Rough Week Feb. 25, 2013

This week was pretty rough. Our hindu investigator is out of town for 3 months at least. Two other investigators have been out of town and will be for another week. And all the people who we were planning on seeing we haven't been able to or they dropped us. So it's been tough. The weather was pretty nice though. And we had some fun and some cool stuff during tracting. We also visited with a couple of less actives, which went okay. Other than that nothing happened. Like I wish there was more to tell you but really this week like nothing happened. Oh I did exchange on Tuesday and got to spend a day with my trainer Elder Wight again. That was pretty fun. We get along real well so it was good to work with him again for a day.

New mission in Gilbert, that's awesome. And yes there's one in Macon, Georgia. Our mission president said not to talk about it too much though so meh.

Well I know the Lord will bless for our diligence and we will find some new people to teach this week. Love you guys and hope all is well.

Elder Spencer Cooper

Slow Week Feb. 18, 2013

This week was pretty slow. On Tuesday One of our Zone leaders was with us all day because his companion went home for surgery. So we had the car for the day, which was cool, but Elder Childs was pretty sick so we were in the apartment for a good majority of the day. He's feeling better but I think he might have laryngitis because his voice is going away and he has a real bad cough. But most of the week we just contacted and knocked doors, still trying to find new people. I had one really cool experience on Wednesday I think when we were knocking doors. We were in a neighborhood and getting no where with anyone. I was praying that we would just find someone to teach. I saw one of these Dogwood trees and I think theyre pretty cool and I felt like I should take a picture of it. So I got my camera and took the picture. Then we knocked the door for that house and no one was home. Felt weird and we started walking away when a high school aged guy comes walking through the yard with his headphones in. I stopped him and we had an awesome discussion about the Book of Mormon. he committed to read and let us follow up with him. I know if I hadn't stopped to take the picture we would have passed on by and not talked to him. That story sounds really weird and unimpressive I know but it was really cool when it happened. Other than that we had an awesome lesson with an investigator named Miriam. She has been reading and praying and is just looking for an answer now. She goes out of town a ton so we hardly ever see her but I'm confident she will recognize an answer when it comes.
The weather has been bipolar as usual. Couple days of rain, couple days of  nice warm weather, couple days of really cold windy weather. It's crazy how it changes day to day.
So the new sisters for the Suwanee ward are here. They are both fresh from MTC and they are both 19. So our members feed all 5 of us every night. It's crazy.  My trainer Elder Wight is back in our District which is cool. So there are 9 in our district. It's cool to have a big district I guess, a little stressful at times but good.
Great to hear from you guys. Wish I had more to tell you guys but like I said it was a slow week. Love you and love this work
Elder Spencer Cooper

Feb. 11, 2013

Hey everyone,

This week was pretty good. Rained quite a bit which I hate. My umbrella broke yesterday, but some awesome members gave me a new one.  Anyways we just did a lot of finding. We had a couple good appointments. We have one new investigator named Mohini, she's from India. It's really interesting teaching someone who has a Hindu background. Transfer calls were today. My companion Elder Childs and I will both be staying in Suwanee. The Suwanee sisters are getting changed though. We see them at every meal so it feels like my companions are getting changed kind of. One of them is leaving and the other one is training. Two sisters! So we are going to have 5 sisters in our district. There's going to be such a huge influx of sisters in the mission it's gonna be crazy! Also my trainer is coming to my District! It's going to be really weird being his District Leader. But a lot of our investigators have been out of town recently. So hopefully next week we'll have more teaching oppurtunities. Great to hear from everyone and hope you are all doing well! Nothing else to say...

Elder Spencer Cooper

Feb. 4, 2013 Crazy Week

to me

Hey Everyone,

This week went by so fast. Like crazy fast. Last Monday we went to the Mall of Georgia which I guess is the biggest mall in the US. It was huge. Pretty cool didn't get anything though. On Tuesday we went on exchanges. I went to Sharon Springs with Elder Gardner. He's a really cool guy we had a great time and talked to a lot of people. Then Wednesday happened. We woke up and had a call saying stay inside because of tornado warnings. Two hours later the ZLs called again and said we could go out. So we exchanged back and Elder Childs and I went to an appointment. Had an awesome visit with this guy named Boy. He's from the Philippines and his dad had the same name as him so his nickname growing up was Boy so that's what he goes by. Anyways we got a call during the lesson but we couldn't answer obviously. When we start biking home it was raining a bit. Then out of nowhere  it starts pouring. We got soaked to the bone. I mean everything in my pockets and backpack were destroyed (Besides my scrips thank goodness for cases). But yeah it was crazy. Turns out the call we missed was to let us know we needed to get home immediately and stay in doors. So wet though.

We had a couple good lessons again. One with Tony. He's awesome but picks the Book of Mormon apart. We gave him one chapter to read and he had questions on just about every single verse. But he said he thinks God brought us to him and he said he'll pray about the BoM. Also saw Jack and Anne. They are so funny. Like just the sweetest old couple and they just bicker and say the funniest things. Real hard to teach them though cause they get off topic real easy.

Back in Woodstock Rasheed was baptized. I got permission to go back and see it. It was so awesome. Really powerful spirit. Also great to see my son Elder Packer again. He's doing real good now. It was so cool to see Rasheed baptized though. i contacted his mom Latonya like my 3rd or 4th week in the mission. We had the hardest time meeting with her and almost dropped her so many times. But the Lord must have told us to hold on to her because Rasheed was ready. She still hasn't been baptized but i think if she can get her schedule less crazy she will.

But yeah good week. Thanks for the letter family good to hear from you guys. Hope each of you is having a great week. Love you all and love this gospel

Elder Spencer Cooper

January 21, 2013

Hey Everyone.

 

So this week it rained a bunch. Rain rain go away come again... never.

 

This week was pretty good. We did a lot of knocking doors and that was pretty good. Suwanee is super nice. The people here are awesome and I'm really enjoying serving here. We had some great experiences. There was one day we were knocking doors in a neighborhood and my companion is like let's go check on a less active but I said let's just knock one more. That last door was the only one we got a return appointment. But then when we left we ran into another guy who we got a return appointment with. So it was good. This week has been the most I've biked all my mission. We biked a ton! Super tired. But there's definitely a lot of work to be done here. We just need to find those who are ready.

 

Not a whole lot else happened. The spirit's been really strong with me though. I think part of that is serving with Elder Childs. He's really sincere and we just work really hard together.

 

Hope you are all doing well!

 

Elder Spencer Cooper

Interesting Week Jan. 14, 2013

Hey,

 

So this week was interesting. Tuesday was really lame. I was planning on seeing all the people we'd been teaching and baptized but all of them had things come up so I wasn't able to see like any of them. But got yummy Brusters so it was all good. Brusters is ice cream place kinda like cold stone but better. Yeah. Then on Wednesday got transfered to Suwanee. Suwanee is very nice. Like just really nice neighborhoods and things. And sidewalks!!!!! I finally don't feel like I'm gonna die when I ride my bike. It's interesting, there's a pretty big Korean population here, too. My new companion is Elder Childs. He is really nice and I'm learning patience with him. But he's got a heart of gold. We aren't teaching a whole lot of people right now but we had a good lesson with an investigator on Sunday. His name is Fred and he's just really sad about his wife divorcing him and taking the kids but he's a good guy and loves us teaching him. He has had some prayers answered recently and we're hoping he will keep progressing at the same rate he is now. The Suwanee ward is really big and awesome. All the members I've met are real nice and very missionary minded. So I'm really excited to do more work with member referals in this area.

 

Oh, and I find it hilarious that it's colder in AZ than it is here. We've had a random warm spell. Like the last few days has been in the 70s; it's been amazing. Not looking forward to the cold again. There was one day though where we got rained on pretty hard. That was rough but other than that it's been so nice.

 

The pics attatched are just of me with some other missionaries at our Pday dinner, the band that played the rap and I doing our lame boy band pose, and a pond in a park in Suwanee. Oh yeah so aparrently that rap is on youtube... Not sure how but hey whatever. I guess Elder Dennie emailed it home and his family put it up. It's called "missionary Chrismas" by the black tags. I think you should be able to find it by typing that in. not sure though haven't tried... obviously.

 

Hope you are all doing good and love you guys.

 

Elder Spencer Cooper

Amazing week January 7, 2013

This week was one of the best of my mission and probably one of the best of my life.

Preparing for the Rogers baptism was crazy but it went amazing. I got to baptize Emma, the nine year old and Elder Packer got to baptize Noah. Everything went perfect for the baptism and the spirit was so strong. The next day we had probably the best church service I've ever been to. We confirmed each of the Rogers and that went really good. Joel, the father, was at the baptism and church and has been progressing really well. He will take some time but is so sincere and open so I know the spirit will hit him hard soon. James also received the priesthood yesterday. And Rasheed came to church so it was all just awesome. The testimony meeting was really really good too. We had a really awesome lesson with Rasheed on Saturday and he has a baptismal date for Feb. 9th so that's exciting. We just had some great lessons and everything has been going well.

Oh the pictures are of the Rogers and some members who are amazing.

Also I am getting transferred! I'm going to Suwanee which is supposed to be really rich I guess and a good area. I'm going to be a district leader there. So that's pretty exciting I have loved Woodstock but would am ready to see more of Georgia.

Love you all and hope you all had a great New years. Oh ya on new years day I ate fried turkey. YUM

Elder Spencer Cooper