Monday, June 29, 2015

THE END OF A JOURNEY


So uh hey....
Haha I cant believe this is the last email that I will be sending as a missionary.  Before I write about all that stuff though I want to tell you real quick a little about the week.  

Our elevator rides are always interesting!

We were able to go over a couple times this past week and really help the R's finish up picking all his cherrys in his garden.  I feel like some of the reason that me and him were able to work so well when it came to the branch work was because we also worked together in other aspects of life.  He has really helped me out here in Craiova and I have tryed to do the same for him.  T R  Is seriously one of the best men I know.  I am glad we got to spend so much time with him this week in his garden.  
We also had a kind of going away party this past saturday.  We invited a bunch of people to the church so we could do a BBQ... dont worry mom we took a bunch of pictures haha :)  It was amazing!  I got to play with a bit of fire again and we got to just eat pork and mici like men!  It was perfect.  It really showed me that I do have a lot of connections here in Craiova that I really want to keep in touch with.  It was really weird saying goodbye to all the good friends I made here.  I know that I will still be able to communicate with them through email or facebook or whatever it may be. But just the feeling of not knowing if I would see any of them in person ever again was weird.  I am happy for the time that I have had with them.
Sunday I gave my farewell talk.  The first time in my life I ever lost track of time while public speaking!  It was a good
Being in a trio has been a good time :) 
practice round I think ;)  It was a really comfortable setting with not many people, but just enough to make it feel like a talk.  I dont even want to think about 100+ people in the same room.  Sounds overwhelming.... I might just not do my homcoming talk..... haha :)
  There is no way that I will ever be able to relay all my experiences over to other people.  I know that I have experienced many many things for the benifit of others through my mission. but I also know there are many things that I have experienced for my well being.  This has been the hardest thing that I have ever done in my entire life.  So looking back sometimes I wonder why I didnt give up.  I have thought about this a lot.  I don't have a big cool experience to share of how at one big moment I just knew this was the place for me,  All I know is that I was sustained by some other source or divine intervention to be able to make it day to day... cause that is how I lived my mission.. day to day. I
know that source is my Father in heaven.  This simple fact is something I have come to know through sweat and tears.  He is my Father that happens to live in heaven and I know He wants me to succeed here.  One powerful thing I read the other day came from my first journal.  I was re-reading back to the good ol days in the MTC.  One particular day I was stuggling and I wrote in that journal "if I am able to do this full 2 year mission, there will be no doubt in my mind that what I am preaching is true and that I will have recieved power beyond my own strength."   It took me reading that to really start to see that I have been so
blessed in my time here in Romania as a missionary.  I am sad to be leaving these people now.  It is a really exciting time over here.  The mission is really picking up energy and momentum.  Things are happening and it for sure going places. It is time for these new missionaries to be here.  That is why it is my time to leave.  We need to keep progressing here and even though I have had 2 years of experience and know a bit about how to do things here, the new blood and the new ideas is what will keep this place growing, and not stuck in a rut, into the place that it's dedication prayer says it will be "a beacon to the surrounding countries." I know I planted seeds that some day will make this a reality. 
Until we meet again Romania!

So I really just want to thank everyone who has given me any type of support in the time that I have been on this crazy adventure.  If it wasn't for all of you guys fasting and praying for me, I would not have been able to do this.  that's why this gospel is so beautiful, it is all about team work to help and love others.  In all of you helping me I hope you feel some sort of satisfaction in knowing that through me you were able to help the lives of the people here in Romania.  You are just as much a part of this as I am! :)  I love you all so much!!  I can't wait to see  you all very soon!!  Two more days and it will be over.  What a roller coaster, but one I am glad I went on! :)  The gospel is true. 
                           SEE YA SOON!!!!!!
 Love,

Elder Cooper


Tuesday, June 23, 2015

HIGHLIGHTS FOR MAY 18- JUNE 15


MAY 18
Something that happened this week was an hour before church started we got a text from our branch president saying that he wouldnt be able to come to church.  Which is fine, just added a lot more stress cause church was literally in an hour. 
What that text basically told me was like "hey I can't come, so I am gonna need you to conduct, play the piano, stretch/wing your talk (cause he was the second speaker) to fill as much time as you can, and also to teach something for Sunday school."  At least that is what the text meant to me when I read it haha.  Thankfully it really isnt as bad as it seems and we are kinda used to doing a lot of stuff over here.  So like 15 minutes before the hour I had finished my talk so we sang a song, and then I asked my comp to just say a few words/bare his testimony.  Overall I say it went very well haha.

Back to the hospital this week. Like I have kinda explained in the past, it is a freakin maze in there and there are no maps
anywhere.  So we walk in the front door and just go to the first elevator we see. We got in a little trouble, but we didn't know what we were doing so mostly people just roll their eyes and let us do whatever.  We had a good visit chatting with all of them in the room and one of the guys was actually really interested in the church and our English classes.  So we got his number and now hopefully he will get better soon and we can start meeting with him or something!  So that was super cool.  I felt kinda nervous though cause it was me and A like standing in the middle of the room like telling these men about the church, and technically you arent supposed to like go into hospitals and start preaching, so it looked pretty bad.  But we started gathering an audience, two nurses came in and starting asking us questions as well so we had like 5 people in the room.  It's cool how some things work out some times.

I feel like I may have already told you this, but recently my favorite scripture is in Alma 32.  It is basically just the entire chapter.  It is so amazing!  It first talks about being humble and stuff and then goes into the famous talk about faith being likend unto a seed.  I just really like the concept it is really
simple to me.  Alma says how if it is a good seed it will bring forth good fruits and enlargen your understanding if you do not cast it out with your unbelief (first you gotta chose to believe right ), and therfore you will know that is a true and good thing. (alma 32:28-33)  Then for the most part I feel like Alma talks a lot about how faith is not a perfect knowledge of things.  I love what he says in verse 27 'But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.'   I like this so much because I feel like there have been times in my life where I was not able to do more than merely desire to believe in the gospel.  I love how he says "awake and arouse your faculties" .  Just get up, just start experimenting on the word!"  And I take "experimenting" to mean things like reading the scriptures, praying, doing what the prophets tell us.  Just doing good overall.  So being a missionary I also have really loved this scripture.  That is all we can ask people to do.  Just experiment on the word, just to see if it is a good thing or not.  Just to see if what we are teaching is true.  It is promised that through the holy ghost we will be able to know if it is good/from God. (Moroni 10:4-5)  So we have promises that we can know if we just ask, and experiment on the word.  That's all. :)  It's really comforting to me personally. 
Sorry that was just me rambling, I just really really like that whole chapter.  It just make sense to me becuase I have done it and can testify that it works. :)
So we are nearing the end of the transfer.  Next Pday we will know what will be happening to me in my final transfer!  Super crazy!  Time really does just keep slipping away.  As hard as it gets out here, I know that when the time comes to leave this place and this call I will miss it.  So for now just enjoy the time I got here right!  I love you all so much!  I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,
Elder James Cooper

MAY 25
Well it's the end of the transfer and now on to my very last one!  Next transfer me and Avila will be staying together in
Our Trio!
Craiova and gaining one new companion!  Elder Duker!  He has just been in Timi ever since I left him there and now he is coming back to me.  It should be a good last transfer.  And yeah like i said, I will be coming home on the 24th of June!! it's so soon!  But for sure I will finish up strong, still a lot to do here.
This week has been full.  On Tuesday before English we contacted all the way over to this park.  It was like mid day so the sun was killer.  I didnt realize how much the sun can just drain you.  When we got inside we just had to sit down for a bit to refresh.  I kinda forget that contacting mid day during the summer is a bad idea cause no one is out, and it is extremely hot.  But overall, it was a good experience and the park was beautiful!
Also our hot water has been broken since about last Tuesday.  I called our land lord to come fix it, but weird enough it started working when he came over to check it.... but the next day it broke again so I just decided it would fix itself again the rest of the week, but it didnt until Sunday.  I really dont know what happened haha. Hopefully it will continue to work cause it stinks not having hot water.
Our branch president is very excited that Duker is coming over here cause he is a really good pianist.  So this past Sunday we were all trying to sing our best to practice (all four who were there) and we were trying to sing great so we would be ready for him. haha 
(Sorry kinda spacy right now the letter is all over the place)
So this Wednesday me and Avila will be heading down to Buc
to pick up Duker.  I then have a meeting I got to go to.  I think they will be telling us about the meet the Mormon movie, they have dropped a couple of hints already about that. I know in a couple of cities they have been getting ready to use it,   It would be a really cool tool for us to be able to use over here.  So yeah we will be in Buc for about 4 hours I think.  Hopefully enough time to do that meeting and say my goodbyes to everyone.  I am dipping out at a weird time so after Wednesday I will not see the majority of the missionaries again.  Super weird feeling.  Over all I am excited for my last transfer.  It will be interesting figuring out the dynamics of a trio, but it could really be what Craiova needs. (Plus we can teach beginner, medium, and advanced for English!)  I will let you know more details about everything next week!  Sorry this letter is shortish, allergies kicked in like a heavy weight boxer last night so it was hard to sleep. Love you all!!  Talk to ya soon!

Love,
Nighwing aka Elder Cooper

June 8
The week has gone by really fast!
We were able to meet with a new investigator this week and I am super excited about him!  He was a referral from president Ivory.  He was down in Buc and saw the meet the Mormons movie and got interested in what we do more specifically.  We sat down with him and found out that a lot of what he believes and does already is inline with the gospel.  When we got talking about stuff, I just kept thinking, holy cow we are already on the same page! haha.  He is a very open minded guy so we are really excited to meet with him in this up coming week.  Also he is going to Utah sometime close to the end of the year, so we might even have him over for dinner or something after I am home!  That'll be cool right!?  haha
This week we also got to do some cool service at the R's house.  We went over and picked some cherrys.  It was pretty fun.  Sister R showed me how to make this certain dessert
thingy that I am excited to show you guys.  Super easy and it tastes amazing!  So it was great to be able to go help them out this week.  We gotta climb up a ladder pretty high in the tree.  It was just fun, havent done that for a while :)
Also starting last Friday up until yesterday we had Craiova day!  It was just a big celebration of the birth of Craiova basically... I think. :)  There were so many stands selling stuff and concerts going on, people singing and just having a great time.  
I really like how Romania in genral does cool stuff like this.  The whole city just seems to come together and just seems so alive.  It is something I am going to miss about this place.  Just being able to walk through the center of town and see all
the unique stuff going on, or the different stuff people are selling.  It is not only Craiova that does this, about every other city I have served in there have been cool festival things going on.  Oh yeah, on that note, kinda, before that all started we went to go support our friend in her book signing.  She is like an author now. It was a pretty cool experience to see how that whole process worked.  She was so nervous about it but she was glad that we went for the extra support. (sorry kinda random)
So things are really starting to feel like they are winding down.  Like yesterday was my last sunday doing the clerk stuff.  I trained elder D a bit and will do a little more next Sunday with him so that he will be better off the start then I was haha. So responsibility is shifting now.  It has made me realize how much stuff was on my shoulders.  Of course we have our companions, but when someone talks to you personally about something or needs you to do something, you are usuallly the one "leading" it through.  Also there is going to be a Meet the Mormon showing here in Craiova on the 27th on June... haha so that stuff is all on D and A.  I mean of course Imma help out as much as I can, but it is on them to make it actually happen.  So I guess you can start to see why things are kinding feeling like they are winding down. But of course Imma give it all I got till the end.  It's so close they is no reason not to just go ham at it.   :)
Love you all so much!  I took pictures this week so Ill send them over!  Have a great week!

Love,
The Elder Nightwing




June 15
Hello!
I can't believe this is basically my last normal pday... who knows what I'll need to do for the next one!  Time just keeps going no matter if you try to stay or move faster... it goes at it's own pace haha. 
This week really did go by really fast.  We went and did some more service at the R's place.  They are super nice and gave
us some cherry jam from the cherrys we picked.  It was a pretty exhausting day honestly.  We did this service at R's house after we taught English, then after the service we went to the park for our sports night.  Lately it has been SO HOT outside.  We were all drained and sweating buckets.  This was the one time that I wasn't hating not having any hot water to take a shower.  A cold one is super refreshing after an killer day.
Oh something cool,  President R wants to do something this next saturday as a kind of going away party for me.  I am super excited.  There will be mici and all different types of meat there.  It'll be fun for sure.
Spend some time with L.  I sure love that man. 
To top of this week, we had an amazing Pday!  We got to go to Pitesti and I got to see my boy again!  Also I got to return to my "birth city".  We had so much fun.  Ill have to send pics of what we did, it is kinda hard to explain honestly.  It involves trampolines and tricycles haha.  At the end of the day it is super weird saying goodbye to Chatty. Love training that kid and he's One of my favorite people ever.
Sorry there isn't to much spiritually up lilfting stuff in this email.  Just saving it for my last one you know haha :)  I

Love,
Elder Cooper


Monday, May 25, 2015

MAY 4-11 STAYING BUSY AND GOING STRONG

MAY 4, 2015
The week.  I really feel like I dont have much to say haha.  Since the last time I wrote was like on Wednesday, it hasnt been that long.
So on saturday English class rolled around.... and it rained again!  the first time it rained it was okay cause it's still the
But rain does bring about great beauty! 
first week and there is always the Saturday class to go to.  But now that the weather was bad on both of those days, they might think like man I will already be behind or something like that or just forget we talked to them all together. Hopefully not though. Guess we'll see. 
Before church started we were able to do a lesson with the church walk in from last Sunday.  We are going to meet with him again on Wednesday and it officially makes him a progressing investigator.  He is a great man and I am excited to work with him.  I do think it might take a while for him to make all the steps, but that is kinda normal here.  He is in his late 60's I think and he has studied a lot about different churches. It's interesting working with people. I've learned to really get what they need their focus can't be just on studying about us or seeing what we do rather than a pure desire to find the truth. Desire is essential. With all that said I am really excited to be able to start teaching the lessons again.  Maybe this will be my first time teaching all of them! who knows? haha
Church was also great cause... it was 45 minutes.  It is so hard to get our branch to go any longer on a fast and testimony meeting.  I mean I still hold the record for shortest meeting when I conducted last fast and testimony meeting.  Im not sure if I should be proud or a little embarrassed about that? haha
Alright so today has actually been a pretty crazy Pday. L went to the hospital on Friday cause he was having some pretty
bad pains in his lower stomach.  Well he is still there now!  He
has something that and I guess it is pretty serious.  So today we went to go visit him to see how he was doing.  It took us so long to actually find the area we were supposed to be in.  Our first attempt we ended up in a college trying to go up an elevator when a nice lady comes up to us and asks what we were doing here haha.  She then pointed us in the right direction.  Then we go into, what I thought were the front doors.  We ended up down a random hall way just looking for an elevator.  We then get more instructions that we gotta go outside again and go down these stairs and let me just tell you, it was the most difficult front door I have ever needed to get to haha. We are lucky to have the hospitals we have in America. I'm just going to say that :) 
So the church is true.
Love you all so much!  NEXT WEEK WE SKYPE!! that's pretty neat.  I am excited to see you guys and be able to talk.  Last time I get to skype you guys from Romania.  AH!  Have a great week

Love,
Varstnicul Iacov Dogar


MAY 11, 2015
It was super great to see everyone today!!  You all are looking so good.. haha :)  It is a little hard think of what to write just cause we talked about so much already.
Like I said already, we had a pretty good week even though a few things went wrong.  On Wednesday we tried to meet with someone, but he said he was outta town.  On the bright side he came to church!  We were able to do a short lesson with him.  This next week we are hoping we will be able to go over to his house and tell him more about the plan of salvation.  It should be really good.  I will let you know how things go with him.
Also I think I mentioned this in he skype call, but I think I should say it again... I am the branch Pianist!! haha how did that happen?!  Actually we know how that happened.  Took a little bit of time this week to roughly learn how to read notes and generally get a feel of how to play 4 songs... and that is how it happened... I just think it's crazy!  I think me and my
Well he sort of used to practice in Arad :O
companion are going to go out contacting just asking people if they can play the piano.  Then tell them " oh hey, we have a piano, do you want to practice for an hour on Sundays at 10 am?" haha I think it'll work.
I know this is a lot shorter than normal so sorry about that.  I still love you all so much! haha  It might sound weird but it honestly just warmed my heart seeing all of you.  I think as a missionary your heart may tend to get a little cold because we are in the world so much. (at least this has been my experience on my mission)  It was just great and really helpful to see all of your faces and be reminded so strongly about one of the biggest reasons I am out here.  It was a bit of a reality check.  The gospel is real and true and families are forever, so ya, just like a tender mercy... I just love you all so so much!  Thanks for being so great and being so crazy.  It wouldnt be the same any other way!  Hope you have a great week!!

Love 
Elder james


APRIL 29 - Zone Conference and Everything Else


APRIL 29, 2015

What a week so far!  I am trying to remember all the way back to last week and it is proving to be a little challenging. 
We were able to have few lessons this week with a member and less active.  It's really cool in this branch because you're constantly doing lessons with the same members you really get to know each other.  The BP and his wife are just
amazing.  We go over there about once a week talk about how the branch is doing, how missionary work is going, and then we share a short little spiritual thought with them.
So Sunday we actually had a really good turn out at church.  We had 9 people come!  Two American guys who live in Germany but have a project here in Craiova come every week.  The are amazing.  The one always asks us what he can bring to us from the states.  He
works with the army so he gets all the hook ups and fairly fast as well.  This past Sunday he brought a big box of pop tarts!  haha me and A are kinda in heaven right now.  It's moments like these when you appreciate being in a two man city... less missionaries to share with. :)  But honestly he is just the best. I just really appreciate this man.  We also had a "church walk in" on Sunday.  Which just means there was a random guy who wanted to see how the mormons do things.  We talked with him for a while and he stayed the whole first hour.  We got his contact info and hopefully we can set up with him soon.  After church I had to stay kinda long because I am still trying to figure out how to work the whole MLS stuff... for the most part it is fairly simple, and I got it, just not when you make mistakes I guess haha.
Now onto Monday.  What a freakin crazy day.  So it was a zone conference, nothing to crazy.  The thing is we weren't supposed to spend the night Sunday night in Buc so that meant us having to wake up at 5 am to catch a train at like 6.  We then took the 3 hour train to Buc.  As soon as we arrived we had to take a taxi to get to the chapel on time for the
meeting.  Then of course we sit through the 4 hour zone conference.  It was good.  President Ivory had one of his buddies from Utah come to Romania to come speak to us. He talked a lot about being successful and how if you want to be successful you should just look at what you are doing when you have nothing to do.  It reminded me of something some one told me once that I really like. "You can tell a lot about a man by what he does when he is bored” Basically just a reminder to make sure we stay productive and keep ourselves busy and all that good stuff.  So overall zone conference was good.  I met an elder who has apparently been following my blog.  It was pretty cool kinda made me feel like a celebrity a bit haha.  He was a really chill guy.
So after that I had set up an appointment with the D Family!  I love that family so much!  They always feed us tons of food.  They are doing great and they mentioned stuff about preparing to go to the temple!!  How sick is that!  I am super
excited for them.  To end the day we hopped on the 3 hour train back to Craiova and got in at like 11:30 in the rain.  To say the least, we were tired.
Now yesterday we started English.  It just so happened to decide to rain and thunder like crazy.  So we didnt have very many people show up, but we are hopeful for our Saturday class.
So that has been my week so far! haha  I feel like I just typed out an entire essay.  I missed some stuff here and there so if I remember I will tell yall soon.  I love you all so much!  Thanks for constantly having my back and just being overall amazing.  I miss you all and cant wait to skype with you guys soon!! haha  Have a good week.

Elder Cooper

Monday, May 4, 2015

CHOOSE TO BELIEVE (April 20-29)


April 20th, 2015
Well Hello!
This has been a really long week.  Not really in a bad way, it just seems like it has been a while since Pday... maybe that's because our last one was filled with so much traveling?  Who knows. 
So it is very hot over here now.  We still have some cold
moments, but the summer is coming and it's coming fast.  Elder A can play the guitar so we have used that in some of our contacting sessions.  We went to Parcul Nicolea Romanescu in our short sleeve shirts and he played the guitar it was so nice.  I even got my official first sunburn of the year!  But it left an awful tan line cause it was my long sleeve rolled up to be short sleeve so it was more like a baseball shirt cut... so the line looked kinda funny, but I think I evened it out through out the week haha.  So while at the park we had an awesome contact.  There was a man walking his Cane Corso and so I stopped to pet it.  It was only like 12 weeks old and it was huge!  Anyways we just got talking about the dog and stuff and it was a really good conversation.  He asked us what we were doing and we told him about being missionaries and also about English.  He said I dont think I will come to the English class, but if you guys ever want to go get some juice and chat some time i'd be down.  So that was dope.  We are gonna meet up with him soon.
This week we had a sport activity planned with the branch. 
We ended up at this placed called Decathlon and ended up playing some soccer tennis and some basketball.  Towards the end a group of guys came over and asked if we wanted to 2v2.  I was thinking it would be one of those moments that you hear about where the missionaries played a game of basketball and beat the other guys so they agree to listen to a gospel conversation or something like that.... but we lost haha!  They were super sick guys though.  We invited them to English class so hopefully they come!

I hope you all got to listen or watch general conference.  I am still trying to catch up on it haha.  the other day I was listening and I heard probably one of my favorite talks of all time.  Choose to Believe from Elder L Whitney Clayton.  "Belief and testimony and faith are not passive principles.They do not just happen to us. Belief is something we choose—we hope for it, we work for it, and we sacrifice for it. We will not accidentally come to believe in the Savior and
His gospel any more than we will accidentally pray or pay tithing. We actively choose to believe, just like we choose to keep other commandments."
 This is just one of the cool things that he laid out so clear for me.  It is so important to choose to believe every single day.  It's not just something you can think about... like okay I believe and booom you believe.  It's an action word just like faith.  So by reading your scriptures, praying, home teaching, really any of that type of stuff is basically just believing in the gospel.  We do those things because we believe.  I remember when I learned that faith was an action word and it blew my mind, and now coming to the understanding that belief is also something we show by action was super cool.  His talk has a lot more in it that is so clear and good that I just love, but I guess this is just what I wanted to share for this week.  Here is the link so it's easier to take the 15 or so minutes to listen to it so you dont have to find it yourselves haha :) 
This talk gave me a lot of hope.  A lot more than what I have felt in a while...so I just wanted to share it with all of you. :)  I hope you all have an amazing week.  LOVE YOU ALL!!
 Elder 
Nightwing!
Ps:  In Romania the way you say basketball is just baschet.  So almost literally just dont say ball.  Ive always thought it was kinda funny.  It's like "hey wanna go play some basket?"  

April 29, 2015
What a week so far!  I am trying to remember all the way back to last week and it is proving to be a little challenging. 
We were able to have few lessons this week with a member and less active.  It's really cool in this branch because we are constantly doing lessons with the same members you really get to know each other.  The  BP and his wife are just amazing.  We go over there about once a week talk about how the branch is doing, how missionary work is going, and then we share a short little spiritual thought with them.
So Sunday we actually had a really good turn out at church.  We had 9 people come!  Two American guys who live in Germany but have a project here in Craiova come every week.  They are amazing.  He always asks us what he can bring to us from the states.  He works with the army so he gets all the hook ups and fairly fast as well.  This past Sunday he brought a big box of pop tarts!  haha me and A are kinda in heaven right now.  It's moments like these when you appreciate being in a two man city... less missionaries to share with. :)  But honestly he is just the best.  I just really appreciate this man for his help and his spirit in the branch.  We also had a "church walk in" on Sunday.  Which just means there was a random guy who wanted to see how the mormons do things.  We talked with him for a while and he stayed the whole first hour.  We got his contact info and hopefully we can set up with him soon. 
Now onto Monday.  What a freakin crazy day.  So it was a zone conference, nothing to crazy.  The thing is they did not want us to spend the night Sunday night in Buc so that meant us having to wake up at 5 am to catch a train at like 6. 
We then took the 3 hour train to Buc.  As soon as we arrived we had to take a taxi to get to the chapel on time for the meeting.  Then of course we sit through the 4 hour zone conference.  It was really good. President Ivory had one of his buddies from Utah come to Romania to come speak to us.  He talked a lot about being successful and how if you want to be successful you should just look at what you are doing when you have nothing to do.  It reminded me of something some one told me once that I really like. "You can tell a lot about a man by what he does when he is bored"  Basically just a reminder to make sure we stay productive and keep ourselves busy and all that good stuff.  So overall zone conference was good.  I met an elder who has apparently been following my blog.  It was pretty cool kinda made me feel like a celebrity a bit haha.  He was a really chill guy.
So after that I had set up an appointment with the D’s!  I love that family so much!  They always feed us tons of food. 
They are doing great and they mentioned stuff about preparing to go to the temple!!  How sick is that!  I am super excited for them.  To end the day we hoped on the 3 hour train back to Craiova and got in at like 11:30 in the rain.  To say the least, we were tired.
Now Yesterday we started English.  It just so happened to decide to rain and thunder like crazy.  So we didnt have very many people show up, but we are hopeful for our Saturday class.
So that has been my week so far! haha  I feel like I just typed out an entire essay.  I missed some stuff here and there so if I remember I will tell ya’ll soon.  I love you all so much!  Thanks for constantly having my back and just being overall amazing! Have a good week.

Elder Nightwing Cooper

Monday, April 20, 2015

TRANSFERS! (April 13, 2015)

Hey sorry for the late email, it has been one hella of day.  So suprise! I already went down to Bucharest picked up my new companion and are back in Craiova.  So ya to say the least I am very tired.  So from that information you know that I am staying here.  My new companion is elder Avila.  He is from Texas. It will be a great next transfer and I am really excited about it.  It is off to a crazy start.  We found out Saturday about transfer boards.  Elder Christensen is off to Iasi whitewash training.  He is pretty excited but he knows it's gonna be a tough thing to do, but he'll be awesome. He had his trainer meeting today at 12.  So this morning we woke up early and hopped on our train down to Buc.  It's a 3 hour train.  We got there and got to see a lot of the missionaries going home which was nice.  This is Middlebrook's and Degraw's group so I am pretty good friends with a lot of them.  They
Gonna miss you Sora Bird
were one of the biggest MTC groups out here in the mission, and now that they are gone it's is really just going to be a different mission.  So I got to say goodbye to sora Bird which is so weird!  I dont know if you remember, but she is my

"sister".  She was "born" in Arad during my third transfer... and now she is going home! haha crazy how that works out.  So after chillen in the office for 2 or 3 hours my new comp showed up and we headed out again.  So another 3 hour train and we are back!  That is basically all for transfers. It's really weird cause it usually all goes down on Wednesday.
As for the week it was fantastic.  Dont really know what happened... but it was fantastic.  Just calm and good.  A lot of people were gone because it was the Orthodox easter celebration this week. This also means that only two people showed up to our last English class and that only our branch president showed up to church... but for some reason I still feel like calling it a fantastic week.  This year I made it home with my flame lite on my candle so no worries I am good. :)
We were able to go to a pretty legit place this week.  We
werent able to really have a Pday today, and we knew this, so we had one last week.  Ill send you pictures of the place it was gorgous and legit!
This next transfer I am officially in the MLS in the church.  So basically I am the branch Clerk.  It wont be to different from normal though.  All it means is that I now put in tithing and fast offerings into the computer and also do stuff with activity budgets from time to time.  It'll be fun.
This week should be full of a lot of stuff for us to do.  people are returning to Craiova, it is now super warm outside and green, the branch president is setting up a service project for us, and a lot of our investigators should be more free to meet.
Sorry that is really all I can think about haha... im kinda tired.  Thanks so much for your prayers and support, I love you all so mcuh!

Love, Elder Cooper