Weekly Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Another beautiful week here in Oakland.  It was nice and sunny and warm for most of the week. The leaves have pretty much all fallen and the trees look really bare.  They have an interesting way of cleaning up the fallen leaves.  Most home owners have leaf blowers and they blow all of the leaves down to the curb.  The city has big vacuum trucks that drive down the road sucking up the leaves on the curb.  They manage to keep it pretty clean.

We started our volunteer work at the hospital this week.  We are working at the front desk. We meet people at the front lobby and ask how can help them.  We have them scanned to get their temperatures, ask them if they have had any Covid symptoms or had contact with the Covid virus, then put a visitor sticker on them and get them into one of the registration offices to get them checked in. After just one day we have already met all kinds of nice, interesting people.  We met a true hillbilly that came in for some tests.  We couldn't tell if his beard or his hair was longer.  He had a bandanna around his forehead, had a pack of cigarettes in his tee shirt pocket and most of his teeth were gone.  But what a nice, funny guy he was.  We will meet all kinds of people and we can't wait to meet them.  One of our perks is a free lunch. Can't get much better that!  

We helped Ina Hicks at the genealogical library again this week.  She reminds us a little of Grandma Whittier.  She is really into the area history and is obsessed with getting everything organized. She knows almost everything about the history of the Friendsville area. Every time we help her she tells us how grateful she is for our help. We will probably only go there a couple more times before they shut down for the winter.

We had an emergency preparedness fair at the church on Friday. It was pretty informative but kind of got into some doomsday things and how the electronics around us are slowing killing us.  We just looked at each other and smiled.  And we had good desserts!

At our District Council meeting with the Elders each of us were asked to share something we had learned on out missions.  Mom said she has gained a greater appreciation for the Preach My Gospel manual and how much we can learn from it not only as missionaries but in all our church service.  I am being continually reminded that most people are good.  

We are very grateful to be able to serve the good people in the Oakland branch. They need us and we need them.  We need their strength and they need ours.  It's hard to be away from all that's familiar to us, but we know this is where we are supposed to be and our whole family will be blessed for our service.  Thank you for your continued love and support. 

We want to end with a scripture we include with our birthday cards we deliver to our branch members. It's found in 2Nephi 31:20  - Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting on the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandad

Jamee and Kerry

Elder and Sister Cooper