Elder Cook: November Update

Nov 3

Things are awesome here in Page! I am still loving it! Not very much has happened this past week that is really new though! So Tuesday was really sweet! We helped out with the mission prep here and the kids here are so prepared for there missions! It is so crazy to see! They taught us the first lesson from Preach My Gospel and they did really well! If that would have been me at their age, i would have just sat in silence and had no idea what to say! ha sometimes i am still that way! The new missionaries coming out are so prepared! I wish that i would have come out more prepared but there is nothing i can do about it now! Ha all i can do is keep going forward! Also on Tuesday we saw June Miller who is getting ready to be baptized in the first of December! Se we are pretty excited about that! She is doing awesome! She is reading and prating everyday and coming to church! She is so ready! Her mom has been a great influence on her! Her mom is Francesca who was baptized back in August! So that family is slowly coming together in the Gospel! We have been seeing a lot of prepared people and we hope to find more! We also have been really focusing on Active Member Lessons! we are helping the members learn how they can reach out to others to share the gospel! It has been crazy serving in Page! When i first got here, the whole stake wasnt really into member missionary work. But now since our whole zone has been focusing on teaching the active members how to share the gospel, it has really been exploding here! we had Stake Conference this last weekend, which was super good, but the whole Saturday session was about hastening the work and inviting those they live around and come in contact with each day to learn about the restored gospel! i am really grateful to be able to see that change! Although the work has slowed down with our own people we are teaching, i know that it will soon pick up and the members are going to have people lining up to be taught by the missionaries! so things are going great! Stake Conference was really good! So all is well here in Page! We are half way through the transfer! It is going by so fast! I hope i will be able to stay another transfer but we will see! Today we are going to the Antelope canyon slot tours here in Page so that will be really fun! we have a member in our area who is taking us for free so i am pretty excited! People from around the world come to see these slot canyons! The guy who is taking us used to be a missionary down here about 7 years ago and he is the main photograph tour guide! It will be pretty fun! Oh and also Halloween was awesome! We didnt do much because we had to be in at 6 but it was still really fun! I love this time of the season! The balloon regatta was sweet also! We set up the family history booth and it went really well! they had to cancel part of the festival because it was too windy. But it was still sweet! Well like i said all is well! Elder Thompson is doing really well and he was one of those missionaries that came out prepared! Ha it is so cool! But we have to get going so we can go on the tour! But i love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Cook

Nov 10

Good morning!!!

Things are still good here in Page! we had a pretty awesome week! To start off, happy birthday Jenna! Ha sorry i am not to good at remembering when peoples birthdays are! I know i missed a lot of last year! Sorry! But things are great here in Page! I cant believe Mom and Dad drove through Page! Ha its a good thing that i am out on the reservation! Not saying that i dont want to see you! ha love you! But thats just crazy to think! I miss you all and love you all so much! I am grateful for the great examples that i have in my life! I am here now only because of all of you! Thank you!

So this last Monday we went to the Antelope slot canyons and i got some really sweet pictures! we did it as a district activity and it was super fun! We had one of our members give us a free tour of it and so that was really nice of him! He is the main photographer tour guide and so he knew all the good places to take the pictures there! It was super fun! The rest of the week kind of blurred together! We had some pretty awesome experiences though! We had a lesson with Melanie, who is one of our recent converts, and the lesson was good! She is doing really well! But after the lesson, we invited her to come to a lesson with us to teach someone named Janet but Melanie said she had to take her parents to dinner. But the cool thing was that we told her who it was after and she know Janet really well so Melanie said that her parents could wait and she told them that she would be back in like a half hour! So it was cool to see how she just dropped everything to come to a lesson with us! Unfortunately the lesson fell through, but Melanie texted her and set up another time for us to go back there! Ha it was pretty awesome! We are going tonight with Melanie so we are hoping that it will all work out! Which it will! But Melanie also invited like 4 people to church! She is doing really well! Ha thats what we are trying to share with the members! The hastening the work wants the members to find and invite and for the missionaries to teach the discussions! So Melanie is doing that! Our whole stake conference was on hastening the work! It was awesome! So we are pretty excited!

We have about 3 more weeks left in the transfer! I am hoping that all will go well! i hope i stay! Things are great and i have pictures this week! Oh and Elder Thompson is doing well! He is on week 11 of his training so he gets to take over the area completely! he gets to take lead on everything and i know he will do well! I am excited for this week! It is going to be a great week! Well i love you all and love hearing from you every week! I hope you all have a great week and keep reading the scriptures everyday! i love the scriptures! Ha there is so much to learn from them! talk to you all next week!

Love, Elder Cook

Nov 17

Hey everyone!!!!! So things are great here in Page! I think i say that every week! Ha i seriously love it though! It is getting pretty cold though! It is awesome! No snow though! But this last week i felt like i was hardly there! I went on exchanges 2 times this last week and it was super fun! There are some great missionaries in Page and it is awesome! i learn so much from them! Especially the new missionaries! They come out so prepared! We went to the Phoenix, Arizona temple dedication yesterday! It was so awesome! That is my third one seeing! I love seeing how much the Lord is hastening His work! I cant wait to go to the temple more often when i get home! Ha that will be the next time that i will be able to go the temple! Crazy....

So as for the people we are teaching! We still have June Miller on date for December 6th! She is doing great! All she needs to do is to keep coming to church and she will be baptized! Melanie who is one of our awesome recent converts is doing really well also! She went to the temple dedication yesterday and she loved it! We also had a lesson with her and she made gluten free brownies and gluten free cookies! They were really good! It was really nice of her! The members are so kind and they do a really good job at taking care of us so dont worry! Ha i am hoping to gain some weight! hopefully... We have been talking to a lot of people trying to switch the people that we are teaching. No one is really keeping appointments! But it is all good! things will work out in the end! We dont have much going on besides the same old things! I am pretty excited for Thanksgiving! I love the fall! But all is well here in Page! Oh and by the way, Happy Birthday Mom!!!!! Well later this weekend! But i love you all! I have a couple of pictures to send! We went slack lining this last Monday and it was super fun! Its weird to have trees and a park in my area! Its awesome though! But sorry not much else happened this last week! Have a great week! Love you all!

The pictures are when Elder Thompson and I slack lined! It was really fun! Ha we might use that at a seminary party BBQ! We have been working more with the seminary teacher! He is awesome! He served in Cottonwood Heights for the longest time! So that was pretty cool!
Also the other picture is when i got attacked by like 6 puppies! Ha it was crazy!

love you all!

Elder Cook

 Nov 24

Well not much to report on this week! It was a really really slow week! Probably the slowest since i have been on my mission! I think like every appointment we had fell through! But all is well! We spent a lot of time in the truck this week looking for people that the members wanted us to go see! They all live out in the middle of no where! Some houses take like an hour to get to from our apartment! So yeah! I dont like going out there as much because we are in the truck all day! I fell lazy when i am not walking around or knocking on doors all the time! Ha but while we were driving so much trying to contact these people, we listened to some good talks on Joseph Smith! He had such a hard life! But every time i learn more about him and the Book of Mormon, it just strengthens my testimony! I am very grateful for the Restoration of the gospel! This week we are going to use the Joseph Smith Video to use while tracting! We are going to see if we can share it with everyone as we knock on their door! So it will be really fun! we role played it this morning! Got to love role playing!

So something that was really cool this last week was that for seminary, they put together this huge activity for all the seminary students and they called it Enos night! So from 7 at night to 7 in the morning they stayed up all night at the stake center and had some activities! They invited us to do a missionary hour! So we put together a little district meeting and made it a pretty fun activity! There were also other stations that other ward members put on like a tracting station and a mtc experience! They even did a mission home and President Batt happened to be in Page that day because we had interviews! So anyway this activity was really fun! Ha sorry for the poor explanation! There was so much going on and so little time to write it all! But anyway things are great! we get transfer news this week so i am curious to see what happens! I hope i stay! But we will see what happens! Well all is well! we have a ton of thanksgiving dinners to go to so that is good! Have a great Thanksgiving! Love you all!

Love,
Elder Cook