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