GOT MY VISA TO AUSTRALIA!!!!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!

Sooooooo it done been anothah exciting week!

Monday June 1 - We went and taught an new investigator named Byron Swilly, and he knows the Boones in our ward and has been friends with their family for generations, so that's really cool. We taught him the restoration and he accepted a Book of Mormon and said that if he'd find it to be true he'd be baptized! We actually taught his wife previously, but she didn't accept a Book of Mormon because her biggest concern is being in a split religion family. Well hopefully soon it won't be, if ya know what I mean! When we were on our way to swing by somebody else's house some kid bikes up to us and yells "Gimme a card!", like what did he mean by that? Maybe a pass along card for some reason? Anyways, his dad was sitting outside and we gave him a lesson and a Book of Mormon, so that's pretty cool. We also have been swinging by two brothers who live together, and we try to teach them but they're drunk all the time whenever we see them or go to an appointment with them, and we think they might be meth addicts, so that's a little tricky

Sister Laney Boone, in our Branch who 

takes the missionaries out to shop. I love her, 

she's dang awesome! She is just has such a

Christ like personality!

Me at a Catholic Bible Study

Tuesday June 2 - Sister Lanie Boone (Who also knows Byron Swilly and his family) who's an elderly woman in our ward, takes the missionaries in her branch shopping every month for groceries, and she bought us about $200.00 worth of groceries! That was such a huge blessing, honestly. She's been doing this for about almost 10 years now, every month! What a blessing she is to us and other missionaries in the past, and also for missionaries to come! The funny thing is that at the beginning of shopping she slowly walks over to a cart and says "Now I don't want you boys to come back until this baby has at least $200.00 worth of food in it, got it?", and then went her own way to do her own shopping. When we finished our cart was FULL, and her response was "Now are y'all sure that's enough for the month?". Heavenly Father definitely has a special place in the Celestial Kingdom for her. After that she even took us out to lunch! What a wonderful lady she is. Spending time with her that day was such an amazing thing to be able to get to know her. Later that day we went to another Baptist Bible study class and the pastor totally called us out saying "And we can show people we are Christians through our works! We don't need to go around in white shirts and ties with a Jesus name tag for people to know we're followers!"... like, seriously dude?

                                                                                

Elder Davis and Ah Ching came with us

to experience a Baptist Bible Study class 

(They always have hot dogs and fries afterwards)

Wednesday June 3 - We taught an investigators grandson named Ja'Tarvis (and yes, he's black for those who were wondering) because the investigator wasn't there, so we taught him instead. He's about 5'6", so when he told Elder Hill and I he was 10, we were both pretty shocked. We taught him and he said he'd take a Book of Mormon and begin to read it with his grandma Ida, so that's cool. We ran out of copies of the Book of Mormon during the day, so we had to bike a few miles home to replenish our supplies and then bike back to that area. We also tracted into a girl named Kera Young. She's our age, and not like a lot of the unmotivated people down here: She was almost valedictorian in her high school, has been in the military for two years, goes to MSU for nursing, and has two jobs. She was VERY open to listen to what we had to say almost right when we opened the door, because she says she sees us on bikes all the time and wonders what the heck we do. We taught her the restoration for a good while and I shared Moroni 7:45-47 with her because we got on the topic of charity for some reason, and she said that's why we need to read the bible because it has good teachings like that. Well she was kinda shocked when I told her it was from the Book of Mormon and not the bible, so that really seemed to spark her interest in the Book of Mormon because it had such great teachings from God. We gave her one and she expressed her enthusiasm to begin reading it, it was awesome! She also knows that the Bible is the word of God, but is a little unreliable because of how many times it's been translated, but she still loves it, and really wanted to read the Book of Mormon. We invited her to church and she said she'd definitely be there and invite her friend too! AWESOME!

Thursday June 4 - We tracted into some AWESOME investigators who we met sitting on some stairs outside who all took a Book of Mormon, and one of them was named Josh and he seemed to really want to know what we teach because he sees us on bikes all around town, and said "whatever you're teaching you must have a lot of trust in it in order to do what you do all day in this heat!", so we taught him about the Book of Mormon, gave him and his two friends one as well, and Josh said he'd be at church on Sunday. We had to replenish our supplies of Book of Mormons again at lunch because we had run out, that's always a really satisfying feeling! While we tracted some lady opened the door, said "Not today", and when Elder Hill said "Well is there another time we can swing around?" she said "WHAT DID I JUST SAY!?" then locked the screen door, slammed her door, and locked her regular door. All in a days work! We also found a lady in the Area Book who had been previously taught by missionaries some time back, but the Elders before us lost contact because they were lazy and did absolutely no work. But, we found her and got back in contact. Her name is Tasha, and she has 8 kids. She said she loved the Sister missionaries that taught her, so we've got some big shoes to fill. Long story short her and her 8, twin 10, 11, and 13 year old daughters accepted a baptism date! The 6 year old didn't want to get baptized because she's scared of the water, but that's okay, she's still got two years. The two oldest weren't there, so we'll have to go seen them another time. All the kids saw my colorfully marked up Book of Mormon and they all wanted one too, so we gave the older four one of their own to share with their siblings. 

So all Thursday and Wednesday we tracted 4 hours, met eight new investigators, had nine lessons and handed out 14 copies of the Book of Mormon. Those are some great numbers with some great people!

Friday June 5 - We went to see Ida and Ja'Tarvis to check up on them and see how everything was going, and Ja'Tarvis actually read! Nice! We asked what he read, and he said he read the Testimony of Joseph Smith and how when he was jumping over the fence he fell down and couldn't get up because of how weak he was. Well, that wasn't the moral of the story, be that proves that he did read it! We then explained the rest of the story to him. We invited them to be to church this Sunday and Ja'Tarvis said he'd be there and have either Ida or his brother Jymetrius take him. We also met someone who refers himself to as "Guy", and I doubt that's his real name. I've never met him before, but Elder Hill has. When I met him I thought he was like 28 or around that age because he was so in shape, then he said "my grandson" and I had to ask how old he was. The guy's like 52!

Saturday June 6 - We had about 25 people we were planning on meeting/swinging by, with four of them set up appointments, with only ONE getting to let us to sit down and talk. And biking from house to house like that 25 times with no answer is really disheartening. But that one lady is Marcel Smith, and Elder Hill has been meeting with her for a long time, and she said she could definitely see her self coming to our church, but not just yet. She's a really nice lady, I like her. 

Sunday June 7 - Because it was fast Sunday I didn't eat breakfast or lunch, but because we were biking all day I'm allowed to have water so I don't have a heat stroke. Anyways, all those people who said they were coming to church didn't come, not one of them, it made me really sad. We even called Ja'Tarvis Saturday night and he said "Oh yeah, I've got my clothes laid out and everything, I'll be there!" so yeah, disappointing with the no-shows. Elder Hill didn't eat dinner last night, so he had lunch. He microwaved pizza and he said it smelled really good, but it smelled so bad to me for some reason! I count that as a small heavenly blessing to make it easier for me to fast through lunch. One of the people we met was named Eddie, and he was playing Dominoes with some friends, so we joined in for a while and taught him about the Book of Mormon. Elder Hill said him and his previous companion would play with him and teach a lesson every Sunday, so we did it too.

Elder Davis and I (that silly nilly was blinking...)

Monday June 8 - Had to wake up at 5:30 instead of 6:30 because we had Zone Conference in Brandon an hour away at 7:00.  I ALSO GOT MY VISA!!!!!!!! SO EXCITED!!! My flight departs June 15th at 2:45 PM.  But at the same time there's a part of me that doesn't want to go because of the friends I've made in Elder Davis, Ah Ching and especially my trainer Elder Hill. When I told the three of them I got my visa they were all REALLY sad that I couldn't stay for another transfer. Elder Davis and Ah Ching said it literally made their day worse because I got my visa and was leaving in the next week. It seriously made me sad too that I'd only be able to spend just this one last week with these guys. I mean, there's transfers, then there;'s spending a transfer with them and then kniwnng you won't see them again for at least two years or so. And also leaving the amazing Branch is gonna be hard too with the great members there. And all those recent investigators we met? Dang, that's tough too. 

Me with President and Sister McDonough

The rest of Zone Conference was really good though, and after it all we went into the gym in the back of the church to give President and Sister McDonough hugs goodbye because they leave in just a few weeks. It was really cool though, getting to know these spiritual giants even if it was for such a short time. After it all we went back to the house and Elder Davis and Ah Ching spent the night again. We had another lesson with Kera Young, and it was with her and a few friends at Sonic because that's where they went after their work. I told her that I'm headed to Australia and that I'd like to see her at church next week before I go, and she said she would be there even if she had to call in sick to work. Hahaha sweeeeeet. But we had a really good lesson with her and her friends.

 Elder Davis, Ah Ching, Hill & I
enjoying our kingly feast with
amazing homemade hamburgers

Then we went home and made these AWESOME burgers, I mean we decked these things out with lettuce, mayo, bacon, eggs, cheese, the works. All the food I got with Sister Laney Boone isn't going to mean much when I'm in Australia, so we feasted like kings, it was pretty awesome. We talked about how fun it would be to open a burger joint of our own, because these were better than Red Robin, tellin' ya what. I'm gonna miss these guys, seriously, we've had some awesome experiences together, and all day they were telling me how they're going to miss me too, a lot. All of us were pretty sad I had to leave soon, but I'm just glad that it happened and I've been able to get to know these Elders for the short times I've been with them.

Well everybody, that's been my week! Love you all, love my mission, and as always, God be with you till we meet again
-Elder Landon Cook

Our zone with Sister and President McDonough (the Mission president) sitting on the bottom center

Elder Leavitte and I.  I think he kinda looks like Marcus Bowcutt, don't you think family

Elder Tanner and I

Saw Elder Babneau at Stake Conference

Elder Hill and I cleaning our car for Zone Conference car inspections

Elder Hill intently watching his eggs get hard boiled

Elder Tanner's last transfer, he is going to be missed by many

The ground here is so unstable! This is a small, two-step staircase that looks like this because the ground shifts all the time

The rain gets CRAZY out here sometimes! That's Elder Ah Ching after running from the car to the church and back after being outside for about 15 seconds.

These roaches get vicious and big down here