Esplin, Cooper

Well this week has been a lot less eventful.  But we still had some fun things happen. Most importantly the church is still true!    We had interviews with our new mission president for the first time. President Botchway is awesome! He is a dedicated servant of the Lord! But I can only imagine the adjustment to mission president life. He looked very tired and that's ok. I remember my first sacrament meeting as a missionary in Portland. I literally could not stay awake. I had no other option then to slowly close my eyes! The work is exhausting but the reward is refreshing. One of the most important things I've learned from President Botchway is to really see the blessing in the small things. He is really stressing the joy of missionary work!    Went on exchanges with the Elders that we live with. Elder Thompson and Elder Johnson. Both great Elders love the work. I was with Elder Thompson in my area and it was a good time. We knocked on a bunch of doors and j...

Ok is it just me or is time going into turbo mode? This week went by so fast and we had a good time while in the midst of it.    Had my birthday on Thursday that was pretty fun. Started the day by going around and doing bike stuff with Elder Silver. For some reason every elder that's on a bike decided to break there bike that day. But we did just go around after that doing normal missionary things. But for dinner we went to Olive Garden, and I think it was the Holy Spirit guiding us there. We talked to 5 people who knew about the church. Our waiter was an inactive member who asked for a Book of Mormon so he could start reading again. It was just awesome. But the food at Olive Garden was amazing. I got this Chicken Srimp Pasta and it was amazing and the bread sticks where great and the salad was actually really good as well. A great birthday dinner for sure. But thank you all for the birthday wishes you're the best.    Friday we went on exchanges with one of the ...

Hey everyone hope all is well! My week has been good! It went by so fast it’s hard for me to remember all of what happened.    We had zone conference with President and Sister Botchway! It was much more relaxed from when we had the Haymonds here! But it was fun we all had a good time.  It was also kinda sad. A bunch of the missionaries I knew pretty well are going home this transfer so they all gave their departing testimony. So that was interesting for sure.     Now that we cover 2 wards that means we go to 2 sacrament meetings! So that second meeting is pretty long sometimes. But still love the opportunity to serve.     We had a lesson with this guy named Sheleem! I don’t remember exactly where he is originally from but he had the thickest accent ever. He has a Muslim back ground so we had a heck of a time trying to understand and teach him!    We have been working hard and just enjoying all the time we are given. It's defini...

Well I hope you all have had a good 4th of July! Today we went and played some pretty intense ultimate Frisby with a family in our ward. They play against the zone every 4th and have never lost. Unfortunately they beat us again this year. They are pretty good.  After that we went and had lunch with our new mission President! He is from Ghana and he invited us to the mission home. He made us some good food he is a great cook.    Last week is when President Botchway came into the mission. We unfortunately lost President Haymond. He has had such a big impact on my life and has helped me so much. But I am excited to see what I will learn from President Botchway.    I have been reading the Doctrine and Covenants when I have had time recently and it has really strengthened my testimony of the restored Gospel. I know after centuries of being lost to the world, the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth by our loving Heavenly father through a living proph...