2015-4-27 "How Firm a Foundation"

Hola!!! 

I don't got a lot of time...again. We didn't plan our time very effectively. Oops. 

But...wow. 

This week was totally...

''WICKED!!!''  (not in the sense of sins...but in a sense of like super fanstastic and great)

Highhighhighhighhighlights.

Carmen y Hector. 

WOW. What a great week for them. We have been talking about the plan of salvation. 

Things we know about Hector...

-was married before

-was baptized in a Christian church

-is very smart and knows a lot about lots of churches (he told us he is a lot like joseph smith...he said he wouldn't be surprised if he has been to over a 100 churches!! WOW)

-doesn't drink or smoke.

LONG STORY SHORT!!

We had a SUPER great lesson on the plan of salvation. My comp and i can honestly say we were led by the Spirit in this lesson. Such a fantastic feeling. Anywho, we got a talking and he shared with us a very very personal experience. (Wow. Imma cry!!)

 So....he told us that there was a time where he was married to another woman and had kids and everything. He came home one day, something happened, and he left with the clothes he had on his back and 20 pesos (that less than 2 dolars...)

He was literally homeless for 3 months. He was looking for work everywhere but couldn't find any. He was sleeping underneath a bridge, living off the food that people would give him. He said there were tons of people that offered him drugs and alcohol, but he never accepted. There was one time where he hadn't eaten for 3 days!! He said he had promised himself that he would never sink so low as to look for food in the garbage can...but he was very desperate. So he said a prayer and asked God to help him. He said he had been very diligent and faithful as to not accept drugs, and to not steal. He finished his prayer and decided to go to a park near by. As we was sitting on a park bench, there was a lady that had left a huge bag of food near his bench. We she left, we looked, and there were over 70 burritos in the bag. So what does he do? He waits near the bag for more than 2 hours so that if the lady came back, he could return it to her. It became very late, and so he prayed and felt like it was okay for him to take it. So as he was about to eat one, he remembered that there were a lot more homeless people near by, so he went to go share it with them!! Wow. 

But because he did that, one of his homeless buddies told him of a job opening near by for someone that was an accountant. He is very very very well educated and went to go check out the job. The lady didn't believe him at first...but (long story short) eventually did. He got the job. 

He now is here and is a carpenter. (I hope he tells us this story another time!)

SO anywho. There is one amazing story from our dear Hector!! I just love him! He is such a good person and is really really searching the truth!! I am soooo grateful for the Lord and his love for all his children!!! The Lord is truly with us even in our afflictions! Hector has had such a humble life and he has so much faith in Jesus Christ! He is such a good example to me. I feel soooo blessed that the Lord led us to this man and his wife! I feel so inadequate to be teaching him but so so so so grateful. 

My favorite hymn is How Firm A Foundation!! It is soooo beatufiul. All the verses are amazing. I just want to read them all day. But since I cant...you should do it for me :)

1. 1. How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,
   Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
   What more can he say than to you he hath said,
   Who unto the Savior, who unto the Savior,
   Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?
2. 2. In ev'ry condition--in sickness, in health,
   In poverty's vale or abounding in wealth,
   At home or abroad, on the land or the sea--
   As thy days may demand, as thy days may demand,
   As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.
3. 3. Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
   For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
   I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
   Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,
   Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
4. 4. When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
   The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'erflow,
   For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
   And sanctify to thee, and sanctify to thee,
   And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
5. 5. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
   My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
   The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
   Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume,
   Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
6. 6. E'en down to old age, all my people shall prove
   My sov'reign, eternal, unchangeable love;
   And then, when gray hair shall their temples adorn,
   Like lambs shall they still, like lambs shall they still,
   Like lambs shall they still in my bosom be borne.
7. 7. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
   I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
   That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
   I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never,
   I'll never, no never, no never forsake!

Isaiah 41:10 ¶Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Love you all so much!!!! Make sure to strengthen your foundation in Jesus Christ EVERY DAY!!

Love, Hna.Cook

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2015-4-20 The Gospel Blesses Familias :)

Part of our district got together today to play voleibol!! Super fun :)

Happy Monday!!! This week was great!!!. SO MANY GREAT EXPERIENCES!!!

Monday night...wow.
We went to go teach a couple we had found like 2 weeks before. Hector y Carmen. When we had gone previously, they had been only a little interested. Nothing too promising. But when we went back on Monday night. WOW!!!!! They had both read the pamphlet of the restoration and...AND el Hermano Hector had gotten a notebook and had written notes about what he had read and his questions. It was SOOOOO so so so awesome. He understands perfectly the apostasy and why we needed a restoration, and he mentioned a lot about the atonement! He is the coolest!! And his wife too! She doesn't understand it quite on the same level as him, but she is so constant in her prayers and the reading! She has already read the intro to the Book of Mormon and every time we come by she tells us that she likes reading it! SO GREAT! AND she told us of a super cool experience she had. She recently found out that she has cancer :( One day, she was laying down, feeling super weak, when she heard a voice that told her that she was going to get  better, and then...and then she told us she had the image of Jesus holding the lamb in her head...the picture from the pamphlet. It was SUPER duper cool.

Oh, and other great thing, our ward had an activity where we watched ''Meet the Mormons'' and Hector y Carmen came! It was great and they really liked it. (They better, because we gonna baptize them!!!) And miracle...we thought they weren't married legally...but psych! They are!!!!!!! Blessings blessings blessings!!!

Okay...and for our other family. :D :D :D :D I love them.  Maria Antonia and Carlos. Maria A is the one we found when we knocked on the wrong (right) door :D  She is LOVING everything we have been teaching. But, we were a little bit nervous because of her husband, Carlos. He is a little bit of a drinker..and is not always the nicest husband...from what we've heard. AND...he told us straight up that he is Catholic and didn't want to listen.  Rayos. BUUUUUUUUUUT...the other day when we were there, he would listen a little..leave...listen..leave..and then listen. And then he started asking questions to try and attack our beliefs...but you can't beat the restored gospel...never ever ever. So yeah. We won the question round :) But we did it lovingly..so we're all good :)

Then, when we went on Friday, they told us that they would all come on  Sunday. ''do you want us to have someone pick you up?'' ''No, we can go by ourselves''  Ok...esta bien.  So all Saturday night we were super nervous. We wanted them there SO BADLY!!!  And...as we pulled up to the church on Sunday, there they were on the corner of the church!! We were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited. You have NO idea. Hermano Carlos had even combed his hair!! It was the coolest thing ever.  Later that night we went to visit them...and long story short...they know  they need to get married civilly because they want to be married for the eternity, and Carlos said that he is trying to quit drinking! And we didn't even tell him to!! He is doing it all by himself!! We have seen SUCH A HUGE DIFFERENCE in this family!!! In the beginning, they were always yelling at each other, giving nasty looks at each other etc. And now, they are smiling at each other, more patient with each other, and are even talking about getting married!!! It is the greatest thing ever to see the gospel work in the lives of people.

I KNOW that this is the true church of Jesus Christ!

This really is His GOSPEL and it BLESSES THE LIVES of all those that are WILLING TO LIVE IT!!
I am sooo grateful and humble to be here in Mexico. I love love love love love love LOVE the people here!! So grateful for the experience to see the gospel change their lives!!

Love you all so much!!!
Keep living what you KNOW!! You will be happy! :D

Love,
Hermana Cook

The hermana in the middle brings us food every Sunday!!! And she's not even in our ward!! She is the sweetest!

2015-4-13 Know it! Live it! LOVE IT!!!....& Blessed art thou...

*TENDER MERCY!!!!! Long story short...got to see my first baptism!!! Angelica!! She is the little sister of a brother in our ward and they came to visit for 5 minutes...the 5 minutes we just happened to be there!!! It was SOOOOO cute. She greeted us all...and then when she recognized me..she was like ''...HNA:COOK!!!!'' SOOO cute!! Tender tender mercies!

 So I was reading in Alma 45 one day this week...and I liked something. (shocker...jaja not)
Alma is asking his son, Helaman, some questions.
Q: do you believe what I told you about the scriptures?
A: yes.
Q:do you believe in Jesus Christ?
A: Yes.
Q:Will you keep the commandments?
A: Yes
''Blessed art thou;and the Lord shall prosper thee in the land.''

If you too can answer yes to these questions, you too are blessed!! And God will prosper you in the land!!! Want to know how I know that he will? Because God can't lie!!!! That's why :)
 So we just need to make sure we are doing our part, and God will always fulfill his part :) Always and forever.

So this week was packed full of jam!! jam packed!! And I am sooo tired. But it's fine.  From what it sounds like, with school, family, and callings I will never not be tired...so that's pretty neat... :D

So...for the most important things...Remember the investigator we found because we went to the wrong house of our other investigador?!?! Yeah well...she is the coolest!! Maria Antonia. She really has been super prepared from all the trials and problems she has had (and still has) in her life! Reminds me of the scripture in Alma 32:12-16 about being humble from our experiences.
13 And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved.

Anywho...yeah. She is super willing to learn and do whatever to feel the peace she has felt in our lessons. She is starting to pray by herself and she LOVES it. She feels SO MUCH PEACE!! We invited her to baptism and everything, and she has a lot of doubts, but she feels like it is what she needs to do! It is sooo amazing! And even better, we had a member with us this week and yeah...it was PERFECT!!! She got baptized about 2 or 3 months ago. She had a ton of doubts about her baptism too, and about going to church when she has 3 kids...ages 3, 2, and 0, etc etc. But she shared a powerful testimony and un buen of experiences about her conversion and it was magical! On Sunday, Maria was talking to Lupita (the member) and she told her that her testimony is what helped her to come to church! She remembered what she had said and it gave her the motivation to go! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO grateful for all the wonderful members here!!!. I love love love love love this gospel. And I know it's true. Maria too. She told us she felt like everything was complete and right here. She was super happy with her experience.

Other investigator, Magdalena. Magdalena is super duper great!!! Her son is a member (and is the husband of Lupita who just got baptized and came with us to visit Maria...). She has a lot of fe (faith) and is just the best! Her baptismal day is for 25 de Abril, and we were a little nervous because she drinks a lot of coffee...But...we brought a handy dandy MEMBER and she threw it down with her testimony!! Magdalena is super great and has also been prepared. She told us she used to smoke a lot too, but gave it up a couple of years ago. She told us it was SUPER hard, but she knows she can give up coffee because she has given up smoking. God prepares his children. I love God :)

Anywho...that was the most amazing part of my life this week.
I really love love love this gospel SO MUCH and I love seeing it work in the lives of these beautiful,  wonderful and humble people!!!

I love you all so much! I know this church is true. I know that if we LIVE the Gospel, we WILL HAVE the blessings of the gospel!!
Know it. Live it. LOVE IT!
Love,
Hermana Cook

the sister missionaries of Cajeme!

2015-4-6 Feliz Cumpleaños a Jesucristo!!

April 6th!!! Happy Birthday to my favorite Elder Brother!!!! I don't have lots of time to write lots of scriptures...but if you want to know how I feel for Jesus just read 2 Nephi 9!!! I know that Jesus came to free us from the monster of death, both spiritual and temporal!! Gracias a que El Vive!!!
I am very very content with this Easter and conference weekend! It was very lovely and we had a lot of good moments this week. It was a very CRAZY week, but I was super blessed all week. like always :)

My new house is...well...it's not as nice as the last house. but it's a house. And I’m going to be showering out of a bucket for the last 3 months of my mission. Wahoo!! :)

We are sharing a house with none other than my dear friend...HERMANA LINDSLEY!!!!! She is opening an area in our ward...so they are looking for a house...but until they can find one she and her cute companion are living with us. Life is the greatest.

Had zone conference on Friday. Super great. Our training was a little bit last minute but went SUPER well...we talked about Jesus and inviting people to be baptized in the first lesson. so yeah...The spirit helped us out A TON!!!

Zone conference!! This is gonna be my last zone!!! CRAZY!!!

And...speaking of inviting people to be baptized in the first lesson...
We invited 2 families (husband and wife) to be baptized this week, they accepted the invitation and a date to be baptize in May!! It was SOOOOO awesome and my comp was sooo cute. She has never invited anyone to be baptized in the first lesson and now she is seeing the blessings of doing it. She is SUPER pumped. It is soooooooo fun to be a missionary!!
Oh..and quick tender mercy. So we went to go visit an investigator on Friday. We had been to her house 2 times before, but when we went to visit her, we went to the wrong  house. I have NO idea how we did it, but we did. We felt a little bit embarrassed, but we decided to contact them anyway. SOOOO glad that God helped us with that mistake!! The lady was super sweet and told us she really wanted us to come back. And she and her husband are the ones that accepted to be baptized!!  God really does know how to make the best out of EVERY situation. Just got to trust him.

Okay. Conference again. SO GREAT!!! love love love love loved it.
Don't have time to expound...but I am sooo grateful for our Prophet and all the other leaders of the church. LOVED the talks in the Spanish language!! I know that my mission president is going to be one of those one day, speaking Spanish to the whole world in front of the prophet!!!!

hahaha...what we do in between conference sessions :) H. Lindsley, H. Amador (mycomp) H. Morales, YO!

Um...other than that, I know that Jesus Christ LIVES and LOVES us.
oh sweet the joy this sentence gives, I know that my Redeemer lives!!!

Love,
Hermana Cook

2015-3-30 A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step...so make the step!

So....I have been full circle.
I made my way back to Obregon!! The city of my mission :)  I've been so blessed to have been in almost all the major cities of my mission!! Obregon, Guasave, Mochis and Navojoa!!! I only missed out on Guamochil and El Fuerte! Most of my comps have only been in Mochis and Obregon...so I feel pretty blessed :)

But...with that being sad, I was SO sad to leave my dear Aeropuerto!  I had a feeling I was going to change...but it was still hard. But I felt blessed to be able to say goodbye to my dearest members and investigadores!! I can't believe how fast that 6 months went!!

So I don't have a lot of time...but I was thinking about something that happened yesterday.
Presidente Munive sent a text message to me and my comp to ask about our investigadores and other things...and because it was a little bit longer of a message, some of the message didn't come at the same time. We received the end of the message before the first part. The end of the message said something along the lines of ''The Lord will come next Sunday.'' My comp and I were chuckling about how our President is so so great that he knows when the second coming is. When the complete message came it said that the Easter of the lord would come next Sunday...that made a lot more sense.

BUT..... my comp and I started to think about that. What if were did know when the 2nd coming was going to come. Would we live a little bit differently if we knew that Jesus would be coming this Sunday? Would we maybe make time to read our scriptures a little bit more?  Take time to having morning and evening prayers as a family? Repent of old habits? Maybe show a little bit more love to our family? Do our visiting teaching to warn our brothers and sisters!?! What would we do differently if we knew the Savior would be coming THIS SUNDAY!!!

Well...Alma had the same idea...or...we had the same idea as Alma.. :)
Alma 5: 26 “And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
 27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?
 28 Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.”

Well maybe we don't know when Jesus will come again, but we should live EVERY DAY like it were our last day of preparation.

I know that I have a lot of work to do!!! Lots and lots.
But a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step :) 
So choose ye this day to make the step!!

I love you all so much!!!! Keep  being strong and using the Atonement!!

Love,

Hermana Cook