Best Week of My Life

March 17, 2014

Family and Friends,

I feel like I have learned and grown so much this past week. Sister Price and I have been incredibly busy and have accomplished a lot, I am exhausted.  We started our week with a lot of visits to sisters. We cover 20 sisters this transfer and will be really busy going on exchanges, but I am so excited. We were able to visit all of them except one companionship this past week and we invited them all to set some goals this transfer to LOVE the Gospel, LIVE the Gospel, and RISE to your full potential as we prepare for Easter as the last day of the transfer. I am excited to see what all will come as we work towards General Conference and this Easter Season.

We have also been working a lot with the people we are teaching. We have a large teaching pool and a lot of recent converts and less actives we are working with so every minute we weren't with the sisters or in a meeting we were in a lesson, it has been crazy how busy we have been. We didn't have time to do our weekly planning until Sundaynight and even then we had to reschedule some things to fit it in. It has been crazy. We have a lot going on and a lot to do so I believe this is going to be a crazy hectic transfer with a lot accomplished. One miracle we saw this week that I wanted to share is our investigator Jenny has been working towards her baptismal date of this Saturday for a couple weeks and the only thing holding her back was smoking. She had been smoking since she was really young and it has been difficult for her to quit. We had a lesson with her Wednesday night and basically planned her baptism and helped her see the need to quit and she hasn't smoked since! We texted her on Saturdayand she told us she hadn't smoked since our lesson and when we talked with her that night she told us that it has been a lot easier than she thought it would be. We are so excited for her and the chance she has now to really look forward and be clean and renewed at her baptism. I am so happy for her.

Jenny's experience quitting smoking is probably the highlight of the week, but hearing from Elder Neil Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve takes an extremely close second. We were all asked to be at the Mission Office an hour before he was supposed to get there and sit quietly and study while we wait. It was an incredible experience to be sitting with all the missionaries in the Rancho Cucamonga and Redlands Missions and prepare to be taught by the Spirit. When Elder Andersen got there he had everyone come up and shake his hand. They had it extremely organized and it went very smoothly. He has a wonderful spirit about him and it was awesome to have that opportunity to shake his hand. He taught us about our Savior Jesus Christ and the power of the Atonement. It was incredible to hear him bear his witness and testimony of the Savior and hear him teach of his experiences. I have been thinking since hearing his words about two things I wanted to share. The first is a question I asked myself: If an apostle or the Lord asked you to give up everything and follow Him, what is it that you would have to give up? I have been thinking about that a lot this past week and it has really helped me see what the Lord wants me to do and who He wants me to become. The second thing is the role of submission. We were talking in our training meeting prior to MLC on Thursday about how the greatest attribute of the Savior is His willingness to submit to all things. Submitting to the Lord is nowhere near the weakness that we sometimes attribute to the word, but instead is admitting that we can do everything only with Christ. We must acknowledge Him and learn through Him to do all things. I think I will be studying this concept a lot more over the next few days, but what I have learned has really helped me with my first thing of giving up everything to follow Him, and know that it is through Him that it is possible. 

It has been a great week and I have learned so much. I hope you all have a great week as well!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!

Love,
Sister Cook

Falling Down, Then Getting Right Back Up

Family and Friends,

Every day seems to get better and better. I feel like I have been saying that since the beginning of my mission, but it is still true, even today. I think I have been learning the same lessons over and over again, but yet they still seem new and inspiring every time I hear them.

Sister Ott and I went on an exchange this past Saturday with two amazing sisters. I learned way more that day than I ever taught the sister I was with and I feel so lucky to have this opportunity to exchange every week and learn so much.  Sister Ott and I have been struggling finding people to teach and we had been really getting down about it. During our planning on Friday we both felt very discouraged because we did not have much to plan for. I went into the exchange that night in not one of the best moods I had ever been in. It was a miracle though to spend a day, still in the same area, but with different eyes having a different companion. Sister Pollard was able to show me that it all depends on your attitude and your willingness and capacity to love and serve. She was telling me about how she looks for opportunities every day to serve her companion as much as possible and she hasn't yet found something negative about her. I know I have learned this lesson about a million times - it is all about your attitude- but learning it one more time was definitely needed this past week.

Sister Li made it to church on Sunday and Mike taught Gospel Principles all on his own. We also had the amazing privilege of having President and Sister Hobbs at church. It was definitely a great Sunday. The funny thing is, the title of this e-mail is not just figurative. Sunday morning while going down to get breakfast I slipped and fell on the stairs pretty hard, I sat on the steps for awhile before getting up and getting my breakfast. Falling down is really just a part of life, sometimes we can't really avoid it. But getting back up and starting again is where we gain the strength we need to continue. I could have just sat on the stairs all day, but I would have missed so much! I think it is good that the Lord reminds us sometimes that we really are nothing, He is in control and we just need to be patient in waiting for the things He has in store.

Well, I love you all and I am so grateful for all your love and support!!!

Love,
Sister Cook

Quick Week

Family and Friends,

Nothing too exciting has happened since Friday, but we did have a lesson with Sebastian and Joey Friday night, which went really well. I love being able to teach people about the Gospel! We talked to Joey about Repentance and you told us that he has really felt a difference since receiving the Holy Ghost. He has had promptings and felt guilt for things he has done wrong. It was really cool to hear his experiences with the Holy Ghost and realize how much I take for granted His presence in my life. It is just amazing.

We went on exchanges on Saturday and I was able to spend the day in Upland with Sister Richardson. It was fun to reunite for the day.  She says she hasn't been tracting in awhile and wanted to do that so we went to some Less actives and potential investigators and met some of their neighbors. I think one of the funnest things about serving a mission is all the wonderful people you get to meet. For anyone without a name tag on it would just be socially unacceptable to be knocking on strangers doors just to talk to them about religion, but for us it is okay. It is cool. We also went to the park and drew in sidewalk chalk the Plan of Happiness. It was really fun. We had a great day on that exchange.

Church was good yesterday. We have church at 12:30 now so our day seems to fly by. It is always nice to attend church and have the opportunity to renew our covenants with God.

I have been studying Jacob recently and have realized what a marvelous blessing it is in our lives to have a living prophet on the Earth today. President Monson is a living miracle. I am so grateful for him!

Remember I love you!

Thanks for all your prayers and support!
Love,
Sister Cook

Pictures

Spanish Transfer

Family and Friends,

This week has been different. It seems like not much has happened, but I was just looking through my planner and we did a lot this week. The highlight of the week was probably my exchange on Wednesday. I was with Sister Bushman in the Spanish Branch in Rancho and I went into it pretty confident in my Spanish. It was really funny, because the Lord really humbled me in showing me how little Spanish I really know and how blessed I am to be serving in my native language. I never realized how difficult it is to be called to a foreign language within the states. These sisters have such a difficult time learning the language because they only speak Spanish with the members, and then they contact and find new investigators in exactly the same way we do, but can only teach those who are Spanish speaking. The Lord really does work miracles in our lives though, because Sister Bushman said that whenever they do find someone interested they usually do speak Spanish - those are definitely miracles that I wouldn't have even considered before this exchange. 

We also had a miracle in our area on that exchange as well. Sister Ott and Sister Baez received a text referral of a mother and son who are interested in taking the lessons. We have our return lesson scheduled with them tonight and I am really excited.

Good things are happening every day and it has been wonderful being able to count my blessings and see the miracles God is giving us each day.

I love you all and I am so grateful for all of your support. I have been so blessed throughout my life to have so many wonderful examples of Christlike service to model my own life after. Thank you for the sacrifices you each make every day for the Lord. I can testify that He is there, God love you and will help you with whatever struggles or challenges you may be going through.

As always, let me know if there is ever anything I can do for any of you!

I love you all,

Sister Cook

PS Transfer calls are this week. Sister Ott has been here for 6 months, so I will most likely have a new companion when I e-mail next week. 

Change is in the Air...or not

Family and Friends,

 

So here is the big news first. Transfer calls were on Saturday. Sister Ott and I have both been transfered. We stayed together and we have moved back in with the Kilburns! I am back in Diamond Bar! I never thought the day would come until I came back to visit, but I am super excited to be back. I figure I just have more work to do here. Sister Ott and I have decided we are going to have 5 baptisms by the end of the transfer :D.

 

Sister Anderson (Sister Price's companion when I was with Sister Orr) is training someone new and taking over Upland 5th. She will be great there. We have a lot planned for her this week, so it will be good.

 

I can't believe it, but I hit my 9 month mark on Saturday. It feels like just yesterday I was back in Provo, time has flown. But I have also grown and changed a lot over the past 9 months. I feel like I have such a deeper understanding of how to love. I have felt the Spirit more than I have ever before in my life. I have also realized in a very real sense my own nothingness and the amazing power of God. He is real, and He loves us.

 

We had a great week this past week in finding two new investigators and one of the less actives we have been working with came to church on Sunday. It has really been a great week!

 

Well I will let you know how Diamond Bar is holding up again next week. I am so excited to be back.

 

I love you all and I am so grateful for all your love and support.

 

Love,
Sister Cook

Miracles

Family and Friends,

I want to start today by just listing some of the miracles I have seen this past week. We had a region wide fast yesterday concerning the drought here in Southern California and as we were leaving our Relief Society President's house last night it was raining! I wanted to just run up and down the streets singing for joy, we were really excited :D.  We have also had the wonderful miracle of meeting with basically every investigator I ever worked with here in Diamond Bar within the past week, it has been really cool. Mike was called as a co teacher with Brother Arnold for the Gospel Principles class and taught yesterday! We have been extremely blessed in finding some cool potentials in our goal to talk with everyone. Sister Ott and I set the goal to meet with all the sisters we are over within these first two weeks and we have plans to do so. We have been able to stay extremely busy over the past week. I feel more exhausted after this week than I have any other week of my mission - I would definitely count the fact that I haven't crashed yet as a huge miracle!  I am sure there are so many more, but I will stop there. I feel so blessed to be back here with Sister Ott. President, in his e-mail to me today mentioned how he didn't even realize that he was sending me back to an area I had served in, he just knew that Sister Ott and I would do well here in Diamond Bar and he wanted us to be a strength to the zone. I have felt over and over again the past couple days how much the Lord trusts me. It is a wonderful feeling to know that the Lord has given me a responsibility that He knows I can accomplish. Although I sometimes lack in faith in myself I can always turn back to remembering that the Lord trusts in me. It is inspiring to think that although we are weak, the Lord does trust us, as His children, to help each other return to live with Him again. We have so many different ways to accomplish that work - Temple Work, Missionary Work, even everyday kindness and service. I can just see over and over again the wonderful example God gives to us of being the master Teacher. He gives us a hands on opportunity to help Him accomplish His work. We are so blessed to have such a marvelous and loving Heavenly Father.

I love you all and I am so grateful for the wonderful examples that you are. I appreciate so much all your prayers and can really feel your support every day.

Love,
Sister Cook