We Should Be Receptive to the Whisperings of God

This week was super great(:  We had to stay in the house for a full day because Soccer games are HUGE here in Chile and every one is busy and some are not in their right state of mind.  It is so fun (:  And I was super sick for 2 days straight.  So we only had a full 3 days of work this week :/ Monday we went on a hike and we brought our investigator with us!  His name is Gonzolo and he is 24 years old.  We thought it would be fun for him to see how the elders were, since there are 24 of them in our zone, and hang out with a good group of people.  Funny story.  He decides half way up the trail to take is shirt off and one of the elders offered him a lighter shirt and he took it and tied it around his head..... then at the top of the mountain, due to the fact we have not yet taught him the work of wisdom, decided to smoke some weed.  It was a fantastic experience and we were all, not going to lie, cracking up. We had to give him a little lesson at the top of the mountain (: It was fantastic lol But that was the funny story, now on for what we did productively this week...  We had a meeting at the Bishops house this week and we were just talking and he told us a story that I wanted to share with you guys!   He was telling us about a time when he was first bishop and he felt a very strong impression to give a lady member a hug and he didn't know why so he kind of brushed it off, but the voice came to him stronger the second time, and he is kind of a huggy guy so he walked up to her and just gave her a hug. She looked at him contently and said "Bishop why did you just give me a hug?" and he said, I don't know I just had a feeling to! and she told him that at that moment she was praying to God to give her a hug because she had had a very stressful week... When we are living our lives how we should be living then we are receptive to the whisperings of God.  Because Heavenly Father cannot be here to help each one of us personally, he allows his children, US, to be tools in his hands, to act in his place.  I believe you do not have to be a member of the Church in order to do this, yes, as members of the Church we have more opportunities to act, but I believe if we are living our lives with virtue and value, we can be chosen to be tools in his hands to help other people, his children, in times of trial and need♥ I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve.  To read and think about the life of Jesus Christ and be a tool in his hands for 18 months here in Santiago Chile. 

I love you guys and hope all is well :)

Be smart, be obedient and be happy♥ 

See you in 7 more fast Sundays!

have a super sassy week!!

xoxooxoxx

Hermana Danielle N. Cook

"The Natural Man is An Enemy to God

Every week that goes by I realize more and more what the phrase ``the natural man is an enemy to God`` means.  My natural self wants to sleep in and be super lazy and unproductive, and I thought as time went on in the mission, it would get easier... that my body would get used to the schedule of early to bed and early to rise, that my desires to dance would vanish and that any thoughts about swimming and lounging on the beach would disappear....  but it does not.  Every day I still have to fight♥ But... I do feel stronger spiritually than I have ever felt at any other time in my life.  Fighting the natural man brings a spiritual strength I don`t think I would have felt if I had not made the decision to come on a mission.  The more we fight the natural man, the more we work, the more miracles we see and the happier we are (: I am so grateful for my mission!

This week was a bit slow with lessons but we found 5 new people to teach through following the spirit.  Walking to Zumba with an investigator (Gilda), we stopped to talk to some of her friends that she knew and I had a feeling to go back after Zumba to see if we could teach them.  Zumba ended up getting canceled so we went back to this house and got let in because of the investigator we had with us (Gilda) and found 4 new people to teach and found out that the father of their family was a member and in the hospital so we called the Bishop and had the mom ask if he wanted a blessing.  We shared a prayer and a few verses in Helaman and she started to cry. It was a precious experience I hope never to forget!  We have a lesson again with them tomorrow and I hope all continues to go well.

Concerning my precious companion, she is doing better.  I realized the more I fought her on things, the harder it was for her to be obedient, so I let her do her own thing this week and she seems to be figuring things out on her own.  It's a blessing we get along so well and both have a lot of energy. Once again I feel this companionship was very inspired and we have a lot of potential together.  We work hard and have fun and people in this sector are very inspired.  This week I had trouble sleeping though!  I have a bear under me (my comp snores like a bear, bless her heart) and rats building a temple above me.... seriously I think they are building a building!!! They scamper and scurry above my head ALL night!  Why do they have to be nocturnal?!?! anyways... The Lord has blessed me with a lot of happiness and patience this change!  I have been so happy (: 

Well chiquillos, I am grateful for the work and am so grateful to be here in Chile sharing with these people ♥

hope you all have a super sassy week!

xoxoxoxoxoxxo 

xoxoxxo

♥Hermana Cook



Me and My companion making a Fathers Day Cake!



after our studies we had 2 hours left to be in the house for the
Chile football game so here we are being goofballs!

We are the only Hermanas in the zone out of 24 of us!
The Elders take good care of us.

 Elder Bickle carried my backpack for me
all the way up the mountain

We hiked to the Catholic monument thingy where the giant virgin Mary is... and other catholic things, it was a good fun and funny time!

Another beautiful statue on our hike

Here is our recent convert Byron! Well.... he's not ours, he's the Elders but he's way awesome! Here he is with a Book of Mormon and... Saint... Pablo Not sure but yeah! haha

Our zone... they Rock!

View of Santiago.. So Chilly in Chile, Haha! 
This photo complimentary of Waldo!

Me and My Fun companion

A visit from Waldo!

ONLY PHOTOS! No time for an email :)

Since Danielle hasn't sent pictures in over 6 weeks she sent a ton today and she said since she was sending so many pictures she wouldn't have time to write an email.  I'm a little sad.. but I am grateful for the pictures :)

Isn't pictures worth a thousand words anyways?? :)

First Rain!

 

hermana Lepin, I and Elvira

hermana Lepin, I and Elvira

hermana Lepin, I and Elvira

hermana Lepin, I and Elvira

hermana Lepin, I and Elvira

hermana Lepin, I and Elvira

hermana Lepin, I and Elvira

Pretty toe nails!

Hermana Earl y yo

Hermana Rix and I lived together for 5 months and I learned mountains worth from her. We practiced obedience, humor and dance movies at 7:00 AM in the morning. I learned some New Years Eve traditions that I plan on practicing when I get home and We are going to go to BYUI together and divertirnos♥ 

I miss her so much!

Hermana Rex and I before we changed sectors♥ we lived together for 5 months and gained a bit of weight! lol

My good friend Cezar

mission mommy Leavitt and Elder Allin in his Chile attire

Me and hermana LEPIN

Santiago Temple trip

LUNCH IN THE HOUSE ♥ SALAD WOOHOO!!

Elders messy hair after being in the Hurricane Simulator

ELDER ALDERIGE LAST DAY!

last day in El Parron

BOWLING LAST P-DAY WITH THE ZONE LA CISTERNA ♥

cherry tomatoes we are growing

I LOVE DOOR CONTACTING!!

WELL! This week was very interesting..... I am learning a lot of love, patience and charity.  This is my first change with a disobedient companion.  We get along SO well, she is practically the Latina version of me, but... disobedient.   This week she pretended to call presidente and tell him that she didn't want to be a missionary any more so we could go home early.  We had a very long talk about this because we missed a family home evening and another appointment. You can all be assured that I was not happy. After some scriptures, and a ´´you need to not be selfish´´ lecture she apologized and we are back on track again... for now at least. UGH pray for me haha This week we had to go through and clean out all of the non progressing investigators... which happened to be all of them so we get to start from scratch! WOOHOO (: 

Wanna know a secret??  I LOVE DOOR CONTACTING.  It is my favorite way to find people... call me crazy, but you can really see who has been being prepared by the Lord and who just isn't ready quite yet.  We got invited into three houses this week that's a record!!!! ♥  This sector is a sector of HOPE! Also, I had another opportunity to fall in love with the Plan of Salvation.  This week a friend from back home passed away from high school and the day after I found out, we went to a members house and their father was laying on the couch looking half dead and warn out.  He has blood cancer and doesn't know how much longer he has on this earth.  He is full of faith hope and says every time his pain takes his breath away, he thinks of the atonement and it doesn't seem so bad.  Safe to say I was bawling thinking about Chris, grandpa and Austin (another friend that had passed away) and the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ and the perfect Plan our Heavenly Father has for all of his children. Rough week this week but we saw many beautiful blessings.  5 non/less actives were at church this week and we found 3 awesome people last night.  Also, a less active from my other ward El Parrón found me and brought me tights, pens, super cute boots, gloves and a super cute note.  Her name is Katy and we are actually going to go back to my old sector today (With permission of course) to have lunch with her.  The love people have here for missionaries is something I actually didn't know existed until I came on a mission.  I did not know a single name of a single missionary that served in the wards at home in Vegas and I assumed it was the same every where.  And I plan on knowing them better when I get home haha but this week was full of every emotion that I think I have ever felt all in one week.  I love the mission.  I feel so peaceful and happy in this sector.  The Lord has blessed me with a lot of love for my companion and for this sector (: We are doing better and I only hope things go uphill from here♥ 

I love you all!  Hope you have a super sassy week (: (: 

Chao! xoxoxoxox