2014-3-25 "It is better to prepare and prevent, than to repair and repent"

Where to begin??
I would start at the beginning...but there is no beginning. Wow. So much.
Highlights perhaps??

Ok...first off...I LOVE my area. My district, the members, my companion. Casi todo...except for the misqutoes. I thought they were bad in Obregon. False. Way worse here. I got 15 bites in 1 hour. WITH bug spray. No bueno. If I die, it won't be because of drug lords or heat exhaustion...it'll be from the bugs. Not even kidding. 

Anywho...yeah. Love this area. The members here give us referrals without even having to ask. They just give them. It's so fantastic. OH, and one of the girls in the Young Womens volunteers to come with us to lessons. She actually wants to come!!!

Ok...so most of this last week consisted of cleaning our house. The elders have been living there since like...forever. One elder's notebook we found was from 2008..but yeah. Disgusting! So nasty. Probably hadn't been cleaned once. And my companion, bless her heart, is OCD and long story short...we cleaned the house for 3 days. No joke. Mommy...I will NEVER complain about cleaning our house again. Ever. One night we stayed up until 3am. 3AM!!! Cleaning. Everything. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.Yup...but it's very very very very very very very very very very very clean now. Very! 

But on one of the many bright sides of all this, I had much time to think and ponder about stuff. One thing I thought of while cleaning the house was if the elders had just done the little things, it would not have been a 3 day project. Alma 37:6-7. "that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass;" 

And then I thought of a quote I have in my scriptures in Alma 59: 9 And now as Moroni had supposed that there ^ashould be men sent to the city of Nephihah, to the assistance of the people to maintain that city, and knowing that it was easier to keep the city from falling into the hands of the Lamanites than to retake it from them, he supposed that they would easily maintain that city.

"It is better to prepare and prevent, than to repair and repent". No recuerdo who said that...but yeah. It's very true. When we do the little things every day, we won't have to worry about trying to repair and repent. It's doable. I know it's doable. It's possible to make a life full of mistakes and wrong doings better again. It's possible to be clean again. But it's not as easy as it would have been if I had been doing the little things daily. Reading, pondering, applying, praying, serving, writing in my journal and remembering, etc. Repentance is possible. But living the gospel is much easier. 
So...do it :)
But remember that we are not perfect and make mistakes. Just do the best you can. The BEST YOU can. I'm an imperfect teacher. I'm not perfect at what I'm teaching...but I do know that it's true and I am trying MY BEST to live it. 

Anywho...
There's my two cents for the week. 

Love ya'll so much. 
MUCHO MUCHO MUCH!!!

2014-3-19 1st transfer ;) Guasave in Sinaloa

So I'm not in Kansas anymore...or Cuidad Obregon...or Sonora. 
I´m in Guasave in Sinaloa. About 4 hours south of Cd.Obregon. It´s a puebla. 
People told me it was going to be huts and card board boxes...but it´s not. Just a smaller little city. Well...at least from what I can tell from the 1 day I've been here.
My companions were Hna. Kindt and Hna. Alatorre. After Hna. Kindt and I got here around 3 yesterday after our 4 hour bus ride, the Zone leaders got a call saying Hna. Kindt was being transferred. Poor dear was NOT happy about that. So after we ate at a members house we took an hour ride up to her new area.

Crazy story.
So the Hermano that was driving us has this tiny little truck. There are 4 of us in total making this journey up to her area. 2 people can fit in the interior...what do the other 2 people do?....they ride in the back of the truck of course!! hahaha so fun. Hair in my face and trying to keep my skirt from blowing up and trying to not make eye contact with the people staring at the 2 white girls in the back of the truck. hahaha good times.
Once we dropped her off I got to ride solo in the back. Bueno. 
I love Mexico :)

Anywho...I miss my other companions...but my new companion, Hna. Alatoree is so so so so so so so so great. I´d met her once before because she stayed with us twice for a leadership meeting. I thought she was awesome then. I think she´s even more awesome now. Seriously an answer to my prayers. Huge answer. She was talking to me today because I told her I was not very good at contacting. She then gave me a small demonstration of contacting and all this good stuff...but what really touched me was that she said that we are learning together. Juntos. She wants to help me learn. She is willing to help me. 
Ya. Just ya. And her motto is ¨don´t worry.¨..but in Spanish. She says it about everything. And she told me over and over and over again that she wants me to enjoy my mission. Her attitude and love and spirit is just amazing. 
Not gonna lie...she´s a little intimidating but only because she is so awesome. She is 26, has a career already (she´s an architect), has met amazing people, taught seminars to seminary teachers and yeah..the list goes on. She is the best. A blessing. And she has a huge responsibility...we have a huge responsibility. 
We are opening this area. We are the first sisters here. We don´t know where anything is or who anyone is. She is training me. She´s the sister training leader over 26 sisters and they are all an hour away....
Pero...¨don´t worry¨
I don´t know why the Lord assigned me to such an awesome companion. I really don´t. But I am SO grateful. I feel so blessed.

Anywho...that´s what´s going on in my Mexico right now.
Que suave :)

Love ya lots!!!
Hopefully someday I´ll actually have time to send pictures...

Love, 
Hna.Cook

2014-3-12 DyC 123:17...Cheerfully do all things that lie in your power...then shall ye see the hand of God.

Sorry for not emailing on Monday.
I got to go to Guaymas on Monday for Visa stuff. It was a fun little field trip and I got to see my favorite peeps!! Hna.Andelin and Hna.Skeen!! It was so great to be able to spend the day with them. Such a blessing. Also, one of the Elders that went with us had an amazing conversion story. He was born in the Lutheran church and went every so often. But when he was 10 he felt that something was missing. 10!! a tiny little 10 year old felt that something was missing from his life. So then he started religion shopping. He found the LDS church and loved it. He knew it was true. He wasn’t able to be baptized though until he was 18 because his madre didn’t like the church. Anywho, I’m glad he told me that story. It really gives me hope and reminds me that God does prepare people. He loves his children and His children love him too. I just want to go and find them!!!

Ok, miracles of the week.
One miracle came from an inconvenience.
From Friday night to Sunday night, all of Obregon didn’t have water. Nada. Nadie.
Talk about nasty and stinky and gross. Yeah...we don’t have to go into details...but it was not pretty.
Anywho, on Saturday, we were out walking and both of my companions had an impression to go and visit a lady in our ward, Hna.Montoya. We went over there and talked with her for a bit. She then asked us about our water situation. We told her we had none. She then told us she had TONS of water she had saved up and stored and told us we could come the next morning and take a "shower."  So the next morning we come and she had made us breakfast, heated up the water on her stove, put the water in buckets for us to bathe with etc. SUCH a TENDER MERCY!! Because she was prepared, she was able to bless our lives. I know that is a true principle. We can’t help others with things we don’t have ourselves. Since she was prepared, we were blessed. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE HER!!!

Otro...
Saturday we had a baptism. For 2 cute little ninos. Angel and Angelic. (pictures will come next week).
Funny story, I actually didn’t even know they hadn’t been baptized. They’re at church every week with their mom. Super cute. Angel is 11 and Angelic is 9. They were counted as our baptisms because they weren’t baptized at 8...or something like that. Since I still don’t completely understand Spanish...I don’t totally understand what went down...but we planned it and all that fun jazz.
Anyway it was a good experience. They both have very strong testimonies. And they cute little girl Angelic, is SO sweet to me. She is always giving me hugs and giving me flowers and such. So sweet. I got to speak about baptism at they baptism and when I asked her what she was covenanting to do, she said be a missionary like me someday. SOOOO CUTE. I want one.So yeah. Good times.

Anywho...some last minute thoughts. 
Through others wisdom and my own studying, this week I’ve really been trying to focus on DyC 123:17...Cheerfully do all things that lie in your power...then shall ye see the hand of God. 
I really really really try to apply that every day. I can’t do a lot of things right now, and when I don’t feel like I’m helping, I get frustrated with myself and everything just is no bueno. But that’s not right. I need to be happy with the things I can do. When I am constantly having a negative opinion of myself, I miss a lot of the good things that are happening around me. I miss a lot of the blessings.

Entonces...D&C 123:17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us ^acheerfully ^bdo all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the ^csalvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

Thank you all so much for everything!! I love you and your examples!! Like for seriously. Thanks and keep up the good work!!

Love,
Hna.Cook

P.S. BIG thank you to Sis. Mitchell!!!! It is such a blessing to have people that are so caring and giving to one that does not deserve it. I have a strong testimony of Mosiah 2:17...when we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God. Thank you so much for your love and service to God.


love love love love love
hna.cook

Love the people in Mexico! 

2014-3-3 “See that all these things are done in wisdom and in order...” Mosiah 4:27

1 month in Mexico!! Crazy. Anywho..this week went by so fast. So fast. It’s hard to believe this transfer is almost over! Hna. Bledsaw is going to be leaving us because she is going to be training. That is so crazy and scary. She only got here two transfer before I did. There is no way that I can train after next transfer!! I don’t think the President would do that...but yeah. Let’s pray for that NOT to happen. haha

So first off...I decided that fast Sundays are my favorite days. Yesterday was so amazing. I LOVED testimony meeting. All the testimonies were soooooooooooo sweet and sincere. They were all pure testimonies. The "I knows" or here "yo se que." So beautiful. I felt the spirit so strong. I love these people. They are so great. They definitely know how to bring the Spirit.

This week was fun. I was sick (and still am) all week. I have a nasty cough and a stuffy  nose...and it ain't going away. All the things I don't love here love me. Sickness, mosquitoes, dirt, etc. haha. Opposition in all things, right?

This week with Carlos was pretty good. We taught him 3 times this week. He is soooo good at doing all the readings and coming prepared with questions...but it’s just not clicking for him yet. He doesn’t feel like he is getting answers. We’ve explained and given examples of how the Spirit talks to people..but he says he’s getting nada. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with him on Saturday. LOVE THAT MOVIE!! LOVE THAT MAN EVEN MORE!!! So amazing. I felt the Spirit so strong, and I think he did too. When we were bearing our testimonies of him, he was getting teary eyed. Hna. Lima told me to ask him to be baptized again...but he declined once again. No pressure. Next day was Sunday and sadly...he didn’t show. That was kind of a let down...but we have an appointment with him tonight..so hopefully we can figure out what’s up with him and maybe some more of his doubts. I just love Carlos so much!! I want this for him so much!!! But we all have that amazing gift of agency. Bless his heart.

Que mas...Oh, last Monday, since we moved, we don’t have a washer machine...so we (hna. Bledsaw and I) got to do our laundry by hand for the first time!! With one of those cool rock structure things that people have....idk what they’re called...but it was exciting. Hna. Lima was so shocked that we didn’t have one. "Rico" haha.

Oh...reality check. So once upon a time my companion was frustrated with me a lot because I wasn’t saying a lot in lessons, which I totally understand where she’s coming from. Long story short, we were practicing one morning and she decided to do the practice in English (she speaks English really really well). So we did. After the practice she informed me that my Spanish was not the problema when it comes to teaching. "You can't even teach in English."
"Ow..oooowww...OUCH CHARLY!!"hahaha..but really...that hurt.
But the guilty taketh the truth to be hard. And I am guilty. Teaching is definitely not something that is coming naturally to me. But that's where being humble and relying on the Lord comes in. Ether 12:27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them. Now that I know my weakness, I can build and learn from that. But also, Mosiah 4:27 helped me a lot.
“And see that all these things are done in wisdom and in order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.”
I know that every scripture is true. I really need to do what I want my investigators to do and APPLY it.
Be diligent. Be diligent, that thereby I might win the prize.

Also, I just want to say thank you for all your prayers and thoughts!!! There have definitely been some times where I’m feeling down, and I get the thought "people are praying for you. Be happy." Daily I have that thought. And daily (and in every moment really) I try and be happy.

So thank you thank you thank you!!!Your faith inspires me.
 Love you all!!

Love,
Hna.Cook