Hey! This past week has been great. The mission conference was good and learned a lot from it. That is amazing to hear about the support to the Miles family and all the stuff in the stake. I got the package of CD's with the talks, thanks so much! It was cool to hear Elder Andersen and Christofferson translate their own talks, I noticed that even some Apostles have problems some time with the language. As for the baptisms, none seemed to work out this week. Jesus changed the date because a friend who introduced him to the church was in Mexico and wouldn’t get back til March 11 so we'll be having his baptism on the 12th. Amazingly, even without the baptisms I felt amazing peace and happiness this week in sacrament meeting. I am coming to appreciate and understand the sacrament more and that has helped me come closer to Christ.

As for Ike and Galveston, I would now like to relate to you the history of the church on Galveston Island. Apparently back when the saints had settled in Utah they sent missionaries all over the world and one of the places they sent them was to Galveston. The work was kinda slow and there was a small group of members by the 1900's. At this time there were 8 missionaries on the island (like there are now). Around this time there was the 1900 storm which was very devastating to the island. Just before it hit the island, 6 missionaries left the island and 2 were left to gather the saints, they all gathered in the top floor of a member’s house and blessed it, all the while waiting for the storm to pass. When it had passed they came out and everything around was destroyed while they were safe and sound. Shortly after the missionaries were taken off the island and weren't put back until after World War 2. All the while the members went to a church in La Marque, on the mainland. In the 70's there was a man who came to Galveston and became bishop of the ward. He had prayed before he came and he felt the Lord wanted him here in Galveston for some reason. He was a spiritual giant. He had prayed and fasted fervently as bishop to understand why the Lord had sent him here. Then one night he had a very vivid dream. In this dream he saw another great storm that would hit Galveston; he saw that after this storm a lot of bad people would leave the island. He also saw that the missionary work began to blossom. He then saw that a stake was formed here on Galveston Island.

So there's the story, I have seen a lot of the effects of Hurricane Ike still, buildings that were destroyed and haven't been rebuilt. But just a few weeks ago President Saylin told our district leader that Galveston district is the strongest in the mission and also our branch president told us that the Lehi Branch is growing more than any other unit in the stake. I feel so blessed to be here in this marvelous time and help the work move along. Also, a few years ago they were thinking of combining the Spanish branch and English ward; they almost did it too but then a general authority told the leaders here that they needed to remain separate. This island has some intense history. Anyway, this past week we stayed for Mardi Gras, some tighter rules but this next weekend we're actually going to be staying with some other elders in Pasadena, for Friday and Saturday. I think the whole time we'll just be on bike OYMing (Open Your Mouth, aka street contacting) which will be fun. We're not really taking a P'day today so that we can get all the work on the island that we can before we leave for a few days. Anyways, hope you all have a great week and que Dios les bendigas!

Elder Cooley

 P.S. Abraham gave me and Elder Jensen suits, his boss gave them to him but they didn't fit so he passed them on, I got a brown one and it is awesome :)