IT'S A QUARTER AFTER 10, I'M A LITTLE TIRED, SO ALL I'VE GOT IS A STORY

Hey! (If anyone gets what I quoted in the title I'll be proud cause it's really obscure) 

So, SUPER short e-mail today, I'm giving myself 15 minutes to write this one, even though 15 minutes ago we probably should have headed home. Why am I here then? Cause if I don't do it now then you don't get an e-mail this week, and that's not cool.

Elder Cooper what happened today? Oh, just the normal thing when you try to do something cool on a P-day- everything never fits. Something always gets crowded out and today unfortunately it was e-mailing. On the plus side, I got pictures mom! I hadn't really sent any before because- A: No time...literally. This is like the most stressful e-mailing period of my entire mission haha and B: I hadn't taken any worth showing. Not gonna lie, most of my pictures are simply of my view from the apartment...so I'm trying to take more...I just struggling getting into the picture...haha (nervous laugh)...but I got some today, so here's hoping I'll have time to send a few.

Today we went and spent the day at the Rotterdam Zoo!

"I had to at least get one picture off to you!"

SUPER fun! We decided that's a fantastic place for a date in case anyone was wondering. It's just so gezellig, there's plenty of conversation topics all around you, it's relaxed, you get talking and one-on-one time, you can go with a big group, it's got everything. After walking around there the whole day we have to rush back to our car, drive twenty minutes to a would be appointment after dropping off the South Elders, drive back, pick them up and then head over to our dinner appointment. 

That was supposed to leave us plenty of time to e-mail, but here's the second half of the story:

An Elder, who I love, one of the funniest elders I know, and

sometimes a bit oblivious (in a good way) put himself in quite a situation. Well Sunday evening roles around and he and his companion are walking home from General Conference with a group of missionaries. Suddenly a Turkish man comes out of nowhere with a really nice racing bike and asks him if he wants to buy it for 50 euros. K, it's a NICE bike. Like easily worth 300 or more. Everyone in the group can obviously see that this bike has been stolen...but it never even crossed this Elder's mind.

So he starts haggling with the man (I think originally to get him to go away) and tells him he only has 20 euros. They start going back and forth while all the other missionaries are desperately trying to tell him the bike is stolen but none of it is reaching him. The man agrees to 20 euros but says he needs something else with it. So what does Elder Hunt do? He gives him a Book of Mormon! :D The man takes the twenty, gives him the bike and runs off. Only then does it begin to dawn on this awesome Elder: I just bought a 300 euro bike for 20 euros, that man probably stole it! The man is long gone at this point so there's nothing to be done. And then the second point dawns on him- it's the Sabbath! He just did that all right after conference!

Tonight we had to go pick up that bike and shove it in the back of our car and take it to Rotterdam South...while a few were squished with it on their laps in the back. Thus our P-day came to a close and now I am here. Least we got a good story out of it right? :)

As for everything else, it's going fine. My minutes are up so I can't really go into detail. Work continues, we're staying super busy every day and I'm working through everything that comes my way. I've prayed so hard, for a few weeks now, that Heavenly Father will help me be prepared for when I go home, didn't know what that would entail completely, but sometimes I guess we should be careful what we pray for. haha. :)  We have temple conference coming up next week so I hope that helps :), but either way I'll go through whatever because I know it will help eventually. :)

Love you all! I feel so bad I can't write back to everyone. Please send them my love and appreciation. Hope everything keeps going well! Thanks for always loving me and taking care of me!

LOVE,

Elder Cooper

Culture Note: Elevators. In America the ground floor is labeled as the first floor. It makes sense. You want to get out you hit the 1. Simple. Not here. Their ground floor is 0. So when you walk into an elevator and have the habit of just hitting the 1 for two years it gets pretty old. Haha.