September 10, 2012 - Life in the Valley

Familia!

Ok. So in general there are 3 types of people we meet on the street or see in public....the ones not interested ...the people interested in only sharing what they believe but not listening...and the ones who want to do both! But there's actually one more group. Children! They are always friendly and here are a few funny stories. Yesterday we went to contact an investigator who hadn't made it to church. Two of his sons were playing outside and we asked them to go get their dad. One went in and called for their dad that we were here then came back out with an iPhone. They were about 5 and 7 years old and began taking turns posing with us and taking a picture on the iPhone as we stood there with our bikes. We felt like celebrities. It was pretty funny. I can't imagine what the parents will think when they look through the pictures on their phone. We also had a girl this week who asked us if we spoke English...she was about 8 or 9 and when she found out we were missionaries she asked us if we would talk to her parents so that we could help them stop doing bad things! Such faith and innocence! Her parents weren't interested but her uncle who's been looking for help, change and a church in his life wants to meet with us next week! The last thing I love about kids is that they always wave back! Usually the adults 'pretend' not to see us or look the other direction, but any disappointment from that is instantly replaced by the joy that comes from seeing a little hand waving from the back window. Moments like those make my day!

The sunsets and clouds here are still so awesome! We had a thunderstorm Sunday morning with (real!) rain for a few hours and it was great! We had an member of the 70 Elder Gifford Nelson came and spoke in stake conference on Sunday. I was in the building with the Spanish translation via satellite but still got a lot out of it! Last week we also went back to the La Vista (church by the mission home in McAllen) for training! That and a zone meeting at our ward building in Weslaco led to some shorter days. It was good to see the Elders I traveled down here with and compare greenie stories. By the way, only thing on my Christmas list is a gospel art book! They are the best for teaching families! Pictures help so much! Also if someone could look up the temperature for this past Saturday that would be appreciated...we don’t have a thermometer and so there are really only two types of days. Hot and REALLY hot. Saturday was one of those days! In other news...someone tried to steal our bikes but our good neighbors called the cops and things turned out ok!

I'll end by sharing just a few more "miracles" that happened on Thursday: We'd stopped by a less active members house and they weren’t home so we worked for about an hour on old investigators and potentials without any luck. As we were moving to a different part of town Elder Marble needed to use the restroom so we stopped at DQ. There were only 4 or 5 other people there. As we were leaving I figured hey let’s just go out the other door. Hiding around the corner that was obstructed from where the restrooms were sat the less active who we hadn’t found earlier! It was pretty cool! That night we also found a girl that Elder Marble visited a few times in Brownsville staying at her moms house. she had been to primary as a child and remembered the "welcome song" and we visited with her for a bit and sang “I am a Child of God” together! To end the night, we went to stop by a home looking to meet with two investigators but instead found out that they were both less active members!

Thanks so much for your love and support (esp. Dad for the OSU updates and MOM for the Spanish!). You are the best! And thanks to whoever reads this too! You're all in my prayers! I am having SO much fun but more importantly finding SO much joy in serving the people of Mercedes, TX! Enjoy the cold weather up north (we don’t have fall here...it just stays warm all year and maybe once a week a cold front comes in during December and January so they call it winter...according to Elder Marble). a little bit more about him...he did a lot of FFA in high school, wants to be a farmer when he gets back and teach FFA class, sounds a little bit like Larry from Veggie tales, asks the best questions during lessons, and he HAS heard of Steak and Shake (I'm not alone!).

God loves each of us. This church is true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God written specifically for us and our problems. As we follow the savior we will feel closer to him and help others come closer! Our true joy always and only comes from people...other people!!!

Con amor,

Elder cook