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

Well it's definitely been a good week. Kinda. Last week for P-Day we went to a less active member's house in Deloraine because she invited all the Elders over to her house for a BBQ and for some Grid Iron (American football) in her back yard. Been a while since I've seen American football.

This week in general nothing too big or eventful has really happened, but I went on exchanges with Elder Calachan on Friday, and it felt awesome to be a REAL missionary again: my companion doesn't enjoy doing the work very much, so when the day came I was able to have a temporary new companion I ate it up. We worked really hard throughout the day, and we found this kid named Kyle, who's 16 years old. Now, he's not interested at the church at this point, so no need to get your hopes up, but when we found him he was definitely interested that we were offering to come and mow his lawn for him (since it was his chore). We went and did that Sunday morning, and while I did the lawn Elder Wade talked with him. We mowed for about half an hour, and he was so confused as to why we were doing this for free for a complete stranger that we didn't even know. We talked about how Christianity drives us to do these things for other people and how being a worshiper of Jesus Christ drives us to do good for others, even if there is nothing in return. He said he doesn't believe in God because his 14 year old sister was born with a physical handicap leaving her about the same size as a one year old and that she will never grow up and that he's got a really tough upbringing with 12 other siblings from separate families. We never really set up a return appointment with him, but we did give him a pass along card with our number on it, and we could just tell that what we said and done for him impacted him in a way I'm sure that will affect him later on, and that's what the mission is about.

Greg and Linda, the best investigators ever (Darcy wasn't able to make it last night)

Saturday we had another feed at Greg and Linda's place, and every time I meet with them I am just more and more impressed with how much they have come to love us and trust us as their friends. They are excited for us and back us up completely in our missionary work, and are always excited when we are and are devastated when we are. They back us up 100% in our missionary work. Well, on Saturday we had our amazing dinner and dessert, and afterwards we taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel, focusing a lot on the restoration of the priesthood through the prophet Joseph Smith. They were VERY receptive to what we taught, and they understand the importance of knowing why the Book of Mormon is true, and if it was, what that would mean what course of action they would have to take. It's definitely a miracle having found them, and I can't wait to see them again this Friday!

But on the other side of things, I don't think I've ever felt so alone and depressed in my life for such an extended amount of time. As missionaries we are expected to exercise a high amount of self-discipline from cutting ourselves off from the things of the world, including music, movies, and other worldly things. My companion doesn't seem to recognize that at all, and it flattens me. He doesn't do his studies at all and usually just sleeps through them, and that really hinders our ability to teach, and with Greg and Linda so receptive to what we teach, we can't afford to even try to teach without the help of the Sprit. The mornings are very lonely, and I don't think I've every cried myself to sleep in such depression so many times in my life. I've tried to correct him with love, lead and show by example, tell District Leader and Zone Leaders, but nothing is working to help him. I feel as long as I am with him I'm wasting my time and money being on a mission because of the lack of effort we're putting into each day. I hate it, I absolutely hate it, but the transfer ends on November 29th and I just keep my prayers and heart open to whatever happens. I know the Lord has something in store for me, so even if I am chosen to spend yet ANOTHER transfer with Wade I will do so with patience. Heavenly Father knows what's best for me and I don't, but I'm still keeping my hopes up. I don't want to leave this area, especially right before Christmas time, but I'm not sure if it's worth it to get another companion.

Thanks everyone for tuning in, and please keep praying for Elder Wade. I'm fine, I could always use the prayers, but please pray that Elder Wade will somehow have a change of heart. He's had so many false positives for a change that I can't even expect a real change anymore. I love you all, keep the faith, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.