Danielle Cook Chile Santiago South Mission July 31, 2013-January 27, 2015: "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