353,858 steps = 109.739 miles . . . And he walked and walked and walked

Hola Familia,

Helping

            Well this week was a lot better and we were able to get more done. After writing emails on Monday we went to Central and got lunch at TGI Fridays. It was so good. After we went shopping and I got some awesome gifts for you guys. It is so amazing all the authentic stuff from the stores. We then went and played basketball with some other North American missionaries. It was an awesome time ha ha.

            Later that night after P-day ended, we went to the farthest and poorest area of our mission named Huasacache (Map). We had family home evening with a family and it was so humbling. They live on a mountain literally I have pictures. It was cool and we taught about the atonement, after we had Chicha (Chicha Information) with arroz (rice).

Mountain Living

            We gave three blessings this week to members and non-members. One blessing was to an investigator’s dad who was on his deathbed. So my companion gave him a blessing of comfort and said that God is ready to see him and receive him. Crazy! One blessing to a menos activo (less active) woman and she finally came to Church this past Sunday.

            On Thursday after a long day of working we come back to the room to find out that my companion had left the keys in the room. Luckily our window was kind of opened. I constructed a pole and was luckily enough to get the keys back after 45 minutes of trying. On Friday we had the only food I cannot eat. It is called Aceituna and it is about 100 times worse than olives, which I hate. The dogs won’t even eat it. Later that day we went to Tiabaya (Map) to help out some Missionaries in our zone. It was fun to work in a new area. On Saturday we found this awesome hidden ice cream place in a house. It is delicious. That is the only thing I buy besides fruit and granola from the street. We contacted forever ha ha with not much success.

Ricoto Relleno and Fried Fish

            Fasting for 24 hours is new to me. But it is awesome and I love the experience that comes with it. Then on Sunday church was great I found out I am giving a 10 minute talk next Sunday. But we had the best lunches; I have pictures of Ricoto Relleno, and fried fish. I love the members.

            The missionaries before us didn’t work very hard and had no previous investigators for us. The Ward did not like them and so we have been working really hard to get the trust back of the members and have them give us references. It’s hard sometimes because we work so hard to find people and nothing. I know that if I keep working it will be good. I have gotten to bless the sacrament twice so far. 

Investigators

            A cool experience this week was when we were teaching a 20 year old named Edson. He has become less active. We were teaching him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and I started to talk about the atonement and I could just tell the he needed to hear some blunt stuff about repentance and I was able to tell him. I have noticed being on a Mission that I can really tell when someone needs to be talked to. It is really cool. I anointed 3 people, also in Spanish.

            I love the mission and wow I have learned so much about myself and how important life is. I am hoping not to get sick on the mission so I am being really careful with all the food that I eat. Sometimes I just have to close my eyes and drink the drink. Blessing the food has never meant more in my life ha ha. I know the power of prayer and the comfort of the atonement in our lives. It is awesome what it can do for me. After understanding it so much I can really trust in it. The atonement is real and can help any situation.

Thank you all for all the support you guys have given me.

I love you all,

Elder Cooley

Questions:

-What is your favorite scripture this week?

            King Benjamin’s address to Mosiah for sure.  It is just so blunt and tells you what you need to do. Mosiah 2-5 

-Do you have a favorite experience so far? If yes, explain.

            Favorite experiences so far are the food and being in Peru. 

-What was Neil Anderson's talk on? And why did you like it so much?

            The talk was on honesty and how crucial honesty is in our lives.  It was also about the atonement.  Because honesty is really what is important in this life and he focused on how essential it is.

-Have you had any clumsy moments?

            I have not had clumsy moments yet so far.

-Has anybody commented on your height?

            Yes, everyone comments on my height ha ha.  They just stare at me and my companion everyday.

Total steps from being in Arequipa are 353,858 and total miles walked are 109.739.  It is all up and down hills ha ha.

Llama!!!

No Burgers For Me!!!

Hola Familia,

Well this week was not too interesting ha ha. I will explain. So last Sunday we went to the Bishop’s house and had a huge meal. It was delicious but we ate way too much food. So on Monday my companion ate a burger from the streets. That night he was throwing up like crazy and way sick. This entire week we have been in the room ha ha. I think he got sick from the street food. I only buy fruit from the street and nothing else I don’t want to get a bug ha ha. It has felt like I was in prison being stuck in the apartment with my sick companion. We only went out a couple times to talk with people. He has still not gotten much better but we were able to go out and proselyte. I hate just sitting in the room but I guess that it is a blessing. I was able to work on my scriptures and read a ton. I started reading Jesus the Christ it is so fascinating. I love reading it. It is thick doctrine though, side note it was written in the Holy of Holies (Scripture Guide - Holy of Holies). You can learn so much about the gospel and life from the scriptures it is amazing.

I went on exchanges a couple times with a Latino. It was fun to be able to talk more Spanish and learn from him. On Friday Elder Neil L. Anderson (Elder Andersen Profile) came to our mission and talked to all the missionaries. It was awesome and his message was unreal.

On Saturday we went with the Zone Leaders to a members house to cook tacos for them. I cooked with an Elder from Mexico. The food was so delicious. We made everything from scratch, one of the better meals here. Each Sunday we go to a member’s house and they cook for us. A great dish and very traditional to Arequipa is Rocoto Relleno (Rocoto Relleno Recipe). It is so good. I am so sick of rice and bread ha ha. I can’t eat any more. The diet here is straight carbs and starch. But the food is good.

My companion and I workout each morning and I need to with all the fattening food. One day on the bus we saw this mini monkey that someone had as a pet ha ha.

Yesterday we were walking back from a far away part in our area and I saw one of our investigators that we haven’t been able to talk to for awhile. We were going to walk away but I said to turn back. We did and were able to teach him a lesson, and set up another lesson. I just love all the coincidences that happen on the mission. 

Love,

 Elder Cooley

Questions:

-Have you had any weird food to eat so far? Such as hamster, ostrich, brains (zombies!!!) ha ha ha.

            The weirdest thing that I know I have eaten is liver ha ha. It was so salty other than that I don’t know of anything else.

-What is your favorite scripture this week?

            Favorite scripture this week was probably 2 Nephi 4:35. 

-What is a lesson that you have learned while being out there so far?

            I have learned to live your life to be happy, monetary items are not that important.

-How are you doing physically and emotionally?

            Physically I am doing well and emotionally doing well also.

-How are you working out?  

            I do about 150-200 pushups each morning and jump rope a ton. I watch what I eat and buy a ton of bananas.

-Have you taught any lessons yet?
           I have taught a couple lessons and try to teach as much as a can. Also I gave my companion a blessing.

I recommend listening to the following song about the Prophet Joseph Smith. You Tube Link for Mobile Devices

My desk is on the right

Electric Shower Head (To heat the water)

Tick . . . . Tock . . . Tick . . Tock . TickTock

Hola Familia,

            This week has been so crazy. Time goes by so fast it is unreal, I can’t even believe it in the first place ha ha. Last P-day we played soccer with our district and that was way fun. Other than that we just knocked on doors ha ha. We try and talk to as many people as we possibly can. We have meetings with our district all the time. It is nice to see other missionaries. A lot of the appointments that we set up fall through. Which is so sad, I wished that they would all work out and that the people would be able to hear our message. I love to study in the morning and learn more of the doctrine.

            One of our investigators became sick and had to go the hospital. We went to the hospital to visit but were unable to find him. The hospital was filthy. I can’t believe the situations there compared to those that we have in the states. It is unreal how people in Peru live and how humble they are.

            Part of our area is so far way that we have to take a bus there. It is where our laundry is done. The people are very poor but seem more than willing to accept the gospel. Church is always so nice to be at. It is fun to see when our investigators come to Church and keep their promises. But it is frustrating when they don’t come. We only had 3 people come this past week to Church. We do have a couple of investigators that will most likely have a baptismal date for some time in Septiembre (September).

            This past Sunday we ate at the Bishop’s house, geez I have never eaten so much food. It was so good. I didn’t eat dinner that night or breakfast the next morning because I ate so much. But the food here is good and nothing else has made me sick yet ha ha. I will be able to hike anywhere in church shoes after this ha ha. It is like going straight up mountains. We pretty much eat chicken, rice and potatoes all the time. Pretty much every day is the same. I like it though, it is nice to be able to spend time talking with people. My Spanish is coming along but I do wish I could speak better. I can understand a lot more than I am able to speak. They all talk too fast but it will come, I know that. Thank you so much for all the support. Everyone take care.

Love, Elder Cooley

Arequipa Flag

Interesting Facts about Arequipa

Population: 844,000 

Elevation: 8,268 feet 

Average Winter Temperature: 60 degrees F 

Average Summer Temperature: 58 degrees F

Arequipa

Hola Familia,

Well I finally made it to Arequipa. The city is amazing and I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I really love everything about it so far. The flight was really short and then we went around the city a little while to see everything.

My companion’s name is Elder Snyder and he is from Ohio. He has been on his mission for 23 months so I will only have him as a trainer for 6 weeks instead of 12, which will be interesting. He is really good at speaking Spanish and is teaching me a ton. He is a lot like me and we get along really well. This week has been rough in the sense of trying to speak Spanish, but I know that the Lord will help me. We live in a tiny room in a weird complex. We sleep in bunk beds and share a bathroom with someone we have yet to meet. The water pressure is awful.  The heater on the showerhead works pretty well but it is nothing like the states.

The food here is amazing. I have finally got diarrhea ha ha. We have a pesionista that cooks all three meals for us, which is really nice. It was my companion’s birthday on Tuesday so we have eaten a lot of cake, which is so good.

The area that I am in is the Hunter Arequipa Daniel Alcides Carrion barrio (neighborhood). The days have been flying by and I want them to slow down. It is a very hilly area and walking is pretty much hiking everywhere ha ha. Which is nice but hard work. We are up in the mountains kind of. It is very dirty but nicer then Lima. I am so grateful to live in the states. It is insane to see how some people live. But they are so happy and so nice and we always get food and soda when we teach the familias (families). I definitely view the world different now.

We are both brand new to this area and the missionaries before us did not do a good job. So we have been working hard to contact and get used to all the people. We did have 8 people come to church this week, which is great for the area. We have a baptism set up for the 13 of September, for Quterio and Junio. They are older and need to get married but they don’t have enough money to get married. Then we have been teaching a family which will most likely get baptized, Angelica, Milagros and Guerrimo, and Pablo. That is one thing, remembering names is so hard and pronunciation is near impossible. We have also been teaching Gonzolo, he is 20 and really interested. The people are more than willing to hear our message about the truth. I can’t say much but I know that the spirit talks through me to the people. I just wish I could say exactly what I want to say when I want to say it. We have been teaching a lot of less active members also.  We are working 100% of the time, which keeps my mind busy.

Just know that I am doing great and am loving being out in the field. Thank you guys for everything and the spirit you bring is amazing. I miss you but it is so worth it. I still pray for you everyday. Have fun this next week can’t wait to hear about the deer hunt.

I love you all and thanks for everything,

Elder Cooley

Arequipa Arrival

He is there!!!

We received the following pictures on Wednesday from the Mission home in Arequipa.