Howdy!  This past week was great being able to hear from Elder Rasband, a lot of what he spoke about had things to do with "The Divine Call of a Missionary" talk that he gave in conference a few years ago.  He spoke of the love of the Savior for all those engaged in His work.  He also shared another tidbit of what happened in that experience with Elder Eyring.  He told how Elder Eyring asked the representative from the Missionary Department how many senior couples were needed and he said,"300".  Then he asked, "how many do we have to assign today?", to which the representative replied,"36".  The Lord needs a lot of senior missionaries too and they definitely help out a lot.  A senior couple in the mission that has been here for 2 years is going home at the end of this month and a new couple has come to replace them but it's great to have their awesome examples in this work and the Lord definitely needs more.

This past week we were biking down the road when a car pulled up beside us and the lady inside said she wanted to talk to us.  As she pulled over and got out she told us how she had been researching a lot about the Church and had many questions.  She was genuinely interested and we committed her to come to church to see for herself.  We then told the English elders and they have been teaching her.  Also, with our communications with the English elders I found out that a man I had first street contacted and referred to them had gotten baptized.  I had OYM'd him and during the process bore testimony to him of the Book of Mormon and left him a copy along with a reading assignment.  When the English elders went to teach him he said he had read and he is currently keeping up with the ward's Book of Mormon reading schedule by getting up every morning and reading from. Now to describe this man, Rodney, the best thing that comes to mind is Mosiah 14:2, he was definitely not a pleasing sight.  One thing I've seen that helps me approach random people and talk to them about Jesus has been when I imagine that they are a long lost sibling that had never heard about the gospel, and of course to always remember Christ and his atonement because that's when the Spirit comes and we are lead to know what to say.  

Well, I love y'all, hope all is well and have a great week!

Con gran amor,

Elder Cooley

Dear Family,

This past week was great!  The weather in Texas is pretty bi-polar, one day it'll be hot and the next it'll be cold.  That's pretty crazy what happened to Adam, that's great that he's alive and all.  I really need to repent for not taking as much pictures and I need to get better at writing in my journal; it's fun to read it sometimes and look back at how much the Lord has richly blessed me.  Ethan Jones is home!  I need his address, porfa, or if you could just have him write me that'd be great too.  Hace mucho que he escuchado de el!  

As for things this week, we had zone conference yesterday in which we received a lot of training on the Restoration and how to teach the first lesson better to investigators.  It was pretty awesome; my testimony of the restoration was increased as President Saylin taught it to us and then shared with us the First Vision.  This Friday, Elder Rasband is coming to speak to the 3 Houston missions.  

As for this past week, on Tuesday we decided to try some people on some old potential investigator forms we had in the Area Book from a few years back.  We knocked on the door of a family and after a little talking they let us in and we were able to teach them. We were also able to teach a family that we had been wanting to teach since about a month ago.  All in all, we found and taught some great people this past week.  I know this work is true and that we have been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to do this work, I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that since then God has continued to call prophets to instruct us.

I love y'all and hope you have a great week!

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

Que hay de nuevo?

Alicia's baby is coming pretty soon, crazy!  This past week was great! We did have a Halloween party; it was a 3-ward trunk or treat event. We were able to get some investigators to attend and they really seemed to enjoy it. 

  

On Tuesday night we were able to teach the nephews of a less active couple that we have been reactivating, they were baptized about 4 years ago and sealed soon thereafter but had fallen away due to the hardships of life. We were also able to teach the mother of the husband. She had come to church a lot about 20 years ago and loved it but had never felt ready for baptism so we're excited to help her resolve her concerns. Our bishop has asked us to go visit all the less actives and see how they're doing so we've been doing a lot of that recently. I've been reading a lot from the General Conference talks, and they are really good, there were a lot who spoke of opening our mouth and sharing what we know. We also had the primary program in our ward and it was pretty impressive how these little kids memorized their parts and how funny it was to watch the younger ones wave at their families and try to keep still.

Here are some pictures from the temple trip and some other things. Anyways, hope you all have a great week.

Love, Elder Cooley



This past week was great!  Last Monday we had gotten the call (me and another elder in the district, Elder Clark) that we should pack our bags but not bring them to transfer meeting.  From that it was pretty sure that we were both leaving but staying in the district but we figured we’d end up companions.  What happened was my old area, Mo City South, was split in half.  Elder Clark went to the southern part with Elder Heidt while I ended up with the northern part with a new companion, Elder Riley.  He is from Payson, UT and this is his 3rd transfer, the previous 2 being in Kemah (an old area of mine).  We had the privilege of moving into an apartment that hasn't had missionaries in it for awhile so it's pretty barren.

Anyways, we've seen lots of miracles this week.  We've had some great lessons with less active members and were able to see them at church this week.  And we've been finding a lot of people to teach.  This morning was our temple trip, it was an amazing experience and we had a short meeting with a member of the temple presidency afterwards.  That's awesome to hear about Jordan's mission, could I get his address, por favor?  What else is new in the family?  Time is going by way too fast but there's a lot of work to be done in the vineyard and I love it.  Anyways, I hope y'all have a good week... and this library that I'm in is full of Halloween decorations so have a happy Halloween too.  "The gospel is true, if ya learn it, live it, and love it you'll be happy"-Bro. Bingham.  (probably the only thing I remember from 9th grade seminary)

Con gran amor, Elder Cooley

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