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

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.