"You will be serving a temporary assignment in the MISSISSIPPI JACKSON MISSION until your visa arrives"

Sooooooo get this! I'm allowed to email today for a little bit in order to tell you where I'm going. But first! An update!

Last night after we got off from emailing our district and two other Elders from our zone (McIntosh and Pendergrass were the only two left from the other district who hadn't left for their missions yet, and they left this morning) had a last stand testimony meeting. We're supposed to start getting ready for bed by about 9:30 and be in bed by 10:30, but we finished by about 11:30, and we still had to get ready for bed!! It was bad we weren't as obedient as we should have been, but the spirit was so strong there I think it was alright; in my book at least haha

But today Brother Hixson, Brother Whiting and Sister Jones (All new teachers for us) gave us such an inspirational lesson on finding new viewpoints on teaching the gospel, and it was AMAZING!!! My companion and I have an investigator (an actor) and he hasn't prayed in 40 years ever since his wife died, and our last meeting he refused on all levels to pray, not a budge at all. So today we buckled down, applied what we learned hard-core, and made an amazing lesson plan for him. We walked into the room confident and nervous as heck, but we did a stellar job on giving him a lesson on how prayers are more for understanding God's will instead of asking for blessings. We weren't able to convince or challenge him to pray at the end of the lesson, but he said we "really got him thinking about this whole prayer thing, and he'll definitely think about praying"! We were totally stoked about it when we left that lesson: this guy hadn't prayed in decades, and last time we saw him he was totally hating the idea of him praying, but through the power of hard work, preparing a lesson, and definitely through the power of the spirit, we got him to think about it. It was awesome! People say that Arnold is the hardest investigator, so we are feeling really confident at about this point.

Oh! So where am I going as I wait for my visa!?.....

"You will be serving a temporary assignment in the MISSISSIPPI JACKSON MISSION until your visa arrives"

How cool is that!? And Elder Babneau and I are serving in the same mission!!! The other three Elders all got called somewhere else, but Elder Babneau and I are the ONLY TWO to get called to serve in the same area. We are totally meant to be companions hahahahaha

I leave for Mississippi on Monday morning, but I've had such an awesome time here. OH!! And we get to meet the new district in our zone tonight! I'll tell you how that goes in the next email. But I love all you guys and hopefully all is going well.

God be with you till we meet again :)
 -Elder Cook

P.S.   MOMMA!!! I love you so much and wanna hug yooouuuu!!! But that will have to wait.  How's the family and Austin doing? Hopefully all is going well down there, and I can definitely feel your guys prayers all the way from here.  Sorry I couldn't send any pictures this time, there wasn't enough time in order to grab my camera, and trying to hook up the SD card through these computers is such a pain. But I love you guys and am loving what I'm doing :)

Actually, I've got to go :( But I love you soooooooo much you have no idea.  I think I might be able call you at the airport when I land in Mississippi, so make sure to keep your phone on you AT ALL TIMES this Monday, I'd really hate for you to get a missed call from me.  Not so much for me, but more for you, because I know how much you'd hate it if you missed that call.  But I love ya, and even if the call IS missed, we've still got Mothers Day just a few days afterwards to Skype!  I'm not sure how to set that up... but hopefully we can make it happen and that I can see all y'all bootiful faces again!

HOOOOLLLYYYY MOOOLLLEEYYYY!!!

Here's the roomies!
From left to right
Wilson, Giesbrecht, Babneau, and me!

So much has happened!! Day 1 at the MTC (mission training center) I was put to immediate work
right when I got out of the car. I didn't even have any time to think about my family, friends, home nothing, We had a video and orientation about what to do at the MTC and then I went to my room. My roommates are Elder Wilson, Giesbrecht (Pronounced Geez-brecht), and Babneau (Bab-no). Elder Babneau is my companion, and he is legendarily awesome! Right off the bat we started becoming friends. I'm actually pretty proud of myself for how not homesick I am.

Elder Grondel taking a swagger selfie

Day two was cool, even though I was tired most the day because the beds are like prison cots haha oh
me and my princess back! We spend so much time in our classrooms every day it's insane! We get up at 6:30 every day, eat breakfast, go to class for about 4 hours, eat lunch, back to class for 4 hours, dinner, personal study for a few hours, then we usually have some kind of activity in the night or afternoon. Every night before bed we're scheduled an hour of gym/sports time (Except for Sunday of course!). I love playing volleyball with the zone and dorking around with everyone, it's great!

We met with the Branch Presidency which was really cool, they're really insightful on spiritual stuff and working the mission field. And hey momma!!! Ask the Durkins if they know anybody named Jeff Collinsworth, because he said he knows them, and he works in the Branch Presidency!

 

But since my visa is super late, I'll be serving in the States for a transfer, and then I'll be on my way! But everyone else's visa is late too, so I don't feel as bad about not being able to go with my branch hahaha

Da bro's at lunch!

The food here isn't all too healthy, so I'm trying to do my best to drink only water and have some kind of fruit with every meal. Don't wanna get all soft while I'm away now... Writing in my journal is a pain honestly, but I'm keeping up with it: There's no free time: personal study is hard to squeeze in , let alone journaling!

We were assigned fake investigators last week, and Wade was one of them, but we only taught him for two lessons because he was actually our teacher and he had to get transferred to another class. :/ His name was Brother Clark, and he's pretty cool. We had another teacher who was THE BEST named Sister Luft, but she got transferred as of yesterday too, so we have no idea who our teacher is now haha But seriously, the whole district was really disappointed that she isn't teaching us.

Elder Sevy, Hoyt, Giesbrecht, Wilson, Jensem, Gondel, de fab companion, and me

Everyone in my district is awesome! Literally, we are all friends and get along so dang well you wouldn't even believe it. But onto the spiritual stuff. We had a role playing lesson with Sister Luft a few days back, and I was the fake investigator. Being the fake investigator really helps to see what they're thinking, even though it's just a little bit, it helps. But it was such a spiritual experience being  in  "Wade's" shoes, you wouldn't believe it! Elder Babneau and I got another "investigator" named "Arnold", and he's what we called a TRC, or works for the "Training Resource Center". This Arnold guy is really cool, but he's extremely resistant to prayer because the last time he prayed, it was because his wife was dying of cancer, and he said he poured his heart to God just to give her a few more years, and she ended up dying a few weeks later, and that was 40 years ago. But that was a huge testimony builder for myself and my companion: we both undeniably felt the Spirits presence, and that was amazing. After that we taught another TRC Investigator named Sharon. The sisters that were scheduled to teach her didn't show up (buncha schmucks!), so the WHOLE DISTRICT went into her little class room and listened to her story for about an hour. Elder Wilson and Giesbrecht didn't come because they went somewhere else to do personal studying, which was actually what we were supposed to be doing, but getting to know her was well worth it.

 

Me in front of the Provo Temple

On Sunday we did a Temple walk, where we went around the temple as a zone and took pictures with each other and as a group, and it was heaps of fun! We took tons of pictures, but I might not be able to send them until I get out of the MTC because these computers don't have towers, so we're trying to find another way to send the pictures

Elder Babneau and I are the perfect companionship though! We got along on day 1 and whoever paired us together was definitely inspired by the spirit. We've got a bunch of inside jokes with each other and the whole zone already, we have so many ridiculous conversations with each other during meal times, but the cool thing is that when it's time to study and prepare for our investigators, we pray and we buckle down to prepare amazing lesson plans.

AND we get to meet the new district that comes in on Wednesday! Honestly, the weird thing is that I know it's only been a week, but we do so much during the day it feels like it's already been three weeks or so, it's crazy!

The Elders in my district are:

We woke up one morning and there was 

snow on the mountain behind the temple! 

Had to take a picture, it was awesome

Babneau (My tizight companion)
Wilson (roommate #1)
Giesbrecht (roommate #2)
Grondel
Jensen
and Sevy (Pronounced see-vee)

I love all you guys over there, stay safe in whatever thing you, and God be with you till we meet again :)
-Elder Cook

Hello!!!! I am alive and well!! The MTC is actually pretty terrible so far!!... They've got terribly small rations, snipers on top of every building in case of people who try to escape, and everyone beats me up for my lunch money... :(  Nah, I'm totally kidding! I love it here so far: not missing home or anything, they've got all of us totally booked. The beds are mildly comfortable, but I can handle it :) The food is amazing, so I've got to make sure to eat fruit and water with each meal so I don't gain too much weight. Oh! And another thing is, NOBODY ELSE HAS THEIR VISAS FOR AUSTRALIA EITHER!!! So I feel a lot better since I'm not the only one. There are 5 of us going to Australia, and 8 in our district: the 3 others are going to Houston Texas. But my companion is awesome! I made a White Chicks reference and he totally got it, so this is gonna be pretty sweet. He was converted barely over a year ago, so that's REALLY cool! We were talking about the Urim and Thumim and he has never even heard of that, so that was a really cool early missionary-teaching experience.

Anyways, Tuesdays are my OFFICIAL P-Days, today is just a day to email everyone and tell you that I'm not dead yet. But I can feel my knowledge of the gospel and doctrine of Christ growing, and I can't wait to get out of here to start serving.

I'm usually terrible at role-playing, but when I'm here it seems... real. It's hard to explain, but when you're in such a spiritual environment it becomes a LOT easier to feel the spirit and its influence on you and who you're teaching, even though the people you're teaching are only PRETENDING to be investigators, it's pretty awesome. 

Sorry I'm not able to send any pictures: When we were told we'd be doing this I didn't have my camera on me, but don't worry! I've been taking adequate pictures! I'll send them on Tuesday :D
I love all you guys, and I'm really excited to start to serve :) Talk to all y'all on Tuesday! God be with you till we meet again!
<Elder Cook>

Day of my farwell talk, Sunday, April 19, 2015

P.S. Look up something called "Dear Elder". Apparently it's like mail, but you send an email however often you want and they'll print it off and give it to me like it's instant mail! I think you need my mailing address, which is:
Elder Landon Jeramiah Cook
MAY04 AST-MEL
2009 N 900 E Unit 102
Provo UT 84602
And you also need my departure date, which is MAY04

My Family, aunts and uncle and cousins!

Pictures of the day I enter the Mission Training Center in Provo Utah... April 22, 2015

Me and my brother, Austin

Posing like our sister Danielle

ME and my Dad

Me and my Mama!

Walking the grounds of the Provo Temple

Me and my sister Brooklyn

Austin, Mom, Brooklyn and Dad

Curbside Kiss and Go Lane :)

quick hugs

Until we meet again.  Me and my Escort walking into the MTC

I love you all!