My Acres of Diamonds

How has my family been? I have been good. This week went by pretty fast because we were pretty dang busy. We have formed an awesome relationship with our ward and especially with our bishop. We have worked well together and right now we are trying to get their ward roster all cleaned up. This gives us the chance to talk to a lot of people of all different back grounds.

This week we worked a lot with a guy that has gone through a lot of stuff in his life. He was living out of his car with his wife and baby. He was once a member and was very into it too. He told us how he did scouting and all that fun stuff. He got involved with some bad stuff and he is trying to get on his feet now. He broke down with us and said that he doesn't know what to do. We got in touch with bishop, got him some food every time we saw him, and now I think he is doing better, and was two weeks clean from drugs when we last saw him.

My companion and I speak Spanish a lot throughout our day. We get along well and he is a big help to my Spanish.

Before coming to email our washing machine broke half way through our cycle so I had to ring out bed sheets and get the water out with a plastic cup. I think they will be dropping off a used one or I am going to have to walk down to the laundromat. haha

I love it down here. The people are so humble and kind. Almost all of our ward is converts and have powerful testimonies and excitement about the gospel. I love to work with people and try my best to help them (not change them) but help and motivate so that they will desire it themselves.

I love my mission, It is my acres of diamonds and I'm going to discover and use it.

Love y'all fam and friends.

Elder Cooley

Attitude!

hey fam. 

This week was amazing to me. Nothing changed throughout my day but my attitude and how to progress my mind has improved, and that will make all the difference. Laman and Lemuel went on the same journey as Nephi but which one had a better experience all because of his attitude? I had a lot of things that led up to me deciding to change my attitude or mind-sight and this included a lot of opposition. There is only one way out of mediocrity.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others".

I only have control over that in which I do and how I act, No one is my keeper. It is our attitude towards life that will determine life's attitude towards us. Have you ever heard someone say that life is dull only to dull people? That is all because of attitude. Life is also interesting only to interesting people.

anyways... I will stop boring y'all. I don't think I can fit all of my thoughts in this email. 

Julian is back. haha it turns out that he had to go out of town to get checked up medically by the V.A. All is good. He called us and then showed up to church the next day. He is still strong in faith and confident in what he does. He is actually working at the VA now coordinating things and people come to him for help now. He is inspiring to me. 

I have been put into the Hammond ward and we still do all Spanish work around too. I love it. I am meeting even more new people and get to feel the great new feeling of having to start all over. I like this ward a lot and the people like always are awesome. 

I got the chance to talk to a little girl this week that had problems with stress and she was very shy. I thought about how thankful I have been for advocates in my life and those that took the time to stop and uplift or inspire me. The girl shyly told me that she liked my necklace that I bought the previous week and so I asked her if she wanted it. She shyly shook her head and so I told her she could have it only if she promises to do three things.

• To do something every day that scares her and gets her out of her comfort zone.
• To always have a good attitude and if you aren't then Change It.
• Find a passion and dream you have in life and stick with it, never give up.

I thought about my life and the Life of a sister of mine that powerfully got over an eating disorder and how BIG of an influence we have on other people. Our words and actions towards others can cause trans-formative moments in their lives, either for the best or worst. The greatest currency that we have in this life is the effect that we have on others. Everything else rots and withers away, all that will be left is what was in our hearts. I love to imagine that I made a difference in that little girls life that day and that she will always remember it. A few words can either tear or build a person... but over time one of the two will start to dominate and be hard to defeat whether for the good or bad. We Do make an impact, So make it a good one. Be the difference that you want to see.

Well I love y'all. Have and awesome week.

Elder Cooley ​

It rains like crazy here. Literally like a wall of water.

Turtle Guts

​hello fam.

I went fishing today and pulled this big turtle out. I got the opportunity to gut the sucker out too.

This week has felt like a long week. I dont really know why. We knocked a lot of doors and weren't successful. But I guess No effort is wasted huh?

We stopped by a less actives house the other day and it went great. I opened up randomly to the book of Ether and read him a verse. He said that it was exactly what he needed to hear. He said that Elders haven't come to his house in five years. He told us that he knew it was time for him to come back to church so he was there that Sunday.

note from mom: not much to say... I'm guessing Shane was all talked out after the mothers day call.

Hi Y'All!

I have had a good week this week. So turns out we are covering a huge area thats Spanish. We don't have a lot of Hispanics yet to fill our entire week so I think we will be teaching a lot of English too.

We are headed out fishing again today. I absolutely love it here. 

So I shared my testimony in sacrament for the first time on my mission this past fast Sunday. I usually don't feel the need to do so but this time while translating I felt inspired to go tell a certain story that I recently had on my mission.

I had my first craw fish boil the other day. I loved it. It is spicy and such a big part of their culture down here. Like you can see in the pictures you just peel them, suck their heads and then eat the meat in the tail. They give you huge plates to eat them too.

I have a new companion that is originally from Mexico. He is Hispanic and really nice. I feel like we get along just fine. I feel like he will help me a lot with my Spanish too. 

I am driving now, I feel so free! I have been so sick of being a back seat and passenger seat driver. 

I sent you a package mom! I know you will LOVE it.

So we found a Hispanic area this month. It is on a giant farm and they live in a hotel looking complex that the owner built. THERE ARE SO MANY! I said it looks like if you stepped on an ant hill and they are swarming everywhere haha. We go talk to them one at a time. 

We are helping three people quit smoking right now. With two of them They have such a strong desire to quite that its inspiring to me. 

I don't have much to say this week but As long as y'all know that I love ya. Have an awesome week and I will call you for mothers day.

Love,

Elder Cooley

Not on the GPS

Hey fam. 
I had a good this week. Our investigator that was baptized got confirmed in church this week. To our surprise the bishop announced that after church he would be receiving the priesthood also. I guess he set it all up on his own and never let us know about it. He is so happy now and very strongly dedicated. 

I love the people down here. people go and shoot guns right in their back yards all the time. There is this old guy named Ribando and his neighbors get mad at him all the time for shooting 22's at turtles that crawl out of his pond so that he can make turtle soup haha. Crazy old man. Some people also have 100 acres of woods in their back yard though. I guess out side of city limits you can get away with that kind of stuff. 

I go running every other morning and do workouts on the others. Im not as strong as I was before I left but thats okay. I still killed everyone in a pull up competition this week though so don't worry. I love it when you send me healthy snacks mom and protein and stuff like that. I have smoothies for breakfast and I drink 6 bottles of water a day. The humidity just sucks the moisture out of you here. I think that dad would shrivel up like a raisin here because he never drinks water.

It rained every day this week. I love the rain. Some places get very bad though from flooding and mud. We have to go down dirt roads every day to get to houses so sometimes it gets really bad with mud. I love it out in the sticks. I love it when the GPS cant find the house because it is too far out in the boonies. We usually have to call people to find their house if we go out there.

We found a Giant farm this week and right on the farm there is a long building that looks like a hotel and it is PACKED full of Hispanics that work on the farm. It kind of seemed like when you step on an ant hill and they all come out in swarms haha. It is like a little Spanish community tucked away in the trees. We haven't talked to them yet though because we want to try to talk to them one at a time and not in a group. When they are in groups then if one person says no then they all say no. Peer pressure plays a role too so we are going to go about this the right way.

we are working with some people with baptismal dates but with one of them smoking is in his way. We told him that it all depends on his desires. We can only help people so much and then it is all up to them. 

My ward mission leader is one of my favorite people here on my mission. he is a really short old guy that hasnt drank water in 20 years haha no lie. He says that water will rust your pipes. He has drank diet coke for 20 years and the funny thing is that he is really healthy. He is always messing with people and I have a really good time messing with him. If you dish it out be ready to take it back in.

Thank you some much and I love y'all. Let me know what I can do for y'all.

Elder Cooley

Love y'all

Hello fam,
 I had a good week this week. 

We had a baptism this Sunday. He is that 19 year old veteran I was telling you about that has no family and lives at the VA. He got up and shared his testimony in sacrament and after church he was baptized. Both events were the most powerful that I have ever felt on my mission. The ward told him that they were his new family and they love him.

I got the chance to translate the first sacrament meeting we had because we are in both wards. I like it because it helps my spanish a lot. Both testimony meetings were awesome.

I am so sorry but this computer isn't working too well so this email is pretty short. It isn't letting me upload my pictures either.

I am happy and loving it here. 

Thank you for all that y'all do.

 Love y'all.

Elder Cooley

I love my mission

I had a good week this week. Conference was good and I really enjoyed the priesthood session (Uchtdorf and Eyring). We sat at the church for every session. 

We have some Hispanics that have been attending and participating a lot. There is a man named Ambrosio and he is very dedicated. He has been to church 4 times and one of those times he walked five-Six miles early in the morning to get there on time (Inspiring). He also came to the church to listen to conference. We didn't have it in Spanish at the chapel so he watched it and listened to it on his phone with ear phones.

We Visited this lady this week and she thought that we were Jehovah Witnesses (we get that a LOT). The Jehovah Witnesses Will see us knocking doors or find out where we are going to knock and will either go ahead of us or after us telling people how we aren't Christians and try to ruin what people think of us so that they wont listen to us haha. Her mind was changed after talking to us for a little and in fact we asked her to Find out for herself and be baptized. She was very open and acceptable to it; I hope she will continue to do so (only god knows).

So we have a Baptism this Saturday. His name is Julian and he is a 19 year old Marine veteran. He has no family and he is homeless (for now) and lives at a place called Quadvets (veteran support facility) with full benefits and pay until he is able to re-enlist (He got shrapnel in his back but still might be able to re-enlist) or work as an officer for Louisiana. He is very dedicated and sincere and says that he wants a new start. He says that he needs a spiritual companion to constantly be with him and comfort him (He has gone through some hard stuff in his life). He is one of the people that I feel like I am here for specifically.

On P-day morning we went fishing for 3 hours. I love it. We were catching cat fish and the biggest one that someone caught was 9 pounds. They caught a 12lbs one before I got here. They taste good too. 

My companion is Spanish speaking. I don't speak it nearly as much but that is okay. maybe that is why I learned so fast... so that I could be here working with awesome English speaking people and still retain my Spanish.

I have made some great relationships out here and I love my mission. Sometimes if I ever get down I just try to stay busy so I wont think anything different. I haven't been homesick at all but I sure do think about a lot of things like my future for example. BUT... I have learned a valuable lesson.

The thought of the future might mean failing, but doing your best in every second of the 1,440 minutes that you have in your day will only bring you success and satisfaction in the future. 

Example: If I put my head down and give 110% in every second, focusing on it one minute at a time then at the end of my mission I will have nothing but success and satisfaction with my past performances. Success in Life is a matter of inches and seconds so make them count On At A Time.

Like the words of Will Smith-(10yrs old) His dad told him and his little brother to build a brick wall outside of his workshop. This seemed nearly impossible to a ten year old! But... in time they completed the task and now Will says "you don't just Build a perfect brick wall... you lay a brick as perfectly as you can one brick at a time and in the end you WILL have a perfect brick wall."

 Actions shape your future. Take action.

Love ya family. Let me know of anything I can do for y'all. 

Elder Cooley