Hey Everyone,

So, once again an interesting week. First and foremost, that crazy guy came back to church this week. When I saw him I thought "Oh, boy, here we go..." He came early and helped us set up chairs, but after asked if I could talk to him for a second. I made sure that Elder Phillips came with me. So, when he started talking to us he was shaking and said that we should go and find truth. We were told to go and pray on top of a mountain to find out truth. While saying this he slipped a note into my pocket and then gave us each a CD and then left. Yea, probably one of the weirdest experiences I have ever had. So, he actually didn't come to church. The funny thing is all last week people thought he was an investigator that we brought and told us how creepy he was. I explained to them that he was just a random creepy guy that just showed up.

The rest of the week went well. We got a new investigator. That’s the 2nd week in a row that we have got a new investigator. He is a roommate of a member who just moved into the ward. We talked and I asked him if he would be interested in taking the missionary lessons. He strayed away from the question and pretty much gave us the "my roommate tells me stuff, so I already know a bit". So, right after he said that I asked the member if he would like to take the missionary lessons because our bishop wants all the members to take them. He said yes and his friend said that he would join in as well! I must say that I thought I was pretty sly.

This past Saturday we participated in a variety show with some other Elders in Longmont. One of the Elders is trying to get a link up but I don't think it will get up in time. I will just have to make a CD and send it to you. It is a skit about getting a "Dear John" and it is to the music of "Hey Jude" by the Beatles. It’s pretty funny.

Other than that not much else is going on. This week we are meeting with President Ely for interviews and it is already halfway through the transfer.

Elder Cooper

Hey,

Sorry I am so late sending an email. Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. day and instead of emailing on Tuesday we decided to wait until Wednesday after our district meeting because the library is next to the church building. It is snowing right now too. This morning it was sunny and warm and now it is snowing. That’s Colorado weather for you I guess.

This past week was great, and a lot more eventful than the last. This past Thursday we used my temple trip. There were 4 of us that went and we went all day. We showed up at the temple at 7:30am in the morning and went straight into the first session at 8am. Right after that some temple workers roped us in for sealings for a couple hours. As missionaries we can only be witnesses or proxy for children but we just ended up being witnesses the whole time. By that time it was getting close to noon and we were hungry so we got dressed and went to eat along with some shopping at Deseret Book. We spent like an hour in there and being a missionary I just wanted to buy up the whole store. So, eventually we made it back to the temple and did another session and initiatories. So we got to do just about everything besides doing baptisms which I don't think that we are even allowed to do anymore. It was awesome and I needed it. It was a great spiritual boost to keep me focused in the area that I am serving in right now.

This past week we also got a new investigator which will be only the 2nd since I have been here in Longmont. He is a Baptist, really nice guy and has a family. The lesson was alright. It started out really well and he said that he wanted to meet with us because he knows some Mormons and he has never learned anything about it. Towards the end though we were kind of back and forth with what we believed and what he believed. He brought up the whole, "by grace we are saved, not works", and "the bible is all he needs". He said that we could meet with him again so we will go by probably at the end of the week.

We also had an unexpected guest in church. A random guy came to sacrament meeting saying that he was new in the area and that he wanted to go to the nearest church. He came to gospel essentials too but man he was definitely different. He brought his mega 7-Eleven cup of coffee with him and asked us things like do we pray for Satan and his followers and he also made it clear that his brother was a sack of S***. Yea, not the first time I have heard swearing in a gospel essentials class. We tried to get his info where he lived so we could visit him, but he wouldn't give it to us, so hopefully he will be there next week.

Elder Cooper

Hey,

This week was pretty good. Yesterday it we had another snow storm which I'm not a huge fan of. It was a couple of inches so it wasn't bad. The fact that it was yesterday morning makes me think that is the reason why our investigator Josh didn't end up making it to church this week. Church just isn't that exciting when you don't have an investigator there with you.

This past week we have been visiting potentials like crazy. We have set up a few appointments so this week should go really well. We are also going to the temple this Thursday which is always exciting. Last time we went we used Elder Phillips turn so this time it is mine. I think that we are going to go with some other elders too. We plan to spend the whole day at the temple which I am looking forward to.

Not much else is going on. Things have now settled down now that the new year has started. Jeff comes home in a few weeks which is crazy. Our mission president is done in 6 months. Things are just happening so fast. We are hoping that we get a baptism this transfer. Most likely Pres. Ely is going to shut down this ward for awhile and have it on a rotation. It’s too bad but the members struggle to do missionary work and it’s just been too long since their last baptism.

Oh, and yea that was a pretty big box that I sent home. Now that I got rid of stuff I actually have room in my suitcase!

Elder Cooper

Transfer 11

Hey!

Sorry this is a day late. So, I didn't get transferred this time. My companion and I are still in the Union ward. It’s all good. We found out that Pres. Ely wanted to shut down the area but doesn't have any place to put missionaries right now so he decided not to. There were several other places in the mission that did get shut down though. 3 wards in Greeley were closed. Missionary work really does have a lot to do with the members and if members are involved it makes all the difference. In our district we only had a couple of missionaries move. Our district leader is training this transfer and one other companionship switched. Our district is going to be pretty awesome these next six weeks.

This past week we got our first real storm too. I really don't like it but of course my companion loves it. It just makes it difficult to get around in the snow on bikes. That is why we have been walking for the past couple days. New year’s eve …once again we didn't bother staying up until twelve. We also had to go in at 6pm again which my companion just watched church movies while I cut my hair. Pretty exciting.

As far as investigators, we are still working with this guy named Josh. He is sort of progressing but kind of not at the same time which is kind of a bummer. We finished tracting out our whole ward boundaries before the end of the year so now this week we are really focusing on finding some new investigators from the potentials we were able to find through knocking on doors.

2011! It came so fast. I'm excited to see what will happen this year.

Elder Cooper