Lo mas amor que tienes, mayor sera tu gozo!

Hola mi familia!

I'm grateful that Heavenly Father is a patient Heavenly parent with each of us! He knows us perfectly and always wants us to be happy! Here are some of the things that brought me happiness this week or made my week interesting!

1) Spoke 4 days of all Spanish (it was for our mission language program...and it was all Spanish except with English speakers) it was a good stretch and by day 4 Elder Ayers was missing speaking to me in English!

2) Thursday we had some rain blow down from Ohio and it got down to 33 degrees! I was in our area on exchanges, will Elder Ayers was on a bike over in Donna!

3) We discovered a new healthy snack for our lunches....a quarter of a green pepper with ranch dressing, a carrot and a cheese cube on top!

4) A man that we visit named Rene, has a super strong testimony (he literally told his son - I testify to you that the things these missionaries share with you will bring you more peace and happiness!) and sets a really good example of what it means to have integrity!

5) More visits with some of the returning less active members in the English ward and "finding" a few good families in the Spanish as well!

It was a fast week and full of work! The biggest lesson I learned this week was the importance of always learning and always recognizing our weaknesses...because if we don't...it becomes harder to place our trust in the Lord or harder to show that we have confidence in Him and His power. At this point in my mission I've really seen how I’ve been placed in areas or situations where the Lord needed and not necessarily the place where I thought I needed to be. It’s been a good lesson to learn how to change my attitude from wanting to be where I need to be to wanting to be where the Lord needs me. Elder Ayers is a good example of a missionary who has that outward focus and he teaches me a lot! If I’m ever down or a little disanimado he quickly makes a joke or finds a simple joy or something amusing! It’s such a blessing to never be alone on the mission! Here are a few of my favorite verses from Proverbs 3 on placing confidence in the Lord and relying on Him:

3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

I know the Lord sees all of our paths and knows the guidance we need now. If we follow and acknowledge Him at all times...we will be at peace even during the most difficult times! The Savior was such a good example of this and invites us as always to follow up. When we're weak, but acknowledge the Lord, we become strong!!!!

Have a great week!!!

Con amor,

Elder Cook!

El sapo a la sapa tienela por muy guapa (its a dicho!..beauty is in the eye of the beholder)!

Hola mi familia!

January is moving along and things here in Pharr/San Juan/Alamo are going great! Tuesday and Wednesday I spent the day back in Mercedes on exchanges and it was again wonderful to ride those same streets and see things again from the perspective of the missionary I was when I got to South Texas. Being there really helped me gain a deeper perspective as far as where I am now and the effect of what has occurred during my mission!

I really love serving my mission here in South Texas. I’m grateful for all the companions and missionaries I’ve served with, the members, the people I’ve taught, the places I’ve been, the things I’ve learned and the ways that Heavenly Father has helped me grow and change. The best moments of my mission have been days where we've set out to do something or helped someone, done our very best, seen miracles and divine intervention, and then afterwards felt satisfied that some good in the world has been done and that some of Heavenly Father's children are progressing towards returning back to His presence. I’ve realized that the joy and happiness I feel comes from service! Because the mission, is nothing but that! Recently, my testimony has become stronger on prayer. Prayer helps me focus. It helps me feel God's love. We teach people about prayer everyday and I don't think I’ve done a good job in recognizing the power it has to change hearts, minds, lives and situations.

On Sunday as I sat and partook of the sacrament and read of the story of the Savior’s atonement in Luke 22...I realized that the greatest act of love ever shown toward mankind, occurred during the prayer from Christ to His Father. I’m grateful for Christ’s example and the power that we can feel and experience in our lives because of that prayer!  The story goes as follows:

39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,

46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

Prayer is such a small and simple thing. At times it can seem like the easiest thing to do, but at other times the hardest. I know that prayer heals our soul. Prayer will allow God to give us answers in our lives. It allows us to see what we can’t see from our normal everyday perspectives. prayer brings us testimony. Prayer brings us peace!

This week...some of my goals are to improve my Spanish work ethic! To serve my companion more! To enjoy the weather each day! To play piano for at least 30 min!  To make sure my clothes are all folded and ironed! And to make sure each prayer I say is specific and sincere! It’s going to be a great week!!!!

Thanks for all of your love and support! Kind words letters, packages (especially the ones with food! woohoo! Elder Ayers is grateful for the lunches he hasn't had to prepare...we’ve shared with other missionaries as well too!) and of course...your prayers!

Con cuidado porque hay un elefante que le esta mirando!

(no mas para ver quien hace un esfuerzo cuando digo algo en espanol!)

Con amor,

Elder Cook

El Valle es mi hogar!

Hola mi familia!

Woohooooo! The warm (or at least semi-warm) weather has snuck back! It was so good to actually sweat a little bit this week! Our little south Texas winter seems to be over and the sweaters are back in the closet! It’s interesting how big of an effect the weather has on our lives! One of my favorite things about sunny days down here is that the sunsets at the end of the day are beautiful! Especially in Alamo where there’s lots of fields and agricultural areas and the skies are wide open! A few days this week we took advantage of the warm weather by taking walking days during the daytime hours so we could go out and talk to more people. In the evenings as we got back to the truck and drove to our teaching appointments, we would be driving just as the sunset was ending and the colors in the sky were gorgeous! It was a great pick me up!

One great miracle this week was the Salazar family! They’re a less active family we've visited since Christmas and after coming to mutual on Wednesday (they have 4 girls -15, 14, 12, & 8 and 1 boy, Charles- 6) they attended church on Sunday and Ashley, the oldest, even brought a friend. They’re one of my favorite families here and we have a lot of fun when we visit them! They all wear cowboy boots and have bonfires out in the backyard and being at their place feels more like the Texan half of the Valley than the Mexican half! We're also teaching one of their neighbors who have been going through a hard time recently and it really has been a strong testimony to me of the importance of helping less active members return to church! Before, I used to always have a strong desire to find a complete family that we could teach and baptize and I had felt that I could get close but a family member or two was just always missing. Looking back now, I can see that my mission really is full of families in those less active members who have come back to church. They mean as much to me as those people who were investigators and I know the Lord has put them in my mission to bring me peace and happiness!

This week my testimony has grown on the importance of work! Elder Ayers my companion has shown me a good example of the effectiveness of multitasking and I’ve found that the harder the work, the more the Spirit prompts me to work in more effective ways! The Savior promises us this blessing as we work to bless His sheep:

2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.
3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;
4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;

(D&C 4:2-4....dad! I remember working hard to memorize those verses when we were young! That was such a good lesson for me!)

I know that each of us have been give a specific work to do in this life and that as we honor our callings and responsibilities- whether they be temporal or spiritual- the Lord will bless us and cause our efforts to flourish! I’m grateful Mom and Dad and Scott for all the hard work you've shown me and the examples of everyone else in my life! Sprint to the finish!!!!

Con amor

Elder Cook

Que Dios les bendiga

Hola mi familia!

This has been a great year all ready!!! Already I think it’s been one of the hardest working weeks of my mission and the joy and satisfaction you feel after working hard is priceless! With the changes of transfers things have been pretty busy and exciting! My new companion is Elder Ayers...he stands at a modest 6"6 and I often feel like a dwarf or a little kid just tagging along side of him! He's a spiritual giant as well and has taught me a lot about the importance of listening to others and treating them with love and respect even if they’re not interested in what we have to share or even if they’re not ready to act on the message! He’s really good at cleaning the apartment, speaking Spanish, and bearing testimony! 3 great qualities to have in a companion! He'll be going home in March so I might possibly be his last companion!

We had a really fun week this week getting to know all the new missionaries! For New Years Eve we got to watch a movie! Mulan! It was a lot of fun and I think we'd all forgotten how good the music was! All the missionaries had a fun time! Not staying up to 12 though made it hard to feel like New Years! I’m not connected at all to 2014!

Thursday we had a pretty cool miracle! We'd decided to take the bikes and go to a less visited part of our area! After talking to a few people outside we decided to take a back way over to a different neighborhood...it required an arduous bike ride through the mud but we got there ok! After we stopped by the house we were intending to visit, we found no one home and decided to take a lap around the block! The first man we saw was a man named Kirby! We went and talked to him and he shared with us that he was going through a tough time in his life and had felt a strong desire to do something to come closer to God! We had a great talk with him and the words in the Book of Mormon helped bring him peace and comfort! I'm grateful that God loves us and knows exactly when we are going through trials and what we need! I know that the scriptures hold power and that the Lord is always putting people in our path to bless our lives and help us to grow stronger! The best feeling as a missionary is when you talk to someone who says " I was just praying the other day for God to help me in some way" or "I’ve been going through a rough time" or "I’ve had questions about x" and being able to know with 100% certainty that God has placed you in their path and that the restored gospel has the relief or answers they need!

I love being in South Texas! The sunsets are still super cool! Each day is a fun day and a great day to be a missionary in the Texas McAllen mission! I’m so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the lessons He has taught me and for the people He has put into my life through my mission! For me my mission hasn't been much of a sacrifice in terms of worldly things like time or money, but in the weaknesses and shortcomings in myself that the Lord helps me change and overcome!

Que Dios les bendiga and I hope this week is the best you've had so far this year ;)

Con amor,

Elder Cook

Feliz Navidad y Prosero Ano de felicidad!

Hola mi familia!!!

Wow! This was a great week! One of the happiest times to be a missionary by far! It was a lot of fun to be able to Skype everyone and I'm still trying to get my mind around how the Xbox worked! Haha super cool! We had a great night with the Cantu's and ate lots of good food throughout the week (go Google menudo real quick and you’ll see the best of the best.......yuk!)! I don't think I mentioned it but we did spend a few hours going around visiting families we’re teaching and less actives! It was great! I’ve had a lot of fun sharing the buckeye crunch with everyone and all the other Christmas gifts have been great! Thank you so much! Thursday and Saturday we had exchanges and I got to spend both of them on bike...and it rained both days =]! It was so much and we saw lots of miracles! You'd think no one would be outside in rainy 50 degree weather...but you'd be surprised! Both days we talked to a lot of great people and we're now teaching several families from those efforts!

One of the people we’re teaching now is a man named Rene! he's the only one in his family investigating but he has such good desires and loves to read the book of Mormon! he talked about how much he wants to have the peace in his life that he sees in the missionaries and that he has seen in his friend who is a member of the church! His desires to have what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers has helped to strengthen my testimony of the peace that comes as we follow the Savior! To connect it to another couple events this weekend....Friday...we had a wild goose chase and successfully managed to visit all 3 of McAllen’s main operating hospitals. A member’s mother had gotten sick and the family had requested that we come by to give her a blessing. the directions we got were "the hospital by the street McColl'. turns out....2 of McAllen’s hospitals are directly off of McColl one on the north end the other on the south...and a3rd one is close by on the North end. to make a long story short...we were supposed to be in #3...but went to #'s 1 and 2 before figuring out that #'s 1 & 2 weren't hospital #3. After an hour of searching we made it! And were able to give the blessing and shared John 14:26-27 with the member who was distraught because her mother’s condition was so serious! I love those verses so much!

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Later we found out we had a recently baptized member of the church two floors above and we were able to go visit her and give a blessing as well! It’s fun to see how the Lord guides us to be exactly where he wants us!

I know that the Holy Ghost brings the peace this world cannot offer and that the Savior always sends Him to us in our times of need, trial and tribulation! There is no peace sweeter than the small warm reminders in our heart from the Holy Ghost that God loves us!

I love you all! Have a great week and set some good resolutions!

Con amor,

Elder Cook

Hola mi familia!

This has been a great week in my mission and I definitely enjoyed each day! Here are some of the highlights of things that happened:

-Valley conference- the 3 or 4 zones in the McAllen area got together for a Christmas conference and it was great! We had special musical numbers, talks from the assistants and the Maluendas, watched the mission DVD with photos from the year, and had some skits. Our zone did a rewritten rendition of 12 days of Christmas!

- Spent a day in Donna, Texas! I got to go on an exchange with Elder Merica (doesn’t he have a cool name!??). And it was great to spend the day on bike! We talked to some awesome families and he really taught me the importance of listening (doing it with our heart, might, and mind!).

- Spanish Ward Christmas party! I got to play Feliz Navidad on the guitar while all the primary children sang along...it was such a happy moment! They were the cutest kids ever and sang so loud! I also got to see a lot of friends from Las Milpas (3 of the main families i visited their now come to the Pharr Ward with us!). We ate tons of tamales as well!

- We're teaching an investigator named Tacos! He's 15 and is super cool! He showed up to church in a white shirt and pants (that’s a miracle in and of itself) and a dinosaur tie! He loves the Book of Mormon and invites friends to meet with us as well!

And a short spiritual Christmas thought:

In Luke we read:

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

This Christmas time is such a perfect time for those seeking Christ! I love how the shepherds come with such vigor and such great desire to see the Savior! But my favorite part is Mary’s attitude toward all of the amazing and miraculous events. It says:

19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned on my mission is how quickly the Spirit will teach us if we are willing to ponder the miracles and blessings we receive from our Heavenly Father! I know that this Christmas as we ponder the Savior's birth, life and eternal sacrifice for our sins, sorrows, and shortcomings the Spirit will enter into our hearts and tell us what we can do to bless the lives of others and feel more strongly the Savior's love!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Con amor,

Elder Cook

Una Buena semana!

Hola mi familia!

Not too much time again this week but I’ll do the best i can! This week we had a visit from Elder Tad R. Calister of the presidency of the 70! We had big zone conference on Friday and he taught us for 3 or so hours with his wife and the Maluendas teaching the other hour....and then on Saturday Elder Barth and I got to attend a small group meeting with Elder Calister and his wife that lasted another 2 hours.

The teachings and trainings were great and I'm especially grateful for the personal stories and scriptures that we got to hear! At one point Elder Calister was talking about how the Atonement of Jesus Christ will make right all of the wrongs in this life and he shared a verse in Revelations that I love a lot!

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Another thought that he shared with us was the idea of rules and principles. Principles are simple, allow for greater agency which means greater opportunity for learning and growth while rules restrict and are put in place to help out the weaker or those of bad judgment. In the mission field I have learned so much about the importance and blessings of obedience, especially pertaining to the obedience of Gods commandments! Another scripture I read this morning that helped reinforce that lesson was D&C 105:5-6, 11. 13.

5 And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.

10 That they themselves may be prepared, and that my people may be taught more perfectly, and have experience, and know more perfectly concerning their duty, and the things which I require at their hands.

12 For behold, I have prepared a great endowment and blessing to be poured out upon them, inasmuch as they are faithful and continue in humility before me.

14 For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your battles.

It helped me see that many times when I’ve struggled on my mission it was because the Lord was helping me to learn to obey, to do things His way and not mine and now I can see how much better off I am because of it!

Lastly...a fun story from the week! Each week we go by and visit the Polendo family! Last week sister Polendo made some of the spiciest salsa I’ve had on my mission! This week she was making it when we got there and their kids were coughing and we started to as well because the chili was so strong! She’s one of the primary teachers this week and we found out that the primary kids are singing Feliz Navidad for the ward party on Friday. Feliz Navidad is our favorite track from the Michael Buble Christmas CD we got from the APs to listen to on P-Day and so we were excited and volunteered our help! As well....when Elder Calister came we got together as Zones in the Valley so I got to see all the other missionaries I served with in Brownsville! I’m grateful for good friends in the mission!

Have a great week!

Con amor

Elder Cook