Coop's First P-day in Baltimore 5/28/08

Wow so I just finished typing this email, and accidentally deleted it somehow, so now I'm gonna have to try and type it all over again...

OK, sooo, I'm in Baltimore now! Today is Wednesday, and it's my first P-day. And by the way Mom I couldn't open the picture of Calvin, but I'm pretty sure I can see a picture if it's embeded.

Right now I'm typing at a library, and we have about an hour, but now I have about a half hour left to write since I deleted the first one.

Well, Baltimore is great! Here before I forget I'm going to give you my address:
214 Crain Court Circle

Apt TC

Glen Burnie, MD 21061

Yep that's it. Ok so I guess I'll start off and tell you the story since Monday. So on Monday I woke up early and headed off to the airport. There were 3 other Elders in my district who I went with, and a bunch more came with us on the bus. At the airport I got to call home, which was awesome! It was great to be able to talk to my family and to Lauren.

After I called home, I said goodbye to the Elders in my district except for one going with me to Baltimore. We flew down to Baltimore where we met the mission president and some Elders at the airport. I got a new companion who is great, then we dropped my stuff off at our awesomely ghetto apartment, that we share with two other Elders, and the first thing we did was go to a recent convert's birthday party (he was turning 50). That was kind of weird, but after that we went to an apartment complex and talked to some people my companion had talked to before, and we met a lady who was moving and needed some help. We found out she is an inactive member and we talked with her for a little while. She said she was going to call her sister right away (her sister is active) to tell her that we found her, because her sister would be excited. So that was pretty cool.

By the way, my companion and I are the spanish Elders in our area. The ONLY spanish elders. I think he said there's only one more companionship of spanish elders in our zone. So I lucked out! And basically we only teach in spanish so any english people we talk to we just pass on to the other elders.

Lets see so that was my first day. Yesterday (my first full day), was even better. One highlight was we went to see one referral who wanted a BOM. We gave him a BOM and a message and he was really excited about it and really seems like he's ready.

Probably the biggest highlight of the day though was that night I gave a man a blessing. Apparently he says he's having problems with spirits in his house. It was really cool because I had never met the man before and I didn't know hardly anything about him. So it was a really great opportunity, and that's the first time I've ever given a blessing of comfort.

Then earlier today we had an appointment to see another referral who wanted a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. (Yep even on P-day) We went and gave a couple the movie and a Book of Mormon, and it was really great. Afterwards when I asked them if they knew anyone else who would like to hear our message, they said next time we come ( next Martes) they are going to bring a bunch of people over to listen to us. How cool is that!

So anyways, now I'm at the library, we spent some time cleaning the apartment this morning, and we're gonna go shopping for food now. It seems like the work is going really well here. I asked my companion if it's always this good here, and he said he loves getting greenies because they just bring a good spirit and good things happen. Haha, in that case lucky for me I'll get to be a Greenie again in Argentina pretty soon! Ok well I need to go now, I hope I didn't forget anything I should have written.

I love you all, and I hope everything is going well at home!
Love,

Elder Cooper Boice

Baltimore, Maryland????

Baltimore, Maryland??? What????

I just got a surprise phone call from Cooper! He only had 5 quick minutes to tell us what was happening with his flight plans on Monday, Memorial Day.

Apparently, the guy who signs the paperwork for Visas to Argentina was having surgery, so Cooper isn't able to get to Argentina just yet. He's still leaving on Monday, but they're flying him to Baltimore, Maryland!

Cooper didn't sound that bummed about it, which is great, although I know he's very anxious to get to Argentina as soon as possible. He thought it was actually pretty cool to go to Maryland because his dad served in parts of Maryland on his mision (Washington DC mission). I spent a day in Baltimore when I was an intern in Washington DC, and I remember thinking the harbor was really cool. He's in store for a fun adventure!

Cooper gets to call us Monday morning while he's at the airport, waiting for his flight. YAY! If you're in town, swing by the house around 8:30 am and you can join in on the phone call! Thank you for all of your prayers and letters. He loves them all!

Letter from Coop on 5/20/08

Hi family!!!

Well this week was a crazy week but I guess it was a pretty good one. This last week we decided (our District) to do an English fast for the whole week. We always have one on Wednesday, but one Elder who's having a lot of trouble with the language wanted to do an English fast a whole week so we joined him. By the way an English fast just means no speaking English, we're not actually fasting. So that was really helpful I think, it helped a lot.

Let's see, another really cool thing that happened this week was when we went to the Call Center, I got to do outbound calls (calling people who requested free DVDs and things from the church), but in Spanish! That was so scary!! But it was a great experience! I talked to a few people and one family I actually got to send the missionaries over to their house! Haha

Another fun thing this week is I finally learned how to do a backflip. I've wanted to be able to do one on the ground for the longest time and now I finally can. WahoO!

ALSO some big news this week is we got our flight plans!!! We're supposed to leave on Monday May 26. We're flying from here to LAX, then to Santiago, Chile, and then to Buenos Aires. We have about a 4 hour lay-over in LA from 9:20 AM to 1:20 PM. So that is where I should be able to call. Sometime in there. And by the way the trip overall is about 26 hours. And that's not counting the time it takes to get from Buenos Aires to Rosario. Our long flight is 18 hours!

BUT there's a catch to all this. Yesterday we heard that 19 people going to Argentina are being delayed cuz some guy that has to sign some thing is getting surgery or something. SO, we're going to find out who those 19 people are on Wednesday. And there's probably only 50 or 60 of us, I'm not sure. And those 19 people will go stateside for 3 weeks I think. Well I'll find out tomorrow.

In other news, yesterday was a really crazy day. We said goodbye to some Elders going to Mexico (they're getting delayed so they're all going to the Provo mission for a while). Mexico always has Visa problems. Then we taught our last big practice lesson. We also found out yesterday that everyone in our building has to switch to a different residence hall by today, so we moved everything into a room in a new building. It's kind of fun though because we're next to a bunch of Russians now (going to Russia, not Russian). Also a few Elders in our zone left for Spain, so we said goodbye to them last night. One of the Elders is basically HUGE, so we called him Missionary-saurus-Rex. I'll have to send home a picture with him. Yep so yesterday was pretty crazy.

And today I get to go to the Temple for the last time for 22 more months. Pretty crazy. So from your DearElders that you sent me it sounds like things are gonna be so different by the time I get home! You could be in a new house, new job...which sounds like it would be nice actually Dad. Haha I liked how you said it would basically be like semi-retirement if you worked 8-9 hours a day. And Mom you asked why you didn't hear from me last week?? You got my email last Tuesday, did you just mean why didn't you get letters? Well hopefully you've gotten them by now. They should actually get there today.

Ok well that's all I can think of to say for now. I only have a couple more minutes so I need to send this. Oh and one last thing.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you all, Elder Cooper Boice

PS. this should be my last email from the MTC, and i won't get any DearElders after Friday, just a heads up.

Letter from 5/13/08

EESH! Our Internet connection in the house has been down all week until now, so I'm finally posting the letter we got from Cooper on Tuesday. This photo is the last one we took with Cooper and RJ together at Coop's farewell party. RJ just graduated this week from USC Law School. Actually, he got a joint JD/MBA, so he's an extra big stud-muffin. We're so proud of him! Let the lawyer jokes begin!
Here's Coop's letter:

Hi family! If you're wondering why you're getting this email later in the day instead of in the morning it's because I wasn't able to snag a computer this morning when I was doing laundry.



So today I was able to go to the temple again. And I realized that when I go next Tuesday, that will be the last time I get to go for the rest of my mission! That's really weird. It seems like the time here is going by really quickly. Less than 2 weeks left in the MTC, and I'll be in Argentina.
So even though today is a P-day it feels like it just might be more busy than every other day. I counted and I'm supposed to be writing 8 letters today. I've got a couple down, and plenty more to go, and I have to go to service in a half hour. So I'm sorry if it takes me a few more days to write everyone.



I don't know if I've already told you what we do for service. My zone actually got really lucky I would say because instead of cleaning toilets and stuff like a lot of Elders have to do, haha, we get to set up the gym before Devotionals and Firesides. We set up the stage and all the chairs and everything for all the missionaries. It's pretty fun actually.



And happy Mother's Day Mom! I'm sorry again that I couldn't call. (There's only 3 payphones here apparently). But I'm glad you got my card and a phone call! :)



That's so cool that RJ is graduating law school, and that Calvin is graduating high school so soon! And his braces are off now?! Uhoh, Look out ladies. P.S. Calvin do you realize that it would make my day if you go to Prom and wear that baby blue tux with the frills, and sport a mullet the likes of which has never been seen. In fact, it would probably make me so happy I would probably baptize about 30 people in one day. Just think about it Calvin, I know you'll make the right choice.



I got a letter that you sent today, thank you. Tell Bo I loved his picture, especially the one of the Thumb war. My roommates thought it was funny that he drew pictures of stick figures dying to send to a missionary. But don't worry Mom, I'll figure out how to make it a gospel-related visual aid for a lesson, somehow. You would be proud.



Ok well I need to go now. I'm not sure if this email is shorter than usual. But I'm writing everyone letters, so more is coming, and it can be more personal. Maybe if I feel really good I'll write your letter in Español Mom. Pero la carta será muy pequeño si hago. Ok gotta go! I love you all !!

-Elder Boice

Mother's Day card 5/08

I received a Mother's Day card on Saturday and was so excited that I stood in the middle of the street to read it because I didn't want to wait until I had walked into the house. The front of the card said "Motherhood: A Summary". Inside the card it said "Holy Crap! It's hard. The End." My goodness, I can't believe Cooper was able to purchase a card in the MTC that had the word "crap" in it. ha ha

Cooper added a sweet note that included pretty much all of the words a mother lives to hear one day. Because Cooper is in the MTC it is just logistically impossible for all 3000 missionaries to call home on Mother's Day, so Cooper asked his girlfriend, Lauren to call me. I thought that was really sweet. Here's his letter:

"Dear Mom,

Thanks for being the perfect Mom. You are such an amazing Mom. I don't know how you are able to do so much. You've taken care of me my whole life and taught me so much. I'm especially grateful for you teaching me the Gospel and getting me to whwere I am now (which pretty soon will be Argentina!) I'm so glad that when I am able to teach about families I can testify of how wonderful my family is and how much the Gospel has helped us and blessed us.

You probably won't get this til a couple days after Mother's Day. But don't worry. I didn't forget! And I'm sorry I'm not able to call. But I should be able to call from the airport when I leave from Argentina.

I know you always say I'm like a stripling warrior, and if I am then it's just because my mother has taught me.

Thanks again for being such a wonderful Mom. You know how they say girls marry their fathers and guys marry their mothers? Even though that's weird to think about, that would be fine with me, because you are an awesome mom! And I want my kids to have an awesome mom. And I think that probably is true what they say. ha ha Ok, I love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day to someone who makes it look easy.

Love,

Your son,

Elder Cooper Boice

Letter from Coop on 5/6/08

Yay! Another letter from Coop and with a picture! This is a photo of him and his companion who are both going to the Argentina, Rosario mission. Looks like Cooper cut his hair. I'm living for Tuesdays, which is Cooper's P-day in the MTC when he has time to write home. This letter is from the email we received from him today. I had asked him to answer 20 more questions, so I'll type my question first in parenthesis and then show his answer.


Hi family!,
First off I tried to open your last email you sent with the pictures. These computers won't let you open attachments. Oh well.
Ok I guess I better get started on your last 20 questions haha.

(1. Is it really true that you're not going to be able to call on Mother's Day?) Nope I'm not going to be able to call home on Mother's Day. I'm sorry! There's just too many missionaries. But I should be able to call home when I'm in the airport leaving for Argentina.

(2. Do you have your Visa yet?) I haven't heard anything about my Visa, but they don't actually hand it to you until you get on the bus to leave.
(3. Have they told you anything about your flight arrangements to Argentina yet?) We'll probably get our flight plans in about a week. Yeah!

(4. So they really don't have a culture class anymore where you learn all about your country?) I don't think they have a culture class anymore. Or if they do I've never heard of it. But when the Argentine consul came he told us a lot about the country and we got to ask questions.

(5. How many letters do you get every day?)
I usually get 2-3 DearElder letters a day. Except yesterday was the most I've ever gotten in a day because they were built up from Saturday and Sunday!

(6. Does anyone get more letters than you? I can't imagine.) Most of the Elders in our District get more real mail than me because I only get the DearElders usually. The real letters come at lunch and the DearElders come at dinner. And I love getting mail every day! I'm so glad they have the whole DearElder thing.

(7. Since you said you don't have actual mailboxes like we did when I was in the MTC, how do they pass out mail? You said they did it at lunch and dinner. How exactly does that work?) Each district has a little mail box. I get the mail for our District so I go pick it up before lunch and dinner and then I pass it out. Probably good that I get the mail so if I get a lot of letters (like yesterday) no one will know.

(8. Where did you hide the night vision goggles? I'm just curious. I promise I won't tell Brad. It's funny how obsessed he is with those right now.) TOP SECRET: haha ok I will tell you where the night vision goggles are but don't tell brad. The only reason I don't want him messing with them are because they are really sensitive and you have to be really careful with them in the light, they can get ruined by the light, and I can see him breaking them, just don't tell him that,shhhhh. Yeah so anyway I stuck them in (THIS PART OF THE LETTER HAS BEEN DELETED!)

(9. How is your health?) My health is good. I'm keeping my answers short cuz I'm already halfway out of time to write.

(10. You mentioned that you started a little exercise routine for some of the other Elders. Don't you guys have PE class every morning? We did when I was there.) Yes but most Elders just like to play basketball or volleyball or something during gym. So there's a few Elders that want to get in shape so they wanted me to do a little workout for them each night. They mostly just want to do abs haha so I have them doing a lot of that each night. It's fun though.

(11. Is Lauren writing you mushy letters or is she being pretty good at writing uplifting letters to keep your mind on the work?) Haha don't worry. Lauren always writes very uplifting and encouraging letters. Gosh I love her.

(12. How many teachers do you have?) We have 2 teachers. We got a new one recently because one of our teachers (who served in Spain) just left because he got a job in Alaska. Pretty cool.

(13. I heard that they put missionaries on the phones to answer incoming calls from media referrals. Do you get to do that?) Yeah when we go to the Call Center ( which is for sure one of the highlights of the week) we get to answer calls when they come (which is not that often) and make calls. Also we do online chats when we get those.

(14. I heard that they video tape you teaching a discussion so you can learn from your mistakes. Have you done that yet?) No they don't video tape you teaching anymore. I forget why, but that's fine with me.

(15. How much weight has your companion lost so far?) They used to have a scale but it broke after the first week we were here! But we're guessing he's lost like 30-35 lbs already. He's being a stud.

16. (DELETED QUESTION AND ANSWER TO KEEP TOM'S BIRTHDAY PRESENT A SURPRISE)

(17. Has the prophet come to speak to you guys yet?) NO!!! I wish he would. You would think he would sometime soon...

(18. Have you heard about the new mission president for Rosario? Is he in the MTC with you guys right now?) Nope all I've heard is what you've told me.

(19. I asked Calvin what questions he has and he said he wanted to know how much weight have you lost or gained? Your pictures make you look the same. ) Well we don't have a scale anymore...But I think I probably weigh about the same. I made a goal that while I'm here I'm not gonna eat anything sweet. So far so good. And I should be getting in better shape because I wasn't excercising that much the last couple months I was home.


(20. What's the best thing about being in the MTC?) The best thing in the MTC? The Spirit of course!!


Ok there's my answers. I have to go before my time runs out. But, I loved everything you told me about the Siaosi family in your last letters. What an amazing and faithful family! Their faith is creating so much good! I'm really impressed with them and I'm so grateful we get to have them in our ward.

Well it's time for me to go. Until next week. And I only will write 2 more emails from the MTC!!!! YaHOOO!!!!! Thanks for all your letters. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Boice