Hay Amor!!!

Hola mi familia!

One of the things I love most about the mission is seeing how much enjoyment comes out of the little things! Here are a few of the big and little things that happened this week!

-We had 3 days of training in McAllen and boy did we learn a lot!!! It was great to see former companions and missionaries I lived with and we saw lots of great miracles during the night times (we were in training from 10-6 and then had 3 hours each night to work).

-Elder Ayers and I participated in 4 musical numbers...it was super fun! One of which I got to accompany an Elder singing a solo for Be Still My Soul, and then Elder Ayers and I sang a duet with guitar of "I love to look for rainbows." It was great! Music and missionary work make such a good combo!

-Saturday I was back in Mercedes on bike and we found some really cool people to teach! We talked to a guy on top of a gas station roof who was looking for a church, felt impressed at one point to knock on a car window and that led to us helping a lady take in her groceries and then we taught her and her sister, and then we also met a few people that knew some of our members back in Alamo! It was really cool! I worked with an Elder Child who’s from Northern Utah and he's been with me both in McAllen and Brownsville! He’s a great friend and it was really good to spend the day learning from him! It was great being on a bike too...we even got a little rain!

-Sunday- We had some really good talks at church on forgiveness and charity!!! One thing one of the speakers said that really stood out to me was the fact that charity is being able to see a need in someone around us, then feeling a desire to help them and acting upon it in faith! I have a long way to go!

One of my new favorite scriptures is in 2 Peter 1! Here Peter talks about the process it takes for our faith to be transformed into charity! Elder Ayers and I looked at this list of characteristics and put it into a pyramid and it was interesting the progression!

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Or
                                                                                              charity

                                                                        brotherly kindness

                                                            godliness

                                                patience

                                    temperance

                        knowledge

            virtue

diligence

The higher we get up on the scale! The higher our love grows! My favorite part of that verse though is the end where it says that as we develop these qualities or "Christ-like attributes" the more we come to know our Savior!!! What a beautiful thought! I know that charity never fails and that people never forget the ones that love them! I know that the greatest form of charity comes from the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He loves each of us!

Con amor y animo!!!

Elder Cook!!!

Hasta Ver!!!

Hola mi familia!

We’re doing really good down here in South Texas! The temperature got down to 33 this week and boy was that cold. No worries though...today we’re back up in the 80's again! It feels so good to have the heat back...hopefully it’s Springtime now!

We received transfer news this week! I’m staying here in Alamo/San Juan/Pharr which means I’ll be Elder Ayers’ final companion! We were both really excited and happy to hear the news! We had a lot of changes in the missionaries who serve around us but the new missionaries who are coming are good friends as well! Today I’m short on time so I'll just share a few thoughts I sent to Scott earlier today!

Being in South Texas is all just one big Eternal summer. Today we got up early to go take breakfast to some Elders getting transferred and as we drove home from Weslaco to McAllen I had the strangest sensation that I was back in time at the start of my mission. I felt as If I still had a whole two years ahead of me! Looking back it feels like I’ve climbed a huge lighthouse and I see all the stairs...but when you look up and out you can see and savor all the beauty for miles. I’ve decided the easiest part of ending is that most of my mission friends have been older than me in the mission or will be ending just a few months after me! The hardest part...well...I think it’ll be the release itself. Lately I’ve noticed how strangely people act around missionaries. Unconsciously they can sense in their spirit that we really are representatives of Jesus Christ and so they often behave the same way towards us as they would behave if the Savior was there. Last week for example we taught Rene about the Word of Wisdom. We committed him to live it and he accepted and then took about 15 minutes to just unload his burdens about how he had felt unappreciated at work and in his family. It was completely unrelated...but I could tell that that's what he would have told the Savior if He were there! People just often need to speak about the problems and troubles in their lives and because the Savior has suffered and experienced all of it they can feel that as they open up and share these things with His representatives they will feel peace and happiness. It really taught me the principle of being a representative of the Savior. How grateful I am for the authority and power of the calling of a missionary!

I’m so grateful to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I have a testimony that He lives. I am His disciple and my commission is to say what He would say, to do what He would do, and to minister to the very people He has sent me to in the way that He would if He were here. The happiness I am experiencing on my mission is greater than any other of my life before or that I’ve yet found in this world! Missionary work really is the best!

Con amor,

Elder Cook!

From February 3 - Judges 15:3-6 (La razon por el cual el auto dominio es tan importante!)

Hola mi familia!

All right: highlight moments from the week:

1) Round II with the dog that bit me! We went back to the same house (my companion had planned that house the night before and didn't tell me which house on that street we were going to....which is good because otherwise I might have objected) and this time as we walked up through the gate we saw no dog and I confidently told Elder Ayers "Let’s go, no one ever gets bit by the same dog twice!". About 5 seconds later the monster dog came charging at us and this time I had my backpack off and started swinging like crazy in 'defense mode!' Luckily the owner was nearby and no harm was done to the dog or my left ankle. It turned out to be the home of a recent convert who we thought had moved to Corpus but really was still living there! We had a great lesson and he referred us to a friend who we’re now teaching as well!

2) We had 2 different exchanges and Elder Stott (from BYU) taught me a lot about trusting in the Lord and working with urgency!

3) Played some morning basketball (Elder Ayers...my 6"7 companion has gotten a lot better since he figured out the art of dribbling and that if he gets closer to the hoop it’s pretty much impossible to block him!)

4) Sunday was a fun day! Everyone and their dog had a cookout so as we went by visiting people we had plenty of carne asada offers and even some pan dulce! Every house has a fence, a dog, and a homemade barbecue made out of a tire rim and scrap metal! I love the Valley!

5) I had some really great studies from the Bible this week reading in the first few chapters of James and then in Judges as well (Samson’s pretty crazy!).

All in all...it was a great week!

I am so grateful for the opportunity the Lord has given me to serve a mission. It helps me so much to feel my Heavenly Fathers love, to see the hand of the Savior in my own life and the lives of those around me, and to learn from the Spirit as I study, pray and serve others! Often people ask us why we come to South Texas to serve as missionaries and my answer usually comes out as something along the lines of "well, we know these things are true and we've seen the blessings and happiness that have come into our lives by living these things and we want to share them with everyone." Lately I’ve pondered that a little further and realized how much I keep going through that same process over and over again. Before my mission I knew how to believe in the gospel, how to learn it and to teach it and to some extent apply it to my own life. Here in South Texas I think that more than anything I’ve learned how to live the gospel, and how to make daily changes to live more accordingly with the plan that I know my Father in Heaven has for me. The most exciting moments of our week this week were times where Elder Ayers saw the families and individuals we're visiting making changes to come closer to God or to see those good changes from the past become firmly cemented and rooted into their character. We've got a great friend named Rene who continues to show us what it means to be completely honest with yourself, with God and with your fellow man. Another lady Lupita has such a great desire to learn things from the scriptures that she can put into practice today to help her become a better mother and wife. Another young woman, who recently went through a painful separation, has taught us how recognizable the peace of the gospel is! I love it! It’s great to see the light of Christ come into their lives and direct them to the truth! As I see people on my mission making changes and losing their old worldly selves as they are reborn in Christ it reminds me of the Savior’s words:

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

I know the Savior expects so much of us and the reward will be great and we have so much to gain in this life and the life to come if we take up our cross daily in following His example!

Be happy and make a good change this week!!!

Con amor,

Elder Cook!!!!

P.S. Whenever we teach we say an opening and a closing prayer. One of us missionaries always says the first one and then last one is said by the person who’s being taught or who we’re visiting! Time after time they always pray for our families! So remember...the people you pray for often pray for you as well! It’s such a great thought isn't it?