So first off I forgot to tell you that we can't go and email on Mondays. Arvada's libraries are not open then so we have to go on Tuesday. It’s kind of nice because it frees up some time on P-day to do stuff.

This last week was awesome! I first have to tell you about our investigators that we have been working with. Right now we are working with this guy named Fred and he has been going to our church and the Jehovah’s Witness’s. He came last Sunday again for the second week in a row and it just so happened that the topic in sacrament was tithing. Before he left he went and paid tithing! I have never seen an investigator do that before! We also had another investigator at church. It is girlfriend of a 17 year old kid in our wards. It’s good because he isn't super active so it is getting him to go to church. We just need to make sure that if she gets baptized that she is doing it for the right reasons. I don't want to see them brake up and her go less active. Just yesterday we got a couple of other new investigators as well which just happens to be another couple of high schoolers. The boy is a senior and his sister is a sophomore. She seems more interested in the gospel than he does, but it’s still rad. It is weird. We are teaching a lot of teenagers. Totally different from the other wards that I have served in. If all of them get baptized Pres. Ely might raise an eyebrow since a lot of them are high school girls.

There are 7 wards in Arvada. The stake actually goes into West Minster, so it is pretty big. Our ward is the smallest of the bunch though. We do live with a family in the ward Right now the husband is out of work and this week he finds out if he gets a job in St. George, so if he gets it we will be moving out pretty soon.

We also have Zone Conference this week which could be interesting because I'm going to have to give a short review in front of everyone possibly. Oh, I keep forgetting stuff that you asked in the email. No, you can't wear a suit like that on the mission. He was wearing it for a training.

Elder Cooper

Hello everyone,

So the big news... yesterday I did get transferred. I'm now serving in Arvada, Colorado which is just west of Denver. On top of that, I'm a District Leader. Yea, nobody gave me instruction so I'm really not sure what I am supposed to do yet. I know that some of the things are give baptism interviews, go on exchanges, plan district meeting and that sort of stuff. So we will see how it goes. Elder Phillips stayed in Longmont. My new companion is Elder Woodfield. He came out with Elder Phillips, so he has been out just over 3 months. He is from Tracy, California which is just east of the bay area. It’s cool to have a companion from California for the first time. We are still on a bike though. I thought for sure that we would get a car for being DL, but I guess not. Oh well, it keeps me in shape.

This last Sunday in Union ward up in Longmont we met with a new investigator. Well, kind of new. Some other elders in Longmont were teaching her but then she moved in with her grandmother who is in our ward. I can see her getting baptized. It was awesome to teach her before I left. It is weird leaving a place after being there so long. I was excited, but at the same time I didn't know what to expect. I have never been in the south half of the mission before. It is a lot faster pace. It seems the higher you go in the state the slower things seem to go. Arvada is really condensed too and because it has been around so long the homes are older unlike the north cities. I like it so far. One of the zone leaders here came out with me and one of my previous companions (Elder Smith) is in the district. This is his last transfer and he is going to be training a guy from San Marcos, California. Crazy....

A lot of changes, but change is good. I'm excited to see what happens this transfer and it seems like there is going to be a lot of work to be done in our area!

Elder Cooper

Hey Everyone!

So this is the last week of transfers. I originally thought that our area was going to be shut down but it looks like there might be missionaries here for another transfer. We got a message from our ward mission leader that said that he got an email asking if there would be housing for the missionaries in the ward for another transfer. We will find out later this week. This past week was pretty good, a little on the slower side. We met with the Baptist investigator on Saturday. The first appointment we just went by ourselves and it turned into kind of a disaster. The next time we wanted to make sure that we had a member present and we got one. The lesson this time totally turned around, you could feel the spirit, and he actually desired to read from the Book of Mormon by the time that we left. It is amazing what a member can do to help in a lesson.

Yesterday was the super bowl which always is interesting. Funny enough, the appointments that we did have that day were all people that I could never see in front of a T.V. watching sports. So, we didn' t have to deal with meeting with anyone while the game was playing in the background.

I'm thinking that if I get transferred I will go into the south half of our mission. I have never been there yet. If I could choose where to go I would want to either go to Boulder or Wyoming. Boulder is a crazy, hippy college town which I think would just be funny and Wyoming because it is totally country folk. I would like to see what it is like serving in the sticks.

Elder Cooper

Hello Everyone,

Our investigators are still crawling along. "Crazy Guy" never showed back up to church. The note that he slipped into my pocket had a couple of verses from the bible on it and then a couple of things to look up on google. Yea, the guy had issues. We had another funny experience though. Yesterday we went over to this member’s house. He just moved in and just recently got divorced so he is living with a childhood friend and we started teaching him. He is pretty cool and smart, but he has got some pretty wacky beliefs. The most interesting part of the conversation was that he believed in a form of reincarnation. He said he had an experience where he was able to see his past life. In his past life he was an inventor and he invented something that could power a whole city and its eco friendly and that sort of thing. His co-workers though wanted to use it as a weapon instead. I don't remember the last time anyone saw this, but his story matches up pretty closely with Iron Man. Yea, interesting conversation.

Interviews with President Ely went well. I can't believe that he is going to be done in June. I still don't know the name of our new mission president. The interview was pretty much how they always are. How are you? How’s your family? How’s your companion? What can I do for you? Two weeks and this transfer comes to a close. Crazy....and it is already snowing right now.

Elder Cooper