Una vez Mas

Hola mi familia!

Pos. One last letter! First off I would like to express my gratitude to all who have supported me on my mission. Most especially mom and dad! Thank you all for your prayers, for the letters, the care packages, and even just thinking about me! I have never once felt alone, unsafe, or unsupported! It means so much to me and I know the reunions will be joyful!

These past few days have caused me to reflect a lot on the past two years of my life. Where they have gone. Who I have met. How I have changed. What I have seen. The lessons I have learned. Overall I've felt so much gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the blessing it has been to serve as a missionary! Today I'll just briefly share a few of the lessons from my mission and my testimony of the Lord’s work.

Alma 26: 37 Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

First, I love "the Valley" and people of South Texas. The people are a wonderful mixture of the United States and Mexico and it’s a place you've never heard of before, never been, and a hidden treasure on this earth! The members, friends we’ve taught, less active members treat us with so much love and generosity! Everyone here will talk to you! It’s such a unique and wonderful place.

1 Nephi 1:20 But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.

In the past 2 years I’ve seen the hand of the Lord daily! It’s amazing to me how much He loves us and how much He does to show us that He cares! The Lord really is involved in the details of our lives and loves to give us "tender mercies" and small little personal surprises that only mean something to us. Today for example as we went to send off my bike, we felt prompted to invite another companionship to accompany us! At the bus station one of the Elders ran into a man he had taught almost a year ago who had wanted to get baptized but was about to serve time in prison. Today as we met him he had just been released and was on his way back home! There are those "celestial coincidences" that to me are the strongest proof of God’s character as a loving Heavenly Father!

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.

I know that as we lose ourselves in the service of others we will be happy. As we turn outward when our natural self would turn inward, we are blessed with experiences where we are made instruments in the Lords hands. As He works through us we are blessed to "come to the knowledge of our Redeemer". I cannot express the gratitude I feel towards my Savior, or the love that I feel for Him.

I know that this is Christ’s true and living church here upon the Earth today. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us as His children. I know that this life is the time for us to repent and prepare to meet God and as we do so we will find peace and joy in our time. I know that God restored His church through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon is not merely just an evidence of this, but one of God’s greatest instruments in helping us to feel His love. I know it is true and I love to read its words. It has taught me how to be a disciple of the Savior. I know that Jesus Christ lives. That He suffered for our sins, sicknesses, pains, and heartaches and that He died on the Cross and rose the 3rd day, and because of that.we will all live again someday and stand before Him and He will be our judge. I know that families truly can be together forever and that as we keep the commandments we will be happy.

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

- Con amor,

Elder Cook

 

Las ovejas regresan! (June 9, 2014)

Hola mi familia!

Wow! This was another wonderful week! I learned so much and feel like there’s still so much to do! A good part of the week we spent in meetings (Tues/Wed) and it was good to see some of my friends in the mission for the final time. I think the biggest thing that I learned this week came down to the Holy Ghost! There were a few times where we felt just the smallest prompting to go do something that required a change in plans, or to go back a certain way or do something differently and each time it yielded great results! I've learned that every time I follow a prompting, I get better at following the next one! But if I choose not to follow it or ignore it then the Holy Ghost will leave me in a painful silence until I repent and promise to be obedient!

Here are a few of these small little tender mercies!

Tuesday night- We were told we needed to prepare a musical number for a conference and we had the distinct impression that a few certain missionaries (who normally don't participate) needed to perform. We ended up doing a mix of the hymns “As I have loved you” with "love at home." It was so powerful! Afterward the missionaries thanked us and told us how much it had strengthened their testimonies!

Wed- we stopped by an investigator’s home after leaving a training meeting and found no one home. As we started to drive away we looked down another street and thought we saw a man we recognized so we decided to go back. It turned out to be Jorge, the father of a family we used to visit whose younger brother (Marvin) we are teaching right now. He has been working a lot lately and it was the first time we had made contact with that family in a few days and because of it we were able to go by the next day and help Marvin come to church!

Sunday- I walked into the Spanish Ward and was asked to play the piano! I’m usually hesitant if one of the Sister missionaries are present but that day there weren't any. As I looked at the program I saw "Para siempre Dios este con vos" and "Todo esta bien" (come come ye saints!) two of my favorite mission songs! This next week I’ll be in the English ward so it was a great tender mercy that the Lord arranged for those songs to be sung on my final Sunday there!

Ah! There are so many to share! But I know that the Lord does bless us in accordance to our faith and trust in Him! This is His church and His work!

Have a great week!

Con amor,

Elder Cook!

Recent Photos!

Mi Valle! (June 2, 2014)

Hola mi familia!

If I could come up with an analogy for the progression of my mission, I think I’d have to compare it to a regular summer day in the Valley! You wake up in the mornings and see a beautiful sunrise with palm trees and big fast moving clouds and it’s humid but not too hot. You've made plans and you try to envision just exactly how everything you've planned is going to work out! There are goals, dreams, needs, and wants that all need to be taken care of! By mid’ day its hot hot hot but there are toy story shaped clouds all across the sky. Its lots of work and sweat but if you’re diligent then miracles happen. Problems come up, plans change, but small tender mercies make it all fun and exciting!  As the evening hits it slowly cools down and then you get to see a beautiful Texas sunset and the wind picks up to cool you down! All the work and sweat and stress of the day are erased by a calm still peace as whole world seems to prepare for the night. It’s the most beautiful part of the day! You have time to reflect on the day’s events, the people you knew, and the things the Lord has done to help you be happy!

Here in the sunset phase of my mission I feel the same way! The "morning" of my mission seems miles away, the heat of the day doesn't seem quite as rough as I thought it was when it occurred and I'm blessed to have the help of the Lord as I look back in hindsight of everything that's happened. Each day this week something amazing happened and it’s humbling to see how good the Lord is at loving us personally!

This week:

People:

Paulina was confirmed this past Sunday and their family is fully active again in the church! We use Oreos about as often as the scriptures when we teach her haha (she’s like me!) and we had a cool lesson where we shared the video from Pres. Faust about the voice of the spirit!

Marvin!: He's a 15 year old we taught back in April who’s recently just began coming to church! He reads the Book of Mormon everyday and he came and played soccer at the church with some of the other youth! He's a super cool kid and has a really good heart! He always tries to do what’s right regardless of what his family members do.

Zoraya!: She’s getting reading for her baptism soon and she is being a missionary in her own family! Her older sister wanted to take her down to Brownsville for the zoo but she told her sister that she had to go to church! It’s been fun helping her to make friends with the other girls in Primary.

Priscilla & Valeria: We have a lot of fun visiting them! We teach them at their cousins’ house and it’s always a party! Valeria (who’s 8) helps her mom remember to read and pray and she is so responsive to the spirit! Last night we went over for dinner and Elder Munoz taught the moms how to make Arepas (algo colombiano! Son muy ricos!) and I taught an impromptu primary class using Mormon messages, hang man, and thumb wars to the kids: in total there are 8 kids ranging from 6-14! haha it’s a fun group!

Blanca!: Her friend got baptized last week and she has been coming each week and told us this week that she knows the book of Mormon is true! she has a young little daughter who has the same hair style as my companion! (see the attached picture!) haha.

Fun Experiences:

Wednesday we decided to go on bikes for the day and as we visited Blanca it started to sprinkle. A few minutes later it was a full blown thunderstorm! After trying to wait it out for about an hour under a neighbor’s garage overhang we decided to try and ride to our next appointment (some members) which was about 2 miles away! it was awesome! The streets were flooded and after about 10 sec. we were soaked. At one point we had to get off our bikes and walk on the side walk to avoid some mud. A bus came by at the perfect time and  I got snowplowed by a wall of water! haha. I miss being a bike missionary! Better yet...as we kept riding I missed the turn and so we literally went the "extra' mile that day! But we made it to our destination and things turned out well!

Sat- As we finished  teaching Priscilla and Valeria a nearby drive thru started blasting really loud music...the family told us that that evening there was going to be a Lucha libre...(ha think Nacho libre!). We drove by later and caught a glimpse of the masked Mexican wrestlers ....yes...even dressed up in their "stretchy pants'". It kind of underscored the culture differences between Ohio and South Texas ...the Ohio State fair or corn festival would've been the equivalent for the Lucha Libres in Alamo Texas. I love it all!

Lastly, my testimony really has grown this week about the power of the family! I know that Heavenly Father really is our Father in heaven and that He loves each of us as His children! As we visit and teach families the gospel of Jesus Christ, it all just comes back down to the simple story of a family. A Father who loves His Children sent His oldest Son to show us the example and to help us out so that some day we can all go back home and be happily together forever! I know this is true!

Just as the primary song says:

How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?
He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.
How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?
He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.
How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?
He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.
What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.
What does he ask? Live like his Son.

Con amor animo y agredecimiento,

Elder Cook!