My Dear Family,

How's everything going?  Things have been great here in Houston.  I bet those temple lights were awesome as always.  This past Tuesday, as we were street contacting, we were approached by a 24 yr. old man.  He told us how he had been looking for the true church and how he'd recently been making changes in his life.  Seeing as how he didn't speak Spanish we referred him to the English elders who have since started visiting him and have helped him along his own personal path of discipleship.  Then, on Friday we had the ward Christmas party, the food was delicious, and there were plenty of tamales to go around.

As we were biking around last night in an apartment complex we passed a young man seated on some steps, not wanting to bother him we passed by, but as we passed I felt that we should turn back and talk to him.  As we talked he told us that he knew who we were and what we did, he told us how he had grown up in the church in Mexico, was baptized as an 8 year old and him and his family had come here a few months ago.  Come to find out, the reason he stopped going to church was because of work, but even now that he didn't have work on Sundays he wasn't coming.  It's amazing how little by little we can inch our way away from God.  I'm pretty stoked to go and see him and his family this week though.  I know that the Lord loves all of His children, and that he suffered all things that we might not suffer, if we would repent and come unto Him.

I hope you all have a great Christmas, full of gratitude towards Christ and all that he's done and continues to do for us. 

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley