Hey everyone!
This week went by pretty fast. I went to a pretty good devotional on Tuesday by Brother Richardson. He's the 2nd counselor in the General Sunday School Presidency. It was really good. He talked about what it means to be a REAL missionary and make sure we're well balanced and doing our part.
Nothing really exciting happened this week. It was just lots and lots and lots of learning. The new cafeteria, bookstore, barbershop, and work-out room are almost done. They should all be finished by the 15th of this month. Elder Vance and I are going to Burger Supreme later today and I'm pretty stoked about that!
The language is coming slowly, but surely. I gave my second lesson in Armenian yesterday and it went well. Sunday night, we all got to watch Legacy. Man, the acting in that movie is pretty cheesy. It was funny to watch a whole chapel full of missionaries bust up laughing at the "serious" parts of the movie.
Well, that's really all that has happened. Thanks for the packages and letters! Sorry if it's taking me a while to respond, but I don't have much time and there are a lot of people to respond to.
Love and miss you all,
Elder Cook
Sunday, July 20, 2014
June 27, 2013 Badaboom!
Barev-sez!
In my apartment there's Elder Hall, Elder Stone, Elder Hanson, Elder Aidukitus, Elder Vance, and me. They are all speaking Lithuanian except for Elder Vance and I. We all get along great. Elder Vance is really good at beat-boxing. Sometimes Elder Hanson and I will sing while he's laying a sick beat. :)
I saw Cameron's parents there and we talked a little bit. I also saw Sam and his brother. It was cool. I'm sad I didn't get to see Jenny! That's cool she was there. I saw Tristam Thomas as well. We didn't get to stop and talk, though. I saw a couple girls from Provo High in the choir. I also saw Sister Porter.
I went to a devotional on Tuesday with Janice Kapp Perry. It was super good! I was even tearing up a little when all of the missionaries stood up and sang Army of Heleman/As Sisters in Zion. You could feel the spirit so strong. I saw Braden Griffen there too and we were able to chat for a while. He's going to Ventura, CA and speaking Spanish.
For Prep-Days, we get to go to Brighams Landing. That place with Burger Supreme and SubZero. I think that's pretty awesome. :D
My schedule is different every day, so I'll probably just send you a picture of our schedule.
Love and miss you all!
Elder Cook
Wow, this first at the MTC went by pretty quick. What everybody else says about it is true. The days are super long, but the weeks are short. The Armenian is coming along. I can say a simple prayer in Armenian and also start a conversation. It takes me about 3 minutes to read the first verse in the Book of Mormon. I don't really know what I'm saying, but I know the right sounds. :) (Well, I know what I'm saying because I already know what the verse says... but... well... you know.)
There are starting to be some funny language mix-ups in class. There are a couple words that sound very similar, but are completely different. One time, a girl in my class accidentally said, "And I know that Joseph Smith was crucified." Another time someone was talking about how our purpose in life is to suffer. It's pretty funny when it happens to other people, but I'm sure I won't be laughing when I say something like that. :) The word "suffering" kind of sounds like "badaboom!", so it's fun to joke about that.
So there are 6 people in my apartment instead of the usual 4. This makes showering in the morning very difficult. We only have a half-hour for everybody to shower, get ready, and be in class. What we have to do is take turns waking up early.
My Branch President is President Mickelsen. He's a really nice guy, but a little strict. He's leaving in a couple weeks for a mission to Germany. In the Branch Presidency there is Brother Parrish and Brother Mangum. They are both really cool guys.
Wasn't that broadcast awesome? I loved President Monson's story about the city of St. Thomas. I really liked L. Tom Perry's talk too. Also... as cool as it would have been for me to be on the screen, I wasn't in the choir. :/ I guess I just have a look alike here that the MTC. :)
[Family insert: We found Shad in the sea of missionaries singing in the broadcast last Sunday. Kristie took a screenshot of it & we sent it to Shad. We looked at the picture again & still think it's him. We're also attaching it to this email so you can see we're right! :)]
I saw Cameron's parents there and we talked a little bit. I also saw Sam and his brother. It was cool. I'm sad I didn't get to see Jenny! That's cool she was there. I saw Tristam Thomas as well. We didn't get to stop and talk, though. I saw a couple girls from Provo High in the choir. I also saw Sister Porter.
For Prep-Days, we get to go to Brighams Landing. That place with Burger Supreme and SubZero. I think that's pretty awesome. :D
My schedule is different every day, so I'll probably just send you a picture of our schedule.
Love and miss you all!
Elder Cook
June 21, 2013 Baresez, hokienar!
Hello, family!
Well, my usual day to email will be Thursday, but I was given permission to send you guys a quick email.
As I said in my letter, they're really not easing us into things here. I taught my first "investigator" yesterday. Thank goodness I taught in English. Armenian is super hard. There's a huge difference between scripted Armenian and printed Armenian. There are 39 characters, but I have to learn upper and lower case. I have all the scripted Armenian (alphabet) pretty much down, but the printed is taking a little longer because it's so
different. So it's really like I'm learning 60+ characters!
I know a couple phrases like, "My name is Elder Cook" and, "There are seven people in my family" and, "I'm not from Armenia" and, "We are missionaries." Just a couple things like that. I'm working on "Jesus Christ is our Savior.", and I almost have it down. A hard one is "Our Father in Heaven." It has some crazy pronunciation.
Before I entered the MTC, some people told me That Armenian is the holy language. It's kind of funny, cause I'm starting to believe them. "How many people are in your family?" translates directly to "How many *spirits *are in your family?". I think that's cool. Also, all of the "gospel vocab" sounds similar. Like, it ends the same... if that makes any sense.
Like I said in my letter, my companion is Elder Vance from St. George. We're getting along really well and I think we'll continue to do so. He's learning Georgian, so we're not in the same class. We split up all the time. I'm in a class with four other sisters called to Armenia. Their names are Sister Tenguarien (spelling?), Sister Andrus (pronounced Andrews), Sister Bowen, and Sister Stauffer. They're pretty cool. Sister Tenguarien is actually half Armenian and is already pretty fluent. She just needs to learn some gospel words. It's good having her in the class. She's a good help to the rest of us.
I learned that "Shad" is a word in Armenian. (pronounced with a long A... like the YouTube video. Shaaaaad. Shaaaad Cooook.) So "shad" means "a lot". Some of the Sisters now call me Sir Cooks-a-lot. :P
As hard as Armenian is, I'm loving it and I think I'll love it even more. My teacher is super cool. The feeling here is awesome. As tiring as 6+ hours of just classroom time a day, (sitting in the same classroom) you never get tired of the good feeling.
In my next letter home I'll write all of your names in Armenian. I did it today during class while I was bored. :D
Anyway, I'll probably send another letter or two before I email Thursday. There's this cool thing called "Dear Elder" where you can sign up and send me a message. They print them out every afternoon. So if you message me in the morning, I'll get them that same day. I'm not sure exactly how the website works, but I'm sure Rett can figure it out. Just google "Dear Elder" and you can probably find it.
Mom, don't send this part on...
Anyway,
Love and miss you all!
Elder Cook
PS To Rett, dad, Jeff: I got a Scottish missionary here to say "IF YOU DON'T EAT YOUR MEAT, YOU CAN'T HAVE ANY PUDDING! HOW CAN YOU HAVE ANY PUDDING IF YOU DON'T EAT YOUR MEAT!? It was awesome :D
Well, my usual day to email will be Thursday, but I was given permission to send you guys a quick email.
As I said in my letter, they're really not easing us into things here. I taught my first "investigator" yesterday. Thank goodness I taught in English. Armenian is super hard. There's a huge difference between scripted Armenian and printed Armenian. There are 39 characters, but I have to learn upper and lower case. I have all the scripted Armenian (alphabet) pretty much down, but the printed is taking a little longer because it's so
different. So it's really like I'm learning 60+ characters!
I know a couple phrases like, "My name is Elder Cook" and, "There are seven people in my family" and, "I'm not from Armenia" and, "We are missionaries." Just a couple things like that. I'm working on "Jesus Christ is our Savior.", and I almost have it down. A hard one is "Our Father in Heaven." It has some crazy pronunciation.
Before I entered the MTC, some people told me That Armenian is the holy language. It's kind of funny, cause I'm starting to believe them. "How many people are in your family?" translates directly to "How many *spirits *are in your family?". I think that's cool. Also, all of the "gospel vocab" sounds similar. Like, it ends the same... if that makes any sense.Like I said in my letter, my companion is Elder Vance from St. George. We're getting along really well and I think we'll continue to do so. He's learning Georgian, so we're not in the same class. We split up all the time. I'm in a class with four other sisters called to Armenia. Their names are Sister Tenguarien (spelling?), Sister Andrus (pronounced Andrews), Sister Bowen, and Sister Stauffer. They're pretty cool. Sister Tenguarien is actually half Armenian and is already pretty fluent. She just needs to learn some gospel words. It's good having her in the class. She's a good help to the rest of us.
I learned that "Shad" is a word in Armenian. (pronounced with a long A... like the YouTube video. Shaaaaad. Shaaaad Cooook.) So "shad" means "a lot". Some of the Sisters now call me Sir Cooks-a-lot. :P
As hard as Armenian is, I'm loving it and I think I'll love it even more. My teacher is super cool. The feeling here is awesome. As tiring as 6+ hours of just classroom time a day, (sitting in the same classroom) you never get tired of the good feeling.In my next letter home I'll write all of your names in Armenian. I did it today during class while I was bored. :D
Anyway, I'll probably send another letter or two before I email Thursday. There's this cool thing called "Dear Elder" where you can sign up and send me a message. They print them out every afternoon. So if you message me in the morning, I'll get them that same day. I'm not sure exactly how the website works, but I'm sure Rett can figure it out. Just google "Dear Elder" and you can probably find it.
Mom, don't send this part on...
Anyway,
Love and miss you all!
Elder Cook
PS To Rett, dad, Jeff: I got a Scottish missionary here to say "IF YOU DON'T EAT YOUR MEAT, YOU CAN'T HAVE ANY PUDDING! HOW CAN YOU HAVE ANY PUDDING IF YOU DON'T EAT YOUR MEAT!? It was awesome :D
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