A NEW START

So the week.

It's been pretty nuts.  Transfer day was good and I got to

THE SISTER GOOD-BYE! "Hard to believe they are
home now"

catch up with a lot of my buddies.  It is really fun to be able to have a day where almost everyone comes to the same place and you can catch up until their train leaves.  So our train left at 9:45 pm.  We had to take a sleeper train, which I haven't had to do since I was in Arad.  Suprisingly you can always seem to get a goods night sleep when you are on one.  I think it has something to do with feeling like you are being rocked back and forth kinda like a baby... :)

So now the fun begins.  Being white washed is dope... but I also forgot it is difficult at the same time.  I have already gotten us lost a heap of times.  Anyways, to start off my first day in Timi, we had to take a taxi with all of our bags and what not.  The taxi drivers here are sometimes not the most honest.  He tried charging me like 25 lei for a 5-10 minute trip!  He "forgot" to push the meter thingy so at the end of the trip he was like... '.... um 25 lei will be good enough."  Haha freak!  They always try and get the forgeiners.  I got in a bit of a.... we will call it a discussion.  I told him that was way to much and wouldnt pay him it.  He told me I had a lot of bags and that it cost more. (BTW he didnt even lift one of them...) He said okay 15 lei.  I pulled out 12 and said have a good day. (which is still probably more then he deserved)  haha funny looking back, but at 6:30 in the morning it was a little less than fun.

Now we get to the apartment... and it is a mess.  We have had some time to clean up and what not, but we still got a lot to do.  We actually have 2 stories to this apartment with an automatic light senser on the stairs.  Also 2 bathrooms, big living room, walk in closet, a baday, a comfy queen size bed.  I basically am living like a king.  Besides from the huge mess, it is the best apartment I think I have been in.  So I am loving life here.

Now onto Sunday and the branch situation here.  We have 4 solid members who come every week apparently.  Elder M was actually the Branch president here before we came in.  .  Our city literally does not have a branch president now... at least for like 3 more weeks or something like that.  So Sunday comes around and elder Smith (the senior couple I was with in Buc) comes down cause he is a part of the district presidency.  He told the branch our rolls.  Elder H is the presiding elder... basically a temperary BP.  Elder F is the clerk so they can do the finances together and stuff and you need people in MLS.  I am the elders qurom president and in charge of all the preisthood stuff.  The only reason I am writing this out is cause this is the first time they actually announced it in a branch with me.  In almost all my cities we have been like unspoken elder qurom presidents or whatever it may be.  It just felt kinda weird them actually telling everybody haha.  So ya... this will be fun.  We got a lot of work to do here.  President Ivory really is counting on us, and we plan on working hard and building this branch. 

Sibiu

Overall, I am so excited to be here.  The ladies in our branch are amazing.  They are super friendly.  The bro district we have is sick and we all get along.  We are all really old missionaries and ready to work, and have some great pdays too.

I have noticed that I was actually really struggling leaving

Sibiu.  There was and is just a lot of me there.  I wasn't

expecting it because it has never hurt me to leave a city so much.  Joco talked about it a couple times but I never understood/never thought it would happen to me.  So I am still kinda adjusting a bit.  I do plan on putting my all into this city.  Balancing the work and play like nobodies business.  It's all gonna be alright.  Ill keep you all updated.  Sorry there isn't to much spiritual in this one.... The church is still true though... so it's all good :)

Love you and thanks again for everything you guys do for me every single day!!

Love,

Elder Cooper

LEAVING SIBIU

Another transfer already done?  It seriously has flown by.  It seems justyesterday on P-day we were all chilling at the park sitting on the monkey bars talking in in the warmth. Now I look around and there is snow everywhere! Doesnt make a whole lot of sense in my brain. So now onto what is happening next transfer.  I am leaving and I will be heading up to a city called Timisoara!  I have been there before just for a day when I was serving in Arad.  It is known for being a city full of young and friendly people.  Also for being extremely gorgeous.  Seriously I am kinda lucking out.  In the mission there are like 4 prettiest cities people want to go to.Brasov, Sibiu, Cluji, and Timisoara.  2/4 isnt that bad haha.  So now this is how you say it  (ti-me-shwa-ra)  or something close to that.  My companion is two transfers younger then me so we are just going to get to work.  We are getting white washed into there, so... adventure here we come!  The branch over there just barely finished with having a missionary Branch President.  To say the least, we will probably be very very involved in helping this branch and the new BP to keep going.  Another thing that is gonna be a little different is that there is only one more set of missionaries that will be there.  Another set of Elders. No sisters. I havent had that since Pitesti. So that is it for what is happening to me for my next transfer.  Crazy thing is we are already down in Buc!

I found out Sunday morning, did church, said goodbyes to people, ate, and packed up to go.  We got on the train at 6 AM this morning and now we are here in Buc.  We have some things that we need to take care of for my companion so we got to come down a little early.  We had to do our P-day down here so we went lazer tagging with the missionaries here.  It was pretty dope, but me and Titi were so tired so it was hard to get into it.  It's actually really cool cause now I get to see my sisters before they go home!  Tha'ts right they are dying in like 2 days!  So weird.  In the mission, that is a sign you are old.  Cool to say I have served an honorable full time....sister mission now. :) haha

Alright so honestly, this has been the hardest goodbye out of all the cities I have been to for so many different reasons.  I

made a couple phone calls and had to tell some good friends I was leaving.  They were super sad, but I know Titi will take care of them.  They have a super sick district there this next transfer so expect to see good things from Sibiu.  Another crazy thing,  I am leaving an investigator with a baptismal date. :(  We have set up for the 7th of February so continue to pray to for him.  Im hoping I will get to go up there for his Baptism.  Now you may be thinking... "When did that happen?"  Turns out everything started coming together this last week.  You know I love this kid, and he has been investigating the church a long time and we’ve worked A LOT with him.  We just decided we needed to just lay it out to him.  Be bold and push him hard that he needed to get baptized. We needed to,

because we love this kid. So that was super cool.  The balance between overbearing and boldness is a tricky line.  Kinda goes back to the saying. "people dont care how much you know, until they know how much you care."  With boldness the first step is making sure the person truly does know how much you care about them.  Then they are like 100xs more likely to take your advice and commitments.  We also have like 3 other new investigators up there!  That was not a typo... 3!  It just blows my mind. I feel so blessed  to see some of the results of me serving here.  Really fun/sad ending on such a high note.  No tears were shed, but if there ever was a good time for it, last night would've been the night.  I really will miss the people of Sibiu... make sure to keep them in your prayers.

I've learned so much lately.  To really enjoy being who I am and really start coming into my own.  It's crazy how multiple people or a specific person can help someone do this. How hardships can strengthen us and draw us closer to our Heavenly Father. That things sometimes don’t seem fair, but through and with Christ, situations and hardships are filled with blessings and growth. My life really has been changed for the better because of this transfer I just finished up.  My future is brighter and I have more direction than ever. There is a piece of my heart that will always be in Sibiu and in that branch meeting house.  God works in mysterious ways.  EVERY DAY WAS A GREEN DAY THIS PAST TRANSFER.

Thank you all for your prayers on support.  Elder Laititi says thanks as well.  Love you all so much!! 

Love,

Elder Snugs aka Elder Cooper

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy new years!!  Crazy that it's already 2015! haha.  In the mission there is a term, it is called your black year.  Meaning for your entire black year you will be living in

Romania/Moldova.  Know the weird thing?... I just finished mine! wow!  Time is going for sure.

This week was full of fun stuff.  We were able to stay fairly busy which is always nice.  We had a huge snowball fight with our English students.  We went to a big park and just had a big war.  Some of the students also brought sleds!  Let me back up a little bit.  This all happened after we taught them English.  We all just cleaned up together and then headed outside and it was a blast!  There was this gigantic hill that the students took us to.  There was a trail where all the sledders go to.  So you know the sleds that we have in the garage?  The old wooden ones that you can steer and what not.  Well every one here has those types of sleds.  It is so common that they almost replace strollers in the winter time.  You walk out side and you just see parents pulling their kids on these things.  I think it is super smart.

This week was super cool cause we got to go out to Sebes to go visit a family out there.  We woke up went to a maxi taxi stop and took an hour and 45 minutes to get there and then we arrived in Sebes.  Whenever you go on these types of visits, it's always an adventure.  It is an unfamiliar area and you gotta try and get around.  Also getting off the maxi taxi is intresting.  They never really tell you where you are so you gotta ask someone and hopefully they actually know and dont just make up something and you get off in the wrong city!  Elder Laititi and I almost missed it cause we were passing in and out of sleep... it was pretty funny.  Well we meet up with the family and it was super awesome.  We did a miniature sacrameeting for them, and then a spiritual thought.  They are an awesome family that really tries so hard to be so good.  It is sad that they are so far away from Sibiu cause we could

really use them here.  After a while we say goodbye and are on our own again.  The thing I forgot to mention, the family doesnt live in Sebes, we had to take a taxi to the city neighboring it.  So now we are in this city close to Sebes.  We needed to get to Sebes, the taxi's were gone and our big maxi taxi was about to leave.  So we made some friends... and they took us to Sebes haha.  From there an old man showed us where the autogara was (where the maxi taxi's were)  He walked us all the way there and we had a super nice conversation.  The thing is with Romanians, they are so super friendly when you need help.  They love helping and giving advice.  It is super cool cause this is not the first time when someone one took like 30 minutes out of their day to help us find something.  Love them.  To end the story, we got home to Sibiu safely all according to plan.

Eating at our favorite place 

It is amazing to have been in another area for almost 6 months again.  I forgot how it felt in Arad.  You really get established and make a lot of friends.  Like all of our English students.  They are all super close with us.  We talk with them all the time.  It is super sick to see how sometimes things work out like this.  

I hope you all had a great new years!  I love you so much.  Thanks for always having my back!!

Love,

Elder Nightwing Cooper

A GOOD CHRISTMAS - DECEMBER 29

Hello!

So at the end of the skype call was actually not that bad at all,

so no worries.  Of course it was weird for a couple hours after, but honestly it ended and life kinda just went on.  It felt so normal and so natural so it was really good for me.  I know you worry, so I just had to let you know. haha :)

Christmas day was super fun.  We all got together as a district and ate an awesome lunch.  Afterwards we did a gift exchange so we all got presents and stuff.  Now after that we got permission to watch the book thief.  (I think I already said that?)  It was a really good movie.... kinda weird to watch something about the Holocaust on Christmas, but it was whatever haha a movie is a movie :)  We then went to go visit a member in the hospital.  We came back and most of the district skyped their families and stuff.  While they were doing that we set up the fire and stuff.  We roasted marshmallows and some wieners.  It was super fun!  It also just felt good using up the firewood that me and Laititi used so much energy cutting down!  It was a really good Christmas! :)

Honestly, I am really excited for life to kinda settle back down and just to not have anything else going on.  Just good ol missionary work.  Thank you all for all the support and love and prayers you send my way.  I can defiantly feel it.  I dont know what I would do without you, so I am just really grateful to have you all there for me.  I love you all so much!  I love the Lord, my testimony is good and strong, and I keep moving knowing "One step at a time with an eternal perspective always praying and reading scriptures". All is well. 

On to another week.

Love, 

Elder Cooper

CATCHING UP - DECEMBER 22

DECEMBER 22 - One freakin crazy week.

So to start off we are officially "resting" one of our investigators.  Which is what elder Kearon wanted us to do instead of drop them. We love him, but now it's time to see if

he'll show any effort cause he's been not showing up to stuff :(.  But now on a happier note.  As one thing closes another opens up!  Last Monday we were playing frisbee and basketball for P-day.  I saw this kid walking his two dogs.  One of them was a puppy golden retriever!  So naturally I had to go over and pet it.  Well then we started playing with them and now we are friends with him. He's awesome. I feel so bad because he has gone through a lot of stuff in his life.  We have already had a really good lesson with him so I am super excited to keep meeting up with him.  We would also go on walks with him with his dogs and just talk with him.  I think I love it so much because it all just feels so natural.  

   This week we also went down to Ploesti for our Chirstmas zone training.  Honestly, they are always just kinda stressful for me haha.  On the other side you always get good notes and answers and stuff like that.  So I think over all it was good.  It's always hard traveling, not necessarily cause of the time on a train, but because where you have to sleep in the other missionaries apartment.  We had 8 missionaries in an apartment meant for 2.  That is not even out of the ordinary out here.  So of course you don't get any good sleep at all.  So after our zone training we get on the train again to head back to Sibiu.  Now if you forgot, the train ride to Ploesti is 5 hours and same for the way back.  On the way back we were with our whole district and two sisters heading up to Arad for a conformation up there.  Well about half way up the two sisters realized they bought the tickets, meaning they needed sleeper tickets and they just bought normal ones, which means 11 hours sitting in one of those train seats next to the most random people.  Now in our mission we  always take care of our sisters when traveling cause it can be so sketchy.  I was super concerned cause they both looked like they were gonna pass

out cause they were tired.  We were all just sitting in an open compartment which anyone can walk in/past any time they want.  So we talked to the zone leaders and decided it was best if elder Laititi and I stayed on the train with them to get them to Arad safely.  I was actually happy cause I got to go back to Arad for Sunday!  But let me tell ya,  That train ride was awful! haha  It was so long.  11 hours on the train and we arrived in Arad at 4:50 Sunday morning.  We then had to be at the church at 9 so we got a few hours of sleep there.  After the little pit stop there, and saying hi to everyone there we hoped back on a train at 2 to go back to Sibiu on a 6 hour train ride...... BASICALLY all Im trying to get a crossed is... Im tired! haha in the past 3 days we spent 22 hours sitting on a train and about 5 or 6 actually sleeping.  Last night was glorious cause we got home around 8 pasted out at 9 and slept till 9.  So we are still recovering just a bit. :)

  We have some super cool plans for Christmas!  We are gonna have a bonfire and we got permission to watch polar express!  It is gonna be fun.  Also I get to see all of you so very soon!  I am stoked to see all your cute little faces!  Let me know if I need to do anything on this side to make it work any better.  So I guess see ya in like 2-3 days! 

Love you all so much!!! :)

Love

Elder Cooper

PS. Love my district. Love my Comp and I'm doing great!