A beautiful sunrise

How's everything going with everybody!? It has been another adventurous week again, and it went by like ZOOMness. I was able to get my hands on a bike, so we don't have to as much walking anymore, but lotsa biking. This week was kinda "feast, famine, feast, famine" repeated during the week. Tuesday was a good day for numbers, Wednesday was famine, Thursday was feast, Friday was famine, Saturday was feast, and luckily Sunday was feast too. But no matter what the numbers are, we always make sure to work our butts off, because that's what makes a missionary successful: if they work hard, not how many lessons they teach or new investigators or people they baptize.

They even have some of the same songs as we do!

So that bible basher Wonda? Well, Elder Hill and I were able to get her to church on Sunday! Whaaaat? So here's the story to that:She told us that if we showed up to her bible study class on Tuesday night and she'd come to church on Sunday. So, we did go to that bible study class, and you know, it was just a typical Baptist study class, but she wasn't even there herself! We stayed after for about 30 minutes and talked to some people about what we do as missionaries, our church, stuff like that. They had hot dogs and french fries afterwards, and they invited us to eat with them, so that was pretty cool.

Thursday we met with her to give her a hard time about not even showing up to her own bible class, but it's all good, because she had to hold up to her end of the deal hahaha and she did! It was awesome to see her in church, and as much as a rough start we got with her, she seemed to like church quite a bit and is making some good progress.

We were wiping tears and sweat off our face,
      but dang it was gloriously delicious

Wednesday for lunch we went to some hole in the wall Mexican restaurant as a district. It was literally in the back of a Mexican style convenient store, and when we walked in I didn't see it at first, so my first thought was "We're having lunch at a Mexican 7-11?" Hahaha but it was amazing and delicious and crazy spicy and we were all tearing up and sweating it was so stinkin' hot, but we'll probably end up going back there again some time soon

This stuff is so HOT I'm crying!

Thursday President Miller (the branch president) took us to do some service and move a members couch out of his house. After that I thought he was going to take us home, but instead he took us about 45 minutes away to his step-daughters barber where she works to give us a haircut! I've never been to a barber before, so it was pretty dang funny when she asked "What I wanted" and I replied with "A haircut that'll shorten my hair" haha I didn't know what I wanted! On the way back I was talking about how I've got family in Arizona, and he started showing me all these pictures on his phone of returned Sister missionaries in that area I could date when I get back. President Miller, I'm flattered really, but I've got close to two years before I can even think about dating again hahaha it was funny. But afterwards he took us to a Wendy's for lunch, and we learned he's actually been a convert to the church for only 4 years and is already BP, so he's still learning about the gospel himself. He's such an awesome guy.

Saturday we tracted into a drunk guy, and as soon as we walked up to talk to him he said to us really loudly "I SMOKE *$#@*#* WEED!!! Wanna know how I don't get caught? *looks left, looks right, whispers* I don't drive when I'm high! Cause that's how the police getcha!" And he went on about a bunch of random stuff, I mean this guy was drunk out of his mind, and his friends in the background were mouthing and mentioning for us to leave for our own safety, but he talked for about 15 minutes or so and thanked us for our uplifting message about Jesus, even though we hadn't said two words to the guy. The whole situation was just funny.

Elder Hill & Elder Ahching all cuddled up & ready for night night time

Last night we had the missionaries from Brookhaven spend the night, because sometimes we do that just to make things easier, because they have to drive to us in the morning to pick us up so we can go to Clinton anyways. They shared a bunch of stories about missionaries going home, like how some sister missionaries ran out of gas in the middle of the highway with no gas station in sight, so you know what they did? They poured water into the car where the gas goes and prayed it would turn into gas. Well, instead of Heavenly Father turning the water into gas, He decided it would be best for the water to stay water and completely ruin the motor, and because those Sisters made such a crazy move they got sent home. I know that the Lord has the power to do that, but I mean, come on. So that water stayed water and the motor in the car was completely shot because of it. There was another story they told about these two Elders who literally found a turtle on the side of the road, kept it, taught it the five lessons from Preach My Gospel, and baptized it. Literally baptized it. They baptized a turtle. Filled up a baptismal font and everything. But they didn't stop there, oh no, they gave that turtle the Holy Ghost and even filled out the papers for it as a new member and everything. So yeah, needless to say those Elders got sent home.

But oh my gracious it's been such a great week. I mean, people say that after 3-4 months your mission starts to fly by, but it's flying by right now! I went to bed last night and was like "It's P-Day already again? Holy cow". But so much greatness and many blessings have come from this mission, it's amazing. So many karazy stories I can't even type about because it would take all day to explain, but I've got my journal always updated every day, like my personal golden plates, so that way I don't forget nothing that's happened. Anyways, love you all, hopefully all is well in the land, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

Feel it rain on your skin, no one else can feel it 

for you only you can let it in, no one else, 

no one else can speak the words on your lips. 

Drench yourself in words unspoken, 

live your life with arms wide open,

today is where your book begins..."

-Elder Cook

P.S. And another thing I forgot to mention: yesterday while we were heading home, we got totally SOAKED in the rain. It only rained for about 5 minutes while we were on our bikes, but it was so great being rained on while heading home. We were both laughing and shouting to each other "I'm meltiiiiing" while biking home. Luckily none of my stuff in my bag got wet, but it was great getting that rain on us.

Elder Hill in the rain

Crazy Crazy Rain!

Elder Davis be takin' all my icecream...

Brother Larry Mobley and I. He's a little less active,

but only because of his work schedule. 

He's a really awesome guy & one of my favorite members.

This is a picture of Elder Hill and I fishing 

with a member who invited us out one day. 

We didn't catch anything, but we taught him 

a little bit about being a fisher of men for when he goes on his mission

We live just about a mile or two from a train track, 

so every now and then we'll hear it blow it's whistle 

and go on it's merry way, it's really awesome

Dinner a few nights ago

What a week it's been! I've started to track my weight in a small section of my journal, and my wants
for the mission is to stay at 185, but my realistic goal is to never go over 200 lbs. I always eat a healthy breakfast (eggs, milk, toast with peanut butter and a banana)

So some things that have happened this week: we went to see Sam, who's an investigator and has a baptismal date, but he is always drinking and smoking whenever we see him, so unless he has a serious change of heart by this weekend he will most likely have to postpone that baptism. Again, apparently that happens a lot down here too. It's really sad, and a little frustrating, but I know that all we can do is teach him as much as we can, and maybe his spiritual window isn't open now, but hopefully another set of missionaries can catch him when it is. We've got about 8-9 investigators with a baptismal date, but some of them seem like they set the date with good intentions, but as time goes by they start changing their minds and no longer want to work for that none more.

This is the perfect place to practice door approaches

We've actually met quite a few other investigators who have some promise, and who are showing interest in the Gospel and are willing to work to find out if the Book of Mormon is true, like on Tuesday we met a guy named Demorris, and we taught him for about an hour about the Restoration and Book of Mormon, and he took one and has been reading it. He works at the oil fields, so he's here and gone for two weeks at a time. 

Some days we have a bunch of appointments that are set up, and they ALL fall through, and then we've got a TON of time left on our hands, so we either do swing-bys or start our tracting early.

So for the first week I've been here we did a bunch of walking, and then we had exchanges on Wednesday, and Elder Kulu, the elder I went with, had two bikes that we could use. Hallelujah! So he went to pump up his bike tire...And the tire popped...Why do bad things happen to good people?
So we had to walk the whole day, which was about 8 miles. We did a bunch of work, but all day we were only able to get one lesson. THE WHOLE DAY! Gosh dang! But oh well, we did our work as much as we could.

So last week we got into a heated bible discussion with a black lady who was really relentless, and she was sitting outside with a few of her friends in front of an investigators house. Well, Thursday we went tracting and actually ran into her house. She seemed REALLY mad to see us, but it was hard to see who she was because the inside of her house was so dark. When she stepped outside, we remembered who she was... Oh boy...I did not want to stay there, I wanted to leave. I know, not the best courage for a missionary, but she was relentless last time, and I didn't think she'd be much more receptive this time. Well, we ended up staying and convincing her to hear our message, and she did, but pretty reluctantly. She said she knew what us "Mormons" were about, but as we talked to her, we realized that as a matter of fact, no, she didn't. So we talked to her, and somehow we were able to get a message and a return appointment. I didn't even know how it was possible, but yeah, we got an investigator out of a bible basher.  

So on Saturday we went and gave our return appointment lesson to this lady. We asked if there was another man in the house, and she said "ANOTHER MAN!?", like getting all bent out of shape like we were assuming she was sleeping around. Se, we explained to her that there are possible law suits that could happen if there wasn't another guy around, and she somehow got onto this tangent about this and that. We talked about other rules for missionary safety and security, like traveling in companionships, returning home at a certain time, stuff like that. She started going off "WHERE IN THE BIBLE DOES IT SAY THAT YOU CAN'T CALL YO MOMMA ON A DAILY BASIS!?! WHY DOES THERE HAVE TO BE ANOTHER MAN IN THE HOUSE!? THESE ARE MAN RULES, NOT RULES OF GOD!! WHY DO YOU DO THESE DUMB, MAN MADE THINGS!?". She went on like this for about 15 minutes, no joke. But it was a good thing her boyfriend was there, because he was actually listening to what we had to say, and at times when she'd go off on her stupid rants, he'd come and back us up like "Shut up Wanda, I'm trying to listen to what these boys have to say!".... Thank you Marvin for the moral support! We invited her to church, and she invited us to her church too. Well, we can't go to other churches on Sunday if they conflict with our church times, but we said we'd come to her bible study class on Tuesday night if she would come to our ward this Sunday. She said she would, but knowing the people down here, I doubt she actually will. We'll just have to wait and see! Her bible study class in this Tuesday, so hopefully all goes well and we aren't singled out for being the only non-baptist white people there. But she has a huge problem with the Book of Mormon, and she wants solid, proven evidence of it in the Bible. Well, we showed her Isiah 29: 11-12, Ezekiel 37: 15-20, 2 Timothy 3:16, and about half a dozen other scriptures referencing to the Book of Mormon, the apostasy, and the restoration in the Bible, but she said that proves nothing. Oh well, she could probably be shown the gold plates and still wouldn't believe. We were there for almost an hour, feeling nothing but frustrated when we left because she loves to talk about how wrong we are, but when we leave she always wants us to come back. Why do you want us to come back? Oh well, it's hard to love everyone, especially people like that, but at least we got her boyfriend as a new investigator, so that was cool.

We're supposed to do as much service as we can, but many people down here don't want help from anybody. The only service we were able to do was trimming bushes for about 10 minutes. I did it myself because the guy only had one pair of trimmers, and dad's taken us to our rental houses and made us trim bushes enough times that I felt I knew what I was doing pretty well. He seemed really impressed with my job, and he wanted us to come to his house sometime (we were at his cousins house when we did it) for some service and hot dogs. Sweet! The only problem: he didn't leave us with an address or phone number, so we have no way to get back in contact with him.

Our branch isn't very large, maybe about 40 active members or so (did I say that in the last email? I can't remember if I did or didn't...), so dinner with members is only about once or twice a week. But it's all good, we can take care of ourselves. We're big boys with pull ups! I'm a big kid now!

But because it's such a small branch, we as missionaries have a bunch of responsibilities I haven't usually seen normal missionaries do. Yesterday we went to Branch Correlation meeting an hour before church, each did a 15 minute talk, taught the youth of the branch (there's only like, 4 or 5), and also taught priesthood session. We do quite a bit for the little Hazlehurst Branch! After church we were talking to the Branch President (President Miller) and he said only the strongest missionaries are able to handle the bible belt, even if I am only waiting for a visa.

But Sister Francois (Fran-swa) and her family are awesome! We went with her 16 year old son Matt to do some member present lessons, and that was cool. Matt's a really awesome kid and plans on going on a mission, but his older brother's our age, and he's got a girlfriend whos not a good example and a good paying job, so that's making him not want to go, and I can see that it's really hurting Matt that his older brother isn't going on a mission. We try to work with his older brother Josh as much as we can, but he's gone 5 days a week away from home for work, and his spare time is spent with his girlfriend (who I've heard some stories about her and how abusive she is), so we do as much as we can.

While tracting yesterday we met with an older man named Joseph, and he's probably in his late 70's. He heard and really liked what we were teaching, and the spirit was strong in the room while talking about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, and he said that we could "come back some time for another lesson, supper and some ice tea!". Awesome! The next lesson will probably be on the Plan of Happiness, and maybe tie in some Word of Wisdom hahaha

There has been a ton of rain too, but thankfully it all happened while we had the car this week. Elder Hill says that the more rain drops that hit your missionary name tag, the hotter your wife will be, because every drop that hits your tag is recorded in heaven. So while we drive and it rains we take our name tags off and hold them out the window hahahaha I know it isn't true, but it's always fun to think it is!

Well I think that's all the important things that have happened this week. I love all of you, and I keep every one of you in my prayers every day, and I hope all is well where you're at. Sorry the email was more like an essay, but there's so much that happens in a week! Don't worry, I always write in my journal every day about what happens. 

 

Train track that's right next to our house

I also love getting letters! Love it love it love it! It doesn't matter who it's from, I just love getting mail, so if you've got some spare time and love me, send me a letter! 

 

Elder Landon Cook

120 Asbury Drive

Hazlehurst MS  39083

 

Anyways, hopefully everything is going well wherever you are, and as always, God be with you till we meet again!

-Elder Cook

Elder Hill reporting weekly numbers to the district leader

 

introducing, the smallest frog you have ever seen. Elder Hill found it and thought it was a bug

I've always got my emergency fishy crackers on hand

one of the elders during Zone Development Meeting had these sent from his mom but he hates Twinkies and gave them to people who wanted them

1st Official week as a Missionary here in Jackson Mississippi!

There are wild frogs and turtles all over the road, usually as roadkill, but sometimes you can find them alive

Wowwie Bajebers it's been such a week!

This past week has been completely bonkers! So the first day, which was last week on Tuesday, I went to the home we stay in. That's right, Elder Hill and I stay in a home, not an apartment, how cool is that!? But the first few days I was experiencing a LOT of stress like I've never felt before: I'm being forced to change to a new companion, I'm getting out into the real mission field, I'm talking with real investigators, a lot was going on in my mind. But I realized that there are five things that I do that help me to relieve stress when I'm feeling stressed: 1) Do the dishes. 2) Sweep/vacuum the house. 3) Work out. 4) Write in my journal. 5) Pray or read scriptures, or other church literature. I've found that being busy somehow helps to relieve my stress and anxiety, especially when I do these things while listening to good ol' Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Here's our blessed pull up bar with the weight set in the back

ANYWAYS... Our house has a small weight set and a pull up bar, which I am VERY grateful for.  So I try to use that for at least 30-45 minutes every night after dinner. We also get a car for our mission, so hot diggaty dog to that! There was a new area opened up this week in Brooke Haven, so we had to forfeit the car for this week, and since I don't have a bike, we walked everywhere. Literally everywhere. We probably walked about 9-10 miles a day on average except for on Sunday. But come this Wednesday we can get the car, so that's pretty cool, and a change for once. Elder Hill and I are getting pretty tan from all the walking, and I'm surprised I'm actually tanning and not burning, It's a Christmas miracle!

So many of the people we have met are not working and just rely on welfare and food stamps, and people just sit outside on their front porch all day talking with neighbors, drinking, smoking, playing card games, not really doing anything. The funny part is when you approach them to talk about the gospel, they LOVE to talk about Jesus, but when you bring up the Book of Mormon they will don't want to talk to us unless we just talk about the Bible. We've got a lot of investigators, but very few that are making any progression which is kinda hard. We actually met with some Jehovah's Witnesses and there are a lot of Baptists here. 

cicadas are everywhere man

So the weather is pretty humid down here, and there becomes a point where you realize wiping the sweat off your face is just a waste of time, because it all shows up about 30 seconds later. And there are tons of cicadas (funny type of bug) everywhere: no matter where you go outside, you can always here them humming extremely loudly in the distance.

This is Johathan, he was the 14 year old teacher
who went working w/us almost all day Saturday

Saturday we went proselyting with a member. His name is Jonathan, and he's 14 years old and is stinking hilarious! He showed up at around noon at our house and he worked with us until about 8:00 that night, so we were really grateful for his help. It's funny, because I realize that getting up in the morning isn't as hard as I thought it would be. It's still tough, don't get me wrong, but definitely not as hard as I thought it would be, and working throughout the day gets you tired, but you don't feel that fatigue until you get home during the night when there's still planning, studying, journal writing, all that stuff. But as tired as we are, Elder Hill and I are always obedient in everything we do, even though it's definitely tempting to turn back some of my old music on, or just sleep during personal study instead of actually studying, but I know that the more obedient I am, the more blessed I will be.

I love all you guys, I want to give y'all a big hug, and I can definitely feel your prayers all the way on the other side of the country. Stay safe, keep doing what Heavenly Father wants you to do, pray always, and make sure to hold fast to the iron rod, even though I know at times it really isn't the most convenient thing, but it's the right thing.

Beautiful Elder Hill doing... something, I don't really know

And as always, God be with you till we meet again. :)
-Elder Cook

Homemade chili with beans, veggies, crackers and cheese. Delicious!

cool fog we found on while contacting

This butterfly decided to land on my finger. Had only I coaxed it using a song, I could consider myself a Disney princess!

Man, gas is cheap down here! Granted, I'm pretty sure that sign hasn't been changed in about a decade.

The best way to end a day is with my blank canvas of history!

This wonderful email was sent from the Mission Presidents WifeSister McDonough along with some wonderful pictures of the Missionaries entering the Mississippi Jackson Mission.  This is Elder Cooks temporary mission until he receives his visa to enter Australia. 


Dear Family of Elder Cook,

We are so glad to have your son and brother in the Mississippi Jackson Mission on his way to Australia!  He arrived with eleven impressive new missionaries. We are pleased with their goodness and their excitement to get to the work at hand.

He is being trained by an excellent and experienced missionary Elder Hill in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. They will learn a lot from each other as they continue to progress in missionary work.

We know Elder Cook will be blessed for his service to the Lord and that you, his family, will also enjoy the blessings of his service. We have found that it is very important for our missionaries to hear from their families each week. Please email him regularly. We love him already!

Please let me know if you receive this email. Thank you!

Sweet is the Work!

Love,
Sister McDonough
Mississippi Jackson Mission

 

 

 

 

WOW What a week it has been!

So much has happened, but I'll tell most of the story in pictures that I'll send, it's much easier than writing about it and takes less time.  So I was able to give Elder McIntosh a blessing of comfort before he left on his mission on his last night, and that was really cool.

Arnold, our practice investigator

Our practice investigator, I'm not sure if I already mentioned him or not, but he was a really tough investigator to get him to pray, but after the second lesson we were able to convince him to do it! Long story short, he prayed, felt good about it, and has read a lot of the BOM (Book of Mormon), and I know that it's all practicing, but it really did help me to get to know how to care for investigators on a personal level. I'm gonna miss him though, he's an awesome dude!

Baby Moses, Tate and Chris Collinsworth and me!  Always good to see familiar faces!

President Collinsworth's son, Chris, came in one night at the MTC to tell us stories about his mission in Australia, and guess what!? Tatum Durkin is his wife! I was able to see her and that was pretty cool, seeing somebody from home! But his stories were pretty dang awesome and has got me really pumped for my mission.

Yo, Austin, thanks for the cookies man! They were the most delicious cookie-flavored crackers I think I've ever had in my entire life! hahahaha But that's only because they were sent over in the mail and got a little hard, I'm sure if I was there to eat them in person, when you baked them, they would have been delicious like always.

So Austin, you were right when I said I'd gain weight, because I gained about 9 lbs in the MTC. WHOO!! It's pretty hard to not gain weight when you've got all the best food right in front of you to your disposal, 10 hours of sitting in a desk all day and barely any time to exercise, but I'll be making sure to eat less when I'm here and exercising more. Don't wanna get "soft" while I'm on my mission.

Sunday night Matthew Holland, Jeffrey R Holland's son, (WHAT!) was able to give us an AWESOME talk about Joseph Smith's life, and that was amazing.

It was pretty hard to leave all my buddies at the MTC, especially Elder Sevy, Hoyt and Grondel because they aren't coming to Australia with us, they goin' to Texas.  

Monday morning we had to wake up at 3:00 AM in order to make it in time for our flight to Houston and then to Mississippi, and we went to bed at about 10:30 last night, so yesterday was a really busy day. Even if my calling here in Mississippi is a temporary calling, I'm really excited and slightly nervous to be serving here!

Elder Hill is going to be my trainer, and everyone says only positive things about him so I'm stoked for that. Leaving Elder Babneau behind was REALLY tough, but we're in the same zone, so we might be able to see each other once or twice before we head to the outback! 

 

Elder Babneau and I taking a picture in front of the Provo Temple

If anybody wants to send me mail (which would be the absolute best!) 

my mailing address is:

120 Asbury Drive

Hazelhurst MS 39089

Love all y'all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again

-Elder Cook

P.S.  Hey mommy :) How's everything going with the familam? I'm doing great down here in Mississippi so far. The humidity is nowhere near as bad as it was in Mexico. It's strong, but not bad.  We slept in the mission home last night here in Mississippi, and the beds were amazingly comfortable, even though my feet were hanging off a little bit. I haven't actually been able to see where my apartment is, but I'm sure it's absolutely dandy! 

Anyways, hopefully it doesn't hurt anyone's feelings when I say that I am barely missing home. I miss all you, but I also am loving what I'm doing here, even though I'm still learning the ropes to everything and what to do when to do. Oh, almost forgot! My new P-Day is on Mondays now

Elder Babneau and I sharing one last Crush orange soda 

in the residency on  Sunday night, the night before 

we separate FOREVAH!!!

Elder McIntosh with his hat of authority

The rest of are me in a suit. Kinda. It was still on a hanger & I didn't want to get dressed again

This brick is hollow if you knock on it, 

so it's perfect for practicing door approaches!