Manoa's Baptism!!! Bazil Rawiri was 

the man to baptize her, it was great

Transfers were here, and we have our news. But so for this week not really much has happened besides the few REALLY big things. Manoa's baptism happened on Saturday and was really great and spiritual, and there were a few tears shed there, and yesterday at church she was confirmed. With the help of her uncle Bazil and Michael there, she will definitely make an awesome member of the church. She already has such a great testimony of the church and is so grateful for her new knowledge of Jesus Christ and the prophet Joseph Smith and Thomas S. Monson. The ward has been such a huge help in this endeavor. After she was baptized her and her 11 year old cousin Ava went up to sing a primary church song about Jesus Christ, but the spirit was really strong and that, mixed with a bit of stage fright, left them in tears and unable to sing because they were crying too hard. Ava gave a talk earlier and did well, so I know that it wasn't stage fright that caused that to happen, The sprit was very strong in that instance, and it was one of the most spiritual baptisms I've been blessed to take a part in. I love this gospel.

Ian doesn't seem to be progressing at all and is sitting in still water when it comes to spiritual progression, especially since his ex has moved back in with him and is refusing to leave, and she completely sucks him dry of all his resources, even though he barely has enough to scrape by. When it comes to his community service he just flat out doesn't go because he "slept in" or just bluntly tells us "I didn't want to go today" (he's just been sitting around his flat day in and day out just listening to music and watching TV). Heavenly Father has given all of us our agency to use correctly or incorrectly towards progression, and I know that he has the right goal in mind, but his path to get there has been very hazed as of lately.

Thursday I again went to the eye doctor, and he said that everything is looking fine again, it's just really weird that it would flare up again all of a sudden after two months, but that I need to see him again in six weeks or so. I haven't worn contact lenses in the past two or three weeks, but I still hate wearing glasses and plan on going back to contact lenses when I get the okay, it's just that I need to take better care of them from here on out.

So as for transfer news: Holt is staying, and I'm leaving. I was really hoping that I

Our awesome mid-air high five

would be able to stay in this blessed area of Moe for one more transfer, especially with such a gun companion as Elder Holt, but it really does seem like the great companionships never really last long around here. Worsencroft, Vaiouga, Holt, ALL of them were only one transfer. That gets REALLY frustrating sometimes that that happens, but hey, it's up to what the Lord wants me to learn, not what I want. My new area is in some place called Eltham or something like that in Heidelberg Zone, which is from what I've been told is really close to Melbourne, so I'm no longer a bush ranger missionary and am headed very close to the city. My new companion is Elder Chen or Ching or Ping or something like that, I couldn't really hear over the phone, but the last name is definitely Chinese, and if he is Chinese then he's most likely a hard working missionary, because rarely do you find lazy Chinese missionaries. I thought I would be all "boohoo" for leaving here and shed a few tears or so, but nah! I mean, I am gutted to leave this area and ward especially since it's been so great to me, but I just look at is as "This is part of the mission to have your heart ripped out multiple times over and over again", so I've just gotten really used to it at this point. And plus, I've always wanted to serve close to the city, so this'll be a really different experience for me. Wish me luck!

Doing de Zoosh face w/the Winfields (Don't mind my shoes)

I'm so grateful to have served here in Moe. It has been so amazing to have fallen in love with this area, and especially with this ward. I plan fully on returning, but then again, ALL missionaries say that and rarely does it happen, especially when it's an overseas mission. And plus, we lose President Maxwell in a month. It's been really great knowing him, and I'm sad to see him leave, but I am also excited to see what President Peter Vidmar has in store for this mission. From what I've heard he should be able and willing to purge this mission of a LOT of disobedience, and for that I sure am hopeful for. I love you all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

Ponderize: Mosiah 4: 16-21

pictures of lunch at Bazil Rawiri's place after the baptism

pictures of lunch at Bazil Rawiri's place after the baptism

pictures of lunch at Bazil Rawiri's place after the baptism

pictures of lunch at Bazil Rawiri's place after the baptism

Effective study times with Elder Holt

With David, Dianne, and Tamzyn Smith

Me and Callan and Catherine Brooks

With the Gilbert family, who is moving out of the ward
overseas themselves in about two or three weeks time

With the Perry's

With the Pollards and Adrianna

Someone had this actually sitting in their front yard :)

Well first off, let's start by talking about what we did last P-Day! The Winfields took us to the Queen Victoria Markets which was amazing, and with so many cool things there and heaps of awesome

Spending an amazing day in Melbourne with the Winfields ♥

souvenirs to get my little American heart went haywire like a kid in a candy shop. Had an awesome day with them. but I'll just skim by it, along with a few other things throughout the week, because I really want to have enough time to write about the spiritual experiences we've had throughout the week, so I'll just skim by everything else. But yes, we had an amazing time with them that Tuesday, and we were more than happy that we were able to get that permission from President Maxwell to go with them.

Wednesday nothing really much happened because after our studies we had to drive two hours towards Melbourne because Elder Holt is still having problems with his back and we went to go see Santos Martinez, who is the physiotherapist for the Melbourne Storm rugby team, who also happens to be a member. Driving back was ridiculous and basically knocked out the rest of our day because traffic was horrible and it was rainy: took us almost four hours to get home. UGH!!!! We also saw Ozzi and Rawry, and they haven't been to church in the past month or so, including this week, and that's basically because their dad is being very difficult and is practically encouraging the both of them not to go to church. It's really frustrating, but there's not much we can do about it. We try to encourage the ward members to help out, but considering most of them live half an hour away and a majority of the ones here in Moe don't really see the need to help it's a bit of a burden. But hey, we've done our part to the max, and

Wiped out after the day of driving for ages

hopefully things will turn around in the future!

Thursday, again, we had to spend outside of our area, and that's because I had to again go to the eye doctor because my right eye is acting up again and was really sensitive towards light. The doctor said it's weird since it's been about two months, but for now I'm basically completely off contact lenses until further notice. I have another appointment with him this Friday, so yeah, it kinda sucks, especially since the new eye drops I have to use feel like hand sanitizer in my eye, but it gets rid of the light sensitivity!

Friday we had our exchanges, and Elder Johnson and I went together. When we went to go visit some less active members. There was this one family, the Donoghues, that are really nice, but this time was really different because as soon as Sister Donoghue saw us she let us in and we just made casual talk with them for a bit. They had recently gone to Costco a few days prior, and they gave Johnson and I each a can of sweet American nectar that they call A&W Root Beer. Aw, it was great! And plus, they even gave us four to take home as well!! Aw yiss!!! But what was strange was how open they were to having us inside, so hopefully we'll be able to make some leeway with them in the future. Johnson and I went to go see Ian as well with our ward mission leader Bazil Rawiri. So Ian has really been digressing in spiritual sensitivity, so that night was a bit about him and was in the sense of a spiritual intervention. At first he said he forgot to cancel with us for a different night because his footie team was on, but I wasn't in any mood to turn around so he could watch TV. We basically ignored his comment entirely and went to the table to talk with him. As we talked at first Ian kept his full attention on the TV and faced towards it, but calmly I asked if he could turn the TV off, and after a bit of hesitation he reluctantly did so. He turned off the TV himself, which was a step in the right direction in realizing this was more important that whatever was on, even if his team WAS playing. Carefully and spiritually Johnson and I analyzed the situation, and I recounted to Ian the allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5, and to my surprise Ian could recount the story, from the Lord and the servants of the vineyard, they good and bad branches, and the calling forth of more servants, but he admitted that he didn't know what any of it really meant. Since that chapter has been the huge portion of my studies over the past weeks, and that I had finished it the morning of, I told him the servants represent members of the church, especially us as missionaries, and that the world was the vineyard, specifically in this instant, HE was. I told Ian that in recent times, Holt and I have worked diligently for his sake and progression to bear fruit, but in recent times his branches have become wild and fruit bitter, leaving Holt and I to wonder "What could I have done more for my vineyard?". The answer was simple: nothing. Bluntly, yet full of the spirit I told Ian it was his own pride that he was no longer producing fruit. Looking straight into his eyes I told him that we honestly considered dropping him, and that really shook him up yet got the message across. There was a wonderful spirit in the room when I related to him that each choice has one of two outcomes: moving closer to God for further away from him. The message was received, and Bazil bore a strong testimony of his personal love for the Savior and how if Ian does the right thing he can come over this trail. Ian got the message loud and clear: he needs to use his own agency for good, whether he's motivated to or not, and we can't do that for him. He was amazed at his new understanding of that chapter and how it really applied to him, because when he first read that chapter months ago it made no sense to him, but now it was everything to him! There was a strong feeling of love in the room that night, and we all exchanged hugs and left, leaving Ian with a recognition for a love of the scriptures and motivation to keep pressing forward. The spirit was SO strong in that moment, and it's reasons like that that I love my mission.

Saturday was the dreaded 11-hour challenge: no lunch breaks, no dinner breaks, no teaching appointments, nothing. Just. Straight. Tracting. It was one heck of a challenge, especially during the night when absolutely no one wants to see you, but we were determined to do it. Tracting during the night is definitely the best way to find the Lords elect and prepared. Sure everyone who isn't prepared is mad to see you, but that doesn't matter, because EVERYONE is home during the night hours, and if they are prepared, then they will let you in and it will all be worth it. We got about half a dozen new contacts, but even with 11 hours of straight tracting we were really hopefully to get heaps more, but I guess that's alright because we worked through it at all. Ask any other missionary of their opinion of tracting literally all day long with no breaks and their faces will go pale, but we did it, and even though our feet were severely sore we got it all done. It was awesome!!!

Melbourne with Elder Holt and Winfields

Yesterday was great too, because church was fantastic. Julie, Ian, and Manoa all came, and Julie really seemed to like church. Manoa is going to get baptized this Saturday for sure unless something drastic happens (again), but that's what I said last time, so this time I'm making sure to keep my guards up for disappointment. Hopefully not though. After church we had our Soup Sunday, which is always nice for getting together with the ward in fellowship. After that we went to go teach a few less active families then headed out to Warragul to do some work there, and we taught a few other less active families and part member families out there.

So, Sunday night tho. We taught Julie again, and long story short the spirit was overwhelmingly powerful, and we basically recounted to her that she had HAD her spiritual experience about the church, and it was undeniable (referring to the first time we met and taught with her with Casil), and that with that witness she must ACT and not postpone!!! The spirit was so strong, and somehow I was able to liken her special witness to the gospel to the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, how she has received her golden ticket (spiritual witness), and that in order to make it to the end of the tour and not carelessly fall off after each room (be baptized) she must follow the tour guide (us as missionaries) through the factory (doctrine of the church) in order to make it. It was spiritually powerful, and although she understood it she still hasn't grasped the IMPORTANCE of it, especially in keeping commitments, because she dedicated her time 100% to her children, hand and foot. I know she loves her children, but the best way for her to parent them is to lead by example, but again, it will come with time.

It has been a FANTASTIC week, and sadly this week will most likely be my last week in this blessed area and ward, as next week Sunday night is transfer news. I pray I stay to finish my training with Holt, but at the same time it doesn't look likely. Hopefully though. Love you all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

Ponderize: Jacob 5: 70-72

A lot of people in Melbourne

Nice Hummer limo

The streets of Melbourne, Australia

Found A street in honor of my dad, Russell

There we are on the big screen in Melbourne

The Winfields are such a blessing to us.  They take us to so many exciting places

Elder Holt and I

 

We are treated so well and fed like kings when with the Winfields

David Winfield

Exhausted from the days activities but hungry :)

Love this man!

The following photos is all of our loot from the Victoria Markets

My dad requested these special gems personally

Some fun items we saw from Victoria Markets

So it's been a pretty good week so far. We had a new contact, Rochelle, that we went to go follow up on Monday, but she dodged us. Oh well, it happens a lot. Last P-Day we didn't really do much, but we did go up to the tennis courts and played tennis which was fun. The weather here has been really weird, which I guess means it's pretty normal because weird weather is the norm here. One day it can be cold windy and rainy and the other day it can be ridiculously hot, or all in one day it'll be cold

Tennis time with Elder Holt

windy and rainy, then the afternoon be not a cloud in the sky, then the evening be cold cloudy and rainy again. It's rather annoying. But Elder Holt and I are still doing great and are working our tails off out here, and this is by far the fastest that a transfer has gone by, without a shadow of a doubt. It's sad knowing that because by the end of this transfer that means I will probably be leaving this blessed little area of Moe and will be put with a new companion, which stinks because I love this area and I love this companionship. But that always seems to be the case eh? Oh well, it's all part of the call. I'll try to convince President Maxwell to let me stay just one more transfer, but 7 1/2 months here would be one heck of a stretch.

Elder Holt and I at the Melbourne Temple

Wednesday we had Elder Holt's Golden Review, which is where everyone with their green missionaries gets together to have them review all of the things they have learned. Technically I'm a trainer, but since Elder Holt has been out for 8 months then had to go home, he already has great knowledge and skill as an experienced missionary AND the fire of a new one, so in short, he is just the man. Thursday we went to the temple, and a Sister of the ward was there getting her endowments for the first time, and along with us were about half a dozen other members of the ward. She was glad us missionaries were there, and her reaction was kinda like mine the first time I went through. Kinda like "What the heck was that!? But I loved it!". It's a Mormon inside joke, you wouldn't get it.

SOOOO as for Ian, he isn't really getting anywhere towards baptism close. Because he has a lot of service hours to complete he is really discouraged by it, and he basically just pretends like the hours don't exist and he always dodges his meetings to get those hours checked off. It's really annoying, because he's a 42 year old man and he still sleeps in until 11:00AM, and his service appointments are at 9:30AM, and instead of showing up late and apologizing he just decides to not go at all. It's frustrating because it seems like his spiritual progression is really halted. And plus, he's got his ex-girlfriend living with him who refuses to smoke outside and drinks heaps of coffee and basically just leeches off of him, even though he barely has enough resources to take care of himself. But he's not assertive and won't kick her out, even though she has literally kicked him out of his own bed and makes him sleep on the couch and treats him like a slave. He wants her gone, but he won't push her to it. And because she smokes like a chimney and smokes inside he's now reverted back to smoking because his entire house smells like 2nd hand smoke. See where the frustration lies? The lack of assertion is causing his spiritual regression.

Manoa is still good for the 28th this month, and that's awesome. She is basically a youth member of the ward, just waiting to hit the water. We meet with her at least twice a week, but she's doing great.

Yesterday we decided to get out to Warragul to go out and do work there. Warragul really needs missionaries of its own, but we're happy to get out there and do the work. About 5-10 years ago there were Elders there with HEAPS of investigators, but then suddenly they were taken out and all those investigators were never again contacted, so Elder Holt and I are making it our job to go out and go recontact them. Rick Fornaro is a member near Warragul where they basically started their own branch, most of it consisting on non-member attendees, but was disbanded for some reason. We went up on Sunday after church and talked to him about all the people who were dropped, and he drove us around looking to re-establish contact with them again. Either no one was home or was not interested, but he is fully dedicated with us to get the missionary work up and running back in Warragul, and we are excited for it. It's just sad that I NEVER thought about doing this before. But THAT'S why this area needs Elder Holt!!!

As for plans this week, today isn't officially our P-Day, and that's because we asked President Maxwell for permission to go to the Victoria Markets in Central Melbourne tomorrow in switch of our P-Day, and he and our ZL's were fine with it. So tomorrow we to the Vic Markets with the Winfields, and it's gonna be SWEET!! To my family, I'm going to but each of you a kangaroo sack penny pouch, because I think if I'm going to get all of you one, that's the place to do it! We're also going to go to Melbourne again on Thursday for a doctor’s appointment for Elder Holt, so that'll be fun. It'll be a fast paced week. And also, come this Saturday we have fully dedicated it to doing the 11 hour challenge: from the time it's time to leave the flatt at 10:00AM until it's time to go home at 9:00PM, we are gonna straight tract. No breaks, just tracting, no matter how many people we irritate during the night time. It's a championship belt no missionary we know has carried, but we will do it this week.

That's it family, it's been great and will continue to be great. Recently over the past few days I have dove into Jacob 5 in my studies, and literally I have studies that puppy for the past four days. What an amazing chapter it is, and all it does is show us how much the Lord loves us, and that no matter how low we seem to sink or how worthless we seem to him, he will always work with us until we become fruitful. What an amazing chapter, but it's so sad knowing that not everyone will ever read it in their lives because of their stubbornness to learn. So sad because I have gotten so much out of it and I love it, but not everyone will choose to let it affect them in such a way. Read it and study it, because to me, it is one of the best chapters, alongside 2 Nephi 4, in the entire Book of Mormon. I plead with you, members and non-members alike, to read, study, and really think about what this message means to you. Love you all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

Ponderize: Jacob 5:41

The Winfields dropped cookies off at our flatt ♥

Massive Feed at Bazil Rawiri's house

Elders Quorum event: speed chess tournament,

and somehow I won it all, it was awesome

I am the white pieces. In a minute and a half and in one 

swift movement of the queen to take out the rook all the 

way from the far corner, I accidentally put the other guy 

in checkmate. I was definitely the underdog and expected 

to lose, but I won triumphantly

Sons of Crofty

Maddy Pollard, member of the ward, giving us haircuts

Ross Gilberts 40 year old wooden mallet makes a great Thor hammer 2

Elder Holt giving the hammer a try

Helping Ross Gilbert set up a MASSIVE hitch tent

Elder Holt helping set up the tent

Ross's son

it's like a pup-up trailer, but a tent. It's HUGE!!!