How is everyone doing?

This past week has been great!  We were able to get back in touch with Moses, taught him Friday and Saturday and then he came to a baptism we had in the ward for, Agustin, an investigator of the other elders.  He and his mom are growing a lot closer and he will start working with her after school, so we won't teach him as much but I know the Lord has great things in store for Moises.  

We taught a young man again, Jesus, who doesn't believe in God but rather believes in science.  He read a little bit of the Book of Mormon and when we stopped by he told us that his grandma was reading it.  Jose, the brother of Maria (recent convert), is preparing for his mission!  When I first got here he hardly ever came to church but now he's a cub scout leader and blesses the sacrament regularly!  We've started to work on his cousin who hasn't come to church in years and this past week he came.  There have been some great things happening in the ward recently especially pertaining to the Rescue.  

So I'm getting transferred, my guess is that I'll stay in the same ward though, which would be awesome.  Anyways, I love you all, hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Cooley

Como estamos?

This past week has been great.  That's funny what you said about Benton not saying he hates things but rather  "I don't like that thing, or it's not my favorite thing".  I've seen the same among a lot of Hispanics.  They never say "Odio tal cosa" sino "casi no me gusta tal cosa", it's something small I've noticed but it definitely helps.

Anyways, this past Tuesday we did a Church tour with the youth for mutual and had committed them to bring any non member friends they had.  It was very spiritual as the youth shared some of their personal experiences and testimonies of the gospel.  There was one non member who came and we were able to talk to him after.  He told us that he had a dream the night before that basically cleared up all doubt that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  We testified that God had prepared him and we encouraged him to read the Book of Mormon, committed him to baptism, and he did the closing prayer full of real intent.  He lives in the other elders’ area so we've given him over to them to teach.

This past weekend was pretty crazy, one of our investigators said his mom didn't want us coming by any more so we were pretty bummed but we felt that we should talk with her so we went by after church on Sunday and had a good talk with the mom and she said we could still teach him, it was pretty intense. Joaquin was able to share his testimony at an investigator fireside, and he also came out with us this past Friday.  He's sharing the gospel like none other and already preparing for his mission.  Yesterday, we were able to find some great new investigators.  This week is going to be great, I love the gospel.  I've been studying lately about hope and how the Lord commands us to doubt not and fear not, but look forward with a perfect brightness of hope.  This past Sunday could have been pretty discouraging, especially with some stuff that happened with investigators, not to add it was pouring rain.  But as the rain cleared up the sunset shone brightly, asi es con el conocimiento del evangelio. Hay que tener fe y echarle ganas. Anyways, I hope y'all have a great week, keep on keeping on,

Love, Elder Cooley

My dear family,

Wasn't conference just amazing?!  I know I loved it.  As for the past week, on Wednesday I went on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders, aka Elder Jensen (my trainer).  We had a good time working and teaching together again and talking about the good ol' days in Galveston.  We spent a lot of P-day helping some other Elders move apartments, and then when we got home we decided to move our furniture around just to mix things up.

On Tuesday we OYM'd a young man on the street who was skateboarding and then while I was with Elder Jensen, Elder Heidt and Elder Bullock were able to teach him and he's pretty legit.  I love working with the youth.  In between the Sunday sessions, Joaquin (recent convert of a month) was able to teach Maria (recent convert of 2 months) a new member lesson about the Gospel along with Moises being there.  It was great to see one recent convert teach another and even an investigator about the Gospel. As we've been working with them I've seen their lives change tremendously.  As for the fiesta, it was amazing.  A lot of members were able to invite their non-member friends and I was able to talk to all of them.  So many are looking for the truth (whether they know it or not) but they don't know where to find it.  That's why it's up to us to invite. Obviously they have their agency but it never hurts to invite, Sin Verguenza, Con Confianza.

I noticed a lot of conference was focused on missionary work and the Book of Mormon.  I was reminded of the great example of Abraham Perez from Galveston –a  member who basically all he thought about was "how can I do missionary work?"  His whole life was missionary work and he was probably one of the happiest people I've met.  If we feel we're lacking spirituality, do missionary work.  The gospel is true.  I love you all.  Happy birthday Mae!

Love, Elder Cooley

Como estamos?

So this past week the Gladys Knight devotionals were amazing.  First of all, in order for members to have gotten tickets they had to invite non-member friends and it turned out that about 2/3 of all the tickets went to nonmembers.  There were 16 missionaries asked to help out and our assignment was to hand out programs and encourage the visitors to fill out a request form on the back to get a sample CD of the SUV choir, a Book of Mormon, and a Restoration DVD which the missionaries would later bring by their house.  President just sent the mission a letter saying," Our little team of missionaries collected a record-breaking 1,941 request cards!   The majority of these requests were within the Texas Houston South Mission."

As I sat in on the first session and several others the spirit testified to me how the gospel is for everyone and how many lives were being blessed and opened up to receive the gospel.  It was great to hear her conversion story and another speaker in between the music taught the Restoration, point by point accordingly with Preach my Gospel.  There were many "Amens!" and even felt like we were in the midst of a baptism choir.  Gladys Knight has been set apart as a missionary and her testimony was very powerful as she invited others to find out more.  Because of her service and those in the choir many people’s lives will be changed.  We were told of one experience where 600 people were baptized due to just 4 sessions, and we had a total of 9, from 2 sessions on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, and 3 on Saturday, with the Chapel and Cultural hall being pretty much full every time.  There were many preachers and pastors from other churches in attendance as well, with them filling out request cards also.  They go around and visit missions and stakes upon request and apparently the waiting line is several years in advance but due to President Saylin and the excitement of Gladys to come here to Houston we were able to cut in line.  Although probably no one in my area will be baptized because of this since it was only in English, it was great to be a part of it and on the front lines.  I know many lives will be changed because of the diligence of members to get their friends there.

Now, this weekend we are having a ward party and we are working on having members invite their friends, since Hispanics love parties and food is an easy way to introduce people to the church.  I am also stoked for conference and to hear from living prophets and apostles.  Gladys told of her mom and how she (her mother) would always call the kids in to the living room to watch general conference, without being members, and her mom would say, "pay attention, these are some wise men".  Now she knows that they're not only wise men but men called of God, prophets and apostles, special witnesses of Jesus Christ.  For the first time I heard President Saylin pray this past week in behalf of all the missionaries that were helping out with the firesides.  It was Friday night and we were really tired, and he offered an amazing prayer asking that we wake up the next morning refreshed and lo and behold, we went to bed after midnight and woke up at 5:30 and I wasn't tired.  This entire experience has definitely been one of my favorites on the mission.  Anyways, wish I had time to tell more.

Hope you all have a great week and continue to invite others to come unto Christ.

Love, Elder Cooley

Howdy,

Things are going great!  To answer some questions, the Gladys Knight devotional is this weekend and me and Elder Kump have been asked to help out with some of it.  So we'll be going to all 9 sessions, basically no p-day and we'll be getting home late every night, but it'll be a great experience for all those who are attending.  65% of those planning on going are nonmembers and Gladys Knight will be sharing her testimony and inviting others to learn more.

Those sound like some great boundary changes. I was able to get my camera charger back; now the problem is that I keep forgetting to bring it to the library, but soon enough I'll probably just send a disc home.  Oh and about Sis. Saylin's baby - he was born a little premature but after a while in the hospital he's home and his name is Samuel Houston Saylin (President Saylin wanted to name him Houston South).  Kelson Rogers is engaged?! Crazy.  I got an invitation this last Thursday that made me freak out for about an hour, the invitation to Brian Robert's wedding... That's good that they're registered at Target.

Anyways, things are going great here in Mo City.  Moses is doing good; Joaquin is pretty much ready to go on a mission. Maria Llanas is taking a lot of non-member friends to the Gladys Knight devotional, the same with other members.  A lot of good things happening here in Houston with even greater things to come.  It's amazing to see the work of the Lord unfold and be a part of it.

We've received the October Liahona, the special Book of Mormon issue.  It's really gooood.  I encourage all to read it and strengthen their testimony of the Book of Mormon and then go and share it.  I hope y'all have a great week and continue to prepare for General Conference, good stuff.

Love, Elder Cooley



Howdy!

That is pretty cool to hear about all the changes that have happened.  What are the stake boundaries now?

Anyways, this past week was great.  We got a new district leader this past week, Elder Adam Kump from Gilbert.  He shared with us his conversion story and how he knew this was the true church because of the Spirit that he felt.  Also, Joaquin was confirmed on Sunday and has already started sharing the gospel with his friends; he is on fire!  We've seen many miracles as we strive for exact obedience.  We've put up an "altar of sacrifice" for all the disobedient things that we are doing and as such strive to change that, something I really need to improve on is nightly journal writing.

We have this Gladys Knight devotional coming up next weekend and we were able to get a lot of tickets out to our members and their non-member friends so we're hoping to see some good fruits from this experience.  Today we had district meeting and interviews with President Saylin; he told me how he went to the Mesa Temple this past weekend and said how much he enjoyed it.

The work is going great; I love the gospel.  I've been studying lately about the faith that the brother of Jared had and especially how to emulate that faith.  There's a talk by Elder Gene R. Cook that talks about Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and how faith is what "makes things happen".  It has reminded me of the power of true faith, nothing wavering and the miracles that come when we are fully committed.  I hope you all have a great week and continue to see the blessings of the Lord.

Les quiero y aprecio mucho,

Elder Cooley

Como estamos?

Sounds like some good stuff has happened this past week and that there'll be some good stuff happening this next week.

This past week has been great here also.  President Saylin called for a special meeting for all Spanish missionaries and we talked about how to better embrace the culture and how to better help out those we teach.  A lot of the native missionaries gave talks and also Presidente Del Aguila, a counselor to President Saylin, who's been in Houston for a long time and has seen the church grow.  He related us the story of how a little branch grew into 2 stakes in less than 30 years and he attributed the success to the Lord and also to the amount of activities that they had.  I feel very blessed to serve here in Houston among the Hispanic people, from a lot of other countries.  For the past week we have been "fasting" from English, o sea, we only speak English when it's completely necesario. I have seen my Spanish improve a lot this past week and I'll definitely continue fasting.

This past week an investigator fed us pulpo chiquito, and it wasn't calamari, it was straight up baby octopus, good stuff if I might say so myself.  Then of course, Joaquin's baptism was amazing.  It was the smoothest baptism I've had on the mission and because of that the Spirit was unrestrained.  He was planning on his mom and family not being able to come, but then the member family that fellowshipped him were able to surprise him and they showed up right on time.  There were a lot of people who showed up from the ward to support him also, which showed to his family how much we truly cared about him and the decision he was making.  We will shortly begin to teach the mom and family because of his awesome ejemplo.

The work continues to roll on and it sure is good stuff.  As for transfers, me and Elder Heidt are staying!  So nothing new besides the awesome opportunity I have to continue to serve in this great ward and with such great missionaries.  I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Cooley