He’s only 9, but he wants to get baptized

Hosford Family,

It’s strange.  Technically I have less than a month left. I am excited to come home, but very sad to leave Italy and more than anything Sicily. However, if all goes to plan I should be able to come back here in a year. Hopefully, I can do in an internship or study abroad here.  I think a BYU for the Italian major it’s a class that you can do.  Then today I need to register for classes in the fall.  I shouldn’t have any problems getting classes because I have enough credits to be a junior and almost a senior, but I will be taking mostly sophomore/freshman classes.  I got every class figured out except for one.  However, I have an email in about it.

Stuff here is going well. I spent pretty much Monday to Wednesday at Siracusa. It was nice to see a lot of people that I used to know. I also got an exciting call on Wednesday.  One of my old investigators named Veronica wants to see us and so we will see her tomorrow. If you don’t remember, she had a baptismal date.  I would love to see her get baptized while I am here, her and Emanuele. He needs to come to church more and it’s hard for him because he’s only 9, but he wants to get baptized.

We are still working with Francesca and she is doing well.  She has read all of First Nephi. She is doing well.  We are just trying to strengthen her as much as we can so she can make the right choice when the time comes.  It might be coming soon as well. We are still working with Anna, Massimo, and Mario but we aren’t seeing any real progress. Then I missed several appointments with some of our other investigators. However, everyone is doing well.  We have a lot of new contacts and we are happy to see something come from all of this.

We are having some problems with our ward mission leader. He always wants to do correlation at the last minute and where he lives which is far away and on a big work night. So we haven’t been able to do it for several weeks.   He delegated us to clean the baptismal font which would be okay if he would help us. We really need the members to step up and do more.

Well, stuff here is good.  The summer is arriving and unfortunately I won’t be here for it.  I have 4 p-days and a couple days in Tome left then I will be home. I love everyone very much and will see you all soon. – Anziano Hosford

Effectual door

Hosford Family,

Because I know you all would like to know, I am finishing up here in Catania with Anz. Kasper. We have a good work going and I am very happy to finish up here.  I talked with President and he told me that I could stop in Napoli before I head to Rome. He would also give me a couple days to see Rome which will be exciting. It’s sad to think that in 6 weeks I will be heading home.  I still want to come back here for vacation, but I might have found something better.  I was looking under the Italian minor/major and I might be able to come here for an internship/study abroad.  I would love that to be honest. I would feel a lot better about it.

Things are fun here.  Silla Miles is going home with three of my other companions.  The only comps that are staying are Anz. Longhurst (MTC Comp), Prieto, and Kasper. The sadder part is that no one is going to remember me because I have been in the south so long.  It’s okay.  I am now making a list of things that I need to do before I leave. I am planning a couple of p-days.  There isn’t a lot for me to do to be honest. 

Only sad thing is with the work.  One of our golden families just dropped us.  They just told us that they need to decide about all of this.  They said that they would come to church.  We will see.  At least we are remaining friends with them.

We picked up at least 3 newish investigators this week.  The first is this kid named Santo. He is kind of a negative death-metal guy.  However, if someone can rally profit from the gospel it would be him. He is friends with Marco who is a recent convert and is starting to read the Book of Mormon a little bit.

Next we have Agata who is an investigator that I found with Anz. Hansen. We saw her yesterday for the first time in 4 months. She has read the first two chapters of the Book of Mormon. She also had a dream about her father in spirit prison and linked it right away to the plan of salvation.  We hope to see her again.

Then we are working with the Leanza family. The grandfather just died and we have already been teaching the wife and daughter, but now we are also teaching two nieces and a nephew. The grandfather is waiting because he has already accepted the gospel. They have had some dreams about it already. Long story short effectual door.

We have some good stuff going .  I need to prepare some stuff for tonight.  Talk to you in a little bit via internet.  Love you all very much.   – Anziano Mitchell Hosford

Mitchell with Anziano Daniel Hurlburt (Charleston SC)

Mitchell with his MTC comp Anziano Longhurst

With Francesca, Anziano Kasper, ???

Do you really want to know what this says?

Something has just got to give!

Hosford Family,

I have been thinking about it a lot and I would like to go to BYU and I think I would like to go in June. I have a very good friend here named Andrea.  I work with him and talk to him about everyday here. He is just like me, but 20 years ahead of me. Either ways he has been helping me make the decision about the school.  I love the other school, but I feel more doors will open for me at BYU.

Things are going good here. Last week we went to the home of Vincenzo Bellini who is the famous opera composer. I have the same birthday as him which was pretty cool.  There is also pasta named after him and his masterpiece (Norma). It’s called Pasta ala Norma. It’s pasta, sauce (with basil and garlic), fried eggplant (which is very good) and salted ricotta cheese.  We ate it yesterday. If I can find ricotta cheese at home I will make it for everyone.

To cause I am writing before our p-day has started we are going to Siracusa.  We are going to see Ortigia and the archaeological park.  I am going to see if my permesso di soggiorno is done.

Other than that, not a lot is going on. I will home  in 49 days. I think.  We did have a good week last week.  We saw the Zappala family twice which  is a record. They have pretty much accepted everything.  All the lessons, doctrines, but they won’t commit to a baptismal invite. She still has lots of questions from her parents like about parties and temples.  I am slowly picking them off.  I hope to see them baptized .

Next we had a great lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ with Anna, Mario, and Massimo.  We just felt so good teaching the lesson and they are feeling the spirit a lot more and I am hoping to see progress form them.

We have also had our little 9 year old investigator in church these last two weeks.  We are going to have a taco night with them maybe next week.  We are on the verge of having like 6 baptisms … something has just got to give!

We finally saw the Allanea family after 4 weeks of not seeing them.  When we go there, they were a bit gloomy, but when we left they were happy and wanted us to stay longer. I really wanted to, but we had English Course.  I hope to see something from them in these next weeks.

That random guy that showed up in church during district meeting actually came to Church. I wasn’t able to talk to him after, but I hope to see him again.  We don’t have his number, but I believe we will see him soon.

There is still more work going on. It’s fun and I am loving it. I am excited to come home, but it’s going to be really weird to be honest. Either ways, love you all very much.  Anziano Hosford

Served an honorable mission

March 11, 2013

Dear President Benjamin C. Poole,

Mitchell Brand Hosford will be completing his missionary service in the Italy Rome Mission on 03 May 2013. He has served an honorable mission, and you may be very pleased with him. Upon his return, he will bring to you his release certificate in a sealed envelope which you should present to him in his last interview.

I express my gratitude to all of the teachers and leaders who have influenced and contributed to his life. Their works have been multiplied through him, because, as a missionary, Elder Hosford has influenced and blessed the lives of many.

Elder Hosford has been greatly strengthened by the Lord as he has borne the weight of this high and holy calling. We pray that he will immediately be given the opportunity to use that strength to bless others, continuing to be strengthened by the Lord through the blessing of another inspired calling.

May the Lord continue to bless you in your most important work.

Sincerely,
Thomas E. Kelly
President, Italy Rome Mission

Flight plans

To Family: If you plan to travel to the mission to pick up your missionary, please call Church Travel at 1-800-537-3537 ext. 25153.

To Mission: This is a proposed itinerary. Please review and verify the date and airports. Also, verify the name matches the passport exactly. Tickets will be issued at least 4 weeks before travel.

CHURCH TRAVEL CWT DATE 07MARCH13

50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST AGENT VH/KT BOOKING REF X9MG73

SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

TELEPHONE: 801 240-5111 HOSFORD/MITCHELL BRAND 241069-R

FAX : 801-240-5115

MISSIONARY TRAVEL

ITALY ROME MISSION

SERVICE DATE FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

LUFTHANSA 03MAY ROME MUNICH 845A 1020A

LH 1841 FRIDAY FIUMICINO MUNICH INTERNA

W ECONOMY TERMINAL 3 TERMINAL 2

SNACK NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 1:35 DURATION

FLIGHT OPERATED BY EN AIR DOLOMITI

AIRCRAFT OWNER: EN AIR DOLOMITI

AIRCRAFT: EMBRAER 195

LUFTHANSA 03MAY MUNICH CHARLOTTE NC 1125A 315P

LH 428 FRIDAY MUNICH INTERNA DOUGLAS

W ECONOMY TERMINAL 2

MEAL NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 9:50 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A340-600

SEAT 30E NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

RESERVATION NUMBER(S) LH/X9MG73

Cool little experiences

Hosford Family,

Instead of being a day late this time I am a day ahead. It’s not often that I find time to crack out a letter.  However, I found time now. We didn’t do anything really for p-day last week.  This week we have apartment check at 9:30 then we are going to go to the La Fiera which almost would be a farmer’s market, then to a Greek theater, then to a Chinese buffet. This is with the sisters and our senior couple. I am glad that I got into BYU. I just don’t know if I should go summer or fall or should I come here. I am thinking a lot about summer just so I can start getting things organized. Then I would go next year.  New stuff.  I sent a quad to get rebound in Florence and it finally jus t got back to me. It’s very nice and I can’t wait to show it to you when I get home. Work here has been going pretty well.  We are waiting for like 6 investigators to get answers to their prayers. I just hope they get them soon. We are getting a good routine here. Shorter lessons and more of them. Anna, Massimo, and Mario are doing well. We are really trying to get them to church and an answer. We are also teaching them about fasting tomorrow.  The Zappala family is another family that we are waiting on. They are so ready and we are waiting and praying so much. She has almost finished Second Nephi and is reading lots of stuff.  I would really love to see these two families baptized. Then we are working with Emanuele.  We had a good lesson with him and he came to church.  He is our little figo 9 year old. I would love to see his baptism as well.  After that we are going to be able to see the family whose grandfather just died. We will see them this week and another family we might be picking up next week.  I will tell you more as it happens.  We are losing one investigator because he is moving to Toscana, but it’s okay. We are really trying to teach more simple and more often.  We are very busy, but we are enjoying the work very much. We also have had some cool experiences finding people. On Monday we had a district meeting in the church. It’s very rare that we have it there, but while we were in the church we met this guy named Giovanni who is pretty much a much older Joseph Smith.  It just so happened that he came while we were there and we hope that he comes on Sunday. After that we were putting up English course flyers and we generally talk to people while we do it. This one older couple was talking to us and we left them a passalong card.  Usually people don’t read them but this lady read the Book of Mormon card and then asked for the book. I usually like bringing books to people’s homes, but I gave one to her as a gift for being awake (in the mind) and that’s really what the church needs.  We just have cool little experiences like that all the time.  I now have 8 little trees that are growing here. I am also growing tomatoes and peppers.  Some are starting to spring up. I really like seeing things grow.  Okay.  Well only 8 weeks or so left.  Love you all much and talk to everyone soon.  Anziano Hosford