Working with the Members!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

Better late than never!

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

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

week ? stopped counting

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

Week 18

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

Family

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

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

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

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

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

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