Week 16

Hey everyone!

Thankyou SOO much for the Emails, hahaha i was cracking up when i read about how much fun you all had at the family reunion! And holy cow Cade we weigh about the same now your getting huge, and i knew you would when you starting lifting. Im so glad you did good at Camp and continued on the tradition of Koozer's kicking butt. Keep working hard, and keep hitting those weights, and just remember; speed, strength, and technique kill.Thats so awesome Dane and Cade that your getting your Eagles done this year, they are a lot of work, but it is totaly worth it when your done. you will be so glad that you did it. It sounds like everyone is doing really great at home. I love you all so much and really appreciate hearing from you. I have been having the time of my life here, we have been doing so much! To answer some of your questions, the language is coming along pretty well. Haha no Mom usually people dont have to translate what im saying to people. I can completely communicate with people now. I dont usually understand every word but in most cases i can understand what people are saying from the context. Teaching is easier for me than regular conversation, just because i learnded all the vocabulary in the Mtc for the lessons. It also helps alot that we have an hour of language study every day. Its really different here cus from about 1 in the afternoon to almost 4, the entire city shuts down for lunch and nap time. All the stores close, and most people are let off work and everyone goes home and eats as a family and rests. I love It!!! Haha i wish we could do it in the states. But anyways, we have been absolutely booked all week long! We have been so blessed to be teaching so much, my companion and i are getting pretty pale from being in side so much, haha. It has been a pretty fun week. To start off on thursday morning we decided to get hair cuts, but instead of going to a barber to get it done my companion found an old pair of clippers in one of the back closets and told me that he had seen tons of missionaries cut eachothers hair. Being completely new to this whole haircut thing in Italy, i had no idea and took his word for it which was my first mistake..... Lets just say that i am now BALD! Anziano Bennett totaly had no idea what he was doing and completely destroyed my hair, and we ended up having to just buzz it all off with a size 2 guard. and THEN he decided to go to the barber to get his hair cut! I couldnt believe it! HAhaha, and it was just in time for the baptism which was the next day. So now my pictures of Gloria's baptism are going to be especially memorable. Friday was her Baptism and it was absolutely amazing! We had to go early that morning to fill up the font. THe Church here isnt a big ward building, its just a little front of a Palazza, and the baptisimal font, is this blu swimming pool thing, i'll get a picture of it next time we use it so you all can see, its kinds funny. We got the font all filled up and had GLoria come early to watch a session of confrence and to answer any last minute questions, and it went really well. Then it was time to get everyone changed before people started showing up. I put on my suit, and my companion and Gloria changed into white. It was the coolest thing to see her in all white. I was really happy at how many of the members showed up for the service, it was a great tun out. I gave my talk on Baptism which went well and also sang a Childs Prayer which of corse was in Italain. The spirit was so strong, and she started crying, it was a really special moment. Then it was time for her to be baptised! I couldnt wipe the smile off my face, it was one of the happiest moments ever! Our district has had 2 other baptisms since i first arrived but to actually see someone who i found, taught and baptised, it was incredible! Even though i wasnt the one actually performing the baptising it was such an amazing feeling. After the baptism, President and his wife took all of out for pizza with GLoria. We had a great time, and really enjoyed ourselves. It blows my mind to see how the gospel can change peoples lives. Gloria is a completely different person now, and she is SO much happier. There is no other place i would rather be right now. I LOVE being a missionary!! on monday we got some bad news about the 2 brothers we are teaching. Because they are adopted they have to go through the government before they can be baptised, its just how Italy works, and its not looking good right now. We have to postpone the date for now, and are all going to do a fast together, and pray that their paperwork and approval will be passed. Yestarday we had an amazing lesson with an African woman named Belinda that we found and i challeged her to be baptised, and she said yes. We set her date for the 15th of this next month. We deffinately have a lot of teaching to do though because she had never even heard of Jesus Christ before she met us. But we are so excited! There are also a few other people that i want to set baptismal dates with this next week. My companion thinks I'm crazy for alwaying talking about baptism with the people that we teach, but i love it. And i think it's better to be upfront with people and so people know exactly why we are there, and what we are expecting of them. ITs been working so far, so we'll see how things go. I have been learning so much since i have been here. And the more i learn, the more i realize how much i really dont know. I am so gratefull for the opportunity to be here and to be serving the Lord. I know that i am nothing by myself, and if it wasnt for his help we wouldnt be having the success that we are having. well thats pretty much been our week. I love you all and hope to hear from you.

Oh and ps- I made friends with this awesome man fron Africa, and he gave me his bow and arrows!!! Hahaha its SWEET! And yes mom i found out you can email pictures. And i cooked my first pasta by myself and it actually turned out pretty good. Thanks again for the recipies! Anziano Koozer