Biking with the Soup

11/4/13

Hi there everybody! 

Well Last Monday was pretty not fun.  My comp didn’t have any money and so we didn’t go to the Zone activity.  Boo... and then after lunch I rode down a little hill and lost my favorite pen that I have been using since the beginning of my mission. Boo... and then after that we went to the Internet cafe and I forgot my flash drive there.  Boo.. And then we went and taught a lesson and I had been writing in English all day so all of the Spanish that I had was completely gone.  Haha it was so dang embarrassing...  I was feelin it early into the lesson.  The girl told us she wants to change her life so I was like "man invite her to baptism right here” so I went for it.  And I asked her the question.  And then she sat there for a minute or two just thinking.  The whole time we were making eye contact.  Me sitting there 4 feet away just staring at her, waiting for her response.  Then she broke the silence by saying, "Was that a question?"... Yes... yes it was... I stumbled for words and couldn’t find any.  It kinda felt like I had just woke up and was kind of still dreaming and I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on.  All I ended up saying was uhh...el...la....verdad....mi companero puede explicar....  and then I just sat in on the lesson feeling like the kid wearing the dunce cap in front of his class.
The next day was Tuesday.  Every Tuesday we have reunion of the District which is 5 or 6 areas that get together and talk about how we can improve and whatnot.  We meet in a place called Alejandro Korn which by bus is a good 15-20 minutes away.  We went to the reunion biking the whole way and it took us about 35 minutes from our Pension but it was way sweet.  We are all learning how to jump and whatnot on our bikes so we were all trying to the whole way and it was super fun.  After the reunion we went back to Parque Americana and taught 2 or 3 lessons.  On our way back we passed the hill where I lost my pen so I figured I might as well try, if I don’t look now I’m gonna regret it.  So I checked, in vain or so I thought. I was looking everywhere but trying not to slow my comp down because he isn’t the most patient person in the whole world, and I saw something glint in the sunlight.  I booked over to it and it was my pen!!!  Haha I was so stoked to find it.  I was grinning like an idiot the whole way to our Pension.  I was feelin it so I asked my comp if we could try and look for my pen drive.  He told me very reluctantly "Ok...” So we went and I looked for it and it wasn’t there so I was bummed about that, but as I was leaving I asked the Grandma who was working there and she told me that a girl turned it in!  Haha thank the man up top for honest people.  Anyways I was super stoked about the whole day.  Some good lessons, a good bike ride, and I found my stuff.

The next day we taught our lessons in Parque again and then we made our way back to Fernanda’s house. On the way home my comp and I were disagreeing about something and he pulled out a low blow about my Spanish so I was a bit ticked but it was a bit true so not too ticked, just a little.  Anyways we were riding our bikes I jumped a curb and my companion tried to hop the curb in front of me but he jumped too early and not high enough, and I saw it with my own two eyes, like it was a movie in slowmo, he crashed into the curb and went head over heels on the bike and landed sitting on his butt.   They have a saying here "bajar la caña" which translates to "drop the cane" which means to put somebody in their place.  I know that it’s messed up and I’m supposed to be trying to help him with everything but I couldn’t help but laugh. 

On Friday I woke up and thought, "there be a storm brewin..." It was dark black clouds as far as the eye could see.   it started to rain.  We finished our weekly planning at 12 and it was raining harder.  We had lunch with the Family Avalos but it was one of the Hermana’s birthdays and she washes our clothes every week and folds them too so we went and bought them some plants and a pie.  We went to the store and within 5 minutes of being outside I was soaked. My socks were sloshing every step. When we got there, water was coming through the roof so they weren’t in the highest of spirits. But we ate anyways, in silence. After our lunch it started to rain harder so we decided to go back to the Pension and wait for it to calm down a bit because there were streets with water up to my shins.

On Saturday, we had a recent convert Alex come teach with us the whole day.  He is 18 and super awesome.  I feel like I’m hanging out with a homie when he comes teaching with us.  On Sunday it was Ward Conference so we had been telling people to bring friends and we were working hard to get all the menos activos and investigators as was possible and luckily it was a sunny day so we had over 100 people show up.  

The next day I woke up, jump roped for 30 minutes and then I made some veggie soup for lunch at the church.  We still had a butt load and I didn’t want to waste it but I didn’t have anything to bring it home in so I biked for 15 minutes with a huge pot full of soup in one hand and steering with the other.  My arm was dang tired 5 minutes into the ride but I was determined.  Close to the house a girl walked in front of me and I didn’t have time to stop so I just turned right.  It was a bad decision because there was a bus stop to the right so I ended up just crashing into it and looking like an idiot, but I didn’t spill any soup so there’s a plus, right?  

Have a good week.

I love you all, Andy

Elder Cook: October Update

Oct 1

Well how is everyone doing?? Everything is good here! We were able to go to the temple yesterday and it took all day so we didn't get to email or anything yesterday! But here I am today! The temple was awesome though! I always feel the spirit so strongly whenever I go there! I wish that we could go more often but its not like being in Utah where there is a 2 or 3 temples like 20 minutes away! We left the church at 9:30 am with everyone in our zone and we got home at 7 pm! It was an all day thing and we only went through once! But it was fun and I get to go again in a year!!! We go once every year... but anyway it was good! We went to the Monticello temple and it is really small!!! But yeah that was yesterday! This last week I was able to take over the area because of the 12 week training program we have and since it was week 11 I had to be senior companion and make the decisions on everything! It went pretty good and the transfer ends in one week! So this next transfer I could have a trainee or just a regular companion?? We won't find out till this Saturday! But this weekend is General conference and I have never been so excited for general conference!!! I love it now!! I can't wait till it comes! But on to investigators! We got a new investigator named Craig and we are going to see him at 2 which is in like a half an hour and we are going to invite him to be baptized on November 2! Hopefully that goes well! But with Ken and Heidi, we are also seeing them tonight and I think there son is doing better! They are getting back from UNM which is a hospital and so we will see how that goes. But we are going to have to push their baptism date back to October 26! Its for the best though. And last we had a great spiritual experience with a less active family! The Sanderson's! They were baptized in 2006 but then the husband had something happen to him and so he started drinking and usually when we would go over, he would always be in the back room, but a couple of nights ago he came out and we just told us how he wanted to get his soul back and get things back to the way the used to be before he started drinking! Apparently he was really strong and he got the priesthood really fast and was doing really well and really spiritual. But then his father committed suicide and he felt awful and started going back to his old habits and started drinking. But I could feel the spirit so strong and the adversary is always working on him so hard because he is really a great man deep down! But we had some members come with us and he is looking forward to our visit with him tomorrow! Well that is all for the week! I got to get going! But talk to ya all next week!!
Love,

Elder Cook

Oct 7

Well I have been out two transfers so far and I am starting my third! To begin, General Conference was awesome! So many good talks and Justin, you are right about General Conference being like Christmas out in the mission field! I was so stoked this whole last week! And now that it is over, I cant wait until the next one in 6 months!!! But everything is going great here in Farmington! I will be here another transfer and I am taking over the area! I am getting a new companion tomorrow named Elder Poulson! I have heard he is pretty funny so I am looking forward to that! This last week was great though! We put one of our investigators on date to be baptized for November 2! His name is Craig and he is pretty solid! Whenever an investigator just shows up at church with a member that is their friend, they are always solid! At least so far that I have seen! But he already knows that the church is true! We just have to teach him some more things! Maybe he will even get baptized even sooner because he is progressing so well! But also with our investigators Ken and Heidi! Heidi finally got back from the hospital with her son and she watched most of the Conference sessions and Ken watched the Sunday ones only because he has to work on Saturday! But Heidi was saying how well Conference applied to her specifically and it was awesome to hear! Well those are our two most progressing investigators! But this last Saturday I was thinking all about the chocolate haunted houses and I missed making them! They were awesome! But that morning we were on our way to a members house to watch General Conference and I was thinking about our Saturday morning traditions for conference and I was thinking how much I will miss this Halloween because that is my favorite holiday but then we got to the members and they made us lunch after! And Brother Smith just came out with a plate full of huge ribs and with conference combined with ribs.... I completely forgot about Halloween! Ha the members here are awesome! Anyway those were the highlights of this week! Well hope everyone has a good week and I look forward to emailing next week!

Love,

Elder Cook

 

Oct 14

Well how is everything going!?? Another week has gone by! That went by so fast! But anyway everything is good here! I am still in Farmington with my new companion, Elder Poulson! He is really cool and we are getting a long great! We have had a pretty good week! It started off kind of slow because of transfers and we had 4 Elders with us at one point so it made it hard to go and teach people because we had so many! But Elder Young my former companion is gone. He is in Tohatchi which is just north of Gallup if you know where that is in New Mexico. It is kind of in the west part of the state. But anyway he is gone and I am still in Farmington New Mexico. And we are still on bikes! Elder Poulson is still trying to get used to them! It is very tiring the first couple of weeks on bikes because you get so sore. But it is good! We are having a lot of fun and we are still teaching a lot of people! And we have 3 on date to be baptized and one of them is really solid so we might get a baptism sometime soon! Hopefully! But it is starting to get cold here! But we have our suit coats that we have to wear now because it is suit season! I really should have got all my suits at DI because they are going to be destroyed anyway! And we go to a thrift store here in Farmington looking for new suit coats because they are like 3 bucks and some of them are really nice! I got a tan colored on that is 64% wool and 34% camel hair! Ha it is awesome! But i cant wear it till I get some tan colored pants because we have to match for the most part. Anyway things are going great! We had a cool experience happen on Friday! We were in a usual area that we have a lot of investigators around and it is all tracted out so we never get new investigators around there anymore. But we were walking around and we tried someone that I havent seen in awhile that we could never catch and we havent tried this person in like 2 months. But we went and knocked and I didn't think anyone one answer but a new person that I have never seen was there and it turns out that the other person that lived there before moved and we didn't know. But she invited us in and said that she saw us the night before (because we are always over there) and she wanted to talk to us but she didn't. But she invited us in and her whole family was home and we got 5 new investigators and they said they wanted to come to church this upcoming Sunday! But yeah that was really cool! And then later we got two new investigators somewhere else so we had 7 new investigators in one day which was really cool and way good! That is almost double our standards of excellence for a week!!!! But anyway Elder Poulson is awesome! He is technically the senior companion because he has been out 16 months but since he came to the area I am in then that means that I am pretty much leading for right now because he doesnt know anyone or any place to go! But yeah all is well here! Also if you have pictures send them! I want to get more pictures just to be able to have! I have a couple from when Justina and Alli sent me some and also when Jenna sent me some! But yeah send more if you can! Anyway that is really all for this week! Hope to hear from you all next week!!

Love,

Elder Cook

"This is my zone leader Elder Waldo. He makes really good tacos!"

"For the last little bit of conference we had to watch outside because the husband had to leave"

"My district!"

"Temple"

"A cat jumped on my seat and wanted to ride with me! :)"

Oct 21
Well how is everyone doing?? Everything is going great here! I am just loving it out here and everything is going well! But this last week was a good one! Just a couple of quick stories! Well we we went to go teach one of our investigators and we had a great lesson with them and it was the first lesson! But they told us that they have been looking for a church to join and also they offered us dinner which has never happened to me! But we had another appointment to go to.but they invited us to dinner tonight and so we are going there at 5 to have dinner with them and also we are going to teach them more! I have a good feeling about them! But also this really cool experience happened. So there is a member that does our laundry for us every Friday and so this last Friday she said she couldn't because her son was in the Hospital and was in really bad shape. Well she asked if we could go give a blessing and so we did and we get there and he was in the ICU and so it wasn't looking very good for him. He had a ventilator and that was the only way he could breathe and so we get in there and he was unconscious and the nurse said that it was not looking good for him. Well I was a little scared to give a blessing because he was in such bad shape but I was just relying so much on the Lord right there because this was a members son that was inactive and he had smoking problems and he also had pneumonia and so it did something to his lungs or something like that. But I was scared but at the same time peaceful. But anyway my companion anointed and I gave the blessing and anyway we got a call this morning from the member and she said that her son was doing great! The doctors said it was a miracle that he got well so fast and that if he would have stayed on the ventilator for another 12 hours then he would have died. But he is doing really well now and he is off the ventilator and so that was a huge blessing! But I know that this church is true and just all the things that I have experienced on my mission so far have only built that up! But anyway I am loving it out here and I can't wait to hear how things are going with everyone! But I have to go! I'll talk to you all next week with more spiritual experiences hopefully!!!

Love,

Elder Bradley Cook

 

Oct 28

Well this letter might be a little short today just because not all that much happened this last week! I actually got sick with the stomach flu so we had to stay home for a while! But it was still a pretty good week! But we were able to go see the guy we gave a blessing to and he is doing really well! He is up and walking around and that is pretty crazy seeing as how I saw him on a ventilator the week before! But yeah he is doing really well and as long as he eats healthy then he should be able to go back to normal in a couple of months! But also this last week we had two new investigators that wanted to feed us so we went and had dinner with them and it was really cool because they were just so nice and it is so cool to see how the Lord prepares people! But anyway me and my companion are way excited for Halloween this week! We have to go in early that night so we will have like 3 hours to do nothing so we are probably going to invite our District leader over and a couple of other missionaries over and play some monopoly or something like that! But we get to go to our ward's Halloween party and I am way excited! Ha but we can't dress up which is a bummer! Well we can dress up as missionaries!!!! But yeah this last wee was good and it sounds like everything is going well back home! And also Happy Birthday Steve! But anyway that is all for this week! Sorry but hopefully I will have more next week!! Love you all!!

Elder Cook

#shoutouts from Cole

Ok, ok so yes I did get mad at Cole for not writing very much last week, so that is why he formatted the letter this way (love him!!): 

Alright, so Mom got on me for not being a good enough writer, but the problem is I just don't have that much time. So real quick, I get a little less than 1 hour to email, and write to the President and a whole bunch of other stuff, so really no time at all. I guess the best thing is, if you are really mad at me, I won't get in trouble for like 2 more years. Sorry my letters are pretty LAME, but I do my best.

I cook kinda, I make eggs for breakfast and rice and mac and cheese and easy stuff, but I don't think there is a ton of time for a full meal or somesing. The best thing I ate was probably I made some really great mac and cheese, or McDonalds has some new stuff on the dollar menu, so that was good. I try to write details in here, but I don't even have details yet ha ha, I have only been here for 2 weeks and I haven't even met all of our investigators. We are working with this family I knocked into on my first day and they have already been to church twice, which is pretty crazy. 

#shoutout time-

#shoutout to Dad- We have a couple promising investigators, but we have had real trouble getting a hold of people this week. The apartment is fine, ha ha a little dumpy, even for a missionary apartment, but it is whatever. I went on exchanges the other day and got to stay at a sweet apartment that the other elders have. The ward is pretty cool, but we have 6 missionaries in the ward so every thing needs to be split 3 ways. We pretty much only tract, but we are trying to ask for more referrals and whatnot lately. I usually approach in English, and if people say they don't speak English I feel way cool and say "oh that's ok because we speak Spanish. We're the Missionaries..." But in Spanish and stuff. The fishing sounds sweet! I'm still pretty butthurt that you took Nate and Dalton hunting without me.

#shoutout to Mom- You're mad at me. ha ha. I try to give details but the real thing is that I don't know anything yet. Last P-day we played basketball all day, and I have no Idea what this one will be like. We are teaching a few people, but like I said, we are having trouble with them actually being there. 

#shoutout to Nate- You salty sea-dog, I haven't heard from you in like a month. 

#shoutout to Liza- You didn't write me either last week, so don't blame me, blame yourself. I heard you are doing way good at track and young womaning, so good job at those. But way good job at track, jump high and stuff!

#shoutout to Dalton- Denton is pretty cool. Literally, it is kinda cold. What is the Saint's record, I also don't believe the Jets won. I also heard you're starting basketball, win some games and stuff!

#shoutout to Leena- Hey you little stinker! I haven't heard from you in forever, what the Heck! I guess you're making friends at school, be nice to them. Also give em wet willies and stuff. 

Whellp, that is all I have for this week. I am learning Spanish well, I feel like I learn a ton of new stuff everyday, but I don't know anything. Sometimes when things get really awkward in a lesson or conversation I can pretend like I don't understand and so that is good. Love you all and all that mischief! 

Love, 

Cole

Cole's First Week In Texas

So first off, I didn't call in Mexico because I was pretty pooped and I didn't really want to talk that much. Jk, I needed some weird Mexican credit card to do it so I couldn't, and also I got trapped talking to a group of Spanish nuns. When I got into America, there was simply no time to call, so there is my explanation.

Haha, I am pretty sure that you guys no more about Denton than I do. I have a ward, and there are 3 groups of Spanish missionaries that go to that ward, I have just me and Elder Long in the Apartment. Elder Long is a baller, and a super great missionary. We actually don't teach English Tuesday nights, but we might start soonish. The bike is sweet, I love hittin taking it off some sweet jumps and that kind of mischief. Sometimes its hard when I have diarrhea and bumpy roads, but I manage. Just kidding, I don't have either of those things, I am in America. 

We have been doing a lot of tracting and finding new investigators, so that is cool. We knock doors, and if they're English, we teach in English, and if Spanish, we teach in Spanish, so that is cool. 

For Halloween, we went to a ward trunk or treat thing and helped out, so that was really weird. Denton is a biking area, so no cars #yolo. Biking is kinda hard, but I like it a lot. We eat with members a little, and then we have just been eating whatever is left in the apartment from the last elders. 

So at the Airport, I didn't even have time to get food, so I haven't had any fast food yet. I have placed a couple of Book of Mormons, and pretty much I just try my best.

Love, 

Cole

Testigos and Outer Space

10/28/13

Ok well this week was good.  Usually my companion and I have some stupid petty argument but this week was all good and pretty dang fun.  I think it’s because we are starting to be able to talk more and also we are starting to have a little bit of fun on the bikes.  Don’t worry, ma, I’m not going crazy.  Also we had 4 baptisms this week, woo!  The family with the mom and 2 sons Fernanda, Bruno, and Santiago that remind me a bunch of Johnny boy and I, and then a man named Albert.

Alright so on Tuesday we had the normal business.  We went to the reunion of the District and learned some missionary stuff.  After that we went to the Familia Sajamas and ate some lunch. There is a food here, called milanesa (not sure how you write it), that is breaded chicken, steak, or fish that is deep fried.  It is super good but we have it a lot.  This is the first time this week.  After lunch we biked for 20 minutes from Parque Americana to the Yaya to our next lesson.  When we got there our investigator didn’t answer the door because it was siesta and she was probably sleeping so we just made our way back to our next lesson where we were in the first place haha. At least I’m getting some good exercise, right?  We went and taught one of our investigators named Albert who is getting baptized this week.  After that we just we and taught some more lessons and then went home for the night.  

On Wednesday we left the pension early because we had a lesson.  So we started biking and on our way I saw 2 things that I thought were super funny.  The first was there was a school with probably 200 kids flying kites.  It looked sweet with all of the kites just hanging out up there.  Haha I was thinking of you pops and your beloved ninja turtle kite.  The second was there was a group of 10 year old kids that ran up to a house, in broad daylight, and rang the doorbell and booked it off.  Haha those little doorbell ditchin rascals.  After our lesson we went to the Guarachis and had some Peruvian food for lunch.  They always make the most interesting things.  I will try and get some pictures and some recipes from them.  Anyways after that we went to Fernanda, Bruno, and Santiago.  We talked to them for a while, and then after our lesson we helped them pick some lemons off of their neighbors lemon tree haha.  After that we went looking for some less active members.  We weren’t having too much luck but we finally found an old grandma and her son who had some mental problems.  We walked in and I asked them if I should shut the door, which I immediately regretted, especially when my comp glared at me haha.... my bad... But they were super nice and not dangerous at all so in the end it was a good thing.  After that we went to another menos activos house and talked to her and her daughter.  They made us More or Less things that were like scones.  The first one that I had made me feel a little sick so I didn’t eat another... until they kept asking me if I wanted another.  So I ate that one trying to give some of it to the dog.  And then when I finished that one they asked me if I wanted another one with Dulce de Leche.  I said no I’m fine but they gave me it anyway haha...  We were heading out the door though so I took one bite and started biking off.  As soon as I was out of sight I threw that bad boy into outer space.  

The next day was Thursday.  I can’t remember what we were doing but we had to bring something to the church.  When we got there my companion needed to use the bathroom so I went and started to play some piano.  After I had learned 2 songs (on the right hand of course...) I realized that we had been there for a while.  I went and checked the time and we had been there for almost 45 minutes!  We had missed one of our appts. And I was so dang pissed cause it was the couple that is like Katy and Dan.  So I went and told my comp who was looking at some church stuff on the computer and he told me that it was too late and that we weren’t going out to tract because it was too late and we were going to lunch in 30 minutes.  I told him that he is wasting his time and mine watching videos that we have both seen multiple times and that we need to go work a bit before lunch. So we went out to work.  Woo! I’m learning how to stand up for myself haha.  I was stoked about this but bummed that we missed the leccion.  

Anyways the day after that was pretty normal.  We went to lunch and had Milanese.  This is the second time. We went to a recent convert and taught, after that to albert’s to teach him a little bit more before his baptism and then after that to Fernanda, Bruno, and Santiagos to teach them a little bit more before their baptism too.  

The next day was Friday.  We went to an early morning leccion again and the girl had been reading so much.  We told her to read 1 chapter but she read the testimonies, and a couple of chapters. (Remember this, it is important for later...) It makes our job so dang much easier to teach if they do their homework.  After that we went and had some real good lunch (Milanesa for the 3rd time) and then we went back to the church to do intercambios for the day.  I was going to a different Area with the Zone Leader Elder Prestwich while the 4 of our investigators were being interviewed for baptism and until the next day after lunch.  Elder Prestwich is a baller and I have done an intercambio with him before.  He is the one who reminded me about Affirmations.  I feel like he is an old wise man so I was just trying to soak up all of the wise words that were spilling out of his mouth.  We went to Alejandro Korn and went to go get their bikes that were being fixed.  He had his bike and I had his companions.  Unfortunately his companion is 6 foot 7" and his seat went up about my bellybutton but according to the bro-code I cant change the seat height or position so I just kept it where it was and I was biking the whole time on my tiptoes ha-ha. Elder Prestwich is super energetic so it was fun to see him on the bike jumping over stuff and doing all of these sweet tricks the whole time.  We went to a house that had this apple juice container out front.  He told me that the family makes super good apple juice and that after our lesson we could ask for some.  After our lesson he told me to drink some of the apple juice.  As I walked up to it he started laughing and told me that it wasn’t apple juice but pee samples and that I probably shouldn’t touch it.  I wasn’t going to drink it, I knew that something was up, but I just find it strange that they leave their pee samples outside for everyone to see. Haha anyways after that we went to a menos activos house that looked like a castle.  It was so awesome.  Usually people spend their money on their items in their house and not their house so they have a huge plasma and surround sound but water is dripping through the roof.  But this was the opposite.  Super modest inside but the house was way awesome.  After we talked to them we went to a couple’s house named Marcel y Janina.  They were super super friendly and right off the bat were giving me Rice pudding.  I love it here.  It always reminds me of the Merkley Family party rice pudding and for some reason the Argentines love it too.  Anyways they gave me that and then some fresh bread that they baked and then they taught me how to make it.  They showed me their garden and everything that they planted in it.  They told me that there are a bunch of blackberries here but most of the people hate them and don’t even bother picking them! haha what a waste! I am hoping that I get transferred to an area with blackberry bushes growing on the side of the road sometime in my mission.  Anyways we started to teach them a lesson and they were asking all of these super super deep questions.  It wasn’t until after that I found out that they weren’t baptized because she was married and didn’t get divorced and now they are looking for the guy to make the divorce official so they could get baptized.  Holy so chaotic...  After that we went back to her mom’s house (the castle) and they gave me a sandwich.  I started to eat it and after the second bite they all started to laugh.  When I asked what was so funny they told me that it was cow tongue...  Haha gosh dang those sneaky Argentines sneaking different meats in my meal when I’m not paying attention.  It was actually pretty dang good though so I’m not complaining. 

Haha anyways.  In Korn here are some interesting things that happened to me:

I watched a guy on a horse race a car on the street.

I had a bug fly straight in my mouth while I was biking

And I saw a way sweet flying Pegasus hood ornament

The next day we went and taught some more lessons in Korn.  At lunch we went and had Milanesa with eggs (4th time) and then we booked it back to Guernica.  When I got to Guernica, my companion and I booked it to the church because we had classes of English with Fernanda.  We had 8 people show up and he spent an hour and a half trying to teach them basic English.  It turned out pretty well, especially because Fernanda was studying to be an English teacher.  (Thanks again Megs for your help.)  After our classes of English we had our baptisms!

We had close to 70 people show up for the baptism, which is more than we usually have in sacrament. The only problem was that they all wanted pictures with the people being baptized so it took forever to actually baptize them haha. The first baptism that I did was super easy.  Santiago was a little kid, super light and easy.  The second was a bit harder.  I baptized Albert who was about my height and weight.  I put him under the water and then I lost my footing.  So I was trying to lift him but I only had one foot planted and I almost completely slipped and fell in but I got him up just in time.  He was super super happy and started to cry I didn’t know what to do so I just sat there and patted him on the back for a little.  After I found out that I almost killed the guy because his head was an inch away from the wall and a couple people thought he drilled his head and that is why he was crying haha. But I didn’t so... don’t worry. It was a mad house trying to change with only 2 stalls to change in the men’s and 6 people who needed to change. But things turned out well.  After that they were having a party at Fernanda’s house and they invited us but we figured that we better not.  So we just went home and made some Merkley family sloppy joes.  

On Sunday we had a normal day.  We went to church.  I taught the lesson in 2nd class and then we went to priesthood and to lunch.  After lunch we taught a couple of lessons.  In one of these lessons we were talking about the girl who had been reading a lot.  I told the member that we were teaching how much progress her friend was making and how she had been reading the "3 testigos" (3 testimonies) what I really said was "3 testiculos" (3 testicles).  Ya... things got real awkward after that. Haha gosh dang you Spanish and all of your same sounding words. After that to the Guaratchis and talked to them about getting married and now they are seriously considering it, with us as the people who pronounce them man and wife haha.  That would be so sweet if I could do it.  Anyways they gave us some hot chocolate and then we went home for the night.  

Haha if you count how many times I had milanesa this week I think that I had it 4 or 5 times for lunch this week out of the 7 days.  I’m not sure why but this week everybody decided to make it for lunch.

Thanks for everything. This is about it for the week.  I love you guys, I hope that everything is going well.

ANDY

My Testimony Has Learned Spanish Along With the Rest of Me!

Most of Coleman's letter is responding to these questions that I asked him and also responds to Leena telling a boy in her class that she loves him and he said he loves her:

So, how is the fruit launching going?  And the “challenges”?  I hope you had a good week and learned a lot.  Here are a few questions to answer:

*What were you doing at 2:00 yesterday?

*How are your “conversions” going with your fake investigators?

*How is your companion?

*Any diarrhea this week?

*Did you see Megan before she left?

*What is the best spiritual moment of the week?

*What is the funniest thing you did?

*Who have you learned the most from?

*Best email/story from one of your friends?

*Best surprise?

*How has your testimony grown?

*Are you excited for Texas?

*How is your Spanish coming?

Haha, the time has flown, and also not flown at all. It crawls but flies, its redonk. I did get that package so thank you so much!! Haha, we are stoked for our Halloween party on Sunday, its gonna get real weird here. That is a pretty crazy story haha, the package did somehow get here safe and sound though, which is sweet.

Haha, Leena's Boify needs ta back off haha at least for 2 years until I can give him an interview. Haha, too bad about D's game, those are the worst. Sounds like everyone was doing their own little thing at home haha, as usual.

Haha, of course you told the Missionaries my life story, just like everyone you meet haha. The fruit launching is really good, it gets some fun into the boring days. No more challenges, one of our teacher's got mad at us, so those stopped.

2pm yesterday was real weird. more about that later. Why specifically then haha?

The "investigators" are going good, I am kinda sick of teaching fake ones, I just want to talk to real people.

My comp is the same haha, no differences this week.

No diarrhea, just average. Everyday I eat special K with a sliced up banana, and some yogurt for breakfast, so I guess that keeps me regular or something.

I did see Megan, I talked to her for a little while before she left so that was good, I have some pictures.

We do this cool thing where everyone writes down a question they have and then we randomly open up the BoM randomly and read like 10 verses and everyone's question is answered.

I can't really remember what was the funniest, my district gets real weird sometimes and we all have fun all the days, so maybe everything.. (sorry for the cop out, but you can't do anything about it haha).

My teachers are really great, and they teach me a lot, but I love to talk to the Native Latinos and so we can learn how to talk like a normal person instead of a missionary robot.

Probably the best thing I have received in email was this quote about football, "So if you forgot the football rules, here they are: Basically, there's three grabbers, three taggers, five twig runners, and a player at Whackbat. Center tagger lights a pine cone and chucks it over the basket and the whack-batter tries to hit the cedar stick off the cross rock. Then the twig runners dash back and forth until the pine cone burns out and the umpire calls hotbox. Finally, you count up however many score-downs it adds up to and divide that by nine." Hahaha, I died when I got that. 

There is a great group email going, but not a ton of stories haha, just little jokes and that kind of mischief.

My testimony has learned Spanish along with the rest of me, and I dont know how to give it or pray in English anymore it is weird.

Um Am I excited for TEXAS?!? Do you have to ask?? HAha, yes, I decided the first thing I am going to do  is eat all the crappy fast food I can find in the airport.

Spanish is awesome, I can understand a ton. On the way to the temple I sat next to a native and talked to him the whole way, it was way chill.

I have to get back on the email Sunday and Monday, so you'll hear from me then.

Love ya'll,

Cole

 Last Photo Op with Cousin Megan!!

 The Elder in the middle has emailed Eliza!!  Cole showed him her picture and he is a teacher at the CCM!

Our teacher made the rules for the computers, so I am on the posters in every lab forever, its pretty cool.

"One of the guys in my district is way good at drawing, so I snuck the caption in there haha." Rough Translation: Do not erase, Jesus is watching!

 These are some of the ballin natives i love to talk to.

Cole's friend from Brighton, Makenzie Maxfied.

Follow up email to questions about his week:

Friday- So my class in the morning was pretty yucky, but then the Afternoon was way awesome. There were like 100,000,000 fireworks that went off at 5 am so I was way tired all day.

Saturday- More Fireworks at 5, it sounds like world war three, supes hard to stay awake all day.

Sunday- More fireworks, I said goodbye to Megan.

Monday- Nothing Happened. Haha, like literally nothing.

Tuesday- Today was super frustrating. Let the story begin... So our district has a goal to only speak Spanish all day, no English words. there are 10 people, 8 elders who all live in the same house, and 2 hermanas. All the dudes have done 100% Spanish like 6 times, but the hermanas wouldn't do it. It was so frustrating, so when they didn't do it, we all walked out the door and were kinda yelling about it (we are competitive haha don't judge) and they could hear, so everyone was pretty mad at each other and there was a lot of contention. I also sat next to Makenzie Maxfield at the devotional.

Wednesday- Our teacher that we set the goal with made us talk about how we were all pissed at each other, so that took like 4 hours and pretty much everyone was crying and sniffling and whatnot. It was weird.

Thursday- AKA today, I went to the temple, talked to a native on the bus the whole way. It was sweet to go to the temple because I could understand almost everything in Spanish they were saying.