Time is really flying

The Hosford Family,

Well, my 14^th transfer is about over. We receive transfer calls on Saturday and we had zone conference a couple days ago.  Time is really flying.

Not a lot has changed in these weeks.  About everything is the same.  Stuff with our investigators is going well.  Anna and Massimo finally came to church Sunday. It was her first time to church and he hadn’t been in about 20 years. He has been away for too long. We almost finished the lessons with her.  Her brother dropped us.  It was a little sad, but it didn’t affect us too much.  He never progressed very much.

Francesca, our other Brazilian is doing well. She finally came to church for all three hours and she just showed up. We didn’t call to remind her.  We did have a bit of a harder lesson though. We talked about the law of chastity.  We will see today how it went.

Then one of our best families, the Zappala family introduced us to their cousins and now we are teaching two families of four together. We had a real good lesson planned about the bible and the parts that are missing and all of the confusion then we talked about the Book of Mormon and moved into the restoration.  They really liked the lesson.

After them, we have Fillo Coppa and his wife.  He is coming to church, but just can’t quit smoking.  And we haven’t seen his wife in a while. We have been trying, but she is just never home.

We also found this new investigator from Senegal named Teresa.  She is catholic and pretty much stopped us on the street.  We taught her the restoration and we are waiting to hear back from her right now.

We have about 5 other investigators that we are trying to see, but they are busy or are about to leave us.  Things here are going pretty well other than that.  We are hoping to see some baptisms this transfer, but maybe they will happen the next transfer.

Either ways, not much else to report.  Have a great week.  Love you all.  Anz. Hosford

Tired of pasta

The Hosford Family,

I ran out of all my American paper and now I have to use Italian paper which is very strange to me. Things here are going well again. Everything with my companion is great and we talk too much and have a great time doing missionary work. However, once again I have a cold that I am trying to get over. My throat is fine, but my nose and ears are not the best.  Besides that, I am no longer making pasta at home.  I am very tired of pasta. I am making wraps (with Rucola, Buffalo cheese, salami from Milan, and sun dried tomatoes) and then I will eating Italian sausage with tomatoes that are shaped like pumpkins.  I am picking up a lot of seeds right now. So when I return I will be growing lots of stuff, so if you could prepare the dirt for me that would be awesome.

Work here is starting to pick up. We are seeing Massimo, Anna, and Mario again which is really nice.  We weren’t able to see them throughout Christmas, but we are seeing them twice a week now and we are hoping that they come to Church tomorrow. It will be the first time and they gave us their word. Francesca is great and doing well. We are having a hard time with her and keeping commitments. We are about to teach to her the law of Chastity which could be the make or break point. We are still working with the Zappala family and yesterday she asked us about the name Jehovah.  We weren’t ready to talk about it, but it really caught us off guard. However, in these days we have been studying the Bible a lot and really I have come to see a lot of stuff that’s been taken out and it’s really sad to me.  We have been working with others, I am not in the mood to write about them today.

We will be seeing lots of people in these next two days which is nice. We are trying to help a member and his wife quit smoking. That’s a real ward right now. However, we are having fun. I am hoping to get over this cold so I can get back to work.

I finally got the puzzle letter (mailed Dec 3).  I like puzzles but they drive me nuts. It was easy though. It took me like 15 minutes to solve it. In the end I liked it. Also, I will be sending a box home soon. I need to find a way to work it up to Caserta. Inside there will be seeds for when I return. I will try to send it soon.

Well, love everyone at home lots. I am still waiting for that letter from Megan. She said she wrote me one, but it hasn’t arrived yet.  Talk to you’all soon.  – Anziano Hosford

Another 22 months in the mission ...

Hosford Family,
I have a funny story for me at least … In my journal, I am trying to write without messing up and I usually mess up about once or twice a page, but finally I got a page 100% right.  Then I looked at the date and realized I had put 2012 instead of 2013 and I have been doing that since January 2.

Things are going alright. My companion blew up on me Monday and has said like 30 words to me since.  It’s a little less than usual. I can honestly say I didn’t do anything. He usually doesn’t let me finish my sentences and he took about half of what I said and threw a temper tantrum.  I actually had to keep myself from laughing. Honestly, he is a great teacher, but he is just going through the motions of being a missionary. So I am a babysitter now and just feel really lonely. I organize everything and I really miss my last companion. I even miss Anz. Kafel.  I am just leaving my comp be which is better for me than opening my mouth because I will tell him how I see it and it might be too much for him.

Other than that things are going well. I was finally able to see a Seria A game.  Catania v Torino.  They tied, but Catania had a played ejected after the first 15 minutes and they still almost won.
English course restarted here.  We have 10 students that come to the intermediate course and I am working hard on preparing lessons for the course. I am not using a manual.  I am teaching based off problems I hear and it’s super hard, but after the last course everyone congratulated me for the course I taught.  That made me very happy.

We weren’t able to see many investigators this week, but we picked up 2 new investigators.  One we are going to see and have a real lesson with on Friday and that other is named Angelo.  Really he is a great person. He has an orange orchard. He has like 700 orange trees.  We are working on the plan of salvation with him and he started explaining some of the feelings he felt at home when he read the Book of Mormon.  They were just little things, but it’s just the start.

Honestly, I want to stay here.  I am rejecting the thoughts about coming home.  However, I have been thinking a lot lately that it’s coming to an end and ya. It’s like any game.  There will always be another game and I just need to leave it all out here. I would honestly give anything to have 22 months in the mission.  Either ways, love you all very much.  Look forward to letters.  – Anz. Hosford

I hate my life sometimes!

Hosford Family,

Well, I have some good news and some bad news.  Good news is that I am 100% caught up in my writing. I wrote for about 3 weeks in my journal (thanks to my planner I remembered most of the stuff we did), I finished 3 dedicas for other missionaries, and now I am writing your letter today instead of next week which is a miracle! Bad news is I talked to President Kelly and he isn’t going to let me stay an extra transfer.  I hate my life sometimes.

This last weekend there were two baptisms of kids of the Church.  We had some investigators come. One family (of investigators) that came really enjoyed the baptism.  The Zappala family is moving along. That and my little twin Emanuele Castorina will be getting baptized this month.  His dad told me he could and so with him and the other family we need to set a date this week.  Francesca is doing well.  We had a really great lesson with her and we want her to do a one week challenge.  She said she would, but after the new year. We are working with an older less active and his wife… The Coppa family.  We just finished teaching the plan of salvation then we talked a bit about the baptism this last time. We need to pass by the restoration again.   She has already been baptized and doesn’t think she needs to again.  We are hoping this next lesson goes well.  We picked up a new family last week.  We are going to see them tomorrow hopefully.  We have a lot of contacts and lots of investigators who keep telling us to call after new years. The time is now.  We should be getting pretty busy here in the next couple of days. We are really hoping to see some baptisms this transfer and the next but more this transfer.  We have a lot of people that are ready.

So letter are slowly coming in.  Things are going well here.  Love you all at home very much and I will be home soon!   -- Anziano Hosford