Hola! Como estan ustedes? This past week has been very eventful and awesome! Tuesday when we arrived we did some contacting (in Spanish) which was way fun. Then we ate dinner with Pres. Saylin and his fam that night. Wednesday morning we received some more orientation and such, we also had breakfast which was Kolaches, basically a delicious hot pocket and didn’t taste like a dirty microwave so I was definately a fan of them. Then I met my trainer, Elder Jensen from Highland Utah, he reminds me a lot of Craig Roberts. Anyways I got assigned to Galveston, (La Isla) as people call it. I feel way blessed to be here and work among these people. We have the beach in our area but can’t go on it or even drive/ride by it during the summer for obvious reasons.

So our first night we were fed by a couple in the branch, it was very humbling to see people who had very little give so much to feed us. Then later that night we did some finding, we didn’t have many investigators that night. But we decided to kneel down near a park, say a prayer, and go wherever. After we prayed we got up and headed a direction. Elder Jensen left it up to me and since I didn’t know the area I just headed off. After knocking about 3 doors we got to a door where as soon as we knocked they let us in. It was a man named Mando and his son. Turned out Mando has lived here 3 years and was a general in the Pakistan Army. Anyhow... I committed him to baptism and he is a pretty cool guy. His son is really scarred up from some stuff that happened in Pakistan so Mando says he wants peace and freedom for his son and we told him the gospel brings that. He loves Jesus, he says He is the International King, his water, his oxygen, and his light. We got him to come to church with his son and he loved it but sadly we have to turn him over to the English sisters.

There have been a lot of experiences; I was able to give a blessing to a less-active member who was going through some hard stuff. We fasted on Saturday so that we could find more people to teach and to have a baptism by the 18th or 19th of December and we have been teaching a lot more and I have faith that if we do our part then the Lord will do his. This goal is a mission wide goal that came straight from Pres. Saylin so I know it’s possible. I have seen many miracles in this past week and I feel extremely blessed to be able to serve a mission! I wish I could tell y'all everything but time just won’t permit it. Entonces, Los amo muchisisimo y estoy muy agradecidos tener una familia eterna. -Elder Cooley

This is the first day in Houston with all the arriving Elders and Sisters

and our Mission President and family.

With President and Sister Saylin

Deep in the heart of Texas!

Hey All!

So I leave for Texas tomorrow morning! Estoy demaciado animado! That is awesome about the regional conference and all.  I love hearing from the prophets and apostles. In fact, last Tuesday for the 4th time, we got to hear from an apostle.  Elder David A. Bednar gave an absolutely amazing talk, probably one of my favorites ever. He talked about how Doctrines are simple revealed truths that have to do with our salvation, and Principles are guidelines for exercising moral agency in line with those principles, and then Applications, which is what we do. Doctrine answers the question "why?”, Principles answer the question "What?", and Applications answer the questions of "How?'. He said too often in the church we try to fix problems with applications.  Por ejemplo, if Home Teaching needs to be improved, some just address the problem with an application and just tell them what to do.  He said in order to be most effective, address the doctrine behind home teaching and when they understand it in their Hearts, that’s when they become committed and improvement happens. "The study of doctrine will change behavior more than the study of behavior will".  He said "The answer is always the doctrine"; one major doctrine is that God is our Loving Heavenly Father and we are his children.

Other than that we had a testimony meeting in our district on Saturday night with one of our teachers, Hna. Scaife, and it was basically amazing.  We also had the opportunity this week to train the new zone leaders and they are gonna do great things.  I am way excited to get out into the field and teach the gospel with the little Spanish that I can teach, but I have faith that as I work hard and trust in the Lord he will provide.

So I received a letter from my mission president about what will happen the next couple days. He'll be there to pick us up.  We'll have some interviews, dinner, and a testimony meeting.  Then since they have 6 kids, we'll be staying the night at some elders’ appartment nearby.  Then Wednesday morning receive a little training and then meet our trainers.  There are 8 of us total heading to Texas, not sure we'll all be in the same mission, but for sure Elder Simmons and Elder Dalley.  I love this work and I am so humbled and priveleged to be a part of it.  He sentido muy debil este semana pasado pero tengo fe en Jesucristo y en el poder del expiacion.  Se que Dios vive, tuve la oportunidad ir al templo este manana y senti el amor de Dios para mi y para todo el mundo.  Entonces, los amo muchisimo y tenga un buen dia!  

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

Gracias por el abrigo! I got some awesome letters including pictures of Mae, Emmie, Benton (Along with some awesome pictures they drew! made my day) and then pictures of Troy in his mobster outfit (classy), and then today I got a letter from Alicia including pictures of Pepper, Dakota, and the fam, along with some awesome pictures that Dakota drew (with Curious George).

Entonces, gracias for all of the amor! So this week, Tuesday, for the THIRD Tuesday in a row we heard from an apostle, this time M. Russell Ballard, it was way awesome! All of the apostles so far have spoken of the importance of having a smile to show that this gospel is a gospel of happiness. Then on Wednesday we received 20 new elders in our zone and me and Elder Simmons got to orient them and such. It’s my favorite part of being a zone leader because they are usually so shell-shocked and the first few days are overwhelming but all these elders are way sharp. There's an Elder Fisher from Goodyear.    I was talking to him and found out that he went to high school in Springville with Brea and said he knew the Hardesty's and such.  Small world!

Then on Thursday I received my travel plans!! I leave Nov. 16th at 5 am, my flight leaves at 8:25 then I arrive at Houston around 12:30. Only one week left in the MTC so we're trying to soak up all we can here before we go in the field. I am so stoked to be in the field!

Then yesterday we got to hear from Sheri Dew for the fireside. She had 3 main points that she said would help us in our lives to become more powerful disciples.  1-Know who we are and where we come from (Children of God, we have been saved for these last days because in premortality we developed the talent of spirituality, quote from George Q. Cannon I believe),  2-Know the atonement intimately and become familiar with the enabling power of it. Then 3-Learn to be receptive to personal revelation. It was an awesome talk!

And Sean is going to Tallahassee Florida! That is epic! He and Chase will be in the MTC at the same time, also epic. Anyways, I love y'all and pray for y'all often. The Gospel is awesome and true. Learn it, Live it, Love it.

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

This past week was awesome! And this past month and a half also. Thank you for the cookies (my zone gobbled them up in minutes and they were very delicious!) and the talk. Yeah if you could just mail the ones from home that would be great! And if you could get Brian to mail me my baja sweater jacket abrigo deal that'd be cool since its getting colder and I don’t have a pday jacket.

So I forgot to tell you that 2 Tuesdays ago we had the opportunity to hear from Russell M. Nelson for devotional, it was asombroso. I was about 20 feet away from him and he said some great stuff.  He said if you don’t know the answer to a question just say "We follow Jesus Christ", so that was obviously some good advice. Then this past Tuesday we went to devotional not expecting a general authority because they don’t come much but turned out that Richard G. Scott talked on being led by the spirit! It was epic.  He invoked several blessings upon the missionaries using his apostleship, and the spirit was so strong! He invoked a protective shield upon the sister missionaries as they follow the spirit and he invoked a blessing of el don de lenguas upon all missionaries learning a language! 

I can't wait to get out into the field and teach real people and work with members! It is awesome to hear the potential of the Kingdom of God on the earth and it is left up to us and our faith in order to spread the gospel. This week I realized that in the past I had no idea how much faith played a factor in everything! Faith is the first principle of the gospel and as we exercise faith it gives us power to overcome the world.

Yo amo este evangelio! Se que La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es el reino de Senor que de nuevo se ha establecido sobre la tierra. Se que el principio de fe es muy poderoso. Se que a traves el evangelio los hijos de hombres pueden ser salvados.

I love you all and I pray each night for family and friends and even for Texas. This gospel answers every concern in every heart and brings happiness to those who live it. I can't wait to get more pictures from the family and to hear from everyone how they're doing!

Love Elder Mark Cooley

P.S. Hymn 72 is awesome

Chase got his call to Washington Tacoma?! That is soo awesome!! He will be a great missionary and he better write me. And I assume Sean will get his call soon, I got a DearElder from him a while back and it sounds to be that way. This is all great news!

Life in the MTC is pretty good. Went to the temple this morning and it was basically the best session; I have learned so much this week!

So, the first day in the MTC Elder Simmons and I taught our first lesson to a lone elder who was studying on the grass at night.  Anyways, we got to know him and taught him a lesson filled with the spirit.  He was headed to Philadelphia English speaking and throughout our stay we would see him around and we became friends. Well he left a couple weeks ago and last week we got a letter from him telling us how his call had been changed to Spanish and that he was learning it really fast in the field.  He expressed thankfulness to us for being friends and it was really a cool letter to get.

We got a new district this past week and Elder Simmons and I had the opportunity to do orientation for them.  They are a stellar district; they remind me of our district oh so long ago (6 weeks ha).  One of them was in my EFY group when I went the first time at BYU.  I didn’t recognize him but he remembers me because everyone would hit on my sister (Diana); brought up some memories.

Two elders in our zone where feeling homesick this week so Elder Simmons and I gave them blessings, fasted for them, and prayed a lot. God answers prayers.  On Sunday Stephen B. Allen (an awesome man who was mission pres. of the Tempe mission and is now managing director of missionary department) spoke for the fireside. He told us that when we feel homesick and want to go home that is only Satan pushing our buttons because he knows how much success we will have in bringing others unto Christ and he does all he can to make us quit. Bro. Allen addressed their concerns basically word for word and referenced Alma 26:27-30ish. I love everything about this work.  The hard times have a purifying power and the good times make you appreciate life and the plan of salvation.

Un conocimiento de la expiacion de Jesucristo es muy importante por los gentes del mundo y a traves la expacion podemos tener la vida eterna.  Yo se que Jesucristo es mi Salvador y Redentor.  Yo se que puedo vivir con mi familia por eternidad.

I love my mission and I can’t wait to hear how the Lord has been blessing your lives. If anyone has time, DearElder.com is nice because they get here fast and such.  I love you all! One of my favorite scriptures of this week is DyC 128:28-29 (I think) "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" and also DyC 31 is pretty good also as related to missionary work.

Anyways love ya all and keep it up,

Love Elder Cooley

A wicked hail storm and a tornado?! That is pretty intense, wish I could’ve seen that. It rained quite a bit last week here, so that was nice. Troy will be a great boy and example for sure. I love the temple, we had the opportunity to go this morning and it was probably the best session I've had so far at the MTC and they've all been way good, but I just felt the Saviors love so strongly as I sat in there pondering and reading some scriptures.

So this past week has been awesomebroso (a made up Spanish word we heard a sister using). On Tuesday night we heard from Elder Neuenshwander on how to be more successful missionaries and he gave some great advice and things I can work on. Then after we had a district meeting and shared some of our thoughts and feelings about the fireside and then after our branch president, Pres. Horne, pulled me and Elder Simmons into another room. I thought we were going to get in trouble for something, but instead he asked us to be the next Zone Leaders. So currently we are zone leaders in training until next Sunday. I'm excited to be able to serve the other elders in my zone. I know I'll have to rely on the Savior a lot and such. I hope you all take time to look for the ways the Lord has blessed your lives, it's amazing to see how much He has when you stop and look.

Also this week we listened to a couple devotionals from Elders Holland and Bednar from a year or so ago that they gave in the MTC (I guess you can only watch them in the MTC so not sure you'll be able to find them). Elder Holland had 2, one called "Missions are Forever" and "The Miracle of a Mission". Those were amazing!! I love Elder Holland. He is very passionate about his mission and how it set the tone for the rest of his life. He said something like, “Everything good in my life has come as a result of my mission", then he said that’s only if you make it that way. He has a lot of good stuff of relating missionary work to the work that Christ performed on the earth, just on a much smaller scale; but as disciples of Jesus Christ we must be willing to take a few steps up the hill of Calvary. Then Elder Bednar talked about how to distinguish between the Holy Ghost and our own thoughts. He said "Quit worrying about it! You be a good boy, you obey the commandments, you keep your covenants, and the Lord will guide your steps and put utterance into your mouth when you don’t even know it’s happening. If our thoughts are good, then our actions will be good; and everything that is good comes from God".

Entonces, Yo se que la Iglesia de Jesucristo es el reino de Dios en la tierra. Yo se que familias son eternas. Yo se que Tomas S. Monson es nuestro profeta en la tierra hoy. Yo so que a traves el expiacion de Jesucristo podemos tener felicidades. I love you all and stay true to the faith and close to the spirit.

Love,

Elder Mark Cooley


I get to go to this place!



Yo y mi companero had somewhat matching ties. Same brand and
basically same pattern, just different colors. We received many
compliments because we were being companionship-minded. 

First of all, conference was amazing!! I loved every single talk and I noticed how everything is tied into missionary work. I only have 23 mins left but one thing I noticed at the start was how all the talks were about following the prophet and then when the prophet spoke he talked about gratitude. I've noticed that's one thing I need to work on and especially if it’s what the prophet says. So that’s my goal is to express more gratitude and also to be an example of the believer as I go about being a representative of Jesucristo.

That is sooo awesome that dad was able to talk with Steve! I pray about everyone at home and I have no doubt the Lord is blessing you all. I got the package! Thanks!  Definitely helped because I started getting sick the day after I got it, but I prevented it.

It'd be nice to get more letters because I have more time to write with letters than with emails, and I don’t have very many people’s addresses.

Mae is 1? Man, things fly when you’re on a mission!

Mom and Dad, I am so grateful for everything you have done for me, all the lessons you have taught me, and all the love you've shown.  Oh yeah, one thing I'd like to have would be some pictures of everyone! Basically just the whole fam and every niece and nephew and such, yeah the works.

So the Sunday fireside last night was all about hymns, it was way awesome. It was great to sing some of my favorite hymns with thousands of other missionaries and to feel the spirit that comes from them.

I love you all and continue to live righteously and to be more Christlike, we all have room for improvement. Being on a mission is the greatest thing ever and it’s only been 3 weeks so I'm stoked for everything to come!

Love, Elder Mark Cooley