Dear Loved Ones,

How's everyone doing?

This past week has been awesome.  The gospel is true.  

As for your question about seminary - I remember not paying attention in 9th Grade (Book of Mormon year) and so therefore I didn't get much out of it.  However, later on I grew a deep love for seminary, for my teachers, and all the good people I met in it.  

Yesterday as Sacrament was about to start, President Saylin and Elder Gifford Neilson (Area Seventy) walked in and joined us and Elder Neilson spoke to the members while our bishop translated.

Well, I love this gospel. It's the truth. Hope y'all have a great week!

24 January 2012

Howdy,

It's always good to hear how things are going back home.

This past week we have seen the hand of the Lord in rich abundance as he's poured his blessings upon us in more ways than we could have imagined.  I know that prayer and fasting combined with faith can bring about miracles, even more than we have room enough to receive.

This past week we had an amazing Zone Conference and it was a little different than most; instead of gathering several zones it was done zone by zone on separate days. The topic was discipleship, specifically where we are at personally.  President Saylin asked us to go to the Lord as did Joseph Smith in JSH 1:27-29 to see where we stood before the Lord and what we could do to improve.  It was a Zone Conference I will never forget.  

Mom asked me what I remember about seminary but due to the lack of time I have I'll have to address that next week.  But oh boy was it a blast!

I love you all, thank you for all you do to help further the Kingdom of God.  The Gospel is true.

Love, Elder Cooley

Hola Familia,

Sounds like a great past week for the Cooley family.

Transfers this past week were pretty intense.  My new companion is Elder Claunch, from Payson, UT. He was "born" 2 transfers ago in Mo City for my last transfer there, so starting off we already knew each other mas o menos and had gone on an exchange together.  We have been working hard for this little time that we've been together and we've seen many miracles.  One of them was that we were able to teach Roberto.  He is the man.  We taught him and his kids Saturday and had a great lesson.  We had made a lesson plan, or outline, of how we wanted to teach the Restoration but as we started I felt that we should mix it up a little bit (the beauty of Preach My Gospel) and so we taught it kind of out of order and used examples that we didn't plan on.  The spirit was really strong and towards the end of the lesson he committed to baptism and he came to church on Sunday.  

Other miracles that we've seen have been really awesome OYM's in which we've sought the guidance of the spirit and have better understood their needs.  I know that the Lord is preparing the hearts of the children of men for this gospel and that we can be the answer to someone's prayer.

I hope y'all have a great week and strive to live as disciples of Christ in every thought, word, and act.

con gran amor,

Elder Cooley

 El que no vive para servir, no sirve para vivir.

Howdy! This past week was awesome! So things are going great here in Houston 1. Elder Sheridan is getting transferred tomorrow so I'll be getting a new comp here. A lot of times in my mission I have not understood why the Lord does certain things but I'm always reminded of the scripture in Proverbs that says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path. This helps me remember that whatever happens, the Lord knows why and he asks us to just trust in Him.

I know both Elder Bullock and Elder Sawyer, but I've only served around Elder Bullock.  He's a champ; I've had many memorable exchanges with him.

Pues, no tengo mucho que contarles. Fue una semana mas o menos pero siempre andamos con fe y la aseguranza que Dios ama a todos sus hijos. Espero que tengan una semana llena del Espiritu y que El Senor los protega de todo peligro. Que compartan el Evangelio con todos los demas es mi oracion humilde.

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

Happy New Year,

So basically most Spanish jokes I've heard just aren't the same in English so translating just never does them justice when you say, "What did one cup (vaso) say to the other?" when you say "Que vaso?" it's supposed to sound like "Que Paso'?  (I heard that one from a 9 year old).

That's cool they legalized fireworks on those days, I'm sure everyone had fun with that. As for the festivities here in Houston, the buses ran all night to encourage people not to drive if they'd been drinking.  They just do the usual partying, and a lot of staying up late.

 A big focus in church was about setting goals and faithfully working towards them.  Also we got to teach the youth Sunday School class an introduction to the Book of Mormon.  We did a pretty epic object lesson, and then committed all of them to read the Book of Mormon daily and also gave them copies of the Book of Mormon to share with a friend.

This past week I went on an exchange with Elder Preece in his area.  We were walking through a complex and stopped to talk to a lady while she was doing laundry.  She invited us to come back another day and then we asked her if she knew anyone else who would be interested.  Without delay she said yes; she told us of a friend she had who's sister had just died.  She then went into her apartment, grabbed the phone and called her asking if she would be willing.  On the other end of the line she seemed excited to have us over and we set up an appointment.  When the elders went back her husband wasn't there so they weren't able to go in, but since then they've been able to teach them and they are very excited to read the Book of Mormon, all of that because we asked someone we talked to on the street for a referral.  We also had another neat experience this past week.  We talked to a guy, Roberto, really quick, who seemed really excited to have us over; it was a little unusual because we didn't even explain who we were we just said "Hola, como esta?" as we walked by him.  He stopped to talk but said he didn't have time now but that we should come by this upcoming Saturday.  Then yesterday we got a call from a member who asked us if we were the missionaries that talked to her friend, Roberto.  It turns out that she's been inviting him to church and to talk with the missionaries but he's always been busy.  She told him how much God loves him and is looking out for him.

I love being a missionary and being able to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord.  I know that the Lord is preparing the hearts of people to receive the gospel.  Thanks for all the member missionary work that y'all are doing, keep it up, look for ways that you can be a light unto others, if the Lord can make simple stones give light unto others in darkness surely he can use people with weaknesses and faults to build up His Kingdom as we humbly submit to His will and have faith. I hope all is well and that y'all have a fantastic week!

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

Dearly beloved family,

Joke: Que dijo el vaso a otro vaso? Punchline: Que vaso?!

It was good to talk to most of you on Sunday, with all the noise I felt right at home, and when it was over I had even more animo to get to work. It was fun to hear about Gage's new Spider Man watch and how Diana has started playing guitar again.

Just a more detailed explanation of what happened at mission conference:  Pres. Saylin figured that if the Brethen had allowed the showing of the movie "17 Miracles" in the MTC, then it would be okay for us to watch it so we watched that movie.  It made me more curious of my own family history.  Also, Sister Saylin gave to each missionary "The Miracle Book", a book she made filled with specific miracles that have happened to all the missionaries in the mission during their service. It was the coolest!  I'll send a picture so you can see how it is.  

Time is flying by!  It's unbelievable how fast these 15 months have gone by.  But I have loved every minute of it!  We finally were able to teach that really awesome family from Monterrey, Mexico that we found.  Turns out they've been sealed in the temple and just recently moved here about a month ago.  Also, they have a 9 year old son that hasn't been baptized due to a lot of moving around of the father and the family has wanted him to do it.  Anyways, things are going great; the gospel's true, learn it, live it, love it.

Con gran amor,

Elder Cooley

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