Shawna Hallett Smith
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Hey,
Things have been going well, but really slow lately. We just need to find more investigators. Everyone in the zone needs to find more investigators. We dropped 5 of ours this week. One family the husband’s dad died and said that they will call us. Another 2 was the 16 year old girl and her brother that we scared off when we invited them to be baptized and the last was the southern Baptist. He was the one that we took on the church tour. He called and dropped us. Now we just need to find those out there that are ready to hear our message.
This week Elder Wall is going to be senior companion. When we get the opportunity to train, week 5 of the transfer is when they get to take the front seat. It has only been 1 day and that was P-day and he has been doing well. He is solid except for one thing and that is decision making. What typically is a 30 minute planning session at the end of the day for the next, turned into an hour planning session. So, this week will be good for him because he is going to make all the final decisions.
Last week I was on exchanges with the Arvada 3rd ward elders and that is when we went and visited the Smiths. I covered my name tag at first and she couldn't guess who I was. She probably has not seen a recent picture, but it was pretty cool to talk with her. She was wondering how everyone was doing. So, yea....
Elder Cooper
Things have been going well, but really slow lately. We just need to find more investigators. Everyone in the zone needs to find more investigators. We dropped 5 of ours this week. One family the husband’s dad died and said that they will call us. Another 2 was the 16 year old girl and her brother that we scared off when we invited them to be baptized and the last was the southern Baptist. He was the one that we took on the church tour. He called and dropped us. Now we just need to find those out there that are ready to hear our message.
This week Elder Wall is going to be senior companion. When we get the opportunity to train, week 5 of the transfer is when they get to take the front seat. It has only been 1 day and that was P-day and he has been doing well. He is solid except for one thing and that is decision making. What typically is a 30 minute planning session at the end of the day for the next, turned into an hour planning session. So, this week will be good for him because he is going to make all the final decisions.
Last week I was on exchanges with the Arvada 3rd ward elders and that is when we went and visited the Smiths. I covered my name tag at first and she couldn't guess who I was. She probably has not seen a recent picture, but it was pretty cool to talk with her. She was wondering how everyone was doing. So, yea....
Elder Cooper
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Hey!
Already mid transfers. Things have been going pretty well. The baptism that we were going to have this weekend didn't happen. Her mom didn't think that she was ready. That’s okay. She still wants to meet with us every week until she can in July. I think it would be awesome to be here for that. It seems far away but actually it’s really not. She has a strong testimony of the gospel, so everything will work out. Heavenly Father knows what he is doing.
This past week Elder Wall and I had a cool experience. We went to go visit a referral that the Zone Leaders gave us. We saw a guy walking away from the building just about the time we were going in. Nobody was home so we headed back to the car just planning on dropping by another time. As we were about to get into the car we both felt a strong impression to talk to that man that we first saw. The words "You need to go talk to that man," kept coming so we did and it was the guy we were looking for. It is so cool how the spirit can work through people to further the gospel.
We also did something this past week that I have never done before. We took one of our investigators on a church tour. It was awesome! He is a stay at home dad and ever since he moved to Colorado they haven't found a church to go to. We showed him around the building and he had a lot of questions. For him it is going to be a slow process, but once he figures things out, his family will go with him.
The rest of last week went pretty much like normal. This week I have to go on a couple exchanges with the other elders in our district which is always fun and you learn a ton. Thanks also for the pictures and feel free to keep sending some. I will probably send another box home soon. We will see. For Easter we don't have any plans as of now. Hopefully we will get invited to some dinners. Just what I need, more food. As far as gaining weight, I'm only around 155lbs. but my legs have gotten big from biking for 18 months.
Elder Cooper
Already mid transfers. Things have been going pretty well. The baptism that we were going to have this weekend didn't happen. Her mom didn't think that she was ready. That’s okay. She still wants to meet with us every week until she can in July. I think it would be awesome to be here for that. It seems far away but actually it’s really not. She has a strong testimony of the gospel, so everything will work out. Heavenly Father knows what he is doing.
This past week Elder Wall and I had a cool experience. We went to go visit a referral that the Zone Leaders gave us. We saw a guy walking away from the building just about the time we were going in. Nobody was home so we headed back to the car just planning on dropping by another time. As we were about to get into the car we both felt a strong impression to talk to that man that we first saw. The words "You need to go talk to that man," kept coming so we did and it was the guy we were looking for. It is so cool how the spirit can work through people to further the gospel.
We also did something this past week that I have never done before. We took one of our investigators on a church tour. It was awesome! He is a stay at home dad and ever since he moved to Colorado they haven't found a church to go to. We showed him around the building and he had a lot of questions. For him it is going to be a slow process, but once he figures things out, his family will go with him.
The rest of last week went pretty much like normal. This week I have to go on a couple exchanges with the other elders in our district which is always fun and you learn a ton. Thanks also for the pictures and feel free to keep sending some. I will probably send another box home soon. We will see. For Easter we don't have any plans as of now. Hopefully we will get invited to some dinners. Just what I need, more food. As far as gaining weight, I'm only around 155lbs. but my legs have gotten big from biking for 18 months.
Elder Cooper
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
This past week went okay. It was one of those weeks where you have a lot of canceled appointments. That is the best thing about the mission. If you have a not so successful week, the next week is like starting fresh. The girl with a baptism this Saturday is not looking very good. It looks like she is going to have to wait until she is 18 in July. It will be good but I still wish that she could get baptized sooner. Other than her, we are teaching several people but everyone is kind of just dragging their feet.
In a couple of weeks we will have interviews with President Ely. This will be our last ever interview with him since he will be going at the end of June. It is kind of sad because he has been my mission president for all of my mission, so the other mission president won't even know me when I leave. Oh well. I saw the recent pictures that Sis. Conner took of us totally passed out during conference. That was the last session and so by that point I couldn't make it. Plus, that couch is super comfortable. Conference was awesome though.
Not much else is going on this week. Yesterday, what felt like a billion emergency transfers went down. An Elder from our district went to Wyoming. One of our Zone Leaders went to the ward I served in, in Longmont. Another Elder that I know that was up in Wyoming moved to Boulder. I'm sure there were even more than that. It felt like a transfer day. I also found out that one of my friends from Longmont, got sick and had to go home which is always a bummer. The work continues to go forward despite all of these crazy circumstances.
Elder Cooper
In a couple of weeks we will have interviews with President Ely. This will be our last ever interview with him since he will be going at the end of June. It is kind of sad because he has been my mission president for all of my mission, so the other mission president won't even know me when I leave. Oh well. I saw the recent pictures that Sis. Conner took of us totally passed out during conference. That was the last session and so by that point I couldn't make it. Plus, that couch is super comfortable. Conference was awesome though.
Not much else is going on this week. Yesterday, what felt like a billion emergency transfers went down. An Elder from our district went to Wyoming. One of our Zone Leaders went to the ward I served in, in Longmont. Another Elder that I know that was up in Wyoming moved to Boulder. I'm sure there were even more than that. It felt like a transfer day. I also found out that one of my friends from Longmont, got sick and had to go home which is always a bummer. The work continues to go forward despite all of these crazy circumstances.
Elder Cooper
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Hey,
Things this past week went really well. It was weird jumping back into "training mode". Elder Wall and I have been getting along well so far. He is totally opposite when it comes to personalities. He is pretty straight laced and really soft spoken. Not saying that I'm disobedient, but most missionaries when they leave the MTC are ultra extreme when it comes to being obedient. Elder Woodfield had surgery this last Tuesday. He didn't have to go home which is good. The x-ray showed 3 breaks in his hand but apparently there were more like 8. He got 6 pins put into his hand and should be out of a cast in 6 weeks according to the doctor.
Having a car has been really nice, but being the only car in our district of 8 missionaries I'm more like a taxi driver. We only get a certain amount of miles a month and according to how many the missionaries got last month, we have been going over the limit every day. Looks like we will be biking a few days this week. Next week we are also planning a trip to the temple I think. That is the one nice thing about being with a new missionary is they get a temple trip right in the beginning. I realized that the last day of this transfer is Mother’s day so it looks like I will be making the final call home in a little over a month.
We still have one of our investigators set for baptism next Saturday, but we are not sure if it is going to go through. Last week she told her mom for the first time about her getting baptized and she said it turned into an argument. Her mom doesn't think that she is ready and that she is doing it for the wrong reason. Being that she is only 17 we are going to need to get her mom's permission in the next 2 weeks for anything to happen.
It was also nice to have a little break with conference this past week. Funny story about the temple announcements. Before Pres. Monson announced them I totally called Fort Collins! It was awesome. We were all cheering like we were watching a football game. As for the weather, it has been crazy, but now it is sunny again and hopefully it will stay that way.
Elder Cooper
Things this past week went really well. It was weird jumping back into "training mode". Elder Wall and I have been getting along well so far. He is totally opposite when it comes to personalities. He is pretty straight laced and really soft spoken. Not saying that I'm disobedient, but most missionaries when they leave the MTC are ultra extreme when it comes to being obedient. Elder Woodfield had surgery this last Tuesday. He didn't have to go home which is good. The x-ray showed 3 breaks in his hand but apparently there were more like 8. He got 6 pins put into his hand and should be out of a cast in 6 weeks according to the doctor.
Having a car has been really nice, but being the only car in our district of 8 missionaries I'm more like a taxi driver. We only get a certain amount of miles a month and according to how many the missionaries got last month, we have been going over the limit every day. Looks like we will be biking a few days this week. Next week we are also planning a trip to the temple I think. That is the one nice thing about being with a new missionary is they get a temple trip right in the beginning. I realized that the last day of this transfer is Mother’s day so it looks like I will be making the final call home in a little over a month.
We still have one of our investigators set for baptism next Saturday, but we are not sure if it is going to go through. Last week she told her mom for the first time about her getting baptized and she said it turned into an argument. Her mom doesn't think that she is ready and that she is doing it for the wrong reason. Being that she is only 17 we are going to need to get her mom's permission in the next 2 weeks for anything to happen.
It was also nice to have a little break with conference this past week. Funny story about the temple announcements. Before Pres. Monson announced them I totally called Fort Collins! It was awesome. We were all cheering like we were watching a football game. As for the weather, it has been crazy, but now it is sunny again and hopefully it will stay that way.
Elder Cooper
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