catch up christmas

Just because I feel the need to share a couple of pictures from my Christmas..... It is definitely a "catch up on your blogging" kind of day.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so proud of this guy!
He has had several interviews lately for jobs/internships.
And today we got a call and....he got the one we were really hoping for.
Not only did he get it, but he got the highest paid position.
That just means there was a range they told him about and he got the highest point on that range.
I am seriously so proud of him!!
He works so hard and is so good at what he does.
So I just wanted to throw it out there that I think that this kid is amazing.
He will do amazing things, and he will be amazing at this job.
I am so excited for him!!!!
Congratulations sweetheart.

idaho weekend

Sometimes you just have to share a million pictures.

Three day weekends call for an escape. Especially when the mark the year anniversary of when you met your sweetheart. This weekend we had an excuse to go up to Idaho. Travis has a friend who gets a group together and goes up to Island Park. He has this amazing cabin up there that is right on the lake. It is frozen this time of year and perfect to ride snow mobiles on. We had a good time but also decided to cut that part of our weekend short to go down and visit the area where Trav's mom grew up. We stayed with some cousins and had a good time exploring small town corners of this new state. We even drove up in to Montana and Wyoming for a minute just so we could start checking off some of the states we have been to together.

I love road trips with this guy. He is so sweet and patient and thoughtful and loves going on adventures and blasting a wide variety of music just as much as I do. I love him with all of my heart. This was definitely another perfect, and productive, weekend for us. Happy year to us!!

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[last weekend we escaped too after I took the GRE. We ran some stuff down to Saint George for my granny&grumps, who are serving a mission down there for the next 6 months. Here is a photo or two]

my little missionary

I am so proud of this brother of mine. He has almost been gone for a month...I just forgot to write about it. He is doing amazing things. I will include the emails he has sent so far. I sure love and miss him but I know he is right where he is suppose to be.

#1:
Family and Friends,

I have arrived safely in bogota and it is amazing here. The weather is perfect compared to the five degree temperatures in Utah and the mountains make me feel right at home. I only have ten minutes so here is a quick story. First story I lost my scriptures so I need you guys to mail me a triple combination to my mission NOT THE MTC. Second story, on the plane ride(s) here I was able to teach my first missionary lessons. On the first flight I sat next to a lady who teaches at a catholic school and by the end of the flight  she had promised to let the missionaries in when she saw them  next. On the second flight I sat next to a guy named Gillian. Gillian is a chemist who runs a charity that gives research equipment to developing countries' schools. We talked about religon the entire flight because he told me that the coolest part about chemistry is how when biology is added to it the whole thing will change. I taught him about the plan of salvation and how God created our spirits before our bodies and he liked that idea about his life force. I was able to bear my testimony to Gillian about the book of Mormon and so he was my first lesson. Thats all for now. Love you Guys.

-Elder Cook

#2

Hola Familia y Amigos,

I made it through week one!!! Let me tell you about it. First, Welcome to Columbia. Bogota is a crazy city. There are huge graffiti murals everywhere and so many people. But the craziest part about this city is the driving. Here the driving is nuts, to merge you just move over when ever and people will move, lines on the road are only suggestions, motorcycles can go where ever they want, near catastrophe is a part of daily driving, policia do wheelies instead of enforce laws, and vechicles have the right away so pedestrians have to look out. But whats great is no one gets mad at each other on the road they just let it happen and keep going. So ya bogota is great, the weather has been a perfect 72 degrees everyday (except today) and that's columbia.

Now for the MTC which is called the CCM here. My district is awesome. My compain is Elder Dieterland, he's an incredible artist and kung fu trainee. He's fluent in italian and because of that he knows how to pronounce all the words in spanish really well which is helping me learn super fast. The other people in my district are Elder Moore, a fluent German and French speaking wrestler from Germany. Elder Gorong, (district leader) he talks alot of talk but doesn't walk much walk. Elder Weight one of the funniest kids I 've ever known. Elder Reed, he's pretty much the class clown but he's got a great testimony. And Elder Hilton who is the only one in my district who isn't going to columbia. He's going to the same mission as me and he is super ADD. Any way the best part about the CCM is the Latino Missionaries. These guys are the reason why in one week I can already understand 70 percent of what people are saying. These guys have the strongest testimonies and help us , the Greengos with the language everyday during meal times. They are awesome and like I said before have the strongest testimonies. One of my Latino friends whose name is Elder Guerrara has the most amazing back story. His Mom died when he was 2 and his Dad left him on the doorstep of his grandparents and he hasn't seen his Dad sense. He was raised by his Grandma and Aunt who basically gave up on him and the church. But from what I understood of what he told me is that he is here because the Church was his home growing up and it gave him hope and he came on a mission because he wants to give that home to others who need it and becuase he knows that this is where he's supposed to be, its really amazing. The Latinos have such a special connection to the spirit its incredible. When he was finished telling me his story I felt so humbled because I have absolutely nothing to complain about in my life. So ya I love the Latinos. An average day in the CCM goes as follows: wakeup, shower, pray, read libro de mormon, pray, eat eggs and plantanas (XL bannanas) and hot chocolate for breakfast ,  learn spanish, pray lunch which is the biggest meal of the day and has always been some kind of meat with rice a soup of some sorts, pray, spanish, diner usualy rice and some small plate of local dishes, volleyball (greengos v. americanos), pray, spanish, pray, bedtime. So I've  definiitely learned the importance of pray this first week because the more I pray to God the easier and better I learn spanish and the Harder I've been able to work. So pray guys, if it's important to you it''s important to God. Another little side note about the food, that red sauce that dad puts on everything at home is their favorite thing down here so I get a little taste of home at every meal. 

The other awesome thing I got to do this week was a temple session in spanish. The bogota temple is super sweet and crazy because you'll be driving along in this XXL bus that they drive here (basically two of our busses put together with a slinky looking thing its nuts) and there will be the temple, white and clean looking in the middle of this crazy city. Going through the temple was great and one thing I've noticed as I've learned spanish is that spanish words are much more literal and because that much more meaningful. I can't think of an example right now but maybe next tuesday (which is my next Pday). 

One more story about the latinos. these guys love to give gifts. Day 2 here one of my best latino friends Elder Veraz walked in my room and said in spanish you are my friend and I want my friends to remember meso  here is my favorite tie. These guys have so little and yet they are so willing to give it away to people they love and serve. It's something I've been trying to do here.   

My last story is about the first local I got to talk to here. So part of our spanish training is we go to the fence of the CCM and try to talk to people walking by. The first person I got to talk to was this little 5 year old kid who told me all about how much he loves Futbol it was the cutiest thing and that was the moment I realized I love these people and can and want to do my very best to learn spanish so I've been studying like crazy to learn it. 

Any way that's all from me, I love you guys. Thank you for your prays and support. I'm trying my hardest out here. 

Love,

Elder G. Cook 

P.S. You sent me a english Quad right?

Picture of all the missionaries in the CCM

#3

Hello Family and Friends!!!!

Week 2 in the CCM....not a whole lot has happened since I wrote last but I want to explain some of the great parts of the CCM. The first of which is what it's like to learn Spanish. Basically learning spanish is pretty much the same as Mom trying translate me and Kade's language.  Hard but not impossible. Spanish itself is a super simple and literal language and it just takes some time to get used to because there are parts of spanish that don't exist in english. But i'm doing really well. Its day 14 and I can already teach all the lessons completely in spanish so.... ya. I'm doing ok with the language. Another part of the CCM I want to talk about is a concept that we call being "Frosted". Basically, when teenage boys are told they cannot flirt  and or interact with girls, girls become much more attractive and enticing and elders do stupid things trying impress them. This hasn't really been a problem for me because, let's be honest, I didn't talk girls that much before the mission. Any way most of the kids in my district are frosted so I'll probably send you guys stories about it later this month. Ok I want to talk a little more about my district because these guys are awesome. These guys are all here for the right reasons and aren't lazy. Most them come from broken homes or humble circumstances which has been really humbling to me because I realize more and more how good I have it. On sunday we shared our expeirences with the atonement and Christ and it was so powerful becuase all these Elder's have overcome so much to get here and all they want to do now is share the gospel with others. Being in this district with these particular guys cannot be coincidence. We have helped each other in ways that couldn't have been done by anyone else. I can see the Lord's hand in my life right now so prominently its great. Sorry it's a short email but not a whole lot has happened. I love you guys, I miss you. Thank you for your prays and support its helping me so much. I can't write until next friday so I will definately have more stories by then and some pictures of columbia.If you want to see a picture of me and my district talk to the Weights I couldn't get the picture to upload to my email.

I love you all,

Elder Cook

P.S. Mikhail sent me the Instagram post so I saw it and I love you Man. 

P.P.S. Kade, I love you and I miss you and our language but If I could give you one suggestion of how to prepare for a mission right now it would be to learn how to start and keep a conversation going. It's super useful out here when your trying to get people to talk about what their problems are. Because once you know what their problem is you can teach them what they need.

 Love you Kade and Family...... and Friends. Talk to you next friday.