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Monday, May 27, 2013

Elder Cook Week Eleven


Hey Familia!

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!!! When we were walking to an appointment on Tuesday it just hit me that you turned 16!!  How´s it feel?  Have you been on a date yet?  Do the guys you date know how big I am and how much I bench?  I bench 220 and I am 200 lbs, 6´4".  Dad should let them know before they go out.  

I got the packages!  They were awesome!!!  Thanks so much! This week was crazy!!  Elder Amado of the Seventy came and talked to us for like 8 hours.  

My chair just broke.  Things aren´t made for big gringos here.  I hit my head on doorways way too often.

Elder Amado talked a lot about how to be a better missionary, like helping investigators keep compromisos and such, and then talked a lot about marriage, and said to make una meta para when you need to get married by.  It was a little weird since I only have three months in the mission, but the more I´ve learned about the Plan of Salvation, the more excited I am to start my own eternal family.  

Hey funny story! So Wednesday we came back to the Morazon where we live, and a member came out of her house yelling elderes!  Do you know what happened?  We said no.  She said bombas (firefighters) came to our house because it was on fire!  I didn´t quite understand all the words she said so my companion freaked out first, then she explained it to me. She said they kicked down our back door to get in and cut our electricity!  We got to the house and expected smoke to come rolling out, but we the only thing we found was a pot on the stove with black mush. We had been boiling clothes to get the stink out and forgot about them, but that’s the only thing that was affected in the house. Then we looked at our phone and saw we had like 10 missed calls.  People from the ward were asking if we needed a place to stay because they heard our house burned down and we were without clothes!  The whole ward knew before we did.  And they literally just cut all the electricity wires!  It was pretty funny.  

Our baptism fell though again. It´s pretty tough, but our other investigator is super excited to be baptized so he might move his up to this Saturday, so we are stoked!

Love you guys!  Thanks for the letters.


Elder Cook

Monday, May 20, 2013

Elder Cook Week Ten

Querido Familia

This week was amazing!  We have an investigator who has been investigating the church for over 3 years and gone through countless missionaries.  He goes to church every Sunday and knows more about it than most members, but he would never commit to baptism.  Presidente Fortuna allowed companionships in our zone to pick a familia to go with him to the temple.  We chose this man and his wife and went on Thursday.  We got there and chatted while we waited for Presidente. He is super nice but he completely avoids the subject of baptism.  Presidente came and gave a short tour of the temple and showed some portraits in the office across from the temple where there was a big window to see the temple.  He talked about Christ and eternal families, and asked him what he would do to be sealed with his wife and son for eternity.  Within ten minutes, he had a baptism date for June 8th.  The Spirit was stronger in those ten minutes at the temple than I could even describe.  Presidente is such a powerful teacher because the Holy Ghost is so strong with him. 

Families are such an important part of this gospel.  It´s such a beautiful concept that marriage and family unity doesn´t end after this life, and this principle draws so many to our church and to Christ!  Temples are such a huge blessing to have in our lives.  Baptism is just a gateway ordinance to the others that bring all the blessings and happiness people can have in this life, and the life to come.  Families can be together for eternity, and I know it now more than ever!  

Our baptisms fell through on the 18th, but we should have one for sure this Sabado!  

I am so excited for Tyler!!!  That´s so cool!  Argentina will be lucky to have him.  I think that´s the mission that has bball all the time too!!  

Thanks for the email addresses.  And there´s no such thing as drinking fountains here.  Even the Hondurans wouldn´t drink the water.  The packages came and I should get them sometime this week!  Love you guys.  Siga leyendo, siga orando, y siga creyendo.  Dios te conosce y te ama.

Con amor,
Elder Cook

And I´ll try to send a couple pictures next week. Had to write quick.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Elder Cook Week Nine

Hey Familia!

This week was amazing!  We have three fechas for baptism!!!  One for the 18th and two for the 25th, with probably another one on the way!  We are crazy excited for them.  A man we are teaching has gone through about five sets of missionaries, and is finally deciding to get baptized with us!  It´s definitely nothing we´ve done different than the other missionaries.  The Lord has just prepared him and we get to be the lucky ones that see him start on path back to our Heavenly Father!  

We went on divisions last night, and the member I was with introduced me to one of his friends that he´s been teaching.  He is one of the most amazing kids I´ve ever met.  He has been reading the Libro de Mormon and praying so sincerely to know if it´s true, and still hasn´t received his answer.  He said he´s felt so alone and wonders if Heavenly Father loves him.  It just about killed me to hear that.  I assured him that Heavenly Father loves him so much and is so happy that he´s trying to follow our Savior.  I shared with him Ether 12:6, and told him that if he keeps doing what he´s been doing, the Lord will answer him.  Please pray for him to receive his answer.  

On Thursday, we were down to one limpera, which is equal to less than a nickel.  We accepted the fact that we would just not eat breakfast until Tuesday when we´d get money again.  But Friday, we had a member with us going to different houses, and he just decided to start buying us food from the poperia.  He didn´t know why, but we did.  Heavenly Father remembers His children.  No matter how insignificant it may seem in the long run, He knows what´s important to us now and will bless us in our time of need.  Even if it´s just some bananas and a couple semitas.

Con amor, 
Elder Cook

[Elder Cook's companion spent his own money at the beginning of the month helping a couple with the cost of getting married. We are so thankful that Elder Cook gets to be trained by a missionary companion who took a leap of faith, and then experienced the joy of having the Lord answer their prayers through a ward member.]



Elder Cook on Mother's Day

Monday, May 6, 2013

Elder Cook Week Eight

Aloh Familia!

My birthday was great!  I forgot it was my birthday, but my companion didn´t and had candles and a missionary cake, a spanish twinkie from la poperia, in the morning!  A familia from the ward wanted to have us over for dinner and to smash eggs on my head, but one of our citas went way over so we went back to our casa. 

I don´t know what happened to the package!  Our area is huge!  It´s a couple miles from one end to the other covered with huge hills and steep stairs.  I think I´ve lost some weight even with all the food we´ve had.  

We get to go to the temple tomorrow!!!  I am so excited!  It´s going to be such a huge spiritual boost, and we get to put our investigadora names in the temple prayers!  It´s going to be amazing.  Yeah we have a ward building, but no air conditioning.  The only places that have ac are Presidente Fortuna´s home and the temple, and the only place with carpet is the temple.  

The language is coming very slowly.  Hondurans drop the S in most words and talk crazy fast, so it´s pretty tough to understand.  I know how to speak in lessons, but that´s pretty much it.  It feels a little lonely not being able to speak or be understood sometimes, but the Lord is always there to comfort me.   

It rained like I´ve never seen a couple days ago!  There was literally a waterfall running down our roof and in the street!  Plus we have a tin roof, so we could barely hear ourselves talk that night.  

We have two familias con fechas y un hombre Gustavo con un fecha for the 18th of this month!!!  WE are stoked! It´s amazing now that I´ve learned a little more about the Plan of Salvation how important it is for familias to be baptized and sealed.  Our mission goals are based on finding and baptizing familias, because they stay in the church longer with support from each other and are always stronger in the faith. Familias are so essential to God´s plan!  Make sure you are always giving missionaries referencias!  The work would not move forward without miembros.  

Siga cantando!
Elder Cook