Email 57: Staying in Redondo + Brother Gonzalez + Confirmation

Sent February 18, 2014

Elder Cannon and I are staying in Redondo! Everything stayed the same for us and our ward. And it is a good thing because we are all working so well together right now and things are just going to get better!

Oh Redondo. I love it. We are working so hard right now. The goal is to start working smarter at the same time. It is going to be a weird transition but we are going to start focusing a lot here in Redondo, and hopefully throughout the mission, on working with the members and helping them to share the gospel! I love that you all are going to hold a family council and come up witha family mission plan. Be fearless in sharing! It is the greatest thing we can share and you will never regret it! I have been studying in Alma 8 quite a bit to gain insights on how to work with members and that has been incredible. I love the Book of Mormon. It answers every question.

On Tuesday Night from 4 - 10:30, Bro Gonzalez from the Mission Department was with Elder Cannon and I. He is a returned Mission President. He served in the California Fresno mission. An incredible teacher and disciple. He taught me a lot about teaching mostly, as well as being anxiously engaged at all times and in all conversations. We then had a Mission Leadership Training meeting on Thursday with Bro Gonzalez and Bro Donaldson (another past mission president). Greatest meeting of my life!! Changed my world. Our mission is changing. The amount we find and teach and baptize is going to increase in a powerful way! We have been implementing the training, which includes a new approach to teaching the first lesson, in Redondo and have already seen incredible benefits. Three members of three different part-member familys committed to be baptized in March! Two of which are fathers and husbands. Amazing things are happening!

Isaac's confirmation was very powerful! Everyone loves him. He is going back to Ghana on March 29th and he is very excited to be a member in Ghana!

I loved Mom's advice about making your words reverent and representative of the Savior. I need to work on that. I just get too excited too much and I kinda let loose haha. But it really is important to maintaining the Spirit!

I love you all more than you know! Pray for you always! Let me know if you have any questions for me! Keep loving everyone!

Elder Cook