Good Week

This week was interesting. We had a lot of success and amazing spiritual experiences. Not gonna lie though... my Christmas was kinda mediocre. Well the first part was great cause I got to talk to my family. That's always great. Sorry I was so tired during the call, I felt really out of it that whole day. But thanks so much for the package with all the treats and the hat and CDs and everything it was really appreciated. That recording of you guys singing How Great Thou Art is amazing. Who wrote that arrangement?

We were able to put the rest of Witherspoons on date! Well, actually Laueddia, the mom, fell off already cuase she missed church (got called into work) but the daughters Nat and Nala are solid for January 11th. They are so cool we are going bowling with them today for pday. Also we put this guy Danny on date. We've been working with him for a while but had a great lesson and committed him for Jan. 25th. There was one experience where we were way behind on everything so we prayed where to go. We only had like 20 min before dinner but headed to this neighborhood. When we got there we had 10. But the spirit led us there exactly where we needed to go so we were excited. Knocked the first door and met hard rejection. Knocked the second door and another rude person who rejected us. and the next one. And the next one. We were giving up heading back to the car cause we were out of time when we saw this man playing with his kid and wife out front. We didn't really feel like going over there cause we were so late but finally just headed over and started talking. He was so prepared. Awesome man who has so much truth and was ready to receive a Book of Mormon. We were able to meet with him again on Sunday and he's awesome.

Well I'm running out of time but I love you all and I know the Gospel is true and love it.

Elder Cooper

Awesome Week

This week Anthony and Alex got baptized!! It was an amazing service. They are the most awesome kids ever. During their interview we asked why they wanted to be baptized. They said they would pray to have us come over and we would come, and when they prayed about being baptized they felt like it was right. Our Ward Mission Leader and his family got really close to them and he was the one who baptized them. We got real sad news this morning though that they are going to move out of our mission. Tomorrow! It must be some kind of emergency we are going over there tonight. But they are super cool kids really happy for them.

The Christmas Party was really fun. Elder Coleman and I bought presents for a ton of different missionaries from the dollar store and wrapped them up then handed them out. We had a good meal and then we watched a slide show of pictures from the mission. They do a talent show every year. This years wasn't as cool as last years but was still alright. I performed in 5 different talents! Felt like a kept getting up and down the whole time. It's just because they needed someone to accompany them for singing. And I did one solo of jazz Christmas medley, that turned out alright. More than anything it was just really fun to get together with everyone else in the mission.

That's about it this week. We should be skyping around 1:00 our time which I think is 11 or 10 yours... I dunno.

Elder Cooper

Crazy Good Week in John's Creek

This week was pretty great. Man the days go so fast right now... We've been running around like crazy; so much faster paced than any other time on my mission. I feel like we just run from appointment to appointment to some Zone Leader responsibility to ward activity to appointment and try to squeeze tracting in the cracks. I am soooo tired too. Like man I thought I was tired earlier in my mission, and I was, but way more now. Bleh.

We had a sweet zone meeting on Tuesday. It's hard to organize and plan out a meeting to train missionaries who all have different needs. They are all super fresh too. We planned the meeting out to be about efficiency and effectiveness in missionary work; then the spirit took over though and we ended up having most the meeting being on overcoming discouragement and working by the spirit. It was great though I think all the zone learned a lot and we did too.

This week we had a meeting with the Stake President, Mission President and one other stake leaders and one other set of zone leaders who are in the stake. It was amazing to see how they plan and work at a stake level. The church is stinkin organized! It was a great experience though and I learned a lot from that too. Pres. Ernst said something I really liked. "We've been taught how to do missionary work over and over and over again... now we just need the faith."

Oretha was baptized on Saturday! It was so great. Baptisms rock, so much spirit. Our investigator Kevin was there and he loved it. We're still planning on having the baptism for Anthony, Alex, and Ajiatic on Saturday, but there is a ton to do before then so we'll see. I'm pretty sure on Alex and Anthony but Ajiatic is a little more iffy. Also, in case you were wondering Ajiatic is pronounced A-jee-atic.

Christmas is almost here! Crazy sneaks up on me fast. Our mission Christmas party is this Thursday and I'm stoked on that it was a ton of fun last year. I'm actually not sure where or when we will be skypeing.... but we'll figure it out this week, promise.

So I hope you know I love you because otherwise I wouldn't write these emails.... seriously I hate to say it but emailing is like the bane of my existence. But I love you so much that I do it anyways. I hope your week preceding Christmas is awesome and I love hearing about your missionary experiences they are so uplifting. Keep inviting and loving everyone. Man I really stink at writing good emails and I'm sorry for that... but have a great week!

Elder Cooper

Pretty good Week

This week was pretty good. Oretha is progressing towards baptism this Saturday so well. She is such a funny lady. She is really excited about being baptized and we're excited for her baptism. Alex, Anthony, and Ajiatic are doing well too. They all came to the ward Christmas Party. Alex and Ajiatic missed church which was annoying but they're still on date and I am sure the 21st will work out. We also have 2 new investigators who are awesome. One came to a church tour and to church and loved both! His name is Kevin. He was praying to find a church to go to and the sister missionary knocked on his door. They referred him to us. We also had a lesson with this guy named Brian who is really seeking truth. He said he researched when Lehi left Jerusalem and found that it lined up perfectly with the Bible. Super cool.

So I am out of time and to be frank I am really unmotivated to email right now... But more I'm getting kicked off the computer so sorry this is short.

Elder Cooper

Great but Weird Week

Man this week was strange. Started off really slow. On Monday we had Alex, Anthony, and Ajiatic (the Witherspoons) come with us to this members house who has a raquetball court in his basement. That was fun, played mostly basketball instead of raquetball. The rest of Monday and Tuesday consisted of E. Pasa Vaili saying goodbye and packing so not a whole lot got done. We ate so much food on Tuesday. Like we had a meal at 1:00 one at 3:00 and one at 5:00 with desert and man I was full. Then we obviously ate a ton on Thanksgiving too. I was like sweet I've been eating so much food maybe I fatten up a bit!... nope. Not a single pound gained.

My new companion is pretty awesome. We get along really well and he's a fantastic teacher. He's from S. California and has been out for like 11 months. We have been working really hard to help this new zone get moving. There are 20 missionaries besides us in the zone, which is tiny, but 11 of them have only been out for 4 months or less. All of the District Leaders have only been out for 3 months. It's crazy. But the work in our area has been going great! We put a lady named Oretha on date for baptism this week. Her date is for Dec. 14th and she is very excited. I guess she has relatives in AZ who referred her and so we went and started teaching her. She is from Lyberia and her English is okay. But she feels the spirit and is very excited about the church and her baptism. It's so cool to see how the spirit can comunicate things we can't. The W. brothers  are doing awesome too. Alex, Anthony, and Ajiatic are all on date for Dec. 21. We need to check with the Mom though and make sure it is okay. But we had a couple great lessons with them and they are funny awesome kids. We also had a very short amount of time to tract this week but it was amazing to see how the Lord led us where to go and our efforts were effective. We found many new investigators who we have appointments with for next week.

Thanksgiving was bomb. We got to play in the Ward's turkey bowl. That was real fun, I hadn't played football forever. Then we went to two different members houses and ate tons of food. Then we did a coordination meeting with the other zone leaders who our zone was split with. There's a ton more planning that goes into our work now that we are responsible for all these other missionaries.

Well I love you all and hope everyone had a sweet Thanksgiving! Oh and as far as winter clothes I need a sweet cardigan... but I might just buy one anyways. Other than that I inherited a GPS this week so no need to ask for that for Christmas... I don't know,  I'll keep thinking. But man I love my mission so much. I don't want to go back to normal life now... the thought is just depressing;  everything out here is just awesome and tons of fun.

Elder Cooper

Interesting Transfers

So we got transfer calls this morning. I found out I'll be staying here and Elder Pasa Vaili will be going to my last area, ha ha. He's gonna have some crazy times in the boonies... But the weird thing is they just split our zone so I'll be in the new zone. President Wolfert actually called and asked me to be the new Zone Leader here. Sigh... I'm excited, I guess.   I know I'll love the experience it's just the extra responsibility on top of everything else that will be happening.  I'm really glad I'm staying here, and my new companion Elder Coleman is a boss. He's really cool and a super good missionary. I'll miss Elder Pasa Vaili though and one of the sister missionaries from our ward who was really cool is getting  shipped out too so that kinda sucks. But overall good news.

This week was a lot slower than the last couple. We only had one of the W. boys come to church, Anthony the 12 year old. He's the most solid too he's so cool. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he loved it soaked it right up. Our awesome Ward Mission Leader Bro Lakip has a son that plays football for Clemson and Bro Lakip took Anthony and Alex to the game. So cool they really enjoyed it and because of their circumstances they probably never get to do things like that. What a G. We also met this old lady named Oretha from Liberia who we are teaching. She came to church and seemed to enjoy it. She is very hard to understand though... and we might pass her to the sister missionaries I'm not sure yet I want to see what Elder Coleman thinks.

Other than that it has been slow though. We dropped a couple investigators who aren't progressing at all and knocked some doors but had a hard time finding people this week. The holiday season makes missionary work a lot harder than usual because people are double busy. I forgot about that...

It got a lot colder this week holy cow! It's freezing out right now it was like 34 this morning. The last few days have been like that but it's supposed to warm back up in the next couple days. We are going to a couple different houses for Thanksgiving should be pretty awesome! The families feeding us are really cool.

Well I love my mission so much and I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving!!!

Elder SR Cooper

Great Week

This week was pretty awesome. The weather was pretty cold most the week but the last few days have warmed up even though they've been rainy. We found a pretty good number of new people to teach again this week. But we've been having the problem that we will have one lesson with someone and then we can't get in contact again with them. But that is a very normal thing. The best though was that yesterday Alex and Anthony came to church. They are two black kids we met a while back. They were at church last week too and their sisters and cousin were there but this time it was just them two. After church our Ward Mission Leader Bro Lakip brought them and us back to his house and we had lunch and a lesson. It was so awesome. We have had a really hard time getting into Alex's house to teach lesson's cause it's never a good time for his parents or whatever but when we were able to sit down in an environment where the spirit was there and there were no distractions it was great. They comitted to be baptized on Dec. 21. They are awesome kids and are really excited to keep coming and to be baptized. So cool. I really think if everyone would just do those small things like invite investigators to dinner or something it would help the work hasten so much. They also went to mutual on Wednesday and loved it.

That's about it though... I mean nothing really funny or crazy happened. This ward is so bombastic though man. They are so awesome and I really hope I stay here another transfer. Transfer calls are supposed to be this Saturday i think so I should know already when I email next. I'll be bummed if I am cause transfers are the day before Thanksgiving so if I had to pack up and go somewhere new for the holidays I'll be mad. But I mean it's really whatever the Lord wants. The work is going great though and I love this area and the missionaries I am serving around right now. Love you all

um bye

Elder Cooper
O I totally forgot to say we performed a special musical number in Sacrament meeting. It was an arrangement of Nearer My God to Thee I wrote. We had the 4 sister missionaries and my comp singing. It turned out pretty good. I keep forgetting to include things. Man life is hard when you have brain damage...

Great Week full of Miracles

This week was pretty amazing. We had 12 new investigators! We were expecting 9 at church and got 6 so that was very exciting too. We definitely experienced some miracles. We had one where we planned to go to one area to tract in the morning but Elder Pasa's bike broke down so we went to the bike shop. By the time we were done with that we only had about 20 minutes before we needed to head back so we decided to go to an apartment complex close by. The second door we knocked on there was a 17 year old kid who let us in right away for a harvest blessing. He only happened to be there because he was sick home from school that day. We left a blessing with him and then came back later in the week for a lesson. He's awesome and accepted a soft commit to baptism. We were a bit dissapointed when he didn't come to church but I am very hopeful for him. The Lord really leads us to his elect if we trust him and show our faith by working hard every day.
We also had a couple of mormon.org referrals we taught that were great. And we've found some more investigators by tracting and passed off from the sister missionaries. We have a great ward and they have been very supportive and helpful this last week in fellowshiping and in being willling to come to our aid when needed.
We had zone conference and I enjoyed it a lot it was a very spiritual meeting and I realized how much more I need to rely on the spirit in everything. Most of the trainings were on relying on the spirit and finding those who will recieve you. There was also one on flirting hahaha. With all these new sisters they gotta make sure we stay focused I guess. Also I've been playing a lot of special musical numbers recently it seems. I played one last week for a baptism with a ward member. It was actually the song Make Me Whole from The Lamb of God. But I wrote an arrangement of Nearer my God to Thee that we are doing next Sunday. All the sister missionaries and Elder Pasa Vaili are going to sing for it. Our sister missionaries are pretty bomb singers and Elder Pasa Vaili's Samoan so of course he can sing. And I'm playing one Tuesday for another missionary meeting. It's been good I love the ability to still play.

For Christmas.... well I love hot chocolate..... and that carmel zebra popcorn was awesome! But I dont really know. I guess whichever MoTab CD has If You Could Hie to Kolob on it. Really food is good though. Or just money as boring as that is but there are some clothes I could definitely buy. Oh and nice ties are always good. Plaid and stripes are my favorite for that. And my favorite brands are Chaps and Penguin but whatever looks good. Anyways I'll keep brainstorming.

Anyways I know this church is true and I love the Gospel so much. i was rereading conference this morning and I really kept seeing them say that God's Love is Always there, no matter what we go through, and no matter what we've done. I love my mission so much. Man it's the best. Even though Georgia traffic SUCKS and there are no street lights at all I swear. But really it's the best I'm starting to realize how much I love GA and how much I will miss it.

Loveyoubye

Elder Cooper

Good Week

It was a pretty good week.Sounds like your Halloween was pretty sweet. Ours was great for a missionary one. We got special permission to go to President Ernst's house and play scripture chase and have a big dinner and ping pong and foosball. It was us, the Spanish elders and the two sets of Sister Missionaries in our area. We also had a great ward Halloween party. It was at this members back yard. They have a MANSION.

 

 We had an awesome experience with a member family. We asked them if we could pray for their inactive children by name and had been doing so for a week. Then we met with them again this week and they said that their son is getting re-baptized and their daughter has agreed to meet with visiting and home teachers for the first time in years. It was great.

 

Our main investigator didn't come to church again so he's off date. I was pretty discouraged about that and I've just been getting down on myself lately because I haven't had a baptism since Woodstock (my first area). But I heard a great testimony yesterday that really inspired me and I bore my own which probably helped me more than anyone else. But anyways I've been doing real good and I've been having a great time in John's Creek.

 

Anyways love you all and I hope you are all doing well!

 

Elder Cooper

Pretty Good Week

This week was pretty good. Got to play some racquetball last Monday, finally! There's a member in our ward who has a racquetball court in his house. Yeah we definitely live in the richest part of Atlanta... Played more Ultimate Frisbee too, which was fun. A lot of my missionary friends have been transferred into this zone so I get to see them a lot now which is great! Today we are planning on going to the stake center to play some basketball, which is good cause I haven't played in forever.

 

Tuesday was amazing! We met with Steve and we had an amazing lesson. He recognizes the spirit so well. We read 1 Nephi Ch. 1 and 2 with him. He committed to baptism on Nov. 16th and is so excited. He wasn't able to come to church though and that was super disappointing. But we'll get him there next Sunday. But he has been reading every night since our visit from the Book of Mormon. I've been so blessed to be able to work with him. And we only found him because we diligently went out to work when we didn't want to. We actually have to do 2 hours of tracting everyday, I don't know if I told you that.

 

We taught an early morning seminary class on Jacob 5. That was good... except I was tired the whole rest of the day.

 

On Saturday, we got to go see Elder Oaks!!!!!!!! It was awesome. His wife was hilarious. She gave a really good talk. Elder Oaks talked about a ton of stuff. He was really chill though it was cool. Talked about the sacrament, setting goals we can achieve through our own agency, becoming a true missionary, and what we should take home with us from our mission. It was really cool to see all my old missionary friends too.

 

Well that's about it. Oh and we also got an amazing steak dinner this week. It was great.

 

Love you guys

 

Elder Cooper

Slow Week

Man this week dragged on forever. Just really, really long. Probably because we didn't have any dinner with members in their homes until yesterday. Yesterdays dinner was with the stake President though and it was awesome! They are the coolest people ever. We're going there for Halloween. That's awesome you got to talk to Sis Ernst mom. I played my jazz arrangement of "I Hope They Call Me On a Mission" but I played pretty terribly.

Anyway we did a lot of tracting and had a lot of appointments fall through. We didn't meet with Steve this week but we're seeing him on Tuesday. Dino the guy we met is going through a lot right now and so we won't be seeing him for awhile. We had a really powerful experience where we went and gave him a blessing though. And John is just simply not progressing so we will probably drop him soon. But we did find a lot of solid potentials that we are hoping to meet with this next week.

This week we had stake conference and we were able to also go to the adult session. It was awesome. We had Elder Aidukaitis of the 70 come and speak. He was hilarious! He told the nonmembers who attended the adult session, "This meeting is actually for members so you have two options; either you join us and get baptized after, or we will kill you!" So funny. He talked all about missionary work and how easy it actually is. he's from Brazil so he had a great accent... and a crazy laugh.

Well this letter sounds really downer but I do want you to know how much I love my mission. it is the best thing I have ever done. I have really come to not only know the gospel is true, but to love it.

Elder Cooper 

Staying in John's Creek

Yes! Transfers were today and I'm staying here in John's Creek! Thank goodness. I was really worried I would be getting 6 week transferred out. Elder Pasa Vaili is staying with us too. I'm glad about that too. We get along good and he's been working harder and harder. We even got 100 contacts this week! Our goal is usually 70 so it was pretty cool.

We had a great week with some great miracles. We were able to meet a new investigator named Dino. it was a miracle how we were able to find him, because he was in the area book and we referred him to the sister missionaries because he was in their area, the they visited him right when he was praying for guidance, and referred him back to us and we taught him. He's going through a really hard time, just lost his job and is struggling with a lot of things. We are really excited to see him again though. Steve A. is doing well. We were really worried because we couldn't get in contact with him all week but he called last night and said how he had read a bit and wants to read more of the BoM. He said he could tell we were praying for him and was excited for us to come back. What a boss.

We are getting another set of sisters in this area on Wednesday. 6 missionaries in one area! and a senior couple! Crazy

We are not able to use any technology such as ipads or facebook yet. Haven't heard any mention of it either... all we got is stupid Tiwi. Tiwi is a dumb little box that yells at you when you drive too fast or aggressively.

Anyways great to hear from many of you and I hope you have a fantastic week. Remember, the church is true.

Elder Cooper

Great Week

This week was amazing. Filled with miracles. Mainly meeting and teaching Steve.  You remember when I was talking about how we were really unmotivated that one day but decided to go tracting and found a really awesome guy who was prepared? That's Steve. We had a lesson with him on Friday and he is amazing. The member we took with us testified perfectly about eternal families and he was attentive to everything we shared. The spirit was strong the entire time. We were rapping up our lesson and I started to say, "Will you read this book and pray about it?" but he cut me off and said, "Listen. I'll promise you one thing. I'll read... this entire book and pray about it." I was like, "...okay!" Then we invited him to conference. And he came! To the Sunday Morning session. Everything that was shared that session was perfect for him. He has a son and a wife who have addiction problems and so Pres.Eyering's and Monson's talks were sooooo great for him. He enjoyed it and we're meeting with him again on Thursday or Friday.

But anyways conference was legit. I've said this about all the ones I've viewed on my mission but this was one of the best I've ever seen. I especially liked the very first session. My favorite talk was probably President Eyring's. I also loved Ballard's of course about missionary work. That was so awesome he talked about how there could be a million members baptized before Christmas. Also Uchtdorf's talk Come, Join with Us was great. Oh and both of the women speaker's were great! Bonnie Oscarson had an amazing talk about conversion too. Every time I watch conference I just find myself saying, "How could this church not be true?" I know it is.

Elder Cooper

Good Week

This week was pretty good. I went on exchange with our District Leader and that was fun. We had some awesome experiences contacting. Definitely gained more of a testimony of service. We were able to help a few people out and they totally opened up and allowed us to teach them more. Elder Pasa Vaili and I had a cool day Saturday too. There was a big festival that day with thousands of people there. We contacted there but nobody was really listening. When we came back we were already kind of discouraged from the festival and then our team up fell through and our dinner. We were really bummed and didn't want to go out and tract. But we did even if it was with a bad attitude at first. And I realized that we always need to work because that night we found a super legit guy. He was awesome when we told him about prophets he said he got chills.

That was about it for this week though. Were still teaching John and he's progressing very slowly. The weather has been getting awesome and I love riding my bike right now.

We're real short on time I'll write more next week I promise

ELder Cooper

PS yes I got the package thanks sooooo much it was fantastic.

Pretty Good Week

This week was pretty good. We worked hard and even though our numbers don't show it we accomplished a lot. We were able to meet with the Chinese speaking elder and coordinate with him how he can help out the Chinese members and where he can work in our area. It's super weird he was called English but when his mission president found out he could speak Vietnamese and Chinese, he was switched and he covers all of GA doing work for the Vietnamese branch. The weird thing is he's the only one that speaks it, his companions have all been just English speaking so when they're with him they do like nothing... super strange!

But we met with our investigator John again who we found a couple weeks back by tracting. He's a cool guy, he did stand up comedy for a while and has a ton of stories. Now he has MS and other medical problems and hardly sees anyone. It's sad but I feel like his condition has prepared him to receive the gospel. He moving slowly but I have very strong faith he will progress to baptism. Our other investigator James has been passed off to the YSA branch elders so we see him every now and then, but we aren't really teaching him.

On Saturday it was really rainy. Pretty hard actually for the first time in a while. We had an event that evening called a member mingle at our ward mission leader's home. It was like a social gathering for part members, less actives, and members of the ward council. It was pretty great, even though we invited some people who said they would come and didn't. We also had the opportunity to teach mutual on Wednesday to the youth, that went okay. Elder Pasa Vaili and I also went to a youth fireside last night. It was really good.

I've had the opportunity to play piano quite a bit. This ward is soooo rich. And most people have a piano so I get to play at people's houses which is great.

That's about it though. Today for Pday we're going to some persons house who has an indoor basketball court, pool table, foosball table, huge field in the back yard. So should be cool.

I had a great study in 2 Nephi ch. 9 too. I would recommend a study of that again I get a ton our of that chapter every time I read it. Also the CES fireside talk by Elder Christofferson called Give us This Day Our Daily Bread. Amazing talk. There's an awesome Mormon Message video on it too.

Take care love you all

Elder Cooper

Good Week

This week was pretty good . We have been working harder and finding some good potential investigators. Street contacting here in Johns Creek is pretty good, a lot better than in Dahlonega. And we have been doing some good Less Active work. The ward is awesome, members of the congregation go out with us every night to see people. Dinners have been pretty regular too. We've been riding our bikes quite a bit recently too. The weather is cooling down and is becoming very nice. Within a couple weeks it will be perfect I think.

We're planning a couple of events too. One is a member mingle the Ward Mission Leader does quarterly to welcome people who have moved in and also any investigators or Less Actives we are working with. That is this Saturday and should be pretty good. The Saturday after is the Duluth Fall Festival (Duluth is a city in our area). There are going to be tons of people there and we're hoping to set up a booth. I'm really excited for that, the problem is our mission president hasn't cleared it yet so it may not happen. We'll see.
We weren't able to see James, our investigator who had a baptismal date, at all this week. His Mom went to the Hospital and he was super busy with work and helping her. But he's coming to the event this Saturday and we have another lesson the day after that. I think he'll probably be a little while to be baptized but we'll see. We met with a new investigator this week who is pretty cool but he talks a ton! It was hard to teach cause he'd answer a question and get way off topic while doing it. But he's a great guy we'll see where he goes.

As for things I need... nothing really. Doing good on garments and clothes and everything. Thanks for asking though.

That's about it. I'm loving the work and this ward. Looking forward to finding some more elect people.

Elder Cooper

New Area

Hey everyone I just got to my new area Johns Creek. It's pretty legit. A lot like Suwanee where I served 5 months ago. Pretty rich. And there are a lot of Korean people and Hindu people. Our ward actually has a Chinese translation. It's way cool. I'm excited to be in the city, but I definitely miss Dahlonega and the awesome stories I would get from it. My last companion, Elder Kilmer, served here 3 months ago and he loved it. I miss him already he was definitely my favorite companion. But my new companion is cool too. Elder Pasa Vaili. He's from California but he is Samoan. We get along really well and we're starting to get the work moving here again. We have one investigator who is really close to baptism, he's awesome. We met with him yesterday and he is super prepared. We have a date for September 20th right now, but he's kind of being wishy washy about it so we'll see. We also are working with some recent converts who are really cool. The weather hasn't been too bad lately, which is good because I'm back on bike. I mean it's definitely still hot, but I know it could be much worse. The constant rain has cleared up and it's not too bad anymore. In fact it's been quite a while since we have had any.

That's about it I can't think of much else to say. Thanks for all the updates. I'm still loving the mission and working hard.

Elder Cooper

Pretty Good Week

Hey everyone,

I'm not sure if I'm getting transferred or not yet.... I know you want to know Mom but they haven't called and I thought they would have by now. This is the only time we have to email today got a busy Pday. So I'll send you all a letter whether I am getting transferred or not.

Anyways this week has been alright. We have been meeting a lot of Hispanic people lately and are going to start working with a couple of Hispanic families. We have a good number of Spanish people in the ward and they actually do a translation for our sacrament meeting too so that will be awesome. A lot of people were out of town this weekend though so it was a little rough. I'm enjoying Dahlonega still, and I have really come to love this ward, but I would be happy with a transfer too. Change is good for me. Not a whole lot happened other than that I can think of... it was hot. Real hot this week. This morning we had some awesome Basketball and an amazing breakfast before a ward made for us.

Sorry about your head Dad, that looks way painful. And sorry to hear about Sam. I figured he's gotta be getting close though, I mean he's so old. Man, we run into sooooo many dog's around here. Everyone has a dog and a lot of people don't keep them chained or anything. You never know if the dog's gonna let you knock on the door or not haha.

Anyways take care everyone, hope you have an awesome Labor Day. I know the Church is true and I know this work is the best thing I could be doing and I love it.
Elder Cooper

Pretty Good Week

This week was pretty good. We were able to meet with that new guy Gavin who is going to University of North Georgia. He's an amazing guy. He's super polite and proper and he has a strong belief the church is true already. He told us he recognizes that our church is just different than any others. What was awesome is he told us how he had never been raised religious but had developed beliefs that he felt he already knew and when he began investigating the church it lined up exactly with what he believes. He would be ready to be baptized but the problem is that his Grandmother, who raised him, feel wary of the church. He wants her to feel better about him joining before he does. We had a special fast for her yesterday and we're confident she'll soften up.

We also met with Jennifer, a new investigator, and she is way cool. She is very straight forward and asked us a lot of questions and had done a lot of research. It was a very short but powerful meeting. We're excited to see her again though.

Other than that.... nothing much. I mean I hate not writing much but not a whole lot happened... we had Zone Conference and that was awesome. Transfers are next week so I'll know if I'm staying or going before my next email. I'm pretty sure I'll be headed to a new area.

Elder Cooper

Super Strange Week

This week was super weird. Another week where we had tons of sweet appointments set up and they all fell through. Satan really doesn't want us to succeed I've seen that a ton in this area. But it wasn't all bad there were some great things too.

The Sims, the family we found where the dad is a member, cancelled twice, and the last time said they are going out of town for two weeks. Gosh. Dangit. Then we were really looking forward to a lesson that a member had set up with their daughter in law. She called right when we got there and changed her mind that she didn't want to take the lessons. It was a bummer but I had felt the night before that we would find a family to teach for this week, so I knew the Lord needed us somewhere else. We went and tried a potential and they let us in and we left a blessing with them. The spirit was way strong and we invited them to take the lessons. They accepted so were seeing them this Saturday. What was even more awesome was when we got home, we got a phone call from some other Elders telling us one of their investigators was moving to our area for college and is basically ready for baptism. His name is Gavin and we talked to him today and are meeting with him tomorrow. Seems like an awesome guy. He's 18 and in the military.

Haha couple weird experiences too. We were knocking doors for like 5 hours straight on Wednesday and were super thirsty. I forgot water. We knocked a door and were walking away when the lady started to pull in. Elder Kilmer was busy knocking down a spider web with his Book of Mormon but it looked super weird. I asked her for water and she awkwardly said no... then Elder Kilmer came up and tried to explain that he was trying to knock down a spider web. It was really awkward and hilarious.

Today we went to Amicolila Falls with a bunch of the zone and it was super fun. I'll attach some pictures.

I know the church is true and being a missionary is the best thing in the world.
Elder Cooper

Good Week

This week was pretty good. We met a lot of new people who are interested. We probably gave away around 10 books of Mormon. Which is awesome except were only supposed to give away like 14 per month.... but when people want them what are you going to do?
The coolest thing was I went on exchange with the zone leaders and we had an awesome lesson with one of their investigators. But what was great was Elder Kilmer and Yates were in Dahlonega and visited a referral we received last Sunday. They started talking to the family about prophets and asked the son, "What are some prophets you can think of?" He said "like Elijah?" they were like yeah exactly. Then the dad was like, " Brigham Young was a prophet." They were like.... yeah... he was.... turns out the father is a member we didn't have record of, he got baptized like 20 years ago. His son was at church yesterday and Seminary this morning. So cool. Oh yeah we woke up at 5: 20 to go to Seminary. It was really fun actually and we got breakfast out of it. Nice. But anyways they also found another family were going to teach tomorrow that are pretty legit.

I've discovered something. "Southern hospitality" is not really that... true. The most hospitable people we meet are not from here they are usually from the West. We met a super nice couple this week who rescheduled twice and made us pumpkin cookies when we came back. It was awesome. They are open to listening to us and are super nice but we'll have to see how well they progress cause they are very set on their beliefs. We also talked to a Methodist campus minister who said he'd read the BoM.

That's about it though. It was good. It was way hot this week though. But the church is true.

Elder Cooper

Different Week

This week was very different for me. The beginning of the week was really tough. We had 4 or 5 appointments set up that all seemed pretty legit but none of them went through. They all cancelled. It was frustrating.

But on Thursday and Friday I had a leadership training meeting. The meeting was awesome. Heard so many things that strengthened my testimony and lifted me up. I was really pumped to get back out and work hard again.

What was also awesome is that they had me spend the night in Suwanee to conserve miles. So I got to stay the night with two super awesome missionaries and see some of my favorite families from my last area. It was great to see them again and just be in Suwanee for a bit.

Saturday was another rough day but yesterday was a lot better and I'm excited to see what we can do this week.

That's about it. Hope you all are doing good still.
Elder Cooper

Another Long Week

Hey everybody,

This week was pretty long again. We had a lot of appointments fall through. We knocked a lot of doors. I think we didn't meet anybody but baptists the last 4 days or so, seriously. Which isn't a bad thing just that almost all of them are unwilling to listen to us. They are comfortable and happy where they are at. I find that to be such a strange concept, that people who are so religious and love Christ don't have a desire to even talk to us about Him and find out if the things we share can bring them closer to Him. But that's alright we did find a couple of people who seem pretty interested and we had a great lesson with a lady who was a referral from an inactive member. So that was cool. We also set up a lot of lessons for the next couple days so that should be good.

Other than that... I got chased by a huge dog. That was fun. Oh and we were out knocking doors and got caught in a crazy storm. It was cloudy, but within a few seconds the sky got super dark and started pouring. We were on our bikes, so we stopped at some strangers house and asked if we could take refuge on her porch. She let us and gave us some towels which was nice. We were trying to figure out who could give us a ride home but just couldn't get a hold of anyone. So we prayed the rain would stop and set out on our bikes. And the rain stopped, prayer works.

Hope everyone has a sweet week. Hope work goes okay for you and doesn't drive you too crazy Mom. And hope your birthday is super legit Ryan.

Elder Cooper

Staying in Dahlonega July 22, 2013

Hey everybody,

I got the transfer call just a few minutes ago and found out Elder Kilmer and I are both staying in Dahlonega. I'm glad about that. I really want to get this area moving steadily before I leave, even if I myself don't have a baptism. We are so close I still feel like. And the other missionary in our ward Elder Price is a boss, one of the coolest missionaries I've met. He's training a new missionary. His companion is going home.

Anyways it's still been raining, Elder Kilmer and I actually got poured on pretty good once this week. But it hasn't been as consistent as in the last couple weeks. In fact it's been really hot most of the time. Bleh. Humid heat is not my favorite.

We were unable to meet with most of our investigators this week, they all rescheduled their appointments to this week. It was frustrating but we did some good work with less active members and contacting. And actually we had one appointment with a family that was awesome. They had been taught by missionaries in the past and are very open. They will progress well I think. While we were teaching them there was a crazy storm going on in the background. Like super loud thunder every 2 minutes. But the spirit was really strong and they agreed to be baptized if they received an answer the Book of Mormon was true.

We also had a really nice lady invite us into her home. It was hot out and she gave us some lemonade and listened as we taught a brief restoration message. It was great though, the Lord has really prepared her and we're excited to go back and teach her family. While we were in there it started raining and as we were walking back to the car started pouring and we got soaked haha.

But I'm loving the work and I'm glad I'm staying with Elder Kilmer here in Dahlonega. Thanks for all your support.

Elder Cooper

Another Rainy Week July 15, 2013

So... it's rained everyday for 31 days now. Yep. But it keeps it from being too hot so I'm not complaining. No flooding up here...yet.

Elder Kilmer and I have been working our butts off! Seriously we've been working hard and it's been kind of a tough week. Lots of knocking doors and a lot of rejection. But we have a new investigator who is legit! Her name is Lisa, we met her about 3 weeks ago. We had left a blessing with her and finally got back to teach a lesson. It was amazing! At the beginning of the lesson she said the Book of Mormon just didn't click with her and she seemed a little hesitant to listen to what we had to say. But as we taught the spirit just hit her. By the end of the lesson she said she doesn't doubt that the Book of Mormon is true any more than the Bible. It was so cool. She really opened up and started talking about all these questions she had about the Plan of Salvation. We told her we had answers to all of those questions and would explain next lesson. Then she said she knew we believe in eternal marriage and said, "I know that is true and love that the Mormons believe in it." So that was great and we're seeing her again on Wednesday.

Our other investigators have been hard to get in contact with. One has been in the hospital, and Beth is just being difficult we haven't been able to get a hold of her.

That's about it though. Hope everyone's doing good! Glad to hear about all the cool things you did family. And thanks for the news about Steve Peirce. I haven't heard from him yet but it's great to hear the surgery was a success.

Elder Cooper

RAINED ALL WEEK July 8, 2013

The title of this letter pretty much describes our week. In rained nonstop. So much rain I'm getting sick of it. That's okay though I mean the cooler weather was very welcome. It was pretty nice overcast most the time even though we got a couple days of 200% humidity and it was super wet.

Anyways we had a couple awesome lessons this week. Beth, the single mom who stopped us a couple weeks ago and we prayed with on the side of the road, is doing great. We had an awesome first lesson with her. She had read the pamphlet we left with her like three times with her family! It was awesome. She wasn't at church which was disappointing and we're hoping to meet with her again soon but we'll see; she's hard to contact. We also had a couple great lessons with the part member guy Matt Woods. Him and his wife actually had a neighbor come over and meet with us too who was very interested. So that was way good.

The 4th of July celebration in Dahlonega got pushed back to Saturday for rain delay. Our 4th was super uneventful. Saturday we got to talk to a ton of people on the square though so that was pretty cool.

So from our mission an entire zone went to the Atlanta mission. I'm glad II'm still in GANM (georgia atlanta north mission). I've really come to love it here and my mission president is a boss. We had president interviews last week and they were awesome.

That's about it I think though. Just a lot of rain. But it was good and we're making good progress I feel like. I'm loving this work and I know the Church is true.

Elder Cooper

Rough Week July 1, 2013

Hey everybody hope you have a fantastic fourth of July this week! We don't really have any plans yet besides a normal dinner with a family. And we can't use fireworks and we'll probably just proselyte all day like normal.

Anyways this week was rough! Man we had a ton of appointments set up and they all fell through so we spent almost all our time just knocking doors. It's difficult to do other things here because of mile limitations. You get stuck in one area the whole day and have to work around there.

But Elder Kilmer and I are still getting along well and we have a few good appointments set up for this next week. We have another one with Matt Woods this evening. He's a guy who's wife is a member he's like 32 and a super nice awesome guy. We're really excited for the lesson we're teaching him tonight and I guess one of their neighbors is going to be there too so that will be cool.

We did a mission wide fast on Tuesday for this next month to be especially consecrated. We started Tuesday morning and went to Wednesday morning. It was probably the physically most difficult thing I've done on my mission. I was on exchange with Elder Price and we rode our bikes 11 miles right away and were just killed after that, But it was a really powerful spiritual experience and I know the Lord will bless us for our efforts to hasten the work.

It's getting hot. Humidity is lame.

Well that's about it, strange week. But oh yeah we spoke in Sacrament meeting yesterday. My first time doing so on the mission. It went well I hope. Hope everyone is doing well and has a sweet 4th of July. I know this gospel's true and I'm loving my mission; even through the slow weeks.

Elder Cooper

Oh and that's really cool about the trip you guys took I'm glad you were able to have something special for your anniversary. Thanks for the pictures.  I love the San Diego Temple. I think it looks so awesome.

Good, but tiring week June 24, 2013

This week was pretty awesome but we worked so hard and I've been super exhausted. And my year mark is coming up in a few days! I can't believe it, it's flown by for me. I mean I look back on certain events and they seem a long time ago, but overall it feels like I'm still a young missionary, not getting over the hump.

I can't believe how many people from home are going on missions now! It's crazy and awesome. I LOVED the broadcast last night it was so motivational and powerful. Got me really pumped to start working with the ward more, that's what this area really needs is ward involvement. They talked about how missionaries shouldn't have time to knock on doors and when we aren't teaching we knock doors. A lot. It's hard to do much else with our mile limitations and how spread out everyone is here. If we can get more help from the ward though we'll get this area rolling.

The work has been interesting, mostly good. We have found a lot of new people to teach this week and we had some amazing experiences. We were going to an appointment to leave a blessing in someones home and as we were walking, these two ladies pulled up and asked if we could pray with them on the side of the road (it was a dirt road in a neighborhood so there was no traffic). We prayed with them and were able to get a return appt. with the one that lived in our area and see her on Saturday. It was awesome. Yesterday we had some extra time too so we went knocking and started talking to this guy. He started asking questions about if we believed in Christ, baptism, moral values, Sabbath day, and a "waiting place after we die before judgement." It was so cool so we answered all his questions and gave him a Book of Mormon and are hoping to see him tomorrow. The bad part of this week is that we haven't been able to see Tori for 3 weeks now, and Caroline called and said she wants to wait to get some issues worked out before she quits smoking or even meeting with us. But we also started working with a part member young couple. We're teaching him tonight again and he's an awesome guy.

We knocked so many doors this week. On Saturday I thought I would die of heat stroke haha. But it has been great having Elder Kilmer as a companion because we both work really hard and get along really well.

Hope all is going well at home! I included some pictures of Amicolila falls. Also yeah I got some new pants and a belt. They're good.

Elder Cooper

Good Week in Dalonega, June 17, 2013

This week was great. I got my new companion his name is Elder Kilmer. He is a really hard worker and a cool guy. I'm really excited for this transfer, we are raising our vision higher than ever before. When Elder Ellis of the 70 came and spoke to us he talked about baptizing weekly. That's something Elder Kilmer and I have a goal for. We want to start baptizing every week here in Dahlonega by August. I know it's possible as we really apply ourselves to go outside our comfort zone and invite everyone to be baptized.

But this week was good like I said. I'm having a lot more fun with Elder Kilmer and the work is progressing. We had an amazing lesson with Caroline yesterday. She's so prepared she just needs to quit smoking. She has a real desire to and we are going to start a really cool program with her on Wednesday. I'm really excited for her we're preparing to baptize her on July 13th. Tori was unable to meet with us which was frustrating. But we've found a couple of new investigators this week who seem pretty promising.

The weather has gotten hot and muggy. This week it's supposed to rain a ton it sounds like. We were on our bikes a bunch last week. Got really tired of biking up hills. Seriously on Saturday we went to go try a couple of referrals and we were just climbing mountains the whole time. Bleh!

Oh yeah Amicolilla Falls was pretty cool. I got some great pictures of it, but don't have my camera right now... I'll send them next week if I remember. Today we're going to see if the college here has a racketball court. If so I'll be sooooo excited. We've been wanting to play racketball really bad.

Hmm... That's about it I think. Hope you all had a great Father's day. I've been staying crazy busy which is a good thing.

Elder Cooper

Sweet Week in Dalonega June 10, 2013

Hey everyone,

This week was another good one. Today was transfer day and I found out I'm staying and Elder Bonin is going somewhere else. That's really good cause I'm starting to really enjoy this area but... yeah we aren't the best of friends. Anyways I'm excited my new comp is named Elder Kilmer. I don't really know anything about him. The other two Elders who serve in this ward are both staying which is good cause they're awesome.

Got quite a bit of rain the end of this week. It was hot and humid all week too, but there was a couple times when it poured so hard. Like yesterday we were driving back from an appointment and it was like Noah status rain going on, I couldn't see anything. But we made it back safe.

There's a really awesome old guy named Ike Hayes who we have been visiting and just doing service for the last few weeks. Super nice guy. We asked if we could share a bit about the Book of Mormon. We went over and had a simple first lesson. He can't read so it might be a bit of a challenge. But it was so cool. He said he has heard a lot of bad things about our church but yet all the members are the nicest people he knows. Said, "There's got to be more to you Mormons, and I wanna find out what it is." We also found these twins who are in their 20s and left a blessing in their home. It was awesome and they're interested in meeting with us so we're going back tomorrow. Knocking doors DOES work!.... sometimes. Ha anyways we weren't able to see Tori cause she's out of town but we saw Caroline and she's progressing awesome.  I think she'll be ready for baptism on the 22nd.

Hope all you Dad's have a sweet Father's day; especially mine. Thanks Dad for all you do, keep being a stud.

That's about it! Take care everyone.

Elder Cooper

Great Week in Dalonega June 3, 2013

Hey everyone,

This week has been long, strange, but awesome. The weather has been cloudy all week looking like it's going to rain but it only did yesterday and a bit this morning. It's been nice though much cooler than AZ it sounds like. We did some service for a lady this week helping her set a chain link fence around her garden (to keep deer out) and it was perfect weather for it. And at the beginning of the week we were biking quite a bit since we were so low on miles for our car. It was fun but I'm glad I don't got to bike more this week because everything is so spaced out and far away from each other in Dahlonega. And hills! I hate 'em.

Anyways on Monday night last week we ate dinner with a family that moved into the ward not too long ago and they had their aunt there. Her name is Caroline and she's really nice. She was out in Texas for a couple weeks and started meeting with the missionaries out there. She's really prepared and we have taught her twice this last week. Pretty much all she needs to do is give up smoking, which she has a sincere desire to do, and she'll be ready to be baptized. She already knows Joseph Smith was a Prophet and the Book of Mormon is true so we're pretty confident in her.

We met with Tori again on Saturday. She's the 15 year old investigator. Had a great lesson with her and she really wants to be baptized. We taught her and her friend Damion the Plan of Salvation. She's awesome and asked all the right questions. I'm really confident she will be baptized on June 22. The best part was she came to church! And it was a great service I think she loved it, the spirit was so strong during testimony meeting.

We are teaching a couple other families and people right now too so the work is really picking up here in Dahlonega. I'm starting to enjoy it more here to as I get to know the people. The small town feel is pretty cool something I think everyone should experience. Not that I would live in a small town though haha. But the people here are really awesome and I'm really enjoying it.

Today for Pday we are going to Amacolila Falls. Not sure how to spell that... but apparently it's a really cool hike and some awesome scenery so I'll try to remember to send some pics next week of that.

Anyways I think that's about it for this week. I'm loving my mission and I love the Lord. Take care and hope you guys don't burn up too much in AZ.

Elder Spencer Cooper

Pretty Good Week May 27, 2013

This week was good. We did a lot of service. Like a ton. Our entire saturday was mowing lawns basically. But we had some amazing miracles, too. On Tuesday we were eating at our apartment because our dinner had been cancelled. So I ate and my companion was making his dinner but taking a while. He ended up not finishing till our hour for dinner was up. I told him it was all right if he ate but he said he'd just eat when we got back. So we went to go see a member but had some extra time so went to another street and knocked on a former investigator's door. He answered and said,  "Now isn't a good time." I explained we were just there to leave a blessing with him and his family. He came around the other door and we sat outside and talked for awhile. He shared how his life has been really difficult for his family right now with medical problems and different things. Said everything was just piling up at once. We went inside and left a blessing. The spirit was so strong and then he told us right before we came he was thinking he needed someone to talk to and had tried to call his Sunday School teacher but he hadn't answered. Two seconds later we rang his door bell. Then when we were about to leave it started to pour rain. It was crazy; we wouldn't have been there if dinner wasn't cancelled and if Elder Bonin had eaten his dinner it would have been pouring rain when we got there and probably would have just gone on to the members'  house. One of those things where everything just fell into place and the Lord really directed our path.

We also asked a long time investigator who hasn't really gone anywhere if we could teach his entire family. He said sure and so we had a lesson with them. I'm really excited for them some of the children who are in their late teens seem really interested.

E. Bonin and I have been struggling a bit lately relationship wise. But its all right we still get out and work hard everyday.

That's about it right now, I think. Hope all is going well for you back home!

Also thanks Roots for the package! And Mom sorry about pants I'll maybe grab some next Pday. And go ahead and just send the package to the mission office

Thanks,

Elder Cooper

Great Week May 20, 2013

We had a great week here in Dahlonega. Amazing things are starting to happen. The best is definitely that we met with one of our investigators named Tori. She's 15 and she and her mom have been learning about the church for a while. Tori said she came to believe the Book of Mormon to be true and she wants to be baptized. It was such an amazing meeting, the spirit was so strong. I haven't met her mom yet because she's been so busy with work, but we're hoping to help her towards baptism too. We also had some great meetings with some other investigators. One who's new is agnostic and we're helping her understand God is there and that He loves her. It's really cool I'm enjoying teaching someone who doesn't have the typical Christian background. We have also found a couple of new investigators who are really open about reading and learning more. So good stuff happening for sure.

We also had Zone Conference with Elder Ellis. It was awesome. My favorite thing he talked about is how God is a God of miracles and will provide miracles in our lives if we ask for them. He's a great speaker though and I really enjoyed that.

The weather has been really stormy lately. Most the week it was nice, but the last couple days lots of thunder storms and rain.

Happy Birthday mom! Sounds like it was great! Especially since you got some BBQ and some Firehouse Subs. MMMMMM so good.

I'll definitely include Papa and Steve Pearce in my prayers. Sorry to hear about that. I know the Lord will bless them though according to the faith which we pray with.

Something else Elder Ellis talked about was preparing to change. With the new mission coming there's a possibility of me switching missions. Crazy to think about, and I have no idea when we'll know who's staying and who's going.

Well that's about it. Love you all and hope you're all doing well.

Elder Spencer Cooper

Happy Mother's Day, May 13, 2013

So this week was pretty great. Very strange. Did a ton of service! Apparently there is a lot of service to do in this area. I'm getting better adjusted to the country; it's a beautiful place. We helped a lady mow her lawn. The grass was chin high in some places, no joke-- it was crazy. We've been meeting a lot of new people but getting in with them has been difficult. Same with pretty much all our investigators. Like all of our appointments have been falling through for one reason or another. But I'm hopeful for this coming week. Plus we have Zone Conference with a member of the 70 coming who spoke in General Conference, Stanley Ellis. Gonna be legit! Just found out today a couple of old investigators I was working with in my first area got baptized too. So awesome!  I love seeing how people can really change, one of them I wasn't sure if he'd ever get baptized. His wife has been a member for a long time and now they'll be preparing to go to the Temple to have their marriage sealed for time and all eternity. Pretty amazing. That's about it for me this week. Much love to all the mom's out there, especially mine! You're the best Mom! And Grandma love you so much! Alright stay classy till next time you all. (Not y'all, I haven't changed that much....)

Good First Week in Dahlonega May 6, 2013

Hey all. This week has been crazy! Monday was my Birthday and it was sweet. Got some nice ice cream cake. Leaving Suwanee was strange. I feel like I really never appreciated it fully until like 4 weeks before I left or so. It's an awesome place.  I think if I ever lived in Georgia I'd want to live in Suwanee.

But anyways I came up to Dahlonega on  Wednesday. Culture Shock!!! Seriously it's a tiny little town up in the mountains. There's a main square that we live on that is pretty cool. There's a lot of shops and festivals and things that happen there. It brings in a lot of tourists it seems. Used to be a gold mining town I guess. There's a college in the square too, so there are a lot of college aged students around. But our area is HUGE. So the square is like a couple square miles or so and then outside there, there's a couple of stores but then it's just backwoods. Getting any where takes a while and knocking doors is hard because everyone lives so far away from each other. It's gorgeous though. So green and just nice.I feel like this is the first real southern place I've encountered. Everyone speaks with a southern accent here, and I've already met some crazy people. One guy gave us what he called "fish head soup." It was pretty gross. Everyone is really nice though and I'm really excited to work here. When we drive through it (car area finally!) I feel like there should be a constant loop of banjo music playing.

Anyways it's been raining since I got here and I'm getting really sick of the rain again. Our has car gotten stuck in the mud like 4 times since I've been here and we've had to push it out.

My new companion is pretty cool. I'm excited because he's obedient and has a good work ethic, that's really what's most important. He's really nice too. We get along good.
We had an awesome experience yesterday. We were leaving an appointment and decided to knock a couple doors in the area. We talked to one lady on her porch, and she was devout Baptist, totally not interested, but told us about a friend down the road we should visit. We knocked this door and it was a lady named Rena with 4 children. She let us in and we left a blessing with her and her children. It was great; she's been going through a lot of hard stuff right now and she is super open. Amazing kids too. They were so excited to have us there. We are seeing them next Sunday again so we are excited for them.

We also had Stake Conference this week. It was sweet. A member of the first quorum of the 70 was there and talked about member missionary work. He said we (missionaries) are the part time missionaries since we're there for only a short time and the members are the full time missionaries. I thought that was cool.

Anyways great to here from those who've written and I hope to hear from more soon. Love you guys and I love my mission.

Elder Cooper

Happy Birthday April 29, 2013

Hey everyone,

So today's my Birthday. It's been pretty awesome so far. In the morning we got transfer calls. I found out I'm going to Dahlonega. It's actually in the same stake as Suwanee but is pretty far away from it. Aparently it's pretty crazy, too.  I'm hearing I'll meet some crazy people and have some stories to tell because it's a super country area. So that will be interesting. My new companion is Elder Bonin. I've met him before, he's a little strange but I heard he works hard so that's cool. I'm kind of glad and not at the same time. I was getting a little burnt out in Suwanee, but the work has really started to pick up here. We've been teaching Patrick a lot, the guy from Haiti. He's doing awesome and I'm confident he'll be baptized soon. We also had an awesome lesson with a couple of 14 yr olds. We gave them Books of Mormon and they're excited to read them. Met a couple of other new people too that we're hoping to start teaching.

Also this weekend the stake choir had a concert with a community band in the area. They were really pretty good it was cool to go to that. We had a couple of investigators there too.

Anyways for my Birthday a member took us to get all you can eat sushi. It was soooo good.   I'm stuffed. Forgot how much I love sushi.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, family. I didn't get the package though.... so hopefully today or tomorrow since I'm getting transfered haha.
Love you all and I love this work. I'll tell you all about my new area next week!

Elder Spencer Cooper

Great week April 22, 2013

This week was great. The pollen has died down and the weather is sooo nice. It's been great. And we found a lot of new people to work with. One of them is named Patrick. He's a 19 yr. old from Haiti and is a Haitian dancer. He's a really cool guy. he came to church yesterday and he loved it. He's taking his GED on thursday and we're going to go give him a blessing before the test. Really excited for him. We also had a man named Daron at church. He's someone the missionaries had taught in the past but we haven't been able to teach because he is so busy with work but was able to come yesterday. He's in his 40s but looks like 25 seriously. He's from Jamaica and has an awesome accent. Hopefully we can get started with him again we'll see. On Wednesday we had a potential investigator come to a game of Capture the Flag so we got to play that. It was super fun except right before it started the wind was blowing super hard and all this pollen fell from the trees. There was so much it looked like the trees were on fire or something it was crazy! Tony's been out of town which stinks I hope I get to teach him again soon because I'm pretty sure I'm getting transfered next week. Not positive though I'll find out next Monday. \

Other than that nothing much else to say... We're gettiing fed a lot which is awesome. Didn't have dinner once this week so we went to Jersey Mike's Subs. Man it's so good like best subs ever. AZ needs to get Zaxby's , Jersey Mikes, and Mellow Mushroom. But I've been enjoying Suwanee a lot more recently. Elder Freitas and I get along good most the time and we have fun with the Sister missionaries since we see them everynight at dinner. And everything's becoming green again it's nice.

Well thanks for those who wrote and those who didn;t repent! Just kidding but it's good to hear from you guys I love you all. I'm loving the mission and Georgia and everything that it entails.


Elder Spencer Cooper

Yo! April 15, 2013

Hey everyone,
So first! They have changed the rule about emailing. We're allowed to email friends! So if you'll send me an email this next week I'll be sure to email you back! My email is spencer.cooper@myldsmail.net

I attached some pics. The first is the two new sisters in our ward. They aren't really new anymore, but a member fixed them a greenie dinner and it was hilarious. The second is my shoe with pollen all over it, the 3rd is our investigator Tony

What a strange week. Went by so fast in some ways and really slow in others. Wednesday we had Tony come to institute with us. It was cool but the discussion was super deep. But he met a lot of the YSA and so that was good. On Thursday I went to a leadership training meeting. It was two days long 6 hrs each. Long, but so good. I loved it the spirit was so strong there and I had a great time seeing some other missionaries. President Wolfert gave an awesome training too. Then on Saturday we met a couple of really cool black guys at a recent converts house. We tought them briefly about the restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon. The spirit really spoke to one of them and were excited to see him again. Yesterday we ate dinner with an awesome family. They showed us a video called Reach Out and Share. I would suggest watching it if you can find it online it's amazing. It's about how he sent a Mormon message called "Dayton's Legs" to a lady who lives in Scottsdale and she felt the spirit so strong. The people from "Dayton's Legs" actually live in Gilbert and they ended up meeting. The Lady and her family ended up getting baptized. It was so cool. The video Reach Out and Share was shared on KSL in Utah between conference sessions last year.

Anyways, yeah on Tuesday this thick cloud of yellow fell on everything. I was like "Holy pollen Batman!" Seriously every car was just covered there was pollen on everything it was nasty.

I'm loving this work and I'm excited for this next week, I'm confident good things will happen in the work!

Elder Cooper

Crazy Week, April 8, 2013

This week was soooo crazy! So we got a car for a couple days so Elder Freitas could do his driving test. It was nice to have a car, especially since the beginning of the week was pretty cold. But Elder Freitas has been kinda sick so we've had trouble getting out and working. Oh and so we go to the DMV to do the driving test and the lady tells us we have to make an appointment. We go to make and appointment and the earliest one was in May. So that was lame. Our Zone Leaders had four people get baptized on Saturday and I was able to do the baptismal interviews for them. It was amazing and really helped me remember there are elect people out there searching for the truth. The baptism went great as well the spirit was strong. An man conference was so legit! All the talks were so good. My favorites were probably Elder Cardon  about repentance, Elder Uchtdorf's in preisthood, Elder Holland's (as always) and Elder Christofferson's about redemption. But it was all awesome. I can't believe how much more I get out of conference out here and just enjoy it in general. It's so cool, I mean it's literally like God speaking to the entire world.  We didn't have anyone attend conference though which was kind of a bummer.

That's really exciting about your choir mom! Hope you guys can keep gaining the recognition you deserve.

This next week should be great. Tomorrow we're having a meeting where we're going to find out some rule changes and stuff so that's cool. Then later in the week there's a leadership training meeting that lasts two days, I've heard it's really good.

Also wanted to say thanks Palmers so much for the awesome package! Hope to write you soon. I'm loving the bacon.

Man the weather has gotten so nice here. Everything is blossoming and blooming it's gorgeous. There's so many cherry trees here it's really cool. Today we played tennis and the weather was perfect for it.

Hope you're all doing well and thanks to everyone for the letters and stuff. I know this gospel's true and I know there's nothing more important I could be doing right now in my life than spreading the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love

Elder Spencer Cooper

EASTER April 1, 2013

Great week. Elder Freitas and I have been really enjoying serving together. We have been working hard but we're still struggling to find new people to teach. We have many potential investigators but we're just having trouble getting in with people to teach them. On Easter we went to a families house and had ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, all that good stuff. But I had the best meal I've had in Suwanee this week. Salmon cooked with dill and lemons and spinach ravioli. So amazing. The weather was super cold at the beginning of the week but now is really nice. We've had a couple of crazy days where everything has fallen through but we're hoping for a more productive week. The day before Easter one of the Sister's investigators was baptized. It was really cool.  He's a totally different person since introduced to the gospel. We were able to participate in his confirmation and priesthood ordination yesterday. It was great, especially since it was Easter. Elder Freitas is a lot of fun. He is taking his driver's licence test in a couple days so we got a car for 2 days. I thought we'd have it for a week so I was kind of bummed but I'm still happy we got it for a while. Excited for conference!

Wish I could write more but we're super crunched on time today promise next week will be longer.

Love this work and the Gospel.

Elder Cooper

March 25, 2013

So I thought I sent an email last week but for some reason it didn't send, so I sent it again today. Sorry about that!

Oh also family, I sent a package today with all my CDs, besides Lamb of God. Our mission president changed the music rule and asked us to send home any music that wasn't gospel related basically. So that's why you're getting a box full of soundtrack music. Also the Kenny G CD isn't really Kenny G it's a mix tape of pop LDS music. Elder Wight, my trainer, gave that to me for Christmas as a joke because I hate Kenny G so much. I also hate pop lds... but yeah. Don't throw or give away though I still want all that music!

So I got my new companion this week! His name is Elder Freitas and he is from Brazilia, Brazil. His English is very good especially since he's only been speaking it for like 3 months really because he's been in the Portugese branch the rest of the time. It's pretty cool helping him learn English and we get along pretty great. It's been really cold this week though and he hates the cold, plus he's been getting over the flu so we haven't been able to do a ton of work. We did make some good progress with Renan who's Miriams husband. He had said he wasn't interested but Elder Freitas can speak Spanish too so they connected with that and I'm hopeful he'll sit in on the lessons now. We're seeing them on Wednesday. We also met with Tony a couple times, but that hasn't been going so well. He says he knows the Bible is true and since the Book of Mormon conflicts with it, (which it doesn't) he thinks it's not true. The things he thinks conflict are so strange and don't really make sense. But we're eating dinner with him tonight and hopefully we'll be able to help him feel the spirit and teach him what he needs to know.

Like I said it's been really cold. I thought it was going to be warm for a while but alas not so. It snowed today! I mean barely but still it's cold. Oh and yeah we had a tornado warning last Monday but nothing too crazy happened. It poured rain and hail for like 5 minutes but other than that it was all good.

We're hoping to meet with a couple other people we met this week too but it's still been tough to find new investigators. We had a stake fast for missionary efforts yesterday so we're faithful that will help.

We had dinner with a guy yesterday who can speak the African language where they use the clicks and junk. So cool!

Um other than that I'm excited for Easter. Our ward choir is pretty good and I'm hoping some people will come to hear them.

Hope everything is goin well back home. I'm really starting to enjoy the Suwanee ward more now and I've definitely been having better spirits lately. I love this work and the people I'm blessed to be able to work with. Oh and thanks for the picture Mom. The one of the flowers I got but the other ones didn't come through so I dunno. Bye!

Elder Spencer Cooper

Strange Week March 18, 2013

Hey everyone,

This week was pretty good. It seemed very long though. On Tuesday we exchanged and I went to another area for the day. That was great had a really good time there. And got Brusters ice cream which is the best ice cream ever. Back in my area Elder Wight and Childs found a couple that we're teaching tonight. They are excited to read the Book of Mormon and learn more so we're really excited to meet with them tonight. They also found a man named Alvin who was just real interested and we're meeting with him later this week. On Friday we met with Tony again. We had a great lesson with him. He's so dang smart. We're actually playing basketball with him today.

The weather has been so nice. Got up to low 80's this week. Aparrently it's supposed to get down to the thirties sometime this week though :/ But there was tons of people outside to talk to which was cool. Except saturday cause there was a beerfest going on so we kind of avoided the town center area.

So I don't know if I've said this yet but was thinking about it this week. I used to be such a picky eater and I have no clue why. Like there are so many things I used to hate that I love now. Like mushrooms. Don't know why I thought they sucked cause they were delicious.

Transfer calls were today. Found out Elder Childs is going to my first district. Excited for him. I'm staying in Suwanee and getting a companion who is a portugese elder named Elder Fraitas. I'm excited because I heard he's a great missionary but I will miss Elder Childs.

Glad to hear your trip went so well Mom. Hope your choir can get some more recognition soon because it seems to definitely deserve it.

Love you all

Elder Cooper

Awesome Week March 11, 2013

Hey,

This week was pretty awesome. On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. It was so great .We were contacting in a neighborhood and saw a woman sitting on her porch. When we went up and talked to her she told us she was a Jehovah's Witness, but didn't go to church any more because of some stuff she disagreed with. Anyway she read somewhere in the Bible that the lost sheep would be found by the disciples of Christ. And on 3 separate occasions she ran into LDS missionaries at 3 different locations. She let us into her house and we left a blessing with her. After the blessing we asked if we could come by and she said to come by in two hours. So two hours later we taught her the first lesson. She loved it and the spirit taught her so well. She kept saying, "Why don't the Witnesses have prophets?" She even called her mom and asked her during the lesson. She committed to baptism on the 30th of March. She's in the area for the Zone Leaders so i don't get to teach her but am really excited for her nonetheless.

The weather was super cold on Wednesday, but after that it was amazing. Great time to contact. We talked to tons of people. Got some really good potential investigators. So we're really excited and hoping to meet with a lot of new investigators this next week.

Yesterday I played a special musical number in church. It was an arrangement I made of "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" with a bit of "Called to Serve" It went okay.  I wasn't super proud of the arrangement and I messed up a bit but it went okay. Everyone seemed to like it at least. It was for a sister's farewell who's going to Italy.

Um for pants... Probably 30 waist 32 length or maybe 32/32 and either black or gray would be good.

Crazy everything that's going on back home... glad to here from some of you this week thanks a ton for writing.

So that's about it this week. We basically contacted and tracted all week. Next week is transfer calls so I'll know if I'm getting a new companion  or area next Monday.

Take Care!

Elder Spencer Cooper

Good Week March 4, 2013

This week was pretty good. We are slowly finding more people to teach and we've had some great experiences. On Saturday we did a service project where we cut down a bunch of trees and hauled the branches. Our bishop is the HOA president so he came up with the project and asked us to help. It was a lot of fun and we met some great people one of which wants to feed us. It's been pretty cold lately. Friday and Saturday it snowed. I mean not really, just flurried or whatever you call it but yeah it was cold. The worst is the wind. Riding a bike in the wind is horrible. But it's been good, I'm just looking forward to it heating up hear soon.

Yesterday during fast and testimony meeting we had a bunch of young adults preparing for missions get up and bear their testimonies. It was really cool and it's awesome to see how many more missionaries there are going to be. It was a really good Sunday except my companion Elder Childs got a phone call telling him one of his cousins had passed away. It was a real testimony builder for me because the first thing he said after he found out was "Well, the Lord must need him in the spirit world."

We had an awesome experience on Friday. We biked to dinner and got there ten minutes early and decided to knock a couple doors before we went in. So we knocked one with no answer. Then the next one this guy answers who's just super nice. We tell him we've been sent by Christ to give him and his family peace and blessings. So they invite us in and we start talking to them. It turns out they had a son who was pretty sick and they had a family member who had just passed away a couple days ago. So we left a prayer. The spirit was so strong it was awesome. Hopefullly we can see them again but they're moving to another area soon.

Anyways... yes mom I could use some new pants. Not because I've gained too much weight but one of my slacks got ripped in my bike chain and he hem on the other side is coming out so they look ratty and nasty.

Great to hear from you family and hope to hear from some of the rest of you soon. Hope this week is good and God bless.

Elder Spencer Cooper

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