Mas Lluvia!

Hola mi familia!

Well it was a great week this week! We had a lot of fun and learned so much! We had a zone conference in Harlingen and we had some great training on how to work better with ward members on Sundays and throughout the week! Afterwards we had a really good evening spending some time with president at our stake missionary coordination meeting! There is always so much we can do to further the work of the Lord! It’s so exciting to be a missionary right now!

In Brownsville....it rains and rains! It reminds me of my senior year back in May when it rained like 38/43 days or something crazy! It just rains day after day! Its great and we have some fun experiences! The other day we dashed from the car through pouring rain to go knock on a less actives house and wound up in front of the wrong door and ended up talking to a man who was super interested in learning about the gospel! It was a lot of fun and wasn’t hard for us to see Heavenly Fathers guiding hand! Not much time today but here’s a scripture that I love so much! One of the things I’m working on right now is trusting more in God and letting Him have complete control of my mission! Time is going fast! (the blink year...wow...it feels like yesterday was January this morning was may and tomorrow is December! wahhh!)

D&C 123:17:

Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed

Con amor,

Elder Cook

Vamos adelante!

Hola mi familia!

Another whirlwind week! The best part...it has rained everyday!!!! It’s been such a different feeling but it’s been a lot of fun! Thursday i actually got to be on a bike again and it was some of the most fun I’ve had since I’ve been back in Brownsville. I was working with Elder Bawden (an Elder I came out with) and we had incredible fun and success! At one point we got stuck in the mud and there was a group of teenagers who thought we looked funny...we went over and talked to them (they lost some bravery at that point) found one of them that was interested in learning more about the gospel and sat down for a lesson! The girl’s name was Brenda and she accepted the invitation to be baptized and is going to start coming to church with us! It was a fun learning moment for me! It felt so good to be out and riding and to see so many people to talk to!

We also had our monthly meeting in McAllen and so it was good to meet with all of my mission friends again! It’s been fun to work with Elder Welker and see him growing as well! He has more fun than any missionary I know and it’s been a real blessing to have him as my companion! I'm especially grateful as well for Elder Mulitalo and Elder Walker! They are two of my best friends and they do so much to help us out, whether its setting up something at the church before a meeting, helping keep the apartment clean, or making sure there’s always a song being sung (Elder Walker has Spencer-itis and sings regardless of the hour or setting!). We'll be doing another quartet this week at a meeting and we’ll be singing Abide With Me ‘tis Eventide! I get to sing alto and it’s been a lot of fun to sing a different part and make some cool harmony! Another fun thing we’ve started doing is going by a few minutes early to the Carrillo family and playing hymns on the guitar with their daughter Ivonne! Elder Welker sings and together it sounds great! I’m so grateful we can use instruments now...and I’m excited to use it with more of our members and investigators!

I know this work is true! I'm especially grateful for the peace and comfort I feel from reading the Book of Mormon! It truly changes hearts (including ours!) and gives us the exact counsel and advice we need!

Con amor,

Elder Cook

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Hola mi familia!

This was a great week! We had a lot of fun and saw a lot of miracles in our area as well! Elder Welker and I are already really good friends! He's from Los Angeles, plays sports (he's really good at baseball), and can sing as well (our apartment can still sing as a quartet!), speaks really good Spanish and works very hard! It was fun to hear about how things were in Corpus after I left and to watch him face the same adjustments that I made 6 weeks ago! Time is flying by faster and faster each day! It’s nice when we can find small moments to take a breather or just enjoy what’s going on around us!

We had one of those experiences on Sunday! One of the missionaries in our zone is named Elder Ferrell and we found out Friday that his sister and brother in law (who live just outside of Brownsville) were going to be baptized on Sunday and wanted him to baptize them! We got to drive over that Sunday to be with him and it was such a special baptismal service! He was so happy and it was fun to see their mini little reunion! Elder Ferrell was the first convert in his family and now all of his brothers and sisters and parents (except his oldest brother...the oldest of 6)  have been baptized! It’s so great to see families coming together through the gospel!

This week we're focusing on becoming more diligent! I was grateful for the words in Preach My Gospel in the Christ-like attributes section on diligence. Our diligence shows our love for God and His work and we can only be satisfied with our work if we do it diligently! It’s definitely one of the characteristics I want to have! Im grateful for the example of alma (Alma 43:1) and hope to be as hard of a worker!

We’re seeing so many miracles in our area with new families and I’ll tell you about them next week!

Con amor,

Elder Cook