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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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