Dear family and friends.
God knows
the hearts of His children. I know this
because at about 8:50 at night on
Tuesday, I was a little frustrated. We
went to our golden hour street and
it was super dark with fenced in homes. Sister
Clay suggested that I turn to a random verse in
the Book of Mormon to read. I read in 3 Nephi 1 about the star showing in
the sky being the sign of Christ's
birth. I felt immediate peace within me
and said, let's go share this
glorious message in the Book of Mormon. We
turned down Colville Street and
saw a bright house. This was the one
because
it looked
receiving. A man came out and said he
was not interested. Right as we turned around, we saw this young man (his
name is Ryan) about 50 feet away
on his front porch about to go inside. We
called out to him and he said he's
been wanting to learn about the Book of
Mormon. It turns out this was a member's home that we
hadn't even met yet. His name is John and he said, "We’ve been
wanting to call the Elder
missionaries for weeks now but something kept telling me to just wait. We were actually just talking tonight about how
we needed to get
them over
here and then all of a sudden you just show up.” We have taught him 3 lessons so far and he
came to Church this past Sunday.
There is
not enough time or profound words in the world to describe how amazing my mission has been. Heavenly Father has been so good to
me in every way possible. The work of Jesus Christ is true; I finally
have a sure testimony of missionary work. The mission was SO MUCH FUN, hard, stressful, the best, phenomenal, everything I
ever could have imagined. But with all of those emotions, I would do the
entire 18 months over again
because I love serving my Savior full time. And I will when I am elderly. My life
is changed, all who accepted to hear this message-their lives are changed, eternal friendships were made,
unbreakable bonds. All of my strongest friendships I made on my
mission are because we connected through the
restoration of Jesus Christ's
gospel and loved sharing our testimonies. These are the ones I will never lose contact with. And that is what the gospel is all
about. To
bring families together and live the gospel, joyfully.
Jacksonville,
Florida has a special place in my heart forever.
Thank you
for your prayers and fasting.
Signing
off,
Sister
McCook