best week everrrrr

hey hey hey
wow this has been a WEEK! i absolutely love it here. ysa is the best, east side tucson is the best, trio life is the best, missions are the BEST! i am super excited for this transfer ((: we have a couple people the previous sisters were working with and i am excited to start working with them.

recap: sister harp (who came out with me [she is from spokane washington and was attending byui]) and i are trio training sister paas! she is from lehi, utah and is super cute! we are over the ysa ward in east side tucson. it's been a grand time over here ((:

the ward we cover is over the two stakes over here and so my baby area, pima ward, is in my area and we had stake conference yesterday and it was probably the BEST DAY EVER to see everyone. i was the happiest missionary!

so it snowed again, but this time it was not just in the mountains where we lived!!! it snowed in the city of tucson for 5 hours and they were huge snowflakes!!! it was as if i never left utah (; they were saying it hasn't done that since the 80's!

there was one day we were parked outside of a complex and this guy opened his window and so i got out of the car and realized he was deaf and was using sign language. one of my previous companions knew some sign language and she had taught me a little bit. i was able to have a good conversation about the gospel with him and give him a book of mormon! it was super cool (:

my spiritual thought: acts 9 (talking about saul who is persecuting the church) and then the savior appears to him and says "it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" (pricks are like sticks that are used to poke animals to get them moving forward.) so saul was fighting against the spirit and what the savior was guiding him to do. and verse 6 says, "lord what wilt thou have me to do?" and i loved that because sometimes i feel like i know i need to do something and i come up with excuses or justifications. i am "kicking against the pricks" by doing that. which usually results in more distress and grief. but my new years resolution this year is to put the lord first. above my desires and wants- i will choose the savior first. i want to humble myself moreso and give my will to him saying "lord what wilt thou have me to do?" so that is my goal ((:

that's all for this week ((: love you all!
sister cooper

1 year!

hey hey hey

this week was great(: we woke up early a couple times because we were asked to teach early morning seminary! we taught about missionary work for one class and then got a call from another teacher saying that they loved it and wanted us to come HAHA. we were pretty tired after all of that but i am so impressed with the dedication of those kids with early morning seminary every day!

we have had a lot of success this week with super awesome lessons and new people to teach, i wish i had all the time in the world to talk about them. we have been doing a focus recently on helping people recognize the spirit in our lessons and that has been a game changer!!! we have had several lessons where we have been able to point it out very quickly for them and there were a couple lessons where the people broke down into tears because of the difference it made when they were able to recognize it.

we were having a lesson with j at the library and it was going really well and in the backround we kept noticing this woman who was listening in on our conversation and would keep walking back towards us... we knew we needed to talk to her! she wrote us a note and motioned to us that the note was for us. i took over teaching j for a second and she talked with my companion saying that she couldn't help but feel drawn to the conversation we were having and knew that was everything she needed in her life at that moment. we are going to see her this week!

I HAVE BEEN OUT FOR A YEAR!!! oh boy if only i knew a year ago what my mission would be like and what it would do for me! my mission has meant everything to me. i can confidently say now that i know my savior. i have an even greater appreciation for his atonement and what it's given me. i was reading in mark 2:17 he is our physicican. and he is! he has healed all the little broken parts about me and in places i didn't even know i needed healing! for anyone debating a mission, DO IT. it is the most rewarding, exciting, character building, strengthening, and impactful experience you cannot get anywhere else. "it is the best gift god has given to a 19 year old."

love you all ((:

new week. new comp.

hello hello

this week has been crazy! my new companion is sister skousen and she is the best! she is from lehi, utah so we have a lot of mutual friends and fun stories! we were so close at home and never met, but we just had to meet on the mission (;

this week we ate dinner with some members in our ward. their 18 year old son has been away from the church for a couple years and we got to know him super well. we invited him to a youth sports event that our ward puts on every friday night where you the youth can invite their friends and it's a simple way to do missionary work! he came and the youth in our ward basically attacked him with love and invitation and he came to church on sunday! it was such a neat experience for us to be apart of. 

we had someone we met with last week that was SUPER prepared and it was great! but we went over the other day and she said she had talked with some other people and left us a note with the book of mormon saying she had changed her mind with all these details why. we were super sad! but you know when the lord closes one door, he opens another one thiiiissss widddeeee (holds arms out as far as possible). we witnessed that as well! we were trying to visit some potentials in our area book and went to try this random person and they must've moved and we were talking to the lady and she let us in. it was super awesome, she has had bad experiences with other churches and said she has been searching for years. we are going back to see her this week!

there is a guy we are working with and he was talking about how he has made poor choices and brought himself super far from the church without realizing it. he now sees that opposition in his life from when he is actively taking the sacrament and when he misses a week. he was saying if people really understood the importance and impact of taking the sacrament, they would crawl on their hands and knees all week to get there. i was thinking of this as i was in sacrament..sometimes i am the one that is grateful i get to take the sacrament and in prayer and deep thought the whole time but sometimes i can get distracted and it's over before i know it. i also had a study that found it's way relating to this same topic for me. matthew 23:37-38 "...how often would i have gathered thy children, together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! behold your house is left unto you desolate"

because the people were unwilling to be gathered by the savior, and to be obedient to his commandments, they were left unprotected. when we use our agency and choose not to be obedient then we are unprotected and satan can more easily attack us. we fall further. but as we strive to become more clean on the inside and do what is asked, it will be reflected in our outward choices and will further protect us and bring us closer to the savior to be gathered and watched over. we will not find ourself down the road and see that we had wandered far off. 

love you all, sister cooper ((: 

0-9 christmas miracle

we got to go caroling with our zone on sunday and we went caroling to our mission presidents home as well as through a couple neighborhoods that the missionaries were working in. it was way fun!(:

i finished the book of mormon again last week! the book of mormon has become such a huge part of my life. again and again i have felt gods love for me and learned of my savior by reading those pages. joseph smith has been a perfect example for me of asking questions and seeking out the answers with patience and faith. i have also learned how god can make weak things become strong through him. i have felt that so strong out here! the book of mormon is full of faith, testimonies, and conversion stories that have applied to me and strengthened me. my love for the savior has grown in ways i can't explain. he has given me a change that i couldn't have done on my own. i feel unworthy to know what i know and to have felt what i have felt. i am so grateful this season for my savior and what is possible BECAUSE OF HIM. 

hope you all had a merry christmas! love you!

sister cooper 

(the happiest sister missionary who ever lived)

hit em with 4 and got 1/3

this week was super fun ((: it just flew by. 

this week on tuesday we drove out to mammoth with our ward mission leaders wife and went to meet a guy named E and his family. that day his wife had died after being sick for a little while (my heart was broken hearing about all of it.) but we were able to answer his questions and share parts of the plan of salvation and him and his two sons loved it. they understood and believed everything! we are hoping to keep meeting with them and to help them find more answers and peace. 

went on exchanges with sister wilhelm! she is from maryland and this is her first transfer. she is on fire! i had the best day with her because we just ran around like crazies doing work (we also got panda so that was bomb.) it was probably one of my favorite exchanges i have done because i just learned so much from her. we found a new person for them to teach because we offered to do service and share a message of christ and the woman was super eager for us to meet with her. 

we also were walking through their apartment complex and their was a woman and her dog up on a second floor balcony and i started talking to her and she was so funny! sister wilhelm and i clicked with her well and she said we could come back and see her again, so that was awesome!

turkey day was awesome because we got to eat with the bishop and his family, and they are my FAVORITE. we ate tacos and turkey(: i just felt so grateful that day for everything. i have so much to be thankful for. it was fun too because their 4 year old granddaughter, she is adopted african american and was giving us all sorts of sass, she wanted to sit with us the whole time and i just LOVED her. i was thankful for her(;

sister nabrotzky and i found out that we are staying together for a FOURTH transfer. that is a record broken out here because no companionship has done four consecutively. that will be 6 months and 1/3 of our missions together!!! crazy but i am super excited. 

R is someone we have been meeting with for a long time and we always just go and answer his questions but he finally said he wanted to know what we teach everyone else and so we got to teach him the restoration and he loved it! we mostly spoke on the savior and his atonement and how it works not just for our sins but our sorrows and pains too. that was a super sweet lesson and full of the spirit.

one scripture i loved this week was alma 34:3 when the zoramites reject the words of alma and amulek. "and it came to pass that after the more popular part of the zoramites had consulted together concerning the words which had been preached unto them, they were angry because of the word, for it did destroy their craft; therefore they would not hearken unto the words."

because the word and truth got in the way of their "craft" (which i would replace with anything that is a distraction or keeps us from coming closer to god; something we won't give up or something we choose instead to do) because how often do we let ourselves get distracted with other things and we "reject" or don't do those things that will bring us closer. it's like have you ever had a tummy ache because you didn't eat properly, maybe too much sugar or wrong foods? or maybe you didn't eat at all and were starving later? our spirits are the same way. our spiritual feasting needs all the right things (prayer, reading, pondering, studying, etc.) but on the days when you are too busy or forget to eat then you are "starving" or irritable without it. i liked that application. i used to always get discouraged because i would have good reading habits for a short time and then i would stop or something and i would restart the whole book of mormon instead of picking up where i left off. but we don't have to start over or be perfect in all of it but just every sunday recommit to doing better.

anyways that is all for this week, love you!

sister cooper 

10 MONTH MARK & THANKSGIVIN'

heyyyyy, i will start with my thoughts (:

i love the story in alma 24 about the anti nephi lehies about how they buried their weapons of war, never to be brought back again. soon after the lamanites followed their example and were converted. i loved that because they followed their example and it was one that lead them closer to the lord. made me reflect on who i am and if my example was one that if followed would lead someone closer to god? that's what we need nowadays! the prophet is tryin to catch us all up to speed. if you look at how much time you spend doing spiritual things and how much you aren't, hopefully it is more than just the 3 hours of church / 168 hours a week... and even if you get rid of sleep time that is still 3/112 hours... that's like 2% and nowadays it is not enough to just go to church.. especially when the time changes to 2 hours. obviously you can't spend all the time we would like in our scriptures but even when we can't be doing that, are we making where we stand a holy place? are we being examples in everything we do to bring others closer? i loved that, it was an eye opening study for me. 

another scripture i loved that was a theme to this week was alma 34:37-41 with so much guidance and to live in thanksgiving daily. it was a personal experience but an answer to my prayers when i read it- i needed that. our bishop stood up and shared this same scripture and asked us to ponder the situation with paradise california and how the whole town burnt down. he wanted us to imagine what our thanksgiving would be looking like this week and how the plans would've changed for us. my heart was swollen and i became so grateful for everything i have and how important it is to just focus on the important things. to not overfill ourselves with personal possessions because they don't last. 

most of this week i was pretty sick and so we didn't get to do as much as i would've wanted to... these weeks are hard on missionaries hahaha..

we find out at the end of the week what will happen with transfers so stay tuneeeeddd ((:

love you all, sister cooper

20 and goin

heyy

for starters, thank you for everyone for all the birthday wishes today! you guys are the best and i felt very loved today ((: i appreciate all the love and support.

we finally got our car back and moved back into our home! we are back in business(;

to start with cool story, we were doing service at catalina state park and I HELD A SNAKE! not in my comfort zone or something i find joy in but i can cross that off the list now HAHA.

so right now we are doing a focus on trying to video ourselves teaching one of the first three lessons and role playing in our companionship studies and role playing is not a joy for me either but we have been doing it. at first it was ROUGH haha, but the other night we were meeting with a returning member and she was saying that her life has been super crazy but she has always been able to move forward because she knew that god had a plan for her. SO.. BAM.. we hit the plan of salvation, what we had been practicing all week, and it went SO WELL. heavenly father knew i needed a testimony of role playing (; 

i have been cruising through the book of mormon since president nelson gave the invitation. i am currently in the last couple chapters of mosiah. MOSIAH IS THE BEST. i think it's my favorite book honestly. i read mosiah 4:13-15 "and ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably.." and i loved that. i love jokes and sarcasm but nowadays the world is sensitive and you never know what someone is going through. words are so powerful, both negatively and positively. our words lose their meaning nowadays. do i mean what i say when i say it? my dad used to always joke around but teach me about making my words worth something. i would ask him to do something and end with "promise??" and i was distraught if he didn't say he promised. he responded with "if you trusted me i wouldn't have to say i promised." i loved that lesson. mosiah 4:30 said "watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of god, and continue in the faith.." be observant of your actions and your words.

that's all i have time for this week, love you guys ((: 

sister cooper ((: