Warning: This post contains one picture that could make some of you retch. I think it's cool.
President and Sister Cook in the hospital with Elder Beadle... AFTER the appendectomy~he was much happier and more comfortable than BEFORE.
...So many things happened to put him in the best possible situation for this. The surgeon told him his appendix was close to bursting (the words he told us were "your appendix was really old.") We were truly blessed all along the way. I know he was being watched over.
Have a merry Christmas! It is 80 degrees and sunny here so it just doesn't feel quite right but we are grateful this Christmas for our wonderful missionaries and their hard work and efforts to share the Gospel with others. Your son was talking to the nurse about the church when we arrived and also to his roommate yesterday so he continues to preach even while in the hospital.
We will be in touch.
Sister Cook
He turned 20 three weeks before Christmas, but he didn't receive his birthday package until closer to Christmas. Michael filled the number 20 with 20 scriptures about 20.
He got to spend Christmas in the mission home. Who does the cheesy grin in the middle remind you of?
We were able to Skype with him on Christmas day. It made the kids nervous, though and they wouldn't say anything. They just wanted to look at him but not be seen. Then when he called us on the phone "to say goodbye," after the internet stopped working there, they wouldn't stop talking. They each wanted to tell them what they got for Christmas and what they did that week and what they were going to eat for breakfast...
Ok, here's the gross picture. Scroll Down...
keep scrolling...
Don't ask me how you get an enlarged appendix out through those holes without rupturing it. Not unlike escaping Mother's womb (sorry. couldn't help myself... name that movie :)
Hoppers, Hoppers everywhere!
Elder Beadle is no longer companions with Elder Gumbodete. He has had a branch missionary as a companion for a week or two and he will soon get a missionary who has been in Zambia waiting for a visa. He says the work in Zimbabwe is progressing much faster than in Zambia because of strong anti-Mormon sentiment there.
He isn't ever coming home. Would you? 
as always, my child is the pale one on the the left.
One of the most rewarding parts of the work is proposing legal marriage to the couples they are teaching. Then they help plan and prepare for the marriage ceremony.
Elder Beadle with some of the other missionaries in Zimbabwe:
