Interesting Week

Here is a picture of Sister Price and I at the family history center about a month ago.

Dear Family and Friends,

Sister Edwards and I have been having a good week. We came into this area with a lot on our plate. The ward boundaries have just recently been realligned and so there are a lot of less active members and people upset with the new boundaries. We have been working very closely with the members of the ward to build unity and trust between them. It has been really fun to get to know the wonderful people here. There is so much excitement for the work and I feel like missionary work is really what is going to unite the ward. We have been visiting some of the families that are on fire with the work and it is so exciting to go into their home and have them immediately start telling us about the people they are working with. We are having them use Preach My Gospel in their individual and 'companionship' studies and we are inviting families to use it for the Family Home Evenings. It makes it really fun to be a missionary when so many of the members are so excited and willing to help.

I have been thinking a lot this week about my purpose as a missionary and Sister Edwards and I have been discussing it a lot during our own companionship studies and it is amazing to realize how much of my purpose is simply to help. I help anyone who is willing to accept help come closer unto Christ. We invite people to do things because we Know that it can help them build their relationship with God.

We had some fun experiences this past week that I will share with you all. On Monday the ward organized a ward FHE. We had a group of about 20 members all together at the park. The elders shared a quick message then we played a game that is a mix between pictionary and telephone. It was super fun. One person would write a phrase on a piece of paper then pass it to the next person and they would try to draw it, then they would pass it to the next person who would write what they thought it was, pass their paper down, and keep rotating from guessing and drawing until it got back to the first person. It was super fun.

We have a lot of apartment complexes in our area (and a HUGE mall - Victoria Gardens), so we have spent numerous days this week trying to find our way through these apartments. We have gotten lost way too many times. We also figured out a trick to get into gated complexes: just walk through the front door! It is genius, I don't know why we didn't think of it before!

On Saturday we had a cool adventure of being able to spend the day with one of Sister Edwards good friends from the mission - Diana. She was baptized last November and moved down to LA, but she came back up to visit this past weekend and we took her out to some lessons with us. It was really fun! She is amazing!

Our days have been busy and we have been having lots of fun together. I can feel all the prayers taking effect - we are seeing miracles.  Thank you so much for all your support and love!

I know this Gospel is true and I know that God loves His children. If you haven't seen this Mormon Message - or even if you have - watch it and think about how much God loves you Earthly Father, Heavenly Father

Love,
Sister Cook

P.S.I forgot to mention in my big e-mail that we found out that we are having another Mission Conference at the end of the transfer and Elder Nelson from the Quorum of the Twelve will be there! I am super excited to have the opportunity to sit at the feet of another apostle and learn from Him.