Life Goes On

This week was good. We had a pretty slow week. We found a lot of potentials though on Thursday--like 5 new people! Hopefully some of them are prepared, ha-ha! You know you are having a good day when you get some jerk trying to tell you that you are doing a great work but for the wrong people! That the Book of Mormon is a load of trash and we shouldn't believe in it.

Life goes on! Hopefully we have some more great experiences this week!

Love,
  Cooper

Servant of the Lord

This week was good. We had to had a zone conference on Thursday. It was a weird one because we were combined with another zone. Normally it was just one zone at a time but this time a representative from Salt Lake was there to look at the cars. They put a black box in so they can "help" us drive safe. ha-ha  Because it was a two-zone conference, I got to see Elder Oviatt again. I miss that guy. I would be his comp again any day! Other than that, I just got to work this week--like actual manual labor! We mowed lawns almost all day on Tuesday. I was so happy! I miss working!

We got a new investigator. She was taught by elders before us and is so ready to get dunked. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith. She said she considers herself a Mormon. She has some health problems--that's why the elders stopped seeing her. It's so good to actually find some one who is ready and prepared! Her name is Falisha Angel. Keep her in your prayers! Other than that not to much has been happening.

I thank Dad for teaching me how to be. Yesterday we got a phone call this lady in our ward. Her name is Sister Lavely. She is my adopted grandmother. She is as sweet as Verla and has been tested more than Marva. She is a saint! She doesn't have grandchildren and wants them, so I told her I'll be hers...so it's official! She called yesterday. We had some heavy rains come in and had flash flood warnings. Her yard was flooded and the rain was starting to get into the house. She called us in tears asking for help. I ended the lesson and we went to help her. Thank you for teaching me how to work hard! We did our best. I dug a huge hole in the yard and got some of the water to go down. Finally she told us to stop and said, "we will say a prayer and leave it." So we did.  I got to give that prayer. What an honor! It was such a blessing! I have never been so proud of blisters before! That is what being a servant of the Lord is all about right there! She just kept telling us how sorry she was that we were working on a Sunday. Dad and I put tarps on Marva's roof on a Sunday because she was getting rained on. You taught me how to drop everything to help people and love them. Thank you for that!

I hope that you have a great day! Know that I wear our name with pride!

Love,
   Cooper

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Laughter is the best medicine and also the fuel of missionary work. If you can't laugh, I suggest you get a sense of humor or go home. This week was one of those long ones but there was some good that came out of it.

In Michigan the girls haven't heard of the modesty commandment so they dress less.  ha-ha! We knocked on this lady's door--she was very attractive, wearing very short shorts and not much of a shirt. It was Elder Puente's turn to talk so I let him. He did super good--normally he falters on the door, especially if it's some one who's pretty but this time he didn't. He said, "Hey, can we talk to your parents?" What he didn't notice was that she was wearing a wedding ring and she had a small boy behind her. She smiled and told him that it was her home. He died! After I got control of myself (I was holding it in so well) I told her we were out talking about eternal families. She wasn't interested. ha-ha  It still kills me to think of the look on his face after she said that!

We got to walk through a car show on Saturday in New Boston. There were probably 80 cars or so. It was really cool. I felt like Moses parting the people though. I guess guys in shirts, ties and tags-- no matter how you smile--still scare people! A lady let me take a look at her brand new Chrysler 300. I decided that is the car for me!

This week we knocked a lot of doors and had almost zero lessons. Not a whole lot to report on the missionary work but hopefully next week is better!

Thank you for your letters. I hope you have a good week.

Love,
     Cooper

Detroit Temple Trip

My companion Elder Puente

 This week was busy--not too much missionary stuff, just other things. I'm staying with Elder Puente for another six weeks here. We got the call Saturday night after we went to the adult session of stake conference. I've decided that the Westland Michigan Stake is my home stake now. I love the stake president. I can feel how much he loves the people. He is funny and normal. His topic was ward council and he did a great job. He closed off the meeting and made it worth while! I want to stay in this stake until I end my mission. I don't want to move out! Hopefully God keeps me here!

This week I got to go to the temple for my year trip. It was good. There were nine missionaries plus President and Sister Gerber so it was great. The Detroit temple was so pretty but so small compared to the temples that I'm used to back in the holy land ha-ha. After the session we went to the mission home and ate lunch. Then President Gerber gave us some instruction and talked about what kind of impression we want to leave on the mission. It was really good. I could sit and talk to that man all day!

I just came from the hospital. Someone called for a blessing and we went. I prayed before so that I could have the spirit. I about broke down in the parking lot! I don't know why, I just felt all teary. I felt like something cool about to happen. Elder Puente anointed and I gave the man a blessing. I stood in the place of God today! I told that man he would be well because of the faith of his children. He was in ICU, on a ventilator, and covered in tubes. I felt like I said what I said  just because I've thought that it would be cool to say that with so much power, you know--just a cool thing to say. Well, the spirit let me know that I had said what I was suppose to say. Wow! Talk about awesome! That was the most spiritual experience that happened this week!

Thanks for keeping me in your prayers.  I hope that you have a good day!

Love, 

  Cooper

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