This was a great week! Lots of craziness with transfers but it was a lot of fun! The drive down from Corpus was a lot of fun. First, because we drove with just missionaries leaving corpus so I got to talk with the ones I’d served with for the last month or so. It was a good time to reflect on how my mission has gone and really the ultimate halfway point! I’m so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the places I’ve been and the people I have met and especially the companions I served with! I could not be happier with how it has been!
I definitely will miss the missionaries I served with in Corpus! It was an isolated part of the mission where the missionaries in your Zone become a lot closer! I learned a lot there and made some great friends! I got the chance to say bye to the Perez family, Danny Tellez, and a few of the members by phone before we left...we found out Monday so there wasn’t much time! Monday night we had a really fun barbecue with the Perez family and their dad told me as I said goodbye how grateful he was for our help and the Spirit bore witness to me of how Heavenly Father had put us in their path to bring them the gospel! I know one day that family will go to the temple and be sealed together forever!
So my new companion is Elder Stevens! He is a great missionary! He finishes up his mission this month but has lots of great plans to make this an awesome month! He's from California (Sacramento) went to BYU before, swims, sings, plays guitar, and has awesome Spanish! We live with two other elders. Elder Mulitalo (he’s a BYU offensive lineman) and Elder Walker (from Alaska!). They’re both a lot of fun and it was fun to see Elder Mulitalo again after Corpus (he came back down in June though). Tuesday we had a couple tender mercies welcoming me to Brownsville! As we pulled into the parking lot at the church we ran into the Martinez family...a family I knew really well back in Southmost. Turns out they’ve moved and now live in the new ward boundaries. The first people I saw back in Brownsville were the kids David (18) and Dianna (16). It was great to see some familiar faces! Then we left for a meal appointment which turned out to be with another family who attended the Southmost branch but lives outside of the boundaries. I remember giving the address to Elder Stevens and his companion back when I was in Southmost so that they could go visit them! It was fun to see how paying it forward came back to me! We had some great Mexican food and it was a good easy adjustment back to Spanish! Woohoo! I love speaking so much Spanish again! It’s part of my soul as a missionary! Even when people don’t want to listen I can always find comfort that we’re doing everything in another language! It’s been so good to hear the same old familiar phrases and words again! I need to work way hard at it though! The battle with Spanish will never be over!
In the morning to exercise we actually go to a member’s house nearby and workout on a bench press and a bar...Elder Stevens wants to get in shape and eat healthy before he goes home so as his companion I get the same benefits! We're still sore though from Saturday!
We were able to do a lot of service this week and it really helped me remember how important that is in keeping our baptismal covenant! It’s amazing how much better your day goes and how much more sensitive you are to the Spirit when you are able to serve! We also had the chance to sing an acapella version of Nearer My God to Thee at a ward activity as an apartment! It was really fun and I'm so grateful for the hymns...or the "green scriptures"...as some from the MTC used to call it! Thursday we had to run an errand and I got to stop by the Southmost apartment again where I lived from Feb. to April. Just like the other times where I’ve passed through former areas...it always feels the exact same as when I left it ..maybe a few small changes..but the feelings the same...but I definitely feel a lot different and it helps me recognize the progress and change I’ve gone through on my mission! I'm so grateful for that progression! I heard a quote that I really liked this week! "Heavenly Father has already armed you for the trials that you will face!". I’m grateful that our Father in Heaven gives us specific capabilities and attributes and puts us in the situations where He can use us best! I’ve seen that in just a few miraculous ways this past week and my testimony has grown a lot on the Atonement and how it can bless us in our progress!
Great scriptures for the week!
D&C 84:88
Con amor,
Elder Cook
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