New Mission President (from July, 2013)

Here is the info on our next President! It’ll be so hard to say bye to the Trayners!

Como les prometí la semana pasada tengo las noticias sobre el nuevo presidente de misión y esposa que llegarán el fin de junio.  Aquí tiene sus biografías:

Fernando Maluenda Mateluna, 50, and Priscila Ximena París Fredes de Maluenda, six children, Parkview Ward, Sandy Utah Granite South Stake. Brother Maluenda is a ward Sunday School teacher and former Area Seventy, stake president, bishop and missionary in the Washington Seattle Mission. Director for temporal affairs, Corporation of the Presiding Bishop. Born in Santiago, Chile, to Julio del Carmen Maluenda and Ana Luisa de Maluenda Mateluna.

Sister Maluenda is a ward Relief Society committee member and former ward Relief Society president, ward Young Women president and counselor, counselor in a ward Primary presidency and ward Primary teacher. Born in Santiago, Chile, to Luis Ernesto París Verdugo and Ana Albertina Fredes Aguilera.

South Most - Recent Photo from Andrew!

February 25, 2013 Email

Hola mi familia!

Well it was another good week down south! One of the highlights was getting back on a bike for a few hours this past Saturday! It was pretty interesting because we went out to a more rural part of the area (the parts along the fence East of Brownsville) and almost all of our contacting was in English (still Hispanic though...no worries!). It was great to get out and ride and the pace of life out there was definitely different than the congested city area right by our apartment. Elder Paulsen is doing well and we found this awesome picture a few weeks ago in the other elders area while we were in a trio!

Juan is doing well! He came to church this week decked out in a shirt and tie (that’s an accomplishment with investigators down here!) and he's all the way to Mosiah now! He's doing great with giving up smoking! We also had the chance to teach his Mom and his sister (he's the 2nd oldest in a family of 8...1 bro...4 sisters...he's 26) and they were both excited for him to be baptized!

As well Sunday night I had a good experience with opening our mouths! Hardly ever will I knock a door!...as we look for people to teach most of the time we will just go before or after appointments and "take a lap" to "walk and talk" with everyone that we can find! Here are a few of the things that happened Sunday. As we walked down a street looking for a referral we passed a street with a lady outside working on her garden. We kept walking past the street and I started having a few converging thoughts come into my mind....it kind of went like this. "Hey look there’s a lady outside!"-followed by a rationalization "Oh but her husband doesn’t seem to be around, that’ll be awkward." we kept walking and a few seconds later  the thought came "Elder Cook, talk to EVERYONE", and in my head I responded "Yeah but we've passed the street now. We can't go back." and still we kept going on. Finally the last impressions came: "Elder Cook will you regret it if you keep going that direction and don't talk to that lady". Obviously the answer was yes! I quickly told Elder Paulsen we needed to go back and talk to someone! It turned out to be a decent opportunity to share the gospel! She seemed slightly interested, her husband came outside, and they both referred us to go visit a sister in law who they both felt needs help in her life right now! Even though the end result wasn’t anything spectacular or miraculous...I'm grateful for the peace, confidence, and joy we feel when we follow the Holy Ghost. I know that God loves us and is always prompting us to do good and come closer to Him!

I'm grateful to have the gift of the Holy Ghost in my life and the peace and direction He gives us!

Gracias por sus oraciones, apoyo, y amor! Me encanta ser un misionero!

Con amor,

Elder Cook

hola y adios!

Hola mi familia!

Well! Not much time this week. I'll tell you about Juan! We found him just walking down the street outside his house and we gave him a pass along card because he didn’t have much time to talk. We've now taught him 3 times this week and he has read 120 pages in the Book of Mormon! We're so grateful to have met him and it’s been an exciting journey already! still trying to help him quit smoking. Please pray for him!

Studied a lot about families this week because a lot of times we end up teaching individuals instead of families and there’s such a different and special spirit when there’s a mom, a dad, sons and daughters together helping each other along the way.  This week we had the chance to work in a trio with Elder Wray (who lives with us) and it was a lot of fun! 3 definitely feels like a crowd in missionary work. We eventually stopped introducing ourselves name by name because it just ended up taking too long! It was fun! We also explored some of the way far out areas and found a couple neighborhoods out in the middle of nowhere that have a lot of potential.

One of my new good friends here is Hno. Boccanegra! He always says he's "mas que contento" (better than happy) when we see him and since the ward activity where I made cookies he always asks me if I brought more "galletas." He's a great ward mission leader and is willing to do anything to help us. He's really helped us with the vision of changing the branch into a ward...(we only have a few more priesthood holders to go!...the branch attendance is in the range of the 120's) and it’s an exciting time to be serving here! Enjoyed stake conference! Feels more like September than February!

Great Scripture we used this week: D &C 130:20-21...every commandment = way to obtain a blessing!

Have a great week!

Con amor,

Elder Cook!

Southmost

Hola mi familia!

It was a crazy week and a tough week! I'm settled in to my new area here in Brownsville and its great! I've traded the bike in for a Chevy Malibu (well we still ride on Saturdays) and driving is a lot different than pedaling! It adds a whole new dimension to planning and working with members. Things are great. My companion is Elder Paulsen from Just north of Salt Lake, Utah (Layton?). He has a very similar personality to my MTC companion! We get along great already! He played piano and guitar before the mission and also went to BYU.

Wow. There is a lot more Spanish down here in Brownsville! I love it. I got to speak in church this past week and it was nice to be able to communicate just about all of the things I wanted to say as clear as if I were speaking in English. I spoke on charity! That was definitely a tender mercy from the Lord. Having Elder Rodriguez as a companion really helped me a lot (since he's a native speaker) and I'm seeing the fruits of it now. We live in a 4 man apartment with Elder Wray and Elder Handy (I met him my 2nd week in the MTC and he left the transfer ahead of me, but for a while he was the only one I'd met there who was going to the TMM). Our area covers the southmost and eastern edge of Brownsville. We have the Brownsville airport in our area and our area actually extends a good half an hour drive or so outside of the city (haven’t made the trip yet, but from what Elder Paulsen says it’s a lot of country and small colonias). We attend a Spanish branch of about 120 members (which is really nice b/c there’s only our apartment who goes...vs. the English ward which has all the Brownsville missionaries going there (26)). It’s a big branch and they have hopes for becoming a ward soon!

On Tuesday I got to see Elder Marble again! He's finally leaving Mercedes! It was great to talk to him and so strange to hear about how things had changed there! It was great on transfers to drive past Mercedes! I love that town! It was strange to go so far east and now I can say I've covered just about the whole valley! At least in my mind it makes sense now! Here’s a thought from my morning studies today! 

1 Nephi 16

28 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them.

29 And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things.

I love how in Spanish for "heed" it says "atencion" (attention). "Ways of the Lord" or "vias del Senor" make it a more literal "ways" like a way that you would walk, kind of like a path. the phrase "time to time" is a lot more powerful in the Spanish as well.....as well the English "plain to read" is "facil de leer" (also: Easy for reading)

To sum it up I liked this a lot because it teaches me a lot about how the spirit works. A lot of times we just need to pay attention to the spirit and notice the simple and small directions the Spirit uses to prompt us. Those promptings are easy to read if we have faith.  The Spirit will always show us how to follow  the "ways" Christ would have walked while on Earth, or the "Paths/Ways" He would take if He were in our situations with our opportunities. I'm grateful for this gift that comes after our promise of baptism!

Con amor,

Elder Cook

Pos....Vamos para Brownsville!

Hola Mi Familia!

It was a great week this week! Lots of highs and lows but the highs were definitely outweighing the lows and we saw and experienced a lot of tender mercies. First off...Jorge was baptized on Sunday! His friend Elizabeth did so much to help us...they played a prank on us though....Elizabeth's brother came up to us before sacrament meeting and told us Jorge had called and said he wasn’t getting baptized any more....He's an RM (return missionary) so we figured it was a joke and he admitted it. A few second later we got a text from Elizabeth saying that his parents (who he'd invited to the baptism) had told him as long as he was in their home he wasn’t getting baptized. She showed up to church and church started with us assuming he was gone. A few minutes before the sacrament Jorge walked in and sat down next to me and told me the whole thing was a joke. Man, it wasn’t funny at all! We were stressing out a lot! Pobrecitos.  The actual service went really well..it was smaller and felt like a branch baptism but it was perfect for Jorge and what he needed!

Later that night we found a really great couple named the Lerma family! They both kept telling us how much they want to change to become closer to their Savior and how much they want that change to be now. We had almost a perfect lesson with them and they even want us to teach their 5 grown kids (3 have their own families) when we come back this week! That was especially nice because of the news we received on Friday! I've been transferred! Tomorrow I'll be headed to an area called Southmost (It is the southernmost area in the mission....) on the eastern side of Brownsville. I'll be in a car with Elder Paulson! It'll be even more Spanish and I'm really excited to be there!

This week I learned a big lesson about change. Every decision we make changes us and each instant we are changing. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father gives us the power to become our potential based solely on our desires and our willingness to be humble and follow Him. It doesn’t matter at what point we start, if we all have the desires to follow Him and take His counsel things will be ok and we'll end up where we need to be.

As I leave another area I'll share a few scriptures that are really becoming my favorites and really express how it feels after you leave a place to move on!

1 Thessalonians 2:

8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.

9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.

13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?

20 For ye are our glory and joy.

The glory and joy of each of our lives are the people that are in them (just as we are God's glory and joy because we are involved in His Eternal Life)!

Con amor,

Elder Cook