January 26, 2009

(Editor's note: We received a package from Cooper this week with our Christmas presents from him! Doggone slow Argentine mail. The best thing in the box was a CD full of pictures of Cooper! YAY! Here's a picture of him and his last companion before he got transferred to the new area. He said he's going to send newer pictures soon. Until then, I now have a ton of older ones to use on his blogs. YAY! Here's this week's letter from Coop.)

Hey there family,

Today I realized I hit 10 months in the mission. Cool huh? Thanks a lot Dad for your conversion story, that was really fun to read. I´m gonna keep a copy with me. But you know what, it´s one of those things that I can use when we´re teaching. Being from the states and being born into a member family kind of makes it harder to relate with all the people down here. It´s kind of like being one of those Elders from the "fabrica" as they say down here (everyone from Utah). But everyone thinks it´s cool when I say that my Dad is a convert, and that he served a mission as well. So thanks for writing me up your story Dad, I´m sure the moment will come when it will help someone out down here.

Well on to this week. We´ve been getting lots of references, especially from one family in our branch which is really great. We´ve been especially focusing on 2 of them. But the goal is eventually to baptize all of them of course!So things are going well with that. But we also had some other stuff going on this week that made it kind of complicated but fun haha.

For starters I´m out of money til the end of the month so that should be interesting. Also ever since the storm last weekend we´ve been out of water. I shouldn´t say out of water because every once in a while we would get some and so we would take quick showers and fill up our water bottles and stuff. And then on Thursday our cell phone died on us. So we have to wait about 2 or 3 weeks before we get that fixed. Til then we just use the phone in the church or a phone booth. Which is kinda funny because since we´re out far away from everything we´re kind of cut off out here. There´s no way for the mission to contact us, so it makes it kind of fun just cuz it feels like we´re more on our own haha.

Which all this stuff I don´t know how bad it sounds, cuz it´s really not that bad, it just makes things more fun cuz we always have little problems we need to fix or work out. But anyway....that stuff kind of slowed us down a little bit this last week, but it was still a successful week. On Saturday we did an activity in the church. We watched The Testaments and it went really well. Everybody cried of course, including the investigators, and us haha. But it was good and I was really happy about it.

Unfortunately on Sunday the worst thing possible happened. Ok not the worst thing possible, but you´ll all think its funny. It rained a little the night before and sprinkled a little bit in the morning. Which is for some reason the Achile´s heel of the church members in Argentina. Only 20 people showed up to church so my companion and I both gave talks in sacrament, then my companion taught the gospel doctrine class to everyone and then I taught priesthood. Also my comp played the piano and I blessed the sacrament. Haha.

I still don´t understand the whole rain thing, what the big deal is here, but oh well. My comp and I got to practice teaching some more. Our investigators didn´t come, but later we found out that they all got ready to go to church with a family in the branch. But when they left the house in the family´s car, the car broke down a block and a half from the house. Noooo!!! Satan´s really working hard, haha we just have to work harder I guess.

Ok well I better get going. I hope everyone has a great week. I love you all!
Love,

Elder Boice

January 19, 2009

(Editor's note: Cooper sent a picture! YAY! Even better, he explains who is in the photo! YAY! Here is what he said:)


Here's a picture from zone conference this last wednesday. On the left is Elder Baxter who I haven´t seen since the MTC. Remember you talked with his sister. I asked him about the guy that pulled a gun on him because I remember you told me about that haha. On the right is Elder Hatch , my comp from the MTC! He looks so much different now! He´s lost a lot of weight. But besides that it was way fun seeing him and talking. He´s still super nice and humble just like in the MTC.

Thanks, Mom, for sending all those pictures. It´s always super fun to see pictures of fun stuff going on at the cabin and everything. Sounds like you had a fun weekend. But you scared me talking about sending my "hump day package". It took me a second and then I thought no way I can´t be that close to hitting a year! Which is true it´s still over 2 months away, but I guess you´re right, mail could take a while.

Which reminds me I can´t remember if I said anything or not. About 2 weeks ago I mailed a little package home and it had some pictures and some other stuff. You´ll have to let me know how long it takes to get there. I mailed some little things off to Lauren as well but I´m thinking she may be in China by the time it gets there. By the way thanks for finding that out for me, when she´s going. That´s exciting.

Let´s see I guess I should tell you about my week. Some highlights were: taking cigarettes from an hermano (brother) in the branch, having a zone conference (which was super far away), teaching some good lessons :D , getting new investigators, getting caught in a rainstorm, the power going out in the city, and teaching a lady that got trapped in her outhouse during the rainstorm because a tree fell in front of it. Haha, the rainstorm was on Saturday and my comp and I got soaked. It was pretty intense, it started hailing and we have a weird window/hole thing in our roof and for some reason hail could get through but the rain couldn´t.

I think the zone conference this last week was the best one yet. A lot of changes were made, basically in the way we count things, but it really did make a difference. My comp and I are trying to make a lot of changes in the way we teach. Basically just by being much more straightforward and bold and honest. We learned that all an investigator really needs is to feel the spirit and understand that God loves them and wants them to be in his church. We´re gonna make things a lot simpler and bolder. So I´m pretty excited about that.

Well I don´t really have much more time to write. But it sounds like everyone´s doing ok at home, which is always good to hear. Enjoy the picture I sent, and I´ll talk to you next week!

P.s. I just made another DVD of pictures so I´ll have to send that home in a little while. I love you all!! Have a fantastical week
Love,
Elder Boice

January 12, 2009

(Editor's note: Here's a picture Cooper sent, but he didn't say the names of the people in the picture. Two of them are wearing white, so that means they got baptized! YAY! I think it's the couple he was teaching who recently got married. Coop looks like such a giant compared to some of these Argentines! Here's his letter for this week.)

Hey family how´s it going. I don´t have much time to write today but things are going well. The last week was a good week. The members are introducing us to friends and family and we´ve started teaching some good people.

Today we travelled to a different city and spent it with some other missionaries. We played soccer and had a water balloon fight haha. For some reason today seems like one of those days where the mission is just going by really fast. It´s a wierd feeling. I´m getting "old" in the mission now. But things are going well and I´m learning. Being senior comp is a really great opportunity to learn. I guess that´s one of the main purposes. To teach us and give us opportunities to lead.

You know I´m the only American missionary here in this area. We met up with 6 other missionaries today and I´m the only gringo. It´s funny though because sometimes people assume that all mormon missionaries are from the states. So even the native missionaries get people yelling at them asking them why they´re in their country haha.

Well I´m really short on time this week. I´ll have to write up a better letter next week. But Brad, sounds like you´re doing good. Good luck with the math test :) . Dad, sorry about the car, that´s really a bummer. Mom, sounds like you had a big event for Multipure, I hope it went well. Calvin, good luck back at BYU! and Bo, keep being a cool kid!

P.S. anyone know if Lauren is heading off to China at the end of this month?
Ok well, have a great week everybody! Talk to you next week! I love you!
Love,

Elder Boice

January 5, 2009

(Editor's note: Above is a picture of the Christmas stockings that Lauren sent to Cooper and his companion. Cooper said his companion couldn't believe that Lauren would do such a nice thing for him. He kept asking "Are you sure this stocking isn't from your mom?" Way to go Lauren!

The other picture is of the Argentine Santa Clause who runs through the town throwing out candy on Christmas Eve. The children run outside to chase him while the parents set out the presents inside the houses....clever distraction, eh?) Now for Cooper's letter this week:

Hey Family,

I know I know I just wrote last Thursday, so it´s only been a few days. But P-day was all wierd during the holiday season. So I´m writing again. Yay! And well…not too much has happened in the last 3 or so days, sooo…..Church was good on Sunday, testimony meeting.

I guess yesterday was good, we found some really cool people. We knocked a door (clapped our hands in front of it since they don't have door bells), and a kid (about 17) came out and invited us in. That was wierd cuz we hadn´t even introduced ourselves yet. But we went in and talked to him and his Grandma, and we found out the Grandmom´s mother had died about a month ago, and she wanted to know where she is. So we shared The Plan of Salvation and then we ended up sharing the restoration quickly and then also the Word of Wisdom and I think something else. They just had a lot of questions haha. Oh yeah they wanted to know about María, if we believe in her, or all the Santos (saints). I got to the point where I finally decided that when teaching, it´s just better to be straight forward and tell them that those are all false beliefs, that theres nothing in the Bible that even hints at worshipping Maria or all the Saints. As long long as you do it with love it goes over fine haha.

Oh here´s something interesting to talk about. Down here there are little idols of random Virgens or santos all over the place. But I think the pope probably has to aprove someone being a Santo. So it´s kind of funny cuz there´s a Santo down here that´s kind of like the rebel Santo, because he hasn´t been aproved so he´s technically not a real Santo. But his name is Gauchito Gil. There´s idols and pictures of him all over the place but most of it is in the villa, or more ghetto area. He was supposedly kind of like a Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. And then they say he got caught and crucified, I think is how the story goes.But he´s basically a Villero Santo. Or a gangster´s santo. The more tattoos and stuff you have the more likely you are to worship this rebel santo. Oh and Gauchito Gil literally means “little dumb gaucho/cowboy”. I don´t mean to laugh at their beliefs, I just thought it was interesting. A random culture class on Argentina.

I don´t know what else to say. We´re staying busy, the work is going well. We´re getting people to go to church but there´s a lot more we need to get to go. But it´s really cool watching the change that happens in people.Oh yeah and my comp from Canada is a really good teacher. I have to learn from him for sure. He´s one of those people who can start talking and just keep going and going. I´m not saying that´s good teaching in itself but he is a good teacher and for me talking and talking is one of those things I´m not so good at haha.

I can´t remember if I´ve said anything about him. His parents are from Ecuador and El Salvador. I´m trying to send pictures right now and he´s in one of them so you´ll get to see a picture.Alright well I´m gonna wrap this up and write a letter to the president. Hopefully all these pictures I´m trying to send make it. I love you all,
Love,

Elder Boice

Happy New Year!

Hi Family,

Yesterday was P-day but I´m writing today because everything was closed yesterday. Being new years day no one was out and all the stores and cybers were closed.

Well, since I called last week for Christmas I didn´t get to write an email. So I guess I´ll sum up whats been going on the last couple of weeks. But first of all, it was really fun to talk to you all. I didn´t think I sounded different but I guess maybe I do according to Dad. I actually noticed it too because when I was talking to you all I kind of reverted back to how I spoke before the mission. When I was trying to tell a funny version of how I got robbed I realized I kind of lost my ability to play with words. Oh and by the way when I said I started every morning by working out super hard and then eating a bowl of cereal without milk that was supposed to be a joke. Haha

Well I´m looking through all these emails you sent me right now. There´s one with just a bunch of pictures of little kids that are completely horrified sitting on Santa´s lap, and its actually really funny. Also, it sounds like you´re probably all at the cabin right now. I hope you´re having fun! Say hi to everyone for me! I´m still working on those letters to everyone.

Well I guess I´ll tell you about my New Years. New years eve we had to come back to the pench early, at 8:00. And then we just kinda hung out for a while, I can´t really remember what we talked about. But we listened to music and at midnight I heard all the fireworks go off. Sounded like fun haha. The first was P day and no one was outside. We looked for somewhere to do email but it was all closed. We cleaned a lot and wrote letters, then in the afternoon to the night we did weekly planning.

We have a lot of people we´re working with now which is really good. My companion says he´s never had so many people he was working with at the same time in his mission. I said well what do you expect we have the whole city there has to be plenty of people that will listen. It´s fun though, once again it´s way better to have too many people than not enough. Hopefully we see some success really soon.

Lets see, I´m not really sure what else to talk about. The work is going well. Oh yeah yesterday I made a ton of really big pancakes, and we found this little thing of maple extract in the cupboard and directions to make syrup, so we made maple syrup too and it was really good. That´s right Dad, they don´t have death juice in Argentina so we had to make it on our own. Haha, I don´t think I´ll do it again for a while though cuz I felt sick afterward from eating so much. Yuck syrup.

Ok well I need to get going now, but I love you all, and wish you all a happy new year! It´s crazy how fast the time goes. It´s January and in March I´ll hit a year in the mission. Whats going on!!! Haha, love you all,
Love,

Elder Boice