Crushed but Hopeful

This was just one of those weeks! We did almost nothing--it felt like. Steven dropped us! He came to church last Sunday and we didn't hear from him. We texted him to follow up and see how everything was going. He didn't answer us right away--not a big deal. Then the next day, we got like 10 huge texts telling us why Mormonism is wrong and these 12 questions are what is stopping him from believing. Bla bla bla. I was so crushed! I had such a spiritual experience fasting for him! There is no doubt in my mind, that if he had just kept his commitments, that the Lord would have made good on our promise to him. Talk about a bummer! We said that we could answer the questions he had. He said that he was satisfied with his faith. I know for a fact that God would have answered him! It was his choice to drop us. It just doesn't make the pain go away. Other than that we had a pretty bland week.

We had interviews on Thursday, which were pretty good. I didn't get as much time with President as I wanted but it was still great to see him. Saturday we helped do a clothes drive in Flint. That was fun. We got to see Elder Meldrum and a couple other elders that I love, so I was happy. We did help some people in our ward move. They were being evicted--even though there was a federal hold on it. It was probably the saddest move ever! There was so much that was ruined and lost in the hustle!

We had stake conference this weekend and I really enjoyed it. They talked about councils and they told a story about when Elder Bednar (I think) was just put in the Quorum of the Twelve. There was meeting and the brethren were having a "vigorous" discussion about something. Some one passed Elder Bednar a note. It read: "Welcome to the Twelve where we play hard ball. Signed, President Packer." I just thought that was funny.

Hopefully this week goes better. We have a potential investigator that we are seeing tomorrow at 2 named Kim. She just lost some one close to her so it's a prefect time to tell her how God has a plan for us! Pray for us. We need it!

Thanks for all the prayers you say for me. I know that they help me. This is honestly my hardest transfer. I can say that I have really learned how to pray and to sing praises to my Father in Heaven. I have felt the Spirit and God's quiet hand with me most of the time. These afflictions are "for my gain" as Jacob says in the Book of Mormon.

I hope you have a good week!

Love,
    Cooper

So Blessed

This past week was great! We have been so blessed! We had a pretty alright start. Wednesday we had a zone meeting and it was really weird--Elder Christenson (my MTC companion) and I were the oldest missionaries in the zone. We had a really great meeting. I love to see the other Elders and Sisters and get the chance to talk to them and see how they are. Afterwards, we went on exchanges. Elder Christenson came with me to Grand Blanc. He's a brand new zone leader so we talked and chatted about the zone and our missions from the MTC on and solved the problems we had in the MTC. ha-ha. Then the blessings started.

We went and taught Steven. He had told me last lesson that he really wasn't interested in joining the church, he just wanted to learn about "Mormonism." So this time we went in with no lesson. He had some questions that we answered. Then we talked about getting answers. I can't really remember what lead up to it but we promised him, in the name of the Christ and as his representatives, that if he would read the Book of Mormon every day, pray to know of it's truthfulness and come to church for a month, that he will know of a surety that this is the Lord's kingdom on the earth, that the Book of Mormon is God's word. and Joseph Smith is his prophet. Steven said he would do it and so far he has! He was at church yesterday. He has read and prayed everyday and texts us what he reads and what God  has said to him as he prayed. We invited the ward council to pray and fast with us for him. The Spirit was so strong! I have felt complete peace! He will know. There is no doubt that he will know. The members in ward council could feel it too. What a powerful experience!

I also got to go to the temple this week and it was great. It was a spiritual recharge. Oh Lord my God, when I in awsome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made...And when I think that God his son not sparing...then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. how great thou art... how truly great thou art!

It was a great week to be a missionary!

Love,
   Cooper

Find the one!

This week was like the longest week I have had in a while! We taught six people which is awesome but there were only two that said they would have us back. One of them texted us later that night to tell us that he wasn't interested (or his mom wouldn't let him meet with us).

We did get to teach Steven this week though. It was pretty good. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. He had kind of surprised us and had a couple of his college buddies there. So they were asking questions but it felt like we were in the line of fire a little bit. Steven said that he understood it all. He said he had some issues with the trinity. We talked about it and I couldn't for the life of me think of where in the New Testament it talks about some one seeing God and Christ standing side-by- side. So we got home and I called one of the zone leaders and he told me where it was found. I'm pretty bummed though. Steven was asking where all the proof is and stuff. I don't know how to help him find that. I just know you can find the answer through prayer. It is hard to answer those questions. I fasted for him yesterday. I know that the Book of Mormon has the power to touch his life but he has to really want to know.

Elder Thomas

A miracle that I had this week was I had my prayers answered. I felt really down a couple of day and I was pleading for comfort. I got a letter that warmed my heart! Then the next day I got a call from Elder Meldrum and we go to talk for a while about the good old Dearborn days. So my new companion is Elder Thomas. He's only out here for a couple of transfers to see what a mission is like. Then he'll get a call to see where he is really going to serve. His last companion was Elder Puente, so that's kind of cool. They have some of the same things and I'm just like "No, not again!" We'l have to see how it all works out. I was talking with a some members and we think I'll be in this area until Christmas. Elder Thomas will go home and get his call, so unless they white wash the area again, I'll be here for at least another 12 weeks.

I would like to ask a favor of everyone. Yesterday at church a there was a member that had sat by us last week. This week he was sitting behind us. So I told him to come sit by us--mostly because I wanted some one other than just Elder Thomas to sit by. The man sings good too so it was a double bonus. After sacrament meeting, he thanked me for letting him sit by us. He said that he has a wife and six children (all members). Only a couple of his children are still at home. He is the only one that comes to church and he is returning from about 15 years of  inactivity. He teared up as he talked about how hard it is coming to church and being alone. There were so many members that said hi to him--not one invited him to sit with them. They all know his story. I don't want that to ever happen to anyone again! The pain of that brother should not ever happen in our church but it does. So lets change it! Next week, please find the one and love them!

By the way, I can't wait to eat your cooking again! I'm about ready to try a forty day fast so I don't have to cook anymore!  I hope that this week is good! It's a great day to be a disciple of Jesus!

Love.
    Cooper

It's a Great Day!

So this week was really a good week. We did not do too much tracting and taught a lot more lessons than normal! It was so great!

Michael

We picked up a new investigator named Steven. He's so elect its amazing--such a blessing, truly an answer to all of our prayers. He had some Mormon friends and had talked to them a little about the church. We set up a time to see him this past week and taught him the restoration. He's Catholic but he's not really into it. He said he's trying to make it his own. We answered the questions he had and just invited him to pray about it--that's really how he's going to get the answer. We went back and he had filled out the study help in the back of the pamphlet, which no one ever does--like ever! He had prayed and he said that he felt really good about it. He also had a bad feeling. He said, "One is from God, so I'm going to test the water and find out which one it is!" How sweet is that?!  We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read. We have another lesson with him this Wednesday. He has been reading! I'm so pumped!!

Vicky

Michael has been smoke free for like 5 or 6 days! He's having some withdrawals but that's not a surprise--he's been smoking since he was 8. This week we got to have dinner with Vicky. She's an older lady that we taught the Family Proclamation. She's a christian lady through and through. We helped her set up a garage sale and she had us to dinner to thank us. It was good!  We have been trying to teach her but she hasn't picked up on it yet. She said that she might have us over for dinner again so we can teach a man she knows that Jesus is the Christ and how he needs to be in church. Ha-ha. It was nice and she gave us a hug after!

But the sad part is Elder McCormick is leaving me. I'll be getting a new companion tomorrow but I'm not training, so thats good! I'm still a district leader. Hopefully I get a good, normal guy who I can talk to. It has been a while since I had a hard comp, so we'll see! Thanks for all the prayers of faith! They are starting to pay off! And Conference! Wow! It was great! We had the whole church to ourselves. We had one other person with us Saturday. There were more for the preisthood session and then Sunday morning there were a couple more but that was about it. It was good to hear from the new apostles. I actually had been in a meeting with Elder Rasband in Westland, so that was neat. It's a great day to be a missionary!

I love you. I hope that you have a great week!

Love,
   Cooper

Busy Exchange

Dinner with the Lichtenbergers

This week I got to get out of my area and actually talk with some one other than Elder McCormick! It's such a small thing but it sure is nice to be able to get a breath of fresh air!

I went on exchanges with Elder Bennett. He's one of the zone leaders. He was super fun to be with. He's from Logan, so pretty close to home. We had a long drive to get to his area and then we were running all night! It's so good to be busy and rush from one place to another! We got to teach a lesson at a Family Home Evening at a member's home. The member had invited one of the elder's investigators. It was so cool! He and his wife are from Brazil and his wife doesn't speak any English!

We met this man in our area this week. He was on the "former investigator" list. We went to see him and he wants to be baptized! He just needs to overcome some Word of Wisdom problems first! The first time that we met him, we invited him to pray about October 24th--to see if he felt that he should be baptized on that date. He said he would! It was really good. This week we went for our appointment and he wasn't there. We called--no answer! We were like, "Dang! He's not solid." We got a call Saturday night. He said he had relapsed and done meth. That's why it had been days since we had heard from him. We went and saw him. It was pretty freaky--he was still coming down from his high and was all over the place. Please pray for him. His name is Michael. He can use all the prayers he can get.

We're so excited for Conference to see who the new apostles will be. We have some guesses but we're not sure. I'm just excited to hear what they have to say to us! Get me some revelation!! I hope that you have a good week! I'll tell you what happenes with transfers next Monday. Pray for me! Pray that I'll go where He wants me to go and know what I am to be doing!

Love,
   Cooper

Zone Conference & Elder Lawrence

This week was pretty good. The best part of the week was that we got to have a zone conference with Elder Lawrence of the Quorum of the Seventy!! It was really cool! We drove down to one of the stake centers and they walked in we all go to shake his hand and introduce ourselves to him and his wife. It was a day of learning that's for sure! Sister Lawrence spoke about what it means to be of the House of Israel. That we were the ones that were most likely to become like our Father in Heaven. We were born through special blood lines and how when we, as missionaries, are looking for the elect, we are actually looking for the children of Israel because they have the believing blood.  It was so in depth! I can't even tell you all about it. She talked, too, about how we covenanted, as Priesthood holders, to go on missions in exchange for being born into the Covenant. It was so cool!

Elder Lawrence got up and he said, "You know, this should make you feel better about your work. When people shut the doors on you just think, 'silly gentiles!'" ha-ha  It was funny! He then gave us some advise on becoming a better mission and better missionaries. It was really neat to get to spend time with them. I also love to get to see the other elders that I haven't seen in a while. It was cool--we got to have an interview, every companionship in our zone, with Elder Lawrence. It was short and fast but he told Elder McCormick and I that we had some good things ahead of us. That;s great a promise from a servant of the Lord.

Other than that, this week has been pretty slow.  We did get to talk with more people thankfully. There were a couple people that we hope actually check out the church's web site but none that were ready to take the lessons.

Thanks for your love and support!

Love,
     Cooper

Knocking on Doors

This week was alright, I guess. We did a little better this week than last week. We found a couple more people to teach but none we're really interested. They were just polite and let us talk with them before they continued doing whatever they were doing.

There was a really neat guy that we got to talk to though. His name was Gene. He just lost his job and is really having a hard time. It was really hard to see him. We met him while we were out knocking doors and he broke down in front of us. Then the door opened and his daughter came out. He straightened right up and pretended like there wasn't anything wrong. When she went back inside, the weight of life crushed him again. It was so hard to see that. He was trying to be so strong for his daughter. He told us to make sure that we have and make good friends. We told him that he is always welcome with us. We are his friends. I want to stop back by and check on him again this week. His family is all Protestant and leaders in the church but he needs some gospel light! I hope that he will let us give him some.

I wish that I had more to tell you guys but there really isn't much to tell. We're just trying to get things going and fix the way some things are run in our ward. Please keep praying for us and the people in our area and ward. I know and testify that God hears and answers the humble prayers of his children and we could use them! This next week will be better! Tomorrow we get to meet with Elder Lawrence who's a member of the seventy and President will be there. It's going to be a great start to the week!

I love you! I hope that you have a great week!

  Cooper