Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Emphasize Prayer

 Hola Familia,

Wow it has been so much fun here in Ilo

Ilo is awesome! So I am back in a Ward (Spanish version) and the members are so amazing.  I will start off by describing the new area.  So we are right on the beach and we live with our Pensionista, Hermana Victoria.  We live in a nice neighborhood and it is great to be back in civilization, but don’t get me wrong I do miss the good old country side of Aplao.  Being Zone Leader is wonderful but also really stressful.  I have never lacked so much sleep in my life ha ha.  But it is awesome and I am definitely getting a ton of help from my prayers; I know they are being answered.  My companion is fantastic, he loves music and we are getting along great.  Well I think that is a good description of the new area.  I just love it here already.

Well time for spiritual side.  So we have two people with dates to be baptized (Spanish version) during the month of May and they are progressing really well.  Then we have been able to really help a less active member and now he is coming back and getting ready to go on a mission. I love the work.

"We Never Walk Alone" (link) (Spanish link)
We had the coolest experience this past Sunday.  So we were tired and stressed out because we stayed up late every night and spent a ton of time to help missionaries in our Zone.  After church we were in Ward Council and we had a recent convert come up to us and say that she had a reference for us.  This friend of hers came to Church with her son and was literally ready to be baptized right then.  So we will be teaching her and she is going to be ready in May.  She wants her son to be like us and it was just such a cool experience that we had with her.

Well this week has been wonderful and I am learning something new every single day that I am on my mission.  I have really put an emphasis on my prayers (Spanish version) this week and I know that they have been answered.  This week we were able to watch Ephraim’s Rescue and 17 Miracles.  They were amazing and I suggest that each one of you guys go and watch them.

I love you all so much and have a great week.

Les Amo,
Elder Cooley

Questions:
1. Favorite scripture?
This week it has to be 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (Spanish version)



2. What were your thoughts about becoming a Zone Leader?
I was really nervous but excited and I did not feel totally prepared.

3. What are your responsibilities as Zone Leader?
Well the responsibilities of a Zone Leader are to help the missionaries with their physical needs on the mission, like with health and with money.  Basically to just make sure that the Zone is good and that everyone is working.

4. Where is your new apartment?
It is in Ilo ha ha.  I have no idea really.

5. What are your thoughts on your new area?
They are great.  The work is awesome and I love the people here so much.

6. How many buses did you have to take to make it from Aplao to Ilo?
I had to take two buses to get to Ilo.  It took about 9 hours of driving.

7. How do you say Ilo?
It is like Ilo . . . I don’t know (elo).

8. Is Ilo a rural or urban area?
It is an urban area and very touristy.

9. What is the branch like in Ilo that you are working with?
It is a ward and it has about 60 members that attend.  It is a lot more organized.

10. Will you be walking in this area or are you using bikes?
We will be walking.  There is not one missionary in the mission that uses bikes in the mission.












Tuesday, April 21, 2015

New Area & New Responsibilities

Hola Familia,

Well I am officially out of the valley.  I have been transferred to Ilo.  I am living right on the ocean and it is amazing.  I am also the Zone Leader in the new area.  I have 8 companionships in my zone and it is awesome.  My new companion is Elder Cornejo from Chile and he is sweet. 




Ilo - link
I am ready and a little nervous to be the Zone Leader over so many missionaries but I will be praying like crazy.  I traveled about 9 hours to get to Ilo yesterday and it was a great trip.  I had a ton of time to think about my Mission and it was really good to review what I have done during my time in Aplao.  The bus ride was super boring and I just read, slept, or thought.  I am super excited to be here in Ilo and to be a Zone Leader.

Ilo -link


This past week has been awesome.  It was hard leaving all the amazing people and members that I became so close to in Aplao.  On Sunday night we had a going away party for me and it was a ton of fun.  I had a bunch of the members that I brought back to the Church come and thank me for everything I did to help them.  It was super cool and just amazing.  Hermana Olga was really sad and didn’t want me to go.  She is awesome and I can’t wait to visit her with all of you guys.

Well overall I am so excited, I don’t know why but I feel so ready.  I will have a lot more responsibilities but it will be really good.  This week I have learned that we need to plan and use our time wisely.  We should not just do things fast so that we can say that we have done something.  We can all do something but if we don’t have a purpose we like a chicken running around with it’s head cut off.  When we can visualize the final goal we can achieve that goal and achieve it faster then we would have thought.

That is my little thought for the week.  Sorry I don’t know if the computers here are clean so I will be sending a bunch of pictures this up coming week.

I love you all and I hope that you all can have a great week and keep seeing the tender mercies of the Lord (Spanish version) in your lives.

I love you all,
Elder Cooley

Questions:
1. Favorite scripture?




2. What have you been doing on your P-days?
We have been playing soccer and we went to an awesome resort with the Zone last week.

3. Have you tried any new foods lately?
Umm, I have not tried any new foods.
Lima Peru Temple

4. Have you seen any new animals?
I saw a falcon this past week.

5. If people travel to the temple in Lima (Spanish version), do they take buses or do they fly?
They usually take a bus because it is a lot cheaper.

6. Do the people eat a lot of fish there?  Do the natives eat ceviche?
They do eat a lot of fish.  Well now I am in Ilo so I could imagine that I will be eating more fish now.

7. Have you bought a hat yet?
I have not bought a hat yet ha ha.

8. Where is the closest hospital?  
The closest good hospital is in Arequipa.

9. Is there population in Aplao?  How does it compare to Lima?
The population of Aplao is like 5,000 maybe.  Compared to Lima it is super small.

10.  Have you used your multi-tool yet?
I have used it a ton and it is very useful.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Traveling

Hola Familia,

Salt Lake Temple
Wow this week has been absolutely insane ha ha.  We traveled so much it is just crazy.  On Monday night we had a sweet Family Home Evening with our Pensionista and it was really fun.  Then on Tuesday we had a good days work.  We walked about 1 hour to visit with Luisa, a member.  Her daughter and her are doing a lot better since we have been visiting them.  Then on Wednesday we had a party for our Pensionista's son Dayron.  He turned 9 and so we helped them with the party.  It was awesome to celebrate his party with him.  Then our week just got crazy ha ha.  On Thursday we traveled two and a half hours to a conference then two and a half more hours back to Aplao.  After we went and got stuff to stay the night and traveled another hour and a half to be with the rest of the Zone.  Early Friday morning we traveled to Arequipa for a conference with the Mission President, it was awesome.  It was a bunch of fun and it was great to see everyone again from my group.  Then we went back to Aplao that night.  We traveled about 12 hours in two days, which was crazy.  But it was good.

This week we had a bunch of members come to Church, which was awesome.  It is amazing to see the people we are teaching come to Church and to see the and to see the blessings that they will receive.  But overall it has been remarkable.  We had a recent convert's husband come to Church and so we will start to teach him.  Hopefully he can take the steps to be baptized.  He talked to us the other day and said that he would like to stop the bad life that he is living and come to Church with his whole family.

This week was Fast Sunday, which was tremendous.  We were able to do many things, which helped a bunch of people.  Fast Sunday is when we can really focus on why we are fasting.  We will see the blessings and the work of Christ in the people that we are teaching.

This week I have been thinking a ton about my Mission and the things that I have done and what I need to do better.  Sometimes in life we get into routines (Spanish version) and we are not doing things because we want to but because it is a habit.  I refocused my mentality and I am ready to work harder and harder.  I just need to love these people and help them obtain Salvation (Spanish version) and bring them unto Christ.  I just need to try and be like Jesus and love the people.

Well overall this week I am doing great and everything has been going well.  My Companion and I have been doing remarkable.  We just keep working harder every single day.  I love being able to enjoy everyday and to work hard.  I love the Mission work and just going to work for these people.  

I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week.

Les Amo,
Elder Cooley

Questions:

1. Favorite scripture?
The parable of the mustard seed in Matthew(Spanish version)



2. What was an awe-inspiring moment that you had recently?
Inspiring moment had to have been just realizing how short this life is and how much happiness (Spanish version) we can obtain in this life.

3. Do you know if anybody down there streams Music and the Spoken Word through the internet?
I don’t think that anybody even knows about Music and the Spoken Word.


4. Why did you make the chocolate pie?
A member wanted to know how to make it.

5. Who is Wakin?

6. Did you make breakfast for the members that traveled to watch General Conference or only lunch?
We only made lunch for the members and the breakfast was for us.

7. Why are you holding a lamb (that was a great picture by the way)?
Ha ha we went to a members house and they wanted help rounding up their lambs and cows so we help them and then I took the opportunity to take a sweet picture.

8. How do you choose topics for Family Home Evenings that you run?
Just what comes to my mind and what I think that the family needs to hear.

9. Did you understand General Conference in Spanish?
Yeah I understood it pretty well.

10. Did the flooding impact deliveries or other access to your area at all?
Only in a couple parts of our area were affected bad but overall everything is better. 

Monday, April 6, 2015

General Conference

The Lost Sheep?

Hola Familia,

How is every one doing?

This week has been pretty good nothing to special happened like last week ha ha. We were able to have another big family home evening with about 15 people on Monday. It turned out really well and everyone had a good time. I have really come to love family home evening (Spanish version). They are just so important to start your week out good. I know that God set apart this day to have an activity in the family. Even if it just a simple thing, as long as the family is being strengthened is the best part. Then we had some fun time painting Hermano Cesar’s house ha ha. Wow they paint so much. It is way different then how we paint in the states ha ha. It was interesting, maybe I am too much of a perfectionist but he was just getting paint all over the floorboards and he didn’t even care ha ha. It was fun and a good time to provide service to some members.

Then we were able to go to a city pretty far up in our area looking for a lady that we contacted. We were unable to find her but we talked to a ton of people and it was cool to bring the gospel to an area that probably never has had the Gospel or seen missionaries before ha ha. Then we came back and went to mission night in which we had a fire and cooked Smore’s and it was awesome. We had about 20 people which is more then we usually have. Then we were in Corire for the next two days.

We came down to Corire to have the mission night and then we just stayed with the other Elders for Saturday and Sunday because of General Conference (Spanish version). We made breakfast and lunch and just watched Conference together. We were only able to get the Conference in Spanish so we watched it in Spanish ha ha. On Sunday we had quite a bit of people attend. We planned and made lunch for all the people that live far away from then church. It was really stressful because we had to make sure that everything was all right and that everything worked. But everything turned out really well.

General Conference Breakfast

Breakfast

Chicken Teriyaki

 After talking with Hermana Olga for a while we found out that her and her family are planning on going to the Temple (Spanish version) in August and that is awesome. They will get sealed together and it will be so cool.

Overall everything is going great and I am so excited to be out here doing the work. I love everyone and am so happy to be serving the Lord for these two short years.

I love you all and follow the council of our Prophets (Spanish version).
-Elder Cooley

Questions:
1. Favorite Scripture?



2. Did you watch General Conference in Spanish or English?
We watched it all in Spanish.

3. What was your favorite General Conference talk?
It had to be the talk by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf on Sunday morning.

4. What lessons did you learn during General Conference?
That we need to prepare for the Second Coming (Spanish version), that we need to open our perspective and be better disciples of Jesus Christ.

5. How many people showed up to watch General Conference at the Church?
Well on Saturday only like five people showed up to each session.  On Sunday morning we had about 62 people and only like 10 people showed up to the afternoon session ha ha.

6. Were any people injured from the flooding in your area?
There were no injuries in our area.

7. What is the aftermath of the flooding (roads closed, buildings damaged, fields ruined, etc.)
There were just like some roads closed and just no water and light in the area outside of Aplao.

8. Why were you in the Emergency Room?
We went to go with a member while he got a IV drip.

9. Did you know that there was a person sitting behind the Ongoro sign when you took a picture (you can see his head)?
Ha ha.  After I took the picture I noticed him and then we just bounced ha ha.

10. If you get a chance will you ask members what I could do to make the blog easier for them to understand? (Would they like it if I took out the highlights and had a person translate them?)  I want to make sure that they are able to get an opportunity to read and enjoy the blog.  I have been linking in as many English and Spanish articles and topics as I can so hopefully that helps.

I did not get the chance to ask members, I will try this week.

Chocolate Pie

Sunset

Wakin

Elder Montoya