A mini misionero!

Transfers came around again and i have been found with a new companion. A mini misionero. His name is Axel Martinez. The mini missionary program is huge here in latin america to give opportunities to help Youth learn about the mission as well as fill in places for empty places that cant be closed down. Elder Martinez is 18 years old and is from the city of cordoba. he lives about 30 minutes aways from where we are serving right now. He is super cool and super loving and i just loving working with him. we will have to see how things work out this transfer because i just feel that it will be filled with miracles.

Other things that have happened this week was a super cool experience that i had this week with a family of investigators. Last week we had found a super cool family that My companion had been working with for a while. it was super hard to find the whole family together and then we finally did. the best part about it was our lesson with them was super spiritual. we then offered to help her out with some service that she was needing and she accepted. We helped her for 2 hours cleaning up her front porch of things that she had just piled there when she had moved into her humble home. After the service project we invited her to come to church. More than accepting she was completely willing to leave behind other things so that she could come to church with us at 9 in the morning. The best part of it all was that they actually did come. we all know of how hard it is to get people to church and i can just say this family was so good. at 9 o'clock they all started getting ready to go to church and were in the church at 930 so that they could partake of the sacrament. The best part was their kids were probably the best mannered as well. they all sat down and just watched with such reverence. i was super surprised and super excited to have investigators.

Pero, i am so happy to be a missionary and every week i just keep seeing more and more miracles in the work. the lord sure does bless his servants and i know that he loves each and every one of his children. he finds them in our times of need. i love you all and i hope to hear from you all next week. Elder Cook

People just have crazy futbol fever

Well another week has passed by and the transfers are coming up again. I am starting to feel that something big is going to go down but of course i never seem to know what those feeling really mean. We will be learning on saturday so i am pretty sure i am staying but for all i know i may be getting a new comp next monday. But for all we know we will see.

   The world cup has still been going on and people just have crazy futbol fever. No one lets you really in when a game is going on. You have to plan really well to have the opportunity to talk to people without some sort of interruption. The one thing that is super crazy though is the Argentine games. as much as Argentina isn't doing that well, everyone still shuts down just to watch the game. I have never heard a city go so dead until the games start. You see empty buses and empty streets that would usually be just bustling with activity. It is for sure a weird experience. but the coolest thing is just to hear a whole country scream goal the few seconds that goes by when someone gets a good goal in. I do say i feel the soccer spirit with my time here.

    Talking about the soccer spirit...while i was playing soccer this week in the streets with some kid, i got a big old congratulations by a low laying tree trying to get the ball out of the feet of an attacker. this guy not only stole the ball from me but as well when i turned around to follow him a ran my head into a tree. I felt up in pain took my hand away and realized i was bleeding a bit. the cut wasn't even that big or deep but it crossed the hairline on my left side. It didn't take too long to seal up but the little kids freaked out when they noticed i had a cut on my forehead. It was pretty fun.OH The mission.

 Other interesting experiences of the week...my companion is a master hair stylist...well not really but he has cut his own hair ever since the beginning of his mission. So one day a recent convert asked him who cut his hair, he said he did it himself and then she asked him to cut the hair of her 2 year old kid. Lets just say two year olds are not the best at sitting still.Not only was there a lot of times were he made some mistakes but to try to get him to calm down the mom started to breast feed him to cool him down. My comp was really weirded out by that one. But right before he finished he was resting and the kid flailed his head into the machine and took out a huge chunk of hair. SO they ended up having to cut a lot more than what was planned. It was a pretty funny moment for us all.

   anyways that adventures just keep growing and everyday i just get to love more and more the mission. i am so grateful for this experience and i wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I love you all and talk to you all soon.

   Elder Cook

World Cup.......CRAZY!!!

World Cup.......CRAZY!!! we have come to a time here in argentina that is considered very sacred to everyone. I mean this is Super Bowl level but every day of the week for one month. It just started this week and i didn't think it would affect us too much but i underestimated it a ton. First off every house that we get in to has a game going on. From the time of 3 to 10 at night you will have some sort of game on or some sort of futbol talk. Yesterday Argentina played against Bosnia and the whole nation shut down. We as missionaries have been given permission to watch a few fo the games which include those of Argentina and of The United States, but only on a few conditions which we try to meet because my companion is a huge fan of watching futbol and i can not lie saying that in my time here i have grown to love playing and watching soccer. The United States plays today and i don't think we will be able to watch it because we have a family home evening but i wont be surprised if i hear a little bit of whats going on from someone. But so thats how we as missionaries are surviving the long awaited world cup.


Some great miracles have happened this week. First off we have been working with a less active family that lived in Utah for a time being and know live here in ARgentina. Some of the kids speak a lot of English so when we are there we find ourselves speaking a lot of English which to me is a little strange at first be also a little cool because it is out of the ordinary now. But the coolest part of it was that this sunday the oldest brother of the family came to church this sunday. YAY it was super cool. We have become super good friends with him and have been helping him out not feel too stressed about all the stuff that has been going on. This family is passing through a lot because their mom has just gotten back from surgery. She went into surgery about two weeks ago fro Breast Cancer and they are now sure that all the cancer is gone and so she is now just recovering. It has been a long road and a huge fight and now they are just all recovering and we are helping them out with that part of things. But god helps his children.


Other than that i really don't have too much time to write but just to let everybody know that i am loving the mission. you see so many miracles and i just am so grateful for all the wonderful lives that i have seen change in seconds. i love feeling the spirit and i love just seeing the gospel take affect in the lives of the people that are in Cordoba.


I love you all!


Elder Cook

things are starting to get rolling

 Week four of the new transfer and things are starting to get
rolling. Just yesterday i had a super cool meeting with all the new
district leaders in the mission and i can say that i absolutely love
my mission president. He is just a super cool and legit guy that knows
a lot about the gospel. i guess when you were a seventy and then being
a mission president does give you a few cool experiences to see the
gospel in everyones lives. He is super down to earth and really does
just have a pure desire to help us in the lords work and he knows how
to speak and teach. I would love one day just to see him teach one of
the missionary lessons.
   so this last week i had a little taste of home. Our ward mission
leader is a super cool guy first off. Him And his wife take a bunch of
trips to the united states and bring things back from the US that they
love and always have a ton. So first off...he knows how to make root
beer...i drank my first glass of root beer since i was in Florida and i
dont really remember drinking that too much because i preferred water
or gatorade. but can i just say that i really miss root beer. i didnt
realize it until i took my first glass. i had three that day and i
almost died. Yeah i miss some food from the US.
   My new comp is absolutely awesome. We are getting a long super well
and he is sure helping me out not to get too stressed out. he helps me
out with ideas on how to help the district and ways that i myself
could just improve. For example these last couple of weeks my
companion was telling me that i should play around with my hair a
little to make it seem like i actually care about how i
look...apparently i didnt before hahaha. so he did just that. We
played around with my hair and found that the side swipe was the way
to go. so you may notice a change in hair due in the pictures that i
send.
   The area is super sick we have found some really cool people and we
are working with one family that hasn't come to church for the last 10
years. When i first got their i was told by her and the ward that the
family had absolutely no desires to come back to church due to an
incident that happened in the past with her kids. But recently the
whole family has showed desires to come back to church and not just
that but in that time there have been a lot of people who now are old
enough to be baptized who weren't before. This family i have gotten
super close to and i just cant wait to see what ends up happening with
them.
   Also with the area we have found some great spots to look down at
the city of cordoba. i have really noticed how the city has its own
beauty to it and i just love it. Sometimes i think to myself i would
love just to live in a small country town but i don't think i could
ever be too far away from a decently sized city. Anyways i have found
that i just love being around the city. now that i finally appreciate
it i think that i can just keep accepting the fact that i might just
be in the city for the majority of the mission.
   Anyway i love you all and i hope that the week is going superbly
amazing for everyone. i am loving it so much. Hasta Luego!
      Elder Cook

I GOT HIT WITH A COLD!!!!

 I GOT HIT WITH A COLD!!!!

     This week was filled with tough mornings, rough starts, runny noses, a lot of coughing, and being bundled up all day long. Usually when i start getting sick means that it has been getting super cold here. In the mornings we are found usually bundled up with everything we got. a blanket and sweat shirts, and sweats and taking some time to warm ourselves up. I made the mistake one day after lunch to not take a jacket and that night it got super cold. yeah the next morning i found myself with a nice old cold and with a little of a fever. it was not a fun night. But the great thing is the lord sure does bless those that are dedicated to the work so i just bundled myself up with my jacket and a scarf and got out to work. The worst part of it all though is that just as i am recovering my companion is now sick and he has to go through the same lengthy recovery. YAY FOR COMPANIONS!

    Anyway the week was super good though. We had a mission conference this week where Elder Viñas of the quorum of the 70 came to visit and he talked a lot about the atonement and how that has affected us as missionaries. Super spiritual experience and i was super more excited to apply all the things that he taught. Another part of the conference though was the office put together a little choir of 12 people together to sing for the conference. Well lets just say word has been spilling around that i sing so i was chosen to sing for the choir. And not only that i was chosen to sing a special number of Be Still my Soul in a quartet. The only thing was i was chosen to sing tenor...well if you read the above statement...i am going to say that having a cold and tenor just doesn't mix. I was super worried about singing. The part was decently high and i had a hard time, but i was blessed with a clear throat just for the two songs and then returned back to being sick again. Lords Tender Mercies.

    A cool spiritual thing about this week was we ended up having two super cool lessons with 2 different guys. Both basically accepted to be baptized and both committed going to church. For one reason or another neither came to church but the lessons were super cool and super spiritual. THe things that i learned during the lesson was that the spirit teaches a lot more than i ever can. All i do is just speak words sometimes not even the most eloquent words. I just speak spanish and the next thing you know they are testifying to me about how these things could change and affect their life. I love being a missionary.

    Anyways i love you all and i hope that this next week i get to give everyone a little bit better news and even better spiritual experiences to talk about.

    Love

       Elder Cook