La Navidad en Tejas

Hola mi familia!

Long time no talk right? It was really good to hear each of you and talk last night! It kind of made it real to me that Scott’s actually home now and the Cookie Jar is back up to 6. I'll keep it short today and just share two quick experiences.

The first is from Christmas Eve...we went over to a family in our ward named the Campos family and had a really fun time! We had a mixture of American and Mexican food  (turkey, beans rice, tortillas, brisket, rice and beans) and some really good desserts. But the best part was afterwards when we sang Christmas hymns. The spirit was so strong and it really was a joy to be singing with such a strong family and missionaries. It made me so grateful for the kindness of our members down here. The last song we sang was.....Angels We Have Heard on High and it brought back so many memories of singing on Christmas Eve as a family and with guests over! I love that song and I'm grateful for all the traditions we have that have grown my faith in the Savior throughout my childhood.

Secondly, I can't tell you how grateful I am that we read the scriptures as a family, held family home evening and family prayer. Those simple habits have blessed me beyond measure and given me the testimony I have. Lastly, this morning I went out to work for an hour on a brief exchange with Elder Zavala. He is one of the missionaries who flew out with me but I didn’t know him in the MTC because he's a native speaker. We went and tried by a few former investigators from the area and had a really good experience. He has a pretty strong stutter and overall he's a pretty shy guy. We knocked on a door and a lady opened and I felt prompted to let Elder Zavala speak.  The Spirit taught me a huge lesson! As he slowly but surely began the conversation with the woman the Spirit came so strongly. Even though it took him 2 or 3 minutes to get a few sentences out and ask her a question...she was touched by his efforts. He was such a good example to me of a missionary who is humble but has courage and determination. Each day I've been able to find a new area or place where I need to improve and I'm grateful for the wonderful examples that surround me! God loves each of us so much. I know this is true!

Con amor,

Elder Cook

 

Transfers!

Hola mi familia!

That’s so exciting to hear about Jason and Camrie’s mission calls! They'll be great missionaries! Thank you so much for the package! Claire...I did eat the cookies RIGHT THEN ....with the help of the other missionaries nearby! Thanks Mom for the books and Ian for the Rubix cubes and all the other stuff! I'm excited for Christmas! I'm sending one package this week but there'll be another that’ll be a little late!  Just a heads up!

Boy...my life has changed so much in the past week! And it’ll change even more by next Monday. On Friday we received a phone call from the Zone Leaders....Elder Marble is going to be training another new missionary here in Mercedes and I will be headed to Las Milpas in Hidalgo!!! McAllen is situated about 7 miles or so north of the Rio Grande...and Hidalgo goes east and west below McAllen. So pretty much it literally is right on the border (Our appt. right now is 9 miles from the International Bridge...didn’t think I could get any closer!!) News so far is that It’s LOTS of Spanish (I'm really excited for that!). I'll still be on a bike and my companion is going to be Elder Rodriguez (he's fluent...more great news for my Spanish!!!). Elder Marble was pretty to shocked to hear that he'll be staying in Mercedes for at least a 5th transfer. I'm sad to leave Mercedes and especially the recent converts we have but I'm really excited for Las Milpas (the corn fields!). I'm really grateful that I began my mission here in "The Queen City" of the Valley. It’s been so much fun and I have learned and grown a lot! It was hard saying goodbye to Brother Soto (the 72 year-old who was baptized in October) Vanessa Herrera (she was baptized my first Sunday!) and Alma Arcuate (the lady with cancer who was baptized in October...Mom you should expect a letter from her...she only speaks Spanish and I told her to write you! ) last night. It was tough (I felt a lot like Dad because I got pretty emotional...Elder Marble gave me a good time for that...but really I'm grateful for charity and especially the kind that makes goodbyes hurt so much!) . Dad you'll probably get some facebook requests from some of them this week. Tonight we're saying goodbye to Angelina and then Dalia and her kids! It's going to be pretty hard!

On Thursday as well we received some huge news. Angelina won the court case and custody of her two boys. It was a miracle and an answer to so many prayers! Thank you as well! It really gave me a unique perspective with the timing of things and me leaving this Tuesday. We found her about the second or third week here and now I leave the week after she gets her kids back...I can't even begin to describe the joy and gratitude I've felt. We visited her on Saturday and it was so good to see Angelina with all of her kids playing around and being a happy family. She has come so far and changed so much! We promised her from the first lesson that if she came to church, kept the commandments and was baptized God would help her get her kids back. Seeing that fulfilled and seeing the process it took has grown my faith so much! As well it'll be hard to say bye to the Gonzales family! I love them so much! Dalia, Brianna, Victor, Jay, Andrew, Eli, and Olivia are always going to have a special place in my heart! In a week or two I'll send you the pictures and you can put face with all the names! I've loved my time here in Mercedes and I'm finding that as you leave an area and go somewhere else...it feels like you’re ending one mission and starting another one! Throughout the weekend we had 4 or 5 experiences where we "randomly" ran into some of the former or current investigators I'd wanted to say goodbye to but hadn't been able to fit into our schedule. It was a fun confirmation of Heavenly Fathers love and influence in our lives.

Ok now to end...As we visited with Brother Soto the other night I shared with him Mosiah 18:30:

And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever.

As I shared that Scripture and talked about how Mercedes has become truly a beautiful place in my eyes...the meaning of that scripture changed a lot to me. Initially I'd intended to share it because Bro. Soto had been able to come to a knowledge of his redeemer over the time that we had met...but I realized as much as anyone I had taught in these past few months I have learned so much about my Savior and have felt His love and presence in my life stronger than ever before. I know He lives and He loves us. I will forever be grateful to be able to feel my Saviors love. I share that love with you now and hope and pray that all will go well for you this week!

Con amor,

Elder Cook

Feliz Navidad!

Hola mi familia!

So this week I finally heard that song (Feliz Navidad!) down here and it was strange for two reasons....1) I actually understood the words of the song 2) it was 85 and we were sweating while listening to it! Thursday, Mercedes had a Christmas parade and it was just the odd cherry on top of the odd cake that makes up a Christmas down here in the south. It felt and looked like the fourth of July (some floats even threw candy) but it sounded like Christmas. Elder Marble and I were stuck from crossing to the other side of town so we walked up for part of it and ran into some people we'd contacted during the first month here and saw some members watching as well! It was pretty interesting to see pretty much the whole town out on the sidewalks watching. There's a big high rise (7 stories....big for South Texas) in Mercedes and occasionally we'll run up the stairs in the mornings for the exercise to see the view...seeing so many people at the parade was an experience that kind of made me stop and ponder for a while. It was a lot like seeing the town from the high rise building but seeing the town in terms of faces and people not houses and miles. Heavenly Father sees us in terms of faces and people, and even beyond that; He sees us in terms of hearts and potential!

We've been blessed to find some really wonderful people in the past two weeks. Last night as we were going to visit the Gonzalez family (the mom and two kids who were baptized my 3rd week here) we passed a house with some kids playing outside- we'd seen the kids before and talked to them about a week before- but kept going. Later we came back by the house and we felt prompted to stop! We were able to talk to the Mom (her names Janelle)! She was so friendly and we even had the chance to sit down and teach her. She just recently separated from her husband and has to provide for the 5 kids (all under 9) on her own...she had such an open heart and a willingness to learn and listen! It really strengthened my faith that Heavenly Father puts prepared people in our path and makes sure we don't miss them! I'm also grateful for D&C 1:19-23. I definitely feel weak and simple but I'm grateful that Heavenly Father chooses to do His work this way. I'm so grateful to be born in a home where I was taught the gospel...that I knew I could find answers to prayers...and where I was taught to always give my best! I love Mercedes! Heavenly Father has blessed us and trusted us with so many of His sons and daughters here and it makes me so happy! I'm grateful for the Savior, for His birth, His life, and above all His sacrifice for us! He lives and loves us!

Con amor,

Elder Cook

La confrencia de la mision!

Hola mi familia!

Today its somewhere in the 80's, but the whole town of Mercedes is decked out in Christmas decorations! It’s the craziest thing and I'm still trying to get used to it! It’s been a great opportunity to talk with people, we even ended up hanging up Christmas lights for a blind man (oh boy...talk about hard communication in Spanish!...I learned a lot of good directional words that day!).

The highlight of the past week though was the Mission Conference with Elder Gregory A. Schweitzer! Thursday we went to a fireside he gave for recent converts and investigators. He shared a great lesson on teaching in our families and applied it to the 10 Commandments...he made the interesting point that the reason we are promised long lives for honoring our parents is because if our kids see us taking care of our parents, they'll take care of us when we're old! We brought Angelina our recent convert! She loved it! Keep her in your prayers the next few weeks! She has surgery this week and court to win back custody of her kids (The gospel does miracles for people!!!) the next week!

The mission conference was such a spiritually uplifting experience. It was so wonderful to have all 190 of the Texas McAllen missionaries there! It was like a big family reunion! It was great to see Elder Stott, Elder Sanders, and Elder Hardin especially!!! We had a good time talking and catching up! He speaks great Spanish! Elder Schweitzer taught us a lot about the value of the Book of Mormon and as well how we can better help people to repent before and after baptism. He invited us to study more fully how the characters of the Book of Mormon have their own distinct personalities and how they were real people with real lives and as well how the Book of Mormon is such a miracle and the evidence of God's love for us today!

A few more fun highlights from the week...we taught a family history lesson to our local librarian! Taught a lesson to a local pizza man who wants to be baptized and had a less active sister come back to church (her daughter isn’t a member and wants to start meeting with us as well! Spanish is going great!

This week I had a little bit of time to study in 1 Corinthians 13....which mirrors Moroni 7 talking about charity. It’s such a powerful chapter and helped me understand that of all the things we can become, learn, or do, learning to love one another goes far beyond the others in importance. Faith is the tool we have in this life to help us use the Atonement of Jesus Christ to purify and perfect ourselves for living again with our Heavenly Father. Someday, when we stand before God we will have that perfect knowledge of Him and His Son and that need for faith will be no more. Then (as Elder Eyring mentioned in his talk at conference) how we served the Savior and really how well we have done at developing charity will be the most important issue! I'm also realizing that with the people we teach, Heavenly Father has the power to send angels to teach them the gospel, He could take away their trials, give them the material blessings they need, but he chooses to send us so that we can learn to love our brothers and sisters and so that we know how to love each other as an Eternal Family. The only thing we have to offer others that God can’t give them is the love and charity from our hearts!

Muchisimas gracias por sus oraciones, el amor, y todo!

Con amor y carino,

Elder Cook