Phone Call on July 23, 2012
This isn't from Ryan but is about him. I,Carol, received a phone call tonight from a Sis. Bonnie Matkin, who, with her husband, is a Senior missionary couple in Marksville where Ryan is. She just called to tell me how wonderful Ryan and his companion are. She had them for dinner last night. She said the Elders helped them move in and check on them every day. She said they are adorable and her best friends. She said they both spoke in church yesterday and that Ryan gave a wonderful talk on the Resurrection. She said that Scott and I had done a wonderful joy raising him and that he is a very hard working missionary. That was great news, expecially since Ryan didn't write much at all this week. What a nice thing for her to call. We are so proud of our missionary!
Wet Week! July 16, 2012
Hey Everyone,
Hope you all had an awesome week! It was a very wet but really good week here in Marksville. It rained everyday, which was much needed. It hadn't rained really at all since I've been here in Marksville. It was awesome too, because it brought in some cooler weather too. This week was a little hectic too. We moved into a new apartment, so that took a couple of days to do because we had to clean the old apartment. That took forever because we had to clean up the mess that missionaries have made there for over 10 years. We also have a senior couple now here in Marksville. Their name is the Matkins and they are from Park City, UT. They are awesome and will really help out the branch. So we had to help them move in too.
We had a couple of lessons with Beverly this week. They both went really well. It's just hard with her because she is very agreeing with everything and just kind of goes with the flow and doesn't study it out and find out for herself. So we're really working with her on praying to know that what we teach is true. Unfortunately Beverly wasn't able to come to church yesterday because she is having a colonoscipy today and so she had to start the preparation on Sunday. Church was really good though. There were 43 there and that was without one of the main families, the Petch's, there. If they all would've been there we would've had about 54 there. It's awesome because the branch is growing and has already grown a tons in the last year. It's awesome to see the Lord's hand in this work. He will get it done one way or another, we are just privileged enough to be part of it. I love this gospel and know that as we live it, it will bring us more happiness and joy then anything else. I hope you all have great week.
Love,
Elder Cooper
Hope you all had an awesome week! It was a very wet but really good week here in Marksville. It rained everyday, which was much needed. It hadn't rained really at all since I've been here in Marksville. It was awesome too, because it brought in some cooler weather too. This week was a little hectic too. We moved into a new apartment, so that took a couple of days to do because we had to clean the old apartment. That took forever because we had to clean up the mess that missionaries have made there for over 10 years. We also have a senior couple now here in Marksville. Their name is the Matkins and they are from Park City, UT. They are awesome and will really help out the branch. So we had to help them move in too.
We had a couple of lessons with Beverly this week. They both went really well. It's just hard with her because she is very agreeing with everything and just kind of goes with the flow and doesn't study it out and find out for herself. So we're really working with her on praying to know that what we teach is true. Unfortunately Beverly wasn't able to come to church yesterday because she is having a colonoscipy today and so she had to start the preparation on Sunday. Church was really good though. There were 43 there and that was without one of the main families, the Petch's, there. If they all would've been there we would've had about 54 there. It's awesome because the branch is growing and has already grown a tons in the last year. It's awesome to see the Lord's hand in this work. He will get it done one way or another, we are just privileged enough to be part of it. I love this gospel and know that as we live it, it will bring us more happiness and joy then anything else. I hope you all have great week.
Love,
Elder Cooper
July 9, 2012 Good Week
Hey Everyone,
I hope you all had a great week and a great 4th of July! This week was a little weird, because I was in Alexandria the whole week. I went on exchanges with the Pineville missionaries and then we had specialized training with President Wall in Alexandria too. So Elder Jensen stayed down in Marksville, with one of the Pineville Elders. Apparently I missed the best 4th of July party ever. Elder Jensen said that Marksville was just packed with people everywhere. Oh well It would've been cool to see, but it was still good being up in Pineville.
We did find someone new this week. Actually we didn't do anything to find them. Her name is Beverly and she was a media referral that we got from church headquarters. We met with her on Friday and had a good lesson. She had gone on to Mormon.org and said that she had been looking up all she could about the church. She had a Book of Mormon already and had read to 2 Nephi! She is really wanting to learn more and she came to church on Sunday! It's going to take a little while for her because she has a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon and she doesn't understand everything that we've taught her. We're excited about her though and she is working towards baptism. Other then that not too much else happened. It just reminded me that the Lord truly is preparing people to accept the gospel. I love the work out here and there couldn't be anything better that I could be doing right now. I know that living the gospel brings us true happiness and joy. I hope you all have a great week.
Love,
Elder Cooper
I hope you all had a great week and a great 4th of July! This week was a little weird, because I was in Alexandria the whole week. I went on exchanges with the Pineville missionaries and then we had specialized training with President Wall in Alexandria too. So Elder Jensen stayed down in Marksville, with one of the Pineville Elders. Apparently I missed the best 4th of July party ever. Elder Jensen said that Marksville was just packed with people everywhere. Oh well It would've been cool to see, but it was still good being up in Pineville.
We did find someone new this week. Actually we didn't do anything to find them. Her name is Beverly and she was a media referral that we got from church headquarters. We met with her on Friday and had a good lesson. She had gone on to Mormon.org and said that she had been looking up all she could about the church. She had a Book of Mormon already and had read to 2 Nephi! She is really wanting to learn more and she came to church on Sunday! It's going to take a little while for her because she has a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon and she doesn't understand everything that we've taught her. We're excited about her though and she is working towards baptism. Other then that not too much else happened. It just reminded me that the Lord truly is preparing people to accept the gospel. I love the work out here and there couldn't be anything better that I could be doing right now. I know that living the gospel brings us true happiness and joy. I hope you all have a great week.
Love,
Elder Cooper
July 2, 2012 Slow week
Hey Everyone,
I hope you all had a great week It was another slow one here in Marksville. It was a little rough because we were really low on miles and couldn't get around to anywhere that we wanted to go. We unfortunately haven't been able to get in touch with Julie since she's been back from Catholic Youth camp. She is really the only person that we have right now that we are teaching. We did find some people who said we could come back and teach them. We did have a really good turn out at the scripture study this week so that was good. We also talked to Naomi for a while. She is the recent convert who stormed out of church a couple of weeks ago. She is just super paranoid that people at church don't like her. We've met with her a couple of times now and she seems like after a little while she will be coming back to church. Luckily this week we were fed a decent amount by members. We were struggling with food because it was the end of the month and we were out of money. Well this next week should be better. I know that there are people that are prepared and we just have to keep looking for them. I hope you all have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Cooper
I hope you all had a great week It was another slow one here in Marksville. It was a little rough because we were really low on miles and couldn't get around to anywhere that we wanted to go. We unfortunately haven't been able to get in touch with Julie since she's been back from Catholic Youth camp. She is really the only person that we have right now that we are teaching. We did find some people who said we could come back and teach them. We did have a really good turn out at the scripture study this week so that was good. We also talked to Naomi for a while. She is the recent convert who stormed out of church a couple of weeks ago. She is just super paranoid that people at church don't like her. We've met with her a couple of times now and she seems like after a little while she will be coming back to church. Luckily this week we were fed a decent amount by members. We were struggling with food because it was the end of the month and we were out of money. Well this next week should be better. I know that there are people that are prepared and we just have to keep looking for them. I hope you all have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Cooper
Good Week, June 19, 2012
Hey Everyone,
I hope you all had an awesome week. It was pretty slow here in Marksville. The lessons that we did have were really good though. So I found out that Elder Jensen and I are going to be together for another transfer. I'm pretty excited for this transfer and feel like a lot of good things will happen. So luckily it was a lot calmer here too, this last week. Not too much drama went on. We did have a member, Shuntelle, call us and said that she was moving to Lake Charles. I guess she and her mom got in a physical altercation and so she got out of there pretty quick. She's an interesting person. She is really nice and loves the church, but she is not all the way there mentally. So unfortunately it sounds like she moved in with some guy down in Lake Charles, so that wasn't the best news. Other then that though we steered clear from all the craziness.
We were able to have a lesson with a new Investigator, Julie. She had gone to church in the past. about 8 months ago. She is a friend of Ms. Ann, a member, and really likes coming to church. I guess though when she was coming before her parents told her that she couldn't go anymore. They're Catholic, so they didn't really want her going regularly to our church, I guess. Well that made her go off the deep end I guess or she went rebellious because her parents wouldn't let her go anymore. So she showed up to church with Ms. Ann a couple of weeks ago and I guess her parents are ok with her going to church because they figure that at least she's going to church and it will be a positive influence for her. We were able to have a lesson with her and Ms. Ann on Wednesday and then again yesterday. They both went really well. She is really smart for a 16 year old in her knowledge of the gospel and the questions that she asks are really good. She said yesterday that she is torn between the two church's and is trying to decide which one is right and which one she wants to go to. We're really excited though to work with her and I could see her being baptized in a couple of months which would really help her out in her life. Well other then that not too much happened. I hope you all have a great week and hopefully I'll have some more exciting news next week.
Love,
Elder Cooper
I hope you all had an awesome week. It was pretty slow here in Marksville. The lessons that we did have were really good though. So I found out that Elder Jensen and I are going to be together for another transfer. I'm pretty excited for this transfer and feel like a lot of good things will happen. So luckily it was a lot calmer here too, this last week. Not too much drama went on. We did have a member, Shuntelle, call us and said that she was moving to Lake Charles. I guess she and her mom got in a physical altercation and so she got out of there pretty quick. She's an interesting person. She is really nice and loves the church, but she is not all the way there mentally. So unfortunately it sounds like she moved in with some guy down in Lake Charles, so that wasn't the best news. Other then that though we steered clear from all the craziness.
We were able to have a lesson with a new Investigator, Julie. She had gone to church in the past. about 8 months ago. She is a friend of Ms. Ann, a member, and really likes coming to church. I guess though when she was coming before her parents told her that she couldn't go anymore. They're Catholic, so they didn't really want her going regularly to our church, I guess. Well that made her go off the deep end I guess or she went rebellious because her parents wouldn't let her go anymore. So she showed up to church with Ms. Ann a couple of weeks ago and I guess her parents are ok with her going to church because they figure that at least she's going to church and it will be a positive influence for her. We were able to have a lesson with her and Ms. Ann on Wednesday and then again yesterday. They both went really well. She is really smart for a 16 year old in her knowledge of the gospel and the questions that she asks are really good. She said yesterday that she is torn between the two church's and is trying to decide which one is right and which one she wants to go to. We're really excited though to work with her and I could see her being baptized in a couple of months which would really help her out in her life. Well other then that not too much happened. I hope you all have a great week and hopefully I'll have some more exciting news next week.
Love,
Elder Cooper
Crazy Week, June 11, 2012
Hey everyone,
So mass craziness broke out this week. I don't know what hit Marksville but everything just went haywire this week. I guess the adversary was working hard this week, I don't know, but it was crazy. So to start off we went over to Michelle's this week on I think it was Wednesday. We had a good lesson with her and everything. We went to go see her sister Sonia who lives on the next street over in the same trailer park. We pulled up and there were four cars that we did not recognize at her house. There was a private investigator there too with his police badge hanging around his neck. We asked him if Sonia was there and he said he didn't know who Sonia was. Then the landlord came over and told him that we were people from her church. So then he told us that Sonia wasn't there, so it was really weird. So we drove off and were starting to head home when Michelle called us and told us that we needed to come back and give her ex-boyfriend Tony a blessing. So we turned around and came back. We were outside on the porch halfway through giving the blessing to Tony when Michelle's friend Crystal, who lives two trailers down, came running and screaming telling Michelle that they had to leave now. Well then the Private investigators came running up and told Crystal to come back because they were going to search her trailer. I guess they had been following Crystal for a while and now since they were there they were going to search her trailer for drugs. Well then a sheriff pulls up and blocks off the street so we can't leave. I was like what in the world is going on. So after a little bit we asked the sheriff if we could leave because we were missionaries and had just been visiting Michelle. Luckily they let us leave and we didn't get caught up in all that mess. So later we found out from Michelle that they found a grinder in Crystal's trailer but she blamed it on a neighbor and said that he broke into her trailer and put it there. I guess the police bought it because Crystal didn't get in any trouble. Well that's only the beginning of the craziness. I'll have to leave out details now because I don't have too much time left on the computer. So two days later we find out that they searched Michelle's trailer too and apparently found prescription drugs in there and we found out that Michelle is living with Tony again. It's just sad because she was doing so good and then just one week after her baptism she just fell off. We're going to try to work with her though, but she might be going to jail for a little bit.
Oh yeah, also the reason the private investigators were over at Sonia's was because I guess Sonia set up her husband Lucius for cultivation of an illegal substance. I guess he came home high a few days ago and Sonia told him that was it that she was done with him. So they are getting divorced and she set him up because he had been growing a marijuana plant there in their house!
Then on Sunday another recent convert ,Naomi, flipped on everybody and stormed out of the church saying she was never coming back. I guess someone made a comment to her of how she was dressed too immodestly for church. Well that was bad of the member who said that but Naomi also has a lot of emotional problems. I guess she's done that once before. So that was pretty crazy too. Hopefully we will be able to talk to her and help her out to come back to church.
So the week was not the best but we did still find two new people to teach and the members are starting to do more towards missionary work. I also had an interview this week with President Wall. He is awesome! Anyways he told me that I will most likely be training my last transfer. So I'm pretty excited about that. Well I have to go. I love you all and hope that you have a great and blessed week!
Love,
Elder Cooper
So mass craziness broke out this week. I don't know what hit Marksville but everything just went haywire this week. I guess the adversary was working hard this week, I don't know, but it was crazy. So to start off we went over to Michelle's this week on I think it was Wednesday. We had a good lesson with her and everything. We went to go see her sister Sonia who lives on the next street over in the same trailer park. We pulled up and there were four cars that we did not recognize at her house. There was a private investigator there too with his police badge hanging around his neck. We asked him if Sonia was there and he said he didn't know who Sonia was. Then the landlord came over and told him that we were people from her church. So then he told us that Sonia wasn't there, so it was really weird. So we drove off and were starting to head home when Michelle called us and told us that we needed to come back and give her ex-boyfriend Tony a blessing. So we turned around and came back. We were outside on the porch halfway through giving the blessing to Tony when Michelle's friend Crystal, who lives two trailers down, came running and screaming telling Michelle that they had to leave now. Well then the Private investigators came running up and told Crystal to come back because they were going to search her trailer. I guess they had been following Crystal for a while and now since they were there they were going to search her trailer for drugs. Well then a sheriff pulls up and blocks off the street so we can't leave. I was like what in the world is going on. So after a little bit we asked the sheriff if we could leave because we were missionaries and had just been visiting Michelle. Luckily they let us leave and we didn't get caught up in all that mess. So later we found out from Michelle that they found a grinder in Crystal's trailer but she blamed it on a neighbor and said that he broke into her trailer and put it there. I guess the police bought it because Crystal didn't get in any trouble. Well that's only the beginning of the craziness. I'll have to leave out details now because I don't have too much time left on the computer. So two days later we find out that they searched Michelle's trailer too and apparently found prescription drugs in there and we found out that Michelle is living with Tony again. It's just sad because she was doing so good and then just one week after her baptism she just fell off. We're going to try to work with her though, but she might be going to jail for a little bit.
Oh yeah, also the reason the private investigators were over at Sonia's was because I guess Sonia set up her husband Lucius for cultivation of an illegal substance. I guess he came home high a few days ago and Sonia told him that was it that she was done with him. So they are getting divorced and she set him up because he had been growing a marijuana plant there in their house!
Then on Sunday another recent convert ,Naomi, flipped on everybody and stormed out of the church saying she was never coming back. I guess someone made a comment to her of how she was dressed too immodestly for church. Well that was bad of the member who said that but Naomi also has a lot of emotional problems. I guess she's done that once before. So that was pretty crazy too. Hopefully we will be able to talk to her and help her out to come back to church.
So the week was not the best but we did still find two new people to teach and the members are starting to do more towards missionary work. I also had an interview this week with President Wall. He is awesome! Anyways he told me that I will most likely be training my last transfer. So I'm pretty excited about that. Well I have to go. I love you all and hope that you have a great and blessed week!
Love,
Elder Cooper
Awesome Week June 4, 2012
Hey Everyone,
I hope you all had as great of week as I had here in Marksville. For one Michelle was baptized on Saturday!! It went pretty good. Unfortunately it took six tries to get her fully immersed. She got pretty frustrated and embarrassed, but after she came back in the spirit was definitely there and she looked peaceful. So that was super sweet. At the beginning of the week it was looking like it was going to be a crazy week. Michelle's sister, Sonia, was baptized about 8 months ago and she and Michelle had not been talking to each other because of some drama that went on just a little while ago. So there was some contention there and Sonia was thinking about not coming to church anymore because of it. Well we were able to meet with Sonia on Saturday morning and work things out. Then on Sunday she and Michelle were talking and I guess had made up. So it looked like it was heading towards disaster but in the end everything worked out. It strengthened my testimony of how much God really cares about his children and that he will always be triumphant over the adversary.
This week I was also able to go to a meeting that we had with a general authority. It was Elder Gibbons of the Second Quarom of the Seventy. He talked to us about working better with the ward members in doing missionary work. He talked about how the members job isn't to find us people to teach, but that it is our job to help members to teach their friends. He gave us a lot of good instructions on how to help members do missionary work and how the Bishop holds the keys to missionary work in the area and that we need to go to him for inspiration on how we can help the work to move forward in our areas. It was a really good meeting and I learned a lot. I almost think it was more to help me when I go back home of how to continue to do missionary work.
Well I truly love it out here and there is nothing else that I would rather be doing right now. I know without a doubt that this is Christ's true gospel once again restored to the earth in it's fullness. I know that it is what we will find the most happiness and joy in. I love being out here and the privilege I have to be part of this great work. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Cooper
I hope you all had as great of week as I had here in Marksville. For one Michelle was baptized on Saturday!! It went pretty good. Unfortunately it took six tries to get her fully immersed. She got pretty frustrated and embarrassed, but after she came back in the spirit was definitely there and she looked peaceful. So that was super sweet. At the beginning of the week it was looking like it was going to be a crazy week. Michelle's sister, Sonia, was baptized about 8 months ago and she and Michelle had not been talking to each other because of some drama that went on just a little while ago. So there was some contention there and Sonia was thinking about not coming to church anymore because of it. Well we were able to meet with Sonia on Saturday morning and work things out. Then on Sunday she and Michelle were talking and I guess had made up. So it looked like it was heading towards disaster but in the end everything worked out. It strengthened my testimony of how much God really cares about his children and that he will always be triumphant over the adversary.
This week I was also able to go to a meeting that we had with a general authority. It was Elder Gibbons of the Second Quarom of the Seventy. He talked to us about working better with the ward members in doing missionary work. He talked about how the members job isn't to find us people to teach, but that it is our job to help members to teach their friends. He gave us a lot of good instructions on how to help members do missionary work and how the Bishop holds the keys to missionary work in the area and that we need to go to him for inspiration on how we can help the work to move forward in our areas. It was a really good meeting and I learned a lot. I almost think it was more to help me when I go back home of how to continue to do missionary work.
Well I truly love it out here and there is nothing else that I would rather be doing right now. I know without a doubt that this is Christ's true gospel once again restored to the earth in it's fullness. I know that it is what we will find the most happiness and joy in. I love being out here and the privilege I have to be part of this great work. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Cooper
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