Life in the Valley

Hola familia!!!

Pos....(pues with a valley accent). So things here in "the valley" as everyone calls it..are great! We had the baptism for Dalia Gonzalez and the oldest 2 of her 6 kids on Sunday and it was so great! It was such a happy day! They're family is awesome! next week I’ll send you pictures!

Yesterday we couldn’t use the library since it was Labor Day so today’s the day for email. Sounds like things in Ohio are going well! It’s fun to tell people that I'm from Ohio because most of them expect Utah and most have worked in Ohio as migrant workers. On Saturday we got to do some service by unloading an LDS humanitarian truck (a full size semi) with clothes, shoes, school supplies, and bedding with a work force of about 20. It was work! We were all drenched in sweat after about 10 minutes and this was at 8 o clock in the morning. The heat hasn’t been too awful...the humidity isn’t to different from Ohio and landscaping prepared me really well!

So right now we're teaching the Arcaute family. She has cancer and he has severe knee problems but her cancer is in remission and he's doing better. The husband speaks a lot of Spanglish but Alma...the wife...speaks the fastest Spanish I've heard. I don’t understand how Hispanic women can speak so fast! They have so much to say and they just go on and on. ha-ha...but its great! we usually run into a couple of drunks throughout the week and the most positive part about those experiences are the fact that they make for good Spanish practice.

On P-day yesterday we went to the outlet malls b/c a member's son worked there and was able to get us a pretty good discount..I got a pair of green shorts and the others had a good time with the fact that the greenie missionary got green shorts. It was really weird to hear normal music and even weirder to realize that there was a lot of music I didn’t recognize at all! Time just flies!

So it’s always windy here and the wind blows up from Mexico unless there’s rain...in which case you can feel the cold front hit and the wind shifts to be coming from the north. Thursday I actually went on an exchange with one of the Elders next door who's in the car area surrounding ours. It was strange to be driving everywhere but nice not to have to take 10 minutes to get from pt. A to pt. B. I still think I prefer being on a bike. Saturday we got rained on pretty well but my poncho saved my backpack from getting wet! We had a really cool lesson with a man named Juan who has kind of been investigating but not really progressing. It’s been great to see him gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon but he struggles to understand why any church that teaches of Christ isn’t "the true church". But things are improving and we're going by his place again today. The dogs still continue to chase us and I really don’t think I even notice it anymore. This week we're focusing on finding some more people to teach! You'll all be in my prayers! 

One thing I’m really coming to understand better is how much preparation goes into our lives that we don't see! I’m grateful God is our Heavenly Father and is actively engaged in each and every one of our lives!

Con amor,

Elder Cook

P.S. Yesterday we watched "Mountain of the Lord" and even though I hadn’t seen it for a good 5 years I could still quote pretty much the whole movie!