Ciao Tutti,
Hey everyone how are you doing!? Man I miss you guys! Ive had another awesome week here in Italy! We have been SOOO incredibly busy these last few days!
I have some great news, Gloria is back to church and is back at it stronger and more on fire than Ive ever seen her before! All of the problems she had with members at church have ALL been resolved and she has rededicated herself to being the best member she can be. I cannot even express how happy I was to see her in church this last week taking the sacrament, it was such a sweet moment. On the other hand Sofia one of most progressing investigators dropped us..... She has been taught every lesson and we even bought her a nice leather back triple and she even has a testimony of Joseph Smith through fasting and prayer. But once her family found out they really turned on the heat and on top of that she has been slammed with work. Everything kinda built up and finally she couldn't handle it and she broke. It made me so sad, but at the same time I know that I did absolutely everything I could have to teach her and help her. We cant really force people to get baptised, that's the wonderful thing about our agency.
This last week we found an incredible family and we have started teaching them and they love it! I'm super excited to see where things will go with them.
We kinda had a funny experience the other day. We were walking home from church and an old man in a car drove by and yelled an address at us and drove off. SO of course we went home grabbed a map then found the house. We found the old man sitting on his porch and it turned out he was waiting for us. We talked and visited for a good time and we set up a time to come back to do some service for him in his yard. When we went back yesterday we helped him out for about 3 hours and then his wife made us a super good lunch. It was a lot of fun visiting with him and helping him out, he did need a lot of help.
Its starting to feel really weird being out of my normal missionary clothes now, ha ha I actually feel more comfortable in my slacks and shirt and tie than jeans and a tee, so weird.....
I taught English class last night and we had a ton of fun. I really really enjoy teaching and working with people. In a way when I put on the dress clothes and name tag I become someone else. ha ha kinda like a power ranger I can go from normal person to super hero, I love it! Well the work is has been incredible and all is well here in Italy, I love you all and look forward to hearing from you soon!
Ti voglio bene Anziano Koozer
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Ciao Tutti,
Hey everyone thanks so much for the the love and support, sorry I've been kinda bad at writing this last little bit. Mom i hope you can figure out the pictures if i need to send the others a different way next time i can.
Bailey i CANNOT believe your having a BOY!!!!!!!!AUGURI!!!!!!!!!You have to name him – Thor- or Giagantor- or maybe Massemiliano! Hahaha oh man that's awesome!
And what in the world, Anziano Bennett is ENGAGED?!!? WHAT!!!! That is nuts! Everything is changing so fast its so weird, cus in my mind everyone is kinda frozen in time to how i left them.
WOW..... Well I've been super duper busy these last 2 weeks and have been having a blast! SO here we go.... k, so 2 weeks ago i went to Rome for my 3 month conference and it was 2 days long. We got to stay at the Villa and enjoyed trainings all day long and Sister Acerson's incredible cooking. That conference seriously changed my mission, i learned so much!
This last week we met an incredible family and they are from Argentina originally. Well we started teaching them and now were teaching all their neighbors and other friends and family members. They all live out in a kinda far away city and because no out there had really seen missionaries before they all wanted to know what we are all about. We started our lesson the first time we were there with only 2 people in front of us and by the end there were 14 people all gathered around us listening and wanting to know more. Its a Gold mine!!!! The only hard thing is, is its super hard for everyone to come all the way to Pescara for church. Train tickets aren't cheap. If we can play our cards right with teaching this little village we might be able to start a branch which would be SOOOO sweet! The field is white already to harvest!!!!
Last week was Zone conference and we had to travel back to Rome,again! Our budgets and wallet's have taken a beating this month on how much traveling we've been doing. Ha ha lets just say were getting pretty creative with our bag of rice we've been living of off these last few days. All of our travel expenses are reimbursable but were waiting for them to go through, so for now were kinda completely out of money. I'm sure everything will go through within the next few days.
This last month the L'Aquila Zone was reopened to the missionaries. So on Monday the Zone leaders came in and we went on an overnight exchange. I got to go with Anziano Loritz to L'Aquila. For those that didn't hear in L'Aquila there was enormous earth quake that absolutely destroyed the city! My exchange was an absolute blast. It was a humbling experience though driving into the city and seeing the destruction.It looked like a war zone from a movie. As we arrived it was pouring rain and so we ended up having to walk to the apartment which was 15 minutes away uphill from the station. We then walked for about 2 hours to the tent city. The people of the city after the earthquake were all moved into camping tents which were put together all throughout the city. The church in the city is very small. They have 12 members and for now they all meet in the living room of one of the tents for church every Sunday. L'Aquila is a super wealthy city and the people are not always the kindest to us. There hasn't been a baptism in the city for 9 years. And the members are really struggling to stay afloat. Their faith is absolutely incredible though, and it is so inspiring to me. SO we spent the evening with the members eating with them and giving them a spiritual boost. The next day was tracking ALL day long in the RAIN! Ha ha ha oh man we walked and walked and walked and the rain didn't let up for a second of it. We were soaked to the bone and were just loving life! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face, The CHURCH IS TRUE! People I'm sure thought we were totally nuts but little did they know that we had the most important message that they would ever hear. That night laying in bed I was totally wiped. We mapped out the area we tracked that day and it totaled up to 24 miles. The great news is though, is that we gave away A Book of Mormon and got 2 phone numbers. Ha ha we were also chased by a German Shepherd for 2 blocks, and I slipped in the mud and trashed my shoes.... I LOVE ITALY! I hope that someday i will have the opportunity of going back and serving in L'Aquila, I love that city. And I'm not being sarcastic at all that exchanged was one of the highlights of my mission I had a blast.
Well I love you all and am so grateful to be serving the Lord. There is no other place I would rather be right now, and no other work I would rather be doing. Stop and look around life is beautiful! And don't forget to count your many blessings, it really will surprise you what the Lord has done!
Love Anziano Koozer
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Hey everyone thanks so much for the the love and support, sorry I've been kinda bad at writing this last little bit. Mom i hope you can figure out the pictures if i need to send the others a different way next time i can.
Bailey i CANNOT believe your having a BOY!!!!!!!!AUGURI!!!!!!!!!You have to name him – Thor- or Giagantor- or maybe Massemiliano! Hahaha oh man that's awesome!
And what in the world, Anziano Bennett is ENGAGED?!!? WHAT!!!! That is nuts! Everything is changing so fast its so weird, cus in my mind everyone is kinda frozen in time to how i left them.
WOW..... Well I've been super duper busy these last 2 weeks and have been having a blast! SO here we go.... k, so 2 weeks ago i went to Rome for my 3 month conference and it was 2 days long. We got to stay at the Villa and enjoyed trainings all day long and Sister Acerson's incredible cooking. That conference seriously changed my mission, i learned so much!
This last week we met an incredible family and they are from Argentina originally. Well we started teaching them and now were teaching all their neighbors and other friends and family members. They all live out in a kinda far away city and because no out there had really seen missionaries before they all wanted to know what we are all about. We started our lesson the first time we were there with only 2 people in front of us and by the end there were 14 people all gathered around us listening and wanting to know more. Its a Gold mine!!!! The only hard thing is, is its super hard for everyone to come all the way to Pescara for church. Train tickets aren't cheap. If we can play our cards right with teaching this little village we might be able to start a branch which would be SOOOO sweet! The field is white already to harvest!!!!
Last week was Zone conference and we had to travel back to Rome,again! Our budgets and wallet's have taken a beating this month on how much traveling we've been doing. Ha ha lets just say were getting pretty creative with our bag of rice we've been living of off these last few days. All of our travel expenses are reimbursable but were waiting for them to go through, so for now were kinda completely out of money. I'm sure everything will go through within the next few days.
This last month the L'Aquila Zone was reopened to the missionaries. So on Monday the Zone leaders came in and we went on an overnight exchange. I got to go with Anziano Loritz to L'Aquila. For those that didn't hear in L'Aquila there was enormous earth quake that absolutely destroyed the city! My exchange was an absolute blast. It was a humbling experience though driving into the city and seeing the destruction.It looked like a war zone from a movie. As we arrived it was pouring rain and so we ended up having to walk to the apartment which was 15 minutes away uphill from the station. We then walked for about 2 hours to the tent city. The people of the city after the earthquake were all moved into camping tents which were put together all throughout the city. The church in the city is very small. They have 12 members and for now they all meet in the living room of one of the tents for church every Sunday. L'Aquila is a super wealthy city and the people are not always the kindest to us. There hasn't been a baptism in the city for 9 years. And the members are really struggling to stay afloat. Their faith is absolutely incredible though, and it is so inspiring to me. SO we spent the evening with the members eating with them and giving them a spiritual boost. The next day was tracking ALL day long in the RAIN! Ha ha ha oh man we walked and walked and walked and the rain didn't let up for a second of it. We were soaked to the bone and were just loving life! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face, The CHURCH IS TRUE! People I'm sure thought we were totally nuts but little did they know that we had the most important message that they would ever hear. That night laying in bed I was totally wiped. We mapped out the area we tracked that day and it totaled up to 24 miles. The great news is though, is that we gave away A Book of Mormon and got 2 phone numbers. Ha ha we were also chased by a German Shepherd for 2 blocks, and I slipped in the mud and trashed my shoes.... I LOVE ITALY! I hope that someday i will have the opportunity of going back and serving in L'Aquila, I love that city. And I'm not being sarcastic at all that exchanged was one of the highlights of my mission I had a blast.
Well I love you all and am so grateful to be serving the Lord. There is no other place I would rather be right now, and no other work I would rather be doing. Stop and look around life is beautiful! And don't forget to count your many blessings, it really will surprise you what the Lord has done!
Love Anziano Koozer
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Hey Dad,hahahaha ok a little Italian lesson- Hola is not Italian it is spanish!!!!! and to say great attitude in Italian it would be- atitudinebennissimo. Thanks so much for the emails i loved them. The updates are great to hear, and I'm glad you liked the pictures and letters. Mom sentme a bunch of pictures and its so weird to see everyone just carrying on with normal life. I loved seeing everyone, the boys have already changed so much and are getting huge!
Its so cool your working with the missionaries. Before my mission I just thought yeah, whatever,there just a couple of dorky missionaries. Not now being that awkward,dorky missionary I can see how much a simple ride to transfers really does help SOOOO much. Without the members missionary work doesn't work,plain and simple. I'm really starting to learn that. That's awsome Bailey and Wills finally found a house, the last letter I got from them, they were still looking.
Things are going great with my companion. We kinda had a rough start though. I had really been spoiled with my first two companions and when I met Daniels I wasn't too enthused about it. To be honest I didn't like him. He is the EXACT opposite of me and everything that I'm all about. SO our first week was rough, and I had a terrible attitude. Then I went to my 3 month conference in Rome for 2days with the group that I flew in with and it completely changed everything. I had lost site of my goals and what my real purpose as a missionary and I needed to change, and change fast! SO the first night we got back to Pescara i asked him to come sit down so we could talk. It was so hard but i had to let go of my pride and i decided from that night on i would Love my companion and treat him like the coolest, best,Missionary there is. I apologized to him, and showed him pictures of the family and bore him my testimony. Since that night we have set huge goals together and have been doing awesome! I really am learning so much from him and am so grateful to have him as my companion. well i need to write mom now or she'll kill me, but i love you and look forward to hearing from you next week. ps- go toros!! haha and rams...i guess...no actually, GO CADE! thats better!
Love Anziano Koozer!
Its so cool your working with the missionaries. Before my mission I just thought yeah, whatever,there just a couple of dorky missionaries. Not now being that awkward,dorky missionary I can see how much a simple ride to transfers really does help SOOOO much. Without the members missionary work doesn't work,plain and simple. I'm really starting to learn that. That's awsome Bailey and Wills finally found a house, the last letter I got from them, they were still looking.
Things are going great with my companion. We kinda had a rough start though. I had really been spoiled with my first two companions and when I met Daniels I wasn't too enthused about it. To be honest I didn't like him. He is the EXACT opposite of me and everything that I'm all about. SO our first week was rough, and I had a terrible attitude. Then I went to my 3 month conference in Rome for 2days with the group that I flew in with and it completely changed everything. I had lost site of my goals and what my real purpose as a missionary and I needed to change, and change fast! SO the first night we got back to Pescara i asked him to come sit down so we could talk. It was so hard but i had to let go of my pride and i decided from that night on i would Love my companion and treat him like the coolest, best,Missionary there is. I apologized to him, and showed him pictures of the family and bore him my testimony. Since that night we have set huge goals together and have been doing awesome! I really am learning so much from him and am so grateful to have him as my companion. well i need to write mom now or she'll kill me, but i love you and look forward to hearing from you next week. ps- go toros!! haha and rams...i guess...no actually, GO CADE! thats better!
Love Anziano Koozer!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
New Companion Anziano Daniels
Ciao tutti!
Hey everyone thanks you so much for sending me emails and pictures, I loved hearing from everyone! For some reason though mom I couldn't look at all the pictures this time, when I tried to pull it up it said the page had expired. I'm not sure what the deal is, but it was great to see the pictures that worked. Holy Smokes Emmett you looked like you were tearing it up at your football game! Great Job buddy!!
Well I had a great time in Rome and got to check out some really cool things. I had a blast on my scambi (or exchange) with the Roma 1 elders. They took good care of me and we had a great time together. On Thursday I picked up my new Companion Anziano Daniels. He is a great guy, and I'm excited to work with him and to learn from him. He is from California/ Utah and comes from a family of 10 kids! He has been serving now for 11 transfers and has about 9 months left. It Has been quite a bit different with him as apposed to Anziano Bennett but I'm sure we'll completely get used to each other as we spend more time together.
Its so weird how in the mission they just throw 2 people together, and for the minimum of 6 weeks those 2 people spend every second together connected at the hip. Marriage is going to be a blast cus you actually get to choose your companion!ha ha not that I'm thinking about marriage right now, its just kinda fun how this whole companion thing works.
We have been super busy still with the work and are looking at some great success this transfer. I'm so grateful for the work that we have been blessed with. We had 10 investigators in church this last Sunday and 6 of them are currently progressing towards baptism hopefully within this next month or 2.
We had a little bit of a scare this last Monday with our investigator Sofia. She had some questions about some stuff so she went online to try to find an answer . While on line she came across page after page of Anti -Mormon literature and being intrigued read into it for a couple hours. So she came into our lesson with pages of printed off things she found online with everything from homosexuality to Kolab. We put our entire lesson aside we had prepared for her and did damage control for about 3 hours. Thank goodness we ended on a great note and she is now back on for her baptism. It was a real scare but thankfully no matter what anti-literature that someone can try to come up with it can always be set straight with the scriptures and the spirit. I'm so grateful for my knowledge of this gospel and for the true simplicity of it all. I know i still have SOOO much to learn but I'm doing all I can to better prepare myself every day. I love you all and I'm so grateful for all your support and love! Keep reading your scriptures and praying every day, and I promise you will be blessed!!!!
TI voglio bene famiglia,
Anziano Koozer
Hey everyone thanks you so much for sending me emails and pictures, I loved hearing from everyone! For some reason though mom I couldn't look at all the pictures this time, when I tried to pull it up it said the page had expired. I'm not sure what the deal is, but it was great to see the pictures that worked. Holy Smokes Emmett you looked like you were tearing it up at your football game! Great Job buddy!!
Well I had a great time in Rome and got to check out some really cool things. I had a blast on my scambi (or exchange) with the Roma 1 elders. They took good care of me and we had a great time together. On Thursday I picked up my new Companion Anziano Daniels. He is a great guy, and I'm excited to work with him and to learn from him. He is from California/ Utah and comes from a family of 10 kids! He has been serving now for 11 transfers and has about 9 months left. It Has been quite a bit different with him as apposed to Anziano Bennett but I'm sure we'll completely get used to each other as we spend more time together.
Its so weird how in the mission they just throw 2 people together, and for the minimum of 6 weeks those 2 people spend every second together connected at the hip. Marriage is going to be a blast cus you actually get to choose your companion!ha ha not that I'm thinking about marriage right now, its just kinda fun how this whole companion thing works.
We have been super busy still with the work and are looking at some great success this transfer. I'm so grateful for the work that we have been blessed with. We had 10 investigators in church this last Sunday and 6 of them are currently progressing towards baptism hopefully within this next month or 2.
We had a little bit of a scare this last Monday with our investigator Sofia. She had some questions about some stuff so she went online to try to find an answer . While on line she came across page after page of Anti -Mormon literature and being intrigued read into it for a couple hours. So she came into our lesson with pages of printed off things she found online with everything from homosexuality to Kolab. We put our entire lesson aside we had prepared for her and did damage control for about 3 hours. Thank goodness we ended on a great note and she is now back on for her baptism. It was a real scare but thankfully no matter what anti-literature that someone can try to come up with it can always be set straight with the scriptures and the spirit. I'm so grateful for my knowledge of this gospel and for the true simplicity of it all. I know i still have SOOO much to learn but I'm doing all I can to better prepare myself every day. I love you all and I'm so grateful for all your support and love! Keep reading your scriptures and praying every day, and I promise you will be blessed!!!!
TI voglio bene famiglia,
Anziano Koozer
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