Monday, September 29, 2014

wooo what a week

wooo what a week. We have been working our butts off and i just
cant believe sometimes what we get done in one week. We had just a ton
of things to do and for me the first week of the transfer always is a
little more slower than the ones that are to come.
   With no changes in the pension we are just getting back to work.
This week we set goals to get one specific family to have baptismal
dates for this week. Well let's just say with a  little fasting and
praying we now have 4 baptismal dates set for the middle of October.
These dates are all coming from a less active family that i have had a
ton of challenges with but as well as many spiritual momentsI Am super
happy to finally see some fruits pop out of this family and i just
cant wait to see when they finally are baptized.
   we are all preparing for conference weekend this week by preparing
the members with messages focused on prophets and the revelation. It is
super cool to think that this week we all get to watch modern day
prophets talk to us about what God wants or us. i am so excited. As a
missionary i feel like we get almost way overly excited about these
kind of things but i feel like it is appropriate to think that we will
be receiving pure doctrine for the whole end of the week. i am so
excited. I have also heard that people will be speaking in their
native tongue so i am quite excited to hear the people speak spanish
and realize that i will be able to understand it without the subtitles
or whatever way they will be doing it.
   Well i am going to love this week. we have just a ton of things we
an do this week which includes making a lot of sweets and family home
evenings where they want cakes from the states. Loving it!
   Elder Cook


Monday, September 22, 2014

i am staying another transfer here in Parque Capital

Well transfers have come and i am staying another transfer here in
Parque Capital. I have officially four and a half months here and by
the end of the 6 weeks of this transfer i will end with six months. a
fourth of my mission will be here in this area. I cant believe it. we
didn't have any changes in the area so we will be staying together for
another transfer and i am just so excited.
   We all thought that i might go this week so we had a ton of parties
that were a slight good bye party. A few asasdos a few huge parties
and in the end i didn't go so i guess we might just have to have
another one in a few weeks.
    Lastly some gringo fun. We made home made united states chocolate
chips cookies that i was so excited to have. We have made friends in
the ward that just love the fact that i love cooking deserts. We are
planning to make some brownies in the next visit so i will tell you
how they turn out.
   I am sorry that i don't have too much time to write a good long PSA.
This week just wasnt that exciting either. The heat waves are starting
to hit, we had a bunch of almost goodbyes, and in the end of it all i
am super excited to stay with my comp, with my area, and just keep on
working!
   I love you all!
       Elder COok

Monday, September 15, 2014

i am starting to lose ideas about what to write to all of you

So i have got to admit....i am starting to lose ideas about what to write to all of you.....I am starting to realize that the things i do are the same....the miracles repeat and sometimes just being in the same area you find that you just talk to the same people and try to do the same things...
    Something interesting of this last week was we were all sick. We are all suffering from Climate changing colds and we just cant fight it off because the weather is just so strange here. The nights get cold and the afternoons are just absolutely unbearably hot. I have decided that short sleeve shirts are just the best way of surviving. you just really start hoping that when the night comes around you have a nice warm home to enter into....i mean you really don't have too modern of heating down here so you find the majority just using stoves or some sort of portable heater to warm up their house made of cement and bricks.
       Another interesting experience was something that happened yesterday. So wednesday we learned that one of the elders in our house had to go to Chile yesterday so it would leave his companion in a trio with us. So as i am typing we are in a trio. We learned that Elder Reber would have to leave right after church. Well we sent Elder Tukuafu and Elder Lac to the lunch that was set with our Bishop and then i waited with Elder Reber to send him off to the mission home. I organized it so i would be with a member the whole day as i would wait for my companions to come look for me It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. It was just fun getting to know them more. We just basically had a long conversation about the mission and different missionary experiences and how it has affected me and how it affected the member. He served his mission in Paraguay and he talked about all the things he learned and the advice he would give to me as a missionary. I would basically say that this member would be one of my best friends here in this ward. I get along super well with his family and i just feel that when i am in his house i feel like i am in my own. I love the family. Their name is Familia Carrizo. The Dad of the family, that is my best friend, speaks incredibly good english so we find ourselves slipping into a spanglish all the time and gladly his wife understands us. They invited us over this friday to make chocolate chip cookies and have a family home evening dinner to end off the transfer.
    I am loving the mission and i just keep having cool and awesome experiences here on the mission. I love you all,
         Elder Cook

the pictures. The assassins creed is a sticker that Hno Carrizo made for me. I learned that i like Assassins Creed and he found this picture and he cut out this sticker for me. The other is just a cool district photo in our argentine garb 


Monday, September 8, 2014

WEEK FULL OF MIRACLES!

   So this week first off was one of the worst weeks of my life due to
the sickness that i ended up getting from the change in climate that
happened after a huge rain storm. I am just recovering from it
yesterday but the throat is still hurting but at least it isn't as bad
to get out of bad and walk anymore. just trying to keep warm and
getting used to the heat as it rolls in again. Cordoba climate is
almost abnormally bipolar.
   But cool thing of the week. We had a family that i started working
with here when i first showed up. IT has been a battle to get them to
church and we have just been pushing really hard with them all just
pushing and pushing and praying and fasting that they could just make
it one day at church. THey were baptized about 10 years ago and they
didn't come much after that. It has been a while since they even have
stepped into the chapel. They live two blocks from the church and it
is just a battle to get them out the door or their house. but finally
after a game of soccer with their kids and just a lot of testimonies
they made it. at 9:00 in the morning they made it to church. i
seriously felt just so happy to see them walking into the building and
being the first family their and just feeling so happy. they told us
after that they will never miss out on another sunday again after a
very edifying testimony meeting. I loved it.
    As well with that. We have been working our ways to get references
from members this week and we have found that when you make cinnamon
rolls for people they usually are a lot nicer to you..well not just
that but you just have an excuse to going into to peoples houses. Well
this week i found an opportunity to go and make cinnamon rolls and we
ended teaching about Lehi's Dream and how it really is just about the
blessings that it has for the family. We received at that moment 3
families to go and teach. It was just a jaw dropping moment. i really
didn't realize how easy sometimes finding new people could be. I still
love it either way.
   This week flew by and the transfer is soon coming to a close. i
dont understand why time flies by so fast. this week is just filled
with a lot of things to do and sometimes it just feels like we have no
time to do all the things we Want to do. anyways i love you all and
until next week
         Elder Cook

Monday, September 1, 2014

i really just realize that time just doesn't exist here in the mission

Another week has flown by and i really just realize that time
just doesn't exist here in the mission. as days and hours pass by here
in the mission i just realize that two years is nothing. The lord is
only asking two years of my life and i feel like it isnt enough
sometimes. i am absolutely in love with my mission and i just have to
admit that i hate that the time goes by so fast.
   Here in argentina the weather is getting a lot hotter but with a
cool spring breeze i have been enjoying my time. We do find ourselves
trying to get more into the houses of people because i hate just being
out in the blazing heat. I am quite excited for the summer to be
coming along...NOT....but at least the fruit is getting a lot cheaper
again and the promise of Watermelon just makes me realize that it wont
be too bad.
    The weirdest thing of this week was for sure that i taught more in
English this week that i have my whole entire time here in Argentina.
We have one less active that speaks to us and speaks fluent english
and we just found this other investigator that is from Texas and we
started passing by. i mean they both understand spanish but english
just flows better so we have been teaching a lot more in English and i
just feel weird it has almost been a full year since i have taught the
Gospel in english and i just feel so weird when i do it. I mean it is
cool because we have a lot more tools online and stuff but it makes me
just think back to my time in FLorida and how i felt so awkward to
teach in spanish but now it is the exact opposite.
    I am losing things to say and time as well. but i hope that you
all are just amazing and get to enjoy the nice and cooling air of the
northern hemisphere. i love you all and i just cant wait to hear about
all the amazing things that go on in the next couple of weeks.
   I love you all.
        Elder Cook