2014-2-17 & 2014-2-24 Be thou humble & "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee"

Hna.Brita (from Dominican Republic...LOVE her accent) Hna.Bledsaw, Me,
Hna.Ibañez (my grandma), Hna.Lima (my mom)

2014-2-17 Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answers to they prayers" (D&C 112:10)

I can´t believe I´ve already been here for 2 weeks. It just can´t be possible. At all. But somehow it is.

So this week...I don´t know where to start.

Out of the 2 weeks I´ve been here...it´s literally been the best of times and the worst of times. But right now they are good ;) But let´s focus on the best.

I learned so much this week!! Not so much Spanish...but other things. I learned that I´m like super duper prideful. Probably not a shock to anyone...but yeah. Like I knew I was never perfect...but this week even more.

After getting home from a difficult and frustrating day...my trainer...bless her heart...told me of some things I needed to fix. After her long spiel, she asked me how I felt. I told her I knew I needed to be better and I was grateful for her input. I was feeling very very irritated and didn´t want to say anything I would regret later on. She told me I needed to tell her honestly...and long story short...I realized my pride is really holding me back.  After our long conversation, Hna. Lima told me to go have some time alone and pray. So I did. As I was reading scriptures and praying, I also read the words to ¨Be thou Humble."

Ummm...yeah. Pretty sure that song was written for me. It was perfect. And true. And super great. 

Be thou humble in thy weakness, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee, Shall lead thee by the hand and give thee answer to thy prayers. Be thou humble in thy pleading, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee, Shall bless thee with a sweet and calm assurance that he cares.

Be thou humble in thy calling, and the Lord thy God shall teach thee To serve his children gladly with a pure and gentle love. Be thou humble in thy longing, and the Lord thy God shall take thee, Shall take thee home at last to ever dwell with him above.

So I know that song speaks of true principles. It´s very great. 

Well..I was going to write more...but I was just informed we´re leaving.

I love you all!!

Thanks for your kind....everything!!!

Love,

Hna.Cook

P.S. I miss Becca!!! I wish I could hear her sing... it´s soooo funny hear...and sweet. Since no one is super musical here unless your rich...they don´t really know how to carry a tune. It took all my strength not to laugh my first couple times singing with them. My Mexican companion is so great...but she was not blessed with pitch. Bless her heart ;) But it´s really sweet. They sing from the heart and I love it!!!

2014-2-24 "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee" 
(Joshua 1:5)

I have 3 weeks here...already!!!! Can’t even believe it. Honestly. I can’t. Crazy crazy.

Anywho...recap of my 3rd week here in dear ol' Obregón.

 We moved apartments last week...which is partially why it was so crazy last week. Our new one is much much nicer and less buggy...at least less cucarachas. We have a problema with the beds right now....but hopefully we’ll get that figured out today. Hopefully. :)

So last week I did splits with my "grandma"...my trainer’s trainer. We had to do splits because one of my companions has problems with her back and another hermana has problems with her stomach....it’s complicated...but yeah. We "got" to do splits. I was super nervous at first because we were splitting up in my área (which I do not know...like at all), she doesn’t know the área, and we don’t speak each other’s language. Yeah. I was terrified. BUUUUUUT...it was like the best thing ever.

Definitely a breath of fresh air. She was SO SO SO SO SO SO nice and loving. So helpful, and very very very patient. She constantly told me I was doing a good job, and didn’t get annoyed when I had to look up a Word in the dictionary etc. So great. We got to do that for 2 days and it was so great. I already miss her. She was definitely a blessing. A HUGE blessing this week. She helped rejuvenate my emotional batteries.

OK...so for the best part.

Once upon a time we had this lady we thought was an investigator (Angela) that we just found out was baptized when she was 16...but she’s never been active. Anywho...one time when we were teaching her, she said her friend (Carlos) wanted to listen. Bueno.

Long story short...first lesson went pretty well. He said he’d be cool with listening again. The next lesson I wasn’t there because of being on splits, but my companion said that he was very argumentative. That made me sad...he seemed SO great and ready.  

Third lesson. 

We asked him about questions he had (well...at least I think that’s what happened...I didn’t actually understand it all...lol). But yeah...he had a lot of them. BUT that’s okay...he has been doing the Reading we’ve asked him to do...so at least he’s searching. At the end of the lesson, Hna.Lima asked me to invite him to baptized.

I did. He said no...before I even finished asking. That was exciting. But...even though he didn’t accept...he did accept our invitation to attend a baptism that was on Saturday.

Long story short...HE CAME!!! It was the greatest thing ever. He said he felt really really really good. So we reminded him about church on Sunday (last Sunday he didn’t come). He said he’d come...and he did!!! HE CAME!!! AND STAYED!! THE WHOLE 3 HOURS!!! It was so fantastic. He got to see the 2 people that got baptized the day before get confirmed. I tried to explain to him how baptism is only half of it...confirmation is just as equally important. Hahaha...that was fun. I don’t think he understood...but at least I tried. All the talks were suuuuper great for him to hear. Great testimonies. It was perfect. And the lesson in Sunday school was also super great. It was about prophets which was SO GREAT because that was a big chunk of his doubts...about Joseph Smith and prophets today. The teacher was super great at teaching and was good at including him. I think Priesthood was good for him. The elders were there with him and also...one of his friends that he didn’t know was a member is in our Ward!! So that was a huge blessing too.

Our next lesson with him is tomorrow. I’m just hoping and praying that I can teach to his needs...say what he needs to hear. He really is such a good person. He needs the church, and he’d bless the church so much.

Anywho...those were the highlights of my week. It was a great 3rd week.

 Thanks for all your prayers, thoughts, and love. I am always in need of that stuff ;) Siempre.

 OH...I read the talk given my President Monson (Conf. Oct 2013, "I Will Not Fail Thee, Nor Forsake Thee.”) 

 So great. Needed it Mucho!!! You should read it too. It’s super duper great. 

Our Heavenly Father, who gives us so much to delight in, also knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve, and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way our Heavenly Father teaches us, and to become something different from what we were—better than we were, more understanding than we were, more empathetic than we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before.

Much love and gratitude,

Hna. Cook

P.S. Thanks for sending Elder Christofferson's talk "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread" (BYU Devotional)  LOVE IT! 

*the food here is really really really good. 

*Also....IT IS SO HOT HERE!!! And it’s only Feb....not good. It’s going to be an interesting 2 summers.

*Oh...and even more...the mosquitoes love me here too. I have 14 bites right now. And that’s with bug spray. AND the people here say that this is nothing compared to the summer.

 Oh dear. Keep praying for me ;) hahaha