******* LANDON J. COOK ******* Melbourne, Australia Mission April 2015

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