Monica Did It! She Got Baptized!

HOLAAAAA♥

Monica did it!  She got baptized!  It was such a precious experience.  Of course everything had to be hectic right before the baptism (:  Filling up the font, her baptism dress not fitting, I had to give an unexpected last minute talk because the speaker didn’t show up, we lost the keys to the church.. but HEY, after all that, all turned out just great♥ We found a few new families to teach this week.  The family of Muñoz!  Lydia´s story is so heart breaking.  She was raised without her mom and with an alcoholic father.   She told us she wants to find the best for her daughters and said she would get baptized if she knew that the church was true and received a good feeling when she reads the book of Mormon♥ I can’t even begin to tell you how bad of a situation she is in but she is so humble... she literally looks like Lisa Malan.. But she has face piercings and if you judge her from the outside, she looks harsh but I haven’t met a sweeter person♥ we found her and talked to her in the street and I just love love love her! We’ve met some great people this week. 

I am kind of mind boggled right now so sorry if this letters a bit unorganized! We just had a water balloon fight and I got BEAT UP, but don’t worry, I totally conquered... Anyways, my companion and I are doing a lot better (: We found out how to work with our differences because we are actually 100% opposites but we have been able to bring out the fun side in each other.  I really love having Latina companions (: Hopefully I can end my mission with a Latina companion or at least have one more change with a Latina ♥ well....I will write more next week.  Love you all see you soon!!!!!! 

xoxoxoxoxx

Hermana Danielle Cook

Our Heavenly Father Sent Us to Families and I Know it is Important to Him and for Us to Return to Him as Families.

This week Hermana Araya went to church again with her two children! She actually told us that her daughter 18 year old daughter Valentina wanted to meet with us as well (: We went to her house Monday and she seems like she is not sure she really wants to participate with us on the religion spectrum of things quite yet, but needed help with her English. We were able to talk to her about the outcome effects of the decisions we make now, and how they can help us or hurt us, and I realized that sometimes the decision is not always between what is right and what is wrong, but rather what is good and what is better. I hope we continue to see progress with Hermana Araya. Today we ate lunch with our investigators from Argentina, Natalia and her son, Bruno, who is 10 (: They are reading and praying and Bruno is going to come to church this week and his mom is going to try to come to sacrament meeting if the doctors allow her to leave. She has complications with her pregnancy and is on bed rest.:( and we found out that Natalia and her husband ARE NOT MARRIED :( so that might be a challenge but I really think they will be understanding when we talk more about the importance of marriage and the eternal perspective of everything♥

The ward is doing really well, much better than the ward I came from.  Texia hopefully will be receiving her calling this month as a teacher for principos del evangelio or para la Soc Soc.!!YAYYYYY!!!!!

So, while studying the plan of salvation this week I realized a little deeper the importance of families. Our Heavenly Father sent us to families and I know it is important to Him and for us to return to Him as families. It made me very grateful for the family that I have and I know this is one of the biggest blessings of knowing the Plan of Salvation. We will see our families again. We were able to find a lot of opportunities do do service! Alejandro, our ward mission leader actually passed by a house and saw a young lady painting and he sent us her direction. At first when we got there she was opposed to letting us help, but after a few minutes of talking to her she decided that just her and her husband painting with two brushes would be a little tiring in the heat and it would take a while so she happily accepted our help at the end and she said she had a few questions that we might be able to answer for her about religion (: So that was a blessing ♥

 I can’t believe I have only 3 months left. No one is letting me forget it. My mother, the members and missionaries!! I wanted to keep it secret so I would not have to think about it but its fine. Presidente Tew actually suggested that I make a 5 year goal plan at my 6 month left mark and then revise it when I have only 3 left and that has given me time to plan and then relax and get back to mission things. This week Monica is on schedule for her baptism (: She will be baptized at 3:30 Saturday♥ YAYYY she’s so awesome. (:

oh and guess what, a virus ate my camera chip like I TOTALLY knew it would so sending photos might be a little complicated :((  but someday I will start sending them again lol love you all have a super sassy week xoxoox

Hermana Danielle Cook

I Felt A Lot of Peace to Know That Heavenly Father Knows Each of Us On Such A Deep and Personal Level

hey hey hey heyy.

HERMANA ARAYA WENT TO CHURCH!!! ♥ on her own.(:  We have not visited her for two weeks, because each time we have passed by, she has told us she is too busy to receive us, but she ended up going with two of her youngest sons this week!  I was thrilled. (:  I hope she continues to come.  This week was really really slow but I saw a lot of progression.  Monica finally is really ready to be baptized and she could not be more excited.  Texia taught her first class of Principios del Evangelio and should be good to be completely reactivated in a week or two and her daughter is becoming more active as well (: Elder Guevarra  gave a really good lesson about prophets on Monday and we were able to use a lot of the things he had taught us in door contacts and taught a lot of people outside of their door.  One man even asked us, ´´Yeah... How come we don’t have prophets like Adam and Moses anymore?!´´ And we were able to answer his questions.  It was such a blessing.  The differences between Hermana Jerez and I are still there and sometimes I even feel I am teaching lessons alone because she gets distracted and off topic when we teach, which then makes us have to rush to our next possible cita, or simply just wastes time.  I have learned a lot from her this week though.  I know she likes to take time to get to know people and make them feel special, but there really needs to be a better balance.  I am in love with this sector.  I can see a huge difference between this sector and Progresso.  I felt in Progresso the people were REALLY open to letting us in their homes to teach, but the members were not as united.  But here, in La Blanca, I feel the people, whose doors we knock, are not very receptive although the ward is EXTREMELY united and concerned for one another.  It is interesting the differences and needs of each sector.  Last night as I looked out of the apartment building, I noticed that I could see one person walking in Gran Avenida, and without even turning my head, I could see another man, two blocks down, entering into his house.  Neither man knew each other, but I could see them both at the same time.  I feel like this is how Heavenly Father is with us and each sector that we are in and He can see us at the same time, but not only that, He knows what we are thinking and how we feel and what our needs and desires are and how we play a part in each of our sectors.  I felt a lot of peace to know that He knows each of us on such a deep and personal level, and I know I need to put more trust in Him.  I read Kind Benjamin´s discourse that he gave this week and it touched my heart to read how fervently he pleaded for everyone to keep the commandments of the Lord and that everyone felt true desires to repent and change.  He was such a great example and I loved all of the chapters we read this week.

We finally found someone willing to let us do service!  We cut an older lady´s lawn.  Her grass and weeds were like a mile high!  We cut the grass literally with a stick with a metal sharp nudge at the end lol But through this experience we were able to tell people about it, and we might be cutting more people´s grass this week!! Woohoooo (:  And we found a way to go back and visit an inactive that doesn´t want anything to do with the church, we are going to do SERVICE and help him paint his wall to get rid of the graffiti (:

Fun times on the mission!

Well that’s all for this week I think.....

Love you all! Have a super sassy week!

xoxooxox

♥Hermana Danielle Coooookkk (:

I Want to be Like Nefi, He Is loving, Thinks Like The Savor and Is Indeed Corageous

So Presidente Cook has focused ALOT on consegracion (consecration).  (Sorry for the spanglish) and how we need to apply this as much possible as missionaries so we can put it to practice when we get back home.  I told and actually semi promised my brother Austin late the night before I left on my mission that I would not change (: That I would come home as myself, just with a love for the Chilean people and more scripture knowledge.  But I actually missed... or didn't understand the concept that when you have more knowledge, you want to share, practice, and then become what you have learned.  The more we read about Nefi, the more we want to become like him and develop his loving, Savior thinking, courageous self.  Conference this week was super great.  I learned a lot about covenant keeping and being consecrated to the work of the Lord.  The profets are a perfect ejemplo de la consegracion (perfect example of consecration).  They have given up many things to magnify their calling and follow the Lord.  Many of them left their jobs, moved to new areas and are completely consecrated to the work of the Lord, and with a POSITIVE and loving attitude.  The Saviors apostles also followed Christ in the same way.  They had to leave everything, but always received in return something better; a deeper understanding of Christ and His atonement.  I thought more in depth about this when I read Doctrine and Covenants 88:22 in a noche de hogar (home evening) we had with one of our less active members.  As a mission we also have made a goal to read the Book of Mormon in three months and it's actually fun to kind of read the Book of Mormon at a more regular pace instead of breaking down scriptures like I have been doing, it becomes more of a story (: Anyways, I heard that daddy had cut the cable.  Before I would have been like Laman and Lemuel and complained and been super irritated, but being away from that for a year has made me realize that we grow a lot more with out distractions, especially in the home. (Now if dad was mean when he took the cable away and said mean things, this is another story, but the fact that it is gone is another thing). I do not believe that that happened, it was just an example.  When we do things for progression and fight the natural man, we have to do it with charity (:

Anyways.... This week was good. Hard as always, but it turned out really well. ♥ Monica is progressing with flying colors and her baptism date is still set and ready to to for the 25th. Ill be sending pics later towards the end of Pday because we can send pics more safely from the church. YAY

kay love you all

take care

hugs and kisses

see you in 3 more fast Sundays

praying always for you

adios amigos

♥Hermana Cook

xooxoxox

have a super sassy samana

love you byeeeee

Satan is Also Hastening His Work and Many of Our Brothers and Sisters, Even in the Those In The Church May be Lead Away

This week went really well. 

We door contacted A LOT and talked with people with really strong testimonies and opinions of their own church which they participate.  But each one of them told us that we would all be going to the same place anyways so it did not matter what building we went to workshop or what we called our selves in terms of religion. It made me sad that they were so sure of what they were saying.  In our last fast and testimony meeting that we had the other week, our bishop bore his testimony about how Satan is also hastening his work and many of our brothers and sisters, even in the church would be lead away and it is not enough to know with your mind that things are true.  We have to know with our heart and the only way to do that is through studies and acting on what we learn.  We are very blessed to have such a great bishop who holds meetings and has a lot of goals and expectations for the ward.  Even our ward council that we had this past week was a sign of progression, Every one had an assignment and if they did not complete it, the bishop gave them a little lecture and then had them commit to complete it the next day/week depending on what the assignment had been. This ward is becoming really united and I am really amazed.  Our investigators are doing really well; reading and praying and we put a fecha this week! Yay! Her name is Monica and she is the mother of one of our reactivating new members (: Were super excited for them!  I cannot believe how fast my mission is going! Every one says it goes fast but I could never realize how true it was until I got out here on a mission! 

Conference is this week and I am way too exciteddddd♥ 

Take care. See you all in 2 months for skype!! 

EEEEEEK! have a super sassy week! 

xxoxoxoxoxox

Hermana Danielle N Cook