Coop's 2nd letter in Argentina!

6/23/08

Yay! Here is Cooper's 2nd letter from Argentina:

Hola!,

So I´ve been in Paraná for a week now, and it´s been a great week! I´ll start by telling you a little about the country. There´s still a lot of problems. When I met the bishop earlier this week (our bishop is crazy by the way, it´s really funny) his wife told me "Bienvenidos al Infierno". (Welcome to hell.)

I know they had a country-wide strike on Wednesday, meaning they blocked all the highways I guess, and wouldn´t let food through. The whole food strike doesn´t really affect us honestly, we can still get pretty much everything they´re trying to stop from getting through. I don´t know I guess there´s just not enough farmers to stop everything.

Also a couple days ago we couldn´t get any water and we found out that some people who were angry at the government broke some water pipes and did something so the whole city couldn´t get water. It was ok though they must have fixed it pretty quickly because we had water again by that night. YEAH!! Oh and did I tell you how the water here works? Everyone has a water tank on top of their house and when it runs out you go outside and turn a little knob so that fills it up again. Then when you hear water pouring all over the roof you go and run back outside and turn it off.

So yeah that´s a little bit about what´s going on, in other news I found a cucaracha on my cama yesterday morning haha. (cockroach on my bed) Ok that´s enough about the country, now on to the missionary work. I´m finally working in the field where I´m supposed to be and it´s great and we´re really trying to work hard.

And my goodness I feel like I´ve learned so much since I´ve been here. Especially about the Atonement. We listened to an old talk about the Atonement that one Elder had on a cd, and I feel like it totally changed the way I see the Atonement and I finally understand why it had to be. And all the work that we´ve been doing has taught me a lot too.

We´re whitewashing this area, which means we totally replaced the missionaries here before us, and they left us with nothing. This last week we taught over 90 lessons. (A lesson meaning teaching any principle and leaving a commitment). And finally one old couple let us into their house. I just don´t understand how people don´t want anything to do with something so wonderful that we are so willing to give. And I know it´s just a taste of what the Savior feels. It can get you down when someone rejects the gospel after you share it with them but then once you start talking to someone else you feel great again.

Oh I´ve also got some good news for RJ, if he reads this. Great news, the Wisconsin waterfall is alive and flowing through Argentina. The mullet is IN here! YEAH!! haha, I´ve got funny news for Bryce too. All the little Argentine kids are way into Dragonball Z here. They play this little card game that´s way funny to watch.

It´s really funny to see all the things that come here from America. We actually just ate at a McDonalds. Which was dumb cuz it´s really expensive and the same as in the states, but the other Elders wanted to go so we went. And McDonalds here is SO funny. It´s like the 5 star restaurant of the city. If you´ve got a hot date or a business deal to close then it´s the place to be. And I´m not joking.

Also about the mail. I haven´t gotten any DearElders or anything. The only time we get mail is when we have a zone conference or something, cuz they bring it to us from the mission home, so about twice a month we get mail.

And also, Mom it´s your birthday in about 6 days, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! You´ll be getting a letter but it could be a while, like 2 weeks. haha sorry. I told Lauren I would send her a letter as soon as I could once I got here, but I wasn´t able to send anything until today. I´m sorry Lauren! We don´t have a mail place in our area so I had to wait until today. But I think I´ve got the mail figured out now so hopefully I don´t get delayed in sending stuff anymore.

Ok well that´s about all for now. I´m gonna go try and get all the pictures on my camera copied onto a cd right now so that I can send it home. Oh and I wanted to ask, Did you ever get that box full of letters and pictures that I sent from the MTC?Ok, talk to you again next week! Sounds like things are going well at home, that stinks about the house though. Hopefully moving isn´t as much of a pain as it was last time. Love you all,
Love,

Elder Boice