Proof of Life!

Update

So, Cooper is off to Nicaragua! We were able to talk to him this morning and he sounds great. He is ready to get to Nicaragua and really start! Thank you all for your support and prayers. He can really feel the love from all of you. It will be next week before he can write again, his fist prep day in the field. In the meantime, I will let all of you know what part of Nicaragua he ends up in as soon as I hear from his mission president.

Week 6 -- MTC

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't looking forward to Christmas for that exact reason. Experiencing Christmas in Nicaragua will be an amazing experience, but honestly, I would gladly trade it to talk to all of you in person. I guess Skype will have to do, though! But I'm also really looking forward to just calling you from the airport. And now, thinking that I have basically four days before I leave the country for 22 months, I'm starting to freak out a tiny bit. Both from excitement, and from nervousness. I'm just looking forward to the point where I'm able to understand someone talking to me without having to think about it. But honestly, I feel like I'm proficient enough at the language right now that when I get to Nicaragua I won't completely drown. Which will (hopefully) be good. But anyways, I'm glad you had such a great week, and I'll definitely take you up on that Bingo offer once I get back :) I can't wait to be able to come back and see all of my family. If you thought it was great after a week, I can only imagine how amazing it'll be after two years!

As for my week, it's actually been fairly boring, with a few notable exceptions. The first being that I got pretty sick on friday, enough that I ended up going to the MTC clinic (these guys really do have everything!). According to the doctor, I probably had the NORA virus, which is fairly common in the MTC. But on the bright side, I got to leave the MTC campus to pick up a prescription (for the nausea) at the BYU student health center. It was exciting, I got to see a tiny bit more of Provo than I had in the past month, even if I wanted to throw up the entire way there and back. The second of these actually happened that same day, which is that I got my travel plans! I'm actually going to Nicaragua, and not Texas (not that I have anything against Texas...)! I get to wake up and be at the MTC travel office by 3:35 on Monday morning, which is.... great, I guess? We don't actually have any train schedules, put my guess is that we'll probably be leaving the MTC between 3:45 and 4:00 to catch the frontrunner up to the airport. My flight leaves at about 8:30 I believe (I don't actually have my travel plans on me right now, so I'll correct that time in a different email, if need be).

Getting ready to leave! Good-bye MTC, hello Nica!

I'll probably end up calling you at around 6:45 or 7:00, depending on when we get to the airport. But then I get routed through Atlanta Georgia, have a 3 hour layover, and finally a flight into Managua, Nicaragua. Four days! Third, we had a devotional from Chad Lewis, a TE for BYU football about 15 years ago, who ended up going on to play for the Eagles, and during that, Taysum Hill also bore his testimony. It was definitely a really cool experience! And finally, I got your packages! The Elders in my district and I loved the guacamole, and I'm definitely getting some use out of that Dr. Pepper you sent me. The Scotcheroos are coming out some time today, probably. But the two things that I got in that package that I really cared about were the photo album and the letter from Evie. The photo album made me cry (not surprising). You really did a great job with it, so thank you so much for that. And I always love my letters from Evie. As soon as you said that another letter from her was coming in the package, I got really excited. I'll try to respond to her before I leave, but the next few days will be really hectic, so it's very possible that her next letter will be from Nicaragua. And one last thing, I just want to thank everybody for all the dear Elders this week. It really is cool to hear from everybody I leave, and some of you have given me some really great advice, which I appreciate more than I can say. I will be keeping every single one of those letters that I get, so I can read them while I'm in the field. I really can feel the love from each of you.

As for housekeeping, there's a few things. Once I get to Nicaragua, I'm not sure when the next time my P-day will be, so I'm not sure when the next time I'll be able to write is. But I will do my best to make sure that I send emails out as soon as I can. And I'm also not sure how much time I'll have to write, so my emails might become a little bit shorter. Second, if anybody wants postcards/snailmail letters, make sure you get your physical address to me somehow. I'll try my best to send out as many as I can. Third, if anyone ever decides to spend the fortune to send a package to me in the field, make sure you tape a picture of Jesus to the box in a way that it won't get detached. it won't work every time, but it makes it a little bit more likely that the package won't get destroyed/searched as it comes into the country. And I think that's pretty much it.

To end, I just want to say how much I love all of you, and how much I'm grateful that you are my friends and family. Knowing that you're all thinking of me, at least a little bit has helped me get through the first six weeks of my mission, and I know it'll help me get through the last 22 months. I can't wait to see you all!

Love

Cooper

Week 5 -- MTC

I love being able to hear about all the stuff you guys are doing. I'm kind of living vicariously through all of you, because weird as it may sound, studying for 10 hours a day is not the most exciting thing ever. I love it, and it's great, but definitely not super exciting. But things are actually going really well here at the MTC. We just hit the month mark, and we should be receiving our travel plans tomorrow. Basically, we're all both terrified and excited to get out of the MTC. 

But ready or not, Nicaragua here we (most of us) come!

I actually don't have a whole lot to say. I will say though, it's really weird how I'm bumping into so many people that I know. From the ward, I've seen and talked to Bishop Tanner (doing whatever it is he does at the MTC), Brother James (working on some wiring, I believe), and Sister Freedman (working at the temple). Plus, I should be seeing Morgan sometime in the next week, as well. In addition to that, I keep seeing a bunch of missionaries that I know, both from here in Provo, and from Idaho Falls as well. It's definitely interesting. 

Make sure to tell Isaac that once that tux is tailored, it'll look awesome on him. As for housekeeping, there's not much that I really need. Honestly, just whatever you want to send me, I'll be happy with. That being said, getting the picture album and the pictures of my friends that granddad took would be great. But other than that, I'll be happy with what you send. And if you send me those audio files, I should be able to listen to them, but I won't be able to download them. But I would love to be able to hear some of those songs! And also, I found the wrap station. All is well. 

Well, that's mostly it, I think. Sorry that the email was so short, but not a lot of exciting stuff is happening, and the days are kind of blending together. But I did just send some letters in the mail, so you should be getting those fairly soon, hopefully. Well, I love all of you, and I can definitely feel the love from here in the MTC. In fact, I'm sure I'll be able to feel it all the way from Nicaragua, too. 

Love,

Cooper

Week 4 -- MTC

I'm definitely having a great time here at the MTC! I completely agree with you, just lasting Sabbath to Sabbath is tough sometimes. But definitely more doable than trying to last 100 weeks all at once. Like I've been saying, I know I'm in the right place, and now I know that as long as I'm not focusing on myself, the time goes by a lot faster. So hopefully, before I know it, I'll be back home and going to school and being stressed about homework rather than about the message I'm sharing with investigators. 

Conference was awesome. I've never been focused on the talks like I was this session. It really is a different experience, listening to find out answers for someone other than yourself. It's cool, because not only do you find answers to what you're looking for in order to help someone else, but you also get answers for questions that you might not have even realized you had. Seeing three new apostles get sustained was definitely a unique experience, and I'm glad that I got to witness that while at the MTC.

That Sunday, we got a devotional from Vocal point! It was pretty awesome. They sang, of course, which was amazing. But in between each song, each of them gave us a short message and bore their testimony. It was amazing. It was a really cool way to end conference weekend. Plus, i mean, it was Vocal Point! They're awesome! We also had a devotional from Linda K. Burton, the General Relief Society President. She basically talked about having faith in the prophets, and about the importance of having a testimony of Christ. It was really powerful, and I'm glad we got to hear from her.

The only really other interesting thing to really talk about my experiences this week would probably be about our investigators. We have three, in case I haven't actually mentioned that before: Travis, Marisól, and Diana. Travis and Marisol also happen to be our teachers, Hno. Draut and Hna. Lamb. Travis thinks that the Book of Mormon is true, and feels good about it when he prays, but doesn't want to commit to baptism before he knows for sure that it's true. Marisól is super interested in the Plan of Salvation, and in being able to be with her family forever. She seems really receptive to what we're saying (as long as we're talking about things that relate to her, we learned that the hard way), and I think she is really starting to feel the truth of it. And Diana is currently trying to decide if the Book of Mormon is true, and she says that she hasn't received any answers as of yet. But we talked with her a little bit about prayer and the Spirit, and I'm really hopeful for her. Then on Wednesday, we taught a woman named Ivette. Ivette is actually a different companionship's investigator, but yesterday, she was just walking around and decided to pop into our class during study time. And then she just... asked for help. So, as a district, we gave her a lesson. And it was probably one of the most powerful lessons I've ever been a part of. I can't even describe it. It was just... beautiful.

As for housekeeping, I got the package, and I loved it. You put some stuff in there that I didn't even know I wanted, but that I definitely needed. And yes, my room is now squeak free. I'm drinking that Dr. Pepper warm, and I don't even care. Caffeine is del-- I mean... Dr. Pepper is delicious. Yes. That is definitely what I meant. 

For the stuff that you want to know, my district is definitely quirky, to say the least. I love each and every one of them, and they are my family away from family, but they're all crazy. I'll actually be trying to send a couple of letters by snail mail, so I'll talk about my District and companion in those. As for what's been challenging, definitely the language, but also learning how to ask the right kind of questions at the right time. It's harder than it sounds. The food is okay, but there's definitely a lot of it.

I'm out of time to email, but as always, I love all of you, and I really do enjoy any Dear Elders and letters and emails that I get from ya'll. It's good to hear from people who I don't spend 24 hours a day with (again, love my district, but after about 500 hours with a person, things start getting.... interesting).

Love

Cooper

edit from Aimee: If you want to send Cooper a DearElder letter, scroll down to week 2 for instructions. It's a free service and he gets to read them the day they come, not just P-day. Just make sure you pick the Provo-MTC mission, NOT Nicaragua.

Week 2 -- MTC

Mom,

It's good to know where I get the getting-emotional-when-you-read-a-letter gene from. Now I know who to blame it on :) But that ER shift sounds... fun, I suppose? For a nurse, at least. As for the workers, I'm surprised that dad didn't just start yelling at them in Spanish. But anyways, hopefully you got some sleep after dad left. As for me, I've really enjoyed the letters I've gotten from you and from all of my friends. It's nice to be able hear from everybody while it's still an opportunity. And as for the package, it's all fine. As long as I get it eventually :) 

This week (and part of last, I suppose) has been pretty great. My Spanish keeps getting better, and my companion and I are continually getting better at teaching. Literally the day after I emailed you last, one of our investigators, Travis, became our second teacher, Hermano Draut. It was a surprise, to say the least. But he's a fantastic teacher, and we continue to teach Travis. Hna. Lamb also became an investigator, a 42 year old woman named Marisol. She's a devout Catholic, and our first couple of lessons haven't gone super well, but Elder Seneca and I have a pretty good plan for our next lesson. On Sunday, we had a devotional from Elder Stephen Allen of the Seventy. He gave us a fantastic talk on how we should be devoting all of our attention to God, because we are now official representatives of the LDS church. He also talked about how and why we shouldn't be idiots while in the mission field. it was a great talk. Then on Monday, we watched Elder Scott's funeral service. It was really cool, because not only was it interesting to find out just how great a man E. Scott was, but we also found out that he was the apostle who dedicated Nicaragua for the preaching of the Gospel. And on Tuesday, we had a talk from Elder Claudio R.M. Costa, from the Brazil area seventy presidency. He gave a really cool talk about his own conversion story, and talked about just how huge an impact we could have by converting a single person. Other than that, my week's been pretty normal. 

I guess just for a little bit of housekeeping, if you haven 't sent that package yet, would you mind putting a can of WD-40 in it as well? The sheer amount of things that squeak in our room is ridiculous. And also Dr. Pepper, because I have never needed caffeine more in my life. Did I mention how squeaky our room is? Also, I've started dumping my pictures into dropbox. I do not vouch for the normality of any of the pictures that may end up there.

Anyways, I just want to say how much I love and miss you, and how much I love and miss any of my friends and family that may end up reading this on my blog. I know that I'm supposed to be exactly where I am, but that doesn't always make the journey any less difficult. But I do just want to testify of how strong the spirit here is, and how important that is in our lives. I know for a fact that there is no possible way that I would not only manage to learn a language in six weeks, but also be able to sit in a classroom studying for 12+ hours a day studying without some very powerful outside help. I love you all, and thank everybody for any letters they have or will send. We all always look forward to mail time, it's a huge picker-upper during the day. 

Love you all, 

     Elder Hopkin (Cooper? How the heck am I supposed to end these?)