Month: April 2019

Last Monday after pday we went on exchanges with the STLs. While tracting we talked to so many people who were super cool and fun to talk to but none would accept commitments which was really frustrating. But then we went to a lesson with our investigator named Lewin. It was so good! The spirit was so strong and at the very end Sister Bunker and I were both feeling a baptismal invite so we asked him if he would be baptized on June 29th and he said yes! Literally such a good night and then afterwards he told us that when he said yes he just got this feeling like he was so excited. Such a good day!

On Saturday we gave him a tour of the church and he said he would come on Sunday, but he slept in and didn’t make it, so after dinner Sister Dodds and I swung by his house to see how he was doing and we were sitting in the car outside his house and we were just hit with doubts. We didn’t want to make it seem like he was a project and pressuring him too fast. And we sat there for a good 5 minutes trying to decide whether or not we should go talk to him.  After we came around and gathered our confidence we ended up talking to Lewin for an hour about doubts because he had gotten into some anti stuff  and had been plagued with doubts. We were able to bear pure testimony and back it up with personal experience ;).

We had some really good long days this week, one day we had just gotten back to the apartment and we were working on updating our area book and Sister Dodds was getting some food and she asked me if I wanted anything and I was all like “I really want cheese but I also really want to go to bed”. And if that doesn’t just sum up missionary work in a phrase I don’t know what does.

And then later in the week I was talking about how we know something through our imagination and I gave some analogy about a rocketship made out of cheese. I don’t know if you can tell but cheese has kind of been on my mind this week don’t ask me why.

Something else that’s really been on my mind this week has been what triggers our faith. Lots of time we have these big earthshattering lifechanging faith experiences but as humans do we forget and so God sends us triggers to prompt us to remember.  Like if I had a really cool faith filled experience in the mountains, seeing the mountains would trigger that memory and thus my faith would be rekindled. This morning I was reading in Jesus the Christ and it was talking about one of the reasons that Jesus spoke in parables. It said that one reason was for those triggers of faith. People would hear a story about planting a mustard seed and while they may not completely understand the deep doctrinal meaning behind the story, the next time they are out planting their mustard seeds, they remember the story and it prompts them to seek more. And it becomes so apparent that that is why Satan tries so hard to keep us from doing those things that trigger our memory like reading the scriptures, saying our prayers and going to church. Which is why it is so important to keep doing those things. Sometimes the triggers can even be more important and impactful than the original experience. 

Love you all!

God is so good!

-Sister Cook

1. Exchanges, also I got super sunburned…
2. Lol Cook sisters aka Sister Cook
3. Celebrating our on-date
4. Some lady gave me a succulent because I told her I kill plants so she challenged me to keep it alive, I’ll keep y’all updated
5. Pear farm raking
6. We found a pretty view so naturally we pulled over and I jumped out of the car and Sister Dodds took a picture through the car window.

First off: HAPPY EASTER! Ugh, this week was just so good and I can’t imagine a better way to end it off than by celebrating the resurrection! Ah so good!

One of the harder parts of our job as missionaries is working with people who have gone through some really tough things. It’s crazy how quickly people open up to you as a missionary, we could knock on a door and expect a quick disappointing rejection only to learn their whole life story and everything that weighs them down. This world is a crazy place and I don’t even know what’s going on half the time but that’s okay because God does. 

IMPORTANT  PSA: GATORBALL HAS BEEN BANNED! I don’t know if I’ve ever quite gone through such a trial of faith as I did when the zone leaders broke this news to us. To answer your questions: yes it has been rough, yes there have been many existential crises, yes it felt like the world was coming quickly to an end.  But there is a small light at the end of the tunnel. Just kidding. There is no light. Gatorball has been banned.

Somehow, even after such devastating news, we managed to push through it and be the best missionaries we could be under such trying circumstances. But have no fear! We were actually able to find 15 new people interested in the gospel which is almost double our previous high for a week! So yes it has been actually a pretty fantastic week! I guess when the people dropped us last week, the lord was just making room for all the new people we would be teaching!

Saturday night we stopped by a house to make a brief contact which ended up with a lot of tears and laughter and art. This guy that we were talking to is an artist and he has lived a rough life to say the least. But we were talking and teaching and comisserating and the spirit was so strong and we were all just bawling because God is so good. About 45 minutes into us talking the guy goes “wait a second I have something for you” and he goes back into his house and comes back carrying a large painting. And then he hands it to us and says “this is for you, it represents God”. Wow it was so cool! 

Unfortunately, Saturday was one of our days without the car so around 9 at night there were 2 girls in dresses walking down one of the busiest streets in Medford carrying a large painting.  I can only imagine the thoughts of those drivers as they drove past, their necks kinking under the strain of trying to turn too far around. 

One thing that has really stick with me this week is how God never lets anyone fall by the wayside. No one can slip through the cracks under His watch. There have been so many instances this week where it is just so apparent that God is watching out for His children. He loves us and He knows what’s best for us!

Love you guys! Happy Easter!!

-Sister Cook

1,2. On Saturday we gave service by partnering with Red Cross and the local Fire Department and installing free smoke alarms in trailer parks. While we were driving to the park the guy driving us gave us the whole history of a Gristmill that burned down last year and then pulled over to look at the remains of it and there was a nice bridge so we took a picture. 
3,4. Happy Easter from your favorite duo
5. The painting we received. It actually looks a lot cooler in real life bc it’s all 3d but oh well.
6. Tracting in the beautiful sunshiny weather.

Holllaaaa! First 6 weeks done! It’s crazy how fast time flies but also how slow it seems to be creeping by!

We lost one of our zone sisters 😦 Sister Williams went home, she served a very faithful almost 19 months and is now safely back in Utah, we miss her but we’re so grateful we got to serve around her for at least a little bit!

We had a lot of really amazing member moments this week! Our members here are really incredible! 

On Tuesday we were knocking houses and this lady opened the door and right away she said, “oh sisters!! Come on in! Is there anything I can get you?”  I was super grateful because we hadn’t scheduled an evening lesson with a member for that night so what were the odds that we would accidently knock into one. Sister Dodds and the sister started chatting away like old friends talking about her job and friends and I kind of took a backseat, it’d been a long day and I was pretty exhausted so I almost started dozing off. I introduced myself and asked a couple questions but I was just grateful for the chance to sit down and rest my eyes for a bit.

After a fair amount of small talk and catching up there was a lull in the conversation and all of a sudden the “member” said, “so what do YOU GUYS believe about exorcisms and demon possession”. I’m pretty sure I jumped like 3 feet out of my chair.

Long story short, this “member” was actually a nonmember who Sister Dodds had previously tracted into and had apparently taught for a little bit. Let me tell you, after that I was wide awake.

Something that’s really been on my mind this week is the fact that Jesus Christ never ever leaves us hanging. Never. He is ALWAYS there for us no matter what we are going through. But if we want to get through this life and live the happiest we can, sometimes we have to grit our teeth and hang onto him for dear life. He will never ever leave us hanging but we have to hang on to him. He is there for everything it’s just a matter of if we let him sit by and watch or if we are clinging to him with all our might as he supports us.

This gospel is so good. Not only does it give us a good feeling but it fills us. With this gospel, we are full and we understand our purpose.

Love you all!

-Sister Cook

1. Yogurt with the sisters!
2&3. Transfers and saying bye to Swill

I  think this week can be summarized in member and nonmember generosity. The amount of food that members and nonmembers have given us this week, their generosity in letting us come over for conference, their kind words and messages it really has just been such a blessing. We’ve gotten fresh eggs, cool leather bracelets, hot chocolate and soup, more soup and guacamole and cheese and chips and salads and many many desserts. Overall I think its safe to say that as missionaries we’re pretty watched out for.

The other day while we were tracting, we knocked on this door and a man opened the door, he told us that he didn’t have time to talk because he was going on a date with his wife, we were all like “ooooh, where are you going?” he said “shhhhh it’s a surprise” and then we cordially parted ways. Anyways, the next day we were up tracting in that same area and we were walking to the next house and this guy comes running down the street, we waved hello not really thinking much of it, but after running a couple paces the man turns around yells back to us “the date went perfect!” We were just like “wait what?” And then we remembered our brief conversation the day before. Maybe someday he’ll remember the sister missionaries that knocked on his door the day of one of his perfect dates and he’ll want to know more.

It’s kind of crazy how many people you see in such a short amount of time, and how many people remember your face.

On Thursday we had a really solid conversation with this lady named Amy about God’s love for all of his children and the role that he plays in each of our lives and we all were just super hyped and like “YES! God is so good!” And we left her with a pamphlet and our number and we were so pumped. Anyways, we continued knocking doors and we were standing on a porch probably 10 houses down and we had knocked a couple times but the house looked pretty dark so we weren’t hopeful that anyone would respond but then we hear someone yell “they aren’t home! But I have something for you!” Shocked we turned around and saw someone running towards us from a car parked in front of the house. It was Amy and she was holding a plastic bag in her hand. As she came up to us, she said, “thank you so much for reminding me about how important God is!” Then she handed us a bag with a couple of leather bracelets in it. She had tracked us down in her car because we had touched her and she wanted to show us her appreciation. People are so good!

Conference weekend was amazing! We were able to watch every session of conference with a different family and wow what a weekend! It’s amazing how this gospel is so simple yet it changes so many lives! Simplicity is key. God is so good! People are amazing!

Friday night we knocked on this guy’s house, and it was a super sweet old man who was living by himself, he was 94 years old anyways super great, we got to know him a bit, bore our testimonies and as he said “have a good night” and started closing the door I blurted out: “love you, take care” and then I was like wait a second I just told him I loved him. Luckily being 94 years of age his hearing was not quite up to perfection and I think my accidental slip up went unnoticed.

Love you all! (actually) The gospel is so good! It’s so true! I love this work!

-Sister Cook
Sorry no pictures… if I find any, I’ll send them

What a week. I was looking through my journal to try and figure out what happened this last week and I realized that I had unintentionally started every journal entry of this week with “wow”. I think that’s just a pretty good summary of this week just “wow”.

It’s crazy how God really watches out for his missionaries. One of the sisters in our zone tore a tendon in her foot so they’ve had the car the whole week. On Thursday we met with this guy who just chatted our ear off but his house was super far away from our apartment and by the time we got out we had talked straight through dinner and we didn’t have time to go home before 5-7 tracting and then it started raining. So we were tracting in the rain and we hadn’t had any food since lunch and one of the members of our ward just happened to drive past us and he recognized us and pulled over and offered to buy us dinner without even knowing that we hadn’t eaten that day. It was amazing. Even though it wasn’t that big of a deal and we were going to be fine, God still made sure that his missionaries were fed that night.

On Saturday we tracted into a guy who was really not interested in our message but when we offered service he suddenly perked up. So we ended up pulling weeds in his front yard for 2 hours but it was super fun and we chatted a lot about organic gardening which was very informational.

We are so pumped for general conference!!! We got approval to watch the Saturday morning session as a zone at a member’s house which will be so much fun! We can’t wait to see what exciting changes and promises and revelations are going to be announced this week!Hurrah for Israel!

Lots of Love!!-Sister Cook
1. Zone sisters at the temple
2. Sister Dodds and I at the temple
3. Our zone 

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