Happy Memorial Day

Since we have a family history center we can email today, thankfully! We celebrated Memorial Day with music that was normal. I loved it! Ha-ha I'm so going to be a rocker when I get home--not the new rock but the old stuff! We also had a burger at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries, thanks to you!

Well this week was a lot of nothingness--really, at least that's what our numbers show! But like I said before, I'm going to look for the positives! On Tuesday we met Mama Jan. She is a baptist lady. She wasn't interested in the gospel but I walked away in tears. There are angels all around us and she is one of them! We talked to her for about an hour and a half about her family and about life and stuff. She gave my companion a hug when we left (he was freaking out and I was jealous!). Her boy is our age and has a 3 month old baby. He is living with his girlfriend and her mom in Florida. She saw her son in us and was in tears. She just misses her boy. She told us if we need anything to come to her and she'll be our mom. Talk about awesome! I felt like my companion missed it and I was fighting tears. As we were just about to go, she said she didn't know what to say to us. I smiled and said, "We love you too." That was a tender mercy if I've ever had one. I can honestly drive you to every person's house out here that has made me feel loved like that. I will never be able to forget how they made me feel.

We also got to meet a gospel singer for a church.  Chuck was really cool. We got one of his CDs. It was disappointing. It wasn't like Christian rock, but it's growing on me. There were a couple other people that we got to spend some time with. My feeling is that even if they won't talk about Jesus and church with us, if they just talk with us long enough they will be able to feel the spirit that is with us. That is my latest philosophy anyway. Oh and I was listening to a talk by Elder Cook about having a hard time and it hit me! We have to pray always if we want to have a good relationship with Father in Heaven. Otherwise, we only cry to him when we need help and no father wants that to be the only relationship they have with their child.

Our teaching pool is like almost at zero but i'm not to bugged by it. Transfer calls are this Saturday. I am in between. I would love to go, but I'm okay with staying. I would love a new companion but I could do another transfer if that's what needs to happen. This district is okay. My last district was so awesome--the best district I will probably ever be in, I'm sure! There are two sets of sisters and then just me and my companion for the elders. One companionship of sisters is sweet! One of the sisters is going home this transfer. She is the one that has been in my district for 6 months and my right arm. I'm sad to see her go but i'll get over it, I guess. Her companion is super cool. The other companionship of sisters has another sister from my last district. She is really new still and her companion is a rule person. It's kind of hard for me. She is doing good but I feel bad for her. I don't want her companion to take that fun from her, if you know what I mean. We need normal sisters!

I'll tell you what happens with transfers next week!

Love,
   Cooper

Life is Good!

We had a lot of really neat miracles this week. I decided to switch my focus, It's really hard to work and have faith that God is going to give you blessings when you don't feel like you are getting any. So I decided that I was just going to talk to people about whatever. It actually helped. I still get really burned out knocking doors, hour after hour, but I find cool people to talk to. This week I talked to an Atheist for a good half-hour about his old cars. He didn't want to talk about Jesus but in the end we did talk a little about Him, so that was good. It is the little things that I'm striving to look for. And then when we get in at night, I'll write them down in my planner for that day so I can't forget. It's a slow process of change. I still get moody after knocking on doors too long but it's changing slowly. It's almost like a game now.

We actually found a really cool guy named Dave. We have a lesson with him tomorrow. He suffers from depression and had made some bad choices so he lost his little girl and his ex-wife won't let him see her. He is sufficiently humbled, I hope. And then we met a teacher on that same street. She pretty much explained the restoration down to the apostles' death but she didn't know what happened after that. So we gave her a pamphlet and said it would answer her question. She didn't want to end on a bad note, so we left. I am so going back there to see her again this week some time! A pretty good week--hopefully this next one is even better!

Life is good. The ward is okay. I love some people and that is about all I know. I really don't know anyone very well-- no one close to Brother Pengelli! I have found some really great old people to love, so I can't complain (except they aren't in my area, which is the shaft!) Finding is hard but it isn't suppose to be easy, I guess. Where would the fun be in that?!

I hope that you have a good week. Talk to you soon!

Love,
   Cooper

The smoulder,

The crazy,

The haircut!

A Visit to Belle Isle

This week was good but really crazy! It was one of those weeks where there wasn't a whole lot of work that got done but we were super ready for p-day! Sadly, Elder Mwawatadi had to go home. He was in my district in Dearborn for a while. I guess he has been struggling with his health since he came to the states. (He is from Africa.) He is home now recovering and when he is better, he can resubmit his papers and finish his mission. So it's just me and the other guy now which is okay but it feels like there is something missing. Weird that after only a week you can feel the hole that is there.

On Thursday I got to spend the day at Belle Isle while my companion was at temple. It was really fun! I was with Elder Warner and another guy. I know that I didn't always like Warner when I was with him but we still had some good times together. I felt bad for the third-wheel elder that day. Warner and I were comps so we still had all of our old jokes and stuff to catch up on. The other elder was just there. We had fun! We got to take some cool pictures of some ocean liners coming in and there is a light house on the island--not a real tall one, but still a cool thing.

Then the rest of the week my companion and I tried to stay busy. We had a good talk with a guy we found the other day. He has the gospel almost all the way down but he is still missing parts. Hopefully he is opens up and talks to us and can feel the Spirit. His name is Will. Yesterday I got to talk to a guy and joke about smoking dope and stuff. We just knocked into him. I commented to my companion that I have an easier time talking and being around people that smoke and drink and are normal than with people that are really religious......The silence was super thick! ha.ha. But it's the truth. We also got to see one of the cutest old couples ever! They were at the hospital. The husband was having some stints put in. They were exactly what I want to be like after 70 years of being married! All in all, a great week!

For Mothers' Day we are planning on skyping from a member's home. I'm not sure what time yet but I'll let you know. I am so excited to see you guys! I wish I could fast-forward this week and see you already! I love you and hope that you have a great week. We'll see you on Sunday!

Love,
    Cooper