HOWDY Week 47!

Lieve Familie,

               This past week was once again a big old roller coaster ride! Holy cow. Big highlights of the week were the fact that I got to go back and spend a whole day in good'ol Den Haag with Elder Thomas and visit many people who are really close to us. People such as: Barry, Albert, Familie Muntinga, and more. It was definitely the highlight of the week because I still have so much love for the people in Den Haag and it was so needed to be there once again with one of my best friends Elder Thomas. I loved it and began to miss it from the second I left.

               The Temple was super nice to visit and well I just love being there. I wish I could go back every week or at least once a month, but I am still nevertheless grateful that we have a temple here in our mission where I can visit it once every 6 months. After the Temple we got to go visit Keukenhof which was soooooo beautiful!! (check out the pictures below).  The travel back to Kortrijk was awful as we had to sit on trains forever and then ended up missing the last train back to Kortrijk at 11 30 pm.. So we ended up walking very far and sleeping over in the city Antwerpen with the elders there. After the 3 full day trip Elder Argueta and I finally got back to work in Kortrijk with only getting a totally of 10 or so hours of sleep in 3 days. I was dying. haha Following our long day of work and interviews with President we finally had the chance to get some much needed sleep.

               As far as the work goes here in Kortrijk we had a rough week emotionally still trying to figure out a solution for Patrick and Mimi. It has been heartbreaking for elder Argueta and I, but we both don’t just give up that easy. I am grateful to have Elder Argueta as my companion. It is hard sometimes, but he really is a good elder and he helps me a ton with the many weakness’s I have.

              Yesterday at church was a very awesome Sunday I thought. We didn’t have any investigators, but it was Fast and Testimony meeting and several of the members of the church got up and bore there own personal testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they all gave a special shout out to Elder Argueta and I for the work that we do. It so comforting to hear these words from the members here and I already know that Kortrijk will be a very special place in my heart. Following their testimonies I was also able to give my own personal testimony. I bore my testimony on time. Sounds weird right? But I felt like time is something really important to me in my life and something that I have really learned about since being on my mission. Having patience, being grateful, and loving one another, etc- all exist because we have time. Time to learn these things and time to experience them. Every body has there own time. I am grateful for my "time" on my mission and the "time" that I still have left to learn many more things and to become a stronger person. But I am also grateful that the gospel of Jesus Christ has no "time"- and when I say no time I mean it has no ending; no ending because it is forever.

  

   I love you all like crazy and miss you guys. Do your best to make the best use of your "time" this week and focus on what’s really important. LOVE YOU ALL. Stay Lekker in everything that you do and never stop smiling:)

Love,

      Your brother, your son, and your lekker missionary... Elder Cook!

  

Ps: cant wait to Skype! I will be skyping sometime between 6-7 pm here in Belgium and I think I will have more time this time then I had on Christmas;... so figure out when that would be for you guys!