Hola!

Hola! So officially i can announce this to you guys because they announced this in church yesterday but in 12 days we are going to be blessed here in Argentina with the presence of Elder Ballard WOO HOO. I am even more lucky to not just have one conference with him but 2 WOO HOO. He is going to be coming to speak to the mission on February 22 and to our stake on the 23. AHHHH i am so excited to here from an apostle. The zone is buckling down on the urgency so that we can show that are truly working down here in Argentina. Hope it shows. Other than that this week was kind of a roller coaster for us as a companionship one of our main investigators was in a car accident on her motorcycle with her boyfriend. She was pretty beaten up. She showed up the lesson cut up bruised and barely could walk. Lets just say that she wasn't able to come to church this last Sunday. We were able to give her a blessing and we are hoping that she recovers. It seems just like a sprain and bruising. That is the hope. Other than that we had a super cool miracle that happened to us this last week. So we have a little town, Bouwer, in our area that is about 30 minutes out of the city. We take one day out of the week to take a bus out to the town to meet with some less active members and trying to establish a branch out there so they can have there own branch. We have felt that there is a ton of potential in this small little town of 600 people. This last week we went and we were blessed to find a family. The strange thing was the daughter at the age of 11 was baptized but not confirmed that was about 10 years ago. So we are working with her and her family so that she and her family can all be baptized. They all have a lot of questions and are looking for a church that represents Christ. The father has a lot of questions about the restoration so we have a lot of hope for them. Well, not much has happened this week. The rain is starting to come to introduce the fall season. It gets cold sometimes in the morning but if we don't have any clouds the sun kills us all. We keep on walking. We keep working, and we are really trying to help the people here in Barrio Jardín. Se Amo,a todo. Elder Cook

i was finally called in to be legalized here in Argentina

So good news everybody this week i was finally called in to be legalized here in Argentina. WOO HOO! i am going to be legalized as a resident of Argentina for the next year. We started with all the paper this week. It was quite an adventurous day as well. I received the call Monday night and then the bad news was that i would have to be at the mission home by 5 in the morning...we live about 30 minutes from the office which isn´t too hard, but to prepare two missionaries was a bit difficult. We ended up sleeping in until 445 which was the first exciting part of the day rushing to get ready and out the door. Gladly our friendly neighbor who is a member and taxi driver woke up and took us to the mission home at 5 in the morning. We were a little late but the secretary was waiting for us and we sped off in the same taxi to do our paper work. Well lets just say that we were in line from 545 until 8 when the building opened. Our secretary told us that we have to do this like Black Friday, we learned why at about 7. the lien was about 2 blocks long. wow. We then waited to do some paper work and fingerprinting until about 10 o'clock. When that was finished we did some other paper work at the police station here in Cordoba, another 2 hours. by 1230 or so we went to go take pictures and go find a place to eat. Well after all that i returned back to working the day away. This week was once again blazing hot. We were blessed with clouds but i think my body is just getting used to the 95 degree weather now. I was looking at the weather and realizing that it is about an average of 35 degrees the last week. i didn't think about that being too hot until today when i realized that it is about 94 degrees. HAY CALOR! Well other than that this week has been super busy and super fun as we think of the life of a missionary but hey i am still loving it. This Week we were able to have a little activity at the church. My companion and i did a little theatrical piece. The members that we had there absolutely loved it. I am sad that i wasn't able to capture it on camera but i think that one member was able to film it so we will see if it appears on Facebook or YouTube or something like that. We then had a little activity and game about the armor of god and that sure made for a fun thing as well. We are hoping to have an activity now once a week. that should make for some fun things. Other fun fact of the week is the fact that we had a day filled with service this last Saturday. Not just that but it was a day of an exchange. So elder Mendoza (a new elder form Mexico) and ended up helping a member move a fridge about two blocks by hand. Lets just say my arms are still hurting from that, and then later in the night we had an opportunity to paint the patio of the nice and friendly taxi driver our neighbor later that night. We sure did celebrate that night with some ice cream. It was a fun day though, Well as the weeks keep going i see that the weeks are just the same. We walk, we testify, and we touch the hearts of people that the lord needs us to talk to. For example this last week we had the feeling that we needed to visit a potential that we had passed by a couple times with no success. We then passed by this last week and found the husband sitting outside. We asked how he was and he just said very bad. We learned that his wife had recently died. the strangest part was that my companion had seen her two weeks ago. It is just so strange but we were able to share a quick message with him and we plan to pass by again. The things the lord puts in your path to help his children in need. I love the mission. I love you all and i hope that this next week is just full of great things. Elder Cook

First Week in Barrio Jardin

Wow...What a week in Barrio Jardin. My Companion and I have been working like dogs and we have for sure seen the miracles. Speaking of Companion I guess now that I know a little more about him I can tell you all about him as well. Elder Gomez is from Paraguay and he is basically on the border between Brazil and Argentina. He knows three languages and is starting to learn his fourth. I am starting to teach him english. He is super fast at learning English. We are just starting and he remembers a lot of things but we are still working on the forming of certain vowels. oh the joy of teaching. Other things that have passed for this week was all the things that we have done, but for sure the one thing that I have loved for sure was my first week in the big city and the goals that we are making, to make our little branch the best it can be. We just set up the ward mission plan and we are planning to set up everything for counsel and hoping that this not only helps out the branch now, but for the whole year. As well as making new goals we have been finding new people like crazy. Contacting people for more than two hours a day in the sun and let me tell you I can testify that sacrifice is equal to the return blessings. This week we were able to teach a young couple. We were able to teach them for the first time this last week and they both have a desire to be baptized and we are hoping that we can help them. We have a lesson with them both today and we are hoping to set a date for them both and help them resolve some doubts that they told us about this last week. We are super excited for them. One of the blessings of working hard. Well everybody I don´t have much to say because the work is the same, just in a new place. We talk to every one, and now there are more to talk too. We work our butts off in the sun. My companion and I work amazingly well together and can´t wait to see what miracles we produce in our time here. I love you all. Till next week. Elder Cook

Transfer Days have come and gone and so have I to Barrio Jardín

Transfer Days have come and gone and so have I. I was called to a different area. A very sad filled weekend saying goodbye to investigators, members, and basically all of the good friendships that i had made during my time in Rio Segundo. And now for the news of where i am now. I am in the City of Cordoba. not in down town but more city than the fields of Rio Segundo. It is called Barrio Jardín. it is basically a little city connected to the main city. I am like 15 minutes away from the center of the city. a lot different. I have a new companion as well. His name is Elder Gomez, he is from Paraguay as well. Two companions from Paraguay there are only 7 in the mission. What luck do i have. anyways i am quite excited, as much as it was sad to say goodbye to friends and basically family i am now in a new area. This week was just filled with a lot of different things to do. With the new year basically a lot of things are being established. New goals, new things to do, new things to work with and everything. The first thing was establishing the branch in Rio Segundo. We were working a lot with him to establish the missionary work in our little town. It was super cool to work with him up close and personal. He is a really nice guy who has a huge vision. The other thing was we tried to put everything into this week because we thought that one of us might leave. We didn´t know who but someone. It ended up being that Elder Aquino and I left our area to the other two elders that were there but we worked our butts off to make sure that who ever was going to be working in the area had something to work with. We ended up finding a super cool family in our efforts. A family of 4 people who as well had been investigating the church for a long period of time. We ended up finding them and once again having a true desire to have the missionaries back in their house. they basically think the missionaries as their kids and have had missionaries celebrate birthdays festivities and all of those kind of things in their house before. They were waiting to be married but something happened where they weren´t ready at that moment and now we are back to work with them. I know that i can´t really be part of that anymore, but maybe one day. Anyways besides the new area, nothing really too exciting happened. After all the festivities and all that these weeks have been pretty calm. I love it all, sad to leave an area that i love with all my heart but hey, the lord needs me here. Elder Cook the picture of the family is the Chilenos. They are the ones that have the bakery next to the chapel. and the other is just a funny pciture of the fields of Rio Segundo. There are horses every where. more member picture sof the members in Rio Segundo. and the other with all of the missionaries is the one with the family that we were wth for christmas

Happy New Year everybody!

Happy New Year everybody! what a time of the year. A time to make goals and act upon them. I have been thinking a lot about what has happened in the last year but it is really hard to believe that about this time i was really itching to leave for the mission. Had the call, getting things ready, and only waiting for march to come around. And now a year has passed by. I am on the mission. Celebrating the major 3 holidays in Argentina with 3 people from completely different parts of South America. Who would have guessed. Speaking of the New year, ours was celebrated in one of the best ways that i could think was possible. We celebrated together as missionaries of Rio Segundo. We didn´t have the same permission as compared to Christmas to be out in the streets until 12 oclock but we decided as a pensino to celebrate it in our pension with a nice good ole Asado and some good old fun between us all. we came home after a good day of work and started to cook the meat of course. As we all prepared the things for our delicious meal we just had a ball all night long. I can´t describe how much i think that alone just helped us grow closer as missionaries here in Rio Segundo. There is something special about spending these holiday times together. The strange part was i usually imagined this time to be with Members, but in all reality i couldn´t have asked for anything better than what we had together that night. We were all awake at 12 oclock to celebrate the new year and just watch what we could from the windows or our pension. The fireworks were amazing. I couldn´t have asked for anything better. The second best thing was the miracle that we had the next day. Our president has kind of set a new goal for this next upcoming year. He has challenged us all as missionaries of the Cordoba Mission to search for Ideal Situations for our investigators. Especially to find teach and baptize a family in one month. To find in the first week, teach in 2, and baptize in the final week of the month. We as a companionship made it our goal to find this family in any way shape or form that we could think of. Knocking doors, asking members, formers, whatever we could do. We were blessed this week with a miracle. A family that had talked to missionaries about 8 years ago. A family that when the last time they had talked to missionaries they were still a new couple with their oldest at the age of 5. Now a nice calm family that wants the Spirit that we bring as missionaries back into their house. The strange thing was, we couldn´t find their house in the beginning. We passed it like 4 times before we found it. They admitted to us in our next visit every time we passed by they were wishing that we were there to talk to them. It is crazy. They are super cool family. They invited us over to eat with them tomorrow. It is strange how fast you start feeling the pure love of christ enter into your heart when all you want is the best for the people you serve. Anyway, this is the last week of the transfer and our District leader is telling me that i need to start prepping for a weird transfer. I am pretty sure that i am going to be staying but you never know. I don´t really want to leave. I have fallen in love with Rio Segundo. The people, the feeling, and just the branch that i am serving. I love every single one of them for their faults and strengths. it may be that we are a small branch of a this grand church of ours, but the smallest of seeds can grow out of a strong rock. I still prepare myself for the things that may pass in the next week and what news we will receive, but non the less i am going to work my heart out and hope for the best. I love you all and i hope all of you are starting off your new year with a running start. I feel like that is what i am doing, but in the life of a missionary, you aren´t really allowed to stop working. I love it. Elder Cook

Different cultures sure make for a fun time for Christmas

Wow what a Christmas season. Different cultures sure make for a fun time for Christmas. One thing that i for sure can say is a lot of meat was shared this last week. Not only for Christmas but for the whole week. All the members wanted to share a bit of the Christmas spirit with us. For actual Christmas though we celebrated more like we would celebrate New Years. We wait until midnight then hugs are shared and presents are unwrapped and Pan Ducle is eaten by everyone as the Fire works are launched off into the sky. It was quite a wonderful experience for me. Then it all ended with a nice sweet call to my parents the next day. Ahhh what a chirstmas. Not only that but we all were blessed with the spirit of Christmas because we as missionaries get the opportunity to center all that we do in Christ. As we were going around we did all that we could to center what we taught around Christ, which isn't hard when you represent the Church that he Established. Anyway, i just couldn't be just happy all this week and continuing on into the new year. We also had an interesting experience this week with a little bit of a change. We had an activity this week made by our Zone Leaders. We did a zone wide exchange, but not an exchange of companionships but a change of areas. I worked in the city of Cordoba for a day basically. It was crazy. I wasn't down town by all means but the paved streets of the city have a very different feeling than the dirt streets of Rio Segundo. I did learn a few things in my time in another area, but it was a bit strange to not be in my area for a day. I was sure happy to see Rio Segundo by the end of the day. This week is going to be special for us all as well. With the new year approaching the mission has focused all of us in the fact of making plans and goals. Our president wants us to make goals for the next year, our missions, and for our plans after the mission as well. It is crazy to think that i have only been on the mission for 9 months but to think this time next year i will be close to finishing. I can´t believe what time has flown and what i have already learned and experienced my time in Florida and here with my little time in Argentina. But the thing is that as we all know is that Goals are actually an amazing way to focus all of us in a way that is unheard of. I know this letter is short, but really i have not much to say. Christmas was amazing, i loved every moment. The spirit that it brought was amazing to see. This week though i want to ask everybody to make a few goals. I was taught something really cool in the mtc. When we make goals make them specific for different aspects of your life. A Physical, Spiritual, and Companionship goal. I know not all of us have the opportunity to make all of these goals, but i challenge everyone to make a goal, write it down and keep it in a place where you will actually be able to see it. I love you all and i hope you have a happy new year.

Oh the Christmas season as a missionary

Oh the Christmas season as a missionary. I still am having a hard time that it is Christmas already. I remember last Christmas was all about the preparations for the mission. Nothing but luggage, clothes, and the things that a person would need to leave for a mission. And now i am here in Argentina, speaking Spanish, serving the lord officially. my mind has been blown just thinking about the time that has flown by since the beginning of my mission. So many people met, so many lives changed, and so many people who have seen what Christ can really do for them. Oh freak....Christmas is a time to really ponder about the wonderful gifts that the Lord has given to you in the last year. I have been blessed for sure by being able to serve a mission for him. I am so glad i have the opportunity to serve him with all that i have. Well this week has sure been an interesting one. Everyone is preparing for the Christmas seasons. Live nativities every night and some type of Christmas concerts. It is hard not to realize that Christmas is just around the corner. We were also blessed this week with a mission Christmas conference. All of the mission was there celebrating Christmas Together. 240 people all gathered to celebrate Christ. A lot of Soccer, gift giving, and a lot of getting to see close friends and reuniting old relationships. I was able to see the whole district from the MTC again. We talked about how it was in our other missions, how it is different here, and how weird it is to think of where we are at right now. It was a good time for every one. Santa Claus even showed up to the party, or should i say Papa Noel. We all received a gift from the mission. It was a good time for us all. For the work side of things we worked our butts off as hard as we could. We were able to find two new people this week which we are super excited for. They both are super open to us about how they feel, what they are looking for, and questions that they have about the message that we share. Neither of them were able to make it to church this week, but we are still super excited for the fire that is found within these people. Anyway, this week has been super awesome and i can´t wait to see what things are to come with this week. Especially with Christmas actually being this week. I love you all and i hope all of you have a merry Christmas this week. LOVE YOU! Elder Cook