2014-6-9 The Spirit is the true teacher!

Hola hola familia!!!

So...CAMBIOS!!
Good news: I'm not training (this is good because I was nervous I would..)
Bad news: I got kicked out of Guasave :(
Good news: Aquí in Los Mochis, area Centro B, and everybody says it's the best! And my companion, Hna. Lopez, doesn't speak English...so i'm finally going to have to force myself to speak Spanish...always!!! Woot woot! ;)

Anywho...my last week in Guasave. So great. Had lessons with 3 families. Escogidos (chosen). I so hope that they are all baptized!! I wanted so much to teach them, but God knows what's up, so todo esta bien!(all is well)

So once again, during the week, I was reminded that my Spanish is no tan bueno (not so good):P
BUUUUUT...the more important lesson I learned was that even if I don't make sense and my accent is super duper gringa, if the spirit is present, they will understand. 

We had a couple of lessons this week where I was talking talking talking, and when I finished, the investigator (or member) would turn to my companion and ask what I said. Super frustrating.

But on the other hand, I had 3 experiences where, even though my accent was bad and I had problems with the conjugations, when I was done speaking, I asked them if they understood. One of the ladies said ''I understood every word.'' That was such a HUGE BLESSING!!! I had seriously struggled with what I had been explaining, but I felt the Spirit soooo strong. So when she told me she had understood, it hit me (again) that THE SPIRIT IS THE TEACHER!!! It is only when the Spirit is present can people understand me...so moral of the story...I need to have the spirit present in EVERY LESSON. This seems like a no brainer...but sometimes, because of little things like not having unity with your companion, or not focusing, or thinking negatively of yourself, gets in the way. So yeah. So once again I have learned and relearned a super important  lesson. 

My last day in Guasave was great. The members were super nice to me. But what made me feel like 1 bagillion pesos was that the kids were so sad to see me go!! The family that we are teaching with 3 daughters (10 and under) were so sad. I loved them so much!! They reminded me SO much of my favorite little sisters.  And there were other members' niños that were sad to see me go. One girl told me she wanted to come with me and live with me in Mochis. SUCH a tender mercy to have people love you...especially when they never know what you're saying and visa versa. Love is the loudest language for sure. 

Last day in Guasave.  I LOVE niños!

Gots to go.
I love you all SO much and I am constantly feeling your prayers and a veces (times), fasts ;)
Thanks for your constant love and support. I will NEVER get sick of it. Nope nope nope. 

Con mucho mucho mucho amor, 
Hna.Cook


       

2014-6-2 We found a family!!

My favorite twins!  They are sooo funny.
We took about 1 bagillion pictures because they looove my camera.

More child love!!
I told Alexia..the one in pink and orange...that I liked her bracelet...so she took it off and gave it to me! That's what happens in Mexico. If you tell someone you like something (like their bracelet, shoes, necklace, earrings, tie, etc) they will take it off and give it to you! These people are not attached to their items like I wrongfully am.
They are such a loving and caring people. Love them!

How is it June already?? Enserio...this is crazy.

So Mexico.
Mexico is really hot. For me. Really really really hot.
Everybody tells me that this is nothing compared to July, August and September. This is worrisome because I am a sweaty monster right now, era day. lol. It's so hot my arms sweat. This might not be a big deal for guys...but for me...nuh uh..no me gusta. Can't imagine summer summer. Bring it on Mexico. hahaha let's see if the muchachos still honk at me when I'm a sweaty monster...hahaha.

Anywho. After that lovely story...

This week was better than last week. But for my most favorite thing...A FAMILY!! We found a family!! We have been praying and praying to find a family to teach. And we did. Here's the story...of a lovely lady ;)
So last p-day, we had a little extra time while waiting for our laundry, and I remembered that we needed to go and buy water. So vamos. We went.
(Here in mexico, the water is not clean to drink...safely. So if you want water, you have to buy one of those big blue bottles..or here they're called garrafons...no sé if that's what they're called in English...lol. Anywho, when you need more water, you have to go to a place where they have this huge water tank thing. So yeah...back to the story). The lady that filled up our garrafon was super nice and told us we could use her dolly to take our water back (because it's really heavy). I was so grateful she let us do that because the whole time she was filling up our water, I was thinking "you need to talk to her!" but since I am a big scaredy cat sometimes...I didn't. But because we would have to return her dolly I had another chance.
Well we chatted for a minute and gave her a tarjeta. We tried to schedule an appointment with her, but no such luck.  She was super nice though and told us that we could come back any time and that "esa es su casa cuando quiere." or this is our house when we wanted. We didn't think much of it because usually when people don't let you schedule a time to come back, they aren't interested.

Fast forward to Thursday.
My companion and I decided to stop by and say "hi" to our nice neighbor.
Long long story short, she let us in her house, got chairs for us, made her kids turn off the tele, and made them stay and talk to us. So we chatted with her a little more about where we were from and other small talk. We finally started talking a little bit about our message. We gave a very brief overview and gave them 3 Restoration pamphlets. 1 for Imelda (the mother) and 2 for her oldest kids (ages 11 and 10). They were excited to read them. But she gave 2 of them back and told us they only needed 1 because they were going to read it together. Say what?! Read it together...with your kids?? And we didn't even have to ask her to read it!! She committed herself!! Wow. She started talking a little bit about how this world is really bad and how she is very concerned for her children. She just wants to hide them from the world sometimes. She doesn't want her kids to get into drugs, and immoral things. It was amazing. She sounded like a  perfect MTC investigator. It was so great. And when we closed, we asked her to offer the prayer and she did!! Like a boss!! It was so great.

Saturday. She let us schedule an appointment for Saturday afternoon so that we could meet her husband. Long story short again...we watched the Joseph Smith movie. She cried. Her kids watched the whole thing. They thought the whole priesthood thing was pretty cool.  Her husband kept coming in and out because of their water business. I was a little bummed because he missed the part where God and Jesus appear to Joseph. He came in right after. But my companion paused the movie and asked Imelda to explain. It was perfect. She told him how he was confused about which church was true and how he prayed and God and Jesus appeared to him. Wow.  1000 points for gryfindor! Seriously, so great.
Long story short..again..again...we tried to commit them to baptism, but they pulled the Catholic card on us. BUUUuuuuuuUUUUt...they are still open to us coming back. The senor, Jesus, said that he doesn't want to be convinced or persuaded to join a church, which we told him was perfect! We didn't want him to just listen and believe us, we want him to know for himself by praying to know for himself! It was so great. He also promised to read the pamphlet.
It was really great.
Unfortunately they didn't come to church...
But hopefully next week for sure!!

They didn't come to church...but our other family did!
Erika and Juan Carlos and their 3 (11, 11, 8) daughters. Such a tender tender family. Erika has had cancer for 7 years. They are constantly traveling for medical stuff. What touches me so much is how willing and faithful they are. Saturday, we invited them to the baptism of some elders in our district. The baptism was at 5 and we called them around 3. Carlos told us he would help bathe his wife and then they'd leave. And they were there!! We have only taught them twice because they were out of town for doctor stuff all last week. But yeah. They are sooooo great. I have so much hope and love for them.

Anywho...that was my week. Well...not all of it...but 3 very special parts.
I love you all so much!! SO SO SO SO MUCH!!
Thanks for your love, support, prayers, fasts, letters, and more prayers!!

Love,
Hna.Cook

Sarahi y Alondra
Their parents aren't too crazy to come back to church, even though they told s they knew they needed too.
We visited these girls that morning and as we were leaving, I invited them to come to mutual and told them we'd come and pick them up.  There mom seemed happy that we were getting them to come. The girls LOVED it and we had lots of fun.
 I love them so much!!! I want them to come back and feel the spirit again!!!!

2014-5-26 Love the Book of Mormon

 I had my first interview with Presidente Munive 2 weeks ago. That was fun. He is so great. Told me I was doing well, but I learned a lot of things that I can do better :) But the thing that stuck out the most was that he told me that I needed to have more faith... in myself.
Oh...that. Seems to be a hard lesson for me to learn. It's just so hard sometimes when I know how incredibly imperfect I am!! But that's when the Atonement comes in. It's amazing how it covers all things, and not just sins. It also covers inadequacy and imperfections. I know know know. Need to apply apply apply. Kinda like I always tell you folks to do :)

Lunch with my mission President.  President Munive

Other things...hit my 5 months. That was a strange feeling. Almost 1/3 of my mission. Ummm...please no. Time is flying on wings of lightning!!! (name that tune..lol)

Oh, this past week was fun. We were in Mochis (an hour north of Guasave) 3 times!! Twice for doctors appointments for Hna.R and 1 for a capacitación. Suffice it to say...we did not get a lot of teaching done. Sad face :( BUT we did contact one of our references from a miembro and it was awesome. It is a family and the mom has cancer. But they have so much faith!! They have taken a few of the lessons with other missionaries in different areas...they move around a lot for her treatments. They are so great and so receptive. The parents came to church on Sunday and I just have such high high hopes for them. Such a humbling experience to have the opportunity to teach such wonderful people.

Funny embarrassing story.
So fast Sunday a couple of weeks ago the elders got up to bear their testimonies and my companion wanted to because everyone else was doing it. lol...and we just wanted to anyway. So we did.
I get up and was telling the experience of one of our investigators that kissed her Book of Mormon when we gave it to her because she was so excited. hahha.. well remember how I'm not very good at Spanish yet?? haha yeah...well what I actually said is that our investigator was so excited that she kissed me. Yeah...the elders were laughing pretty hard...every one else was just smiling and giving me the "bless her heart" look. Hahaha...good times.

Love you all!! Thanks for your love and support.
Seriously...THANK YOU!!!

Love,
Hna.Cook

2014-5-12 ‘Consider the Lilies of the Field'

Long time no see, family!! haha
But really, it was SO good to be able to Skype with you guys!!
Such a great blessing to have such a great family. The best family to be exact ;)

Anyway...I'm not really sure what to say now...

Um...I guess I could tell you more about how grateful I am for the AMAZING people here.
Seriously. I have never been around more loving and generous people. The members here help us with SO much.

Like I was telling you over skype, my companion "needed" to go to the hospital...but it's waaaaay far and she couldn't walk without feeling dizzy. Well who do we call? Every body is in church..and it's ward conference?? Long story short, when the Elders called to see how we were doing, one of the sisters in the ward took the phone and told us not to worry and that she'd be there in 10 minutes. And she was along with another Hermana in the ward. They took us to the hospital and stayed with us and it was SUCH a blessing. Then they drove us back, had some Hermanos give my companion a blessing etc. They are so sweet. And Caro (she is one of the bishop's daughters) told us not to EVER hesitate to call if we ever needed anything. No vergüenza. Angels angels angels!!

Also...food.
Fact--The members feed us every day. Check.
Fact--Mexico is not like Utah where there are a bagillion members that you can rotate for food.
We eat with some of the same members every 2 weeks...mas o menos.
Fact--people are not super duper rich here.
Entonces...these members are sacrificing SO much for us missionaries. So much!! I am so so so so so so amazed and grateful of how giving and loving they are.

I am constantly in awe and in shock of how well the Lord takes care of his missionaries.
Being around myself and other missionaries daily...I know that most times...we don't deserve it. But I am SO grateful that He blesses us anyway. He is so great!! He's perfect..actually ;)

3 Nephi 13:
28  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;
29  And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.
30  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith.
31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32  For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Anywho...yeah. I really am so blessed. So much. A lot.

Count your many blessings!!
For reals...do it.

Love you all so much!!

Love, Hermana Cook

2014-5-5 Believe you ARE a Child of God

Bueno bueno blessed familia de mio!!

Okay...so Tuesday...So best thing and saddest thing ever.  The RS was going to an orphanage that is here in Gusave and they invited us, the 4 missionaries, to come.
I LOVE NIÑOS!!! And I have always always always wanted to work in an orphanage...ever since...well..no remember...but yeah. Pretty much forever.
We first visited this little boy named Fernando. He was sick with the chicken pox. We just sat and talked to him, sang him songs, and gave him candy. The poor little guy wouldn't say anything, but he had the cutest smile ever. Later the elders came and gave him a blessing. It was so tender, but so heart wrenching. It is sooooo hard to tell a precious little child of God that he is so loved by his Father in Heaven when there is no one on this earth right now to tell him and show him that love. Oh man. Every time I think about him I just feel like crying. The poor little guy is sick and doesn't have a mommy or daddy to care for him. Doesn't have someone to cry to, confide in, receive hugs from, etc. So so so so heart wrenching.

But I know that we are ALL children of a LOVING Heavenly Father. Sometimes it's hard to believe when we feel like no one on this earth loves us, so why would God love us?
Well nobody on earth is perfect. God is. And his love is perfect. And it's real. He really does love us. He loves you.

I read part of this talk by President Hinckley and I just LOVED it.
"If you really know that you are a child of God, you will also know that He expects much of you, His child. He will expect you to follow His teachings and the teachings of His dear Son, Jesus. He will expect you to be generous and kind to others. He will be offended if you swear or use foul language. He will be offended if you are dishonest in any way, if you should cheat or steal in the slightest. He will be happy if you remember the less fortunate in your prayers to Him. He will watch over you and guide you and protect you. He will bless you in your schoolwork and in your Primary. He will bless you in your home, and you will be a better boy or girl, obedient to your parents, quarreling less with your brothers and sisters, helping about the home.

...Never forget, my dear young friends, that you really are a child of God who has inherited something of His divine nature, one whom He loves and desires to help and bless."

Please please please believe that you are a child of God!!! Because it's true!

Okay...other fun things.
So to enter our bathroom, there is a big step. Well one day my companion was trying to get into the bathroom and didn't quite step high enough...and she fell and smashed her shoulder and neck on the sink. Ouch ouch ouch!! She thought something might be broken...and long story short, we spent most of the next day at the Hospital in Mochis. Thankfully nothing was broken, just really really sore. But yeah...that was a fun field trip :)

Another day last week we were visiting one of our investigators we hadn't seen for about a week and a half. She is SUPER sweet and awesome. She has a sister in Utah that is LDS. She is just so great. No time to go into details, but I know that the Lord is always preparing his children. It is so magnificent. She accepted a baptismal date!! The only problem right now is her husband.
Yup. Not married. But it's kinda complicated situation. So hopefully we can get things figured out by June 14th!!

I love you all and I know that Heavenly Father loves you even more!!! Remember and believe it!!!

Have a fantastic week!
Can’t wait for mothers day!!

Hna.Cook

2014-4-28 Miracles

Wow. Such an amazing week. With extra zing!!! lol

So first of all...Satan is so real. It's not even funny. Hahahaha...actually...it is. It's really funny.
So once upon a time my companion and I decided we were going to be super duper obedient in everything. It was going to be so awesome. We were so excited!
Ok anywho, since we have a problem with getting ready in the morning, I decided I was going to get up before 6 (we get up at 6 in this mission...be jealous..lol) and shower and all the getting ready jazz. Well I get into the shower, and try to turn on the water. False. We have no water. Don’t know why...but we don’t. So I go and tell my companion. She gets out of bed and goes outside to check the water gauge...thing..I don’t know what it is...but as she’s twisting and turning knobs, the dumb thing breaks and BOOSH!!! Water is shooting everywhere...with lots and lots of force. Like...2 stories high. This is no bueno because...well...water is everywhere and it's bad to waste water in Mexico. So at 6 in the morning, my companion and I are trying everything to put the dumb old pipes back together. No use. We were soaked from 6-10...when the best zone leaders in the world showed up to help. Bless their hearts. Anywho...we figured it was Satan’s fault because he knew we wanted to be super obedient and on time for everything...but because of the water fiasco...we weren't able to..that day. lol. But yeah...good times.

Okay, now for the good part.
SANDRA GOT BAPTIZED!!! YEAH FOR SANDRA!! It was so great. She was so happy and everything was just so amazing. The members are so very supportive and loving and wow...they definitely inspire me. I want to be like them some day. Always welcoming visitors and making them feel included. Such a blessing. Members are so great. Bless their hearts too!!
oh yeah...and on Sunday she was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now all she has to do is endure to the end!!! Yahoo!!

More miracles!
2 of our investigators showed up to church. We were only expecting Javier, but Beatrize showed up too!! And it was so great. When we had talked to her, she was very hesitant about coming...especially for 3 hours. She said if she came it would only be for 1 hr. But she came and she stayed for all 3 hours...and participated!! It was amazing. And even more amazing....we had a visit with her today and she accepted to be baptized on 24 de Mayo!!! Wwwaahhhhaaattt!! It was so great. I gave her a Book of Mormon and she was so excited she kissed it. Never in my life have I seen someone so excited to receive a Book of Mormon. It was such an eye opener. The Book of Mormon really is SO amazing!!! It’s another testament of Jesus Christ, our only way back to God. A book that has the plenitud (fullness) of the Gospel. The plan that our Father has for us to be happy. Definitely worth kissing.

Anywho...yeah. My companion and I are definitely more blessed than we deserve.

OH, and more more good news...
I’m staying in Guasave!!! SUCH A BLESSING!!!
I love this area, my companion, the people, members, food, everything. It's so great. And I’m so grateful to be able to serve here for at least 1 more transfer.
But sadly my dear friend and zone leader, Elder Martinez was transferred.
AP!!! Aaaahhh yyeeeaaahh!!! I totally knew he would be an AP. He is the best missionary. Of pretty much ever. He’s going to be so great. Felicidades!(congratulations)

So another quick miracle...
We’ve been teaching this guy that we found in the area, but long story short...he’s a little bit...well...as his brother put it...he’s a 22 year old with a 14 yr old brain. He’s kinda...no se...but yeah. he has a really hard time focusing. Well we’ve taught him about 4 times and yeah. He does the commitments...but he's not changing...very much. and at times it seems pointless..
Anyway...on Sunday we were teaching him and his mom came out (all his family are less actives...he’s the only one that wasn’t baptized) and said how she is so glad  that we are teaching him and that she has been wanting to come back to church for a while. We talked and it was awesome. She mentioned that she needed help cleaning. So this morning we came and helped her clean...but in return she let us do our laundry and she said that we could use her computer for mothers day!!! Not sure if she has skype...but hopefully I will have all the details figured out by next week!!!!!!!

Anywho. Life is great and I’m SOOOO excited to be able to call on mothers day!!!

Love you all so much!!!
Go and read the Book of Mormon!!

Love,
Chae

2014-4-21 "led to a better land" 2 Nephi 10:20

Love my new companion, Hna.Rodriguez. She is a very happy person and it makes life so much easier. Moral of that story is always be happy and then everyone will around you will be happy and it’s just great. Be happy!! :)

Since I didn’t do a whole lot the first 3 weeks of this transfer...I’m getting to do it with Hna. Rodriguez. She is an expert on opening areas. She’s opened 3 other areas...so yeah. Super grateful for her knowledge. And her.

Um...so long story short. I don’t really have any mission money left because...well...it’s a long story. But yeah. With lots of trips to Obregon and back and cosas asi...yo no tengo. But I’ve been SO blessed!!! The members had NO idea that we were struggling with money but they have been feeding us and bringing us food and yeah. So blessed. God loves his missionaries...even if they don't always deserve it.

SANDRA LUZ!!!
She is the amazing lady we’ve been teaching. Almost 50 years. She was an investigator of the Elders before we got here...but yeah...she’s gold. Every time we come to teach her, she's reading the Book of Mormon or the folletos we gave her. Just super super super sweet and awesome. And her baptism is on Thursday!!! She is so ready and excited!! I’m so excited for her. She makes me feel so good. Even though I don’t say much when we teach, I really try to show my love and she has mentioned that. It feels good to know that not all my efforts are wasted. lol.

We had a special zone meeting with the president last Wednesday. Lots of good stuff. It was a very long meeting, but packed full of jam. lol. Anywho...as part of it, we went over all the characteristics of Christ found in Preach My Gospel. Something that stuck out to me was obedience...haha..it seems to be on my mind a lot lately. From scriptures we read and impressions I had, I remembered that in my Patriarchal blessing it says that I would been protected throughout my life. I always just assumed it would be because..well no se...but just be protected. But I really feel that that protection will come through obedience. And I’ve definitely experienced that already. Obedience brings blessings. Obedience to the commandments, rules, etc. So yeah...not trying to beat a dead horse hahaha. But it’s true. The end.

Anywho. Can’t believe that cambios are next Monday!! Not sure what’s going to happen...but one of my zone leaders gave me hope that I’d stay here... :) but he didn’t say anything...hahaha.
And speaking of which. I’m sad for cambios. I LOVE my district!!! We are so tight...like unto a dish (Ether 2:17). And for sure 2 of them are being transferred. :{ So sad.
Buuuut...that brings me to a scripture thought.
2 Ne. 10:20 "nevertheless, we have been driven  out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land,.."
 I had one of my missionary friends read that on the bus ride back from Guaymas, and after he said, ok...why do you like that?
This is why...
The Nephites had been led to a land that they loved. Their inheritance. Do you think they wanted to leave a place where they were comfortable? Their home? I don’t think so. But they trusted the Lord. They might have been scared, worried, unsure, but they trusted him...and guess what. They were led to an even better land!! So applying that to now...I don’t want cambios because I am comfortable with where I am and the people I’m with. BUUUT...I need to have the faith that God knows what's up and H
e has a plan. Because he does have a plan. And it rocks.

So yeah. Keep up the faith and good works and obedience!!!

Love with all my heart,
Hermana Cook