Wiggling room

The Hosford Family,

Yesterday was my 19^th month mark. The mission is really flying by. I am still waiting to hear about the extension. I am still really hoping I get it. Also if I do one more transfer here (Catania) I will have been here (Sicily) for a year. It’s strange to think about it. We got a new military couple that will worth with the Sigonella branch. We took them to their house last week and when we did they took us out to eat on the Base. It felt so weird to be around Americans. I have no idea how I am going to do it when I am home. I like being around Italians a lot more. I don’t really look forward to going home very much.

The work here is going well. We are starting to take a hole of it pretty well.  We are doing little finding, but somehow we are getting new contacts.  Usually from the ward or from the church site. Things here are slowly falling in place. It’s nice to have a bit of work. Two weeks ago we bought food to last us for a couple of days.  We still have about half the food because we are never home.  However, the work is going well.

We have a 20-year-old investigator named Alberto. He is doing well.  We decided that we can’t teach him with Andrea, the guy who found him, because he disturbs the lesson too much. So we decided to teach Alberto by ourselves until we find someone else. He is slowly progressing.  He is praying, but he isn’t reading. We are working on it.  That and coming to church is another hard thing. However, it will come.

We just started with this church referral named Antonio.  He found the church because he was search genealogy site and found the church.  He is pretty reliable.  We taught him the restoration last Saturday and he came to church Sunday. He is pretty Catholic, but there is wiggling room because he is open to us.

We are also working with Francesca (Brazilian) and her boyfriend Angelo. We don’t see them much together.  We normally see Francesca by herself in a park near our house.  However, we see them together maybe once a week.  Francesca lost her date for December 1^st which is okay because we are still working at it.  We are trying real hard to get her to read.  I swear it’s harder for people to read than to come to church.

We have lots of people coming to church.  If all our investigators who say they will come, CAME, we would have like 15 investigators in church instead of 7.  Oh well.  We will work on it.  Well, love everyone at home.  Look forward to your letters.  – Anziano Hosford

Always laughing about something

Hosford Family,

Sorry about writing a little later this week. I finally found some time to shoot off a letter. I thought things would be a little more calm and slow this week.  I has been but somehow we have been busy. Things here are going as usually. Always between investigators. I really enjoy working with my new comp. We are a little too laid back, but we are working on it. We are doing good work. We are always laughing about something. I am also learning another language. I figured that while I am with him I might as well.  I don’t have anything to lose. The work is progressing here.

Last night we went over to the Castorina’s house and we taught the Word of Wisdom. They are all members except the son who is nine. However, we are working with the dad who has one little vice. He told us last night that if he doesn’t overcome it in December then he will have someone else perform the ordinance.  So December or January we should see a baptism that has been longer waited and expected.

We are still working with Nadia who is doing well.  Last week we taught the plan of salvation and as part of it, we read 1 Cor 6:18-20 which talks about our bodies and that we are bought with a price. After that we talked about the big tow commandments:  Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity and it’s real cool to see that light go off in their heads. She had a lot of misconceptions, but they were cleared up and she came to know that she needs to change. If she actually changes we will see.  I hope so.

We also have that less active from Peru (marybel) and her boyfriend Antonio. We had already seen him twice and so talked about the Plan of Salvation. Honestly he is ready. We invited him to be baptized.  Even though he didn’t respond yes/no he told us that he wanted to investigate more and to see a baptism. We also go to go and teach at their house which was nice. Here we teach a lot in church and its nice to go to people’s homes to talk. We hope to see more action out of them soon.

We still have old investigators that we are trying to see and we are slowly picking up new ones. We are also seeing good progress from others. We are doing a good job teaching a lot, we just need to set more baptismal dates and organize our appointments better. Other than that the work is going well.

Not much else going on here. Really there is a lot, but I am too lazy to write the rest cause it is a lot. Love everyone very much.  Send another letter soon.   - Mitchell

I really love this work

Hosford Family,

Well, I am slammed right now.  We are in the middle of transfer week and I have no time to do anything.  Anz. Hansen left for Rome on Monday with Silla Teichert and so I have remained here taking care of all the transfers and trying to keep work going.  It was easy with Anz. Hansen because we both carried the work, but I have been carrying the work these last couple days and I have been stressed out a little bit. Our phone never stops ringing and I always have someone to call to set up an appointment to do something.  Honestly, I probably talk on the phone for over an hour each day. It’s a lot.  I am very excited for Saturday when everyone will be gone and it will just be me and Anz. Prieto.  He is my new comp and he comes from Brazil. He is young in the mission, but he is a stud. I did a split with him two transfers ago.  I am very excited to work with him.

This is what has happened this week.  Marco got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday.  We are trying to teach him self-reliance because he always calls us and other members. We can’t baby him and he has to grow up a little bit. He has a lot to learn still, just needs time. I forgot his conversion story.  He met the missionaries seven years ago and I forgot about how he got his testimony.  However, he was on and off with the missionaries because he never kept commitments. We almost dropped him for that.  Then one day he changed and started to follow up.  That’s his story from what I remember.

Other than him, our 17-year-old girl is progressing.  We are trying to get her to read every day which is hard, but when she prays, she feels the Holy Ghost.  She is a work in progress.

We had a great lesson with an investigator named Alberto.  We taught him the restoration and pretty much told him to do things today because there might not be a tomorrow.  He understood and from the start to the end of the lesson we saw a difference in him.

There is more, but I don’t want to write about it because it’s not done yet.  We might be losing some dear investigators.  I need to call them.

Other than all of that, things are going well here. I am very tired this week with just everything going on, but we are seeing miracles.  I really love this work.  Love everyone and I’ll write next week.  – Anz. Mitchell Hosford

Marco's baptism

More emails from Italians than friends

Hosford Family,

Well, mail still isn’t getting to us.  It’s weird because it was all fine the first transfer, but not nothing is getting here.  Every now and then one get by, but not 2 or 3 a week.  It’s funny because everyone asks how you all are and I always answer “I don’t know.”  The letters I understand.  Emails, I am receiving more emails from Italians that from my American “friends”.  But ya.  Things are great out here.  My birthday was a pretty good day. I didn’t celebrate as we had a lot of work to do. In the morning we had a baptismal interview for Marco that went well and he should be getting baptized on Saturday.  Then we went out of our area to teach some of our investigators.  They pretty much live right on the border.   It went well with them.  We brought the bishop and he talked nonstop and went in a direction that we didn’t want to go really.  However, the lesson went fine after. The girl already had a baptismal date, we set one with her brother, and her boyfriend said he would like to take the lessons.  However, all of that changed yesterday.  The Catholic Church won’t let the girl (Veronica) and the boy (Andrea) get married if she gets baptized.  So she pretty much dropped us for now which was pretty sad.  She has a testimony, but I won’t say more.  We have set a couple other dates and some of those people are really progressing.  The other girl, Nadia, finally will pray for us and doesn’t block herself which is pretty incredible and she feels the spirit every time she does.  We were in Church on Wednesday learning how to cook and there was this guy that passed by and came to the church to take a look around.  It’s very, very rare that we were in the Church at that time.  It was really a miracle.  There are really a lot of things to write about.  However, after that last appointment I don’t really feel like writing much.  Hopefully everything is well at home.  Love you all very much.  – Anziano Hosford

The work is crazy

Are you having a baptism on Saturday?

We are. We had his interview on Saturday and we are going to see him tomorrow. The work is going crazy here. We have like 6 baptismal dates with more that are almost there. We have new investigators that are just coming from no where. we aren't doing finding. everyone is just coming to us.

Mixed emotions

Dear Family of Anziano Mitchell Hosford,

Anziano Hosford will be completing his mission on 03 May 2013. 

We are extremely grateful for the time we have been able to spend with your missionary as he has served the Lord and the people here in Italy. However, the time has come when we must look ahead and help you make plans for his return home.

If your missionary is planning to go to school soon after his return home, we ask that you take care of the enrollment process so that it will not be distracting and time consuming for him. Any questions regarding school and other plans should be done in your regular emails. If there are extenuating problems, feel free to call us and we can help work them out.

The Church encourages missionaries to travel directly home from their missions. Any other travel is permitted only when the missionary is (1) accompanied by at least one of his or her parents or guardians and (2) the duration of travel is limited to not more than two weeks. We ask that you be sensitive to the desires of your missionary when making this decision. Many look forward to returning home with their MTC group and to the “traditional welcome home” experience of greeting their family at the airport.

If you decide to pick up your missionary here in Rome, your plans must be based on the release date established by the mission president. Parents are encouraged not to request a change in the date to accommodate other travel plans or commitments. Parents should advise the mission office as early as possible if they plan to pick up their missionary.

One last item: If you have had a change in leadership of your ward or your stake, please email the mission office with the current email address of your Bishop and Stake President and inform us which Airport you would like your missionary to fly home to. Please include the Airport Code.

Sister Kelly and I would like to thank you for the support you have given us and your son. We ask that you help your son continue to work hard and stay focused in his missionary work. The last six months in the field often proves to be the most fruitful for our missionaries.

Please feel free to email our mission office at 2016605@ldschurch.org if you have any questions.

Sister Steurer will be happy to help in any way possible.

Best personal regards,

Thomas E. Kelly

President

Italy Rome Mission