Letter/Email 4.5

We received this letter in the mail after he arrived in Seattle.

Hey Fam!

I loved all of your letters this past week!  Thank you so much! Thank you for all of the packages with goodies! I appreciate everything thank you! 

It was another great week filled with lots of learning experiences and filled with spiritual moments.  I feel ready for the task of heading out into the field.  This work is so great, and let me tell you, it is work!! But I am more conditioned than most.  Thanks to the farm of course!

I hope I remember all that I want to write about!  I apologize if I forget something!  But Mom you mentioned you wanted to know what I have been doing and who I have seen.  So I'll go with that.  I wake up before 6:30 every morning and shower.  Breakfast is at 8;30 every morning so I either have personal study or personal exercise time til then.  We have two, four hour class periods each day.  I love my teachers.  During class we learn teaching skills, role play a lot, read the Book of Mormon, have companionship study, and practice teaching our teachers.  We then have zone workshops at night where we usually practice studying or teaching skills.  We are back to the dorm by 9:30, I then write in my journal every night, and read in my scriptures or Jesus the Christ  that is pretty much how my days usually go.  

As for the people I have seen, I have now met up with 39 people that I knew before.  That has got to be a record.  But one night (last Sunday), I met up with Elder (Sam) Watkins (BYU friend), Elder (Steve) Forsyth (BYU friend), and Elder (Jared) Workman (BYU roommate and grandson of President and Carol Clark), all at the same time.  It was a great reunion. I have also seen Elder (Wyatt) Christensen (friend from Preston).  He is in Iowa Des Moines now until his visa works out, and also Elder (Austin) Johnson (BYU roommate).  I see Elder (Connor) Reed (West Side classmate and teammate) every day, his classroom is right by mine.  Those are just a few of the people I have ran in to.  

Everything is going well! My testimony grows more and more each day! Anyways, I gotta run!  Get to go to the temple again today (we went last week too).  I am excited for that!  Just know that I am so well!  I am loving it.  Can't wait to get to Seattle!! LOVE YOU!  

Elder Cook

PS  Oh and please tell Melissa Mumford I said thanks so much for the package and info about BYU, I can always use a BYU update!

SIDE NOTE:

So if you read Letter/Email 4 you know that JD already broke his camera.  This isn't a huge surprise considering he has jumped in a lake with his phone in his pocket, washed a cell phone, and an I-pod, and ran over his  $300 glasses with his car.  He sounded a little surprised when his camera dropped from waist high and broke.  Considering that his waits is about 4 feet high, not a huge surprise.  Anyway, I know that JD is only going to be interested in using a camera for about two weeks so I call Melissa, who works at  BYU.  She runs down to Shopko and buys him a new camera, she opts to pay an additional $10 for an extended warranty, good choice on her part.  She runs back to BYU and takes it to the BYU Bookstore who offers same day delivery to the MTC.  She does make a note on the box to "quit dropping things".  THANK YOU MELISSA. 

SIDE NOTE 2

After we get JD's first email from Seattle and learn the name of his trainer we learn that he is a good friend, with my sister Patti's, good friend.  This connection is awesome!  His trainer's mom has already emailed and shared some great information about the mission, the area, and just being a mission mom.  It was so appreciated.