Monday, September 17, 2012

Life in the Valley (with Dogs)


Hola Familia!
So this week I'll start off by talking about dogs. We see them all day every day and everywhere. Friday we had an interesting experience. Usually the dogs come out and chase us for a couple of houses and then let us go. Most of them are big and ugly and bark a lot. This time however, one kept chasing after Elder Marble and bit him! Luckily it was just on his shoe so it didn’t end up being too serious and things were ok. While that was happening two other dogs were running me down and the only thing you can do is kick them while trying to out pedal them. Im sure it looked pretty funny. It definitely gets your adrenaline going, it’s kind of like a combination between stealing a base in baseball and kickboxing at the same time. When they start nipping at your heels it turns into all out war...foot vs. dog. The worst feeling ever though, is when you see a big angry dog barking behind a fence as you ride by, and then the dog manages to squeeze under the fence and starts chasing after you. there are lots of German Shepherds, American Bulldogs, Boxers, and mutts. The Chihuahuas are funny though because they’re too small to do anything.

But this week really was a good week! We worked a lot with visiting the less-active members of our ward and we found some people that really are ready to come back to church! We only found a few new investigators this week so this week we'll again focus on finding, but the one's we currently have are all still progressing well.

I got letters from Elder Steele, Anna Salaens, Kelsey Sicker, and Kennedi (BYU) and that was really exciting! The weather actually wasn’t too bad this week but we still sweat 24/7. One night we were at a members home teaching a lesson and I started shivering because of the AC. I looked over to see what the temperature said and it was at 80! 50 degrees in the winter really is going to be a lot colder than I thought!
One of the highlights in the week is when all the missionaries in the ward (10 of us) go over to the Grindstaff's house for Sunday dinner. Brother Grindstaff is almost a carbon copy of Bro. Webster and he reminds me so much of him! They’re really a great family and it’s nice to have a big, home cooked meal with the missionaries after 8 hours of being at the church. Friday night there was a ward activity to celebrate Mexico's independence day. It was quite the cultural experience and I felt pretty weird and out of place! This week I gained a greater sense of gratitude for prayer. I'm grateful that we can pray to our Heavenly Father whenever we have needs, questions, doubts, or weaknesses. I'm grateful for the strength we receive through prayer. I'm also grateful that growing up, Mom and Dad, you taught me to keep the Sabbath day holy! We were teaching one of our investigators about that commandment during the week and as I started to share my testimony about it, I realized the great blessings I received because of my obedience. Choosing to not play sports on Sundays was one of the best decisions of my life! I'm grateful for the Sabbath day and the chance we have to remember our covenants and to re-energize and prepare ourselves for the tests and trials of everyday life!

Thanks for all your love and support and prayers! You're all in mine! The Book of Mormon is true and I am so grateful for the lessons it has taught me! Alma 37:24 is how I feel about being a missionary!
Life is great!!!

Con amor,

Elder Cook

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