Elder Guzzo does a mean as Haka

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hey momma! so another great week in the Australia Perth Mission. we found 4 more investigators and 3 investigators were at church yesterday! ahh it was so amazing to see them show up! and two of them are the girls I told you about and they walked like a mile and a half just to come to church! so cool! big things are happening this week I can feel it! the culture night was so good!! we had about 500 total people show up and half were non members, so it was so good to have them there! okay our haka was soo mean if you get on you tube and search merriwa and mindarie culture night it should pop up and if there are a bunch look for the new zealand group! I have our haka on my camera but I dont think I can send it over email but I'll try.. but yeah over all the culture night was a HUGE success! 

(Elder Guzzo does the haka at about the 10 minute mark. He's on the far left hand side of the screen. You can see his missionary name tag at the top of his shirt and the white strings of his sweatpants if you need help finding him)





I'm so happy for carson. hearing that he is leaving this week strengthens my testimony so much! about half my ward is from aukland and from the way they make it sound he is going to LOVE it there and the people! good on him. there is no place guys our age should be than on a mission.

I heard byu lost to utah...that sucks! there is a guy in the ward who really likes gridiron so he keeps me updated! oh gridiron is what they call american football because football out here is rugby.
okay so a girl in my ward is on her way to provo as we speak she is going to argentina buenos ares north mission!! haha but her name is ... and she will be there for 6 weeks so will you send her a package? hahah just like candy and drinks and typical stuff but the MTC is rough and she is far from home and I think that a few packages would really be nice! like some sweet tooth fairy cookies or whatever but yeah will you do that for me? thanks.

Dad- yo yeah I know I heard we lost what is going on?? how is the qb? this guy in my ward follows american football and keeps me posted. we had a super good week found 4 more investigators and had 3 of them were at church so yeah a solid week. the culture night was awesome as well! so a big thing i have learned is that missionary work needs the members! the members are so crucial to helping people convert. I know back home everyone is pretty much lds but I know you know a lot of non-members through the gym and work! have you shared the gospel with them? I know it's hard and might not always be appropriate to share your beliefs but if you get the chance take it. In your prayers ask for opportunities to share the gospel, and when they show up don't hold back! I promise you sharing the gospel is one of the most exciting things you will ever do. so I invite you do that! this week think of people you know that you could share the gospel with and think of ways to make it happen! willl you do that? I know if you do, you will see a positive change in your testimony! I love you dad. thanks for everything!

ah grandma and grandpa. tell them I love them and miss them soo much! I feel like is was last week I was living in their basement. life happens so fast! I'm almost done being trained. holy cow! haha so somone was telling us that it has been the rainest september in western australia since 1971! I love being on my bike for that! haha! it's all good- when we work through things like that the lord blesses us. It's been the rainest the past two weeks but we have found 9 new investigators so it all works!

but yeah that's me for this week. I'll shoot some pics through as well. I haven't gotten any hand written mail lately so hopefully this week? I don't know? I love this gospel and I love all of you!! -elder guzzo

Hurrah for Israel!

HELLO EVERYONE!

Another GREAT week to be a missionary in western australia! haha another wet week as well but its all good! okay so this week was so amazing! elder pula and I found 5 new investigators this week! OH MY GOSH. I know this probably isn't a big deal in some missions especially to my south american homies but down under its a BIG DEAL! hahaha hard work pays off. We decided to go all out this week whenever we had down time or in between time we were finding people to teach, and we did! before I got here elder pula and his last comp were teaching 2 people and now we are teaching 12.. soo yeah. This family that we found started coming to our culture night practices and now they are in the actual thing! so the members are doing a great job with fellowshipping them. But yea the culture night is this Friday, and don't worry mom I will get video of our haka and send it home haha ahh its so mean! This haka was written by a maori warrior but its not your typical haka, this one is all about family. its about humbling yourself before the lord to strengthen your mind, your body, and your spirit! so yeah cool as hey?

 

yeah so the Ferris's are a really cool family that look after us, brother ferris is the guy who taught us the haka and is leading it! They feed us and give us rides and are great. Another family are the kukas! they are just returning from being less active and they love missionaries and would do anything for us! these families definitely are answers to your prayers mom.

 

President Lindsay is THE man. like he has enough missonary insight to last a lifetime. him and sister lindsay have truly been called by God. no doubt in my mind.

This is the funniest sister in the entire mission! She is awesome! haha she is 26 so she is basically everyones mission momma :)

My districts last p-day

But thats all I have for now! its been a good week. love the pics of zoi cheering! ah it kills me but I love it! I love you guys and I want you all to know that I am happy. I love what I am doing, this is where I should be right now. no other place! people have heard the gospel because I am here. So thank you! 

Hurrah for Israel!!

-Elder Guzzo

A great week to be a Missionary!

oie family!!

It has been a GREAT week to be a missionary in Western Australia! this week truly has been great. we found a new investigator, taught a few SOLID as lessons and have been working very hard! hard work is essential for being happy, especially as a missionary. YES I got the friend letter and it made my life! oh my gosh it was so awesome, thank you for sending me tHAT! so good to see what the homies are up to and it was honestly the highlight of my week! I wont get to go to the temple til christmas which is a bummer but I heard they made a new film?? how is it? I can't wait to go. so the... family is too legit! we met with them and had the most spiritual lesson ever! and then they came to a ward activity and they met a bunch of ward members and absolutely love it! they are close to baptism, no doubt. the... family said they are giving us an answer this upcoming week so thats exciting! and Aluel!! she is the girl from sudan, we met with her last night and elder pula and I taught the meanest as restoration lesson EVER. there is something about Joseph Smiths first vision, the words carry so much power. when I recite it to investigators I can barely say it without getting emotional. I KNOW JOSEPH SMITH saw God the father and Jesus Christ. I know it! and and at the end of our lesson aluel said the most heart felt prayer, so amazing! we meet her because as we were walking home she was taking her trash out and we walked right by and contacted her.. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? the lord is with us in the work. I absolutely love being a missionary! I love where I am and the people I have met so far! Mom thanks for spell checking my letters, I spell baptize wrong a lot. I'm typing really fast give me a break hahah SHAME! all good. 

okay and BYU... so awesome! I heard the hill kid ran for like 250 yards or something! but yeah I'll send some pics right now hang tight.

this is me emailing right now! haha sorry about the dude in the back! A member hooked us up with hair cuts, she did a good job! ah okay im about to tell you something that you might not believe.... I'm 100% gaining weight... haha from all the biking and the polys inviting us over for a feed, I'm getting bigger. yeah hard out gaining weight but like a good weight! of course I can finally gain when I'm on a mission and don't need too... boo!

My district and then us doing service. The sisters in the pic are straight from samoa, to the max! hahaha they are soo funny.

I love you all so much and hope you had a great week! -elder guzzo 

My Aussie Elder is Keen As...

Momma!

I know last week was a lame email so hopefully this week will make up for it! I can not believe about kollin.. mom that breaks my heart for him! Their family will 100% be in my prayers and the prayers of my district... ah i dont even know what to say! 

Its so frustrating only getting one hour to email. On the bright side, once I leave this area I'll hopefully get more time, we are at the mercy of the public library in our area. However long they let people use computers each day is how long we get.. bummer I know. But I want you to know that I am doing really good. Truthfully I am loving being a missionary! Its 100% as hard as I thought it would be if not harder. I never knew what people meant when they say the mission is the hardest thing they have ever done but now I totally understand. First of all you are tired all the time. The Australia perth mission is a finding mission not a baptising mission. Obvioulsy we baptise people but I mean it just doesnt happen that often so we spend most of our time finding! Which is hard. Tracting is so inefective its unbelievable that missionaries are still required to tract. No one wants two random guys on their front porch selling religion, especially in australia. Some of the ways we find is we will walk the beach and just start talking to people there or go to a park and find people there. That works better, but still doesnt really work! On the bright side my people skills are already through the roof! I'm learning to articulate myself and just walking up and starting conversations with strangers really isnt that hard.

We found this keen as family a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if I told you this story but we were just sitting at this members house doing absolutley nothing one day and I got frustrated and said to elder pula lets go do something, so we left and went finding. About 30 minutes later we knocked on this guys door and he opened up and let us right in. He is a "kiwi" which means from new zealand, but we taught the most powerful restoration lesson and he was into it hard out. We set an appointment to meet next week and he was too busy but this last sunday we had another lesson and this time his wife was there! she was way cool, they are the cutest little family ever they have two little kids and luke and his wife are probably like late 20's? but yeah they are legit. We are working hard out to get members to fellowship with them and we are trying to get them to come to our practices we have for that culture night I was telling you about? We are doing maori songs and dances so it would be perfect for them to come! (Culture night is this thing that my ward puts on at the chapel and they perform dances and traditional performances from new zealand, samoa and phillipenes and yeah! haha I'm going to be doing the haka in it ahahahah its gonna be so mean. we have been practicing ever sense I got here for it, so I cant wait! I'll no doubt send you a video of it haha I do a mean haka!) Next time we meet with them we are gonna commit them to baptism so hopefully it goes well! okay so ** were frustrating this week we had a good lesson with them and we had the bishop there with us as well. Its so important to get members to come with us to our lessons! It just shows the investigators that real people belong to this church not just these dorky missionaries hahah but yeah a solid lesson and then I asked them to be baptized (which was amazing, asking somone to be baptised is the most spiritual experience) but they said they would pray about it and think on it. we set a potential date for the 21 of september and asked them to pray about that date! 

Oh mom I drove for the first time on the left side of the road this week! haha what a trip. It was just the elders car in our district! but yeah it was weird but I mean not that weird, you get used to it fast! And I saw kangaroos! They are goofy lookin things but, we arent supposed to get to close because if one kicks you, it could be real bad ha! 

 

Okay so now me, your boy is doing good I promise! I miss home like crazy no doubt but I'm slowly getting over it. The mission schedule is still kicking my butt but I'm getting there! the hardest thing is just being so busy all the time, like no one is this busy, NO ONE! ha but I cant believe the change I have already seen in myself. I have grown up so much in this past month, it's crazy. The biggest thing I have learned is with the help of my father in heaven and my savior Jesus Christ I can do anything. I have seen the power of prayer work more in this month than I have in my entire life. Its an amazing thing. Heavenly Father truly does love his missonaries and blesses them!

I love it! but yeah thats me for now. thanks for keeping me updated with the family and everything! K well I'm about ot get kicked off but I had a good week! I'm doing good. I love being a missionary! and I love you so so much! love you mom

Love,

Elder Guzzo