We have been given infinite potential from our Father in Heaven to become like Him and to gain eternal families. I thank God every day for these truths and clarity.

Hey kids, so this week was pretty fantastic, if I don't say so myself. This was the hardest working week I've had in this area by a longshot: We tracted almost all day every day and literally talked to everyone we could to find new investigators and share the gospel. And guess what happened? That's right boys, we got ZERO lessons! I think it's kind of funny though, no big deal. That's actually the second week in a row that that has happened to us, so we are starting to think that maybe tracting isn't our best bet here in this area. But because we have been punted for these two solid weeks, we are really digging down looking for new ideas in finding people to teach and the ideas we have come up with thus far are:
1. City wide film showings in which we put on a performance and show Christmas videos for the people
2. Go caroling with the members here
3. Teach at schools (like actually enter into the classrooms and teach the students)
And we have like a ton of other ideas, but it's hard to explain to people that aren't missionaries haha.

ANYWAYS, elder Del Pilar and I are really doing great in our companionship, we get along super well! This last week we had a lot of stuff happen in the zone that we needed to deal with (just some problems and such) that was kind of a hindrance to our work. But today we are headed to Missionary Leadership Council in Legaspi to see what kind of things we need to learn as leaders in order to help our zone progress. We are very excited for it.

We talked to an older lady last week while we were traveling around, and we got to the topic of the after life. We asked her what she imagines when she thinks of the after life and her answer was really interesting. She told us that we will all just be friends (no families there) and no one talks to each other. We just stare. No speaking. But we will still be happy just staring at each other. We asked "Well why don't we talk to one another?" She said "Well there's nothing to talk about!" We then asked, "Well what exactly do you think we will be doing when we get there?" And she said, "Oh you know, just praying and being happy."

I am so glad that the truths of our after life were restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Because of the Restoration of the Gospel, we know that the after life is significantly more hopeful than what this older woman described to us. We have been given infinite potential from our Father in Heaven to become like Him and to gain eternal families. I thank God every day for these truths and clarity.

I love you all and will email again in another short week! (Sorry no pictures, I just didn't take any last week. Too busy with the work)

Elder Austin Cook