Happy Thanksgiving!

Just so you know I'm still alive!

This week was good. Nothing too exciting that happened, the weather was crazy though! They told us that the weather was going to turn cold and it did! Wednesday it dropped into the 20's and 30's. It was crazy! It snowed and kept snowing. That was kind of a cool thing. It's definitely a new experience riding a bike in the snow. The thing that I hate is that in Michigan they use salt like it's going out of style! It's awful! It melts the snow but it makes your bike rust really fast and it flips all over the place while you ride. I joked that God should work like these people. If the salt of the Earth loses it's savor, then just put more down! ha-ha. I know that's not how it works but really, the salt on the roads is nuts.

We found a couple new investigators this week. Sadly, neither panned out though. We had a good lesson with Pamela. We covered all the commandments with her and are getting ready to answer the questions she has about what she doesn't know--like the Word of  Wisdom and things like that. We probably won't get to meet with her this week so we'll have to wait until next week.

Elder Warner getting ready for the cold. 

We had stake conference this weekend it was great. There were some families from the Northville Ward that I was happy to see again. The talks were great. It was good to get to listen to the stake president talk. I think that he is an amazing guy. You could feel the love he had for the people in the meeting. It was sincere and heart felt. It was great! Then Sunday we got to go to the rest of conference. There were some really good speakers. They did a great job covering their topics.

The weather warmed up into the 40's on Saturday and Sunday so all the snow is gone again. Saturday morning we came out and it was raining and it was freezing rain! It was really bad in the apartment complex but once we got on the road, it was good. It was nice not to have the snow sticking to the tires of the bikes. Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful week.

Well, I have to go. I love you. Know that I'm happy and that I haven't been shot or mugged yet. I'm the one that people worry about here!  I know how to use the Good Book!! ha-ha! I hope you have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
  Cooper

This is a squirrel we feed once in a while.  He is super fat and comes
right up to you. I now know why Uncle Si, from Duck Dynasty,
 said he went to pet a dog and it was a squirrel. They are huge here!

Ready for Snow!

This week was good. The weather was really nice Monday and Tuesday but after that it got cold. It snowed a little but it didn't stick. Today we got up and there was snow on the ground and its cold enough to keep it there. I guess that we are suppose to get at least two or three inches by Tuesday. I'm pretty excited still. It will be something to throw some spice into our rides. I decided that Michigan was okay. It wasn't all bad. They have a Kohl's,  so I went and got a big winter coat and some boots. I should be ready for the snow but everyone here is really not looking forward to the cold.

We found a couple cool people this week. We found two new investigators. One is a newly married couple--they just moved from Utah. The wife invited us to come back and we could talk to her and her husband. The other lady was older and she invited us to come back and gave us her phone number. It was really a shock! Most people don't really like to give us a phone number and she was more than willing to. I'm excited to see them both this next week.

Another kind of cool thing is that there was a Muslim guy that let us come back and talk to him. He totally turned the table on us! We told him that we invite people read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if its true. He told us he had already read it and the King James version of the Bible, old and new testaments. He's read the New International Men's version and the Jehovah's Witnesses version  and he gave us a copy of the Quran. He invited us to go and read our book's first and then read this. It was crazy! He did to us what we do with people every day. It was a little different. So now I can say that I've been given a Quran and a  Jehovah's Witness Bible. I know neither hold the truth but I think it's still cool that I've gotten them! Other than that, this week went by without too much excitement.

I was going to send pictures but I forgot the cord to my camera. Next week, I'll send you pictures.

Love,
   Cooper

Taught by the Spirit

This week went really good. I started to fall apart closer to the end of the week. It's weird to think that only a short while ago, I didn't like to go to church and being there was a chore for me. I can say that now I've changed. When I first got out here, Elder Olsen told me that eventually you, as a missionary, need to go to church. I thought that he was crazy but I get it now. If I couldn't go to church, I wouldn't be able to get through the week. I would be so dead. My spiritual battery would give out on me. It's nuts! I was thankful to go yesterday. It gave me the peace and strength that I need to go out and keep talking to people.

We got to teach Craig and his wife this week. We met his wife for the first time and she was really nice. We taught her the restoration. I was super glad we had a member there with us. We teach simple truths and Craig knows those really well. He wants to know the "meat" of the gospel. The member answered his questions and finally he was content. Afterwards, I was so drained it was bad. We went home and had dinner and went to bed. I was glad that we taught him at the end of the night. I'm excited to go and see him this week. I hope that he has been reading so we can talk about it with him and his wife.

We also got to teach Pamela this week. I don't think I've told you about her before. She is an engineer and is super duper smart! She knows her church stuff! She is probably 25 and taught six years of Sunday School in a Lutheran church. She has been meeting with us the whole time I've been here. She is a hard person to teach. Finally we gave her a teaching record and told her, "These are the things we can talk about and these are the commitment we leave with people. Why don't you choose what we talk about?" So this last week we talked about the atonement and why we need it. It was great! The Spirit was there and Elder Warner and I knew it. We were able to talk and teach and she said she had an "a-ha moment." It was great! It was so cool. I learned and understood mercy and justice better now and why we need them. I was just as much the student as she was. It was amazing! This next week she asked that we define love, yep, love. It's going to be a new experience. I'm pumped about it!

Those were the highlights of the week. I do wish that the weather would change already. If its cold, it needs to snow. I hate the wind--it's nasty! But I guess when I get home I won't need a car. I'll be conditioned to ride my bike through all types of weather! (But I'll still choose to drive over the bike ha-ha!)

Love,
  Cooper

Keeping the Faith

So this week was good--nothing really too great happened but I did have some really cool experiences. We found a new investigator. We knocked on his door and heard someone inside drop something and then it got quiet. We waited and knocked again--nothing. So we left a card and went to the next house. We heard some one call out "hey guys!" so we stepped around the garage and the guy at the house we just knocked was calling us back. He let us in and offered us some water. He said he was Catholic and his wife was from the Church of Christ. He had gone to her church once thinking it was one and done, but he never went back to the Catholic church. He wanted a Book of Mormon. He is trying to find the books that should be in the Bible that the Catholics took out. So we have a return appointment with him on Tuesday. He is sneaking it! He doesn't want his wife to find out about us meeting with him or she'll freak! It's funny. Normally, it's the other way around! His name is Dave. I can't wait to see him. Hopefully he is ready for the gospel. He seems "golden" so keep your fingers crossed.

We didn't get to meet with Craig or Fred, so that's a bummer. We are going to see Craig this Saturday. Fred is getting married so it might be a while till we can see him. But we know where he lives so we'll just keep going back!

On Halloween we didn't get to go trick or treating, that was a bummer but we had interviews.  We also got to watch "Meet the Mormons." It was awesome! I loved it! It felt good just to check out for a while and watch something and not have to knock doors or ride our bikes. The interviews were great. I love to meet with President Gerber. He gave me some things to help along the path to becoming better so I'm stoked. It's not going to be easy. Hopefully I get it all figured out!

Some really good news is that I get to stay with Elder Warner for another transfer. I'm excited. He's awesome and we get stuff done. That's the best part. Ha-ha. Today we were feeling it, so we broke out the Christmas music. I know it's not Thanksgiving yet but it made me happy so what more could I have asked for!

I forgot to tell you about Jacob. He's was excommunicated, had a really tough life, and he wants to come back. He contacted us. We went over and pretty much told him he had to do everything we told him or else he wouldn't make it back. He followed our commitments to the "t" and more! In three days you could see the change. You could feel it in the way he sat and talked. His apartment felt different. It was amazing! So cool! I hope to find more people like him who are willing to do whatever it takes to get on the right track!

You and Gramma would be so proud of me. Last week, the hem hem came out of one of the legs of my grey suit pants. I had to fix it! I tried and failed...there was a pucker in them. I was so frustrated! So a few days later, I sat back down and got them out. I worked on it for over an hour, working as patiently as I could. And I actually fixed them! I was so happy! I know it's small but I was super happy about it! God totally had a hand it in!

I hope that you have a great week. Know that I'm thinking about you and hope that everything is working out back home.

Love,
   Cooper