Elder Cook Week Seventy-Two

Elder Cook didn't get a chance to send out a letter this week but he send a few pictures.

I´ve never baptized a family in my whole mission!  And neither has my companion.  We are working really hard to be able to. We usually don’t get much time to study in the mornings since we are working in the office right now, but I´ve been studying a lot about the attributes of Christ. 

We stopped by a place on the way home to eat Chileans because E Wormald has been dying to. They were super good and he said it was the same as they eat in Chile!

 

This is Oscar Boniek García Ramirez, he plays for Olimpia, a Honduran team here and played for the Honduran National Team in the World Cup!  He also plays for a team called the Houston Dynamo in the states right now. We saw him at the airport when we were dropping off the Elders that were going home.

Elder Cook Week Seventy-One

It was incredible to baptize L.  It was an amazing experience and I know that everyone has to be baptized by the authority of God.  It has to be done like that.  That´s how He established it and that´s how He recognizes if it´s valid or not, and it´s SO important that everyone is baptized or they can´t enter into the kingdom of God (Juan 3:5)!  I felt so privileged to help one of God´s daughters have the chance to enter into the kingdom of God.  That´s one step closer. The mission´s the best!

And then R. !!!!!  Ah man me encanta la historia de ese hombre. Remember he contacted US and said he´d come to church.  He has been coming ever since!  He read the Book of Mormon and believed it was the word of God.  He was the most amazing investigator ever!  But then we hit a few bumps.  We tried to put a fecha [baptism date] with him, but he firmly said no.  He would put his own fecha when God told him to and it would be a surprise for us.  We talked a little to President about it, and he advised us to be more clear and direct.  So we had another lesson with him, and it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. We were direct. More direct than I thought possible without getting a punch to the face or a door to the nose.  But the Spirit was so Strong!!  It was amazing.  Everything we said was so powerful because the Spirit testified of our words and touched R.´s heart. He said he understood what we said and needed to talk with God. As we went a little hesitantly to talk about baptism he said, "Yupp. I have my fecha for this Saturday. I know this church is true. I know that what you guys share is true. I can feel it. God has told me. What do I need to wear to be baptized?"  We sat there shocked, then started planning the interview and the baptism.  Heavenly Father works miracles! It´s amazing how little missionaries actually do. We bust our rear ends, walk up hills, get sunburned, get made fun of, get doors slammed on us, talk to people, teach the best we can, study hard, pray a lot, but we don´t do much. We can´t convince people. I´ve tried and it doesn´t work.  We can´t change people´s lives and purpose and their opinions and beliefs. But God can and He does through His Spirit. I love getting to be here and watch it happen.

I know this church is true. There are so many people that try to persuade us that we don´t know what we´re talking about. But Heavenly Father does and He´s made it known to me that what we´re doing is right. I´ve felt it, I´ve seen it, and I´ve experienced way too many things to be able to deny it. Jesus Christ is our Savior. I´ve studied the Atonement a lot lately and I have never felt closer to Him in my life.  I love this mission so much.  I don´t think I´ll ever stop sharing the gospel. Everyone needs to know about it! God is real, He still loves His children and still reveals His word to them, there is a living prophet on the earth today, God´s revealed more of His word through another book of scripture, the Book of Mormon, that testifies of His Son, the same church that Jesus himself established is on the earth again, temples have been built to worship and come even closer to God, the priesthood has been restored and through it sacred ordinances are done with the authority of God. That is what Jesus taught! That´s what He wants in a church!  

I had an incredible experience the other day too. I´ve always known the Book of Mormon is true and felt the spirit about it's truthfulness. It was never some big experience like everyone tells. I prayed the other morning to know again, but this time with the intent to help others. I waited for my answer and a scripture popped into my head and I could see it.  I hadn´t really read it before but I could see the page, where it was on the page and that it was in the book of Ether. I went and opened my Book of Mormon and found it fast, because I could still see it in my head. It was Ether 4:11. It was an answer to my prayers. Some people might think it was just a coincidence, but I know God answered my prayer. Like the scripture says, Heavenly Father has visited me with His Spirit and the Spirit has testified to me.  I have known it and given testimony of it countless times, and it has persuaded me to do good.  That´s why I´m here.  Anyone can have their own testimony of these things! Pray with faith, read the scriptures with intent, and go to church to take the sacrament and receive an answer. God will let you know because He loves you. With that faith, and the works that follow because of the faith, you will be able to enter into His kingdom. He wants you there.

Love you

This is another kid that I baptized. He was part of a family that the Hermanas were baptizing, and they asked as the went to the font, so who do you want to baptize you? Pres Fortuna was there to baptize the mom, and the Bishop was baptizing the dad because they had taught the family with the Hermanas, and I was baptizing L. I´d never even seen the kid before and he yells ¨him!¨ and points at me. The Hermanas were dying laughing along with everyone else that was there

The hermanas in the ward helped fix her hair after her baptism

CTR Rings

Elder Cook mentioned two scriptures John 3:5 and Ether 4:11. 

John 3:5

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Ether 4:11

But he that believeth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with the manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall know and bear record. For because of my Spirit he shall know that these things are true; for it persuadeth men to do good.

Elder Cook Week Seventy

I´m great!  Just got back from Ojojona. It´s so beautiful there! We took a camion.  I don’t know what that is, big truck? We had to take all the house stuff so it didn’t all fit in our truck.  We went there to see a house that we´re opening up for more missionaries and we put beds and things they’ll need in it.  No we aren’t opening an area that would be cool, we just added more missionaries to that area.  I loved getting out of the city.  Two weeks from today I´m heading down there again. Its 5 hours away.

I still feel like I'm the a new guy out here!  We have a fecha [baptism] for this Saturday. She calls almost every day saying she won’t get baptized, she starts to worry, but then we go and teach her, she feels the Spirit, and then she´s back on track.  

We have some awesome families we are teaching right now!!  One we have planned to get baptized for next month!  I´ve never baptized a family and I´m so excited for them.

This dog followed us around for a whole day!  We couldn´t get rid of him.  He´d even wait outside people´s doors when we were teaching.  He followed us the 30 minute walk all the way to our neighboorhood and spent the night with us. 

Elder Cook Week Sixty-Nine

I´ve acquired the skill of differentiating the sound of a gun compared to a firework.  Yesterday was the craziest day ever.  The mission has gone by CRAZY fast too!  I still feel like a greenie sometimes.  I miss strawberry shortcake.  Tell them to enjoy it while I´m eating beans for dessert. [We had the missionaries and a newly baptized member over for Family Home Evening and had mentioned we had served them strawberry shortcake.]  

No I don’t drive the missionaries to their homes as they arrive to the mission.  That would be a ton of gas and I definitely don’t have time.  We pick them up from the airport and take them to the mission pres. house, then they go get their companions at the change meeting [transfers] and take a bus to wherever they´re going.  

Yeah Sunday is our busiest day!  We are running around everywhere trying to find people because it’s our only full day we get to teach.  Yeah changes in the office are even faster than normal changes.

We have several families we are teaching right now, but not a lot of progress. We've really been focused on finding new people.  It’s weird, when you live in a place where they only speak English it’s so cool when someone can speak another language, but the perspective changes when you live in the country of the language you’re trying to learn.  I love speaking Spanish but I’m really trying to get rid of my accent and Elder Wormald is helping me with that a ton. The work is good, I’m good, my comp has been out 9 months, almost all his family are members.

Prayers would be great for the families we are teaching.  We have two rooms in the house, and I put the piece of the ceiling that fell back in place, kind of.   

Love you

I don't fit in cars very well

  

Remember that the Spanish BoM are way 

bigger than the ones in English, but this 

picture still does not do that thing justice. 

We thought it was a bird at first!   

Elder Cook Week Sixty-Eight

I gave up on the shirt. I just stapled it real good. I ended up having to staple it a lot because one or two staples didn´t work for very long.  

We have an investigator we are working with! He contacted us on the street about a month ago and has been coming to church ever since. We´ve tried setting a fecha with him, but he always says that he wants God to touch his heart to do it, so he will put his own fecha. We’re hoping he´ll get baptized soon though. He loved watching the baptisms last week and said he knows he needs to be baptized.

Seat belts aren´t required here (most cars don´t even have them), the majority of speedometers/gas gauges in cars don´t work, lights and blinkers are an up to you kind of thing and to use them is rare.  

I always run into problems with dogs here! Like that one that kept trying to get into church a while back. The dog [in the picture] is of a member and jumps the fence every time he sees us walk by! And guess who has to put him back? And then he got out again. That day he jumped the fence 5 times! So we gave up and he followed us. We called his owner and he finally came and picked him up. Then a few nights ago a cat fell through our roof onto my bed.  I was about 2 minutes from sleeping there.  In the picture that´s my bed and that´s part of the ceiling on the floor.  Cats here like to wander into our house. I slept with one hand protecting my face in case another came down with claws out.


We got the whole little neighborhood of people together for a lesson the other day!  That same one that we brought water for. Took water for. Carried water for. La misma familia por la cual jalamos agua el otro día. Still can’t figure out that word. This neighborhood is pretty neat. We have one Mormon family there already, now we´re working on the rest!They´re all like one big family.  

Today was one of the craziest days in the office I´ve had.  

Love you!