Howdy!

Sounds like a fun/interesting week back home. So I'm writing today because yesterday was MLK day and so today is our pday. The Lord definitely is performing miracles every day for each one of us; it wasn't until I started keeping a study journal that I began noticing all of them. Prophets have spoken of how study journals allow us to receive inspiration as we show to the Lord how important it is to us. I have learned how the prophets study journals are basically the scriptures and as we keep study journals they can enlarge our memory and expand our knowledge.

This past week I have studied a lot about The Spirit of Promise and other such things related to it, if anyone could give me some more insight that would be awesome.

I have not received the calendar and shirt yet; my guess is you sent it to the mission home. Since Galveston is a good 1.5 hour drive we only get mail from the mission home about every few weeks. But I'll get it tomorrow probably since Pres. Saylin is coming down to do interviews for the League City Zone.

So this past week, from Monday-Thurs. we got a little bit of a freeze where it was unusually cold. On top of that our heater in the apartment doesn’t work so I slept with extra blankets and my jacket on. The Orellanas on Wednesday let us borrow one of their portable heaters; it was a life saver! One day we were riding in downtown Galveston (The Strand) when we rode by the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile, so that was fun to see.

On Monday night and Tuesday, Elder Perez came on an exchange with me (He's called to speak English but he speaks Spanish, we came out the same time) it was awesome! We had the opportunity to teach the mother of a less active young man, the lesson went amazing. Probably best 1st lesson in my mission. She was asking all the right questions and when we read Amos 8:11-12 she said she had this similar hunger. We then related how a young man, Jose Smith, had this same hunger and she accepted a baptismal date! We've been working a lot lately with part member families and less actives to keep retention higher and the help with The Rescue that Pres. Monson has spoken very often about. On Wednesday me and Elder Jensen ensenamos Clases de Ingles a los miembros y investigadores, era un gran privilegio. Then, on Friday I was asked to sing a musical number at District Meeting and I sang Hymn #112, Savior Redeemer of My Soul to the tune of #102 Jesus Lover of My Soul, not sure how well that worked out but it seemed to fit. Also on Sunday the Hermanas in the branch had a baptism for a 22 year old Josue Blanco; he is legitimate. Anyways, I had the privilege of conducting the baptism, in Spanish, so that was fun.

This past training President Saylin wanted us to prayerfully select 3 families in the branch to get more involved in missionary work. This was called our "Miracle List" and we have seen great success as we expressed to these families that it was the will of the Lord that they become more involved in missionary work. I have a very strong testimony of members doing the work and I hope to be able to use these families as the Lord would want us to. Anyways thanks for all the love and support! Hope y'all have a great week.

"Now, let it be written in every heart with a pen of fire that this work in which we are engaged is true, that the gospel we have received came from heaven, and that it shall be preached by us in every nation, to all people, beginning with our neighbors, and then shall the end come. Let us be reminded that there is joy without measure in bringing souls unto Christ- a joy that will be magnified and perfected beyond mortal comprehension when we sit down with them in the kingdom of the Father. As one among you I know whereof I speak and testify that God who gave us the gospel has also called us to take it to his other children. God grant that we may do so in the way we already know we should."-Elder Bruce R. McConkie, "Let the Word Go Forth".

I love how perfect this gospel is and how endless our potential is as we submit our will to the Father.

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

                                                                              YUMM!



Sounds like all in all a great week! That's so crazy that Sean is leaving! He needs to write me and I'll need his mission address of course. Haven't heard from him and a lot of others since the time I left the MTC. Hope all is going well with him and Chase. I had not heard about Myrna's engagement or Henry's. That is so awesome though! They are all great people and that's fantastico news. I remember Amy Curtis and I remember going with Elder Ricks to her house once and her husband wasn't too stoked at the time, that’s great to hear about his baptism!

This past week has been amazing. We taught some great lessons, ate at the Orellanas, went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders; this time I stayed in my area and Elder Richards came. We've made some great progress with some people this past week. Miraculously a former investigator, Geraldo, (we dropped him last transfer because he just didn’t seem to want to do anything) called us about 10 mins before sacrament and told us he wanted to come. We quickly got a ride for him and he was able to make it just in time. Then he stayed after for the baptism of Transito Trejo, an investigator of the other missionaries in the branch. Then after he stayed for the food provided by the branch. I have a great testimony of members being involved in the work.

Last night at about 8:30 we went to a less-active family's house to visit them, and after knocking on the door a few times we decided to leave. Since we had half an hour to get into our apartment and it was about a 30 sec. bike ride away, I felt like we should just walk there since there was nowhere else to go for the night. As we got to the end of the street a suburban passed us and we stopped and turned to see where it was going. It started to turn to the other side of the street, but then it backed up into their drive way. We rushed over and started helping them unload groceries. The timing was perfect! Miracle! We then went in and taught the 40th lesson for that week, the record in the mission being 42. All this because of members and the mercy of the Lord.

I know this work is inspired and lead by the hand of the Lord just as long as we are obedient and give it our all. I hope you all continue to see the Hand of the Lord in your lives, it’s always there. Anyways, have a great week!

Con gran Amor, Elder Cooley

Sounds like you all had a wonderful New Years!

That's awesome about Jayden’s baptism!  And about that temple trip, I miss the temple but in the mean time I’ve been studying a lot about some stuff which has changed my perspective on a lot of things.  It's amazing how awesome this gospel is!

I hope you get well soon mom! I don't understand entirely the works of the Lord, but from what little I am able to notice I can definitely see that there are reasons for me being here. This past week we have eaten with the Orellanas a lot and I have seen many blessings come from that.

So on New Year’s we had to be in our apartment at 7; so from 7-10 we were going crazy and setting up rides for our investigators to go to the branch's new year’s party so that they wouldn't get drunk but sadly things didn’t work out as we planned.  So that was a bummer.  Also we saw Mando.  He is doing good... except the fact that he is mad at us still.  It's kinda scary to have a former general of the Pakistan Army mad at you. Also, this past week I ate Lengua and Menudo, wouldn’t recommend either. They're alright though.

Make sure Sean writes me, I want to hear about his MTC adventures.

On Wednesday we rode around in the rain for 4 1/2 hours without a single lesson; that was way fun. Well sorry but my mind is kinda blank right now, I'll make sure to increase the value of my letter next week.  Thanks for all the prayers and support!  I can definitely feel them!  Anyways, Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

 P.S.  If everyone in the church were to bring one friend into the gospel a year, the world would be converted in 9 years. It is my goal to do so every year for the rest of my life.

Coming in from the rain

Howdy all! So this past week has been basically fantastic. Thursday we had Zone Conference, had another great opportunity to learn from Pres. Saylin. Then we had a gift exchange thing after it. I got some nice new socks along with some gift cards. Not sure which I was more excited for... Anyways, it was good talking to y'all on Saturday and to hear that all is well with the Fam.

Thanks for all the nifty giftys for Christmas! On Buena Noche (Christmas Eve) we ate with the Orellana family; it was amazing. Then Christmas day we opened presents and had a zone activity; it was a pancake breakfast and then white elephant. The present I gave was little army men and a bag of Mung Beans that have been sitting in our apartment for who knows how long. Then our Christmas dinner consisted of Hamburger Helper and bread because the mother of the house we went to ended up having her baby so the dad cooked. But it was great to spend time with the members and even some investigators on that day.

One cool experience I had was on Christmas Eve.  We went to Walgreens to get the White elephant gifts and when we first pulled up we saw "Old Hillbilly",  a homeless man that Elder Jensen has talked to before and given a Book of Mormon to. He told us how much he loves it and he even took it to the steps of the court house and started reading it when people were telling him to throw it away and stuff. Anyway, we talked with him and invited him to church and just as we were about to end with a prayer a woman who had come out of the store just walked up and set some groceries by him and said, "Merry Christmas". It was very humbling to see the charity around this Christmas season and it definitely softened my heart.

Other than that, we got transfer news this morning. Turns out Elder Jensen is staying here and I am too. I'm stoked for this next transfer here in Galveston and to see many more miracles.

Anyways, Love ya all. Peace and blessings, Elder Cooley

No worries about the letters, we might start emailing on Mondays now. Thanks for the Cheese! I remember asking for it last year for Christmas but totally had forgotten.  Before we opened it I was talking it up to my companion and he thought I was a weirdo talking about cheese and such, but when he tasted it he loved it. I haven't gotten any Christmas packages yet, if you sent them to the mission home then they'll probably hand them out at zone conference on Thursday. One thing I’ve missed from Mesa is going to see the temple lights, but it’s good to hear that y'all are having some fun times!

Yeah, President and Sister Saylin are the best! He is a convert and he has such an amazing testimony and I’m surprised he hasn't been translated yet.

The Carranzas have been coming back to church and on Dec. 18th me and Elder Jensen had the opportunity to baptize and confirm Joseph (14), Ricky (10), and Caleb (8). Joseph and Donavan (13) also received the priesthood and it will be awesome to see them fulfilling their callings! Also this past week we taught a few guys from Guatemala and Honduras who have only lived here for about 6 months and when we taught the  first lesson and testified I could see in their eyes that the spirit was testifying to them of the truthfulness of what we were teaching.

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders; I went with Elder Oliver up to their area in League City and taught English. It was fun to get to know amazing people who were working towards baptism and who were recent converts. Anyways, I love this missionary work and it’s awesome to hear all the work going on back home! I can’t wait to get home and help out missionaries there; I'm beginning to learn how important members are. Anyways, talk to ya on Saturday and such.

Love y'all, Elder Cooley

Hey! This past week has been good! I had the opportunity to go to an all day leadership training on Tuesday that Pres. Saylin held. It really strengthened my faith and learned a lot. Also this week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with my district leader Elder Cowan. Since this is a bi-lingual district, he is English speaking. So it was me and him for most of the lessons. It was an opportunity to exercise my faith and we were able to teach 5 lessons that day, most of which Elder Cowan didn’t know what was going on. But it was good for me to use my Spanish without the help of Elder Jensen and I feel the Lord helped me tremendously to communicate the feelings of my heart to these wonderful people.  While on the exchange we ran into an interesting man who used the Bible to support his theory of aliens and a bunch of other crazy stuff. Also on the exchange we went to teach Angel, as we waited outside for the sisters to be done with their lesson. Quick background, Angel lives with Abraham Perez, a member from the English ward who speaks Spanish. Abraham is basically the best member missionary I have ever seen.  He was baptized 2.5 years ago and shares the gospel in everything he does. He tells us how he is just so full of the love of Christ and wants to share it with everyone; so sometimes he'll schedule lessons at his house for the sisters and elders at the same time so we started coordinating with the sisters. Anyways, the sisters were almost done so we waited outside. We see Angel walking up, staggering, calling us his amigos, and almost walked into the wrong door. It was pretty obvious he was drunk. As we talked with him I realized and gained a further testimony of how much alcohol changes people and causes them to not be able to feel the spirit.  So that lesson ended quickly and it was sad to see one of my investigators like that.

Other than that we have seen the heart of the stepdad of the familia Carranza be softened. He has told us how he loves coming to church and loves having us over. I love that family so much! It has been good to see them come to church and see the changes that have happened in their family.

Anyways for Christmas, we'll go to a member’s house and you can call us after 3 sometime. I'll have more next week like the number to call and what time exactly but that’s the basics. Anyways, love ya all and keep the faith!

Elder Cooley

Adam and Jessie are expecting another one?!  That is Fantastic!  I really appreciate all the pictures of the family and the awesome pictures that the kids have drawn. They are way good artists. That's cool you received the letter from Pres. and Sis. Saylin; they are basically amazing.

I had the opportunity to attend an all day leadership training with Elder Jensen yesterday. There were some grulesome role plays but all in all it was awesome, got to learn a lot from Pres. and Sis. Saylin. President Saylin is a convert and he has an amazing testimony and hearing his always strengthens my own. At the end I was able to have an interview with him which was a very delightful experience.

So, Alvaro Arevalo, after coming to church last week we talked to him Wednesday and he said he loved it! And that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and he wants to change his life! We had him set for a baptismal date for Dec. 18th which is the weekend for our mission-wide goal for every companionship to baptize or "Weekend in White" so every missionary can have a white Christmas and to reach our mission's goal of baptisms for the year.  As of now we lack 80 baptisms and a lot of faith is required to reach the goal, but I know it’s possible. Anyways, Alvaro told us on Wednesday he might be going to Mexico to work until January but he didn’t think it'd happen. Well when we returned on Friday he wasn’t home.  We called him and found out he was on his way to Mexico. It was kind of a letdown; but he's way awesome and we're going to hook him up with the address for the church down there. The one sure date that we have for the “Weekend in White” is for a part member family.  We'll be baptizing one of the boys named Caleb. The whole family is so awesome.  The mom is baptized and there are 5 kids; the 3 oldest have already been baptized. The stepdad isn’t a member, as of now. But they are awesome and love coming to church, so yeah.

We've been teaching Angel Garcia who lives with a member.  He reads 4-6 chapters a night and loves the church but he wants to feel ready for baptism before accepting a date so there are some miracles to be had there. Also this past Saturday during our lunch and dinner hours we went to this parade deal in downtown Galveston called Dickens on The Strand, where they celebrate Charles Dickens and such. A recent convert in the English ward got us tickets; he's lived on the island his whole life and is about 70+. There is a lot of history here in Galveston and it's a wonderful place to serve.

Anyways, I know that where there is faith, there are miracles. When coupled with obedience there is nothing that can’t be done. This is the Lord's work and I feel privileged to be an instrument in His hands. I love you all and thank you for everything!

-Elder Cooley

At the ward Christmas Party