Truth will prevail

Dear family,                                               10/25/2010                                                                                                           
   I was very glad to get your letter. I know the news still isn't good but I at least wanted to hear something from my family. This whole week I have been in a strange state of being. In times of extreme grief of pain you feel as though everything is a dream and you are just waiting to wake up from this unreal existence. This was made even easier to believe none of this was real as the only thing I had to go on was a call from my mission president. I have never felt so disconnected from all of you in my life. It was the first time on my mission that i truly felt the enormity of distance between us. I tried to stay focused this week but I felt my mind wander back to the situation and what all of you could be doing at any given time. My heart still aches for all of you. I feel, however, that I have avoided the temptation to let it become an excuse for me to take time off for myself. This is a critical time in my mission and if I haven't learned how to deal with tough times up to this point then I don't really know what I have been doing out here. If I truly know that the work is true then nothing should stop me from moving forward. So forward we go.
   I spent the first 4 days of the week in Riga where we received extra training on teaching. When I finally got back to my area I again was relieved that I could speak in Lithuanian with people again and not Russian or Latvian. We got right to work and in the few days we had we found 6 new people to teach. This Sunday a less-active that we have been working with for the last 2 months finally came to church to take of the sacrament. It was a small victory for sure. Last night we got lost. We had gotten on an unknown bus which took us near the outskirts of town and then the bus driver said, "get off!" We were alone on the bus except for an old lady who quietly got off the bus. My companion and I tried to find our way back to the main road. We thought we knew where we were so a little to hasty we went of into the dark and 15 minutes later found ourselves having walked in a huge circle. I took a minute to asses our situation. I looked around and in the distance I saw a church. That gave me some bearings and I realized where we were. As we were walking to the stop we found the old lady who couldn't see well and who was also lost. She asked if we knew how to get to center. We were in a very bad area late at night so I told her that we would walk with her to the bus stop and get her to center. We made it to a stop and a bus soon showed up and we made it back to center. It seemed as though whether we wanted to be or not, we were going to be led to help that old lady. God puts things in motion to bring about his purposes. We might feel like we are lost at first but if we can take a minute and find our bearings then we can be prepared to help others that are also lost in the dark. God loves us and wants us to be happy. Simple words with a deep eternal meaning. I feel peace for our family as I recalled some words from my Patriarchal blessing that I was confused about until now. Paraphrased, it just simply states how all at home will be well when I return. I know that scars sometimes remain as a memory but the pain fades away and we are strengthened in the process. I love all of you so much. Don't forget who we are and what we have.



with love,
Elder Cooke