Standing on corner in Tasmania Australia.
Ooops.... apparently breaking the law.  I better start moving

Wow, let me tell you about this week. It's literally been a week like none other, full of blessings and miraculous encounters like I've never experiences on my mission before. So for the past few weeks I've been doing absolutely everything that I can in order to try to help Elder Wade get pumped for working and trying to work hard in the missionary efforts, but no matter how much tracting or other means of finding we just weren't seeing any progress. We would tract for literally hours and hours a week, but just... nothing would happen, not even a new contact, and a real investigator was a rarity. Thursday night we were laying on our beds and wondering why our efforts don't seem to be working at all, and that we must be approaching working in Launceston at the wrong angle, and we decided from then on to start to put our efforts in working with members to gain their complete trust and friendship to receive referrals from them.

Well, we couldn't have gotten a bigger slap in the face from God that that was the right decision, because literally the next morning we got a call from the mission office up in Melbourne that we had a referral that has been trying to contact missionaries for the past few days. His name is Tim, and he's about in his 30's and is an awesome guy. He's actually met with missionaries in the past about a year ago, but when we talked to him and met up on Sunday before church he said he had the "sudden urge" to talk with missionaries again. Wow, just wow... amazing. He wasn't able to stay for church because he was sick, but that's alright. He wants to be taught again, and he LOVES how family oriented the church is, and thinks that the Word of Wisdom is brilliance. He's going back up to Sydney next week, so we want to meet with him a few times and try to convince him to come to church next week before he goes.

Saturday afternoon we played basketball with a member and one of his friends who are our age to see if we can eventually get him interested in what we have to teach. We played basketball for about an hour and a half and got to know him really well. His name is Jai and he's 17 which is awesome, so it's really easy to get on a personal level with him. It's funny, because the member who made friends with him is about 45, and they just became friends through playing basketball out in the open parks. We swung by Emma and Brendan's house, and they're a really keen young couple with a few kids that we actually tracted into. We saw that both of their cars were there at about dinner time and we swung by to see how everything was going. Brendan answered, and he said "Hey boys good to see you again. Why are you out so late?". Well, we be workin'! He said that they were having dinner, and that if we came by at an earlier time during the week they'd be more than glad to have to hear what we have to teach. He also said that both he and his wife read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet we gave them, so that was AMAZING to hear! Elder Wade and I are both pumped to teach them at the soonest time that we can.

Sunday after church we went to the a new contact we found also while tracting, and his name is Ray and he's about in his 50's or so. We went back when he said to come back but he wasn't there, but his 18 year old daughter was. She saw us when we were talking with her dad on Wednesday, so she was already more familiar with us than just normally tracting into her. We talked on the doorstep for about 20 minutes about this and that, and she's actually pretty chill. Her older brother actually knows someone in our ward who is on a mission in Japan who gets back in December and they're like BEST friends, so that's way cool too. She said that her parents work out of the house and that the she and her brother live at home, so she said we could probably swing by any time and teach the whole family. Awesome, awesome, AWESOME!!! And get this: she does weightlifting. She's not like buff or anything, but you know all those stories of people baptizing someone and then later getting married to them after the mission? Yeeeeaaaahhhhh... Jokes, jokes.

Sunday night we also had two lessons with member families: one a dinner appointment with the first counsellor of the bishopric and one with the previous stake president. We explained the Family Mission Plan to them, which is a way to get referrals from them and they both love the idea. They each gave us two referrals right there on the spot, and the way they explained them to us they are as good as active members they say. Wow, such an amazing week of blessings.

Not sure if this boy of mine can take a serious picture :)

So for weeks on weeks we've been working with almost no sign of progression, and literally in the past three days all of this comes pouring out on top of us. The Lord works in mysterious ways everybody, and there's no doubt about it that He is starting to show his miraculous wonders to us. Elder Wade and I are both extremely pumped to see the work continue to progress here in Launceston, and I know that as long as we work both smart and hard we will see the ward continue to see more people drawn unto Christ by entering into the waters of baptism to make that covenant with Him.

Everybody, the church is true. If it weren't then the work would never progress around the world at the rate that it does. I love you all, I love my mission, and I can't wait to see how this next week turns out. And as always everybody, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook



Playing with the Furlan's bunny (1st councilor in the bishopric)



A detailed personal study of Lehi's dream

Our beautiful District Leader Elder Jensen

Shells I collected in the sand.  There are such beautiful shells here 

My name tag is under water. This is how clear the water is here. 

It's been a crazy of a roller coaster week for me! Last P-Day we went up to the Gorge again with the Deloraine Elders because neither of them have been able to go, so that was fun. The temperature has started to rise and the days are starting to get longer, and now because of that it's a LOT easier to get up at 6:30am every morning because it's warm and bright outside.  Monday night we also had five other Elders spend the night in our flat because we had Zone Meeting in the northern part of Tasmania, so a lot of Elders from the South Tasmania District spent the night at our flat. All seven of us sleeping on the floor in the front room, that was fun. As soon as everyone got to our flat Monday night they ALL headed for the kitchen, but I wouldn't be too happy if they all ate our food, so I had to physically shove everyone out of the kitchen so I could make a few platefuls of inexpensive meals. SO stingy, am I.

Zone Conference in Tasmainia.

Tuesday was Zone Meeting, and that was pretty good.  Tuesday we also tracked into this young mother who said to come back at another time, but she said the only reason she didn't let us in was because her husband wasn't home and because her three young kids were pretty sick. When we did come back on Friday the dad was home but the mom wasn't, but the dad was really nice to us and said to swing back by when the kids aren't sick anymore and both of them are home. They're a young family and hopefully they're as keen as they appear. Keep Emma and Brendan in your prayers please!!!

Wednesday we got the assignment to do the prelude music for this Saturday on the 27th. But not just play it on the piano, but to sing it as well. Who sings prelude music anyways? Whatever, so Elder Wade is singing and I have to play the piano AND sing it. Well, let's see how that goes. We've had to spend a lot of time at the church this week practicing, but that's alright too. 

So a lot of the area that we've been trackting is just around our own neighborhood, and a lot of missionaries don't like doing that because they say "Oh, well I'm sure these streets have been over-tracked because missionaries live here", but it's funny because since practically every missionary thinks that, the exact opposite is true! A lot of our neighbors have seen missionaries, but have never have their door knocked on. A lot of them rejected us, but rejected us very politely and on good terms, and that makes missionary work a lot more enjoyable and easier. Of course, it'd be even better if we could teach them, but if they are going to reject us I'd rather them do it nicely.

Saturday we were invited for a single adult luncheon, and in my mind I thought it was a YSA

All of us singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" from Lion King

activity, or young single adult activity, but I was caught a little off guard when I walked in the gym in the church and all these old people were sitting there. Well, it was still a lot of fun, and there were about 40 oldies there because it was a stake activity. We all participated in singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonightt" as a crowd, half of us going "A-Weem-oh-wep-a-weem-oh-wep" and the other half going "Ayeeeeeeeyeeeyeeyee-abum-bum-bawayy", so that was pretty fun too.

The beautiful young ladies at the single adult luncheon! 

I have to say that I am as happy as ever. I couldn't be happier, and that isn't an over-exaggeration or a lie, I really am happy and loving my mission :) I think that's why it's flying by so fast!

Lots of work has happened on our parts, but right now I think we're going through a little bit of a drought: planting seeds all the day long but only harvesting a few shriveled up fruits every now and then. Oh well, that's missionary work sometimes, but we have to work as hard as we can through the easy and tough. I love you all, have a blessed week, and as always, God be with you till we meet again!

-Elder Landon Cook

Ps:  a little more info about my mission.  

I communicate with Mission President Maxwell only every blue moon, and it's not just for the Tas missionaries, it's for everyone. We email him at every P-Day, but if he were to communicate with EVERY missionary often nothing would ever get done on his part. I was able to talk to him last Saturday after Stake Conference, so that was really cool. I love President Maxwell so much. He goes home I think in June, so a little more that two years.

Our ward has about 60 people.

There are 22 Missionaries in all of Tasmania, which is crazy because Tasmania itself is almost the size of the mission back up on the mainland. And yeah, they tend to leave us here for a while to serve, but with every case there's always an exception. For example, Elder Womsley was Emergency Transferred here to Launceston but left back to the mainland after only two weeks.

It's warming up here, but some days are a bit colder than others still. Sometimes have to put my jumper back on. (Jumper: Australian for jacket)

The city is pretty large, in our area alone it takes about an hour to get from one end to the other by car, so obviously there's no way we can get to all of it with the limit of kilometers we have.  There are a lot of small cities here on the island.

My favorite food is vegetables. Seriously. Except tomatoes. Tomatoes still suck.

Macka's (or McDonalds) is pretty big, but KFC is even bigger here in Australia. Pizza, eh, not so much.  That's about it.

With da Deloraine Elders, Elder Jensen and Calachan on the chair lift we decided to go on

Waterfall at the gorge from off the chair lift

Peacocks running all around at the gorge

Running the ParkRun that's held every Saturday. 

I beat my previous personal best: 5k in 26:05  

The lady behind tried to sprint past me at the 

very end, but I didn't let that happen!!!

Action shot with some Halo Lego toys Elder Stokes left behind

Elder Wade my new companion from America Somoa

G'day matees! Well, Elder Stokes is gone now, but now I've got another pretty cool Elder with me. His name is Elder Wade. He's from American Samoa, and we've both been out for 4 1/2 months now, so that's pretty cool. I don't like having companions that have been on their missions for a lot longer than I have because I feel like if I get a big-headed companion that's been out for a lot longer than me, they'll just boss me around because I'm still a greeny,

Anyways, not too much has happened so far this week, nothing really new. Basically all day Tuesday and some parts of Wednesday were spent preparing for the new transfer, including shopping, getting the car fixed, and getting myself a GPS so I can be able to get around the area I'm now in charge of easier. Man, from not driving for 4 1/2 months to driving on the other side of the road with totally different laws is way different, but luckily I was able to learn pretty quickly. But a good majority of those days' time was spent cleaning up the junk and clutter Elder Stokes left behind. I swear, some missionaries can be the most dirty people ever.

Wednesday we went to pick up our new companions from the airport, and Elder Wade is my new one. He's way cool and keen to work hard, so I'm excited for that. We also got a few calls from the recent convert David, and there are quite a few things he needs help with let's just say that. But for respectful and confidential matters I can't go into too much detail about it. While we've been tracting throughout the days Elder Wade and I are trying to come up with some kind of funny way to introduce the Book of Mormon to people, so we came up with a song to the tune of "Do you wanna build a snowman?  From the movie Frozen.



It goes like this:
Do you wanna Book of Mormon?
Do you wanna be baptized?
Please don't yell and scream at me
You'll make me pee
And leave me traumatiiiiized!
*person slams the door*
Okay byyyyeeee..."
We have yet to use it, but one of these days we will.

So Thursday night during ward council Elder Wade and I got the assignment to sing on October 25th during sacrament meeting. Neither of us can sing, at all, so why they decided to make us sing is a mystery to me. We tried to cop out of it, but hey, if they need to relieve some high blood pressure in their head by bleeding out of their ears, by all means we're the guys for that!



Me using the excavator

Friday we spent a good amount of time with Todd again because we asked for a ride to Stake conference this weekend, which was an hour and a half away from Launceston, so he said he'd give us a ride if we came to his house and did some service for him. We helped him work on his back yard again, but this time he let me and Elder Wade use his excavator. When I got on the seat I asked how to use it, but he just said "You'll figure it out". Okay then. We both used to for about half an hour each, so that was tons of fun. After that we went to a less active/part member family for a lesson. The 9 year old son hasn't been baptized, and although the parents want him to be baptized they aren't willing to take him to church ever, so we'll keep working on that as much as we can.

now Elder Wade using the excavator

Saturday Todd said if we were gonna get a ride to Stake Conference with him on Saturday he said we'd have to leave at about 10:30AM because he was planning on helping his daughter who lives out there renovate her house, so after running with the Eccles family we went with Todd to help out. There were already tons of people there helping, so we weren't as much of a help as we thought we'd be. We spent a good amount of time there just kind of lollygagging around, so Todd just told us to go take some pictures down at the nearby pier. We wanted to help, but there really wasn't too much we could to. After taking a good amount of pictures at the pier I realized that my hands, feet, and legs were getting pretty sore, stiff and cold. This was exactly how I felt last time I started getting sick, so I knew what was 'boutta happen. That's right y'all, I was getting sick, and as the day progressed it just got worse and worse. Todd said that I should go home if I was that sick and not go to stake conference, but I felt that I needed to go no matter how sick I was.

After the Saturday session of stake conference President Maxwell was able to give me a blessing, and Sunday I basically slept all day, even through the Sunday session of Stake Conference on President Maxwell's advice.

I feel a lot better today, and I know it's because Heavenly Father wants me to be out there working instead of inside resting. That's how it works in the field! I love you all everyone, take care in all that you do, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.
-Elder Landon Cook

Todd Roberts. The man, the myth, THE LEGEND!!!

Another picture of Todd Roberts

Elder Wade and I at the pier

Elder Wade and I at the pier

Little itty-bitty baby penguins at the Devonport rocky beach