Buenas Tardes,

Hace mucho que les he escrito en espanol, a lo mejor porgue ya no me queda en la mente, casi no tengo la oportunidad de hablarlo ni con mi companero ni con la gente. Pues,

This past week was great!  We had zone conference and learned many great and wonderful things.  We had a lot of great lessons with less-actives and also with some investigators.  One was Anna; her husband was baptized earlier this year after he had been praying for 4 years to find the truth.  Well, initially she didn't want anything to do with the missionaries or the church but recently she's been coming and we've been teaching little by little.  This week her husband, John aka "The Legend", asked her if she believed in Joseph Smith and after a long pause she said, "I'm not there yet", it is slow progress but nonetheless it is progress!  

We had a pretty sad lesson with a man who had researched the Book of Mormon and it seemed that he wanted it to be true but was caught up so much on physical evidence and the lack thereof, and as much as we explained things like faith, and prayer, and the Holy Ghost he just would not understand.  Then on Friday, we went on exchanges with the elders in Alvin; it's pretty much the epitome of a small Texas town.  Then Saturday was great; we were biking around when we saw a man walking and as we approached and said hello he asked us to walk with him.  Jim was his name.  While walking we passed in front of a members house, and they happened to be outside doing yard work, so as we approach, Elder Shields says, "Hey, there's Bro. Dawson!" and he and Jim hit it off.  Well, short story shorter, Jim invited us over for dinner at his house later that night.  He told us of a recent disagreement that he had had with the pastor of his church and said he was looking for a church that actually lived what Jesus taught.  

Anywho, the gospel is true and the church is the Lord's kingdom on the earth.  We've made a covenant to share the Book of Mormon with everyone so let's honor it.  I love y'all thanks for everything!

Love, Elder Cooley

P.S. Thanks for the BD card, I also got one from Gma and Gpa, thanks be to them also! Also, is my homecoming talk going to be given my first Sunday back (the 23rd)?  The mission wants to know when and where it's gonna happen.