Hey! How's it going? That's good to hear that Sis. Anderson is doing better! And about Rylee's wedding, cool beans. It seems like everyone's getting married but I love being out here and not really having to deal with any of it.

So this past Wednesday I received my new companion, Elder Soutas. He's from South Jordan, Utah and is awesome. He's only 1 transfer ahead of me so it's been fun to go around as fairly new missionaries and talk to people and such. We also received 2 green sisters into the district and there are 2 missionaries who are going home the end of this transfer. Elder Jensen went to the Houston area and is now serving as a district leader.

We had a district meeting that reiterated a training we received about teaching Baptism through the Restoration and it was awesome to see that as we used the training that same night we were able to commit 3 new people to baptism. It amazes me how the Lord knows what he's doing and he'll guide his servants to do what he needs if we just implement what he has already given us. I hope to do the same this next week as I listen to conference that I'll be able to come away with things to improve on and plans to do so. I encourage you all to do so and I know the Lord will bless us for our faith to follow what he has given us. Sorry I don't have much to write but hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Cooley

Hey!  How's the life?  Sounds like a fun filled week!  This past week I received letters from Chase Petersen, Sean West, and Zach Carpenter.  It was good to hear from all them and to hear that they are having a great time.  So, concerning transfers.... I am staying in Galveston!  But sadly, Elder Jensen is leaving,  but has been called as a district leader so that will be a great opportunity for him.

Dijorkaef got baptized this past Friday, somewhat unorthodoxly seeing as how he was afraid of water, which we didn't find out til the baptism, but after about an hour it happened so that was awesome.

Just this morning we realized that we received Jesus (our recent convert) as a referral in December.  For some reason though we never contacted him (mostly because he lives in Texas City and we don't have transportation to get off the island much).  But in February was when he contacted us on the streets.  I realized that even though we could have taught him sooner, the Lord, as a tender mercy, allowed us to meet paths so that Jesus could receive the gospel.  Anyways, love y'all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Cooley

HEY! Hope all is going well with everyone, it sure seems like it. It's great to hear all the temple blessings that people are experiencing. Well this past week was awesome; we had the baptism of Jesus this past Saturday. After Elder Jensen performed the baptism Transito Trejo, a recent convert gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and then Jesus bore his testimony. Then at the end of the baptism we hugged and he reminded us of the day we met. We were biking around when he pulled up in a van behind us and jumped out of the passenger’s seat. This past Saturday he told us how they almost drove another way but he felt that they should drive that way. It was definitely a testimony to me how the Lord places his prepared servants in the way of those who are prepared. Other than that, we went to court this morning. We had to testify that a member was coming out with us for community service hours so that was fun. This past week we were able to teach a lot of lessons with members present which is definitely a blessing to both the members and the investigators. The work goes a lot better when the members are involved. Anyways, can't really remember much beside the baptism, oh yeah, I got to confirm Jesus, it was awesome being able to do it in Spanish. This past week we have set the goal to always speak Spanish, and if we're talking to other missionaries who don't, then we translate each other. Anyways, hope you all have a great week!

Love Elder Cooley

PS. New mission office address is:

Texas Houston South Mission

602 Eldridge Road

Sugar Land, TX 77478

(Please be sure to let family and friends know that our address is changing as mail arriving to the old address will be returned to sender. The post office has informed us that they will only forward mail addressed to the mission- not mail addressed to individual missionaries. You can likely remedy this problem by having the addressee be: Texas Houston South Mission, Attn: [your name]. However, friends and family should be careful not to send mail to the new address before March 25 as it will be undeliverable)

PPS. Happy birthday MOM! Hope you have a great week! LOVE YA!

Hey! That's awesome about Henry's wedding and Myrna's this upcoming week! Tell them both congratulations for me. Sounds like a lot of great things are happening in the ward and such.

So this last week has been awesome! Since we were only on the island Monday-Wednesday we worked as hard as we could and we were able to find a family to teach and hopefully they start progressing. Then Thursday we had our final day of mission conference, my favorite so far. Then Friday and Saturday we worked in Pasadena with Elders Cortez and Tidwell in an English area, we basically just knocked doors all day, and met some interesting people along the way. While there I really gained an appreciation for the area I'm in and how greatly we are blessed. So this Saturday, Jesus is getting baptized and that'll be awesome. Hopefully we can get Dijorkaef baptized this week too. While I was in Pasadena I realized the difference between an English ward party and a Spanish one... and I'm pretty sure when I get home I'm going to a Spanish ward/branch.

Also this week I met an interesting character. He introduced himself as TJ. As we talked he told us how he was Christ in his former life and how he was back as TJ Evans this time. He also told us how Galveston will be the New Jerusalem (I can see where he's coming from on that one because Galveston is pretty awesome) and how Bin Laden and Dick Cheney are the Antichrists. Along with all sorts of other interesting things, but the amazing part was that he honestly believes it. He then gave us 2 options, we could either go with him to Uruguay or stay here and finish our mission and possibly die. All in all I think I'll stay here.

Anywho, the work here is going great. This past week I realized the importance of home teaching and member missionary work from Acts 6 along with a talk by Bruce R. McConkie called "Let the Word Go Forth". Also I've noticed my sacrament meetings have been a lot more meaningful since I've been studying it a lot lately. Well, hope all is going well at home and with everyone, have a great week!

Elder Cooley

Hey! This past week has been great. The mission conference was good and learned a lot from it. That is amazing to hear about the support to the Miles family and all the stuff in the stake. I got the package of CD's with the talks, thanks so much! It was cool to hear Elder Andersen and Christofferson translate their own talks, I noticed that even some Apostles have problems some time with the language. As for the baptisms, none seemed to work out this week. Jesus changed the date because a friend who introduced him to the church was in Mexico and wouldn’t get back til March 11 so we'll be having his baptism on the 12th. Amazingly, even without the baptisms I felt amazing peace and happiness this week in sacrament meeting. I am coming to appreciate and understand the sacrament more and that has helped me come closer to Christ.

As for Ike and Galveston, I would now like to relate to you the history of the church on Galveston Island. Apparently back when the saints had settled in Utah they sent missionaries all over the world and one of the places they sent them was to Galveston. The work was kinda slow and there was a small group of members by the 1900's. At this time there were 8 missionaries on the island (like there are now). Around this time there was the 1900 storm which was very devastating to the island. Just before it hit the island, 6 missionaries left the island and 2 were left to gather the saints, they all gathered in the top floor of a member’s house and blessed it, all the while waiting for the storm to pass. When it had passed they came out and everything around was destroyed while they were safe and sound. Shortly after the missionaries were taken off the island and weren't put back until after World War 2. All the while the members went to a church in La Marque, on the mainland. In the 70's there was a man who came to Galveston and became bishop of the ward. He had prayed before he came and he felt the Lord wanted him here in Galveston for some reason. He was a spiritual giant. He had prayed and fasted fervently as bishop to understand why the Lord had sent him here. Then one night he had a very vivid dream. In this dream he saw another great storm that would hit Galveston; he saw that after this storm a lot of bad people would leave the island. He also saw that the missionary work began to blossom. He then saw that a stake was formed here on Galveston Island.

So there's the story, I have seen a lot of the effects of Hurricane Ike still, buildings that were destroyed and haven't been rebuilt. But just a few weeks ago President Saylin told our district leader that Galveston district is the strongest in the mission and also our branch president told us that the Lehi Branch is growing more than any other unit in the stake. I feel so blessed to be here in this marvelous time and help the work move along. Also, a few years ago they were thinking of combining the Spanish branch and English ward; they almost did it too but then a general authority told the leaders here that they needed to remain separate. This island has some intense history. Anyway, this past week we stayed for Mardi Gras, some tighter rules but this next weekend we're actually going to be staying with some other elders in Pasadena, for Friday and Saturday. I think the whole time we'll just be on bike OYMing (Open Your Mouth, aka street contacting) which will be fun. We're not really taking a P'day today so that we can get all the work on the island that we can before we leave for a few days. Anyways, hope you all have a great week and que Dios les bendigas!

Elder Cooley

 P.S. Abraham gave me and Elder Jensen suits, his boss gave them to him but they didn't fit so he passed them on, I got a brown one and it is awesome :)

Galveston, Haunted Ghetto Paradise Island

How's everyone doing?  Sounds like an awesome stake conference, wish I could have heard all the talks and such.  Anywho, this past week has been quite intense.  We had a mission conference on Thursday and have 2 more this Thursday and the next.  We learned about Revelation through prayer, the Book of Mormon, and church and how to teach them more powerfully to our investigators.

Also this past Saturday and Sunday we saved a very active member from personal apostasy. Saturday morning he was on his way to the temple for the first time and got offended so he had them drop him off, then told us he was never coming back to church and after much intense discussion we were able to get him to come to church and as of now he is back to his normal self.  It was pretty scary to see someone so strong almost fall away.

Other than that, we are praying to have 3 baptisms this week.  It seems to me that every baptism has something that always gets in the way to try to postpone it and this week we get to work through some of those.  Also since this week and the next are Mardi Gras, we almost got kicked off the island, but due to the momentum of the Galveston District and the trust that President has in all the missionaries here, he is letting us stay this week, although with some added restrictions in order to not slow down the work.  Other than that our investigators are doing good and progressing.

Also our Branch President told the branch council that the Lehi branch (smallest unit in the stake) is leading the stake in many areas and the area is seeing many blessings from the Lord.  I feel so very blessed to be on a mission and see so many miracles day to day.  I hope the Lord continues to bless all of you with many miracles in your lives!

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

14 February 2011

Que me cuenta de bueno?

Thanks for the Valentines package!  That is awesome that everyone is recovering!  And Quentin Begay is back!  I need to talk to that man to see how he is.  So if I could get his address or have him write me that'd be good. 

So this past week, somehow I found time to figure out how to solve a Rubik's Cube in under 2 mins. I left my planner at the apartment so I'm kind of lost without it...

Oh, President Saylin called me and Elder Jensen on Tuesday. When we answered he said, "I think I have a golden referral for you”.   So he told us about a man (Ricardo) who called the main number of the church and talked to someone for 2 hours in Spanish about the church. Then they called the mission department, who then called Pres. Saylin, who then called us.  Ricardo lives up in Texas City and is dating a member of the Spanish branch; we haven't taught him too much but he is pretty awesome.  Also we taught Jesus again.   Whenever we teach him it’s in the chapel; those are always the most spiritual lessons.  Last week for district lunch we went to Rainforest Cafe and got half off because some members work there.  Other than that, I can't really remember much, but I love serving the Lord, speaking Spanish, and all the other good stuff that is involved with serving a mission.  Hope you all have a great week and continue to be awesome!

Con gran amor,

Elder Cooley