Hello amazing Americans! Yes, it is I, Elder Cook, with another amazing news report about my mission! We've got Maddi Williams still with a date for November 7th which is cool, but a few concerns are arising for her considering how her friends will look at her after she's baptized, so we will work on that. There is also a less active family we are working on getting to church, and their name is the Stone family. Their 9 year old son, Sebastian, wants to be baptized, but the parents aren't working with us at all with it. We even organized a ride for him and his sister to come to church, but the parents said Sebastian would be "busy". He's 9, let's be honest, how busy can a 9 year old's schedule be? Oh well, all about coping with other people's agency and letting them make decisions (even if it means that the parents don't allow their child to be baptized :/).

With Aaron Bailey after opening up his Mission Call

So our last P-day wasn't as great as we thought it would be. We finished up the museum, but it wasn't near as interesting as the war and dinosaur stuff, but there were TONS of awesome photographs in this one gallery, and that was way cool. After that we still had three hours left before our P-Day ended, so we went to the Bailey's house to ask if we could borrow the movie Meet The Mormons (it's an approved movie because it's distributed by the church), and we watched it like twice.  After we watched the movie we went to our dinner appointment, then we went back to the Bailey's to watch Aaron Bailey open up his mission call. We were felt really loved by them that they would want us to come to such a special event, and it turns out that he's going to the Leed's England Mission, and he reports in February, so not for a good while. Did I mention that the Bailey family is one of the best families in the ward? If not, then please excuse me, because they are without a doubt one of the absolute BEST families in the ward.

Elder stokes last Sunday with Kylie Baileys family

Wijeya, as sudden of a decision it has been, decided to make a move for Ellendale, about 200 kilometers south of where our area is, so as of yesterday he is no longer our investigator. He said it's because the house gives him "bad vibrations", and something about how a pendulum of a clock always moves, so should he. Kinda weird, but okay.

Sad to see him leave because he was slowly but surely making progress in the gospel, but the Elders down there are the Zone Leaders, so they'll make a lot more progress with him than we did, I'm sure. It wasn't a wasted effort though, because his prayers have become a lot better and he has learned what we pray for and why we pray. Before he left though, HE LEFT US HIS CAR. We're not too sure what to do with it now because we aren't allowed to drive anyone else's car besides our own, but sure enough he left us a car. Not a brand new one, but sure enough he gave us one of his cars. We'll probably end up giving it to a member, but the thing is he left it with us and absolutely no paperwork was done with it, so now we're not quite sure what to do with it. It's still technically under his name, but it's in our guest parking space in our flatt. Interesting. Well, missionaries always talk about how their investigator gave them a phone or a nice pair of shoes to take home with them, but ours got us a car, so there is no missionary that can top that (unless a missionary claims someone gave them a better car. Or a house.) He also gave us these really nice-as speakers to go in our flatt, so that was cool. Too bad they have to stay in the flatt when we leave, but hey, sharing with other missionaries is caring.

But he did come to sacrament meeting yesterday before he left, so that was really cool. I gave a talk yesterday, and I did slip up a little bit at the beginning, but it was good because it got a really big laugh from the ward. Eli Atkinson, a ward member in his 30's who's basically a scriptorian GENIUS came up to me after my talk and said "That was one of the best presented talks I've seen a missionary ever give. Well done." I look up to Eli heaps because of his vast knowledge, so him giving me a compliment like that made me feel awesome.

Thursday Todd literally kidnapped us from our flatt at about 9:30AM so we could go help him at one of his houses. He does that to us pretty often, but I think it's hilarious. He literally shows up at our flatt and says "Get in your P-Day clothes, you're gonna help me today", and Todd is just the kind of person you do not say no to, it's pretty funny. We helped him clean out and renovate one of his houses, and that was almost an all day project.

My gloves

A few days ago Elder Wade and I went to K-Mart to buy some boxing gloves to use for exercise, and we borrowed some hand pads from the Eccles for practicing. It's great exercise, and on the days that we don't run in the morning we do boxing exercise regimes, so hopefully doing that will help me to keep my weight maintained. I can start to see that my face is starting to get just a bit rounder, and it's because every night we have a dinner appointment with members (anywhere between 5-6 nights out of the week) we have huge desserts, and when it comes to being a missionary, you just don't say no to dessert. It's rude. But it kinda sucks because Elder Wade and I are both trying to stay away from sugar, but that definitely isn't helping us out at all.

Elder Wade burning his tie...our 6 month mark!

Friday Elder Wade and I both hit our six month mark, so as tradition states we burned a tie. The

Bailey family, who is the best family ever (not even saying that because they may or may not be reading this through the blog) had us over for dinner and our tie burning ceremony that night, and because the fire was still burning after we torched our ties we had our lesson around the campfire, it was pretty legit.

Just finishing up burning my tie :)

This weekend all the missionaries in my district are going to St. Helen's all day Saturday to work with the stake and youth in the stake to do heaps of missionary work there in a day, so that will be a lot of fun. Each missionary goes with a member about our own age to do missionary work, so it'll be a lot of fun. Unfortunately we have to miss Arden Eccles's baptism as well, and he was really excited for us to be there...

Slowly and surely I'm helping Elder Wade be more and more obedient to the rules. It's a bit tough though, but he has hampered down heaps with his music choices which is AWESOME!!! He still does love his lengthy naps though, but keep the prayers coming guys, I can see the things that come from them. If anything, working with Elder Wade is only to teach me: it has taught me how much my parents have succeeded in raising me as a young man, and every day I work with Elder Wade all I can say to myself is "Man, I'm glad my parents instilled me with a desire to work through the tough times to know that it gets better from here", because that's what is happening every day in the mission field. Your testimony is bashed, your faith is beaten, and sometimes it feels like your knowledge of the gospel could be crushed to rubble, but it's that faith in Jesus Christ, knowing, KNOWING, that he knows what's best for us and will lead us through tough times that will make you a tool for righteousness in His hands.

This email was long, sorry, it's been eventful. I'm not sure what we will do this P-Day because we have no kilometers/miles left for the month, like AT ALL, so we have to keep our travel to the bare scrap minimum. Might get a haircut or sumthin'. Anyways, lot's of things are happening, and luckily I get to be a part of building His kingdom on earth. Love you all, I miss you and love the work, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

(Ponderizing scripture: 2 Kings 13:23)

Playing games with the Bailey Family and with Jason

Dinner and Game invite by the Bailey Family

Jack Prebble and I doing the Popeye...he's much better
 at it than I am because he ain't got none teeth

  Aaron Bailey after he got his wisdom teeth removed 

[I know you can see this Sister Bailey, don't tell Aaron! Hehehe]

World War I heavy machine gun

WWI Flamethrower

WWI Journal entry (why I keep one in complete detail on my mission)

World War I grenades

Hello everyone! I have some great news! We have another investigator with a baptism date! Not sure if I told you about her last week, but her name is Maddi Williams, and her mom is very less active and her grandmother is an active member in the ward. Maddi is 12 years old and has actually been coming to church almost every Sunday for the past year, so that's really awesome. She has a date for November 7, and I'm sure she can hit it if she keeps trying for it. No sweat :)

Well, Elder Wade and I are staying in Launceston for another six weeks. I'm not disappointed or discouraged though, because I know that the Lord has some reason that we are together still: whether it be for that one person we meet, or whether it be so that we can learn something from each other, I don't know now, but I'm sure I will know here in the near future. We talked for a little over two hours on what we need to do to improve the area and to improve our relationship, because if we were gonna spend another six weeks together then something had to change and be fixed, so I have a lot of confidence in this new transfer.

Elder Wade, Wijeya and me!

Wijeya still needs some help though... He seems to have given up drinking for good because since we've been over on Sunday he hasn't been drunk once, but the smoking is another thing. He says he is trying, but when we were over he showed us his new purchase of a block of tobacco for making homemade cigarettes. Oh Wijeya... we're trying to think of some ways we can help, but it doesn't seem like he wants to quit all that much. I guess we can only encourage him so much, but in the end it's all up to him and exercising his agency. He does want to be baptized, but his priorities are a little askew right now. He is an EXTREMELY giving man though, and I really think that when he is baptized he will make an amazing member: when we went over to his house to help him move his furniture (he moved up from the mainland and his furniture finally arrived) he tried to pay us $50.00 for our help, but when we refused he just said "FINE! How do I pay it to the church!?" This guy is legit. He also took us to a museum and wants to take us to a seahorse museum like 45 minutes away this Wednesday, and he does so much for us it's awesome. And his family is coming down in December and he really wants them to be a part of the church as well, so that's cool. He did dip our on church on Sunday though, but hey, like I said about agency. We've got a LOT of members fellow shipping him, and a lot of the members are excited to meet him, and we meet with him nearly every day, so we'll just have to look at what we're doing wrong and fixing it.

Me kissin' a kangaroo

Monday we went to this Wildlife Park in Deloraine with Elder Jensen and Calachan ,and that was really cool because there were a lot of free ranging kangaroos around and we got to pet them and feed them our of our hands. It was pretty legit, and all of us even took a swing at kissing one on the lips to get a picture. Germs?... Nah man; memories! 

Tasmanian Devil

We also saw Tasmanian Devils and got some cool pictures of them as well. Two of them in the enclosure even started fighting, so we made gag bets on which one would win, but the tussle only lasted for about 10 seconds. Those little things are NASTY when they get mean.

Me and Jackie Legs!

I Love nothing more than prayers and letters from home and friends! :)

That's the main bulk of the week, but it's been a good week. Keep praying for Wijeya and that he will have the desire to continue to change his life, and he really has improved a lot, we're just hoping that he keeps improving. Thanks for the prayers everyone, keep the faith, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

PS... Hahaha, this mission has SOARED by: I hit my six month mark on Thursday, so I get to burn a tie!!  .... YOU ASK ME WHY!?!?

Apparently this has been a missionary tradition all over the world for decades, I've talked to members who have kids older than me and they're like "So when do you burn your tie?"

6 months: burn a tie

12 months: burn a shirt
18 months: burn a pair of pants
24 months (the night before you go home): BURN A FLIPPIN' SUIT!!!

Elder Wade and I makin' some friends

Elder Wade feeding the baby Kangaroo

Elder Jensen and Elder Wade tryina sneak a kiss from their true love

Me just kangarooing (they have finally accepted me I believe)

These are some baby Tiger Quolls also

known as Spotted Tailed Quolls

Another view of a Tasmanian Devil

And plus, totally forgot to add this everyone: Wijeya took us to a WWI museum with dinosaurs and stuff. We didn't finish seeing around (weren't even close) but we're going back to do it today

Man, it has been a wild week. Honestly I'm exhausted, but it's all good because that means we're working hard. I think. Anyways, that guy we went to taught last week, his name is Wijeya, and he is about 50 or so and is from Sri Lanka. Our first lesson was kind of weird, and I think it's because he was a little drunk. He was talking on how the sky is God (or something like that) and when we taught he closed all the doors to keep the "vibrations" in the room. Eh, it was a little strange, but it was a good thing that Job Tai was there to help us out. The next few lessons went a lot better and we could actually feel the spirit, and when we mentioned General Conference to him he seemed really keen to come on Saturday and Sunday, but he didn't show up to any sessions, and I think it might be because he was previously drinking and he felt ashamed to go, but when we asked him about it he denied he was drinking (even though we could smell the alcohol on him). Our lesson on Sunday was tough to teach because he was all over the place and our lesson wasn't as organized as it should've been. He speaks fluent English and is very keen to be baptized, but there are a few things he needs to work on. He smokes and drinks a lot, but he doesn't like to admit to either when we ask him, so yeah, there's that. He is a great guy though, we just need to be patient with him. He even offered to take Elder Wade and I to some seahorse sanctuary for helping him move some furniture to his house, so that's really cool.

We also met with Maddi Williams, and she's the granddaughter of a member in our ward and she's been coming to church for almost the past year. We taught a good lesson with Brother and Sister Furlan, but the lesson went a bit long. She said she isn't ready to be baptized yet because she wants to know if the church is true or not, so we'll keep working with her.

Friday we had our interviews in Hobart, so that was an all-day thing because it's a three hour drive there and a three hour drive back. Interviews with President Maxwell are always my favorite; he just has so much spiritual insight to help anyone out. It's a sad thing that he's leaving next June or so, but that's just how the cookie crumbles.

General Conference was amazing! I loved each and every one of the talks, especially the ones about parenting, because in my life that's been one of my biggest concerns recently: when I get back and start a family, I want to be able to raise my children in righteousness and in the gospel, so I made sure to pay especially close attention to those ones. But in all, it was great. I loved the one about "Ponderizing" a scripture every week, and I'm gonna start applying that in my life.  The scripture the Spirit led me to was Mosiah 2: 5-6 about the people turning their tents towards the temple.  I could tell President Monson was struggling, but he is such a man of inspiration, nothing short of a prophet of God

That's about it for this week, and after this Elder Wade and I plan on going to a zoo where we can feed kangaroos and Tassie Devils OR go to some caves out in Mole Creek about 30 minutes away, so today'll be a good day. So mom asked me a few questions is a letter I got from her this week, so here are the answers:

No, I haven't gotten even the slightest tinge of an Aussie accent yet, but I'll work on that (because trust me, I want one)

The weather is warming up, but the temperature will fluctuate throughout the day quite a bit, so it's kinda tough planning what to wear.

I did get the letter you sent a few days back, and thank you so much for that! I love letters! And tell Sari I got hers last week too. Actually, a few months back Grandma sent me a letter and I got it, and it had money in it as well. Can you thank her for me? I've forgotten to say that I received the letters every week, but tell her thank you so much for the letter and money. 

I think that's it everybody, but I have one favor of you all to ask: please pray that my companion's drive to work will increase. His enthusiasm is almost at zero, and it's hard to work when all your companion does is nap all day. Seriously, that isn't as much as an over exaggeration as you think it might be.  I've done nothing but tried to lead by example. I get to studies on time, wake up on time, listen to good music, try to give him uplifting encouragement and correction to be a better missionary.  I have talked to President Maxwell about it, but I asked if he could not say anything to him because I know it would infuriate Elder Wade and crush our companionship entirely, and if we have to spend another transfer together with him knowing I am upset about his disobedience it'll be "not so good" for another 6 weeks.  Forcing a companion to work only sours them even more to working, so I don't know what to do.  I just know that this trail is put in front of me to help me learn something even though it's tough.  I'm busy all the time which makes it harder, but thank you for raising me to be a clean person, even a little OCD. For the past few days I've actually gotten out of bed half an hour early to make him breakfast and coax him out of bed on time with French toast. It's been working, but I need him to realize I can't baby him and hold his hand into being obedient.  I need help on what to do, and I've done (I think) almost everything in my power to try to encourage him without getting punched in the face (he absolutely HATES correction, and there's a lot that does need to be "straightened out"). I need some kind of help, advice, inspiration, ANYTHING to encourage him, but I guess the best thing right now it to ask for your prayers that he'll have a change of heart.

Anyways, thanks for the prayers in advance, I love you all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

(Pictures: Elder Wade and I up on Mt. Wellington again because he's never been there)

More of us on Mt. Wellington (we were in our suits because we had interviews that day)

on a road to the top of Wellington 

More pictures on a road to the top of Wellington 

Another beautiful view

Boys will be boys

Even though it's spring I could still see my breath on top of the mountain,
 and Elder Wade just so happened to get a picture of me breathing out

This is one Tall tower 

Pouring and smoothing concrete at Todd's house

(left our legacy at the bottom of the trampoline hole)

Jack Prebble, basically the man

Pizza before watching General Conference