Weekly Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

This letter is going to be short and sweet.  We are getting packed up to travel with Kristy and her family to Washington D.C. in the morning.  The Capson family got here Friday evening. We had dinner and a nice visit with them at their Airbnb. It is in a beautiful setting in the woods just 15-20 minutes away from our apartment.  Saturday morning we took them breakfast and then we went to downtown Oakland to look at some of their shops.  On the way to downtown we went to Candyland where they sell a large variety of bulk candy.  The kids each got to spend $5 on candy. I think that was one of the highlights for the kids. We went to the 3rd Street Diner just down the street from us.  It has good food for a good price.  TJ said they were the best pancakes in the world.  They decided to go to an alpaca farm after lunch but when we got there they said it was only open by appointment .  We went to the Deep Creek Lake State Park.  They had a small aviary that was really cool and then they kids played in the lake for a little while.  Then we headed to the Flanagans for a hot dog roast.  The Flanagans opened their back yard to us complete with a fire ring and picnic tables and a corn hole game. The sister missionaries were there and gathered us to sing songs accompanied by Sister Schurger. It was a fun day but we were worn out when we got home.

We had a good Sunday.  Besides Kristy and Josh and the kids, we had two or three other families at church.  Mom had ten kids in her class and none of them were from our branch.  The primary didn't have any leaders or teachers so a couple of visitors taught about eight or ten kids, including TJ and Olivia.  They know our situation and come prepared.  I had about double our normal attendance for Sunday School and it was nice having input from that many people.  The tourists are starting to show up.  We had a Father's Day dinner with the Capsons and then went on a little hike to see some waterfalls near us. It was a fun afternoon.

We had a couple of lessons we helped with this week.  Our friend Alex was back and we mostly talked about gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The sister missionaries set a new baptismal date, June 24th, and challenged him to read more from the Book of Mormon and pray for a testimony of Joseph Smith.  He was at church again today so for now the 24th is still his baptismal date. We helped teach Travis over the phone.  He still has a baptismal date, but he wants to push it out to next year.  We will still help the sisters work with him.

We had a couple of more birthdays this week but found it hard to catch them home to deliver their cards and candy bars.  I they aren't careful they are going to miss out on their Idaho Spuds.

My scripture is  from our Sunday School lesson today.  Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to Heavenly Father to remove this cup from him if possible.  In Luke 22:42-44 it reads, "Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto unto him from heaven, strengthening him.  And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."  The phrase that stood out to me was when he was in agony he didn't shrink from his divine task but prayed more earnestly. That is such a good example to us. We all find ourselves at some point in spiritual agony. Do we pray more earnestly or give up because the task is too hard.

That's it for now.  We love you and pray for you daily.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandad

Jamee and Kerry

Sister and Elder Cooper