flying solo in Colombia

Well in my eyes this past week has absolotley flown. Worrying about proselyting made it come upon me even faster but nevertheless i had a great experiece. Mom Dad, your stories make me laugh so much and I read some of your sentances to my district and they bust out laughing, especially about the coon story....freaking hilarious that made my whole day when I read it. So I figured out the letter situation, I am going to try to read your e-mails before my pday and so we are not a week behind each other, just keep e-mailin me and I will be fine! Oh and i havent recieved gmas handwritten letter yet.

Anyways we all proselyted in the Bogota North mission area of Bogota city. My area was about a 30 minute bus ride from the ccm and there were some really nice places and some preeetttyy schetchy places too. My Senior companion was the zone leader and he had 6 months left. i also had a native comp from the ccm that was kind of shy. Anyways they spoke no english at all lol. We got around 35 new contacts(I think the zl was just tryin to set the bar high for us) and we taught 2 lessons to investigators. So this is how it went, every person we talked to on the street I had to engage them. Basically say we´re missionaries and we have a message about families and other things. Then when they started talking the other 2 would take over and I was left trying to figure out what they were saying. They were speaking so fast that when I understood something and tried to chime in they were already talking about something else lol. Haha one time after I introduced us I tried responding to this ladys questions and it was a total fail. Later when I asked what went on I understood from my companions broken english that she actually thought i was mentally retarded. Luckily I had nice comanpanions that explained to her my situation, at that point I kind of did feel a little mental but it went away lol. Another interesting part of the day was lunch. We had the normal rice (of Course) fish (forgot to ask what kind) and fried plantains (starting to become one of my faves if cooked right). Ok so the lady just took a whole fish and threw it in the skiilet and deep fried the entire thing. Sooooooooo good, haha when i started eating it with my fork they laughed at me and told me to eat it with my hands, Then when I was finished with everything but the head the lady said EAT THE EYES!! in spanish of course. So I was like Cheverre (cool) and proceded to suck they eye out of the fish like I had seen her do, it was not the greatest thing in the world but it wasnt that bad cause I was too afraid to chew lol, I just swallowed. So i freaking ate like every part of the fish! Oh sidenote, I have been asking around about whether or not we did eat horse, and its beef lol the cooks just call it caballo (horse). anyways after that we taught them a lesson and I shared how awesome my family is and how this gospel has brought us so much closer together. Nothing to big, I was just surprised they could understand me and I think they appreciatted the big silly grin i had on my face the whole time. Then at night we taught another inverstigator, whom after the lesson I thought was a recent convert because she was just so exited and gung ho about everything. She said she didnt need any help with anything when I asked because through praying and reading her scriptures she had found answers to her questions. I then shared a scripture in Mosiah about how keeping the commandments will bless you both spiritually and pysically. Once again I think the investigators were surprised at my spanish and they both commented on how happy I looked. It was awesome!

So fastforward to tuesday and all the Latinos as well as the other district of Americans have gone to thier mission feilds. So its only us in the mtc and we had a free day where we got to go and do anything we want in Bogota. But first we had to move out of our rooms and into our new ones where my comp is now Elder Rezendez and we are in a room that had 8 beds lol. this room is as big as our 6 bed room and smaller than our 4 person room in provo. And all the new Americans didnt get their visas, hence flying solo in colombia, we will be the only 6 North Americans here for 3 more weeks! Anyways so yesterday we got to do a session with just our disrict (and yes I have now done more sessions in spanish than I have in English). Then we got to go exchange our money into Colombian pesos, I had 60 bucks in cash so I only exchanged that. Then we went to a huge Catholic Cathedral ontop of a mountain. It is called Monserrate, you should look it up online because it was so awesome. Alittle weird but awesome. The view was great and we could see all of Bogota! it seemed like it never ends. I took tons of pics and one video, I will try to send them all when I get to the field but man it was sooooo awesome. Then we had subway for dinner and then watched 17 miracles. haha I remember dad saying it was hard to follow if you werent a church historian. And it kind of was, but you guys know that any movie we are allowed to watch we almost kill ourselves with exitement lol. So I t was good. Haha also we are allowed to listeen to the LDS.org music and my favorite it the youth page. Before my mission you wouldnt have caught me dead listening to the efy soundtrack. haha you guys know I thought that stuff was so dumb but now I love it lol cause its music. I like the songs while were young and walking in sunlight. one girl sounds like taylor swift so I listen to her song over and over. Im gonna be so weird when i get home but it wont matter, Im sooo happy and the only thing that would make me happier would be to see you guys. i love you soooooo much!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                        -Elder Crook

 

 

 

I'm gonna be a missionary for reals...but only for one day

Well this week was not my most exiting week here. I loved hearing about the kayak trip and the way dad tells it is just hilariious. The pictures are great too! when I get to the field im gonna try to print them and add em to my picture book. That was probably a highlight of my week. And YES! I would love to go back and kayak in 2 years with you guys, that would be a blast. Just in case you dont know yet I always find time to read your letters after I send mine for the week becasue i want to have the full thirty min to type. You guys know I need it haha, I nver took keyboarding in 8th grade. Anyways last friday was a very very interesting day. We got up at 6 to go to the immigration office to get official colombian IDs. So we filled out paperwork and thought we were all goood to go to get pics and fingerprints....noope. I guess someone forgot about general bank statements and the Americans and a few latins not from Colombia but serving here had no idea what to do. Of course you know me I tend to not listen as well as I should and especially when they give us instructions in Spanish it just kinda goes in one ear and out the other. so we were there by ourselves until the busdriver came to pick us back up, we told him about the statements and he gave them to us and left. If you are confused its because I am still confused about what went on here. It is about 12 right now and we are in the middle of Bogota on a random streetcorner. Old ladies are coming by and yelling at us in Spanish. On Latino Elder shoutded HALLELUJIA and AMEN afterwords, it was pretty funny but probably not what we should shout after getting shouted at. I still dont know what the old lady was yelling but it was pretty funny. Then we finally got to do our IDs but thier computer sysltem crashed halfway through, so we sat for another 4 hrs and finally got back to the mtc at around 5. We didnt get lunch that day and I was stinking mad when all we had for dinner was a heaping plate of rice. In case you havent noticed Im eating a crapload of rice but am slowly getting used to it. Last nights dinner was a nice change when we had horse steaks, you know me Im all for the meat so Iloved it! it was quite chewy and tough but had a distinct flavor. I went back for seconds on that. Also there have been problems with missionaries stealing stuff from other missionaries. so far there have been shoes, shirts, and 100 us dollars stolen. Luckily our room of Americans have been spared, but I hid my wallet pretty good. Haha I guess the super bowl of soccer games was here in Bogota on sunday. I guess one of the teams from bogota won because there were fireworks in the stadium and its like 2 or 3 blocks away from the ccm. So we gathered around the window and watched them for a while, you can say I didnt miss 4th of July but I bet your guys firework show waas better. After that people were going crazy, screaming honking there horns hanging out the windows with their soccer jerseys and the occasional gunshot and siren. It kept me up a while but it was exiting.

Soooo I get to go proselyting for reals on saturday, real people, real spanish, real missionary for reals. I am pretty nervous because I can teach lessons and chat a little bit in Spanish, but when it comes to listening and understanding it is no bueno. Everyone talks so fast and to me it all sounds like one big word. But I will have an expeirinced elder and a native comp with me so I know I will be fine. Im prayin like crazy, I know it will be an awesome experience and I probably wont wanna come back to the ccm. I sure love you guys and hope your week went well and this one is going good. Tell shay to send me an email about her camp cause im super interested to see how she does and how she liked it. You guys are awesome and whenever I get a little bit down i always think of my family. It helps me focus so much more and get back into the swing of things. Thank you for being so awesome. Oh and tell Gramma Joyce thanks a ton for that care package!!! it was awesome

 

 

                                           Elder Crook

Bad Hair Day - July 11, 2012

Hey pappy!! I know youre home alone all week so I hope this letter will cheer you up. Fyi they are more srict on the e-mails here, only 30 min to read and write and I have a teacher peering over me making sure Im emialing only family. So I havent even read youre letter yet and I have one from Josh too so hopefully I can read them later.

Ok so the food here is a little bit better than in provo because its all homemade since theres only about 60 people total here. Weve had the best juices ever though, like mango juice pineapple juice lulu, moro and apple soda (the weird ones are fruit native to colombia). We also got this thing called a granadilla the other day and it had a hard outside and you cut it in half and there is like mucousy seeds in side. All you do is slurp it out and swallow it, it is way good tasting but the texture makes me wanna hurl after a few slurps lol. The food consists of chicken and rice, like once or twice a day well have chicken or rice or both, so its not to bad. So the CCm here is super small and we have a room smaller than in provo but with 6 ppl now instead of 4. It is crowded but we make due. There are other Americans here and one went to Fremont high, his name is Elder Woolsey and he swam with Clint and Lexi when he was there. there are about 45 latinos here and they are all pretty much converts to the church which just blows me away, they are so humble and fun to try and talk too. Even though I cant really understand them because they talk so fast we have a great time together. Also my comp is Elder Albrect now, we got switched around a little bit. Haha he sprained his ankle yesterday playing vollleyball and I ve made fun of him for it ever since, but now I am giving him piggybacks every where we go lol.

My one goofy story for this week is about my new haircut. So there is this crazy latino haircut lady that I guess was huntng me down to cut my hair from the first day Ive been here. Last friday she finally cornered me in the lunchroom and pulled me out. The whole room was laughing at me because she gives horible haircuts. They look ok on Latinos but on me it looked horrible. All she did was shave the sides to like a centimeter and leave the top long, like a bowl cut. I looked like a freaking retard! worst haircut since the Tebow era a few years ago;) only you will know what Im talking about lol. Anyways right after I went to the bathroom and told Elder Albrect to get his clippers (luckily he had them] no one saw me so they couldnt tell the lady. he buzzed the top to the length of the sides and now I look somewhat normal. Crisis averted right.....wrong apparently the lation haircut lady gets very offended when anyone but her cuts youre hair. So I have been avoiding that room that shes in and have a few close calls but havent been caught yet. Ill tell you next week if she catches me.

We get to go proselyte with a real missionary in the field the saturday after next, I am so exited to get off of the ccm campus and see more of the country. We got to see a little bit more of it today when we went to the temple. The biggest surprise to me was how crazy the traffic is here. Take our traffic laws and throw them out the window, if you want space in the road you have to make it, i havent seen one stoplight. They have so many motorcycles here and some of them are way sweet! they practicly live in the center between 2 lanes. It is so crazy and Ive seen old ladies on scooters making gutsier moves in traffic than you or I ever would think of doing. It is such a great experience here and I am trying to enjoy every moment of it and learn all i can. I love you so much dad and hope you are having a good week and keeping busy helping ryan with his house. Love you lots.

 

 

                                                Elder  Crook (aka Chancho)

In Colombia - Safe and Sound - July 4th (original date of message)

Hey guys I hope you are having a great time kayaking. I want to hear all about it when you guys get home. Well I am here e-mailing you from the Colombian ccm on my first full day here. I dont even know were to begin but Ill try to give you guys a rundown of what has been happening. So after I talked to you gusy on friday we had a great staurday and sunday just mostly doing the same things. Sunday was fun because we had an actor come and recount the Joseph Smmithstory throuhg the eyes of one of Josephs closest friends Willard something. But it was really cool and I liked it a lot. Then on monday we packed a lot and taghut our first trc which is member volunteers that can speak spanish. It was a lot more relaxed because we just had to share a small message on prayer and get to know them a little better. After teaching we had the best dinner ever of chicken strips, I hoovered 3 plates and while i was eating elder albrect made me lagh so hard I got a piece of Chicken in my nose lol, that was a fun night. Then we said our goodbyes to the rest of the kids in our district and tried to get some sleep.

We woke up at 4am to get our visas and tickets and catch the shuttle to SLC at 5. While we were at the airport there were people honking at us and cheering like crazy like we were some kind of celebrities or something. Then I payed 75 dollars for my bag (can you check my account for me when youre back?) and we got on a 4 hour flight to Atlanta. i had so idea how many trees there are in Atlanta, it was kinda cool but it was so hot and muggy there I was glad to be in the air conditioned airport. Then we waited for an hour at our gate going to Bogota, everyone was speaking Spanish and all of the instructions to board were in Spanish, they finally saw us and rattled them of in English out of pity probably. Then there was a huge thunderstorm i mean huge!! it was raining the hardest i had seen in a while. So we sat on the runway for 3 hours to wait for it to clear out and then we got out of there. The flight was good and we got in last night to the ccm at 2. im sorry but im gonna get kicked of here in a sec but i love you guys and hope youre having fun kayaking

 

 

 

                                            Elder Crook

Leaving for Colombia - July 3

Kody will be leaving for the Colombia MTC on Tuesday, July 3.  If you wish to write to him while he is there, his address will be:

Elder Kody Crook
Colombia MTC
Carrera 45 #57 B-26
Barrio Nicolas de Federman
Bogota'
Colombia

June 27, 2012

Way to go little sis!! you've done a pretty good job this year in school! Thanks so much for e-mailing me and telling me about how your doing. Elder Albrecht is a big track guy so he was way jealous to hear you were at the olympic trails. I love you a lot and hope you are having a great summer so far. haha so last thursday I got a letter from my boy Elder Kilts, it was 2 pages front and back. All my roommates have girlfriends they write so when they saw the handwritten letter they all jumped on me and were like" Thats from a girl Elder! you've been holding out on us......then I was like "This is way better, this is bromance lol" anyways he gave me a lot of good pointers and tips and he's doing so great in Guatemala.

So we also got our travel plans to bogota and that was a great night! we were all slapping alto cincos (high fives for you gringos out there) and were so exited to get to the mtc in Colombia. Then it was mission presidents week were all the new ones get trained so Elder albrect rezendes and I got to meet pres. and Sister ANdelin. They said that we are the second group of Gringos ever to go to the Bogota CCM and that it holds a max capacity of 40 people. I don't know what to expect but boy am I exited! Pres. Andelin is like some real estate tycoon/ computer company owner and has a 15000 acre ranch in Idaho as well as houses in Hawaii, California, utah, and Idaho. They just got done serving a mission in Chile and are really cool people. They each greeted us with handshakes and hugs, it made my day.

So Dad I know you like to hear some funnies about Mtc life and this week has pretty much been full of them, so I'll give them in chronological order. Last Friday I was walking up the five flights of stairs to get to class, my whole district was behing me and I was just marching up those stairs like a fearless leader. Then all the sudden the Star Wars theme song popped into my head, so I started humming the humming gradually got louder until i was going BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM all while keeping my knees high marching up the starirs. As I rounded the corner to the last flight, there were 2 companionships of hermanas on the landing and one of them was sitting on the stairs. I did'nt notice them till Iwas about 4 stairs from the top when I stopped and was embarrassed for a split second. Then it croossed my mind that I am not here to woo any hermanas so I just said "hola hermana's" and proceeded to keep singing and marching. My whole district saw this and still make fun of me because it was pretty darn funny. Then on Sunday I was walking back from our weekly temple walk and a little girls dad asked me if I would shake his daughters hand because she alwasy has wanted to shake the hand of a "real" missionary, so I bent down and shook this super cute little girls hand, I could tell she was embarrassed but it just filled me with the spirit to know that I am actually a "real" missionary and little kids notice that. Then in our weekly sunday devotional I fell asleep because they won't let elders take their suit jackets off and it was really hot. So while I was asleep I drooled all over my tie. It looked so gross and when I woke up, they told the Elders to feel free to take their jackets off. I was like oh great who do I want to be, the retard who drooled on his tie or the only one who still has his suit jacket on. I kept my jacket on and stuck out like a sore thumb. Also Elder Albrecht and I have come up with a new word, BUNGHOLIO. I'm sure none of you think it's funny but when you've been cooped up in here anything out of the ordinary is funny. So we both say it to each other at awkward times and it's pretty funny. Elder Albrecht and I are also making a missionary rap cause he's good at beatboxing and i'm sorta good at ryming lol.

Alright, that's wnough of the funny stuff but I will try my hardest to call on fri night, I'm gonna leave some extra time on my e-mail so I can e-mail you guys tomorra night or fri to tell you if I can and when. I love you guys so much and love the gospel as well, I recieved you're package as well as letters and cards from Pallos, Andreasons, and Grandma Geddes. Thank you all for you've loving support!!

 

 

 

 

                                                                        -Elder Crook

First P-Day

First of all I would like to thank everyone for their support. The days are long and hard here at the MTC and it's great to just unwind and read letters that were sent to me. So thank you mom, dad, Shay, Cindi, Lexi, and both sets of grandparents for showing me so much love. Well I've hardly had time to think about anything else other than spanish and the gospel for the first few days here. Wednesday night we learned how to pray in Spanish and we taught our first lesson thursday night. It was so stressful and I was nervous because this is the gospel we're teaching here! But it was amazing because before Elder Hill ( mi companero)and I went in to teach we offered up a prayer for the spirit to be with us and it was. I was blessed with almost total recall of the limited information that was taught to me, I have never EVER been able to do that before and so I know that the spirit was helping me and I'm not just all the sudden super smart. Since then we have taught 2 more lessons and they have gotten progresivley better.

My companion and roommates are all going to Colombia and we've met 2 others that are headed there as well but no others, no that puts us at 6 missionaries repoting to Colombia if all goes well with our visas. I've really bonded with my district and one kid named elder hancock. He's kinda chunky and we have to walk up 5 flights of stairs for class and yesterday he got to the middle and yelled Ayudame Dios Ayudame! (help me God help me). He loves the buffet meals and makes a point to drink like 3 glasses of chocolate milk every meal. Personally I love the food here. I sneak cookies in my pockets for later and a couple of times we've even had a NACHO bar, which you all know I love. Our district has a thing for mixing drinks cause theres like 20 different juices here and so far we have hulk sweat (blue powerade and Orange Fanta0 bubblegum(fresca a shot of rootbeer and orange strawberry bannana) and shirley temple (Fresca and Cranberry juice) I made shirley temple and it's gooood.

Dad how was your ride to reedsport and how was mom and shays half marathon? Shay! how did school end? I'm dying to hear! Tell me everything you've been up too.

The gym here sucks, it's only dumbells and my dumbell roommates just like to write their girlfriends on P day. So I went on an exchange with Elder Mortenson from Rexburg and worked out. He has a new 450 to ride the dunes with.

Guys I'm just doing great here, I'm meant to be here and I've never been happier because I've never felt the spirit this close to me. Remember when I told you about me Colton and Kelton Snowboarding the last run with our shirts of in 14 degree weather!? I feel like thats how the mission will be. At the bottom of the lift I was freezing and didn't think I could do it, and once the lift started to move it seemed like forever (like the MTC) sometimes it would even stop and I would be so cold, but once I got to the top and boarded down it was awesome, I wasn't cold and it was over like that. I don't know when I'll reach the top of the lift on my mission, but I sure am enjoying the ride up!

 

 

 

    Love,

 

             Elder Crook