DEFTIG WEEK!

OOOH Mijn Geliefde Familie,

 

                Familie, familie, familie! Family I got a lot of your letters this last week and let me just say, THANK YOU. It was so nice to finally get some mail/news from home after a long 2/3 weeks! oh and also let me say.... GO UTESSSSSS! You guys acted all surprised that they won and that they have won the past 4 years... WELL HELLLO?!?!? Its freakin Utah we ain't got time to play with cougars! WE BE IN DA PAC 12 SONNN! hahah so GO UTES BABY! Its pretty weird for me to think that the next time they play I will have been home for a year.. FREAK! pretty "gek toch"?! But yeah I'm sure you all enjoyed that game, just know that while you were all enjoying the game... yeah I was working my butt off in Nederland! haha

 

            But yeah anyways familie this week was a good/rough/normal week of missionary work here in Eindhoven. Last Wednesday I actually went on splits with a new missionary in a city called Heerlen and it was one humbling/awesome experience! The Elder I went on exchanges with was Elder Hunt and he is one of the thirty new missionaries we received at the beginning of this transfer, meaning yeah he spoke about 2 words of dutch. So for a full two days I was speaking non-stop dutch as we did 5 hours of finding in the pouring rain - knocking about 100 doors and teaching a cool spiritual thought with some members. It was humbling because when I say we did 5 straight hours of finding in the pouring rain I mean we legit walked around a city for 5 hours talking to anyone we saw on the street and knocking on every door we came in contact with for 5 flippin hours! No joke. And guess what... out of the 5 hours we spent in the freezing cold rain not one person let us into their house and only one person said we could come back...(gotta love Europe)! but you know what, it was so humbling and honestly looking back I am so grateful for that opportunity and the opportunity I had to grow as a missionary. The Lord just loves to put me to the test that is for sure.

 

         On a brighter and happier note of missionary work, Elder Cockbain and I did probably one of the coolest things in the mission world this week... Well we received a headquarters referral this last week of a less active who wants to come back to church. Well turns out this less active lives about an hour train ride away from Eindhoven in a city called Venlo (about 6 kilometers from the Germany boarder) so we planned and used our time wisely to go look him up. We had a super cool lesson with him and it ended up going pretty long. But yeah he told us he is going to come to church and that we should also plan to go back later this week!

 

       So that's about most of the highlights for this week. Most of our investigators fell through with appointments and since I was on exchanges this week I did a lot of work in another city. But family I do want to end this email with a testimony of mine. 

 

          Family since being on my mission I have learned/ tried my best to be truly grateful. I'd be lying to you all if I said it has been easy and a lot of fun. Family it has been hard, no doubt about it. But I am so grateful for these trials. Everyweek/ everyday is different in the mission field as far as emotions go. I think about you guys a lot and miss you all so much. I've always asked myself "why am I leaving the people I love most in my life (you guys) for two years? Why do I have to be here for two years? Holy cow two years is a long time.."    but familie I can tell you all one thing is for certain - I am being personally converted everyday. This church is true family, the gospel we were all born into is true. As we go through hard times or are having personal problems such as feeling lonely or sad or depressed, NO MATTER WHAT LIFE BRINGS YOU, the lord is there. The gospel of Jesus Christ is there. As hard times come, remember that that is the time the Lord is picking us up and literally carrying us upon his shoulders. He is walking side by side with us. Big Daddy and Gram Gram are walking side by side with us and even sometimes pushing us through our hard trials. Family no matter what we are going through please remember that the Lord is there for us, family remember that I am here for you guys. Being away from you all has been the hardest thing of my life, but not one days goes by in which I don't get on my knees and thank the lord for not only getting me through that day, but always for giving me a familie in which I was raised in the gospel. I pray for you all individually every day. I pray for you all in my heart every second. And i know that the lord is watching over you guys. I know that happiness is through the gospel and through each other. I love you guys and pray every second for your happiness. The Lord is with us. Never endure family, only ENJOY. "Enjoy to the End" in all things.

 

-Elder Cook

   mosiah 2:41

Me and My Comp just doing some "companionship inventory"

Just Chillin..

Venlo Train Station

"Het Komt Goed Mannnn"

OOH MIJN HEMEL FAMILIE,

  Well what to say... familie missionary life is awesome! Its hard, humbling, stressful, etc, BUT awesome! I can't believe it's already half way through September. I literally felt like September just began - "WAT DE GEK"! It's super true here in the mission life- "days feel like weeks, but weeks feel like days"! Thus far in my mission I have had some crazy downs, some crazy humbling moments, and some crazy testimony building moments. Out of all these moments and the many more to come, all I got to say is THANK YOU. Nothing better then being thankful in life right?

 Oooh familie it was a good, crazy, WET week here in Eindhoven, Nederland! It rained every single day and I'm not just saying like the casual Utah light rain.. I'm talking about like raindrops the size of Dads bald spot on his head (pretty big right?) Every single day and night Elder Cockbane and I found ourselves biking through some crazy rain storm. We even knocked doors for 3 hours in the pouring rain and well the dutch kept true to their stereotype and i've never seen so many doors shut in my face.. haha it was legit! Soo yea this week we have spent a lot of time finding since we are white washing and trying to get familar with the ward. It's been tough and hard to stay positive, but I just have a feeling that all this hard work is going to pay off and something good is going to go down here in Eindhoven. We were left with one investigator though who is named Peter and he is a stud! He is a super cool dutch guy who has a huge family and is super positive, but "helas pindakaas" his whole family is atheist. But like I said: He seems super positive and I'm really excited to work with him and hopefully help bring him closer to Christ. (and also his family too, they just dont know it yet). But yea thats all the exciting missionary work here! YAYYYYYYYYYY! 

   Now let me tell ya'll about this morning- well this morning we organized a huge "ultimate soccer" P-day with our whole zone here in Eindhoven and it was freaking SICKKKK! It rained hard and also was super sunny so it was pretty legit. I also got to see all my buddies in the Zone which was super awesome and just have a super "rustig"  day! I have pictures and hopefully some videos that will send through! 

But yeah familie thats my life right now in Eindhoven and on the mission! Im doing good, just trying to stay positive every single day and live in the moment. I love you guys so much and always remember that there isnt a day that goes by where I don't think about you all. You guys are always in my heart and always in my prayers. My quote for jullie vandag is to just be thankful: "What if you woke up in the morning with only the things you thanked God for last night". Be thankful family. I am so thankful for each and everyone of you. You all have made an impact and still continue to do so every single day of my life. I am so thankful for the Lord and for his atoning sacrifice for us. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be on my mission and to grow and be humbled everyday. And familie, I am even more grateful for the love and support I feel and have recieved every single day from jullie(YOU). You guys are my motivation and all my heros. I love you guys so much and remember that someone in Europe is always thinking and praying for jullie (you).

"Enjoy to the End"

-Elder Cook

ps: GOSH I LOVE YOU GUYS AND MISS YOU GUYS!

"Selfie Sunday" (Check out the wet line on my pants....ya I was soaked!)

My MTC homies that I freakin love!

My Roomie and I

The Boys

This is Tony in Rotterdam ( I gave my first ever blessing to him)

EINDHOVEN!

Mijn geliefde Familie,

     Well family transfers happened. I am now serving in Eindhoven with Elder Cockbain! Let me first begin by saying Eindhoven is nothing like Rotterdam, HOLY COW IT IS BEAUTIFUL HERE! I went from the ghetto of Netherlands to a legit Netherlands town and city. It is super super "Netjes" and "ik vind het heel mooi"! Elder Cockbain is a G! He is from South Africa and has got one of the coolest accents in the world. Also here in Eindhoven, Elder Cockbain and I are living in a "4 man" house with the new Zone Leaders and lets just say it is a party. haha living in a 4 man is super fun, but also super dirty, but we have a good time! The ward here is pretty cool, but personally I like the ward so much better in Rotterdam. I had the opportunity to once again bear my testimony here in church and I find it so amazing how much confidence/ how much I have grown in the dutch language. The Lord definitely is blessing me with the language!

  Soo missionary life, well transfer is always fun because not only do we all have to pack up our whole life for 2 years into 3 suitcases, but we then get to go train hopping from city to city with all of our luggage and bikes. So if you could just picture 2 missionaries with 6 huge suitcases and 2 bikes jumping from train to train and getting lost (keep in mind we're all in suites) well then yea.. thats us! Its stressful, crazy, hectic, but fun. Missionary life here in Eindhoven though is pretty different then life in Rotterdam. Here we have an 83 year old man named Harry Van De Sande who literally is the funniest and most awesome old grandpa in the world! He comes every where with us. He loves missionary work so much that he even got a name tag from SLC headquarters to be matching with the missionaries! He is super cool and funny. Oh and he only speaks Dutch.... so in other words I am now talking dutch 24/7, Seven days a week!! its hard, but really good for my dutch.

Since Elder Cockbain, The Zone Leader, and I are all "white washing" this city we have absolutely no idea where to go and don't know anyone here.... haha so we've been spending a lot of time doing finding and knocking on doors, fun right?? Its gotten to the point where i've done so much street contacting this week that I am now trying to use fruit, a soccer ball, bike, etc in a street contact to mix it up and it gets pretty fun and crazy! haha Yea so we dont have very many people to work with here, but we're determinded to find and get some investigators. 

Eindhoven is a total student town though, as the Universities here are HUGE, so there is like 2465465132 college students. It makes me miss college a bit, but "HALAS PINDAKAAS".   Familie I'm having fun, but I really hope and pray that Elder Co Bain and I will see some success here. The transition definitely has been hard, but a positive attitude changes everything. So no matter what comes our way or no matter what struggles we're going through we all need to be thankful. Being Thankful is just amazing and I love it. I am so thankful for all of you back home and I am so thankful for this gospel. I love you all and miss you all so much. You are all in my prayers everynight and every second in my heart. I love you familie and I am so proud of every single one of you.

ENJOY TO THE END

-Elder Cook

Ps. Chloe my sweet little angel- Shmoe I am so sorry and sad to hear about your wrist. I want you to know that I love you so much and will be praying for you super hard this week. Be thankful shmoe and keep your head up okay? Don't let anything or anyone ever bring you down! Stay strong my little angel and know that I love you.

Pss: my new address is:  KLUIZENAARSTRAAT #13

                                       5641 HE EINDHOVEN

                                       NETHERLANDS

This is Hernandes (It was an emotional goodbye and I'm really hoping I get to go to his Baptism)

My last day in Rotterdam just talking on the phone

BYE BYE TRAINER (Elder Alfaro)

ELDER COCKBAIN AND I (outside the church like 5 minutes ago)

Here are the people I'm living with

Me and my boy HARRY just chillin (also taken about 5 minutes ago)

Eating HERRING at a members house on Monday night

Tot ziens Rotterdam

Mijn geliefde familie,

This past week has been super exciting. On Thursday, I had the opportunity to work with the AP's for the whole day which was super cool and such a learning/spiritual experience! Elder Burton, the AP that I worked with, taught me a lot and also helped me a ton with some of my problems. He honestly is a super dope guy who probably has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard.  We also got 2 new investigators named Serenity and Usha this week, who are 8 and 10 years old. And they both came to church and as many of you know it was "Fast Sunday" and yeaaah they both shared their testimonies. IT WAS SO COOL! They both took my hand and I walked with them up to the stand in sacrament and whispered into their ears what they should say! It was a super cool and humbling experience for me as I whispered dutch sentences into there ears and then having them share it with the whole ward. hahaha super COOL!

Hernandes, he has a baptismal date for September 28th! On exchanges with the APS we went and taught Hernandes and challenged him for baptism. Yeah he accepted and is getting "gedoopt" later this month! Super cool and super awesome, he is such a stud and the Lord has prepared him so well for us.

BUT UNFORTUNATLEY...... yea, transfers.

Family... Transfer week... and yup I am getting transfered. I am leaving the great ghetto city of Rotterdam and I am now going to be serving in Eindhoven. Me and Elder Cockbane (funny name right...) will be opening up this new zone and "white washing" once again. So not only have I white washed this city in Rotterdam and been with my trainer for only 6 weeks, The Lord has called me to go white wash another city with an Elder who has been here in the Nederland for 5 transfers. Prettttyy CRAZY! I am excited, but super sad and have a lot of crazy emotions about it.. I have grown to love Rotterdam and the people here. Its kind of just a crazy thing that I'm already leaving my trainer and going to "white wash" another city! "HET IS GEK"  also it is sad for me because I will no longer have the opportunity to teach Hernandes and also the two little girls. I have no idea why I am going to Eindhoven, but I guess that is where the Lord wants me to go.

Family this next couple of weeks is gonna be some tough ones, but I think my experience here in Rotterdam has prepared me (well I hope and pray). I will not get the new address until next week so dont send any letters to Rotterdam. You can send them to the mission offices until I get my new address.

I want you all to know that I love you guys and I am praying for you all everyday in my heart. There isnt 5 minutes that go by in which I dont think about you all and just feel so blessed to have a family like us. I carry around a little picture of you guys in my wallet and see it everysingle day I take the bus or train. I love you guys. I hope all is going well back home and know that someone in Europe is always thinking about you guys.

"Enjoy To The End"

-Elder Cook

Ps: I just printed out all of your emails so I can read them throughout the next week, meaning: I havent read any of your emails yet! So if you had questions sorry for not answering!

LOVE YOU GUYS.

"Just another day on the job"

"Working with the AP's"

"Elder Burton and I"

"Serenity and Usha"

"These are the two girls that I have been teaching and have become best friends with! Also the ones who all 3 of us were sitting on the stand at church bearing our testimonies."

WONDEREN!

Familie,

 Family let me first begin this email by saying prayers were answered.

Okay soooo this week was AWESOME. It started out pretty rough not gonna lie, but Elder Alfaro and I were extremely blessed. Family I found my reason for being here in Rotterdam. Before I tell you this reason I want you all to know that we have a goal and eyes set on having 4 baptisms next month.... YES I SAID 4! As I have said, "WONDEREN"!! So this week Elder Alfaro gave me the responsibility to lead not only the lessons this week, but everything that had to do with speaking dutch. Including, street contacting, door knocking, church meetings, and also taking the lead in lessons. Holy cow it was so humbling and hard, but so much fun.

Familie my reason for being here in Rotterdam is because of a man named "Hernandes". We met him "opstraat" (on the street) he is from Surinam and about 33 years old. He told us a little bit about his life and how religion has played a role, but he accepted our number and said he would call us. Well that usually means we will never get a call. haha but yeah, we got a call! He called us just two days later and we set up an afspraak met hem voor zaturdag. As we entered his house I had an overwhelming feeling take over me, and I'm not exaggerating at all. Anyways we began talking to him and telling him about the Book of Mormon. It was an alright lesson and after about 30-40 minutes he began to tell us once again about all of his problems in life. Well... that overwhelming feeling came back to me and I opened the Book of Morman to 1 nephi 9:6. I waited patiently for a good time to share it with him and when I felt prompted to, I gave him the scripture. As he began to read it out loud.. well he couldn't even finish the scripture. Tears filled his eyes. Tears then began to fill my eyes. As I bore testimony of this scripture and also of the gospel the spirit absolutely took over. It was amazing. The lesson ended with Hernandes and I hugging, both with tears in our eyes. Familie this is my reason for being here in Rotterdam I believe. He came to church the next day and loved it and pretty much told me he wants the gospel in his life. We plan on giving him a baptisimal date this week and Elder Alfaro and I are just feel so extremely blessed.

As for the other 3 future baptisms hopefully... We are now also teaching two 8 year old girls and a 10 year old girl and they all want us to teach them about baptism. Familie it is amazing at the things the lord is blessing Elder Alfaro and I with right now. We have been working our butts off, but still we both feel like we dont deserve this. The lord is amazing and I just feel so blessed right now.

Familie I really just want to thank you all, each and every one of you. You all should know that I carry around a picture of you all in my wallet and everytime we are talking about families in a lesson I immediatley pull out my picture of you guys and say "Hernandes (or whoever we're teaching) this is my family and I am so grateful that this gospel and the lord has given me the opportunity to not only live with them in this life, but for eternity. They are my joy and my angels. They are the greatest thing to me on this earth."

Mom, Dad, Candace, Jake, Carly, and Chloe... thank you guys. You guys really are all so amazing and know that I love each and everyone of you. You all are always in my heart. I strongly invite you all to do family prayers and just be thankful. If there is something that I have learned through the adversity that I have had, it is to just simply be grateful. I Love you all so much and in everything we do.... "ENJOY it TO THE END""

-Elder Cook

1 Nephi 9:6

Just another day of personal study....

Kinderdijk

Elder Alfaro and I.... This describes our relationship.

Chillin in BELGIUM

Chillin in BELGIUM

Chillin in BELGIUM

BRUCE

JESUS IS COOL

BELGIUM WITH MA HOMIE ELDER BITTERS

Me and Homer Simpson doing some studying..

Just another day in Netherlands

Elder Alfaro and I

"Sterker Door Strijd" Week 10!

Familie,

Before I even begin this email I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY ANGEL! Chloe "the SHMOE-IN-ATER" Cook! Holy cow chlo! 14 wow.... WHY ARE YOU SO OLD? STOP. I hope you got my letter I sent to you for your birthday??!....  I also wanna give a shout out to Brookie and say Happy Birthday last Wednesday! Oh and of course my two favorite girls who I will never forget... PACK TWINS (Neela and Neena) Happy Birthday 2 weeks ago! I'm sorry I missed ya'lls birthdays, I didnt really have a choice. hahah but know that I love you all!!

Real quick... so all the letters you guys have been sending me have been going to our neighbors, so for example: today I got all your letters and my two month package from our neighbor.. it was really funny, but definitely came at the right time! haha

Well familie, where to begin. Today in Rotterdam its been raining cats and dogs, literally. 2 feet of rain in the streets! Every morning at 6 am Elder Alfaro and the Zone Leaders and I go play soccer (so none of us get fat) and today we played in the POURING RAIN! It was pretty awesome, but soooo cold. I have pictures, but once again stupid euorpean laptop is... well stupid and I cant send any photos.

So what else happend this week.. well oh yea I went to BELGIUM! Holy cow it is B.E.A.UTIFUL! Once again I have pictures, but stupid laptop. Its was so awesome to go down to Belgium though, it seriously is so freaking pretty. I dont know if it is just because I am in the ghetto ditry streets of Rotterdam or what but I felt like I was in a whole new world of awesomeness! hahah It was also super cool to see all my buddies again. Gosh I missed them and getting to spend a full day with them was much needed. I also had 3 Belgium Waffles and a whole box a Belgium chocolate and HOLY COW! SMAAKT LEKKER!! (look that word up). so gooood!

We also spent all day Saturday doing service with my favorite member family, they are called Famile Winters, I'm pretty sure i've talked about the before. But we helped their Grandma move out of her house and into another which was a ton of work, but super chill.......not sketch at all. We had a ton of dinner appts this last week and have even more to come, the food is so freakin good here.

But yea spiritually... well since it was a crazy week of going to Belgium and having two day exchanges we didnt find or have any new investigators, but we're really trying to have a lot of faith this week and set a goal to visit as many Less actives as we possibly can. Elder Alfaro has kind of put me in charge this last week and also this week of taking control throughout lessons and contacting people, so my dutch (nederlands) has gotten significantly better. Still a lot of work to do. Still need a lot more faith.

Familie life is getting better. Rotterdam is an awesome area and actually as transfers are coming up in two or so weeks I'm kind of hoping to not get transfered. Weird right? I'm actaully liking rotterdam... haha but familie GOSH I MISS YOU GUYS. Seriously there is not a day that goes by, actually an HOUR, that goes by in which I dont think about you all. I love you guys so much, more than all of you could imagine. Mom and Dad... my letter I sent you guys still didnt have enough love behind it. You two seriously make me so proud and so grateful. Whenever I think about you guys, which is just about ever 5 minutes, a warm feeling comes to my heart because I can feel your love. Yes even though I am in a whole nother country I can feel your love, ALL OF YOUR GUYS' LOVE. and I hope and pray that you all can feel mine.

D&C 118:3  love you guys.

"Enjoy To The End"

-Elder Cook

HURRR WE GO!

Mij mooi en geveldig familie,

 

Well what a long week it was. I decided that in my email this week I'm just gonna tell ya'll about what has been going down here in Rotterdam Zuid! Things have been interesting that is for sure. On Saturday we pulled weeds for a family who are members for literally about 4 hours, but they are my favorite ward family and super nice! Also they fed us a '"real Nederland BBQ" and holy cow it was the best BBQ I have ever had! (I'm getting fat guys, no joke.) Also The past week we have been teaching a "J-DUB" (also known as a Jeavoh Witness) and it has been super intense. The first time we knocked on his door he was speaking dutch and spanish so the first time we were with him my companion spoke to him in spanish the whole time....yeah I had no idea what in the world was going on! but anyways turns out that when we went back and visted him again, he pulls out an english bible! WHAT THE HECK he speaks english also??!? Yeah thats right so I took my opportunity to finally talk! It was a pretty cool experience for me to finally actually teach someone and truly say what was on my mind. Nothing came out of it really because he was brainwashed by the J-Dubs, but it definitely was a nice experience for me.

 

But I actually really wanted to talk about a family from Croatia that we have been visiting. I wrote mom and dad a letter about this family. Its a family of 4, with 2 children who are 8 and 6 years old, and the wife is pregnent. Well anyways, they have nothing. And when I say nothing I mean absolutely nothing. The Dad is a super humble guy and has been trying to find a job here for the past month and just a little heads up.. finding a job here in the Netherlands is about 5xs harder then in Amerika.) We walked into their apartment and they have one plastic fold up table and one mattress on the floor. The kids and wife sleep on the bed while the dad sleeps on the dirty floor. Unfortunately there is only so much we can do as missionaries as far as helping them with food and financial needs. I guess I am telling you guys all this because we really are so blessed by the Lord for all the things we have in our life. It really was a good time for me to reflect and just think about how blessed I have been. Super humbling experience.

 

Man there are so many experiences I wish I could just tell you all about. A more quick funny story to lighten up the mood and maybe get a laugh from ya'll... So yesterday after church we went and knocked on a lady named "Carena" door and turns out she was locked outside of her apartment.. Well we showed up and there was about 5-8 people sitting outside trying to help her. No one had a key and she lived on the second floor of the apartment. Turns out the balcony door was open though, and I bet you all can guess who decided to climb up the 2 story wall and open up her door... ME! haha so if you guys could just picture me rock climbing up some apartment with my missionary attire on hopefully you all just smile! haha and because I did it she decided to meet with us tonight and learn about the gospel!! wahhhhoooooo! haha

 

Well yeah fam thats really all. well thats not all, but thats all the time I got! haha I love you guys so much and am thinking about you all a ton. Chloe good luck in your game tomorrow! Dont forget to use my advice that I wrote you! Your gonna kill it I know it! Jake keep on working hard brotha! Cand and Winst have fun in Hawaii, just remember it was shark week..... Carly holy cow I miss my best friend. I love you so much!! Mom and Dad, I actually wrote you both a letter and sent it a couple of days ago.. I hope you got it! I love you guys though and am always praying for you!

 

Ik heb veel liefda voor jullie!

 

-Elder Cook

Ps. Sorry for not sending pictures.. this european laptop I am on is mentally retarded and not letting me send pictures~! sorry. As soon as I figure out a way, I will send some!

 

*Also I forgot to mention that this Wednesday is that day I get to go down to Belgium and see all my friends and hang out with them for the day!! super excited. LOVE YOU ALL!!