Kody's letter - 10/7/13

First off pa, chocolatinas refer to the 6 different chocolates that

the candy bar has, if you look at it, it has 6 different sections that

resemble a what? a 6 pack! Did you translate nalgas yet, I hope you

did because you got 2 nalgas de acero coming your way shortly.

Anyways remember how you guys told me that the weather had been

horrible up there in Coos Bay? Well I kinda didn´t want to say

anything because the last p-day was gorgeous, however the following

Tuesday and Wednesday were 2 days of straight rain, rain, hail, rain,

and mucho frio. Yeah I got wet like 4 different times. Haha funny

quick little story. I guess the hermanas saw a burning car with people

inside and there were a bunch of people running around and screaming.

So the hermanas decided to call us and scream too.  Well I was the

lucky one to answer the hysteric phone call. I couldn¨t understand

anything so I gave the phone to E¨ Perez and he just holds the phone

away from his ear so we can all hear frantic panicky high pitched

screams. Well they calmed down and just wanted a blessing of strength,

so we went and gave them one, just kind of laughing our whole way over

there - imitating the hermanas wails.  Who knows if it was that horribly

bad but, they were scared lol.  By the way this all happened when it

was pouring down rain. Then we decided to walk up the mountain in our

area to have a lesson. As we were walking up the cement stairs I felt

like one of those extreme climber guys that climb up waterfalls, It

probably wasn´t that intense but I´ll just let you guys think that

your son or brother is the studliest missionary there is and is

working on his chocolatinas day by day;)

Alright so I had one of THE COOLEST P-DAYS OF MY WHOLE MISSION TODAy.

So we went to the salt mines in a pueblito called zipaquira, but there

not just any old salt mines.  They have a catholic cathedral under

ground and made out of salt. How cool is that!! So we got a member to

guide us there(even though if he would have given us directions we

could have gotten there ourselves and it would have been even more cool)

but  we took him with us and he also took a non member friend which

was fine. Then we asked presidents permission. He said yes but on the

condition that we ¨return and report how cool it was¨ haha.  He said his

family is coming down and they might go there, so I´m gonna tell him

to GO because it was freakin awesome. So we start to go underground

(by the way it was just Elder Hicken and I because our comps wanted to

stay and play soccer) and we took some awesome pictures of us licking

the salt and all the good stuff. So it showed us like 10 or 12 steps

of Jesus´s life right before he was crucified. These were represented

by HUGE salt caverns with spooky lights and there was always a cross

carved out of the salt. There were so may caverns and we took some

sweet pictures that I will send to you. There is one picture in

paticular that is just really spooky.  It is a cross carved out of the

salt wall and with lights put behind it so it just looks like a

glowing cross of light then there were white lights pointed towards it

and around was pitch black, and the floor was marbled so you could see

the reflection in the floor.  We took super creepy pictures of us

standing in the glowing cross of light, E´hicken has a better picture

then the one I have so I´ll send it to you next week hopefully.

Then we went even farther down in the cave and it had a huge cross

with pews to sit in and pray, around was adorned with Jesus on the

cross and the Virgin Mary. IT WAS SO COOL, then the coolest thing was

that they had carved a picture into the ground of Adam when he is

touching Gods finger (at least I think its of Adam). Then there was a

HUGE gift shop and it was of figures of salt but they were so

expensive, every price was in dollars lol. Haha also it was Gringo

central, I goofed around with them a little when I talked to the tour

guide in Spanish and he was giving an english tour, it was funny:) we

didn’t take the tour though, we did our own exploring and picture

taking.

So Conference came and passed. I can´t believe 10 hours passed so

fast! Well the first 2 morning sessions were my favorites, as far as

presentation and charisma goes I loved Edward dubes talk, his accent

is just so awesome, and had a great message. Then there was Gifford

Nielsens which was way sweet too. I mean who can´t love a man talking

about football, and missionary work! Making a missionary gameplan!

then adding exclamation points!!! Then I loved Elder Bednars talk and

also the talk by Elder Oaks on Sunday. Ever since he gave me a hug and

wished me luck in Colombia he has been one of my favorites. But my

absolute favorite was by Russell M. Nelson when he talked about self

mastery, I love that term! also when he talked about each and every

day is a day of decision, and that daily decisions determine our

eternal destiny. I loved that one the most because it helped me

respond to my question that I had that was ¨How can I stay completely

focused for the rest of my time in the mission.¨ I made this my

question because I realized that just when I am becoming the best

missionary I have ever been, I have been starting to think about the

Jeep and my motorcycle and college. And while these things are’nt bad

there are better thoughts that I could be thinking. Gosh these dumb

thoughts never came into my mind before. So I guess I´ll just ask you

guys the same question, how can I master being a missionary and stay

focused? Obviously I know that there are things about home that are

not too great, like work and study and making my own decisions. But I

just am tending to think of all the cool and awesome stuff there is

out there. So that’s my question. haha also before conference I thought

I was a good missionary, but then boy was I humbled.  Gosh I know I can

do so much more.  I just can’t seem to reach my potential. Everything

that I have asked for God has given to me and I just feel like I´m not

doing a very good job using all of his many blessings to my advantage.

Well I’ve got to go. But I sure love you guys SSOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!! thanks

for everything and have a great week:)

-Elder Crook