Koozer Klan

Holiday in Italy - The Beautiful Island of Sardinia

2010-07-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

Holiday in Italy - The Beautiful Island of Sardinia

It will be more than a holiday for Elder Koozer. He is being transferred there as Zone Leader.

2010-06-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone thanks so much for the emails and prayers. And thank you so much Mom for all the pictures, it looks like you guys have been having so much fun! Its crazy how big everyone is getting, especially Monson and Aiana. ( that's the Italian spelling of her name, not quite sure what the English spelling is...) But anyways I have had a wonderful week, and finally were able to get Fulvio dunked, and confirmed a member of the Church. This is the first time that I have seen the whole process of conversion. With someone that I met on the street all the way through their confirmation. And I have to say that in all my years of Music and success with sports and thrills of games and awards that I’ve received, there is no greater feeling or sense of accomplishment that I’ve have ever felt in my life that can compare to the feelings I had while watching one of my brothers from the pre-earth life discover, and apply the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ into his life and enter into the Covenant of baptism. As I laid my hands on his head and confirmed him a member of the church I could feel the Spirit radiating through me like fire and through circle of priesthood holders and into Fulvio. Words cannot express my emotions and more than anything my love for Fulvio, and for our Heavenly Father and for his divine plan of salvation which he created for every single one of us. The World seemed to Disappear in that moment and my understanding of the gospel and my purpose in life just seemed so much clearer. Through the mission there have been some really hard times and discouraging days and weeks, but if this is all the success I will ever see for the rest of my time here in Italy It was worth every single moment. Right now I'm actually sending this email from the other side of Italy, I'm in a city called Livorno. We had to come here to pick up some legal documents for my companion so we went on a road trip. We stopped in Rome and Pisa and I got a cool picture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, ha-ha its pretty sweet, ill send you all a post card. We are heading back to Napoli at 3 this afternoon and will be stuck on the train for another 6 hours....yuck. But its been great reading time, I’ve read almost half of the book "The Miracle of Forgiveness" which is seriously the greatest book ever!! its a total gut wrencher and makes you want to be perfect, which I always a good thing. But anyways I Love you all so much and look forward to hearing from you all next week!
Love
Aniznao Koozer

Ps- Imp totally cool with the whole Tia thing now. Thanks for all the support and advice.
PS- Ummm ok would you guys be able to send me Pres. Lewis's home address? ha-ha no but seriously...

Pray for the Campana Family

2010-05-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

Mom thank you so much for the pictures you sent me! haha oh my goodness the pictures of Monson and Sophia are both SO stinkin cute! I'm sad you guys still don't have Sophia and her brother but it sounds like your having fun with Gracie.
Man I miss Gooburr! those pictures made me laugh, I bet you guys had a lot of fun with the chair hockey and the ward. We are so lucky to have wards and real buildings to meet in, in the US. Here we meet in an apartment building.... But the members don't know anything different so I guess its cool. I'm just glad we have somewhere to meet. In L'Aquila after the earth quake the members had to meet in a tent, so I'm sure not complaining about the apartment building.

Dane, way to go with getting athlete of the year that's sweet! I cant believe your finishing 8th grade I thought you were just starting 7th? You guys are growing up way too fast...

Cade that is the sweetest project ever that you did for school! haha and its funny that you waited till the last weekend to do it, it reminded me of Brian Regan...hahaha. I'm sure the missionaries you interviewed were just loving it too. And I liked your pictures from prom, your such a stud!

Speaking of pictures I'm glad you got my pictures I sent home. We have been having a blast here and I'm so glad you guys can see some of the stuff that we have been doing. Mom to answer your question about the house you saw in the video, its the nicest missionary apartment in Italy. Its in the richest part of Napoli in an area called Volmero. It was the dream house of the family that owned it before us and the family was so sad to let it go. Brother Borrelli who owned it before us does just about everything when it comes to work, and also works for the church.

But anyways, we had another great week here in Napoli. We had our very last Zone conference with President and sister Acerson which was so sad.... I love them so much and have learned and grown so much from them. Its going to be so sad to watch them leave. This next transfer is going to be crazy! We're going to be taking over all of the Catania mission and will be getting a new president on top of it all. Everyone has been referring to this transfer as the Dooms-day transfer because if your in a city that will be taken over by the Milan mission you'll become a part of that mission for the rest of your time in Italy. Thank goodness I'm as far away as you can get from the Milan Mission right now, but there is no guarantee that I wont get transferred. We'll just have to wait and see how things play out.

We started the quit smoking program with the sweetest family last week and so far we are on day 5 and they are still holding strong. If they make it we'll be baptising an incredible family which will help our branch so much. They are the Campana Family, and they need all the prayers they can get so please pray for them that they will have the strength to stay strong and finish their program, and continue on the road to baptism.

Its been incredible seeing the hand of the Lord in our work. As certain doors close there are always new ones opening and i am so grateful to my heavenly father for his guidance in our work. Sometimes you think you've got things figured out and you think you know exactly what you want and need to do but the Lord is always there to correct your course and take you in the direction he wants you to go. Its a concept I've had to learn and try to understand since I've been here and the more i understand the incredible plan that God has created for us the smoother life has been. Ive realized fighting for my own way instead of readily accepting the will of the Lord only leads to unhappiness and difficulty. So I've really been trying to be more receptive to the spirit and easily moldable in the hands of the God. The work is going forward, and I'm am so grateful to be a part of this work. I love you all back at home and am grateful for all your thoughts and prayers. I hope to hear from you next week!

Love

Anziano Koozer

2010-05-20T06:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for the emails I got this week, it was so good hearing from everyone. Cade it sounds like your in for a sweet summer! Your gonna have so much fun on that hike, especially with all the Harris 2nd crew, they are the best.

I'm glad you guys like the new school you plan on attending. All I have to say though is Cade if you swim you better kick some trash....ha ha no I'm sure you'll do great!

Dad, isn't it weird how Life is like that sometimes. When you just wish God would give you a personal Liahona or something to tell you exactly what to do in all the questions of life. Ive felt like that a few times in my mission and Ive found the answer to my questions EVERY single time from the scriptures or from being obedient to the Gospel and the covenants that Ive made.

Ive never had to worry about buying or selling houses or trying to raise a family so i don't really have any idea of what i could tell you, but i can say that through exact obedience to the commandments and covenants you have made you will be worthy to be guided by the Holy Ghost which is the greatest gift and guide that we have been given in this life. Through this gift the secrets of life and and ALL things can be made known as to the things that we must do.

I really enjoyed the talk this conference when a brother was talking about placing missionaries in their assigned fields with Pres. Eyring and listening to the spirit to decide where they needed to go. The 1st time the man was asked what he felt he said the wrong place and Pres. Eyring lovingly told him that he needed to pay closer attention to the spirit. After focusing more the 2nd time he was asked he was ready and in tune with the Spirit, and he was guided to exactly the right mission. IT was a great talk and it really hit me hard on the importance of listening more closely to the prompting we receive.
Well I've had a great week, and have been super busy. My companion and i are completely wiped from all the running around we have been doing but its such a gratifying feeling. Its a good kinda tired that comes from giving it your all and knowing your doing the right thing. The Lord had been blessing us with success and the work is moving forward. We have a baptism with a man named Fulvio right around the corner and we are all excited for him and have been working hard to get him ready for his big day. He drove to church on his scooter in the rain this last week and he lives about an hour from the church. His faith and desire to do what is right is incredible and i look up to him so much.

We also have been working on helping a bunch of our investigators quit smoking....We have a quit smoking program that works in 7 days and its been interesting to see how it works. If we can overcome come the smoking problem, we'll have 17 new candidates for baptism..... so we are praying that these investigators will find the motivation to quit.

I'm healthy, happy and loving life. I couldn't be happier anywhere else and I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow through serving his children here in Italy. Thanks for all the prayers, emails and support. Ill hear from you all next week!

Love

Anziano Koozer

#watch-main-area

2010-03-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

#watch-main-area

Windows Live Hotmail

2010-03-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

"Ciao tutti,
I hope everyone is having an awesome spring break! And happy birthday again Dane and Emmett I sure love and miss you guys!

Things have been going good this last week and the work is moving forward. It kinda been a weird schedule this week because I went on exchanges with the zone leader this week and we had a blast. Our zone leaders are so much fun! I really enjoy watching and working with successful missionaries, there is so much I need to learn....Its kinda weird how that works; the more I learn and understand the more I realize I don't know anything! But I'm trying my best.

We have been working more with the pizza man and he's really loving the book of Mormon which is usually a great sign...ha ha he has also been hooking us up with sweet pizza deals too the more he learns and likes what we're teaching him. He's the man!
This week we want to set a baptismal date with a woman that we are teaching, her name is Pilar and she is doing so great!! If you guys could pray for her, that would be awesome. She is sooo close and I know all its gonna take is a little faith, a few good,powerful lessons and she be totally ready.

Other than that not much has been going on, Its finally warming up, thank goodness, so I think today with my bday cash we are going to go through all the museums and see everything Firenze has to offer. Speaking of cash, I am soooo sorry about my taxes! I had no idea I would owe that much! That was kinda one of the downfalls from that job is that they didn't take out any taxes automatically, so it makes sense why I owned my right arm and first child.....sorry.
Well I hope everyone is healthy and happy and has a great week. I love you all and hope to heat from you next week!
Love Anziano Koozer"

2010-02-10T05:14:00.000-08:00

"Ciao Tutti,
Hey thank you so much for the pictures you sent! Monson looks sooo cute! ha ha oh man i miss you guys and wish i could see him in real life.... But any ways things are going great here in Firenze.

We received transfer calls and my companion is getting transferred to L'Aquila and I'll be staying here with an incredible missionary named Anziano Nielson. Ive met him before and I'm super duper excited to serve with him, he is the nicest guy!

The work has been going good, we have a baptism coming up on the 20th so we are all way excited for that! We have been focusing a lot of our time on finding and reactivating in-active members which has been a blast! This last week we had 3 big inactive families show up that we have been working with. They are such wonderful people, they just needed a little lovin... And that's about it for this week.

Mom you didn't answer my question about pizza bombs yet, I would love to know how to make them.

I also wanted to tell Grandma ....TANTI AUGURI A TE!!!!!!!! BUON COMPLEANNO! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA I LOVE YOU!!!! I hope you you had a great birthday! Well my time is about up, but I love you all and will talk to you all next week!
Love,
Anziano Koozer"

WOW!!!!

2010-02-03T05:34:00.000-08:00

This has been the weirdest week of my mission by far!!!!! I still cant believe you CALLED me!!!!!!! hahahahaha I'm on my MISSION and you CALLED me! I'm pretty sure I understand why that's a rule now.... I'm not gonna lie it was really really really distracting, but after all so is the fact that my only sister just gave birth to the first nephew and grand kid of the family!

WOW.....what a week! Those pictures were soooo cool to see the little guy and everyone together, I sure miss you all and wish I could have been there with all of you...... you little boys need to teach Monson the ropes like how to wrestle and be tough ok? Congratulations Bailey and Wills, I love you all so very much and am sending you both a huge Long distance hug all the way here from Firenze Italy!

Not much new here on this side of the world.... I look forward to hearing more from you all and seeing more pictures! I'm so glad you got the stuff I sent home, especially the pictures! I have no idea what the easiest way to do all the pictures would be, could you send that memory card back to me? I want to keep that one with me cus it still has all my old pictures on it.

Hey I have one question, how do you make Pizza bombs? I want the recipe and exactly how you make them cus I want to make them here but substitute way better ingredients that are available.... Thanks a ton!

Love you all,Anziano Koozer

Ready for some sunshine!

2010-01-20T07:03:00.000-08:00

Ciao tutti,

Hey thank you so much for the awesome pictures you sent me I loved getting to see the family and all the fun stuff you guys are doing! Everyone is changing so much, its crazy to see the little boys not being so little anymore. Cade is a beast now, Dane is my mini me, and Emmett is growing up so fast, he looks like one of the big boys now.

That snow looked like so much fun to play in, just wait till you all see my snow pictures of Florence that I'm sending. Which by the way I scratched the package idea... I'm just gonna send a bunch of manila envelopes, you would be surprised to see what you can fit in one of those things! Italy's mail system is quite interesting to say the least....SO I'll just slap a 60 cent stamp on there and stuff it in the mail box and you should get it no problem.

It wasn't a super exciting week this week. It was a lot of just street contacting and teaching. nothing really out of the ordinary... Our investigators are doing good we're not quite ready for any baptisms that's for sure but people are progressing and the work is going forward.

Its been really cold lately, and has been raining almost every day. I'm ready for some SUNSHINE! Well that's about it for today, I love you all so much and hope to hear from you next week!

Love, Anziano Koozer

2010-01-13T06:31:00.000-08:00

Ciao Tutti,
Hey everyone I hope your all doing great! Cade it sounds like you did a great job with your talk in church, dude you totally should have flexed though! I would have done it back in the day but not any more I'm totally fat now... the members feed us way too much pasta haha.

I hope the flu passes quickly for you all, the Lord sure blesses us missionaries and keeps us strong and healthy. I haven't had any health problems yet and I'm doing all I can to stay strong.

It sounds like the ward is changing quite a bit, by the time i get home I'm not going to recognize anyone from the ward. I'm sure gonna miss the Greer's hopefully they don't move too far away...

Dad I know your B-day is coming up soon so I'm gonna be sending you all a package to cover everyone B-days and holidays for the year, it will be way easier that way especially since I'm in Florence with the markets and everything.

Well I had a great week this week, we had a lot of fun. This last week our apartment had a finding competition where all the church resources we handed out were worth a certain amount of points and so were new investigators and phone numbers we received. Lets just say things got pretty heated in the competition especially since you all know how much a hate losing. The losers had to buy a pizza for the winning companionship and got bragging rights. For all of you who don't know, finding work in Italy is tough.....REALLY REALLY TOUGH, like i would say a week of football camp is easier than a week of looking for new investigators in the streets of Italy. With that said here are the combined numbers that our 2 companionship's pulled in for the week; we received 57 phone numbers and addresses, we gave out 82 copies of the Book of Mormon, and well over 100 pamphlets. IT came down to the last night and unfortunately the other companionship beat us.....which i was kinda bitter about.

Reporting these numbers to the Zone leaders we were informed that we had set the all time mission high for the entire mission with the numbers we had! Monday was Zone conference and were asked to stand up and tell everyone what happened. It was so cool we talked about true potential and finding the fire within, it was sweet!

On Sunday I too had give a talk in sacrament, and I spoke on repentance. All went really well and my Italian wasn't too terrible either. I'm sure grateful to my companion for being so patient with me and helping me soo much , he's really helping me take it to the next level.

So far this week we have just been setting appointments with all the people we contacted from last week and are re cooping for next week cus we are challenging the other district and the zone leaders and the sisters to the finding competition, there are 4 of us against the 8 of them and we are totally gonna kick their trash! haha!

I'm totally jealous your all going up to the Pinedale, I really miss going on family trips up to the cabins and to Riverbend. But time really is flying and i know my time is short here and so I'm taking advantage of every second. I love you all and look forward to hearing from you all next week!

PS- Good luck with the baby shower! Hurray for Monson!

Love Anziano Koozer

New Years in Italy is Nuts!

2010-01-06T04:57:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!
Thank you so much for your emails this week, it was so great hearing from you all. It sounds like your all super busy and having so much fun! ha ha no worries with missing email last week mom its totally fine.
So DAD wrote an autobiography? I WANT ONE! Send it to me for my birthday along with peanut butter and beef jerky.
I haven't done any shopping in the markets yet Iwas gonna wait a week or two and gets some more pictures of stuff and wait till all the party season is over cus Italy is still on Holiday and its a pain trying to get around with all the messed up bus schedules and with everything closed. So I'll prob put something together in a few weeks.

I'm so excited for Bailey and for the baby from what I hear from Tia its gonna be a SWEEEET baby shower!!! Its good Cade is getting his Eagle together he'll be so glad when its done. Emmett thanks for emailing me it sounds like your doing awesome keep working hard ciccio! Dad isn't that book so good? I read it in Italian and it is awesome! I learned so much!

Well this week was pretty low key... We had to stay in our apartment new years eve and new years cus its dangerous to be out and they don't want us getting in trouble. Italian New Years parties are absolutely nuts, it was like a war Zone looking off our balcony cus anyone can buy the huge fire woks we watch as shows from far away and they light them off in the middle of the streets and wherever they want. Its complete madness..... Then a few days ago my comp rolled his ankle playing basket ball and it swelled up the size of a softball and turned black and purple so our finding work lately has consisted of sitting on buses and trains talking to people, which actually hasn't been bad at all we have been seeing quite a bit of success.

With the new years we have all started new goals and one of the main ones is trying to get unfat... so Ive been nominated by the apartment to be the district trainer. So Ive put everyone on a strict new diet and exercise plan and things have been going great. I also tried doing my 40 day English fast and broke after 2 days.....My comp and I were ready to kill each other due to lack of communication and misunderstanding hahaha so now we just are speaking Italian out of the house and during our hour of language study. Our investigators are doing awesome we have been having some really fun lessons. Well my times about up so I need to go but I love you all and will talk to you all next week!!!!

Snow in Firenze!!!

2009-12-23T12:11:00.000-08:00

Hey!
SO this week the coolest thing happened....it snowed here in Firenze!!!!! That's like it snowing in MESA! It started as just a few falling flakes and turned into a huge storm and ended up dropping about 7 inches. The whole city pretty much shut down which was kinda a mess because no one knew what to do with the snow. But it was a blast the morning after the storm my companion and i hiked to the top of the city and got some sweet pictures of snow covered Florence.

The work has been going good this week, we've been starting to see some success especially with the members. I love teaching the gospel with all my heart and wouldn't want to be any where else in the world right now.

We hand interviews with president Acerson this Monday and he brought me my package that you all sent! I'm sorry i couldn't help myself and i opened it up as soon as I got home.... Thank you sooooooooo much for the music- you guys have no idea how perfect it all was. hahaha dad you make me crack up so hard,with the whole Goobur Archeleta thing, hahahah oh my goodness!

SO my companion and i got permission to call home on Christmas from a members house if we buy a calling card so ill be calling from my branch presidents house at about 5pm-6pm my time. Double check the time difference because we are on daylight savings right now and everything so I'm not sure exactly what time it will be for you guys in AZ. Like I said we'll be spending the day with President Ferrini and his family so I'm really excited it should be an awesome day of eating eating eating and lots of games and fun. Ill buy a calling card from a tabaccheria I'm not sure what that is in English, a cigarette store we would call it and it should only be like 5 euro for 2 hours, so we'll get to talk for good amount of time. but anyways i love you all so much am I'm thrilled to get to talk to you guys in just a few days!!!!

LoveAnziano Koozer

so many foreigners

2009-12-16T15:29:00.000-08:00

Hey!
I just hit update on my email account and your email popped up. I'm usually not emailing this late so I'm really glad i caught you. IT sounds like you all had a great time with the birthdays this week, thanks so much for helping me out.

SO your all done with the classes huh? How many kids are we getting, and do they have special needs? Its awesome you all are doing this.

Well, Ive had a great week here. It has been absolutely FREEZING this week! The work has been going good we are working with a Brazilian family, a Philippine family, a Peruvian family,and a half Italian family as well. I had no idea there were so many foreigners here. We have really been focusing all our finding efforts on ITALIAN families but its pretty tough finding anyone that is humble enough to stop and listen, let alone change. SO we have changed our mode of attack to working through and with every member family in the branch.

We've been booking out our weeks with member appointments and have been doing everything we can to gain the trust of the members and have been showing them that we can teach. We have been doing service for them, and helping with anything and everything to gain good solid relationships. Through these new relationships of trust we will be lead to a whole new world of contacts and potential investigators which are all the friends of the members.

So far things have been going great, we have members that are starting to call us now and we are really seeing a difference. I'm starting to understand what people meant when they would say that the mission is one of the hardest but most rewarding times of their lives. We been striking out you could say with our own personal finding work. Its been really really tough.... the people here are so lost and confused, if only they knew what we know, if only they would open their hearts and listen. Satan has been working overtime here in Europe, I'm just glad we know how its all gonna end. Every time someone shuts us down or slams a door in our faces, it just adds fuel to my fire of wanting someone to stop and listen. I know the elect are out there, I just need to find them!

Well i love you all and I'm so excited to get to talk NEXT week! I'll let you know what time I'll be calling next week when I email we need to check some things out before i know for sure....Thanks for the email, miss you!

Love Anziano Koozer

Life in Firenze!!!!

2009-12-02T06:16:00.000-08:00

Ciao Tutti,
To start off, mom I'm a complete knuckle head!!!!! i am so sorry! last week when i was doing email i was kinda in a big hurry and didn't really look through all the music you send me very well, but looking back through it now i realize that you sent me an entire BOOK of music of everything i could possibly want! Thank you so much for doing that for me mom and Hillary -love you guys!
Well it sounds like you had fun this thanksgiving, yeah I'm sure it was pretty strange with just the 3 little boys, who i guess aren't really that little anymore.....ha ha its gonna be so weird seeing everyone, and how big they are.

That's so funny what happened with the turkey, I'm just glad you guys didn't burn the house down or anything like that!

oh man i had the most incredible week! SO after email last week i went on a tour of Firenze which absolutely blew my mind! i seriously had to keep picking my jaw up off the ground, the sculptures and painting and mind blowing domes and cathedrals, and markets, i just couldn't believe it! And to think at how long this stuff has been around is incredible in and of itself. It was so great that were gonna do it all again today! Its kinda a bummer though cus some of the super cool stuff costs money to see not a ton but after a few different sights it kinda adds up. But anyways were gonna do it all again and this time take pictures of everything which wont do it the least bit of justice but will give you all a little bit of a glimpse of the stuff that Ive been seeing.

On Thursday we celebrated thanksgiving a little bit differently this year. We were in invited out to the middle of the Tuscan hills which was like living in a postcard, and we picked Olives all day with The sweetest Italian family. We were on this beautiful hill of ripe olive trees, and looking around there were rolling hills of grape orchards and red and trees and even a huge castle on the hill behind! Words cannot describe how beautiful it really was.....But we picked all day long and ate and visited and played into the night. The family we were with took us back to their house and showed us how they press the olives to get the oil, and taught us the whole process, it was incredible. Then an American family that is here for a short time cooked us an American Thanksgiving feast, i will never forget my Thanksgiving in the Tuscan hills.

After we finished eating we rushed back and helped a Peruvian family in our ward move. We moved of from the 4th floor of their old apartment into the 4th floor of their new apartment, and there was no elevator! We didn't end up finishing till 11 at night. ha ha oh my goodness i was so stinkin tired!

On Sunday i was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting and it went really really well. I don't know what in the world happened since Ive gotten here in Firenze but its like someone pushed the "on" button with my Italian skills. Ive been dreaming all in Italian I'm starting to think in Italian and I've never spoken better when i teach. I'm so very grateful to my heavenly father for loosening my tongue and helping me speak this beautiful language. I really felt like i was struggling in Pescara and things are completely different now.

The missionary work is on fire right now. We have found and are now teaching 2 Families! They are so so so prepared for the gospel and i am way pumped to see where things go with them! I am just having the time of my life right now and couldn't be happier with where i am and with what I'm doing. I love you all so much and want to thank you all for your prayers letters and support. Ill talk to you all next week!

Love,Anziano Koozer

Hellooooo from Firenze

2009-11-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

Ciou tutti,

Hellooooooo from Firenze!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, i am in absolute paradise! ha ha seriously this is the most incredible city ever, my new companion and i are like 2 peas in a pod and the work is gonna be great! I'm in a 4 man apartment now that is a blast after serving in a 2 man for the last 6 months. The change was such a great relief, and has completely recharged my batteries. I'm back on fire and have hit the ground running.

My companions name is Anziano Ingersoll and he is "the MAN", he is seriously the funnest, coolest missionary. We have already been having sooooo much fun together, especially since i tried cutting his hair for him and we had to end up buzzing it, he is hilarious! Today the other missionaries in the apartment are taking me on a tour of the city and were gonna go shopping in the market, hopefully we'll get to see the David today and some other things like that. Today i just want to take my time and really check things out and don't want to be worried about having to take a million pictures so next week we'll do it all again and i gets some sweet pictures for you all.

To answer some questions that you sent, for Christmas when i call ill be calling from the church and will just buy a calling card here so no worries with that, and yes absolutely 100% i want Tia there too if its cool with you guys i get to talk for a pretty good amount of time so there will be plenty of time to talk and yes mother i will sing some Italian songs and hymns for you....And from what i hear the mailing here in Firenze is great so you all can send letters directly to my apartment, with packages and whatever still send those to the mission home but letters would get to me no problem. Ill post the address at the bottom of this email.

Dad about the fasting for special things its surprisingly against the rules for me to ask you all to do special fasts for things, but your prayers are always needed especially for the temple right now. Just pray that things will all go through OK and that they will be able to break ground as soon as possible.

Cade way to go with sharing the Gospel with your friends I'm so proud of you dude, keep it up!

Uncle Charlie if you read this i just wanted to tell you that there a TON of Peruvians here in Firenze TONS of them! We're actually teaching a Peruvian family right now. They are the sweetest people, so incredibly humble!

Well that's about it for this letter, Bailey no worries I WILL send you a letter soon! I love you all so much!

Vi voglìo bene Anziano Koozer

Charl Koozer
Via Mannelli 12150136
Firenze, Italia

Ps- Hillary thanks for the music but i can get all of that Italian music here no problem.... I would really love some English Christmas music, especially O holy Night, i want to do it for the Christmas Mission Talent show, is there any way you could try to email me it i can print it off no problem, thanks i love you!

First Transfer - Firenze FLORENCE

2009-11-18T14:54:00.000-08:00

Ciao Tutti,

Well Last night i received an interesting call from president Acerson....I'm being transferred to Firenze (Florence). Firenze is in Tuscany and is the world capitol of art. It has the "David" and countless other incredible sculptures and stuff like that, it also has one of the largest markets in the world. I'm soooo pumped to go see some more of Italy and some incredible history. When it comes to that kind of stuff Pescara, where I'm at right now, doesn't have anything, just a beach.

The church in the city is pretty small from what i hear, they have a small branch. When i talked with president he informed me that the missionary work in the city has really been suffering. I don't know if that was supposed to be a warning or a challenge, whatever it was things are gonna change... Whatever you think about you bring about, right!?

It absolutely broke my heart last night having to call everyone and tell them all I'm leaving. I can honestly say, i gave it my all in this city, and really left it all on the field. I love the people here in Pescara especially the people i had the privilege of teaching. Its especially hard because we actually have a baptism this weekend that i wont get to be here for and next weekend there are 2 more.

This weekend Belinda Campolone, the woman from Zimbabwe is being baptized, and next weekend the 2 adopted brothers Roberto and Andrea Salvatori are being baptized. All 3 had asked me to baptize them but now with the change of plans it looks like anz. Daniel's will get to do it. I realize that this work really has absolutely nothing to do with me, its all about the people, and i am so very grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me such an incredible chance to learn and grow from finding and teaching these wonderful people. I'm dreading having to go say goodbye today....ughhhhh!!!

SO, anyways this week i was totally gonna make a video of me and anz. Daniel's on our sweet bikes but unfortunately when we came out of one of our appointments someone had stolen the seat from my companions bike and not only that but my companion couldn't find the key to the lock.... he completely lost the only key...so now our bikes are still locked up where we left them and every time we go back to check on them more and more pieces are missing from them!!! hahaha welcome to Italy.... i think one of the sisters took some pictures with us and our bikes and helmets a while ago so ill see if i get get her pictures and ill send them home.

This last week we traveled to Rome for stake conference, and it was really great. We did have to catch the 4am bus out of Pescara but other than that, the conference was so good. Everyone is thrilled for the Temple that's gonna be built in Rome, 2 of the talks were about it, and how the members needed to prepare for it. You guys have noooooo idea how lucky you are to have temples yes (plural) temples so close. All the members have to travel to Switzerland to attend the temple, and its really really expensive, and hard to do! So for all of you near a temple, GOOOOO!

Well that's about it for this week i love you all so very much, you'll all be hearing from me next week in FIRENZE!!!!!!!

Love Anziano Koozer

Facebook | Tia Brown's Photos - Buddy Mission Pictures

2009-11-04T07:59:00.000-08:00

Facebook Tia Brown's Photos - Buddy Mission Pictures

My Back pack was stolen

2009-11-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

Cade Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!

Man i cant believe your 16 already, Its so weird!!!!! Are mom and dad still holding to the no driving rule till your Eagle is done? If they are you should prob get going cus driving is soo much fun! I love you bro Happy Birthday!

I had a pretty interesting last week. On Thursday we found missionary bikes behind the church, so we fixed them up and have been riding them everywhere! Hahahaha oh my goodness you guys are gonna laugh so hard when you see the pictures of me all ready to ride my bike. I have the sweetest Alien looking helmet, my bike is turquoise and is prob 15 years old, and i tuck my pants into my sock to top it off. There is nothing more humbling then putting on that helmet and riding that bike, hahaha oh man! It sure has been getting us around a lot faster and has also been getting back in pretty good shape, goodbye pasta cheeks!

On Saturday we had the ward Halloween party which was a blast. We brought a few of our investigators and a lot of members brought their friends so it was a great opportunity to talk to people about the church in a fun casual setting. We ate lots of good food and played some great games.

On Sunday i had the sweetest experience in church, Roberto and Andrea the brothers who are 15 and 12 that are being adopted by the Salvatori family that we have been teaching got up in sacrament meeting and both bore their testimonies for the very first time! No one even told them to do it they got up and did it all by themselves. But watching those boys bear testimony filled my heart with the absolute greatest joy and happiness and love. I cant even explain how sweet it really was. That experience is of now one of the best things I've experienced since I've been here in Italy. I love those boys so much!!!

Then Sunday night my companion and i were doing mostra, i don't know what the translation is in English but we had a frame thing that we set up and there are big pictures of Christ and the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and stuff like that and as people are walking around we talk to them about the pictures, and i would also sing hymns to draw people over its fun and its a great finding tool. But anyways as we started packing up to head home for the night i quickly realized that my pack pack was missing, someone had totally stolen my bag while i was turned around! It had ALL of my family pictures in it, both the little book of pictures that mom put together and also the bigger album that you guys sent me along with a few pictures that Tia had sent me. Also in my bag were all our keys, the keys to the church, to our bike lock, to our apartment, to everything!!!!!! Other than that it was just few of copies of the Book of Mormon, and copies of all my legal documents. So yeah, now i don't have a backpack or any pictures and its kinda sad.......

So for Christmas would guys be able to send more pictures?I used my pictures every single day as a way to break the ice and to talk to people and not only that but i love looking at them too.

Dad i sent that letter you asked if i could write it should be coming your way in the mail hopefully by the end of the week. Other than that things have been going great i love you all so much and look forward to hearing from you next week!

Love Anziano Koozer

PS- its been asolutely freezing cold these last 2 weeks and people are saying its just going to get colder, would it be ok if i take out some cash to buy a sweeter, gloves, a mabye a beenie or scarf, my AZ suit are pretty thin. Ill wait till next week to hear from you before i take out anymore money , sorry i also need a new bag too since mine was stolen. I dont want anything super nice just something that works.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-28T06:31:00.000-07:00

Ciao Tutti!
Hey everyone! Ive had another awesome week here in Italy. To start off though i just wanted to tell Tia, THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH for the sweet package!!!!!!! Hahahaha oh man you have no idea how bad I've been craving fruity candy! The package was absolutely perfect!

I had Zone conference this last week in Rome and i got all of my mail that has come in these last 6 weeks. Thank you so much everyone who wrote me, its so great getting mail as a missionary, its seriously like Christmas when we get mail.

It was an interesting journey to Rome this time because they changed it to a different Church building than the one we usually go to. This time we had to take to metro to the end of the line and it was absolute madness!!!! Hahaha and i got separated from my companion and was totally lost in the crowd and i was pretty sure he got on the metro but wasn't 100% sure so i kinda waited a little while people started getting on and i didn't see him so i assumed he had already gotten on so i went to get on too and there were soooo many people there wasn't any room for me to squeeze on so as I'm trying to wiggle on with my big bulky back pack the door to the train totally closed on me and i got smashed right down the middle!!! Thank goodness it had a sensor on it and opened back up but before i could re-adjust or anything it closed on me again and again and again... and every time a loud alarm would go off! hahaha oh my goodness it was so embarrassing. Sadly i had to just force my way on and push the entire group of people over until i could fit, and i think i might have smashed an old lady or 2 but i HAD TO GET ON THAT TRAIN!The last thing i wanted to do was to get lost in Rome by myself. So after i was on the train i could see my companion over the crowd ( cus Italians are short) and he was crying he was laughing so hard at me. I totally made a huge seen..... leave it to the big dumb American.....

Then when we got to our stop we realized it was pouring outside and so we got to walk 3 miles to the church up this hill in the pouring rain. And to add to the wonderful experience we were 30 minutes late, and on top of that we had been out of water for the last 2 days in our apartment so i wasn't able to shave. We were quite the sight walking in to Zone conference 45 minutes late, soaking wet to the bone, and with both of us practically having a beards......

Thankfully president understood our circomestances. That word is sooo spelled wrong, sorry i have the hardest time reading and spelling English now the Italian totally throws me out of whack! but anyways it was a fun experience in Rome.

The work has been going good this week we have been doing a whole lot of finding and have met some incredible people. There truly are the "elect" out there. K so for all of you who have seen the movie "the best 2 years " you know the part when their mission president calls them and tells them he is coming to visit their apartment so all the missionaries scrabble as fast as they can to clean the apartment and the one missionary flips over the pictures of those girls and on the back are pictures are pictures of prophets....hahaha yeah well we have the EXACT same thing happen to us on Monday. President called us and said he would be to our apartment in about 3 minutes for interviews. All I'm going to say is i have never cleaned that apartment so fast in my life! It was so funny!!! But interviews went great and President even commented on how clean the apartment was. HE is such an incredible Mission president he has already taught me so much.

Last night at English class i taught the advanced class and told them all about River Bend and everyone loved it. Man i sure miss all you guys! i hope everyone is doing OK. Mom i sure hope you fell better soon, i heard your conference was incredible. Cade, way to go dude with the missionary work! isn't it the best!!!!! I'm so proud of you! Well i need to run now but i look forward to hearing from you guys next week!

Working with the Members!

2009-10-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hey DAD,

Man i miss you like crazy, thanks for keeping me updating with the emails. hahaha yeah you guys are totally going down with the baptismal challenge, We are on fire right now! The member program were using is so sweet! Today were actually fasting with the family we are doing it with so we can know who the Lord wants us to work with and who is prepared for the gospel NOW.

K so this is how it works.... Missionaries come and do a family night with a family making sure all of the family is there for it. Then as missionaries we teach a very simple, short, but powerful lesson on the restoration. After the lesson we have a testimony meeting with the entire family on how the Gospel has changed there lives and each person is invited to share their testimony about the restoration and what it means to them. Then while the spirit is the strongest we teach the family that with this incredible knowledge we have the responsibility to share it with everyone, and by doing so we can bring the light and happiness of the gospel into the lives of other. We then pass out pens and papers to everyone and have them fold their papers in fourths and put at the top of each of the boxes a tittle, which were Family, Friends, Neighbors, and Others. Then, we have them write down EVERYONE they know in these categories who are not members, regardless of whether they think they will accept the gospel or not. Then when everyone has finished we kneel and pray as a family and pray to know which of these are the most prepared for the gospel right now. After the pray everyone circles their top 4 people on their papers. We then challenge them to find a way to do service for each of the people they circled during the week. We then returned the next week for Family night again and we began a fast to know as a family the overall top 4 in the family that are ready for the Gospel now. When we have the top 4 we will then do a lesson on easy ways for the members to talk to their friends and invite them to a casual activity that us missionaries will be at, and from there us missionaries will take the lead on introducing the gospel and the member family will be the key role in testifying and hosting the lessons in their home. And together we will baptise! Person, after person and person until we have worked with every family in this ward. And when we finish with all the families we will do it again. Its a never ending source of baptising and changing of lives hand in hand with the members.

By teaching and doing this we will gain the trust and respect of the members and will get them all fire about sharing the gospel. Ive been working on putting this thing together since Ive been in the MTC and its working so far better than i ever could have imagined, the Lord is definitely guiding his work!
MAN I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

Yes i survived another transfer and I'm staying in Pescara with Anz. Daniels. I know there is a work for me to do here.

It sounds like you guys have been super busy with the conference and with taking those classes. That is SOOO cool you guys are doing that!!! For sure keep me posted with all of that.

It's crazy Bailey and Wills have a house and stuff and she's pregnant! SO WEIRD!!!!! Things are gonna be so different when i come home.

OH my gosh, yes i miss football like crazy actually, sometimes i start thinking about it when im laying in bed at night and get so excited i cant fall asleep for a long time, haha which is kinda annoying. But yeah for example in the Mesa high game when i got the sack the first play of the game, its such a rush....good times good times. Cade will catch on as he gets older i didn't really get it till i was going into my senior year. I know Cade is gonna be a beast.

hahah so yeah its absolutely freezing here in Italy, i had no idea it would get so cold! and its a different kind of cold its a humid cold, absolutely bone chilling. And being on the coast the wind of the water is pretty brutal. i might freeze to death this winter.

Being in the same city there are not a ton of new pictures but i will try to do better with keeping my camera close. I went on an exchange these last two days with our Zone leaders from L'Aquila and stayed the night there. It was an incredible experience and really opened my eyes to some new stuff that I'm exited to try.

Well anyways i love you guys and miss you all so much. Tomorrow i get my mail from this last month in a half when we go to Rome for Zone conference, and I'm excited to see if you guys sent any letters. Hopefully i get something. Well got to run, have a great week and don't forget to get those baptisms!!!!!!!!

Love, your boy Anziano Koozer

Hal translated his letter to Bud to Italian and then back to English

2009-10-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Son, this is the exact English translation of the Italian letter I just sent. It doesnt make any sense to me, GOOD LUCK and GOOD READING!The hook so a lot. Like its mission goes? The family does large! Our efforts of missionary go well. We slept in the garden since the time has cooled. The emmett informed me that has not ever lifted a stretch out first. I am a most agile one or that? I received the Italian the mine saves the time and pleased it a lot. I hope that she can understand that I say. I am so recognizing for the Church and for a living prophet. I loved the general lecture! Mine I am consecrated to God once again. The mommy and we carry some classes for the next one ten weeks in manner that we can become some adopted parents. We should travel in the Month all of the Tuesday and Thursday evening until December. I want to know it than I have a deposition of this Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so recognizing for her and the time she gives the Mister and the persons of Italy. Its service blesses our family beyond the measure. To thank the for the man she became and it thanked it for the example that she regulated for its brothers. So I am excited for this new child of the inside court to unite our family. All it loves here the Monson of name, therefore resembles to that would be able to be its name. It cannot await to damage the child. The thought that comes from a place where was with the our Savior and with Jesse and all the other grandfathers and the family that are passed across the veil. It knows that us and it its family chose to be us. So that saremo I am excited an eternal family. She has an address? We would love to seek on the Land of Google and it sees where she lives. And she can receive the mail there? That it is its food preferred in Italy? The tongue was difficult to learn? I should run for now, but I want to know it that the hook. The good day for now, the DadP. She could read this letter and was grammatically correct? Wow this did not turn out exactly like I had expected!!! HAHAHAHAAHH It is so funny!

Hal'a attempt to write Buddy a letter in Itailian

2009-10-14T11:04:00.000-07:00

L'amo così molto. Come la sua missione va? La famiglia fa grande! I nostri sforzi di missionario vanno bene. Abbiamo dormito nel giardino poiché il tempo si è raffreddato. L'Emmett mi ha informato che non ha mai alzato una tenda prima. Sono un più sciolto o che? Ho ricevuto l'italiano il mio risparmia il tempo e ha piaciuto esso molto. Spero che lei può capire che dico. Sono così riconoscente per la Chiesa e per un profeta vivente. Ho amato la conferenza generale! Mie sono consacrato a Dio ancora una volta. La mamma e portiamo delle classi per il prossimo dieci settimane in modo che possiamo diventare dei genitori adottivi. Quando diventiamo dei genitori adottivi, ogni bambino ci pagherà un addizionale $1.600 dollari per il mese. Dobbiamo viaggiare nella Mesa tutti i martedì e giovedì sera fino a dicembre.

La voglio sapere che ho una testimonianza di questo Vangelo di Gesù Cristo. Sono così riconoscente per lei ed il tempo lei dà il Signore e le persone di Italia. Il suo servizio benedice la nostra famiglia oltre la misura. Ringraziarla per l'Uomo lei è diventato e l'ha ringraziata per l'esempio che lei ha regolato per suoi fratelli. Sono così eccitato per questo nuovo bambino della corte interna per unire la nostra famiglia. Tutti ama qui il Monson di nome, dunque somiglia a che potrebbe essere il suo nome. Non posso attendere di avariare il bambino. Il pensiero che viene da un luogo dove è stato col nostro Salvatore e con Jesse e tutti gli altri nonni e la famiglia che sono passati attraverso il velo. Sa che ci e ci ha scelti di essere la sua famiglia. Sono così eccitato che saremo una famiglia eterna.

Lei ha un indirizzo? Ameremmo cercare sulla Terra di Google e vede dove lei vive. E lei può ricevere la posta lì? Che è il suo cibo preferito in Italia? La lingua è stata difficile imparare? Devo correre per ora, ma la voglio sapere che l'amo. Il buono giorno per ora, il Babbo

P. Lei potrebbe leggere questa lettera ed era grammaticalmente corretto?

I am not sure this worked, but it was fun trying! I have had fun with this. Love you Son!Dad

Answer to Dad's letter in Italian

2009-10-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

Ciao Famiglia!

Hahaha that was so weird getting an email from you in Italian! How did you do it, google or something? I read the entire thing and completely understood all of it, in Italian that is. The English version didn't really make sense. Its incredible what reading the scriptures has done for me with the Italian. I would say its prob been the biggest help to personally in learning this beautiful language. Going from the ancient form of writing in the scriptures to reading normal letters and stuff like what you sent me has helped me to learn so much! I'm finally starting to get pretty comfortable with my speaking ability, and its getting more and more fun to teach and to interact with the people. Not that I've ever been shy before, its just now I'm starting to make sense to people when i talk to them, haha.

But anyways, Tia to answer your question, of course you can join the baptism-off! I hope you are all working hard cus its looking like we might have a few baptisms comin up! We have been working so very hard with our investigators and they are making some huge strides in their progress. I cant even describe the love i have for these people, its a different kind of love than I've ever felt. I don't know its hard to explain,like, all i want is for these people is to have success in their lives, all i want is for them to feel true happiness that comes in following the commandments, and want them to know their Father in Heaven and to know of the love that Christ has for them. It's incredible studying for them, praying with them and for them, and watching them grow in the Gospel and to see the light of the of the gospel come into their eyes and into their hearts. IT physically changes the appearance of people, its incredible. I have never found more joy or happiness in my life than now, serving the people of Italy.

The Lord is blessing us with success, and is definitely guiding this work. My companion and i have been trying some new things that have really been working. Instead of just going and doing "house" as we call it, (which is knocking door to door) we decided that we are going to do "house-teaching". SO instead of just ringing door bell after door bell for 3 hours we set a goal before we start off of how many houses we are going to get into and how many lessons we are going to teach, and also how many new investigators we are going to find. We then say a prayer and ask for guidance and then we're off. Before we started this new plan i had never gotten in doing house ever!!! And once i proposed this plan to my companion, we have gotten in over 25 houses this week and have found a full page and a half of potential investigators. We are now using this technique for all of our modes of finding work and have been having a blast! I'm so grateful for Heavenly Father guiding my companion and I, and blessing us with such wonderful people to work with. I know with out Him i am nothing.

We have also come up with a sweet new member program to get involved with the Ward and to get the members excited about missionary work. We had our first trial run on Monday night while doing a family night with the Giusti Family and it worked better than we could have ever wished for! I'm so pumped to start doing using it with all the other members of the ward! MEMBERS ARE THE KEY TO MISSIONARY SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!! So for all you Members get to know your missionaries and HELP them, we cant do it alone and neither can you!

Anyways, the weather has been absolutely crazy here. We had a typhoon hit us here in Pescara the other night and it tore up the city pretty good, and it wasn't too nice to my umbrella either! haha yeah we got caught outside during the storm and ended up tracting the night away soaking wet and freezing cold, it even hailed for about an hour, but hey its always good weather for missionary work! SO how is the family doing? Everyone good? I miss you guys like crazy.

Bailey i love the name Monson for your boy, but i also like the name Lugard too. That's the name of one of our investigators, haha he's awesome.

Wait so you guys are adopting or fostering? And are they special needs kids or normal ? I want the details of whats up, that's so so so so COOL!

Oh no i just looked outside and its pouring rain and i totaly forgot my umbrella, it was sunny outside when we left the house. Mannagga!!!

Dad my favorite food by far is Arrostacini, its skewed lamb and I'm also in love with the pasta. haha last p day we did a bbq and my comp and i ate 2 kili of Arrostacini which is more than 4 pounds. hahaha and thats one of the reasons that my suits don't quite fit like they used too. I starting to regret the day i ever told you dad that i would never be fat... its impossible with the food they feed us here.

Our address is ( Via Stradonetto 207, Pescara Italia) Yes i can receive mail at the house but its way safer, and easier for me if you just send everything to the mission office address. Well, I love you all and hope to hear from you next week!

Love Anziano Koozerps- I need to pull some money out today I'm going to buy a study journal and some pens and maybe some marking pencils. thanks love ya!

2009-10-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!Did everyone LOVE conference? i know i did! We had the opportunity to watch it through satellite at our church building, although i didn't get to watch all of it cus we are i think like 8 hours ahead of you guys and so we missed the last Sunday session, and in was in and out with investigators through the sessions which was super distracting but i was able to watch a good portion of it and took some awesome notes. IT is absolutely incredible that we have a living prophet today who leads and guides the lords church. I definitely needed to hear the messages given! DAD holy cow! your police video was SOOOO sweet! haha you have to teach me how to do that when i get home!
And Cade, wow Props with the missionary work, seriously way to go!!! Emmett and Bailey i hope you 2 feel better soon, i love you! Hopefully you all wont get sick....

Well last night i survived another transfer call, i get to stay another 6 weeks here in Pescara. I guess i still haven't finished my work here, and the Lord has more people for me to find in this city. Now its just a matter of finding them! I'm super excited and pumped to start a new transfer. Its an opportunity to set new goals and reach for greater levels of success. MAN i love being a missionary!!!!! Anziano Daniels and i have had a great week and has been super duper busy. Haha we kinda been going crazy with the same routine so we are gonna try to spice things up this new transfer and try some new things with finding work and with working with members. Dad I now understand what you meant by saying that there are definitely betters ways of finding people than through tracking.
But hey family i was thinking and i want to challenge you guys to a "baptism-off". k, so here it is, with this next year and a half i want to challenge you guys to share the gospel with everyone you guys know and with all those you come in contact with and I'm of course gonna do the same. And the winner is who ever can baptise the most people. The winner will get prob the greatest prize that could ever be won, the satisfaction and knowledge that you were an instrument in bringing the happiness and light of the gospel into other peoples lives. I would say its a pretty fair match up the entire family vs Me. Yes it is what i will be doing every day all day but hey there are 7 of you all together. What do you say? Are you all up to the challenge? I want a response by next week from each of the members of the family of whether you are in or out. We have the greatest knowledge there is to have, and i think it would pretty selfish of us not to share it with those we love and respect. Well anyways i love you all and am so happy to hear from you guys, and will be looking forward to your response to the challenge by next week!

PS- Mom i would absolutely love an ipod! Its what all the other missionaries have, and I've seen a few different set ups. But the most common that I've seen is just a dock that charges the ipod. But i know that an ipod is super expensive and would be super super risky sending it in the mail. so i don't know wiring money is definitely the safest thing to do. But i don't know its up to you please don't stress about it I'm totally happy and fine without anything like that. I love just hearing from you all seeing pictures and stuff, so no worries.
Love ya!Anziano Koozer

2009-09-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

Introducing this year's #51 - playing for Maricopa Wells - He is 5'8" and weighs 125 pounds (I think).....
DANE KOOOOOZER!
Dane won his first game against his former school - Legacy. He is playing center and defensive end.
His coaches tell us how great he is because he is so coachable!
GO PANTHERS!!

New Companion Anziano Daniels

2009-09-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

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

IN ROMA for a few days

2009-08-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

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

Family

2009-07-31T07:36:00.000-07:00

This Years Picture at the Fmily Reuinon

This is our Family Picture at our Pearce Reunion 2 summers ago.

This summer at the reunion we thought we should try to get the same picture to see if we have changed much.

We put Wills where Buddy was. Bailey is in the same place but is now actually expecting their first baby in February. The other boys could not be put in the same places as before or Hal and I would not be seen in the picture. I can't believe how much these boys and this Family have grown in just 2 years.
I am so thankful for my sweet family. I am also very thankful that I have a testimony of eternal families and our Saviors sacrifice that makes it possible for us to go through this mortal life and still have the opportunity to live as families forever.

Week 17

2009-07-31T06:44:00.000-07:00

Ciao Tutti,
Hey everyone how are you all doin!? Thank you all so much for the e-mails you sent me! It is so great to hear how everyone is doing, and its definitely better to get e-mails than waiting once a transfer to hear how everyone is doing all at once. This week i will be writing a lot of individual letters home cus it takes me forever to type and there is so much i want to talk about with everyone. so plan on getting some mail in a week or two, hopefully you get it. But i have had an incredible week, we haven't had time to hardly breath! This last Thursday we woke up early and took a long bus ride out to the middle of the country to visit this awesome investigator family so we could do some service for them. The Woman's house we went to is named Lynett, and her husband is in the Military and is always gone, and they have 2 younger teenage girls one is 12 and the other is 14 or 15. But anyways this family is incredible! They are from England, and have some friends that are members and they love to feed the missionaries, so they invited us out for a huge BBQ, and we accepted on the condition that they gave us some work to do once we got out there, and of course she needed help so Lynett was happy to put us to work. When we got there we ate first, and man did we eat!!!! Ribs, and Chile dogs and hamburgers, and salad, and fruits and veggies, it was so good! Then it was time to work, and we ended up mowing her huge yard with a pushing mower. It was about the size of uncle Richards yard but on a 90 degree slope up a hill, haha it took about 3 hours to finish. It felt great to get out of my shirt and tie and to do some outside work, and i know it helped them out alot, so it was a great experience to help them out. When we finished we had cheesecake, and i played the guitar for everyone and sang for about and hour which was a blast cus everyone sang along and everyone had a great time. Before we left we gave them a spiritual thought, and sang a hymn for them and then it was time to catch our bus back to the city. I love that family so much and want so badly for them to know the things that i know and for them to feel the happiness that i have felt. I'm so excited for them to progress in the gospel. On Friday we made a big batch of brownies along with cards with scriptures and a nice message for bunch of our investigators. It was alot of fun bringing everyone their brownies because people don't know what brownies are here, its a total American thing, but they LOVE them, hahaha! Mom can you send me a good brownie recipe? I don't really like the kind that we made, cus it came out more like a cake. On Saturday we took a train out to Teremo which is a city near Pescara. Well its kinda near, its about an hour and a half trip one way. We went out to visit a few members that live out there and gave them all spiritual thoughts and tried to kinda recharge their spiritual batteries. The members that live out that far have to make huge sacrifices to get to church every week, so we just wanted to take the morning to tell them how much we love them and how much the ward needs them. It went really well, and the next day at church we saw all the members that we visited, even the ones that are semi-inactive. Sunday was such a great day! We had 7 progressing investigators attend sacrament meeting, which was such a blessing. For some reason its always hard to get people to church for the first time, but once they come and see whats its really like they usually come back no problem. After church we were slammed with appointments all day long and didn't get home till almost ten. I have no idea what we have been doing to deserve so much work, but all i can say is i know the Lords hand truly is in all that we do. My love for these people grows every day, and the more i am with them and the more i serve them, the more i realize how grateful i am to be here. I'm giving my everything to these people. Its the first time in my life when its not been all about me. My prayers aren't for myself anymore they are for the people I'm serving. As my knowledge of the gospel grows I'm finding a burning desire in my heart to share our message with everyone! There is so much pain, and darkness and confusion here, SO many people are lost, and It breaks my heart when people and especially families don't want to listen to the most important thing they will every hear in their entire lives. We were in the park the other day and there was a beautiful family; a mom, a dad a little boy and a little girl in a wheel chair who looked about 5 or 6 years old. This little girl had a tache., and looked just like a little Jesse. And that's the first thing i thought about....Jesse. I tore into my backpack and grabbed my family photos with Jesse and headed straight for the family. I greeted them with a huge smile and tried to introduce myself to the father and knew if i could get him to see a picture of Jesse he would open up and let me meet his family. I couldn't even get through my introduction before the man cut me off and said; sono troppo impegnato per Dio-Im to busy for God. My heart sunk! I tried just pushing the picture of Jesse in front of him and just explained i had a message about the family and that death wasn't the end, and that he would find more happiness than he had ever known if he would just listen. the man shook his head and walked away with his family, and i wanted to cry. Not a day has gone by that i haven't thought about that family, and that experience. I pray that someday that family will have another chance to accept the gospel. If not in this life i know they will in the life to come. But anyways we are working with some incredible investigators and have a few baptisms this next month. Ill keep you all posted on that. Dad Can you email me a list of what you think the top 5 best motivational books are (other than the scriptures), like How to win friends and influence people, those kind of books. Anziano Bennets Mom's email address is (bennett_marja_liisa@hotmail.com, and her name is pronounced mar-eee-a) haha sorry i hope that helps. Well i got to get running we are booked again today, I love you all, plan on getting some handwritten letters in a week or 2. Keep the E-mails comin! Love you!!!!
Anziano Koozer

Week 16

2009-07-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

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

Week 15

2009-07-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

How is everyone doing? Has Cade done football camp yet? What has everyone been up to? I get these emails once a week then any mail that has been sent to me i get only once a transfer, when we go to Rome. So Email me, cus i have no idea what you all have been up to, and i miss you guys like crazy! But anyways, I've had an awesome week, there have been a lot of fun things that have happened. We have been super duper busy teaching, the Lord has truly blessed us. We are kinda struggling though because were not getting much help from the members, which makes it hard because the city is so huge and we get stuck having to take take buses to all our appointments and can only plan so many lessons in a night. Things would be so much easier with a car, the Elders in the states are SO lucky to have them. Gloria the L'Aquila woman we have been teaching had her baptismal interview this last week and passed! We were kinda nervous that she wouldn't but everything went great and now were set to have her baptism this Friday evening. We are absolutely thrilled for her! I am giving a talk at her service on Baptism, and also doing a special musical number, with one of the sisters in our district who has an amazing voice. Her name is Sister Skabelund, and she is actually from Mesa too. And it turns out she knows Sgt. Pepper and Gooburr, and i guess her family is friends with the Judds. But yeah, were all set for the baptism, and should be having a few investigators coming which will be great. On Sunday we went to my first member dinner appointment, and it was a blast! they picked us up in this big van with no seats in it, so we sat on this little stools and held on for our lives. They live out in the country and so it was a crazy ride, ha ha oh man i wish i had my camera with me, we were cracking up the whole time! But it was so beautiful to see all the scenery on the way to their house. The rolling hills, and grape vineyards, it was so neat. When we got there we ate a huge meals then i played them some music on the guitar they had and i taught them all how to play the game Mafia. And don't worry, we weren't just playing around waisting time, they actually had 4 investigators over and after we played games we did a spiritual thought, and i told them all Jesse's story, and how blessed we all are for having the plan of salvation. It went really well, they should be coming to church on Sunday, and we are actually going to do some service out at the investigators house then have a BBQ this Saturday. On Monday we found a new investigator, named Morena. She is what you call a "Golden Investigator". We are so excited to teach her. the first time we met she asked all of the "golden questions", and wanted to know what it would take to be baptised. we couldn't believe it, ha ha she is such an amazing woman!On Monday we went to an Italian wedding which was so much fun to see. It was just like the movie My big fat Greek wedding! ha ha all the old Italian women all dressed up, with enough perform to smoke out a beehive, and all the younger women had super tight short dresses on with a ton of make up. Ha ha it was just like the movies. Well its the last week of the transfer already and we received our transfer call last night and received some pretty crazy news. They blew out the other companionship, and made our city a 2 Elder city! We couldn't believe it! IT means we take over all of their work, and investigators, and not only that we get our huge apartment to ourselves!ha ha which means all there food they just bought for the week and everything! Its going to be so nice to get everything to ourselves, but i have no idea how in the world we are going to handle so much work. they have 6 progressing investigators that we are now adding to our 13. We are planning on making an announcement in church to try to get some help from the members, cus its going to be impossible if some people don't step up and help. My biggest fear is being so busy that we forget about people and we end up losing investigators. I must admit though, it is a pretty great problem to be having, with almost too much work to handle. It is going to be a little weird with it just being me and my companion now, it was nice having other people to talk to during the day to kinda get a break but now its just us 2. I'm so glad my companion is such a great guy. well we definitely have our work cut out for us its 2 missionaries with stewardship over 4 hundred thousand people in our area. I'm so grateful to be here, Ive been having such an amazing time. I cant believe I'm already done with a whole transfer, i only have 15 left in my whole mission, and it will be time to come home. Time is going way to fast, i definitely am not going to waist a single moment while I'm here. I'm starting to Love these people, and don't want my time to end, i LOVE being a missionary!!!!!! Well i hope to hear from you all soon.
Love Anziano Koozer

Singing in Pescara Week 14

2009-07-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,
Thank you SO much Bailey, and Mom for the recipes you sent me! ha ha I am so sick of hot dogs and boiled eggs. It will be fun to try to figure out these recipes. Well I have had such a great week! I found out my new most favorite thing to do while we tract, can you guess?....I sing! ha ha oh man, it is so much fun! We just go palazzo to palazzo and I sing hymns to people and tell them I'm trying to learn Italian and it would help me learn by singing them a song. Then I sing them a hymn, and they are completely different people by the end of the song. That first instinctive wall they put up against us is instantly gone and they all the sudden want to talk about whatever we want to talk about. It has become such a wonderful tool for us, and I especially love it cus when I sing its like me bearing my testimony to them and it is so rewarding helping people feel the spirit.
This week we have found 4 families, and have begun to teach them. They are all such beautiful people and it is especially exciting cus they are all learning as whole families, MOM, Dad, and kids. One of the first few days I was here in the city we went and played soccer with some kids and we ended up getting to teach 2 brothers and yesterday we invited them to be baptised, and they said yes! and thank goodness the parents are completely great with it! The boys names are Roberto, and Andrea. They are 14, and 12, and we have set up there baptism for the 1st of August. We also have a set date for Gloria, the woman I challenged to be baptised, we are set for the 17th of this month. Its actually her birthday, and she is so excited! She is from Earthquake zone in L'Aquila, and has had some serious hard times since the earthquake, but is now ready to change her life. I can't even describe the happiness and joy I feel from seeing the change in peoples lives as we have the opportunity and privilege of teaching them. I know I've only been here for 3 weeks, but I've had some of the best times of my life, since I've gotten here. The work is going so great, the Lord is truly blessing us.
My companion has been getting a little trunky lately, so we have decided to set some really great goals that will help him finish his mission with a bang, and will help me start with a bang. Monday is the start of his last transfer and we have set the goal of 10 baptisms, before he goes home. ( As of right now he has zero from his whole mission) it has really helped him and I both focus. On Monday at district meeting I was given the assignment to teach the hour long lesson, so I taught about goals, how to set them, and how to reach them. It went really well. The district is excited to try it, and hopefully it will lead to more success in the city.
On Saturday we had a 4th of July party at the church and invited all the people from our English class to come. My companion and I were in charge of the hamburgers and hot dogs for the party, and ended up cooking 30 hamburgers and 40 hot dogs on our little stove in our kitchen, since we don't have a grill. Ha ha it was complete madness in our kitchen! We had a great turn out at the party, about 25 people came and none of them were members. We ate a ton of food, played ping pong, and sang songs and played games, and at the end had a spiritual thought and invited everyone to come to church the next day. It was a lot of fun, and even better was the next day at church seeing 7 new investigators from the class actually show up!
This last week was the closing ceremonies for the Olympic games here in Pescara. They had huge firework shows and big celebrations. It has been amazing to be here and to see all the excitement of it all. And it has actually helped us a ton, because when people see us in our white shirts and ties, they think were part of the games and come up and ask us questions. Ha ha at first we would just say no, that we were missionaries, and people would quickly walk away but after a while I just started saying yes and would talk to people for a while then tell them I was just kidding and they would laugh and keep talking to me. SO its been fun. The Italian people are so stinkin FUNNY! ha ha they have their own kind of humor here that i didn't really get at first but now that I'm starting to know the people better I love it, its so funny, especially the old men, they are the best.
But anyways, I was reading in the ensign from conference the other day and i saw Mike Conway in there, did you guys see that? I think he's with his new wife, it was just kinda cool to see. So I'm doing great, I'm healthy and happy, and having the time of my life. How is everyone at home doing? What have you all been up too lately? I miss you guys a ton and look forward to hearing from you soon!
Love , Anziano Koozer

Week 12 & 13

2009-07-01T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,
I finally made it to Italy! It has been such a crazy last 2 weeks. Last week when we came to email our families i typed out a 2 hour long email and went to send it and the church website i was on kicked me off and i lost the entire letter i had typed. I was so mad, and didn't have time to write a new one so now i have to try to catch everyone up.
OK, so the flight over was FOREVER LONG!!!! HAHAHA oh man! I am never going to complain about being carsick ever again. As we landed in Rome we were met by president and sister Acerson, and the assistants. We were absolutely wasted from the long flight and it was so hot and smoggy, and we had been in our suits for over 24 hours, and there was a constant fog of cigg smoke and terrible pictures on the walls everywhere i looked, and tons and tons of people running every direction speaking a language i had never heard before, i was guessing it was Italian! You could say I was experiencing just a little bit of culture shock! Haha i had spent the last 3 months sitting in a quiet classroom reading the scriptures and now i was in the real world, in Italy of all places. I think President was used to seeing the dazed look on the new missionaries as they got off the plane, cus he dint skip a beat. Everyone grabbed our bags for us and they quickly lead us out to the van. It was nuts as we walked outside. Cars were flying around doing whatever they wanted. I quickly learned that traffic laws in Italy are more like suggestions, and are usually just disregarded. Dad, you prob wouldn't function very well hear as a police officer, all they do is sit around and do nothing. You know how we have blond jokes in the US, well they have the same kind of jokes but for the police here. So the streets are pretty much just a free for all. Well the first place we went to was a pizzeria and i had my first real Italian Pizza. It was SOOO amazing!!
After we finished eating, the zone leaders took us on a tour of Rome by foot. We were pretty much running everywhere we went because there is so much to see and they wanted us to get to see most everything. So i had to just take pictures as we were running around. Everything here is just like the pictures and movies. It didn't even feel real, as we looked at some of the things we saw, it was incredible! Later that night we heading to the mission home and had a huge lasagna dinner, and took showers and relaxed. The mission home is amazing! They said its one of the nicest properties the church owns in Europe.
The next morning we had a big lunch with all the trainers and we did something called the golden transfer. Because it was my first transfer i got a golden envelope with the name of my city inside along with the name of my new companion/Trainer. We opened them all up 2 at a time in front of everyone and found out where we were going. I opened mine up and found out I would be serving in the city of Pescara, and my trainer would be Anziano Bennett. I was so relieved when i found out cus as we were talking during lunch him and i really clicked and i really wanted him to train me. They showed my on a map where pescara was and we packed up my things and we were off. Pescara is a beautiful city on the east coast, right on the Adriatic sea. We took another long trip by bus that was 4 hours long and finally arrived that evening around 7:30. The rest of my district was at the station waiting for me with a big chalk sign. There are 6 all together in my district, 4 Anziani and 2 Sorrelle. They took me to the city bus and we headed out for some gellato and more pizza! Hahaha oh man i am addicted! You can buy a whole pizza for only 3 Euro, and its amazing!
After we finished eating we walked to our apartment which turned out to be not even 50 yards from the pizzeria! The apartment is pretty nice but is was trashed inside, you could definitely tell it had been lived in by 4 college aged guys. But i was to tired to even care, i dropped my bags and said my prayers and crashed! For the next 4 days i was absolutely miserable but at the same time excited out of my mind. The jet lag caught up to me and i met my new worst enemy-the CITY BUS. I have never been so car sick in my entire life! We take the bus everywhere we go and my body was so tired and the jet lag wasn't helping and hearing the constant Italian made me SO sick. We did some super fun things though.
That Saturday we played calcetto, which is Italian soccer. It is played in a cage and its 5 on 5. Its way faster than normal soccer, and the Italians that play are incredible! We played with some members and with 2 investigators, and it was a blast! I actually did OK, i scored 3 times. It was so funny though cus no one here can say Koozer so the kids we were playing with called me Arnold Schwartzeneger, and I don't know why they can say his name and not Koozer, but that was officially my new name for the time we were playing. I never realized how small Italian really are, i feel like a giant here.
That night there was a baptism, and it was really exciting to watch, and to get to meet some of the members. We are super lucky here to actually have a ward. There are about 90 members that come every Sunday, and they are such great people! On Sunday i had to Give a lesson in Priesthood about the temple, and it actually went really well. I'm not sure how much they actually understood, but they acted like what i was saying made sense. I totally feel like the guy off of the best 2 years HAHAHA oh man I know i stick out like a sore thumb but oh well, I'll start to get things sooner or later.
On Tuesday we teach a free English class, and i was assigned to teach the beginners class, which is pretty much everything i just learned in the MTC. It was a blast! And at the end we brought everyone together and i sang to them. Hahaha i think everyone was a little surprised at the end, cus i didn't tell anyone that i liked to sing, but it went well and was super fun. That was pretty much my first week and a half, and for the rest of the week were just teaching everyday.
Haha oh ya i wanted to tell you about my first grocery shopping experience by myself. Well my trainer said we need to go get you some food since you missed shopping on P-day, so we went to the store. As we walked in I didn't recognize a single thing! It was all in Italian and it was completely different looking food than what i am used to, and my trainer dint help me with a single thing! So i ended up buying hot dogs, eggs, milk, Nutella, cookies, and a loaf of bread, and that was it. I had no idea what to get, i have never shopped for myself, or planned out meals for myself. Lets just say i completely STARVED my first week! Haaha oh my gosh i was so frustrated when it came to meal times and i saw all the other Anziani eating delicious food and i was stuck with my cookies and hot dogs, haha can you say self correcting error?!
But anyways, the work is going so well! We had a lesson with a woman named Gloria and i challenged her to be baptised and she said yes! I was scared out of my mind when i asked her and didn't even understand her response but i felt like i needed to say it so i did, and now we have a baptism coming up! It was amazing. I have been learning so much, my ear is starting to pick apart the Italian now and i can actually tell when when someone is asking me a question or tell me something. Haha i wish it would just come faster but i know I'll get it eventually. It is such a different world here, the people the culture, the foods the way things work, its has been such an adventure seeing all these new things, and trying so many new things. For example some old man in church came up and kissed me and called me beautiful child, it freaked me out but i guess its normal here, haha. But anyways things are going great, I'm finally used to the bus now i can ride it all day long and not get sick, and its getting funner and funner to talk to people as I'm learning more and more new words every day.
Mom is there any way you could email me some easy recipes, and maybe the directions for how to make that home made bread, and your super good enchiladas? I'm sick of hot dogs, and boiled eggs. Oh ya, there are Olympic games going on right now here in Pescara. I think they are called the Adriatic games. SO i think we are going to try to go watch some this week. I'm way excited. Well i have to go now i love you all so much, and will email you again next week.
Love ,Anziano Koozer

2009-06-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is Buddy's Mission President and wife, The Acerson's.
Sister Acerson sent this email and pictures...BLESS HER....I'm sure it will be a while before we see some pictures from Buddy! :0)

This is the group that came from the MTC assigned to Rome.

Anziano Koozer and his new companion, Anziano Bennett from Canada.

They are pointing to the area they have been assigned to serve, Pescara, Italy.

Image by francoventoso (www.websignature.it) via Flickr

Anziano Koozer in Rome at the Mission home.

Dear Brother and Sister Koozer,

We are so grateful to have your son serving in our mission! He is happy and confident and excited about talking to people already! In fact, they went out last night with the assistants to do a little tracting and talked to a man about the church. He came back so excited that he said he wouldn't be able to sleep! (Of course the next morning he said he was asleep within seconds.) He will be a great asset to our mission and we thank you for your sacrifice in letting him serve the Lord and the people here in Italy for the next 22 months.

I have attached some pictures of him that we took today: one with President Acerson and I, one with the group, one with his new companion, Elder Bennett from Canada, and a few others. He will be serving in Pescara across the peninsula from Rome and we know he will have great missionary experiences there.

I have also attached a document that will tell you how to mail letters and packages to him. If you have any questions about this or anything else, please feel free to email me.

Thank you for raising such a fine young man who is completely ready and prepared to serve.

Sincerely,
Sister (and President) Acerson

Anziano Koozer has arrived in Rome

2009-06-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hey Family,
I made it safely to Rome! It was a super long trip, but we arrived at around 12;30, and were met by the President, his wife, and the the 2 Area Presidents. They straight off took us to get some pizza and we just finished a tour of the whole city on foot! I took some way cool pictures and will try to send stuff by next week or two. But I love you and have to go, I have an interview with the president right now, so I'll email you next week.
Anziano Koozer

Koozer Family update

2009-06-12T01:31:00.000-07:00

I know I've kind of dedicated the last several entries to Elder Koozer....but really there are a lot of things happening in the lives of the rest of the Koozer family. School is out and summer is here.

Image by kevindooley via Flickr

All the boys did very well in school this year. Cade did football and lettered in track. He does the shot put and disk throw. He is working this summer and trying to complete his eagle. Hal started a new driving school here in Maricopa so Cade would get a discount with our insurance company. They don't have a driver's class at the school here and everyone was driving their kids into town - so you know Hal...what is better than a new business!! Well, Cade took his first class along with about 10 other students in Maricopa, and he passed his permit test the first time! He now has to finish his Eagle Project for Scouts before he can get his licence.

Image by acordova via Flickr

Dane worked hard at school this year while he played football, basketball and baseball. He was also involved in student council. He has been nominated for an academic - athletic achievement award. He will be taking golf lessons this summer.

Image via Wikipedia

Emmett got all A's all year!! He is so smart, we can't believe he belongs to us sometimes. Reality hit when he showed me his award the class voted on for him....that's right...."CLASS CLOWN"! Yep, he's a Koozer! Emmett played basketball this last year and this summer he will do flag football.

Cade and Dane already have gone to scout camp this summer. Emmett has scout day camp at the end of June. Hal has been called to the stake young men's presidency... over scouts, no less! I am still in young women's and will go to Mt. Lemon for girls camp this summer.

I guess the most exciting and crazy bit of news is.....I am going to be a grandma....aaaahhhh!

Image by soylentgreen23 via Flickr

I don't feel old enough to be a grandma. I am thrilled for Bailey and Wills - but I have been searching for a name other than, "grandma" to go by....grams, nanny, grammy, oh wow! I'm not sure any of them sound any younger! Hal and I are going to have so much fun with grand kids. What an exciting new chapter in our lives.

NEW flight plans

2009-06-12T00:43:00.000-07:00

SO we just received NEW flight plans again. And they are giving us permission to use our emails to let our families know that there have been changes again. Here is the new schedule.....We depart from the Salt Lake Airport at 7:10am on Tuesday the 16th, and Arrive in Chicago IL at 11:13am.

Image via Wikipedia

Our next flight Departs at 5:25 pm, and we'll arrive in London England on Wed. the 17th at 7:05 am.

Image via Wikipedia

We depart London at 9:15am, and arrive in Rome Italy at 12:40pm.

Image via Wikipedia

We'll be landing just in time for an Italian Feast! We'll stay the first night all together at the mission home which is actually one of the biggest Manors in Rome. Its a Mansion that was built for Mussolini's Son. HAHAHA i could hardly believe it when we found out today!! I can Hardly Wait!Depending on how much down time i have at the airport Tuesday morning in Salt lake i thinks that's when I'm gonna try to call the family, cus our paper work still says that we are to report to the travel office at 3:45am, and my plane doesn't leave till 7:10. If it turns out i don't have time ill just call in Chicago. But anyways things are going good here. Some of the younger Anziani have gotten sick and 4 have been taken to be quarantined. SO this morning i went into the Medical Center on Campus and pretty much demanded in a loving way that my group be given the medication that the infected people are getting, cus there is NO way I'm staying another 2-4 weeks if one of us gets sick before we are scheduled to leave. And surprisingly they gave it to us!I couldn't believe it! So many people have gone in asking for it so they wouldn't get sick and they were all turned away unless they tested positive. So our entire district is on what is known as the pill now, haha. But anyways, I'm healthy and happy and super excited to talk to everyone on Tuesday! I love you all. oh and please call Tia and let her know too! Thanks so much! Ciou Famiglia!!Love Anziano Koozer

Week 10

2009-06-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hey Family,It was great to get to talk to you mom and Emmett on Friday. Things have been kinda slow this week just a lot of personal study time. Our teachers are only allowed to have so many hours with us now cus they are teaching the new Anziani that just came in, so we only see a teacher now for about 4 hours, as apposed to our normal 8-10. It has been great though to work on all the things i feel i personal need to work on. Our official flight plans have been given to us, and i am so excited!!! We leave the 16th and head to Atlanta, then straight from there to Rome! I'm going to try to call everyone in the Morning from Salt Lake if i have time. Cus we report to the travel office at 3:45 in the morning , and our flight doesn't leave till almost 8:00. SO i should have time to call the Family and visit for a while. I have learned so much this last week, and am really grateful for the opportunity to stay here and learn all the things i have. Well i miss everyone and will talk to you all on the 16th!!Love Anziano Koozer

WEEK SWINE

2009-06-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,Well it turned out that thank goodness no one in our district has the swine flu. last night we went and were tested and it turns out that the 5 in our group all just have a pretty good cough, and cold. We also found out that over 30 people have been diagnosed with the flu, but only 3 have been found to have the Swine flu. The MTC is the absolute ideal place to spread bugs, and sickness. There are over 2000 missionaries who are all eating 3 times a day and touching the exact same things, and who are meeting in large group meetings 2 to 3 times a week. So what have seemed like simple seasonal sicknesses have spread like wildfire and now that the Swine flu has been found in the mix the first presidency has had to shut us down immediately, because the last thing the church wants to do is is be responsible for spreading Swine flu across the entire world. So yesterday when i found out we were not flying out, i have to admit I was pretty dang mad. Every one was completely packed up and just waiting for the day to be over so we could get going. And then we found out that the date had been pushed back even farther to the 15th, and it absolutely crushed me! A week is one thing but 2 weeks was just too much. Time is different here in the the MTC, a week is really like 3 weeks in the real world, cus all we do is sit in the same class all day long from 7:30am to 9:30pm, and by the of the day our heads are ready to explode! So the 15th was the last thing i wanted to hear. We were sent back to the room early last night to unpack our things and to relax cus our teachers didn't have anything prepared for us cus they found out after we did, and i was in a terrible mood. I was SOOO mad, and frustrated, and i didn't feel good, and all i wanted to do was to be out of the MTC. After I grudgingly unpacked my bags and cleaned up my room, I just laid on my bed totally defeated. And laying there I realized i was feeling something that i hadn't felt for a really long time.... I didn't have the spirit with me. I felt completely alone, even though there were 3 other missionaries in the room, there was an emptiness inside of me, and i couldn't stand it. I immediately got off my bed and fell on my knees and i prayed to Heavenly Father for forgiveness. I prayed and prayed and prayed until i could start to feel the spirit with me again, and i pleaded with Heavenly Father for the companionship of the Spirit. As i finished my praying i apologized to the other elders in my room, for all my complaining, and for my previous bad attitude. I realized that the extra time that i have been given is such a blessing. Now i have the opportunity to sit down and write out another set of goals to better myself over these next 2 weeks and to become an even better missionary for the Lord. I can better my language, and teaching skills, i have the opportunity to do so much more that i would have never gotten the chance to do. I know it would have been great to be in Rome tomorrow but i know that we are being held longer for a reason. I know that there are reasons that i cannot see for me having to stay longer, and i so grateful for the opportunity to get to better myself. I love you all, thank you so much for all the support you have given me. Mom thank you so much for the awesome picture book you sent me and for the calling card its exactly what i needed. well I'm out of time, but i love you and look forward to getting hearing more from everyone these next 2 weeks. Love Anziano Koozer

2009-06-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone its Mon. night and the absolute worst thing has happened. Swine Flu has hit the MTC and we are now on lock down. I was scheduled to leave tomorrow morning at 4am, but ALL out going Missionaries are being held here till at least the 15th. The date may be pushed back even farther as more and more missionaries are being infected. The number is well over twenty and they are starting to quarantine entire buildings now. NO one goes in and no one goes out and food is just dropped off to them. Its absolutely terrible! So please pray for us. Our district might be where it started. 5 missionaries including myself are being sent in to be tested tonight, because we are all starting to get sick. I'm so sorry i wont get to talk to everyone tomorrow, I'm super bummed, but i will get to email since it is my P-day, if it turns out I'm not infected. Well my time is up for now but i love you all and will keep you posted. PS- Please call Tia and let her know for me. thanks i love you.Anziano Koozer

week 8

2009-05-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!How is everyone doing? Thank you so much for the letters you send me every week, its great to hear that there is still a real world out side of the compound. Things have been going great here! I got my flight plans this last Thursday, and i am SOOO pumped!! We leave Tues. morning at 4:00am, and land in Rome at 12:30 in the afternoon. Umm yeah can any one say Dramamine? I have a hard time driving to River Bend, I have no idea how I'm going to stomach such a long flight. But i sent a bunch of pictures in the mail today, along with my flight plans so you all can see and check it all out. I'm pretty excited because we stop in London, and have a 2 hour layover. I also have a 4-5 hour layover in Chicago, which is when i want to call everyone. I talked to our Mission president and he actually recommending we call in the airport while were waiting. SO i would love to talk to the whole family, but i need you to to do one thing, i need you to try to get me a calling card by Monday. SO if your going to mail it, it needs to be in the mail by Thursday morning. I would love to talk as long as you'd like so try to get an hour or more and that way i could talk to everyone. If things don't work out don't worry, I'm sure i could find a change machine or a phone that takes a debt card. So that's pretty much been the big exciting news this last week. Yesterday i taught in the TRC for the last time, and i taught the second lesson in Italian. It was such an amazing experience. We have been working SO hard this week to make our last teaching experience a good one. We even made a sweet puzzle to go with the lesson. All i want is to get to the point where i don't have to think about how I'm going to say things, but rather what I'm going to say. And this time in the TRC, that's exactly whats happened. I been praying so hard this last week for help with the language, and i can testify to you all that God's hand really is in all all that we do. As we went in to our teaching appointment we prayed as a companionship before, then i said a prayer in my heart and Asked heavenly Father to fill my mouth as i made the effort to teach his Gospel, and we went in and taught the best lesson I've ever taught here. Not because of me, or because of my companion but because the lord Filled my mouth and guided our lesson by the Holy Ghost. I have never ever ever understood or or spoke the language like i did in that lesson, not once did i get stuck looking for a word in Italian. It was such a testimony builder to me. But my times out so i need to go go but i love you all. Anziano Koozer

Week 7

2009-05-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

Ciao Famiglia!Hey how is everyone doing!? Ive been doing great. Thank you so much for the letters you sent me, they totally made my day! I'm sorry i didn't get to call on Mothers Day, I guess they don't have enough phones here or something, or at least that's what they told us. I hope you had a wonderful Mothers day Mom, i love you. This week has been a pretty great week. On Tuesday night ELder Russle M. Neilson came and visited us. We have been so incredibly lucky, because we've gotten 3 apostles since I've been here! usually missionaries are lucky to get one. So yeah, he came and spoke about the importance of our call and we worked on meeting people with enthusiasm, and good character. I really enjoyed listening to him speak. Yesterday i taught the 2nd lesson in Italian to an investigator in the TRC. It wasn't as scary this time but i still struggled through it. My companion and i sat down last night and set goals that we want to achieve before we leave the MTC, and also set weekly and daily companionship and personal goals. I really think it will help us bang through these last 2 weeks. I'm so thrilled that i get my flight plans this Thursday. But at the same time there is a sense of urgency in everything i do now. I only have 2 more weeks to learn everything i can, and then its game time! And I thought it was a rush waiting for a football game....haha yeah I'm starting to get pretty darn nervous! Dane keep up the Piano i know its not fun to practice, but i promise it will pay off. Emmett how are your classes going, are you going to get straight A's again this year? Cade how did track season go? that is so exciting you get to Toro Camp! Just totally bust it every practice and you'll do great! And yes soccer is actually really hard, and takes a TON of running. I usually don't touch the ball much, and just run around and push people over who have the ball then pass it to a good player. My district loves it when i play Defense for them. But of course now that I'm a missionary i Pick up the people i go against and give them a hug and apologize if they fall over. haha but anyways i love you all and hope things are going good for everyone! keep the letters coming! PS. oh yeah i blessed the sacrament in Italian this week it was so Cool!Love Anziano Koozer

week 6

2009-05-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!Its been another week in the MTC, and I'm starting to Get cabin fever!!!!!Ahhhh get me out of here! hahaha oh man i just want to be in Rome RIGHT NOW! But only 3 more weeks, and in 2 weeks ill have my flight plans. Everything has been going great , i taught in Italian for the second time yesterday to an investigator in the TRC, and it actually went really well! the spirit was so strong while we were teaching. The man starting crying, and i just hope it wasn't my terrible Italian. But its amazing how much we've been learning, especially with the help of the spirit. You all know me, i brown nosed my way through high school, but now I'm speaking and teaching in Italian after 6 weeks! I realized here i actually need to learn, and not just Kiss up, But it will be nice when i can brown nose in Italian, haha hopefully it will get me in some doors. ok, so mom i got your email, and I'm doing good with the money, and when we get ready to leave, they help us exchange for euro at the airport. So no worries about money. All the older Anziani have left and were the oldest now and its really weird and so exciting at the same time. We get a new group in tomorrow and hopefully we'll get some Romans. The majority of all Anziani are going to Mulan, its about a 5/1 ratio. Oh yeah, on Tuesday Elder M Russell Ballard came and spoke to us and he told us we were to email you this week mom and dad and tell you thank you on behalf of the first presidency and the quorum of the twelve. He gave an amazing talk. It was about having a fire of a desire to serve the Lord and to spread the gospel to the world. I was so fired up by the end!! he should make special guest appearances and speak to football teams before they play, haha he's awesome! But anyways i love you all and hope all is well. I miss you guys like crazy, but I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord. Keep the letters comin!Love Anziano Koozer

week 5

2009-05-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

From:
Charl Koozer (Toro97@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Tue 5/05/09 7:11 AM
To:
hmkoozer@msn.com
Hey Everyone!Thank you so Much mom, bailey, and pheobe for the awesome package you dropped off for me! my new favorite snack is Reeces dipped in Nutella! hahaha oh man im gonna be so fat if i keep this up in Italy! But anyways, everything has been gowing great, my classes are getting pretty hard. The teachers only teach in Italian now, and if were caught speaking English in class its 5 pushups a Word. hahaha lets just say ive gotten pretty dang strong! I taught my first discussion in Italian yesterday to an "Investigator" at the TRC. I was scared out of my mind but its actually wasn't too terrible. I love this Gospel so much and one of my favorite things is teaching it. But in Italian its so frustrating because i cant answer the questions they ask yet. Not becuase i dont know the answer its just i dont know how to say it in Italian. Oh yeah all us Italian's have been getting soccer lessons out at the big field. I used to think that soccer was a wussy sport buts its AWESOME! haha man its actually really hard, and super competetive! But yeah they are teaching us becuase every P-day in the mission fied the missionaries have Soccor time were the community is invited to come play soccer with the missionaries and they use to find investigators and to get to know the community better. And i guess the last few missionaries that have arrived in Italy have had no idea how to play and the Natives have been getting kinda frustrated. So now its part of our MTC ciriculum. Its so Awesome! But everything has been going good. I love you all and hope everyone is doing good. I love you all!oh ya P.S.- Iplayed the Piano in Sacrament meeting this last Sunday, and actually pulled it off. haha they are pretty desperate for someone who can play the piano. But For now im it.... haha yeah should have practiced those hymns more!Love Anziano Koozer

My MTC experience

2009-04-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

pictures from MTC

2009-04-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Letter and pic's from Buddy 4/23/09

2009-04-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

Bongiono Famiyla!
Hey family! How is everyone? Thank you so much for the package, it was great! So this week has been so awesome! On Monday my companion and I taught the first lesson again to an "investigator" in the teaching center. It went so good! Now that we actually know the material and the scriptures it makes things so much fun! I've learned that it is not just spitting out a bunch of information, but finding out the needs and questions of the person you are teaching - teaching them according to their needs. I've also learned and am still working on teaching through the spirit and consistently testifying of every principle I teach. It is amazing how powerful a tool the spirit is and what a blessing. After the Teaching Center, we were taken to the Referral Center for the first time. The Referral Center is a big room filled with computers and phones and people all over the world call and ask questions about the church and what we believe. We can also send missionaries and free materials and church media to peoples homes. We all got a 5 min. tutorial on how to use the program then we were kicked into the system. The first couple of calls were SO scary! HAHA I completely froze up on the first one and just hung up on a lady. I felt so stupid! My teacher called the lady back and answered her questions, and sent missionaries to her house. He was just laughing at me!
On Tuesday, I had the 2 coolest experiences ever! My companion and I decided to go back to the referral center for round 2. So we jumped on the phone and I almost immediately received a call. I answered the phone and it was a woman, and she started telling me how she had been praying for an answer and then she saw the commercial for the church on the t.v. and called. She said God answered her prayers by showing her the commercial and she asked me why she was crying when she saw it. I testified that it was the Holy Ghost testifying to her that she needed to become a member of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ. I asked her if she would be baptized...and she said "Yes!!" I couldn't even believe it! I would have never said anything about baptism, my job is to answer peoples simple questions. I know I was prompted to say what I did, these weren't my words! So anyways, I sent missionaries to her home with all the information of our conversation on the phone, and last I found out she has agreed to be baptized. It was such a testimony builder to me!
THEN... That night, my companion and I felt like going early to our fireside. We showed up and sat in the 3rd row. We thought it was strange that the speakers name was not posted like usual. Then some guy got up right before it should start and said, "for those of you who have never done this before, when the Prophet or an Apostle enters the room, you stand in silence." and right then there was an explosion of excitement in the room! They quieted the room, then walked in Elder Jeffery R. Holland! I couldn't even believe my eyes! As soon as I saw him my heart started racing and I could feel the power that man held just by looking at him. He walked in and shook hands of everyone on the front row then smiled and waved at everyone else. He gave the most powerful speech I have ever heard in person. He is actually in charge of the whole missionary program, and is one of the most passionate people I have ever seen when it comes to the gospel and esp. missionary work. I have a study journal that I've been keeping and I have 3 pages of notes just from one hour of speaking. By the end of his talk, there was not a dry eye in the entire room, he had almost every missionary bawling. After the meeting, our district met in our classroom and had another hour meeting just about the notes we took and what we felt. I will never forget my experience of seeing an Apostle of God. Oh and earlier that day we had gone to the Temple and did a session, it was so great!
I just can't even believe how strong the Spirit is here at the MTC. I LOVE IT! My classes are getting really tough in Italian. They totally load it on every single day. I am slowly starting to get it. On Thursday we had a huge snow storm! I am so disappointed cus we were going to use the field next week, but there is no way we will now! It was a complete white out! Thursday morning I saw DJ Lemieux when I was walking to breakfast. I guess he is a teacher here now. It was cool to see him. At the gym last week, I jumped on the super cool digital heavy duty scale, and I have gained 10 pounds!! HAHA I think the buffet 3 times a day and the sitting all day long is starting to catch up to me! My companion and I have decided to only eat one entree a meal now, and no more ice cream in the mornings. Hopefully that works!! I hope you like the pictures - I am having so much fun here. Thanks for the letters - keep um comin!
Love, Anziano Koozer
P.S. Make sure Tia sees these pictures!

Week 3

2009-04-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

week 3‏
From:
Charl Koozer (Toro97@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Tue 4/21/09 6:19 AM
To:
hmkoozer@msn.com
Bongiorno Famiglia!!Hey How is everyone doing? Im doing great! I have a long letter and a bunch of pictures that im gonna send in the mail. They give us a ton of time on sundays to write letters so if there is any way you could just tpye out the letters you get and post those on the blog or whatever, it might be a little more interesting for everyone, cus im terrible at typing, and dont really have time to email all the cool stuff. But anyways, i had to go get my last shot this last wed. and it cost 67 bucks! but now at least im totaly done with all my immunizations. I have my first baptism! all the details will be in the letter you get, hahaits so awesome! oh and i got to meet Jeffery R Holland too, he came and gave us the unabridged version of his talk from conference, and also taught us about missionary work. It was absolutely amazing!Classes are going a lot better, things are finally starting to click. I have to teach the first discussion this next week in Italian to a volunteer investigator in a scenario that is set up for me and my companion. im super nervous about it, but im sure ill get it down. SO like most of the Italian zone is leaving today. they are shipping out 23 Anziani, and Sorelli. The majority of them are going to Mulan. Its gonna be so wierd to be be the older group now. We should get a new batch of Anziani tomrow. But yeah i found out from the group leaving that when we get to the airport we have time to call our family and friends!!! i couldn't believe it, but our mission pres. said its ok for us to call and say goodbye to anyone we like before we take off to Italy. I thought , if we were going to be able to call it would just be family. So we'll have to make sure you guys are near a phone the day im flying out. We also got the weight and size requirments for flying to Italy, and im almost positive im gonna have to ship a bunch of stuff home. My carry on can only be 15 pounds if i go through Germany! But anyways i love you all and hope everything is going good! Loro l'amore, Anziano Koozer! Ciau

Week 2 for Anziano Koozer

2009-04-14T13:19:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone!Ya i got your email reply, but i would kinda prefer a written letter something cus im on the clock just reading my mail. this computer kicks me off in 30 minutes. But anyways, thank you SO much for the awesome package!!! i was attacked from everyone in my dorm as soon as i walked in with it. But Yeah my companions name is Anziano Poulson, he is prob more normal than i am, he's a really great guy with an awesome testimony. i love working with him! Classes have been getting pretty intense, my teAcher told us in the 9 weeks were here were are taught the cirriculum of 4 semesters or 2 years of a lanquage class taught at BYU. Its a total system overload by the end of the day. But i love the constant spirit i feel here and for the the oportunity i have to be serving the lord. You should have a letter coming in the mail today or tomorow. they give us time to write letters on sundays so thats what i think im gonna start doing from now on. I hope you guys had a great EAster, i missed being there to look for my basket. But hey i got to hurry and get off cus im the one typing this time and my time is almost out. but i love you guys SO much and really miss you alot. I hope everything is going good for the family, and oh yeah, tell dad im stepping it up and am being a team leader! Thanks again for everything, i love you! Anziano Koozer

Communications with Bud

2009-04-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

I have another site to look at if you want to see Buddy's letters. It is called MissionSite.net/elderkoozer/main - I will post his pictures and letters here each week. I did post his email on this site, however he said he would prefer to get letters through the mail or through http://www.dearelder.com so he does not have to spend his one hour of computer time reading his emails -( he says he is slow at typing and needs that time to type emails.) Dearelder.com is a great site because if you are like me, you don't always have stamps and envelopes around anymore. This site lets you type your letter and they print it and send it. While he is in the MTC he will usually get it the same day. If you will send me your email address I will put you on the list to get an email when I post anything new on http://www.missionsite.net/elderkoozer/main.

Anziano Koozer at the MTC

2009-04-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

It was snowing and cold in Provo as we prepared to leave Buddy at the MTC. We spent the morning with him doing sealings in the Provo Temple. Because of the storm outside and the warmth of the spirit at the Temple, we choose to stay there for lunch. We went straight down the hill to the MTC where things were run like clock work. They tell you exactly where to park, walk, drop off luggage, take pictures, which door which person goes into and they have kleenex sitting out everywhere and people directing you down each hallway. Complete order- like they have done this a few times. It really invited the spirit and made what could be and should be very hard, a bit more comforting.

MTC Address for Elder Koozer until June 2, 2009

2009-04-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

This is the official address of Elder Koozer. This is the one they handed us when we dropped him off. That was a crazy experience. We were so excited and happy for him and at the same time it was so hard to let him go. I started crying when they sat us down right in front of the sign that said, "Families Exit Here"....everyone had told me about that sign and now I had to look at it the whole time. We sang "Called to Serve" and Hal and I cried. Buddy sang and just looked straight ahead. After a short meeting about where they would need to be later in the day, they told us to hug our missionaries and it was best to treat it like a band aide and do it quick. I kept sending Buddy to hug his Dad one more time and he would turn back around to go and I would hug him again. He finally caught on to my tactics and said, "Mom, I've got to go!" I let him go and watched him push his way through the crowd to the "Missionaries Exit Here" sign. He did not look back. He was focused just like he was when he was going out to play a big game. I also think he did not want to cry. I love him and miss him, but the spirit is strong and I know helping me through this.

Elder Charl Ron Koozer
MTC Mailbox #223
ITA-ROM 0602
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

Buddy's first e-mail from the MTC 4-7-09

2009-04-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!So ive survived week one of the MTC! This has been such an amazing week. Im in classes all day long which has been a big adjustment. But the spirt is so strong every where we go. I love my new companion and the othe elders in my room. I can already pray, and bear my testomy in Italian, and we have already taught the first discussion. I have a really fun district, and my teachers are great. Its going to be kinda weird getting use to this computer thing, my companion is actuly typing this letter, haha ya. Next week ill try to download some pictures, cause im running out of time. But i love you all and hope everything is going well. Anziano Koozer

Elder Koozer's Mission address

2009-03-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks again to every one who has helped us to get to this point. We are grateful for all our friends and family for the support in every way. We had a wonderful gathering last Sunday for Buddy's Farewell. We will never forget the crowd we stuffed into this Maricopa house!
We will be taking Buddy to the MTC in Provo on Tuesday Morning. He will check in on Wednesday at Noon. He will be in the MTC for nine weeks. This is his address there and I'm sure he would love to hear from everyone during his stay:

Elder Charl Ron Koozer
Italy Rome Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604

There is a great and easy way to send things to missionaries in the MTC.
Check out dearelder.com!

Get well Soon Taylor

2009-03-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Taylor (one of my young women who is also in Hal's seminary class) was in a bad car accident this week with her brother,Cameron. They were on their way to school on Monday when it happened. They were both life flighted out to two different hospitals. They have been through some rough and scary days as we have been watching and waiting to see small improvements each day now. Cameron is home with some broken vertebra, and Taylor is still in the hospital with a broken pelvis and some other complications. They were really worried about her because she did not respond the whole first day after the accident. I did get to run up to see her Tuesday morning, and she hugged me and Hal, and quietly told us of her memory of the accident. A very spiritual experience that I am sure will give her the strength to endure this trial she will now face as she will have to take the time to recover. We want to wish her and Cameron a speedy recovery and send them all our love. We are here for you! I know all the girls in ward are fasting and praying for you and your family at this time. Good luck!

These are some cute pictures I had of Taylor and Jen and Madison when they came to my house to make this great cake for a YW recognition night. We had a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday Jolene!

2009-03-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Jolene!

This is Jolene George. Since the first day that I moved out here to Maricopa,
she has been amazing. She calls me her best friend and I really needed one. I have always
been very close to my sisters - and I still am - but when I moved further away then I have ever been
from any of them....I was feeling lonely. Knowing she would include me with her circle of friends so willingly was so kind. Then when I realized how thoughtful and kind she is, I am so proud to call her my best friend. We have had a blast the past several months. Our families have so much fun together. Jolene and I work out together, we go walking (she even puts up with me taking big Louie - our great dane). Our kids are in sports together, so we get to hang out and cheer and take pictures. We help each other with events at church and when our husbands are around, we are usually laughing continually. Jolene is so organized and crafty. She is so talented and caring. She is also fun and spontaneous. We can call them at any time of day and make instant plans for dinner or a trip into town or a FHE. I just can't say enough good about her and her family. She makes me happy and I want to wish her a very Happy Birthday!

Kevin's Fan Club

2009-03-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

We all had a great time at the game. So much family and fun!

Phoebe and Baby Ruth

Family at Kevin's Game

2009-03-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

Birthday Memories '09

2009-03-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

2009-03-09T12:28:00.000-07:00

2009-03-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

A night made for a couple of princesses, and a lot of other crazy family!(whom I could never live without!)

2009-03-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

Birthday celebration in New Mexico. An all night drive to Sarah's house with all my crazy sisters, my nephew Josh and we met my brother there too.

2009-03-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

All these smiles are just proof of all the fun shared at mine and Sarah's birthday celebration!

Birthday

2009-03-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

Christmas 08 in Mexico

2009-01-20T20:56:00.000-08:00

There might have been a little monkeyin' around...but for the most part, we all worked hard.

Buddy and Daniel's first lesson on laying block. Then we had to build the house.

We had to move alot of block around for the guys who were laying it.

Hal was always concerned that it was not straight! (and he was right)

The kids had to keep turning the mud and keeping these boards full for the block layers.

Dane actually got to try laying block. No one in America would let kids on their work site - let alone give them a tool...the kids learned a lot and can really appreciate the hard work and talent that goes into building a home.

Cade filled bucket after bucket for most of the day. He is such a hard worker.

Christmas 08 in Mexico was amazing. We were not sure what expect, but our plans were to not give our kids any gifts this year and instead take them to Mexico to help build homes for the homeless members of the church in Mexico. When we went to church on Sunday at the branch, there must have been 150 visitors that had come to work on the same week from Utah and Arizona. They asked if Dane and a couple other boys who were with us could pass the sacrament. We were happy to help. The boys had a hard time keeping track of where to start and continue after they had to keep getting new trays of water. After the meeting the boys told us that they were reusing the sacrament cups each time they brought the trays back for more water. It really made us realize that helping to build these homes were no small thing. These sweet people could not even afford extra sacrament cups, let alone a home. Our efforts along with all the building materials were all donated. I'm not sure how it was all done, but I know Ralph Pew heads it up through his company. They have spent many years building several homes in the area. All they ask of the members is that they help build the next one.

Well it was not hard to enjoy the holidays in this beachfront property. What made it even more enjoyable was the company. Curt and Alison Brown and family, the Cowley's, and the Allen's. With our family, there were about 40 of us that shared this house. It was huge and beautiful. When we were not playing on our own beach or deep sea fishing, we spent our time building homes for some local LDS families.

Blue Man Group Show....looking back...

2008-12-15T21:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I told myself I was going to try to just blog about current things in my life. I know if I start trying to go backwards, I'll never catch up or keep up with all the great things that go on around here every day! I could not resist some of these great memories....so before the year is over, I want to share some great highlights!Dancing in Las Vegas with Blue man Group!
Cade...speechless, and the blue man said nothing.

They are very curious!

We will just say, if you haven't seen this show, there is an unexpected ending!

It took us a while to dig out! We were laughing so hard. We really had to dig to find everyone.

We were in the front row, wearing plastic, we were covered in paint and other STUFF . This TP started in the back of the room and all ended up in the, yes you guessed it,

FRONT ROW!

This was such a great memory. It was a spur of the moment decision to take the whole family to a National weight lifting competition that Buddy qualified for. We surprised the kids with this Vegas show - not because we are big fans of Blue Man - but because there are not too many shows you can take all your kids to in Vegas. We came home big FANS!

It was LOUD, it was FUNNY, it was CRAZY, it was STICKY, there was TALENT , CREATIVITY, SHOWMANSHIP, MUSIC, a lot of BEATING DRUMS, and most of all and best of all,

FAMILY!

You have to live for the MEMORIES!

2008-12-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

This is our latest picture of the family. It was taken at Bailey's Wedding in June. I guess it still wouldn't hurt to have another one done before Buddy leaves on his mission. Everyone keeps growing so fast I can hardly keep up!

Family PIC

2008-12-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

This is an older Family Picture. This was taken in 2007 I believe. This was taken in Pinedale,AZ at the Pearce family reunion. I am looking for an updated one.

Meet GooBurr

2008-12-10T15:45:00.000-08:00

This is GooBurr the clown. Here he is at a family reunion with a bunch of other clowns, I mean kids.

World clocks

2008-12-08T22:02:00.000-08:00

I have posted two clocks on my blog. One for Arizona time and one for Italy. Buddy Koozer, soon to be Elder Koozer has received his mission call to Rome, Italy and will leave on April 1, 2009. This is mine and Hal's 21st anniversary(no joke).

"Be thou an example of the believers...

2008-12-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

"Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation,in charity, in spirit, in faith, and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12

I'm one of the leader's in the Young Women's organization in our Ward. With the new year just around the corner, I've been busy getting some binders put together for the girls. I want them to be ready to plan out their new year and make new goals to work on for 2009. The picture on the front of the binder is one I actually took myself here in Phoenix. I was at a football game (of course) for Cade when he played for the CRUSH. This picture does not do it justice, but I wrote the theme for 2009 on it, and made copies for all the binders.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-08T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here is Marc without Jolene. (I knew I should have been taking the pictures instead of Emmett.) Marc and Jolene George are our brand new Maricopa friends. We love them and have a lot in common. We could not believe it when we figured out that they had been great friends with My sister Carrie and her family for years when they lived in Mesa. They came by to see us and their old friends the Merrill's.

Melissa and her daughter (from Hal's squad)

Thanksgiving 2008 was full of FOOD, FAMILY, AND FUN!! All the Mann Family, and a few new Maricopa friends, Melissa and her daughter and Jolene and Marc George, had a wonderful time eating, playing, visiting, and of course singing, Wednesday night at our dinner party. Several cousins and friends spent the night and were here for the fun on Thursday as well.

YES - good one Cade!

"Hey, I'm open!"

"Mom, they won't let us play!"

Can't touch this!

Are the teams even?

Thursday Morning those who stayed the night, got up early for the 1st Annual Cop Turkey Trot and canned food drive. Well my boys went -signed in -walked around the block to go to the football game they had planned.

Yes, this was the kind of company we kept all night!

Mom holding newest Grandaughter - Blakley.

These two have way too much fun!

Of course, the men in front of the boob tube! It kept them out of the kitchen for a while.

Our lady pool sharks.

The video game/band room. We had a little bit of EVERYTHING going on - all at the same time of course!

Dad and Wills - deciding on the best pie!( pictures by Emmett )

Phoebe, Mom, Bailey, and Hillary busy in my kitchen on Thanksgiving Eve. A lot of FOOD!

K5

2008-12-03T16:15:00.000-08:00

This is just a silly clip of some home movies of K5 and the stage we built them at our home in Mesa. They have all worked very hard to create the K5. They have even made a CD that we gave out last year for Christmas gifts.

2008-12-03T15:51:00.000-08:00

This is Jesse Brooks Koozer. She passed away December 26,1999. She was Seven going on 17. She has Spina bifida and made it through 43 major surgeries in her short life. She rode around in this little red wheel chair and loved life. We sure miss her especially around Christmas time.

I do have this beautiful daughter. Bailey just got married in June 2008 to Wills Jolley. Bailey sings and plays the Bass guitar in our Family Band K5. She works for the ASU police department in records and also attends ASU. She wants to be a writter. Wills is a wonderful guy who also sings and plays the piano. He is 6 foot 7 and play ice hockey -TRUE- He is attending ASU as well. We love how he takes care of our Bailey.

2008-12-03T15:18:00.000-08:00

Cade playing for Maricopa Rams! Father and Sons Camp out.

Cade and Dane are trying to show their Grandma that they feel left out, and she needs to keep painting!

Buddy at Toro Football Camp his SR. year.

Cade cliff jumping.

Dane and Emmett above and Buddy and Emmett going up for more!

When I say fun and full of energy, I really mean it. Here are just a few things these boys like to do...

2008-12-03T15:06:00.001-08:00

These are my four boys. Buddy, Cade, Dane, and Emmett. They are fun and full of energy. This is a picture of them at Box Canyon last year when they went hiking and cliff jumping.

My December "NEW YEARS RESOLUTION"

2008-12-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

I have spent the last month reading all my friends blogs. I have done a terrible job keeping a journal over the past several years. I have looked back on my journal pages and they usually have one entry in January with the resolution of keeping up with my journal. I have wanted to use all the pictures I love to take and keep a history of this KOOZER KLAN! So now I begin to blog.