Weekly Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

This is going to be short.  We did nothing out of the ordinary this week until today. Tuesday was another dinner for the Young Single Adults at the Institute.  One thing different was that we actually ran out of some food this time.  I think that was a first.  We made three different kinds of soup and some rolls.  We ran out of rolls and chicken noodle soup.  Some of that was because we had two Elders and a young man from Oakland they are teaching come for dinner. This young man, named Daniel, referred himself, has come to church twice without the Elders and stayed for both meetings and now has driven from Oakland to Morgantown, an hour drive, to attend the Institute class. He wants to be around young people and make friends.  The Oakland Branch is definitely not a young person branch.  Our average age is probably 65 or older.  We think he will be baptized in the next couple of weeks.

We have quite a few birthdays this month so we made a few visits to deliver birthday cards and candy bars.  We had one lady see me coming to her door and was yelling at me to go away until I showed her the card and candy.  She still wasn't welcoming at all but did take the card and candy bar. When I opened the door to give her the treats her cat ran out and she was mad again. At that point I didn't care and we left.

We enjoyed conference at our apartment on Saturday and visited a couple more people between sessions.  Today we went to watch conference with Mom's favorite cousin and her husband, Valerie and Brad Wride.  Their son owns a cabin on Deep Creek Lake.  It is in a beautiful setting.  We had a great time and had a real good visit between sessions. Mom hasn't seen her cousin in many years.  Brad was is the CIA for many years.  He was stationed in South America and Madrid, Spain.  While he was working for the CIA he had tell people he was working for the State Department.  They are now retired and living in Leesburg, Virginia.  They work in the temple; he is a sealer and also the Stake Patriarch. Good people.

Conference was great, as usual.  We hope each you were able to watch at least some of the sessions.  There were several messages that talked about contention; President Nelson's was probably the most powerful.  It must be pretty important!  We thought it was interesting, and powerful, that Elder Oaks' talk was quoting the words of Jesus Christ.

As we approach Easter Sunday, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on the verses in John 3:16-17, maybe the most quoted verses in all of Christian scripture. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."  We find peace in the knowledge that his mission isn't to condemn us but to save us through His atonement, crucifixion and resurrection. How grateful we are that we can be eternal families because of His great sacrifice for us.

Have a great week.  We love you and pray for you daily.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandad

Jamee and Kerry

Sister and Elder Cooper