Matthew Cooper was an eighth grader, about 13 or 14 years old, when life challenges led him to ask his father for a priesthood blessing.
“In the blessing, my dad said that God wanted me to serve a mission,” he said, using a keyboard device with an automated voice.
Cooper was born with quadriplegic cerebral palsy after a uterine rupture during delivery deprived his brain of oxygen.
Yet the 20-year-old has refused to let physical limitations keep him from following and serving the Lord.
Today Elder Matthew Cooper is a service missionary in the Utah Provo Mission. As he has served, his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ has grown.
“I have seen that the Church is true through experiences I’ve had on my mission that have strengthened my testimony,” he said. “It’s inspiring to know I have the Lord; to know that because of Him, I am going to become my best self in this life and in the next one — if He doesn’t come sooner.”
Elder Cooper recently shared his story in an interview with the Church News.
Living a full life
Elder Cooper is the youngest of Ken and Laura Cooper’s three children. The family lives in Provo, Utah.
His family calls him their “miracle baby” — doctors told his parents more than once that they didn’t expect him to survive at birth.
“He’s a fighter,” Ken Cooper said. “Personally, I think it’s a very big miracle that he is here.”
Despite his brain injury at birth, Elder Cooper suffered no mental or cognitive dysfunction. Intellectually, he is as smart as his peers. He communicates through a speaking device designed with special software, typing out sentences with his left hand one word at a time. He can walk on his knees but needs support to walk upright, so he relies on an electric wheelchair for most of his mobility.
His mother, Laura Cooper, said independence for her son has never been about doing everything alone — it’s about faithfully exercising his agency wherever he can. He relies on others for some physical help, but he is constantly finding ways to make his own choices, contribute and live with purpose.
“Matt’s faith in Christ is the reason he lives such a full life,” she said. “He has a confidence in himself that is rooted firmly in his faith in Christ. When Matt runs into a problem, he faces it head-on and prays a lot.”
‘Optimistic and full of hope’
After watching his friends play flag football from the sidelines one season, young Matt Cooper told his parents he wanted to play. His mother assumed a phone call to the youth league director would end his dream.
She was surprised with a “yes.” Her son joined the team that won the championship, and the experience only deepened his love for the game.
In eighth grade, Matt Cooper persistently asked to play tackle football and, after passing the required physical, was permitted to join a team.
“He knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to ask, understanding that sometimes the answer will be ‘no.’ But most of the time, Matt can get a ‘yes’ and at least have the opportunity to try,” said Laura Cooper, adding that she and her husband do their best to provide enough support, including physical therapy. “He’s very optimistic and full of hope. ... It has helped him to do hard things, and he rises to the challenges. And when I say ‘no,’ he usually keeps trying with someone else.”
Football is a clear example of his determination and can-do attitude.
As a freshman at Dixie High School in St. George, Utah, Matt Cooper served as a team captain, and coaches let him carry the ball on short yardage plays.
He had a similar experience as a sophomore at Timpview High in Provo.
The Cooper family moved to Parkland, Florida, during Matt’s junior year. He attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School but was disappointed when school administrators denied him a place on the team due to safety concerns following a school shooting years earlier.
Although he couldn’t suit up, Matt was embraced by many in the football program and felt blessed to spend time with one of the team’s assistant coaches, who taught him “invaluable life lessons,” his parents said.
When his family returned to Utah, Matt Cooper’s senior year at Timpview became the highlight of his football journey. Head football coach Donny Atuaia, who retired after the season, staff members and teammates included Cooper in every possible way, his parents said.
“We can’t say enough about coach Atuaia,” said Ken Cooper, adding that the coach also served as Matt’s special needs teacher/adviser at the school. “We have tried to involve Matt as much in the mainstream as possible, even with his special needs and cerebral palsy, and football has been one of those ways he was involved.”
After the season, Matt Cooper was invited to play in a football game in St. George, Utah, featuring high school players from Utah and Nevada. During the game, he carried the ball for 1 yard.
Afterward, a coach from the St. George Eagles — a private post-high school football program — handed Cooper his business card. He communicated extensively with the coach in the weeks that followed.
On the day in May 2025 when high school players sign with college teams, Matt Cooper sat at the table with his high school teammates and committed to be part of the Eagles’ program.
It was the same day he received his mission call.
“It was a great day,” he said.
Serving the Lord
After achieving unique accomplishments on the football field, Matt Cooper hoped to serve a mission in a foreign country where he could learn a new language.
Instead, he was called as a service missionary in the Utah Provo Mission — an assignment he has embraced. His mother said he is having an “incredible” experience.
The Cooper family is appreciative of the mission leaders, President Jason Ellis and his wife, Sister Naomi Ellis, and others who support Elder Cooper and have created opportunities for him to both share the gospel and engage in service.
Elder Cooper serves two days a week helping orient new missionaries at the Provo Missionary Training Center and those arriving from the Salt Lake City International Airport.
He contributes thoughts and testimony at a weekly adaptive ability institute class.
He serves at the Provo City Center Temple and goes contacting and teaching with teaching missionaries as often as possible. He has had many opportunities to assist in giving priesthood blessings — including when a neighbor battling cancer asked him to perform the anointing.
Elder Cooper also attends district and zone meetings with both the service and teaching missionaries.
President Ellis said Elder Cooper epitomizes the missionary purpose, showing an example of faith in Jesus Christ, covenant-keeping with God and enduring to the end.
“He often accompanies the teaching missionaries, and his resilience and diligence to keep serving with all his heart, might, mind and strength is inspiring,” President Ellis told the Church News. “We love to see his face light up as he attends zone conferences and district councils with other missionaries. We are so grateful he is serving in the Utah Provo Mission.”
Hug from an Apostle
Last February, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke at a Provo Missionary Training Center devotional.
As he came off the stage, President Uchtdorf saw Elder Cooper and gave him a hug.
Later that evening, as the Coopers were preparing to leave, President Uchtdorf and his wife, Sister Harriet Uchtdorf, approached them a second time. They spoke for a few minutes and took a photo together. After the Uchtdorfs said goodbye, the Coopers were overcome with feelings of God’s love.
Ken Cooper, who was present, said the treasured experience “meant so much” to his son and their family.
Future dreams and lessons learned
Now more than halfway through his mission, which began in June 2025, Elder Cooper says the experience has helped him gain a “solid” testimony of the Book of Mormon — one that “continues to grow.”
When his mission is complete, Elder Cooper hopes to return to the football field and pursue college and professional dreams.
“My dream would be to play in the NFL and Super Bowl, and with God’s help, I know He will help me be the best football player I can be,” he said.
One lesson Elder Cooper hopes people learn from his story: “Help people going through hard times. Don’t try to take away their burdens. Just support them,” he said.
Ken Cooper said there is “energy” and “light” in focusing on what one can do, not the alternative.
“That energy and that light [Matt] has is contagious,” he said. “He continually moves forward and puts forth effort, no matter the circumstances, no matter the trials. Football and his mission are two great examples of that.”
For Laura Cooper, being Matt’s parent has helped her learn to trust in the Lord.
“I’ve learned as Matt’s mom that Heavenly Father and Christ can do so much more if I just let Them be the lead,” she said.
