back. the catholic church has been very good about keeping records. i was at the cathedral here and its the oldest catholic church in italy and the only one older is in greece.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
 |
| the tall guys is anziano anderson the sisters are in our district and they are awesome. the blonde is sorella lewis...my mom diciamo. and the other is sorella taylor. |
 |
| 1400 year old byzantine cathedral |
the tall guys is anziano anderson
the sisters are in our district and they are awesome. the blonde is sorella lewis...my mom diciamo. and the other is sorella taylor. everyone is from utah but me. and we had a photo shoot at this altar thing. there are more photos are other cameras i need to steal. i have like 4 gigs of photos. i need more. we have a great city for short pday activities. next week we are going to this musuem outdoor indoor. its a lot cheaper to do both in one day. so next week. its got a couple theaters and just some caves. have i sent photos from the last areas amphitheater?
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Another Anziano Anderson
Dear Family,
Sorry it's been like three weeks since I last wrote a letter home. After moving to the city furthest south in the mission (which was 7.5 hours on train including being ferried across the Messina Strait and another hour or so on bus from Cantania to Siracusa) I am not here and completely unpacked.
My new companion is Anziano Anderson from Salt Lake City. I guess you talked to his parents already cause I started getting letters from Dad (2) before I sent home the address for my new apartment.
The apartment here isn't as nice as Casserta or in a great spot like Pozzuoli. It's freezing here with the wind and we only have one heated room. We turn off the heater every night while we sleep and wake up to a freezing house making it very hard to get out of bed in the morning unless we go running. We have a great running path here that goes along the shore/cliff where an old train track used to exist. We get to run and see the sun rise over the ocean which is pretty cool. I also thought that we faced Africa which isn't true, we actually face the middle east, on the other side of the sea.
What have I been doing since I got here? We have been trying to do finding and less active work. We really don't have any serious investigators and we are working with one less active at the moment named Ernesto who is coming to church. We are just helping him. It's cool because we meet him once a week and then he comes to family night for singles, Saturday soccer, and Church.
We really don't have any investigators. We have a lot that dropped us/are busy, but that was before I got here. This city is very hard. No one will really talk to us on the street. They either know who we are or most likely think we are Jehovah's Witnesses. Its horrible. We have done house knocking without any success. We are trying to find and help the 600 less actives/inactives that don't wan to talk or who don't live here anymore. Honestly the work here is the hardest and the people the unfriendliest I have every seen. (Mom: this is so different than Napoli where everyone loved the missionaries and they did a lot of street contacting and at lunch with old men they met at the park). In Napoli I was a finder, but here its impossible, but I try my best, I hope everyday. So now we are trying to meet with members a lot for referrals, trying to find inactives no one knows anything about, and we are thinking about taking buses to other less-often visited cities to preach and find there. The work here is now more than just physically taxing, it's starting to get in my head a bit. I am doing my best though. I know I am really here to invite...ya.
The ward. The ward is very nice, but has more problems than a nut house and the problems are scars that run deep and don't heal. This is not a missionary friendly ward. My first Sunday the bishop broke boxes about missionary. During his lesson a man walked in that wasn't a member and I didn't know. This other members motioned for me to sit by him so I did and we got to talking. The member really should have sat by him especially during a lesson about missionary work. There are very nice and great members here though. There are some very nice, forgiving members. Italians are just very prideful.
However, the city is beautiful!
We made a list of everything we wanted to do on pdays. Last pday we tried to see the catacombs where Paul preached but they were closed. So we are seeing them tomorrow and maybe some museums. Last pday we saw some Holy Catholic sanctuary where some Mary statue cried healing tears.
I have almost finished off my first journal here. I have like 20 pages left. So pray for me and know that I am working my hardest here.
Love your son, brother, uncle or friend,
Anziano Hosford
Sorry it's been like three weeks since I last wrote a letter home. After moving to the city furthest south in the mission (which was 7.5 hours on train including being ferried across the Messina Strait and another hour or so on bus from Cantania to Siracusa) I am not here and completely unpacked.
My new companion is Anziano Anderson from Salt Lake City. I guess you talked to his parents already cause I started getting letters from Dad (2) before I sent home the address for my new apartment.
The apartment here isn't as nice as Casserta or in a great spot like Pozzuoli. It's freezing here with the wind and we only have one heated room. We turn off the heater every night while we sleep and wake up to a freezing house making it very hard to get out of bed in the morning unless we go running. We have a great running path here that goes along the shore/cliff where an old train track used to exist. We get to run and see the sun rise over the ocean which is pretty cool. I also thought that we faced Africa which isn't true, we actually face the middle east, on the other side of the sea.
What have I been doing since I got here? We have been trying to do finding and less active work. We really don't have any serious investigators and we are working with one less active at the moment named Ernesto who is coming to church. We are just helping him. It's cool because we meet him once a week and then he comes to family night for singles, Saturday soccer, and Church.
We really don't have any investigators. We have a lot that dropped us/are busy, but that was before I got here. This city is very hard. No one will really talk to us on the street. They either know who we are or most likely think we are Jehovah's Witnesses. Its horrible. We have done house knocking without any success. We are trying to find and help the 600 less actives/inactives that don't wan to talk or who don't live here anymore. Honestly the work here is the hardest and the people the unfriendliest I have every seen. (Mom: this is so different than Napoli where everyone loved the missionaries and they did a lot of street contacting and at lunch with old men they met at the park). In Napoli I was a finder, but here its impossible, but I try my best, I hope everyday. So now we are trying to meet with members a lot for referrals, trying to find inactives no one knows anything about, and we are thinking about taking buses to other less-often visited cities to preach and find there. The work here is now more than just physically taxing, it's starting to get in my head a bit. I am doing my best though. I know I am really here to invite...ya.
The ward. The ward is very nice, but has more problems than a nut house and the problems are scars that run deep and don't heal. This is not a missionary friendly ward. My first Sunday the bishop broke boxes about missionary. During his lesson a man walked in that wasn't a member and I didn't know. This other members motioned for me to sit by him so I did and we got to talking. The member really should have sat by him especially during a lesson about missionary work. There are very nice and great members here though. There are some very nice, forgiving members. Italians are just very prideful.
However, the city is beautiful!
We made a list of everything we wanted to do on pdays. Last pday we tried to see the catacombs where Paul preached but they were closed. So we are seeing them tomorrow and maybe some museums. Last pday we saw some Holy Catholic sanctuary where some Mary statue cried healing tears.
I have almost finished off my first journal here. I have like 20 pages left. So pray for me and know that I am working my hardest here.
Love your son, brother, uncle or friend,
Anziano Hosford
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