The chance to play with some more gators

I had a good week this week. It feels like we hit a plateau but we have been knocking doors so we will get it going again. 

A friend of mine is going home in 9 days. He is a cool kid and has been good help to me in this area. I hope all goes well for him at home. We have the same type of motivational thinking and get along well. He will do awesome in life.

I love finding someone to talk to but it is a pretty big bummer when they dont come through or show up haha. That happened to us this week, Im used to it. I dont want to be like that to people.

 We had an awesome Pioneers day celebration with our ward. We had a lot of food so they had a linger longer after church the next day. It was the best jambalaya I have ever had. I will get the recipe from the guy.

I am almost done with the book "Jesus the Christ". I Love that book. I love the prospective of Christ. Who better to follow right? haha I would love to sit down with that man... one day I will. 

Sister Crain is still doing good. Yolanda is getting her patriarchal blessing here soon. 

Thank you so much dad for the doughy makers. I am stoked to cook them for some folks down here. I know that they will love them.... who knows maybe they will invent you a deep fried recipe hahaha.

I got the chance to play with some more gators this week. I also pet a nutri rat haha.

I have felt my Spanish take a big step. I understand a lot and do my best to use the right grammar. It is always going to be that way with a language that you are learning... To understand more than you can speak. I think it is because I am with a Mexican hahah. hopefully I can keep up with missionaries that go to South America to learn Spanish haha.

We get a lot of chances to share the gospel at mixed religious group clubs and we might be doing a booth on slu's campus coming up soon. I love to do service projects. I think that it is one of my favorite parts of a mission. The people are hard workers and so friendly. Charity never faileth

Love y'all. 

Elder Shane R. Cooley

"I refuse to sink"

From the beginning of time as a child you are an open book. You are a clean slate; an entire story unwritten. No known fears, no past regrets and only the world of experience ahead of you. This life has shaped you since the day that you realized the reflection in the mirror staring back at you is actually you. We have developed and changed in our lives until this very present moment, even up until the moment of you reading this sentence. The past is important but now the question is "where do we go from here"? Your thoughts as a child were perfect. There was nothing that was holding you back. The world was yours and all of the its possibilities. This is because child's mind doesn't worry about the past. They think that where they went has nothing to do with were they  are going. Where you were didn't matter because that wasn't where you were going to stay.

So what happened to so many of us? Why did people begin doubting and settling for less as  they grew up? No person says to themselves in their childhood days "I want to give up on my dreams and settle for something less" That simply doesn't make any sense. Granted there are some people that are not fully capable to do the dreams that they wanted; but even then possibilities are still beyond measure. What happened to your child-like mind? We as human beings are powerful. Why have so many people forgotten that?  

Life is tough. We catch ourselves asking "am I the weak"? Am I the person that they are talking about when they say "weeding out the weak"? Is this who I am? Am I called to this earth to fill in the gaps as the weak? (the opposition of the successful people in life?) These are all deep questions that a person might feel like when they get down and might ask themselves in their lives. Life is tough and it is easy to feel this way. If you feel this way then I want to tell you that you are not alone. This is not God punishing you or you being unlucky... it is simply just a part of life. Everyone has problems in life, there is no avoiding it. There is not a single person on this earth that doesn't have problems. so what makes the difference? A successful person isn't a person without problems. A successful person is one who has learned how to deal with their  problems.

The thinking that we are weak is not true if you take a look at it from a different prospective. In the book of Genesis in the KJV of the bible it states that we are made in the image of God. Did you hear that? We are made in the image of a GOD! Other beliefs state similar backgrounds and heritage. If you do not believe in a God (something greater than us) then open your eyes and look around. The world is amazing. People are amazing. You are amazing. All of us have a calling in life. Don't give up.

Have you ever wondered why it is so amazing to admire nature? Why is nature so beautiful? This is because all of nature and its elements are perfect. Wind is not water and water is not stone. These things never change. This is because they have found their callings in life. They have found and accomplished that in which they are supposed to be. No person knows the age of elements. No person can tell us how they became that way, But, as human beings we can take a brilliant guess. Nothing is made by the snap of two fingers and done without a process behind the making. This is the same for us as human beings. We are presently becoming what we were  individually designed to be.

We are here to be tested. We are here to take further steps in becoming what we are to become. Don't lose hope. Please, don't lose hope. Keep pressing forward and becoming better every day. Everything is possible and we can know that simply by glancing at the universe. Refuse to sink. This is not the end nor will it ever be. Continue forward and refuse to sink.

Lightening strikes!

I had a good week this week. It has now been 12 days since the last day my friend Yolanda has smoked! she said she is done and no longer has the desire. 10 years of smoking to cold turkey.

I challenged another lady yesterday to stop smoking. I tell them to give me three days. Prove to yourself that you can go three days without smoking. After those three days nicotine levels drop drastically and it is all mental from there. I asked her if she was committed and she had one cigarette left and told me that she would start after that one cigarette... I agreed but then after a lesson with her and how God is going to be her biggest strength in quitting I felt impressed not to leave her wiggle room with one more cigarette. I left her apartment that night with her pack of cigarettes and lighter. I hope that it left her motivated and am impression on her. That proves a lot more dedication and how bad she wants it than..."please just one more cigarette"! Please pray for her. "Mrs. Crain"

Julian the Marine vet is now a deputy and doing great. He is going to school and trying to become an officer and even talks about moving up to Utah for a better life style. He is a stud and is doing awesome.

I am doing good with my therapy. They asked me to do my workouts twice a day. I do my morning workout and after planning at night I do my workouts. my shoulder is sore but when it burns it grows haha.

Lightning struck like 30 feet in front of me the other day. It was the brightest and loudest thing I have ever experienced. I thought a bomb went off right in front of me. It was probably the highlight of my week... It was awesome! It killed a squirrel and burnt out our investigators TV inside. haha gotta love it, because I do.

Love y'all

Elder Cooley

I LOVE AMERICA!

I had a good week this week. It was full of meetings and visiting people. We knocked 25 doors the other day and 4 of them opened but we found 2 new people to out of it to go and visit. I actually Like that type of work because you can see your progress and you are out in the hot sun getting a leather neck. 

It rained even more... surprised haha? I love the rain. It makes me feel good. It feels like the world around you is clean and new.

There is a lady here named Yolanda from Cuba. Today marks her 5th day of not smoking. I have never seen any person like her before. The only thing that seems to be on this ladies mind is god. She says to me every time how much closer she is getting to finally enter the temple. This lady has been the cause of people in her trailer park getting baptized because she goes out knocking doors and spreading the gospel. I love to be a witness of how much passion she has. 

I know how everybody is going crazy about the new laws and things of that sort going on in our country but I have a different point of view. I have never been more grateful for a country like mine. I BLEED red white and blue.

In life you WILL get things taken from you. The sad part about this is that we don't appreciate things until they are going to be taken from us. for example: A person that has his car taken away and has to bike everywhere would probably appreciate car rides even more after that. I love opposition, It is life's best teacher.

I love America. A place of freedom, A place that holds dreams.

It can get a lot worse, Love and defend what you have.

I went to the doctor. I am doing physical therapy because I have two undeveloped muscles in my shoulder that cause it to be unstable and pop a lot. I am so grateful for the opportunity to figure this out and get help. I am gong to be diligent with therapy and fix my body. Thank you family.

I am doing fine family. I appreciate your concern and love. I just have a lot on my mind and am slowly figuring things out. hahah sometimes I wish I could just turn my mind off and go on through my day but i cant. I am good though, I cant ever complain.

I love y'all and hope y'all have an awesome week.

Elder Cooley