Stake Conference

Hello family,

How is everything going?  Everything is going great here in Peru.  It was a great week and we had a lot of success.

On Monday we went to Sogai Zone, it’s a waterfall.  We rented this big bus to take everybody in the Zone.  The bus couldn’t make it all the way there because the streets were too little so we had to walk a long way.  It was like and hour and a half there and an hour of walking so it was a pretty long day but it was good.  We came back and had a good family home evening lesson that night. 

We had divisions Tuesday I went to this other area in Lauta with Elder Franco from Ecuador.  We were on divisions for that day we went and saw the area and the area is huge so we took a lot of buses.  It was fun we and I learned a lot.  Some teenage members in the ward helped us out and taught with us so overall it was a really good day. 

On Wednesday I went back to my area and started teaching again.  Also I made an apple pie with some members, which turned out really good.  We were able to have a really good lesson with our Pensionista and her dad, Pablo.  We were able to teach him and it was really cool and he’s doing really well.  He is ready to be baptized on the 14th of this month.  I’m super excited.  We went and did divisions again I went with a member and my companion went with another member.  I went and visited this one family and the other family wasn’t there so we went and came back and met up with my companion and had a family home evening and then went and talked with Maurivel.  She’s doing really good and progressing.

We went on divisions again Thursday and it was really fun.  We were able to teach a bunch of people and help out.  It was really cool.  

Friday was a really busy day, we had a bunch of lessons that didn’t all work out how we wanted them to but it was really good anyways.  I went with another member went to Carlos Manone’s birthday party.  He was a less active that we rescued.  It was cool to see how much support his wife and family have to help him come back and be active in the church and it turned out to be a good night.  

Saturday morning I went and got my hair cut from Pablo an 84 year old.  He cut my hair and it was a little sketchy at first because he was shaking while he was cutting but it turned out really good.  And it looks good so I’m all right with it.  Then we had our Stake Conference  that night and it was really cool.  We talked a lot about the family, the Sabbath day (Spanish version), the importance of teaching your family in the home and what it can do to help everybody out.  Super happy for that and for the many blessings I’ve seen in my life and for the people that have helped me personally become better.  After we went with a member to eat some tacos and they were actually pretty good.  It was fun to go talk with him and his family. It was fun to talk to see how they are doing and how everything is going.

On Sunday we finished the conference, we had the priesthood session in the morning and then we had the general session.  We went and got Pablo and Haiti and they both came to the conference.  There were some awesome messages that I really liked and it’s so important to know what we need to do better.  It talked about being proactive not reactive and getting a bigger testimony.  A lot of times in life we just wait for things to happen but we should go out and make things happen because if not we are never going to become successful in our faith.  Faith is an action.  If we have faith we are going to do something and we will go out and make our lives better.  If we don’t have faith we are going wait until our lives become better which they won’t so we need to go out and do something to become better.  Overall it was a super good week.  I’m happy and the Zone is doing well.  We had a really cool lesson last night with Marivel and Ronald.  So Marivel is not a member and her husband is. He is returned missionary and they have been married for about a year and have a kid on the way so we are seeing if we can help her get baptized.  We talked about the family and how families are so important it’s why we are here to have eternal families (Spanish version).  We aren’t here to just have fun and have a family for our mortal life; it’s to have a family forever.  Families are so important we need to have a bigger picture and focus on what we can do for families. We went and talked to Haiti to see how she’s doing.  She’s ready for an interview and she didn’t have any questions.  It’s going great and everything is going super good in the area.  I’m super excited, working hard and figuring out everything we need to do.  We need to make our lives better each and everyday.  Become who we want to become and if we aren’t doing that we need to change things.  But overall it’s going great.  All right family I love you so much and hope you have a great week.  I can’t wait to talk to you on Skype.

CHOOOOW!

Elder Cooley

Corn, Corn, and more Corn!

Hello family,

How are you doing?  How’s everything going?  Time is flying by.  Alright, so this week was great.  We have seen some awesome miracles.

So on P-day, Monday, we visited some of my companion’s converts.  We did that for a little while and went and bought some more protein.  After we came back and had some pretty awesome family home evenings.  I went with a member and my companion went with another member.  It was super cool to go see what we could do.  We taught this less active family.  We taught about doing the small little things and how if we just read, pray, and go to church then we will see a lot of miracles (Spanish version) in our lives.  That was really cool and we ate some cake, of course! 

We had a sweet day on Tuesday.  We did divisions again.  My companion went with one member and I went with another member.  I was able to give this family some blessings because they are struggling.  I was able to help them and use my priesthood (Spanish version) to bless them.

On Wednesday we had divisions.  In the morning we had a service project.  We went to this guy’s field and helped him pick corn for 3 or 4 hours.  It was super hot and we picked a lot of corn.  That was a fun activity and then we went on division with Elder Arouho.  He came with me to my area.  We went and started visiting people.  We had a really cool family home evening that night.  I made some lemon bars and yeah it was super cool.  Overall it was a really good night.  It was fun being out with other Elders to see what they are like and what I can do better as a missionary.  

We had emergency changes for some Elders in our Zone so we helped do that Thursday morning.  And then we came back and had some cool lessons. One that was really cool was with a family, who has a son on a mission.  She is a recent convert and her daughter is not a member.  We taught them and made some brownies in a mug for 2 minutes in the microwave, which is really cool.  So hopefully she can feel better and come to church. 

On Friday we had a really good day in the morning.  We had an awesome reference from a Ward that is pretty close to us.  They called and gave us a reference of a 16 year old girl.  Her name is Hadie and we went and visited her and in two weeks she is going to get baptized.  She is super excited.  She knows a lot and in three weeks we have our Pensionita’s dad.  She has been sending missionaries to him for 5 or more years.  Then she sent and yeah he is going to get baptized in three weeks.  I’m super excited.  I also went to do a baptism interview.  I went with one guy in our ward, named is Luecho, and my companion stayed in our area with another member.  He wasn’t there so we went and ate some really good hamburgers in this little van.  That was a fun experience with him. 

Saturday morning we went to a baptism and then we went and taught the rest of the day.  It turned out to be a really good day with a bunch of lessons. 

We had our two investigators come to church, Pableo and Haddie, on Sunday.  They are doing well.  After church we went and visited some less active members.  Some returned missionaries that are less active, it is just sad, but we want to help them become active.  So that was about it for this week. 

Everything is going good.  I’m enjoying life, enjoying the mission, and my companion and I are getting along really well.  Today we are going to go to this waterfall as a Zone, which will be fun.  I don’t know I’m super excited.   I’m glad to be here especially on a mission.  I know that I came back for a reason.  

Love you so much,

Cho 

Elder Cooley