Hey guys! I'm glad that we figured out a dropbox and a way to send packages. I'm excited to see what gets sent. Writing letters through the regular mail is a good idea. I think that'll help if you keep the emails shorter. I always enjoy reading them but I would also like to email other missionaries that are out. I can also focus on writing my long email a little more and make it more composed than the past couple weeks have been. I will try to write you personal letters too.
Where to start with this week? My bike decided to break down this week which was not fun. It started when we were riding back from exchanges and I hit a rock that popped the inside tube and made a hole in the outside tire. We took it to a guy who replaced both of them. The outside rubber was bald anyway and it needed replacing. After that the bike worked fine until the bearings decided to wear out. This meant the tire would barely move when I pedaled. We had to take it back to the same guy and have it fixed again. Now at this point I think we are all good, I can go and not worry about it. That was until I hit a pothole. It wasn't a huge pothole, the bike had taken stuff like it before, but the guy who fixed the inner tube and outside rubber used a bad quality inner tube and not only that but he didn't put it in carefully so the tube got pinched which made it even more likely to pop. So after hitting this pothole the inner tube burst and had a decent sized hole, unable to pumped. We had no choice but to cut our day short and walk home with our bikes. The one thing that was cool is that while we were walking home a guy on his own bike stopped next to us and asked about the bike and told us where we could go to get parts. (We already knew where we wanted to go it was just nice for him to suggest something) From there he actually biked with us back to our street and so we turned it into a contact and set up an appointment to meet him. Who knows maybe my bike was supposed to be a piece of work this week? I'm excited to meet him again. He seemed nice. Today we were able to replace the inner tube and the bike is working fine so far, here's hoping it stays that way.
Other than that the week was fine. A couple of appointments didn't work out, but that's part of the culture. People set appointments and forget they even set something. Or they set up an appointment and then don't want to meet anymore and just ignore you. It's ok, even though it was a bit of a trial we still had some successes. A less active is now consistently coming to church and the one progressing investigator made it to church for the second week in a row. I'll gladly take any success I can.
To paint a picture of the area...It is interesting let's say. The neighborhood streets are narrow and made of dirt/sand. Most roads have a gross sort of canal, where all there is standing water. It could be sewage or used water from the houses nearby, I'm not sure. Algae grows on it a ton and they are usually full of trash.
Chois, the store that mom checked out online, is probably the nicest store, which we can only visit once a week if that. Most stores or "winkels," as the locals call them, are basic. Fresh quality fruit or vegetables are hard to come by unless you go to Chois or another store called "Best Mart," which I have not been to. Bread you can get at the "winkels" so long as you plan to use it soon.
The members of the church are incredibly friendly and fun to talk to. Most people will let you talk to them and listen. A couple people have even fed us.
I love you guys! I miss you like crazy but I know there will be blessings for all of us.
I'll try the dropbox! Here goes nothing!
Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Cole Cooper
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