CHANGE, BUT NO CHANGE

This week we got a surprise visit.  Elder O and Elder Chatterton came and spent 2 days over here.  If you remember Elder Chatterton went to Bucharest for a "special assignment".  Basically they have been working on a couple different things, with senior couples and with a big program that we will be doing for Christmas.  They also had the

Great to see this kid again!

assignment to go around to a bunch of small groups that are not quite branches yet.  So that is what they were doing over here in Sibiu.  I don't know if you ever hear about the city Deva?  Well it basically closed the transfer before I got here to Romania.  Well their job was basically to go look at the situation over there and bring them the sacrament.  Deva is super close to Sibiu so they just stayed with us.  The coolest part of their assignment... they have a mini Ipad!!  They also got to drive around half of Romania, so that is super sick.  In our mission they say that we might be getting mini ipads about Christmas time!  So that will be another huge change.  So it was just super cool to see elder Chatterton again. He was such a great companion, and I'm so grateful I was able to train him. 

This past Saturday we had an amazing Halloween activity!  We knew Halloween isn't until next Saturday, but since transfers are so close, we decided to do a super, well planned

activity before the transfer ends. It was a huge success, I I think.  We had 20 people there total!  6 missionaries, 3 members, and 11 non -members/ investigators!  At the beginning we had bobbing for apples (which is filthy), fishing for candy, and mummy bowling.  About 30 minutes in we switched it up and took them upstairs to do some team relay races.  While they were doing that, Elder W and I stayed down stairs and set up the Pumpkin carving stuff!  When they all came down they started carving.  While they were carving, we took 2 at a time down into our haunted house we made!  You know those glow sticks you sent me a while ago mom?  Well they were actually super needed and made it really fun, so thanks again for those!  This was probably the best activity I have had on my mission. Everyone was getting along, smiling and laughing. It was also super cool because they dont really celebrate Halloween here in Romania.  They have only seen how American's do in the movies and stuff.  So it was pretty cool we were able to bring some of our stuff to them.  It's cool I will get to say that I was in Transylavania for Halloween!

So now Sunday rolls around.  Guess what happened?  We forgot it was daylight savings!!  AH!  It was awful haha. 

Today was also the day we found out what will be happening next transfer.  Everyone is staying the same.  Not a single thing will be different.  So I wont get to go down to Buc to see Poulsen off. :/ I actually pretty bummed about that. It's always a recharging reunion at transfers....luckily I had a good talk with someone on Sunday and it helped me a lot. 

I am so grateful for all of you.  Thank you for understanding life and always giving me good advice and support.  I dont know where I would be without every single one of you.  Love you all so much!  Have a great week!

Love The Cooper #2

ps:  In about a weeks time it has turned into winter.  Seriously like three weeks ago I was walking around in short sleeves sweating, and now all my winter stuff is out and we are preparing for snow.  It has already snowed in Bucharest, so it is only a matter of time! haha

Loved serving with Elder Poulsen. I will miss having him here, he's one of my best friends, but ya,
we will be buds forever. I'm excited for you to meet him. 

EXCHANGES, BAPTISM, AND STRESS

This has been a stressful week.  It was one of those weeks where you wake up and every day there is a long list of things you have to get done.  So it's really cool looking back on this past week, but during it... was tough...haha.

  All right so this week we got to go to Ploesti to do an exchange with our zone leaders.  It was awesome cause they are elder Brundage and elder DeGraw!  It was super cool to serve with elder DeGraw again, even if it was only for like 3 hours.  The train times are kinda ridiculous. 

"Oh trains, but I did Enjoy my time with Elder Brundage"

Basically the only time is at like 3 and it's a 5 hour train ride, so you get in at 8ish.  So Wednesday night we got into Ploesti around 8 to do our exchange.  Then Thursday after our 3 hours of studies we didnt have that much time to do that much stuff.  We had to be on the train at 3 and take the 5 hour train back to Sibiu.  Even though most of our time was spent on a train, it was still an awesome exchange.  I definitely learned a lot and I wouldn't have done it any other way.

When we got back to Sibiu, I found out something awful.... back-story.  Before we left Sibiu I got a pair of pants tailored, but didnt have time to try them on cause we had to leave for Ploesti.  Well when we got back I tried them on.... They Barely fit anymore!  They are so tight I can barely lift one of my legs a foot of the ground!  Also the lady tailored the left pant leg like 5 times tighter than the right!  It's ridiculous haha.  So of course I had to give them a test run that day I was basically waddling everywhere.... it was very uncomfortable.  Kinda random, just thought I would share. :)

This week I got possibly the best news I have heard my entire mission.  On Saturday I get a random call from the zone leaders down in Bucharesti.  They said hey elder Cooper, we got someone here that wants to talk to you.  To my surprise it was A one of the investigators I started teaching when I was there!  I thought he had left for England already.  Well he goes on to tell me that he is getting baptized in about 30 minutes!!  So not only did he not go to England but he continued to meet with the missionaries and take all the lessons and decided to get baptized.  He is an official member of the church as of yesterday!  He then went on and thanked me for sticking with him when I was there.  I'll tell ya, I was just bouncing off the walls.  If that isn't reason to have a good day I don't know what is!  I was just floating the rest of the day it felt.  So that was a super sick experience.  

To top that day of we had a sick activity.  We invited all the

members, investigators, and our English students to a movie night.  We watched Frozen!  I was in awe during and after that movie.  That should defiantly be a movie in the movie box back home, I need to see it at least 10 more times before I will be satisfied with it .  I am also in love with Elsa... so that's fun. :)

Also in this week, we got a new investigator!  He is a teenager and is in the medium English class.  He wants to meet three times a week and do 30 for 30s!  That is where we teach 30 minutes of English and then 30 minutes about the gospel.  He is one of the most open, honest, and prepared people I have talked to here.  I am super excited to see where he will go.

Alright so one of the most stressful parts of the week was because of a unique assignment I got.  A couple weeks ago, elder N was here in Sibiu.  They are the senior couple who run the office.  Well when he was here he saw me and he asked me if I could help him out with something.  So of course I said sure.  Well he wanted me to audit the Sibiu branch.... haha so he sent me the instructions and I have been studying the packet as much as I could.  So this past Sunday that is what I did.  I audited the branch.  It was a cool experience but I am glad it is almost over haha.  The church is very good at taking care and making sure the money is getting used the right way I'll just say that.  Hopefully we wont run into any problems.  So ya that was yesterday :)

I am excited for just a normal week here in Sibiu with normal stuff to do.  We are gonna finish this transfer off right.  That's right, it's almost that time again!  Crazy how fast time goes.  Thanks for all the support and prayers in my behalf.  It sure makes it a bit easier to get stuff done and stay focused!  Love you all so much!  Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

The Cooper #2

Ps: We are still working on getting all the sessions watched over here.  If you haven't, listened to elder M Russell Ballard's talk the first talk in the Sunday afternoon session.  Stay in the boat you should!!! 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/stay-in-the-boat-and-hold-on?lang=eng

                                  Just working.  That is always a way to feel good!

"Oh you know, just Duck flavor Ramen"

WE HAVE THE COOL BATHROOM (OH AND DO YOUR BEST)

Another week in the books.  

This week we went on exchanges with elder Lybbert and his comp elder Dearden.  I went with elder Dearden, and it was pretty sick.  We got outside and did a bunch of contacting.  We had some solid conversations with people. For some reason I feel like it had been awhile since I have had just a solid productive day of contacting, so it was nice to have one again.  It's funny cause who ever is staying in the other elder's apartment always wants to be the one to stay in our

apartment cause of the Bidet (baday,or however you spell it)  It really is so nice to have haha.  Oh so super cool story at the start of the exchange.  Elder Dearden and I were walking down to the lift to start heading back to our apartment. (we were at the other's apartment to do the swap)  While we were waiting for the lift we heard someone singing something on their way up.  When the doors opened up we couldn't really see who it was.  We just said hello in Romania and the response we got back blew me away.  He just said "Hey wazza up guys."  It through me off cause we never get greeted in English usually. Turns out that there is a black man from Florida who lives on the floor right beneath the other elders.  We talked for him for a while and he is super sick. 

He is playing for Sibiu's basketball team.  I'll tell ya, it is a lot easier to connect with people from where you are from.  We had a solid 10-15 minute conversation.  From some reason it always just makes me happy when I get the chance to talk to someone from America.  So ya the chances of the elder to keep bumping into him are pretty high, so maybe they'll get things going with him!

We were able to do a little service this week.  We had set up to go sing at an old folks home.  I was thinking the whole time like "yeah!  It will be fun, we will go with our district and sing to like individual rooms or like to a table of like 10 of them."  Oh how wrong I was.  We get there and this lady leads us into this room.  She opens the door and there was a million of them!  Three rows of six tables with

about 4 to a table!  I just about peed my pants.  Singing is good and fun and stuff, but I really dont sing that well.  We really hadn't practiced the songs we were going to sing.  It felt like we were up on stage being the main act of the night.  After every hymn we sung they would just clap and shout stuff out haha.  So it was just kinda intimidating to me because we were like performing and hadn't practiced... at least that is how I viewed it.  It all went super well though I am just over reacting a bit. :)  Everyone in my district is super musically talented so Im sure it wasn't a big deal to them, but I almost had a heart attack.  All and all it was fun, and really good for us to do.

This week we were finally able to meet with a less active family we have been trying to get into contact with for a while.  The situation however is a little less then desirable.  We were planning on talking a bit about Joseph Smith and were hoping to rekindle the fire that they felt when they first heard about

him.  We were just talking to the husband mind you.  We asked him about Joseph Smith and he had no idea who he was!  The wife came in a while later and was visibly displeased with us being there.  She has had a very bad experience with the church more specifically with the missionaries.  I dont know what the missionaries were thinking, but they are gonna have to deal with some of the damage they have done later down the road.  So now we are just doing what we can to try to heal and repair, but it will take a while I think before they trust missionaries again. We will be friends and work hard to show our intentions are real. Moral of the story to the missionaries, dont promise people and tell people things they just want to hear to get them into the water! It does too much damage.

On a happier note, this past Sunday we had to give talks.  Our Branch president is on his honeymoon, so he was gone and will be gone the following Sunday.  We had like 3

There are so many amazing buildings

members and two investigators, so it wasn't a scary crowd at all haha :)  I talked about the commandment to love.  Another Elder and I were supposed to be the only two speaking, he was to go first and then I would follow after the hymn.  ten minutes in he says amen and sits down....  Me and elder Lybbert kinda exchanged looks cause we both knew what I had to try and do.  It was kinda funny.  After about 15 minutes I ran out of prepared material and was just like,"shoot"  So I kinda put my paper to the side and just went for it.  I think it was okay though haha.  I ended up getting us past the 45 minute mark a little bit.  After that It was obvious that I was just trying to fill the time.  So eventually I was just like, okay amen and sat down.  Elder Lybbert, luckily had some stuff he wanted to say and got us to the end safe and sound haha.  Funny story... but please no one be offended, I we all were just doing our best :) ....  Basically I felt like the highlight of what I said was In my quote from Batman.  Yes I used a Batman quote and it was sick! :) "why do we fall Bruce?  So we can learn to pick ourselves up."  I tied it in some how... im sure...

But ya, that was the week.  This next Wednesday we are

heading to Ploesti to do an exchange with the zone leaders DeGraw and Brundage!  It will be super nice to see them again. (Zone leaders dont have to go on exchanges with other elders, but for some reason they wanted to go on one with us.  Not just for some reason... it is for me, I need it)  So ya should be a good week.  Love you all so much!  Thanks for all you do for me and for the emails.  They make P-day rather enjoyable haha :)

Love,

Elder Nightwing

And don't worry, I'm still making friends!!

   

  

INSPIRATION

Alright time to try and explain this week.

"There are these magical Coke machines" 

So really things are just going normal. :) 

Our English classes started up this past week, and they went awesome!  We had a huge turn out!  School has started up and stuff, so people are more in the study type of mood.  Me and my comp teach the advanced class this time around.  It is actually kinda intimidating cause usually the people "know" English better then me!  But I have a step up on them... I am native speaker.  If they ever correct me I just say "well that is how we would say it if you don't want to sound weird"  So it all works out and usually is pretty fun.  I am excited to continue on, and see what happens.

Love the Smiths

This week our branch president got married!  Dont really know what their plan is now, but I do not think they are leaving that soon.  It is yet to be decided.  All I know is there will be a couple of weeks without our BP.  But It was super cool to see how they did the wedding (wasn't the actual wedding... more of a reception).  President Ivory and his wife and son came too, along with most of the senior couples from the mission.  I got to see the Smith's again!  They always make me so happy.  I usually talk to them for awhile when I see them.  Dont know if I said this but they are stationed in Arad right now.  That wonderful place where I was for 6 months of my mission.  It is cool to see how they are helping the area.  Also something

super amazing to see... senior couples!!!  They are seriously one of the biggest helps out here.  The world needs more senior missionaries!! 

Flashback to the time with the Smiths :) 

The young ones are great too, don't get me wrong, but there is a certain effect that senior, more weathered, if I can use that word, people can do.  They bring a certain respect with them.  Anyone can be blunt and rude or whatever it may be to a younger human being going around telling people what they have found... but it is harder to do when they are older and defiantly know what they are talking about.  Again don't get me wrong, of course there are always just those rude people, but for the most part I think it is better.  Basically what I am trying to say is that the senior couples rock and are needed!  They not only boost the younger missionaries, but they are just so solid.  They are a huge blessing to everyone.  Especially the Smiths to me! :)

We had probably one of my most favorite adventures today.

  We went to the country side to a city called Sebes to visit a member.  He is from England and has been a member for a while.  He can't come to church very often cause it is so far away, so he is trying to start up a little branch out there.  Basically what he has done is gone up into the mountains of Romania, and built a house.  It kinda had a feel of like a cabin so super cozy.  He knows just about everyone in the village where he lives.  He goes around and just helps everyone!  They all love him and know him.  It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen/been.  He really just inspired me. 

He is basically all alone, he continues to do good, he is full of wisdom so I just listened to him in awe the whole time (the British accent helped as well), he has just turned this place where nothing was, into a beautiful master piece. 

It was just a good reality check!

So that was basically the week.  We got to watch the morning sessions of conference live translated into Romanian.  It was super cool cause that is the first time I got to watch them in Romanian. It takes like 10x the concentration as you normally need to put into conference. ( So we watched both of the morning sessions live... in Romanian.  It is super difficult to understand cause most of the time they are American translators just reading a piece of paper as fast as they can, no pauses or change in their voice, so it’s Romanian, but not…hahaha)

"This is our branch 5 minute before start on Fast Sunday"

The work is kinda picking up here in Sibiu.  It is getting chillier and school is in.  It brings a lot of people back so there are different people to talk to.  There are a couple young people that are kinda coming out of the wood work, so our hopes are high!  We are just trudging along!  Thanks for all your prayers and support!  I love you all so much!  Have a great week!  I talk to ya next week!

Love,

#2

P.S. Ya I've been sick, so not the highest of the highs, but I'm feeling a bit better so it will be okay.  

SIMPLE BUT GOOD

 Well it has been one of the calmer weeks I have had in a while.  

To start off the week, Elder Lybbert and I went on an exchange.  Both of our comps had to go down to a city called Ploesti to do the zone conference they missed.  So elder Lybbert and I just hit the pavement.  We got out and contacted people for our English classes starting up.  We also went around figuring out how we could legally put up our English posters around the city.  So we had a lot of stuff to do.  I really enjoyed this exchange.  Elder Lybbert and I have always been good buds, but I never realized how much we have in common!  It was really cool just to have a day to get to work and also catch up a little bit.  That gave us a great start to the week.

The rest of the week was basically filled with contacting for English.  It is one of the biggest sources of potential investigators we have in this mission.  We teach our course for an hour, and then have a short spiritual thought at the end.  Usually this will spark some sort of interest in some people.  I am excited to get started with it.

So I had a super cool experience one of the days we went out contacting.  We were

heading outside, and randomly I turned to elder W and just said "someone will come to English because of contacting today"  At the very end of the contacting time, I got into a good conversation with someone.  We talked for a bit and she seemed really sincere about wanting to come.  We then received a call from her today asking more about the classes!  Usually we can get good conversations out of people, but when they actually make an effort and call that is a really good sign.  I guess I am just excited cause our English classes are kinda small here.  We are really hoping for a big turn out this time around.

All right huge miracle this week.... we had 20 people (including the missionaries) at church this past Sunday!  It was super amazing.  Usually I prepare the sacrament and stuff, so when people kept coming in, I had a mini panic attack cause I didnt think we would have enough water for everyone.  So right before the sacrament started I had to run into the kitchen to get more just in case we needed more. It was the good kind of stress haha.  Afterwards we talked to them and made some new friends.  We are hoping that we can get them to consistently keep coming.  (Some were members, a couple that had been excommunicated were trying to come back, and a few investigators, so great!)  We will see how it goes!

For the fun stuff we did:  Last P-day we went to the zoo.  I think I already told you that,

but ya, that is where some of those pictures came from.  This P-day we went to a fortified church... basically just a well kept version of the castle ruins I would always go to in Arad.  It was super fun. It was time for a good adventure, we all needed one!

Sorry the update is kinda short this week.  I will let you know how everything turns out this week.  Thanks for all of your prayers and fasts!  I have an amazing support group behind me and it makes a ton of difference... so thanks for being there!  Love you all!

Love,

Elder Cooper #2