NOG èèn JAAR Week 50

Lieve Familie,

              Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and the birthday shout outs that I received this last week. You really have no idea how much they all meant. I am so grateful for the continual support that I receive from you guys and am amazed from the love I feel for you all. I cannot describe it. SOOO THANK YOU!

              My birthday week was awesome! It was definitely a whole lot different from any other birthday but, nevertheless, I definitely cannot complain. Monday we spent the day with Marnix at the Gym and then spent the rest of the day in Brugge and then on the Beach in Oostende. Tuesday, the Leman Family had us over to celebrate my birthday and gosh I was just speechless the whole time because of the love that I felt. Following that, we took a train up to the Nederlands for our zone training the following day and had a great zone training about "Raising your expectations". It was very inspiring. Then it was back to Kortrijk where Elder Argueta and I truly just love the members here and ended up having a great week of missionary work.

           The work here is definitely increasing. I wish I could tell you all the details about our investigators that we have found and the amazing spirit that I have felt bearing my testimony, but I truly cannot put it down on paper. I really love the work here in Kortrijk. This place will always be special to me.

           Steven the Kick boxer is doing good. He seriously is just a boss and I'm excited to keep teaching him. Benno came to church yesterday which was soooo awesome and he is making some super progress. Froni en Pedro (the family we’re teaching) are making some serious progress and I have to say that they have been my favorite people to teach through out my whole mission. And we are now teaching this women named Beatrice. Last but not least we are also now working with this awesome Russian family who are less active, but we are going to do our best to just bring them friendship and joy! They are sooo chill! Hahah but YA- all these people have amazing stories and I am grateful for the privilege I have to help them receive more happiness in this life. After all, you cannot turn down happiness:) SOOOO YEAH WE STAY POSTIVE AND THE WORK IS GOOD LEKKKKKERR!

 Anyways,

             Today just so happens to mark the day where I can officially say, "hey I only have one more year left of this adventure." This will get me really "chuncky" saying, but yes in exactly one year from today I will be seeing Mom and Dad. CRAZZZZY! Time really does fly. Soo peeps.... coming back to my sports... ITS HALFTIME! Its halftime of the biggest championship game yet and let’s just say, I am looking forward to this upcoming second half. Its going to be a tough second half with ups and downs, but when it’s all said and done... I know that I will just be saying the same thing I said last time I was in a championship game- "man I am so grateful and thankful to have had that opportunity". Gratefulness and always having a smile on your face is the KEY!

I Love you all so much. More than life itself. Thank you for the love and support. I am eternally grateful. Have a great week and please be safe. Party like its hot and YOLO it up. L.O.V.E.S.

Love,

     Big Dude

Birthday WEEEEEK!! Week 49!

Lieve Familie,

               Family thank you all so much for the constant love and support that I receive from you all. Whether it is letters, a package, pictures, your prayers, etc- I just feel so much love for each and every one of you all and it is absolutely something that I cannot describe. It really is just true love-John 15:13.  I love you all so much and just thinking about you all and testifying of the love that I have for each one of you brings tears to my eyes. So thank you. Thank you for the support and love. Thank you for always being there for me and thank you for just being who you are. Gosh I am so grateful!

              So this last week was actually one to remember here on the mish! As many of you know Elder Argueta and I are staying for another 6 weeks here in Kortrijk (that'll make it almost 6 months serving together) and we are pumped and definitely motivated. Our love for Kortrijk has seriously just been growing and growing. The tears, the struggles, the excitement, the miracles, etc... Gosh- it has been so humbling and so necessary for me and my growth, as a missionary. My testimony here has been trialed and all I can honestly say about this whole experience is- Thank you, thank you for giving me this experience to grow, to learn, to become better, and to change. I am very grateful for the man upstairs and his knowledge over everything. So yes we are both pumped to do another 6 more weeks together in this holy place.

             As far as the missionary work goes.. FANTASTISCH en LEKKER! This week we dropped another baptismal date on a new investigator named Benno. Benno is someone who we found our first week here in Kortrijk and could never set up a time to meet with him so he was eventually dropped, But this last week I just had the "feeling" to give him a call. Well we called him and made an appointment for 2 days later. We went there, taught him the Restoration and well lets just say that he is prepared! It was so awesome and I just love testifying with the spirit. The spirit was strong and he accepted. Super humbling and a grateful moment to be a missionary.

             Steven (the world champion kick boxer) is doing solid. We went and trained with him last Thursday and lets just say we got our butts kicked! Haha but watch out because I think I'm going to become a professional kick boxer;)

             We are also teaching this family and the parent’s names are Froni and Pedro. We have been teaching them for a while, but Saturday was the first time we taught them the restoration and they just ate it up! It was awesome. The spirit was strong and yeaaaah.. It’s just hard to describe. But it was amazing.

              I really don’t know what else to say or I think I have already said too much.. Hahha but peeps I just want you all to know that Jason Rich Cook is doing good. Life is not easy, but there aint nobody who is going to take the smile off my face. I gave a talk in church again yesterday and I pretty much just talked about being happy and smiling. I don’t know why, but seriously if you’re not smiling and enjoying life.. You’re just not looking at it with the right perspective. Smile peeps! Be happy! That is what life is all about and that is definitely what the Gospel Of Jesus Christ is all about. It is the plan of happiness.

 I LOVE YOU ALL and know that I will definitely be thinking and praying for you guys. You are always in my heart. Love one another and PARTY LIKE ITS HOT!!

Love,

    Big Dude;)

THE AFTER MATH! Week 48!

Lieve Familie,

            Wow it was so good to see you all yesterday and to hear from you all! You all look so great and just sooo soooo happy! It definitely was one of the best days I have had on my mission of just feeling so loved and cared for. So thank you.

            I would say however the hardest times always come right after the best times.. It’s just how the Lord always seems to work. So this morning was just one of those.. Wow I really really miss my family this morning. hahah but getting back into the missionary life and missionary mode shouldn’t be that hard for me.

            Well no call last night, which means no getting transferred! I am actually extremely happy and grateful for that because I just love the members here and just wasn’t ready to leave. My work here in Kortrijk definitely is not done. So Elder Argueta and I will be pounding out another good 6 weeks here together! As for the members... I think they were more excited than we were.. After getting dropped off at our apartment by Marnix- he is SO SO SO HAPPY that we are staying- we found another Member sitting on our doorstep waiting for us to get home to give us cake! Haha she knew also that we had the chance of getting transferred and well lets just say that we had a good little party right outside of our apartment at like 10 a clock at night because of the great transfer news! The love here in Kortrijk is just growing and growing between the members and us. It is crazzzy. They all told us that we are no longer missionaries to them.. We are like family. So awesome and just so amazing!

  

           In other news... Last week we just had a good'ol week with the members- going to Brussels and performing the HAKA with them in front of the Stake and ended up getting first prize! Haha yea it was awesome! - I think a member is going to put the video up on Facebook soon...

About the mission work here- things are going great. Elder Argueta and I are really gonna work our butts off to build this little Branch up here in Kortrijk. Now that we have full trust and love from the members we are just that much more motivated to get some miracles and bring some more love into the Branch Kortrijk. We have found a new stud of an investigator named Steven. He is a world champion kick boxer and lets just say he is exactly like the guy in the movie Never Back Down. He has his own Kick boxing gym and lives in the back of it! So LEGIT; We taught the first lesson to him and gave him a baptismal date for the 21 of June. He accepted and this week we plan on going back to go train with him and teach him. In other words I am super stoked to work out with this guy! And teach him of course:)

          I love you all like crazy and it was just so great to see you all yesterday. You all know that I miss you like crazy and have so much love for each one of you. Make good choices please and do the right thing! Support one another and never let anything negative or not positive come out of your mouth. Positivity kills all negativity... DUH! So just be happy, Smile, Live life, Laugh, do something dumb, I don’t know.... just never stop smiling people and don’t worry  "Everything will be okay in the end; And If everything is not okay, then it is not the end." I love you all.

ENJOY TO THE END 

Much Love,

     - Your son, brother, friend, and lekker ding... Elder Cook:)

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!

YUP. Week 46!

Lieve familie,

          So this email I really have no idea where to begin because this week has seriously been a crazy roller coaster ride of emotions and just hard hard work. This past week Elder Argueta and I found ourselves being workaholics as far as the missionary work goes. I think that it was one of the hardest working weeks of my mission. In church yesterday I could barely keep my eyes open just because of how exhausted I was from the whole week- I was physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted and this is why.

          Physically exhausted because Elder Argueta and I have spent literally every single day on our bikes, biking a minimal of 60 kilometers per day looking people up, knocking on doors, trying to keep good contact with investigators, and going to appointments. I love biking. Every single night though we were so tired that we wouldn’t even say one thing to another, but instead just crawl into our beds at like 10'o clock and fall asleep.

Mentally tired because we have just been getting messed around with and humbled as far as the missionary work goes. Our Phone has been broken the entire week so we have had no real way to contact anyone, which has been so stressful. We have been working sooooo soooo hard and just when we think things are going great.. BAM!..Things with our investigators all the sudden take the wrong turn. So now we are just thinking.. Really?. Come on! For example Patrick couldn’t come to church yesterday because of his health and then last night we got the most surprising text message saying that he wants to stop everything with us... seriously it has been a mental and emotional roller coaster for us Elders here in Kortrijk!  But yeah we have no idea why we got this message from Patrick and His wife Mimi, but tonight Elder Argueta plan on going over to see what is going on. Pray for us:)

         And Spiritually tired because this week I have never born my testimony so strong before during appointments, nor felt the spirit working on me so hard to lead and guide me about what to say and do. Yesterday we were asked by some more members in the branch if we could give them blessings and really I am just so grateful that I have this chance to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. But IT HAS BEEN EXHAUSTING AND A CRAZY WEEK.

         So now I am sitting here on a Monday- the begining of a new week - just thinking and hoping/praying that this week will be just as great as the last one.. hahah

         On a much brighter note I am learning more and more about the way our Heavenly Father works and just being humbled every single day. I am grateful to be here and I am grateful to have these many chances to learn to grow. As for this upcoming week thankfully we have Temple Conference, which means I will finally have the chance to go to the Temple and figure some things out with the Lord. We will also be spending a day or two in Den Haag... so you could say that I am pretty darn excited to see my friends there!

           I love you all with my full heart. The Lord gives us all our free agency to choose for ourselves how we want to act. I do not like the free agency of others... but I am grateful for my own free agency and that I can always choose to be happy no matter what circumstances I may be in. The Gospel Of Jesus Christ is the definition of TRUE HAPPINESS.

-Elder Cook

  

As for the photos... yeah last p-day we got to hit up the amusement park that is here in Kortrijk for the next week. See if you can find me on the ride.... hahah it was CRAZZZYY!

VAN WEGENS HEM Week 45!

Lieve Familie,

               What a special weekend it was for everyone who believes in Christ around the world. To say that I am grateful for the event that took place this last weekend just about 2000 years ago would be an understatement. No matter what I say or try to say... well it just isn’t enough. It is something so truly amazing and I am so truly eternally grateful- so grateful that as I think upon it my heart begins to swell with such great love and compassion for my Savior and Redeemer and one of my best friends Jesus Christ. So amazing that through him we have eternal families and can have eternal life. Gosh I love that man! 

                Well this last week was actually just a blur.. I seriously can’t even remember much. The only thing that I can really is remember is the fact that Patrick and (drum roll please)... His wife, Mimi, both came to church! Yes finally his wife, Mimi, came to church! It’s was so awesome and tonight I am hoping that we can throw down a baptismal date with her. I really do love this family and to have the privilege and opportunity to teach them and watch them just feed off and accept the gospel has been so humbling and a big testimony booster for me. This week we plan on teaching Tithing... which is going to be hard and gonna require a lot of faith, but that is what the gospel and life is all about- having faith that everything will be okay as you put your trust in the Lord. So this week they will be needing a lot of prayers:) 

              As far as the members go here in Kortrijk I just feel so blessed and grateful to have the privilege to serve them and grow really strong relationships with them. I have grown some really good strong relationships here with the members and I just know that it is going to be hard to leave them in the future. One of the members here who also happens to be in the Stake Presidency has seen/noticed that I have an obsession with road bikes- so he wants to plan on going on a ride together when Mom and Dad come pick me up. I told him that I'm going to kick his neck off. hahah Kortrijk will definitely be an extremely sacred/holy ground for me on my mission so this place will always be in my heart! 

           Family, Friends, other people who waste their time reading my emails... just know that I miss you all so much. I miss you more then I miss a McDank at McDonalds. Seriously my love and appreciation for each and every one of you is indescribable and is something that I hold so close to my heart. The love I have for you guys will never go away. The love I have for you all is so real and so special to me. I love you all and so does the Lord Jesus Christ for he gave his own life for each and everyone of us. His love is indescribable and I am so grateful to have knowledge and faith that because of him eternal families are possible and that one-day we will all be able to return back to his presence and live in endless joy and happiness and never EVER have to say goodbye. Just imagine.. Never ever having to say goodbye. I am so grateful for that. 

LOVE YOU ALL WITH ALL MY HEART! Be safe this week and party like its hot:)

    -Elder Coooook

I LOVE YOU GUYS Week 44!

Lieve Familie,

          Families. I just love that word and gosh I love you guys so much.

So unfortunately today I only have 15 minutes to write this email so sorry if it is short but I will do my best.

  

           Since the big move/Transfer of coming to a new country, different language, and just everything being new; as you could imagine- I have had many questions for the Man upstairs and have been looking for answers. I found myself asking the good'ol original dumb question, that a lot of us frequently ask, of WHY. WHY the move? WHY the change? WHY?  It has been a crazy, hard, emotional time here in Kortrijk, but my answer to these "why" questions is simple- because this is what I need.

          My testimony these past months has been growing more than I could ever imagine. This past week I found myself sitting in front of families (one being a new family that we found with 7 children) teaching with convincing power. I never thought that the gospel of Jesus Christ really would be this real to me right now. I have always told people who ask me the 1 million dollar question- "Sooo why did you choose to serve a mission?" that the real reason I came on my mission was to find out why I needed to go on a mission. I came with a little testimony and it’s amazing what can happen if you let that little seed be planted in your heart and let it grow. (Alma 32).   My testimony has grown and I cannot deny it. The Gospel is amazing and to have a family that is eternal is so real and I am so grateful to have one. I LOVE YOU GUYS!! WAAAAHHHOOOO

          As far as the missionary work here goes...everything is going grand and I am so grateful to be a part of the work here in Kortrijk. We have changed Patrick’s baptism to the 3 of May- that way his wife has time to think about being baptized also. This week we are teaching 4 families and it is so humbling to have opportunities like that. Time to bring these people the love of the GOSPEL! JA JA!! LEKKER!!!

        I wish I had more time to write to you all, but just know that I truly love each and everyone of you guys with my whole heart and soul. You all mean the world to me and I am eternal grateful for the love that we all have together! LOVE YOU ALL!!

           -Elder Coooook