Letter From Heather...

Written today...here is Heather's MTC email address:

heather.cooper@myldsmail.net

If you would like her MTC mailing address we can get it for you. I just don't have it right now.

Hola!

Sister Valle (Vah-yay) is going to the same mission as me, so, yes, she'll probably teach some Native Americans on her mission.

Friday is my P-day.

We've been kept so busy!  I've been loving it, though.  I came in expecting it to be long, boring, and hard, but it isn't.  Well, some of the meetings start to seem long by the end, but mostly it's been flying by.  I'm learning so much--I can't keep up with it all!

My companion and I are getting up at 6 every morning, which seems to be working well for both of us.  There are only 12 people in our branch, and 2 districts.  My district has 5 of us--my companion and I, along with a trio of elders going to Ranchocookamonga, California (I'm not sure if I spelled that right, but I kid you not--that's the name of their mission).  Their names are Elder Aso, who's a big, good-natured Polynesian; Elder Lawrence, who's kind of odd, and who gets left by his companions all the time (which is only partially sad, and partially hilarious); and Elder March, who I have nothing interesting to say about.  They have a little bit more trouble getting out of bed than we do, but they beat us to breakfast today (mostly because Sister Valle promised them treats if they did). They're fun.

Yesterday we had gym time.  The Elders shot hoops, Sister Valle played four-square, and volleyball, and I went and ran on the track.  Or at least I did until my knee started hurting, so then I just used the ellipticals, and other equipment.  It was so much fun, and it felt so good!

Last night our branch presidency and their wives came to talk to us.  President Stice looks, acts, and sounds like he ought to be a drill sargeant, but he's nice.  He talked to us a lot about being exceptional, not just average, missionaries.

I got called as an online trainer, and music coordinator in my branch.  Sister Valle is...something else.  I think she's going to talk to the new missionaries that come in next week.

We teach our first investigator today (who's actually our teacher).  I'm not sure how it's going to go.  We were role-playing yesterday, and I was stumbling around all over my words.  I'm just not good at talking to people.  Now that we actually have time to prepare, though, I think that it'll go better.

The Spirit here is amazing!  I love being a part of this.  I can't believe I'm finally here!  I can barely keep up with all the things that I need to do--we all have to write 3-minute talks, and memorize several things by Sunday, plus personal study, plus companion study, plus class, plus planning, plus eating, and everything else we have to do.  We don't have time!

We went to the temple this morning.

There are only the two of us in our room, which is really nice--lots of closet, and floor space.

The food is good.  We get lots of choices.

Is this letter long enough?  I really don't know what else to tell you....

How have all of you been in the less-than-48-hours since I've been gone?  Have you died yet?  Is Daniel's head okay?  Did he have to get stitches?  Is Ryan's head okay?  Does he need a brain transplant?

I just looked over at my companion and saw her writing a play-by-play of her entire MTC experience.  Sorry.  :)

Anyway, I love you all so much, and I miss you a lot!

Love,

Heather

Heather's first "letter"

Here is Heather's first letter...a paragraph written on her first night at the MTC.

Hi!

Wow. We've been bouncing around all over the place today. After they got us all checked in I went to my room and dumped my stuff, then went to my classroom. My teachers seem fun, but today they just explained a little bit about the MTC, so I didn't get to know them very well.

My companion is named Sister Valle. She is half Peruvian, and half Navajo. We get along really well so far. She is more talkative than me (but that was expected).

Have to go.

I love you!

Oklahoma Tulsa Mission

 For the past four months I have gotten teary eyed on and off as I've thought about this day. We took Heather to the MTC yesterday. And as expected, it was an emotional experience...but a happy one too.

 Heather opening her call. She originally started reading the booklet

until we realized she was reading the wrong paper. When we had her get the actual letter
out we learned that Heather was called to serve in the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission.
She was and is very excited!

As you can see, her mission covers the Tulsa Oklahoma area, the South East corner of Kansas, the South West corner of Missouri, and the North West corner of Arkansas. It's known as "The Belt" of the Bible Belt. I've heard they make good 'Babaque' (pulled pork) there!

Heather, now known as Sister Cooper, (hey that's me!) was set apart on Tuesday night April 8th by President Gesslesin. sp? (Our Stake President) I love that they make house calls! I was expecting to have to go to his office for this. Bishop Steinkopf and Scott stood in as well. It was neat and the Spirit strong. I became a little emotional, but we also had a nice chat with them.

The big day! April 9th started kind of hectic as Heather STILL wasn't completely packed. She managed to get it done on time only leaving a small mess behind for Scott and I to clean up. She ate her breakfast/lunch in the car.

 Ryan helped pack up...

Laura helped pack up...

We picked Scott up from BYU and once we arrived at the Provo Temple parking lot, Scott had to see for himself that EVERYTHING was packed up. Three suitcases...how hard can it be?  The MTC sends notice that you will only have a few minutes to drop your missionary off once there...so we decided to go to the Temple first. We looked around the parking lot and grounds and low and behold...there were dozens of other "missionary families" parking at the Temple grounds to say their goodbyes also. Here are pictures of our last hour with Heather walking around the Temple grounds and dropping her off at the MTC...

Getting wiggles out!

Apparently Laura needed to get her wiggles out too!

Lots of sister goofiness going on!

Another missionary family was nice to take our picture :)

Water fight!

Scott decided to get involved in the water fight...Heather took off!

We also had some drama from time to time...Heather cracked up

when I showed her this. It turned out that Daniel had scraped his

head on a branch of one of the blue Spruce trees on the Temple grounds.

Combining the pain and then blood...he became sad...

Final goodbyes...Ryan and Laura seem so happy!

Group hug! They were jumping up and down and spinning as they did this.

It looks like Ryan is tired of having his picture taken :)

Tears...

And a lot more tears!

DEEP BREATH...here we are.

But I have to say that the MTC is the REAL "Happiest Place On Earth!" I can't even begin to describe the feelings I felt there. In the midst of all the anxiety, sadness, happiness for Heather, etc. I just felt so GOOD as we entered the MTC grounds. All the cute missionaries, young and old were lined along the parking lot road, smiling and waving at us as we drove past to get to the drop off zone for us. They waved us on and there was always someone there to show us the way. They didn't skip a beat. The feelings of the Spirit were SO strong! But different than the Temple. Better for me. I have forgotten how it is here, but I remember having these same feelings when I was living here as a missionary. I love the Temple and the Spirit I feel there, but this was stronger for me. So much life and happy energy...and...a part of Heaven. I'm so glad Heather is there! I wish I could go back. I didn't want to leave.

One final picture with Heather. Everyone else stayed in the car. 

A senior Sister Missionary took this.

Heather headed off with the very friendly and happy 

Sister Missionary assigned to help her until she 

got settled and a companion.

 Bye Heather...we love you and will miss you!