Elder Dylan Cozzens

FYI: We recently received word from Elder Cozzens’ mission president that all non-Australian missionaries will be sent home as soon as travel arrangements can be made. Because Elder Cozzens has less than 180 days left of his mission (he’s been out 19.5 months) he will be released not reassigned. We were able to visit with Elder Cozzens on Tuesday. He is disappointed that his mission is being cut short but confidant that God is in charge and has a plan, so he is putting his trust in God.  March  24, 2020   Emergency Transfers last Wednesday night. Sunday night effectively closing the Northern Territory, Alice Springs, Darwin, Broken Hill, Mildura, Mount Gambier, and sending all missionaries to the Adelaide area. Changing the size of my little district from 6 missionaries to 13. A new companion. Another companionship in the flat. No proselyting as of yesterday at 4:30pm. Waking up to an email from President Marquis telling us to pack our bags and prepare for a...

March 17,2020   Dear family and friends,   We live in troubled times, but for your sake and mine and because of the amount of information, misinformation, and confusion we can thank the media for, I will limit my mention of COVID-19! I am safe, Australia is pretty isolated, and the work continues.   My time is short. We were talking about the Book of Mormon with a man, and he said "I believe that book was made up by a man to lead people the wrong way and it isn't the word of God." All I did was testify to the guy! I told him: "Even Joseph Smith had doubts about the validity of his call even when he received it directly from the mouth of God. So what did Joseph Smith do about it? Did he abandon his cause? Did he take the word of the local ministers to be true? Did he try to rationalize it away? No. He took it to the Lord once again, and he received the Angel Moroni in response. I have had doubts about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, but I myself have got...

March 10, 2020 Another week rolls by like the waves in the sea. There is my poetical touch for the week. I'll jump right into it: At lunch one day, I was reading an ensign article ( https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1992/04/abinadis-teaching-style?lang=eng ). When I read the articles I don't often check who it is written by because the content is the interesting stuff. But this time I felt prompted to look. So I did, and here is what I found: "...lives in the Marion Ward, Adelaide Australia Marion Stake).  Instantly I knew that wasn't a coincidence, after all, I am currently in the Marion Ward. I looked her up on member tools, and she was listed as a "DNV" (Do Not Visit). Well we went to visit her yesterday anyway expecting a miracle to occur. Lo and behold, at the address there was nothing there. She has probably moved on to the Spirit world and her home has been leveled to the earth. (The land is for sale if anybody is interested in own...

March 3, 2020 Dear friends and family, Another week has come and gone and with it has come and gone Elder Foisa, but it brought with it Elder Kennach! Elder Foisa was "called another way" (Alma 22:4). Elder Foisa will be missed, but in the few short days I had with him, he taught me so much! He was my first companion from the isles of the sea (if you don't count Australia), and He was so much fun. He was able to make anybody smile and feel comfortable with him no matter who they were but alas he will be benefiting others who truly need him. Elder Kennach is fresh off the plane from Samoa! He is lots of fun and is a great help and resource to have at the door. Our first day knocking, he told me that he would only share one principle: the gospel blesses our lives. The next thing I knew he was sharing about the restoration, Ezekiel 37:16-17, what happens after we die, the Book of Mormon, and the Holy Ghost. He is able to bear a powerful and sincere testimony afte...

February 25, 2020 Another full week of exciting mission miracles has transpired here for me! On Saturday, Elder Jenkins and I knocked so many doors and worked so hard that we forgot that we would be getting a call later that day in regards to transfers. There was a branch barbeque at the park in Broken Hill, and we got our neighbor to come. As we were leaving the barbeque, our phone rang and it was our district leader and all of a sudden we remembered that today was the day! Surprisingly I learned that I was being transferred, but I will come back to that in a little bit.  We didn't let that phone call bother us though, and we just kept working. We knocked on the door of a previous contact and he let us in right away! He has been going through a tough patch in life and has been going through lots and lots of research trying to find the truth. Something that I thought was interesting is that he brought up one thing he found from his research...he believes that God liv...

February 18, 2020 Well...my time is short. Really exciting stuff though! This was such a fantastic week here in Broken Hill and the Mildura Zone! We had a goal of 30 new friends as a zone which was absolutely a Faith filled goal, and by the blessings of God we achieved that! That is an average of 5 new per companionship, while the mission average is about 1.5 new people per companionship. Elder Jenkins has expressed to me multiple times how awesome and fulfilling it is to actually feel like he is part of the raging river in the AAM. I feel it as well. It is the best feeling to put our shoulders to the wheel and SEE the fruits of our labors. One specific miracle that came from our faith is our friend Pete, we have mentioned him before. He was our "last door Sunday miracle" in week one. If we had been a few minutes later out of the flat, we would have missed him. He has not attended church yet due to his job as a road train driver, but both Elder Jenkins and I f...