Hey hey hey!!! What a glorious weekend it has been :) conference was so great. It didn't make me homesick, but it made me think of home, and I loved it. I have all of your names written in my notes at some point. Clark! The Rio Temple! Boom. My first thought when I heard that... Clark built that. Good work bro :) President Monson said himself "a mission is a family affair" and he, like always, is so right. I love you all!
It truly was a great week. Amidst trying to work in a new and unfamilar situation, many miracles were seen. There were no baptisms this weekend, but they are coming :) This week was an incredible finding week, the best I have had on my mission. We prayed fervently and intently for God to lead and provide as we were obedient and diligent. We invited EVERYONE that we talked to to be baptized, and we put 18 people on date for baptism and found 15 new investigators. It was so exciting to constantly be finding those people that want to learn more. After you find them it is about continuously inviting them to make and keep commitments, and those who use their agency wisely find themselves entering into a beautiful covenant with their Heavenly Father! I love this work :)
So Dayle didn't get baptized this weekend. Because Aaron is flying out this coming weekend! So ya we are just working on planning that for this weekend! I am super excited for that. We hopefully will have one more baptism other than that this weekend. Naomi Wine. She just needs to come to church on Sunday and she is ready! So I am just praying that she will get her answer that the Book of Mormon is true and that she will make this commitment! We have a lot of potential baptisms for this transfer. We already have two and our goal is 7! So we are working our hardest to reach it!
So Brynne asked for some more info about the area. Well.. Auburn is hood. One person referred to it as the devil's toe haha. But no we cover south Auburn, Pacific, Algona, and Lakeland Hills. Algona, Pacific, and South Auburn are just humble little communities. Nothing to fancy for the most part. Lakeland is straight up rich. Sounds like it huh. There are some places in Auburn that I don't love to be at during the night haha. I love the people here though. There is no one that I do not want to talk to. This place is burning hot with missionary work right now though. The Auburn Zone is leading the mission in baptisms and the White River Ward was the highest baptizing ward last year, and will be this year too :) I love it here!
As for the Spanish, I am learning bits and pieces. It is fun! I hope by the end of the transfer I can do a basic contact in Spanish and have a short conversation.
Elder Doerman is from Galt, California and Elder Mackley is from Portland, Oregon. They are great missionaries that love the work. We are are fairly new to the mission, and we understand that it is God's work and we are just His servants. His work will go about as long as we are obedient, prayerful, faithful, and diligent! And mom, don't worry, I never have to worry about trying to keep up with anyone :) we RUN from person to person.
I want to share something that I learned this past week. I was praying at night and suddenly I had some clear thoughts come to my head and I wrote them down as soon as possible. But they were answers to my prayers to more fully understand the Atonement. Jesus Christ suffered ALL things. He felt exactly how any of us have ever felt. So, ironically, in the midst of suffering for all mankind, Jesus Christ for the first time felt what it was like to be selfish, or natural. It ismy thought that for One who had loved perfectly His entire mortal life, to now be subject to all of the feelings of greed, hate, envy, and selfishness that we as natural men and women feel would bring the MOST pain to His soul. We know that to love as God loves is the most joyous to the soul (1 Ne 11). This is who Christ was. And in that perfect love, He chose to atone. He suffered the natural man so that we might rise above it, so He could succor us in our selfishness, and help us to feel the joy that comes from loving as God does. We can now understand a little better why our Savior continuously has His hand stretched out towards us. He has experienced the difference between the natural man and the Godly man. He not only experienced it, but it caused him to suffer. He knows how happy we CAN be, and that is all He wants for us. I love my Savior more than anything. I know that through him we can put off the natural man and put on the Character of Christ. Which is my next thing. Read Ether 12:33-37. I love this. Without charity we are nothing, and without the atonement we could not have charity. We must put off the natural man in order to love as God does, but that can only happen through Jesus Christ.
Oh I almost forgot! We are starting a branch! Well I guess its not us, but you know what I mean. The stake president just turned in the Branch application papers to the First Presidency for a Spanish Branch to be created out of the White River ward! Zion is being built in all of its beauty and glory here! What a wonderful miracle. I am so happy. Hopefully it will be functioning by the end of this transfer!
Well, I hope I didn't forget anything. Sorry if I did! I love you all so much! Keep on standing as a witness of God in all things and in all places! Love you!
Elder Cook
Elder Cook,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading your posts. I'm glad Brynne asked you about the "area" because now I understand where you are (sort of). I think it is so neat that you are starting a spanish branch. My stake had a spanish branch a few years ago and now it is a ward. Really neat. I love the faith and intensity of your purpose. Thanks for sharing.
Colette Moss