Sept 30, 2008

Editor's note: It's now spring in Argentina! This picture shows the Rio Parana near Cooper in spring. It was compiled from data collected by the MODIS sensor aboard the Terra satellite. Rio Parana (running north-south through image center) appears brown from the sediment in the water, and eventually drains into the Delta del Parana and the Rio de la Plata Estuary. Where the Rio de la Plata empties into the Atlantic, the brown, sediment-filled river water mixes with clearer ocean water and creates swirls and cloudy formations.

Visible in these image is Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina, located where the Rio Parana meets the Rio de la Plata. Higher resolutions of the image show just how big the city is. Another city visible in the image is Montevideo, located on the opposite side of the Rio de la Plata. Montevideo is the capital city of Uruguay. Higher resolutions of the image show how heavily cultivated this region of Argentina is — farmland is clearly recognizable by the square and rectangular patterns of vegetation on the land. Uruguay, on the other hand, is not so heavily cultivated.

Now....on to Cooper's letter!

Dear Familia,

It seems like it´s been a long week for some reason. I guess it was a day longer than normal since last Pday but it still just seems like it was an extra long week, I don´t know why.

It´s spring now, and it´s starting to show. Yesterday it rained a lot and although there basically wasn´t a winter here it really feels like it´s spring now! Ha ha and I have a pair of shoes and a pair of pants that are covered in mud now. I´m expecting that we´re gonna get some good rain the next few months. Which is really good because it hadn´t rained in a long time and that was creating problems in the campo (countryside) because the cows we´re running out of grass to eat! Or at least that´s what the people keep saying.

So this last week. It was the last week of the transfer. But before I tell you what the new transfers are, I´ll tell you about the week. We were able to teach a few lessons. I think we´re probably teaching more and more lessons each week here. One lady said she got her answer that the Book of Mormon is true. We got another person to start coming to church, so now we have a couple investigators coming to church and progressing. Also on Saturday we had a stake service activity and we got to go. We cleaned up a bunch of trash around the Wal-Mart in the city haha. Maybe I´ll send some pictures of that after I send this email.

Ok so on to the new transfers! I was actually really surprised. Because...I´m staying here! Everyone was saying they thought I would go somewhere else and so I thought so too but no. I´m gonna stay in my first area a little longer it looks like. So obviously I still have work to do here. And I´m staying with this same companion as well. But all in all I´m happy I get to stay here because I don´t want to leave this area without having baptized. I don´t want to be just another missionary that came and left here without baptizing. So my conclusion is I still have more to learn from this area, I still have more to learn from my comp, and I still have yet to baptize. So I still have much to do!

Oh also Elder Hollan, who I´ve been living with basically since I got here, is staying here as well, and he´s gonna be training an Argentine, so that should be fun. I´ll be living with an Elder younger than me and I get to work on my accent living with an Argentine.

Alright well that´s pretty much all I have to say for now. I hope everything´s going well. I hope that Mom and Dad are liking their new jobs and I hope Calvin, Bradley, and Bo that you´re all making good friends in school and doing well!

Ok well I´ll write again next monday! ¡CHAO FAMILIA, QUE TENGAN SUERTE! I love you all, ttyl.
Elder Boice

Sept 22, 2008

Hi family,

How´s everything going in Vegas? Everythings good down here. And thanks Mom for sending me that email about the missionaries in Bolivia. That´s pretty cool, haha I wish I got to flee a country in civil war. haha Just kidding.

Yeah I wouldn´t have even known there was anything going on in Bolivia except that an investigator had the t.v. on one time when we came in and she turned it off and said Bolivia was in civil war or something. The biggest civil unrest that goes on here in Argentina is just people refusing to work. Oh wait a second they do that every day between 12 and 4 and call it the siesta. He he just kidding.

Actually there has been a paro for a while in the registro civil. Which really stinks for the mission work. Because hardly anyone is married here. And you can´t get baptized without being married, if you're just living together "in sin". And you can´t get married without the registro civil! I´m not really sure what the deal is actually but we are probably gonna have to figure it out soon because we have a golden investigator but she isn´t married.

So this last week... We had a good week. Not too much to report except for this golden investigator we have! I can´t remember if I´ve mentioned her yet. But she came to church again yesterday. We actually went to pick her up and go with her but she had already left. ¿Qué tal eh? We´ve taught her a couple times and she basically is just completely receptive and loves it. Her marido (husband except they're not actually married) is a little tougher though, he´s durito (hardened) haha. But they´ve been reading everything we leave them with and the husband/marido has been asking questions about it and listening now. I think if people just listened it would be almost impossible to not convert, but there´s just so many people here that can´t listen. But yeah we finally have someone that is on their way to baptism.

So basically we´re doing great! That´s the biggest news for this week I guess. Besides that, I don´t think I´ve ever mentioned about how it is to live with a Chileno Elder... It´s pretty fun and it´s interesting to see the way he does things different. It´s also super funny to listen to him sing songs that are in english. I guess I´ll be able to learn about living with a Latino once I have a latino comp though...

Lets see, besides that, we lost our hermana (sister) that used to wash our clothes so it´s been back to the bucket. Oh and I have a question. What is your new address in Las Vegas!!?? I´ve had a dvd of pictures that I wanted to send home a long time ago, but I still don´t know the address to send it to. Also I´m supposed to tell the mission office if my family changes address, email, telephone number, home ward or stake. So could you tell me all the new things so I can get it to the mission office? Thanks!

Oh and one more thing Mom. Next p-day is on Tuesday because we have transfers! Love you bye! Ok well until next week. Have a great week everyone!

Love you all.
Love,

Elder Boice

(Editor's note: The picture of the painter is NOT Cooper. I just wanted to add an image that went with his letter! I guess it sorta looks like him...)

Hola,

Un dia loco! (Crazy Day) Yeah, normally I will never email this late because P-day ends at 6:00, but today was really crazy and we didn´t have time to do any normal P-day stuff until now. (Editor's note: 5:00 pm Las Vegas time)

I don´t think we´re gonna even have time to do groceries tonight, but we got permission from the President to do email at night. We spent all day today fixing up our old pension. The dueño (the owner) wanted us to do a bunch of stuff to fix it up, so we spent a lot of this last Friday and then all day today painting and fixing it. And then my companion and I sprinted down here to the closest cyber so we can do our email before the day ends.

It was a success though, and now our old pension looks way better than the brand new one we have now! Let´s see, I have to be short cuz we have to leave soon to get home on time. So Calvin I´m sorry I won´t have time to fill out your Personal Feedback sheet. Maybe I will fill it out next P-day, so let me know if you still need it!

Well I had a good week. And we´re all glad that we´re done with this whole moving thing (we hope), cuz it made a lot of problems for us! Besides fixing up a little house, we were able to do some missionary work too, that´s always good ;).

We found some cool people this week. First we found a lady that lives with a member lady in a house right across the street from the church. That was cool because apparently she´s gone to church a few times. Also we found another lady right on the side of a pretty bad neighborhood. That is awesome. We had stopped by a few times trying to get a cita (appointment) and on Saturday we went in and taught the first lesson and showed her the movie of the Restauration (is that how it´s spelled?). (Editor's note: Coop just spelled in Spanglish! That's a great sign that he's really thinking in Spanish now!) And she had the reaction that we always want. She said she felt something she couldn´t explain, that it was really great. So we took it to the scriptures, bore testimony, and slam dunk! She came to church the next day with her little kid. But that was awesome because she is the second person that we have got to come to church ever since I´ve been here. And she´s coming back next week and seems really great.

Also something funny I wanted to mention. There´s something about being a missionary...where, you could talk to someone for like 30 seconds and before you know it they are telling you all their darkest secrets and personal problems... and it happens all the time to us. I think part of it has to do with the fact that people are more open down here in Argentina, but still. Even if people have no desire to hear the Gospel they just trust us I guess.

Ok my time´s about up and its´time to go run back to our pench! I love you all. Have a great week, and thanks for all the emails!
Love,

Elder Boice

September 8, 2008

I told Cooper that our new Bishop at church served his mission in Argentina, as well as the new Young Men's President! Our last Bishop was FROM Argentina and our former Stake President served his mission there too. Seems to me that Argentina is the training place for great spiritual leaders! Here was Cooper's reply:

Wow what can I say, I guess Argentina is the place to be. Well I´m gonna give you a quick summary of my week, cuz I´m almost out of time to write and I still need to write to the Mission President.

Well, we had interviews with the President earlier this week and that was actually really fun, and it´s fun to get to know the President a little better. He´s not quite as intimidating now haha. He´s really great though and of course always has great advice, like mission presidents are supposed to.

Hmmm, I don´t think I have any really amazing or fun stories this week. But we were able to get into a lot more houses this week and teach, and that´s been awesome. We´re starting to teach a lot more and we´re getting more members to come with us to our better citas (appointments).

We´ve pretty much spent the transfer so far mostly in 2 little areas of apartments/homes. Not really sure how to describe it, but they´re pretty humble areas. One of them I never even knew existed last transfer but we´ve found some receptive people there. It´s probably the armpit of our area in terms of where you would want to live...but hey if the people want to hear the Gospel we´ll spend all day there!

Well yep nothing more to report this week. Good lessons, good people=good week. Sounds like things are going well at home. Haha and that´s weird to imagine 4 chairs at the dinner table. Weird I bet you feel super outnumbered by the Longs now! haha.

(Editor's note: I send Cooper some Spanish "word of the day" emails, and this was his comment on today's...) Haha yesterday´s word of the day was "equipo" and it just reminded me of a funny phrase. Yesterday my comp and I were talking about an investigator and he said something about "como es difícil enseñar a una persona cuando le falta algunos jugadores en la cancha." Haha anyways, I just thought that was funny. (Translation: it's hard to teach a person when they're one person short of a team.....meaning, they're not "all there.")

Thanks for renewing my driver´s license! That´s cool that you got the house looking good. Our new pension here still doesn´t look very good. There´s just no time to do stuff like that when you´re a missionary.

Ok, well until next week! Keep being awesome!

Love,

Elder Boice

September 1, 2008

September 1, 2008

Dear family,

It´s been a good and crazy week. I guess I´ll start by talking about the new house/pension we are living in now. And I´ll try to send some pictures I took when we were moving.

(Editor's Note: I asked him what that silver lever was above the oven on the wall to the left of the missionaries in the picture...it looks like a toilet lever. He said he never did figure out what it went to!)

Well first of all we are true Argentines because when we moved we took EVERYTHING. Right down to the toilet seat. When we got to the new house (with all of our stuff in a big truck) we found out that the new house wasn´t exactly finished like they told us it would be. There was supposed to be a hot water heater, but that wasn´t hooked up. They didn´t clean up the house, and the front door doesn´t stay shut on its own. Also the water didn´t work, but we got the water to work the second day we were there.

Also one of the bide´s dissapeared somehow. lol, idk figure that one out. Apparently the water in our new neighborhood doesn´t work so well, the tank above your house just slowly fills up at night. And the water pressure in the house just comes from the fact that the water is on top of your house. Go gravity! So yeah we´ve been trying to be really careful with our water cuz it runs out kind of easily. We started doing dishes using two buckets but then we got lazy and now we´re just doing it in the sink like normal.

Oh and one thing I want you all to do: Next time you take a shower, be thankful for how awesome it is! haha. We have shower heads instead of the bucket shower like in our last pension. But the bucket shower is so much better!! Here the water is freezing cold cuz we don´t have hot water so there´s no way to take a hot shower. And there´s not really any water pressure, the water falls out about 4 inches from the wall haha. So umm yeeahh, we´ve kind of stopped taking as many showers...I´m pretty sure this is day 4 without a shower for one Elder here because he can´t stand the cold hahaha.

Ok that´s enough about our house, it really is nice though cuz it´s bigger. That´s the reason we moved, just because it was a 2 man pinch and there were 4 of us in there.

Alright on to the actual mission work! We found some great people this week. One guy we found we taught him a lesson with his son (who is 8, yes!) and they were really receptive, and he even said that he never is home the hour that we came to his house but that day something told him to come home from work early. Oh and his son Jeremias (how awesome is that he´s named after a prophet, totally should be Mormon). Jeremias had cut out the picture of Christ in a pamphlet we left the Dad when we met him, and he had pasted it on the wall in his room. How cool is that! Well, he also lit a candle under it like a little Catholic kind of thing but it´s a start haha.

We also taught another lesson in the home of the 1st counselor who lives with his viejito dad. He´s a little old guy (viejito) that´s pretty sick, but we taught a lesson to the lady that takes care of the dad. And it was a great lesson. We watched the Restauracion (Restoration) video to finish the lesson. Also there´s something thrilling about getting off the bus to get home in time and sprinting the last few blocks to make it in the door with 30 seconds to spare. Haha life is different as a missionary.

Oh and one other thing I just thought was funny and wanted to mention was I saw a car that had a little kid´s bicycle tire as a steering wheel. Just thought someone back home might get a kick out of that. Haha I´ve seen more than one car with a lawn chair as the drivers´s seat too.

Ok well that just about wraps up this last week. I´m gonna try to send some pictures and I need to write the President.

Love you all!
Love,

Elder Boice