Month: March 2019

Fyi, sorry I forgot to tell y’all that my pday is today this week because we’re going to the temple today! 

This week we did a lot of good finding. We were able to contact a lot of people and leave positive messages but overall we were not able to get a lot of lessons in this week which was honestly a little frustrating because we were putting in all the work and we were doing everything we should be but we just weren’t seeing any results.

Finally, after a really good discussion at district council on Saturday about expecting miracles and reaping blessing we started to see the miracles. 

On Sunday, there was just something in the air. We were so hyped and pumped to get out and keep working. We were able to run into Eric who we’ve been contacting on and off and we actually set up a solid lesson for this week. Then we went over to this lady named Poppy’s house because we tracted into her earlier and we shared a message with her but then she broke down crying and shut the door, so we came back Sunday and dropped off cookies and went to visit her and she totally opened up to us and told us that it was no accident that we showed up the day that we did and the time that we did. Then we were tracting later and we knocked on this door and a guy opens the door and was all like “wow, you guys still tract? Is this a joke? We only moved here a month ago and you guys already found us” and Sister Dodds and I were just like uhhh what’s happening. Then he was like “give me a second to get ready and get my fiance then you guys can come in”. Long story short, this guy had been raised a member, went on a mission and still has all the same standards but just doesn’t really come to church anymore but his fiance is not a member and they had just been talking about religion and how they wanted to start coming to church, and just the other day she had gotten a text from an old friend who invited her to church and then the day before we showed up they had seen the sisters at lunch and were all like “hey it’s the sisters” and then we showed up at their door. God don’t do accidents. They even fed us some of their chili. 

Moral of the story: when you do what you’re supposed to and God promise you miracles, he will always fulfill his end of the bargain.

We heard some wise advice this week: we were teaching a lesson at a member’s house and we were talking about general conference and about counsel that the prophet gives us and their  youngest boy pipes up and is all like “don’t drink toilet water”. Now you know, as you are all watching and reaping the blessings of general conference, don’t forget that drinking toilet water is bad.

Love you guys so much! God is good! God is real!  The gospel is true!!

Sister Cook

1. My companion loves her celery
2. Sister William’s decided she really wanted peanut butter for lunch but no one had peanut butter except the elders who were at a doctor’s appointment so we broke into their apartment to get peanut butter
3. Zone sisters
4. Sister Williams hit her 18 month mark this week so we made her breakfast and surprised her and we all ate together as zone sisters.

Ayyyyyyyy

Our area is sort of split into two unofficial areas: we have the area we don’t go near when it’s dark outside and then we have the mansions on the hill. It’s kind of a different experience tracting on the hill because most of the houses have those Ring doorbells with the camera and the speaker. So on Tuesday Sister Dodds and I were tracting and we knocked and rang at this one house and nobody came to the door, but we saw that they had a Ring doorbell so we left them a very meaningful, inspirational message about God’s love for them. The only thing it was missing was a baptismal invite. We are now taking orders for custom gospel messages if you would like to place your order we will get back to you in 17 months at the earliest.

We had zone conference!!! It was so good! We talked about car accidents for a good couple hours and all that jazz which was super fun. It was actually a pretty heavy topic, just like the food was pretty heavy in my stomach and my eyelids were also pretty heavy. But wow! It’s so nice to be working so hard all week and then to have a day where we can just spiritually feast was a special treat.

On Friday we had New Missionary Training and zone lunch, but afterwards we decided we wanted to mix it up a bit so we went on a couple splits with the other sisters in our zone.  It was so much fun! Sister William’s and I went over to some apartments to try to contact some people in their area. Both of the people we tried to reach fell through but as we were walking away this guy approached us and we just started up some small talk. We got to know him a bit and introduced ourselves, and as we told him that we were missionaries he was like “yo, I was just sitting in my apartment thinking about religion and I felt like I should go outside and you guys were just standing there”.  Anyways, long story short we talked with him for a good 45 minutes and we introduced the Book of Mormon to him and then we invited him to be baptized and he said yes! It was insane! We set up a return appointment but because we were on splits and he wasn’t in my area I haven’t seen him since.  Wow God works in mysterious ways! What’s even more crazy is that we were supposed to be at those apartments a good hour earlier but because zone lunch went over, we were running really late, but it’s crazy to think that we might never had met him if we’d been there when we were supposed to.

On Tuesday mornings we do service at a food pantry in downtown Medford with the zone. This week we were sorting different breads and the elders kept calling the tortillas tortillos, so if you’ve ever wondered what an Oregonian accent sounds like say tortilla like armadillo and say armadillo like tortilla. Now you know…

I’ve been reading this week in 1st Nephi and something that kind of stuck out to me is that first Nephi had the desire to learn more then he had faith that he could learn more and then he looked around. I think sometimes the hardest part isn’t having a desire or having the faith but it’s remembering to look around because often the Lord sends answers in every day normal happenings that we could miss if we aren’t looking.

Anywho hope allyalls weeks have been going fantasmically!
Love you!-Sister Cook

1. Our dysfunctional zone with President and Sister Orton at Zone conference
2. The view from the hill 

Area: Medford
Companion: Sister Dodd (trainer)

WE MADE IT TO OREGON! Thankfully I didn’t lose anyone on the way to the airport, we had a couple close calls with some moderate to serious short-distance sprints but all 10 of us made it to Oregon in one piece! Hallelujah!

I’m pretty sure I fell asleep before our plane even took off, so when I woke up and discovered that we were still in an airport with about two feet of snow and mountains in the distance I got sort of confused.  But, turns out Eugene had just been hit with a huge snowstorm, which is apparently unusual for them. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Right now I’m in Medford, which is kind of in the Southern part of Oregon. It’s not super big but we do have our fair share of mansions and shacks in our area, lots of variety. 

My companion is Sister Dodds she’s been on her mission for 10 months and she’s been in Medford the last 2 transfers and she’s super short, like 5’2″. It’s funny looking at our reflections in the glass doors because even when I’m standing behind her on a lower stair I’m still taller than her. Lol

So remember how the MTC was like Disneyland because it was the happiest place on earth? Well, the mission field is like Disneyland because of all the walking. Oh, and the happiness of course. Apparently, we are supposed to have a car but the sisters that were here before us ran it into a tree so it’s been in the shop for the past week. Hopefully we’ll get it back sometime this week but for now we’re just enjoying one of the wildest rides in the wilderness by foot. 😉 

Honestly,  one of my favorite parts of the mission so far has been all the member’s homes. Because our area wasn’t designed as a walking mission it’s pretty spread out so we’ve been able to catch rides with members a lot which has been super nice. But it’s so amazing to be in member’s homes after knocking doors all day because there seriously is such a tangible difference in a home where the gospel resides, it’s so refreshing. 

I would encourage all y’all to invite the missionaries over for an evening lesson some time in the coming weeks because we love meeting with members and they seriously help the work along so much!

God is good! God is real! The gospel is true!! 

Love you all!!

-Sister Cook

Ps: I forgot to mention that last Tuesday our devotional speaker was Elder Christofferson and because I accompanied the sister that sang at the MTC presidency dinner, I got to meet him and shake his hand and then perform for him it was so cool! 

1. The room where the presidency dinner was held it was so small I felt like they were all breathing down my back but it was definitely one of the coolest experiences to date!
2. I found you a palm tree Heidi! I’ll try to take more pictures next week..
3. Sister Cook with her mission President and his wife.