IN ROMA for a few days

Ciao tutti!
Hey everyone thanks for the emails and updates, its sounds like everyone has been busy at home. I only have a few minutes but I'm having an incredible time in Roma. We went and checked out the Vatican yesterday and it was pretty sweet!!! Anziano Bennett is officially "dead" now and is on a plane back to CANADA. I found out that ill be staying in Pescara and will be serving with an elder named Anziano Daniels. I have no idea who he is but I'm excited to work with him. Well my time is about up so I'll write more about this last week and next week this next upcoming pday. I mailed a DVD of over 300 pictures and a few videos, along with hand written letters and some stuff for the boys from the Olympic games they had here in Pescara. It should get to you either next Saturday or 2 Monday's from now.
Love you all!Anziano Koozer

Better late than never!

Ciao Tutti,
OK lets try this again and hopefully i wont lose the whole letter like i did last time! SO you guys got a call from Luara and Fram?! That is so cool! They said they were going to call you. They are from England originally but lived here in Italy for a while. They took super great care of us missionaries, and liked to have us over for service and food.
I'm glad to here everything is going good at home. Ha ha mom you should probably try to find a normal sleeping schedule, your gonna wear yourself out! And I know I said this before but I'm printing off all my pictures this week and am going to get them in the mail. I decided to just finish my time with Anziano Bennett and my first 2 transfers then send all my pictures together. I have over 300 pictures along with hand written letters to everyone coming very soon, prob within the next week or so. I have just been SOOO busy, its really hard for me to find time to do anything for myself. Even our Pdays these last few weeks have been absolutely crammed packed with things we have had to do. SO I apologize to Tia for not writing and also for taking so long with the pictures and everything.
We had one of my first Italian holidays this last week called Ferragosto. It's pretty much the sweetest holiday ever. During the month of August, all the people in Italy take the month off for vacation...just because. ha ha. If I was Italian this would be my favorite holiday ever. But I'm not, so it STINKS because NOTHING is open! We've already decided to make a cake for the pizza guy when he returns down the street.
We've had a fun week. It's been super busy. Last Wednesday we had some visiting elders come in town and spend the night for 2 nights. One of them was getting his legal documents taken care of in Pescara. But it was a lot of fun having other people again in the apartment. We played risk until midnight. It was a great time...and I won! Thursday we went out to an investigators house named Mary. She owns a beautiful Bed & Breakfast. We helped her clean up her property and scrub a big deck clean. We also gotta drive around this sweet tractor and move dirt and logs. You guys should like the pictures of that.
Every six months the missionaries in the field have to stay inside and deep clean their apartments all day long. It was a long day but we got a lot of work done. My companion slept and I made the kitchen look brand new! ha ha I'm just kidding...he helped a little. So that's what we did all Friday until the evening. That evening we got invited to go and watch a soccer game with a member family. They tried to get us tickets, but it was hard to find em. It was a tournament of the 3 biggest teams in Italy playing here in Pescara. So we ended up just going to their house, eating pizza, popcorn and fruit and watching the game on their new TV.
Saturday we had a surprise visitor. Anziano Bennett's mom and grandparents showed up at our house. It was kinda weird cuz they weren't supposed to be their, but its not like we could tell them to leave, so we had a bbq all day long and just talked and they caught up.
Sunday was a great day. We were invited to the Bosco's house for dinner. The Bosco's are an incredible family in the ward, who pretty much make the ward what it is. It's 2 parents who both served missions, with 3 boys who have also served and are home and one who is serving in Milan right now. It was a lot of fun to be with their family because it's just like our family in 10 years. For dinner we had my new favorite food ever, arrostaccini! It's lamb meet on skewers and its super soft and good. Too bad they don't have it in the US. That night we did chalk which is a pretty cool finding activity. We lay out bed sheets on the ground out in the main walk and we draw chalk figures of gospel principles and talk to people as they look and walk by.
Monday we had a fun day of DDM, checking out some of the local markets and I bought some sweet calcio cleats. They were only 20 bucks and I really needed em cuz I always roll my ankle when I play soccer in my running shoes. By the way mom I pulled out 100 euro cuz this next week I have to travel to Rome and live there for 3 days with other elders while transfers are going on.
Tuesday was another busy day of appointments. Our investigators are doing really great. Gloria called us for the first time, late one night and we visited for an hour. She knows the church is true and knows what she felt is true but is just really having a hard time at home and with trying to find work Also on top of everything she is raising her son. I know she will come around eventually, we are definitely not giving up on her, that's for sure.
Wednesday was another booked pday. We went out to Popoli where our investigator Sofia lives and checked out castles, other cities we had never seen before and had a big lunch with her family. I had my first sea food meal experience with her family and it was pretty interesting. We started off with slabs of dried salmon and moved on to fish pasta, which we had to sift through for bones and finished up with what I thought was bacon soup, until I found a whole squid in my bowl! It was a bean, squid and bacon soup. Not being a very big fish guy I'm very surprised I was able to stomach the meal. And my companion, being the wonderful guy that he is told them after every course that I would like seconds, and they wouldn't believe me that I was full. So you could say that I got twice the experience - Ha ha.
People are progressing, the works going forward and we are looking at some great success in the future. The Lord has truly blessed us with our work and I'm so grateful for the experience that I'm having here in Italy. Thanks again for all the love and support. I'll be writing next week from Rome.
Vi voglio bene,
Anziano Koozer

ps- Mom I was thinking about you talking about Christmas packages and I figured I would just tell you what I want if you guys decide to send anything. SO here it is ( Face wash, toothpaste, deodorant, and pictures of the family). Packages take anywhere from from 1 to 4 months, and not only do you have to pay to send it, but I also have to pay to pick it up, that is if it gets here. IF you change your mind about sending a package its totally OK, I'd almost prefer you just wire some spending money to my account. But if you do send a package DON'T claim anything expensive. For example just put; missionary supplies, peanut butter, chocolate just list some of the smaller things in the box and be super vague about anything else, or I will never get it - but anyways thanks a million, I love you!!

week ? stopped counting

Ciao tutti,
Hey everyone! Thanks again for the emails I've been getting, its been great to hear from you all, especially you Bai. Don't worry i wont forget about you when i send my hand written letters to the family. I also wanted to say thank you to Julianna Lewis. I know we really haven't met, but that is so incredible of you to write Gloria a letter, I'm excited to see it. And no worries Mom, just stick it in the mail and when it gets here we'll sit down and translate it, and I'll make sure it is hand delivered to Gloria myself. Thanks a million Julianna, i know it will help her! And I'll keep you posted on everything that happens with her.
Well everyone, we've had a great week this week. On Wed, we went out for our p-day and spent the entire day with the Giusti family. The Guisti family is an incredible family that was baptised this last year. The Mom, is a professional opera singer who has a world wide demand for her music, the Dad is also an opera singer who sings all over the world, but is also a world famous conductor who conducts for enormous orchestras, and symphonies. They have a 19 year old son who is preparing for a mission and a 14 year old daughter. They are pretty much the coolest family ever!!! They invited us out for the day to play music and sing and play games, and to eat with them. It was the funnest day ever! They have a huge manor with a 4 story house and every instrument there is! Ha ha i was in heaven, when i saw there enormous Grand Piano. I got a video of us playing and sing together, I'll be sending it when i send my pictures. I have over a hundred pictured that I'm gonna be sending home soon, along with a few videos i took. I think i might just send it all home on a flash drive, cus CD's are kinda expensive. So you'll be getting all that pretty much within the next month or so. But anyways, we had a great day with the Guisti family, and made it back to Pescara to make it to our appointments for the night.
Thursday was booked all day long, and we made some great progress with the investigators were working with. Friday we had what we call a smack down lesson. Its pretty much a "were dropping you lesson". Smack downs are never fun but we have to do them when people don't keep their commitments and aren"t doing their part. So we told Anna who was the girl we dropped a story that I'll share with you all:
SO one day day there was a huge storm and it started to rain. The water kept coming and coming and it was to the point the point where this man had to start swimming to stay alive. So the man prayed to God that he would be saved, and he believed that God would save him. SO along came a row boat with a man in it who said hey jump in I'll save you, and the man in the water said said no God will save me. The row boat left and the water kept rising. Along came a big ship, and the people on the ship said hey jump on we'll save you and the man said no God will save me, so the boat left. And it kept raining. Lastly a helicopter came and threw down a rope and they said grab the rope we'll save you and the man wouldn't grab the robe cus he believed God would save him. The helicopter left and the man drowned. God answered the man's prayers 3 times and because the man wasn't willing to act on what he was given and do his part, and because he didn't recognize his answers he died.
This is our official smack down lesson that we leave with investigators who aren't doing there part. Its hard to drop people but as missionaries we aren't here to make the elect were here to find them.
On Saturday we played calcetto with Roberto and Andrea the boys we have been teaching, and all of their friends from their Orphanage. It was SOOOO much fun! Hahaha the boys we played with are half our age but twice as good as us at soccer, it was a blast! On Sunday there was an enormous market in Pescara that took up the entire Main street through the city. There were crazy things that people were selling, it was way neat to see the craziness of everything.
On Monday we went out to Popoli a near by city to spend the day with Sofia and to meet her parents. We had my first real Italian meal It was 7 courses of heaven!!!! Wait till you see the pictures. Sofia's mom made everything by hand, EVERYTHING! IT was the best food I've ever eaten in my entire life! By the end of the meal my companion had snuck to the bathroom and puked because he had eaten way too much. I was able to keep mine down but barely! Hahah it hurt to breath and move and i literally couldn't put another thing in my mouth. Such fun memories! We then went on a tour of the city which was super cool cus their city is wayyyyy old and even has a castle, it was sweet. We also started a fast with Sofia that night to help her gain a testimony that the church is true. On Tuesday we made over a hundred sugar cookies all morning long. We totally guessed at the recipe and they actually turned out great. That night we met with Sofia and ended our fast with her and she received her answer that the church is true! The power of the Spirit is so strong when you fast i love it! SO were on for sure for her baptism, were not positive on the date but hopefully she'll shoot for the 22nd. IT was a great week.
I hope everyone at home is doing great i love you all. Cade Dane and Emmett have a great school year i Love you guys. I don't really need anything, the only thing that would be super cool to have is some music. I don't have any music to listen to out here Its driving me slightly insane. But really I'm doing great and don't NEED anything at all. But anyways we got to get goin. I love you !!!!
Anziano Koozer

Week 18

Ciao Tutti!
I just wanted to start off by telling everyone thank you so much for the emails you all sent. It is so great to hear from everyone, it really means a lot to me. Well, its been another busy week here in Italy. On Thursday we woke up at 4 in the morning and walked 5 miles to the station to catch a bus to Rome for Zone Conference. Buses don't run that early so we had to just walk. It was a 3 hour bus ride to get there, but it is such a neat ride to see all the Italian country side! There are just random castles and ancient buildings all over the place- ha ha buildings that have been around longer than the United states existence, its kinda crazy to think about. Zone conference went well, I gave my coming in testimony, and my companion gave his going home testimony. I can tell he has really changed since he has come on his mission. I didn't know him before but he is a really incredible missionary now. It was a lot of fun to meet all the other missionaries in my zone and to see some friends from the MTC that i came in with. The trainings that they gave us were good as well, but I was really disappointed when the AP's presented the mission goals. They gave an incredible training on Christ and the Atonement and Faith, then presented the goal of finding (1) new investigator a week. 1!!!!!? Are you serious! It blew me away that they would set that as the mission goal. With goals like that, this mission will never grow. I don't care what mission your in, or who you you are working with, 1 should never be a goal. A missionary could sleep in till noon every day and take a 3 hour dinner break and still find 1 new investigator in a week. Sorry, I'm not trying to be arrogant or rude about this it just really frustrated me. People just don't realize their potential, and how influential they really can be. Especially the older missionaries, they just seem to be stuck in a rut of; oh were in Italy, its hard, we cant baptise in this mission, we'll just plant seeds.....NOOO! I just want to take every missionary who has been out longer than 6 months and tell them to snap out of it, cus we CAN BAPTISE! GRrrrrr..... But anyways it was a fun day in Rome, we got a chance to talk to some really great people out on the streets. Its so different being in a huge city like Rome, as apposed to Pescara. I hope that some day I'll get to serve in a big city. I love Pescara too though- its so great!
ha ha We met this bum in Rome who had a guitar that he found and didn't know how to play and he was trying to play for people to make a little money. As missionaries we aren't allowed to give homeless people money, and I always feel bad cus I always want to help them. After seeing so many you can tell who really needs help. So I asked the guy if i could play his guitar for him, and he gave me a weird look and hesitantly handed it to me. I quickly tuned it, then gave my backpack to my companion, and stood on the bums crate and played and sang "viva la vida "by coldplay. Hahaha it was so much fun, all these people gathered around, and they actually threw some money in the empty hat. At the end of the song I got a round of applause from the crowd then handed the the bum his guitar and told him that God loved him, and my companion and I walked away feeling good. Ha ha I counted that as my act of service for the day.
Friday and Saturday we were booked all day with appointments. We have found that appointments with members present are definitely the way to go. It has really helped so much. On Monday morning we felt impressed to leave the house early to go visit GLoria, the woman we just baptised. We didn't know why we needed to go, but we knew we needed to. SO we went and found out that She is never coming back to church. Lets just say it was the last thing in the world we were expecting to hear. She has been doing so GOOD, and has been growing in the gospel and has even been sharing the gospel with her family. She said that she didn't feel comfortable at church cus no one ever talked to her and some people were rude, so pretty much she got offended and is never coming back... She has now changed her number and is moving back to L'Aquila. We are still kinda in shock, and have talked to the relief society president and other members to try to get some help, but nothing has made a difference. We have no idea what to do. At this point it comes down to her agency, we have taught her everything and she knows the truth, so we cant force her to endure to the end.
On the other hand though - we have a for sure set baptismal date for the 22nd with a woman I found named Sofia. She is so incredible and has been progressing so fast! She has already read the first half of the Book of Mormon. We are so excited for her, and proud of her. Yesterday I taught Italian to a couple of African guys who are investigating the church. They are from Nigeria and have some crazy stories of how they got to Italy. They are such great guys, I really enjoy teaching them. That's pretty much been my week. The Lord has truly blessed us, with so much! All you guys at home don't forget to count your many blessings, it really WILL surprise you what the Lord has done. Thak you all for the prayers, letters and support, I love you all!!! Anziano Koozer