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

Oompa-Loompa doopedy doo. It's been a great week, let me tell you.

At the top of Mt. Wellington :)

So last week we had a Zone P-Day and we went to some Cadbury chocolate factory. It was kinda lame really, but Elder Stokes and I went up to the top of Mt. Wellington before that which was really cool. The next day we had Zone conference in Hobart, and before that we went to Mt. Wellington again because why not, so we went to the top of Mount Wellington Monday Morning and Tuesday morning, both times were pretty fun, but the second time was the best because we went up with Elder Brouwer and Seru and had a snowball fight.

Elder Brouwer... snowball fight

Wednesday David Archuletta and Brad Wilcox came to Australia for a missionary devotional, but because we're in Tasmania we had to watch it via internet broadcast. It was lame not being able to be there in person, but David Archuletta made a shoutout to us in Tassie, whoop-whoop! They both did an amazing job at their devotionals and really brought the spirit.

Friday we spent all day with Todd (an awesome member) helping him with decorating his severely mentally handicapped son's wheelchair. We turned it into the Batmobile using cardboard, tape, and lots of spray paint. We weren't able to see the final product because we had to go to a dinner appointment, but on Sunday at church Todd came up to us and gave us a box of chocolates saying that Ben won "Best Costume" in the fundraiser he applied in.

Saturday was a day full of hard work. We went on a 5k run with Tim Eccles and his family, and his oldest son, Jai (who's 9) ran that sucker in just under 23 minutes! Elder Stokes and I ran it in 27:56, but I sprinted the last 100 meters so I beat Stokes by three seconds, wahahahaha! My legs were POUNDING sore when I finished because we didn't stop running the entire way, and I haven't run like that literally in years.

Elder Stokes, Jason Worsley and me

But here's the thing that puts the week all together: Jason Worsley got baptized on Saturday! After our 5k run we went home asap to shower and change into our clothes. When we got to the church Jason was already there in his baptismal clothing, and after the opening devotional in the chapel everyone went to the baptismal room for the main event. Everyone huddled around the glass in front of the font, especially the children, in anticipation and excitement of this important milestone moment in Jason's life. Tim Eccles and Luke Radosavljevic (our ward mission leader [don't even attempt to pronounce his last name, it's just too painful...]) were the witnesses, and I watched with enthusiasm as Jason and Elder Stokes made their way down the steps and into the water. Elder Stokes baptized him, but because the water levels were so low he wasn't completely submerged, and had to repeat the baptism twice more before it was confirmed. It was such a spiritually powerful moment, and while these two changed back into their normal clothes everyone else mingled in the hallway and eventually made their way back to the chapel room. We had our closing statements and went to the gym where Sister Pawson had masterfully prepared all the refreshments everyone had brought . There were sandwiches, cookies, cakes, brownies, and drinks, and the perfect amount for everyone to be satisfied. Jason was mingling with the members perfectly: he's the man, and he'll make a great member.

After the baptism we changed into out normal street clothes to go do some service for a less active member. Long story short we basically chopped wood for about 4 hours, and there was HEAPS of wood, but luckily a few other members came after the baptism as well to help out. Some of the logs were basically wheels of wood, about two feet thick and four feet in diameter. Luckily Todd brought was there with his hydraulically powered wood splitter which was a complete life saver. But the splitter could only go so far, so while two other people would use that Todd and I would take a sledgehammer each, and using a steel wedge would split the bigger wood into smaller pieces. He'd hit it, then I'd hit it, then he'd hit it, then I'd hit it. It was like what you see on those movies when guys are working on the railroad and are alternating hits between eachother, We did the railroad style splitting for about an hour, and man was I hurting: my back, abs, shoulders, chest, arms, everything was sore! My hands had a few blisters, but hey, it's all good.

Top of Mt. Wellington with Elder Stokes

Elder Stokes finally is recovered from his illness, but I got sick Saturday night with the same thing he's got. My thoughts is that I worked the living heck out of myself and weakened myself enough to become susceptible to the bug he's got, because I've been around him for two weeks while he's been sick, but only on Saturday night did I actually get sick. Ugh, oh well, nothing I can really do about it.

Well everyone, it's been an exciting week, and the work is continually progressing! I love you all, stay strong in everything you do, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.
-Elder Landon Cook