October 27, 2014 - Hi All, Here are some snippets from the latest update we received:

This last week Dakota went tracting and knocking on random doors which he hadn't done since the first day he got there. He ran into a lady that wasn't interested and it was Elder Bleyle's turn to talk so he was talking and she was telling them to go away. All of the sudden she looked at Dakota "super weirdly" and says "ooooooo you got a glow about you, you are glowing like and angel or something" He told her why he was and then she told them that she was busy cooking at the moment so they could come back and share a message with her some other time.

Sunday they went to a concert at a Baptist Church...one of their members was singing in it and then some kids from a bible study they go to were playing so they went to support them. Dakota said "It was actually really really cool". He took a picture at the bible study. He wasn't sure if it was going to be his last time at the bible study or not but he didn't get transferred so he will be in Lanett for another 6 weeks for sure.

Last Wednesday he went on shepherding visits but they weren't able to see their recent convert so they went to go see Tim and PJ. He is the one that dropped them and told them not to come back they worked their magic and were able to share Joseph Smith's first vision with him and talk about that a little bit. They were on splits with members so he got to drive around in a Camaro the whole time which was kinda cool. He says not as cool as the spitfire though.

He is doing well and sends his love.  He hasn't had a chance to write many of you back. By the time he gets through email and sends us the update he is usually out of time.  But he really appreciates all the letters and emails, and wants you to know he is very thankful for your prayers and well wishes.

He asks us regularly how our scripture study is coming.  Here are the scriptures for the week:
Alma 5:21,40&41,7:7,20,26&27,9:12,19-24

October 20, 2014

This week was a really good week!! On Saturday I baptized my first 2 people but they aren't my baptisms because it was the Sisters that were teaching them. That isnt what matters though. What matters is that we were all able to help 3 people come closer to Christ.

Later that night I ate quail for my first time. It was actually really really good.

On Wednesday we had zone conference in Columbus where we watched Meet the Mormons. It was a way way good movie. It was so cool to get to be able to watch it. Last Monday was really crazy after we emailed. We went to get on base and we found out that the member driving our car had an expired license so when we went to get on the military base he got way chewed out and almost taken to jail but then they just told us to switch drivers so it was alright. Bowling and the infantry museum were super fun and really cool. I will put a few pictures on dropbox of the baptism and all that.

One of the kids we baptized was crazy! Elder Bleyle baptized him first and then i baptized his brother and his mom. as soon as i finished baptizing his brother he tried to jump in the baptismal faunt. Elder Bleyle barely caught him in time so he wasn't able to jump luckily. Oh and the night before when we went to practice the baptism with them he kept petting everyones heads and kept copying us and playing with my ears. He was crazy!!

We had 2 really cool experiences this last week. Our investigator that fed us quail told us some really cool things. Well her daughter did anyway. Apparently our investigator had been struggling with life and was about to give up on life. That day is the day that we showed up and we have been helping her to be happier ever since. It is so cool to see how much happier the Gospel can make people. It just shows that it truly is Christ's church established on the earth. The other cool thing that happened to us is we had an investigator that dropped us really bad. apparently his wife got mad at him for it and somehow we saved the friendship that we have with them. His brother is a street preacher and we are pretty sure he talked to him about us and told him not to talk to us but anyway we somehow saved the friendship and now they always ask us questions that we are able to answeer with the gospel so that was really cool. they take us out to dinner every once in a while and they give us water every time they see us on our bikes. Its really funny when he calls us bro to0.

I finally got revenge on Elder Bleyle. He always gives me a bad time about how my bike always falls apart and he finally got a flat tire this week. He had to walk his bike all the way home and then we had to get a new tube cause we weren't able to patch it. It was a really good and easy way to get people to talk to us though so that was really good. Well I guess I will talk to you guys next week! Love ya and miss ya!

Love Elder Cobler

October 13, 2014

Hey Mom!
You will have to send me pictures from those family gathering type things with Nyal and Haywood. i would say just put them in a different folder that I will make for you guys called stuff from home :) Actually since we are low on time it would be nice if you could do that for me :)

I PROMISE THAT AS YOU RELY ON THE LORD HE WILL HELP YOU THROUGH THOSE HARD TIMES. YOU JUST HAVE TO EXPERIMENT WITH IT AND GIVE IT A TRY. THATS WHAT ALMA 32 IS ALL ABOUT. Oh and speaking of that my scriptures are Mosiah 23:27, Mosiah 29:20, Helaman 13:14, Alma 5:40, Alma 11:37, 1 Nephi 1 :19&20, and 2 Nephi 6:11

We had a crazy good week this week but a lot of kinda weird experiences like some crazy guy that we couldnt even understand kissed me and one guy we know pretty much runs Lanett we are pretty sure and he used to be in a bike gang but we decided he is still part of the Banditos which is like a really bad bike gang that runs the state of Alabama and we are pretty sure he is like a head guy in that cause when we asked he just kinda laughed about it anyway he is super chill and he reads the BoM all the time and backs it up to all of his friends but i feel like I already told you about him. And then there is another guy who is one of our members uncle that always tries to bible bash but we always destroy him and he still thinks he wins...It is really dumb but oh well.

Oh funny experience...On wednesday we were just getting to the apartment at night and we got a call from a member that wanted to give us left over pizza so since we never get fed we hustled over there and got it. On the way there we needed 1 more contact to hit our goal so we saw this car pull up and knew it was our chance to hit our goal. I rode straight up to them and started talking and it ended up being 2 college girls that seemed really interested in us...the problem was that they were interested in us and not the gospel...anyway, we went and got the pizza and then headed back home while i rode 1 handed but we got to a hill and I had to shift so i reached across and ended upl pushing the handle bar and it made me turn right into the curb where i flipped over the handle bars and did a superman right into a plastic pole that i destroyed...The pizza was fine which was the important part...a few seconds later Elder Bleyle asked me what halppend so as dumb as i am I went to show him instead of tell him but this time I turned the other way which was right into him and it made us both wreck...It was hilarious but way more devastating even though we weren't hurt the pizza went everywhere cause i didn't close the box right...oh well we decided to give it to the sisters :)

Keeping the breakfast pancake tradition alive:

Well Talk to you next week!! Love you guys tons!
Love Elder Cobler

October 5, 2014

We had a really tough week this last week with talking to everyone and with teaching people but there was all valid reason behind it so I wasn't too worried about it. Plus it was good motivation to do better this week. A lot of stuff happened this week but not a lot of super interesting things. Just little things like getting attacked by ants so i have ant bites all over my ankles and getting chased by a dog.

Earlier in the week I was able to give another training in District meeting but this time it was a lot better and I was able to learn a lot more for myself this time as well. We finally taught the guy that took my picture while I was mowing the lawn and because he was a preacher it was really really cool. On Thursday I had a pretty rough day because i kept forgetting to take my iron but it finally put me out enough to where I will remember to take it every day.

Conference was so good! I loved it! it was kinda depressing when it ended though. I wish i could just listen to their wisdom all day long! It was really cool to have the people speak in their native languages as well. I loved hearing about how everything here on earth is in preparation for something whether it is for something here or for something that is in the post mortal life. My question that i came to conference with was what can I improve on and how can i do it. It was really cool to know that I can improve on preparing for things and then In Richard G. Scott's talk which was by far my favorite I learned that I can improve on preparing by praying and studying in the scriptures and how that is the best preparation of all. It is so cool to me to finally understand the scriptures and before I forget my scriptures for this week are Proverbs 3:5&6, Alma 13:24 & 34:31-34, Mosiah 23:27 & 21:14-15, 2 Nephi 25:26 and last 3 Nephi 14:1-11

Grandma and Grandpa sent me a bunch of food for my birthday so I should be able to eat healthier.

Love you guys tons and miss you. Cant wait to hear from you next week
Love Elder Cobler

September 29, 2014

I get along with my new companion really well and am having a really good time. This week we stole a rug from the sister missionaries to do our ab work on but the sisters stole it back.

I am really looking forward to conference. I can't wait to hear what your favorite parts were and why.

This week we are thankful for the lord's help.  We have been working with one of our investigators and have really needed help in using simple words to explain things because she isn't very educated.


We had a really really good and productive week this week. On Friday we went to a car show because there were a lot of people to talk to. That night we found a scorpion in the house. I taught it the gospel before I got rid of it.  We also taught some statues about chastity this week.

Scriptures for the last two weeks:
2 Nephi 31:19&20
Mosiah 18: 8-10 & 26
Mosiah 15:26 & 11
Alma 13: 3&4, 17: 10&11, 7:22&23,
Ether 7:24-27
Mosiah 23:22-24
Jacob 6:8-10
Jacob 4:4-5
1 Nephi 19:24, 3:17-18


All is well.
Love you tons!

September 22, 2014

My new companion is awesome and kinda reminds me a little bit of john and some of the things he used to say. Just tell him to email me or something so I can talk to him. I want to get his address too so I can send him a letter.

We havent gotten to go to the gym much because we bike so much now and we are always too tired to wake up. we usually bike over 20 miles a day and a lot of times we bike really fast so we really get our heart rate up. I will try to get to the gym more this week or at least get our for runs in the morning with more of the things you recomended. Im really excited for this transfer with Elder Bleyle and can't wait for everything we are doing! We are working super hard and a lot of times we work harder than Elder Merrill and I ever did.

September 15, 2014

Well this week was pretty good but our numbers were really low because we didnt get to do much missionary work cause we were busy getting Elder Merrill ready to go home. I did finally get your package and i believe it took 10 days to get here. Also it is really hot outside which means chocolate melts so the cookies were kinda messy but they were still good. I have only taken the liquid iron once because i dont have it with me right now. right now i am staying in lagrange georgia with the elders here but just until tomorrow when i get my new companion. There appartment here is roach infested so its really nasty and i wont leave anything out anywhere. I also havent really eaten much since i got here yesterday afternoon because i dont know where the roaches have been so im starving. Its alright though because we are going back to lanett tonight because i arranged a service project for one of our investigators so i will be able to eat and do all of that stuff tonight when we stay at our clean apartment. Im definitely looking forward to that moment. and for the moment that i get to spray all of my items that i brought with me here in our bug spray. Letting elder merrill go was really hard but i didn't really have much of a choice so i guess its whatever. Im really excited for my area to become a bike area though and yes i do drink plenty. i would get migraines all the time if i didnt with how hot it is down here so i almost always have a bottle with water in it.

This last week was really fun and last week we talked to my first open gangster. He had a red bandana that we kept looking at and finally he told us that we didnt need to be worried about it and that he doesnt have it because he is a member of the Bloods but just because he was affiliated with them...shows how educated the people are down here cause im pretty sure affiliation and membership in gangs is the same thing. Anyway we talked to him for quite a while and he told us a bunch of his friends that we should go see that need Christ in their lives more and he told us all about how the news makes gangs in lanett seem worse than they really are and how they exaggerate how many members there are and how there are only 600 gang members and not as many as the news says and how they only kill people that are asking for it so that was really comforting...not. Oh and i also messed up my bike this last week. I was going down a really steep hill and then had to jump off the curb and i was going really fast and the road wasnt wide enough to turn so i slammed on the brakes and my back wheel and chain slammed into the curb on the other side of the road but its ok! I fixed it all and it is back to original condition. I just had to pull the chain off all the way and work with it a little bit because i bent a link and so it wouldnt move but i was able to get it straightened all out and its all fixed now. Oh last week i forgot to send my weekly scriptures so here are both last weeks and this weeks.
Jarom 1:7
Mosiah 1:6&7, 2:41, 4:30, 7:19&33, 9:17&18, 10:10,11&19, 11:24
Joshua 1:9
2 Nephi 4:34
Jacob 7:25

Dad, that long run sounds miserable but i definitely miss those kinds of runs and cant wait to do them again. Hopefully i am still able to run a lot in the mornings with my next companion but im not sure yet. Ill find out on tuesday and then let you know next monday. I should be able to get them up and out the door though cause you know how moody i can get if i dont run. We will see i guess.

Well i guess ill get to talk to yall next week with my new companion.
Love ya and miss ya tons and thanks for the packages :)
Elder Cobler