So this week was actually a pretty fast week. The saying "the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days" is definitely a fact of the matter, because before I know it I've already woken up and then I'm studying and then I'm tracting and then I'm having dinner and then I'm in bed thinking "Woah, that was fast". So this week we had our first District Meeting as the Eltham/Cook Island District, and that was a bit weird, but I'll get the hang of it as time goes on. With only 4 Elders in the District we each have to give a training basically every District Meeting, so that's always fun when the same four guys preach to the same four guys every week about missionary work. I also went on my first exchanges with Elder Puing who's from the Philippines and goes home in a few months. I don't think we'll be able to do another exchange this week, but that's all good because there's only a few of us in the district.

W/Elder Steele, one of my most admired Elders at Zone interviews

Friday we had DLC, and because of the train having problems we ended up getting there about half an hour early. I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to being a leader, and being half an hour late to a meeting with the ZL's and the other DL's just made me feel a bit more inadequate for this, even though it wasn't my fault. This while DL thing is really tough and stressful, and I've never felt more stressful about something in my mission in my life. What makes it tough though is that I don't think the other Elders like me, and they look at me as "an aspirer", which basically means that I try to kiss up to people in order to attain leadership positions. They're not the most obedient Elders, and I think that's why they don't like me, especially knowing that I wasn't the most obedient missionary myself at the beginning of my mission. It's really frustrating, and sometimes I feel like they're just going to refuse participating in District Meetings and things. I don't know, it's just rough. I am completely aware that through this I will grow in experience, but at the same time going through the growing really sucks. Through this I've definitely had to rely on Heavenly Father for more help than ever, and I've also been relying on the ZL's for a lot of help and encouragement as well. Things'll get better, I'm more than positive of that.

I also had my last appointment with the eye doctor on Friday, and he said that within the next month

LAST TIME AT THE BAYSIDE EYE SPECIALISTS!!!

or so I can go back and "cautiously" go back to using contact lenses then. I miss them, but we'll be reunited soon enough!

Saturday we had interviews with President Vidmar. It was really good to get to talk to him personally and one on one. He's such a great Mission President. He told me not to stress out on all of this and that I will become such a stronger missionary through all of this. I don't really know how to explain it, but he really helped me out a lot. Him and I also discussed my plans for when I go home, and the reality of returning has never hit me so hard as when he said I now have permission to go online to sign up for different colleges. Wow, do I really have to start thinking about that now? So as of now I have to start planning out life back home, because now it's become more real than ever that I have to start doing that because it'll come quick.

We were also able to meet with Ray, and that was a really good experience. He said that he's going to be out of town for an extended period during the beginning of August, so we had to exnay the baptismal date. BUT he is committed to finding out for himself if the Book of Mormon is true, and when he is available he wants to meet up with us once, if not twice a week. He will make an awesome member of the Eltham ward when his time comes.

We also have a few other investigators that we are working with, but I'll mention them as time goes on and they start to progress a bit further. We have a return appointment with Richard and Leanne this week for a feed and a lesson, and they're an awesome investigator couple in their 50's or so, and Richard's mother was actually a VERY active member in another ward who passed away a few months ago. Things will start progressing here a bit faster this week, I can already tell.

It's been a crazy fast week this week, and I'm expecting that this week will be no different, and in the blink of an eye I'll be sitting at this computer again next week telling you all about it. To my little brother Austin who recently got his call to the Philippines: if you have any feeling of inadequacy in your capacity, don't worry, because right now so do I. But Heavenly Father has called us both to areas that are past our capacities so that we can meet our Father in heaven's high expectations. Love you all, and I know that this work will always continually progress, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

Just doing important District Leader things

     Just doing important District Leader things

Got to celebrate Elder Chings birthday at the Basil's house 

For those especially cold winter days...

You wear plaid flannels under your suit pants

I just couldn't resist!

G'day m8 how ya goin'? So this week was my first week as a District Leader. Kinda funny to see about half of my bros from the MTC have already been Zone Leaders for half of their mission and I JUST became a District Leader. I consider it a blessing that I've served most my mission as a "normal" missionary, because from what I've heard, leadership positions are tough!

But this week of this new transfer has definitely been one for the books. Tuesday was nothing but disappointment after disappointment: a few of our dinner appointments for the week cancelled, I missed a really important "new leadership training" meeting because I thought it was on Wednesday and not on Tuesday (I'm sure that left a good impression on the new Mission President), our investigator "old man" Ian ended up dropping us, and then at a youth activity I smashed both of my feet because I thought it would be a great idea to play indoor soccer with my shoes off. THEN on Wednesday I ended up getting a call from the mission office saying that a street camera caught me running a red light (which is a load of trash because in that intersection you can be in it when the light is green, and then it turns yellow and then red all while you're IN the intersection. THAT'S how I got my ticket), and then we were told that during this weekend's Stake-wide mini mission we were only getting ONE mini-missionary instead of two like we originally planned. It was just bad news after bad news after bad news, and at this point it was only Wednesday!

BUT it didn't stay that way! Thursday we ended up getting a call from the Elders in Caulfield saying that they found someone who lives in our area who's really keen to meet up with missionaries! So we went over to this guy Richard's place, and he was like "Elders! Come on in!", which is something I haven't heard from a non-member in a few months. So yeah, Richard lives with his girlfriend and their both in their 50's or so, and Richard's mom is was a member and was baptized about 40 years ago, but passed away in February and is now REALLY wondering about the church. So it's good that we've found him, but it doesn't look like we'll be able to meet up with him again until sometime NEXT week which is a bit unfortunate. We haven't been able to meet up with Ray yet because he's looking for a job, but don't worry because we keep close tabs on him as well.

Friday I went to my first DLC, or District Leadership Council, which is basically where the District Leaders get together with the Zone Leaders to discuss the progress of each area and each companionship. Since it was my first time and I've only got literally only two areas to look after there wasn't much for me to say. This week we have our first District Meeting as the Eltham District, so I guess we'll see how that goes. Never run a District Meeting before, so this'll be fun...

Friday night we also had a meeting to pick up our mini missionary, and even thought it was only one I was still pretty stoked about it. But you'll never guess who didn't show up: our mini missionary. It was really a big downer because we had so much planned out for that day, but our pre-assigned mini missionary didn't even come. Ugh, what a bummer THAT!!!

I ended up getting sick on Sunday, so that wasn't too great either, and I've still got a bit of remnants from it lingering today. It's okay though because I can heal from illness pretty quickly, so it should be gone by tomorrow.

So in my personal studies I have recently begun the book of Alma. The teachings of Nehor I've found, that God saves EVERYONE no matter if you're wicked or righteous, is running rampant throughout the world today. "Lift up your heads and rejoice; for the Lord...redeem[s] all men; and, in the end; all men should have eternal life." How often do we see this destructive belief in our society today? Alma the younger even gives a very obvious warning to it in verse 12 of Alma 1, saying "And were priest craft to be enforced among this people it would prove their entire destruction." And boy oh boy is this society headed in that direction because of that belief. The hardheartedness of people is real, and as the world grows more and more wicked it is harder and harder to find the elect. But they're out there. Somewhere, beyond the sea... somewhere, waiting for me...

That's been my week! Hopefully things will start to climb up from here! We're going on exchanges this week, so that'll also be a first as a DL, and on Friday I'm going to the eye doctor, hopefully for the last time. Saturday we've got interviews with President Vidmar, so throughout the week I've been trying to think of things to say or questions to ask him. Love you all, take care, and to Austin, good luck in the Philippines mate! And don't worry, from what I've heard is that the mission provides toilet paper for you (from members with family serving there). Love you all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

Ponderize: Doctrine and Covenants 29: 5-7

At the massive meeting to collect our mini-missionaries (who didn't show up )

Me and Elder Ching enjoying a drive

Hey mamma, Look at the road sign I found the other day!

Found Batman a few days ago!

Playing stick hockey with the Young Men

Hello everyone, it's been a bit of a wild week so I'm just gonna go ahead and ask for about 5 minutes of your time to tell you about it! So here we go!

Entering the Eureka Skydeck

Monday for P-Day we went with the zone to go into the heart of the city, so that was the third time I've been on my mission. We went to this place called Skydeck which is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, and it was like $20.00 to go to the top. The elevator went to the 88th floor in about 30 seconds, so we were going completely vertical at what felt like rocket speed to my ears. It was cool, but after about 5 minutes the view got pretty boring, so we all basically went just for the sake of saying that we went. It was cool though, but once is definitely enough.

So a quick sum-up of this week, we were able to go through some former investigator records and were able to find a guy in his late 20's or so named Ben, and he's pretty cool! He works as a personal trainer at a local gym so he's super buff, but we he let us come in and teach him about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. He finds the old English a bit hard to understand, but he said that last weekend while he flew to Adelaide and back he would read a few chapters we gave him, so this week we'll go visit and follow up with him on that. He seems pretty solid, so that's a HUGE answer to our prayers.

Saturday night we also met with Alex Hyatt's roommate, Ray, who's not a member. We've met Ray a few times and a few weeks ago we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would start to read it. SO when we went on Saturday night for a feed with him and Alex we followed up on that, and he said that he LOVES it: in the past two and a half weeks he's read all the testimonies along with 1 and 2 Nephi along with all of Jacob, and he understands it perfectly! He says that he'll read a few chapters a night and ponder it's messages that it has, and since Elder Ching and I haven't met ANYONE like that in this area, we knew this was a huge miracle! Ray only moved in with Alex about a month ago, so to me it's obvious the reason why he's been one way or another prompted to board with Alex. AFTER having this kind of gospel discussion (along with other things of the church teachings) we ate dinner, and then went on to teach the restoration. The spirit was really strong, and Ray without any real hesitation accepted to be baptized on the 20 of August when we invited him to do so!!!!!! HOLY FRENCH TOAST MOLLY!!! This was the miracle we've been looking for! And the cool thing is, is that he's SUCH a friendly, bouncy, personable guy! Like honest, he would get along SO well with the members in this ward! He said he'd be more than happy to come to church, but only once he can get his hands on a white button down shirt, and he's also willing to meet with us so we can share the discussions with him! FINALLY has our work in this part of the Lord's vineyard begin to bear fruit! Such a great blessing, and honestly, it's all come from working hard and seemingly using this "bite the bullet" area to push our test of obedience and diligence. SWEET-AS!!!

Elder Ching in our dinky little flatt (but I love it)

So yeah, this Sunday night we had transfers, and both Elder Ching and I are staying, which I'm now
glad that I'm staying, but sometimes Elder Ching's Chinese humor is really strange, and sometimes a bit creepy, but hey, not all companions are alike. It's kinda like having a shadow follow me around instead of a companion, because he literally follows EVERYTHING I do. It's like that episode of SpongeBob where Patrick copies exactly EVERYTHING that SpongeBob does, and it's REALLY kinda freaky. Oh well, another 42 days doesn't hurt nobody. And also I'm the District Leader, but we probably have the smallest District in the entire mission because it's only like 2 companionships within the District, so it's not much to hoot and holler about. Fun stuff, fun stuff.

So that's this week, and this next week will be full of adventures and other stuff happening. My eye is still doing alright and I'm still staying away from contact lenses, but next week I get to go to the doctors to see if contacts are now allowed for me. I think it should be fine, but doctors orders. My face is still pretty fat, and that makes me a bit sad sometimes, but I know that I'll lose it when I get home. Oh well, at least I'm not serving in a Polynesian area (then my face'd get REALLY fat). Love you all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook
Ponderize: Hebrews 12:6

I couldn't resist!  It was 4th of July, I had to, God bless America.

Elder Ching and I at the top of the Skydeck

View from Skydeck

More view from skydeck

View from Skydeck

View From Skydeck

Transfer predictions before and after the callout

out of the 10 missionaries in the district, I predicted (more like prophesied, haha) all 10 on who'd be staying & who'd be going

we got to help with a primary activity on Thursday, it was fun

Got to make a giant puzzle piece with the kiddies

we got to help with a primary activity on Thursday, it was fun

Who called me as District Leader .. Why am I District Leader? This was my reaction

First of all God bless America, so let's go ahead and get that out of the way because today is the 4th of July in Australia, but somewhere in America is it independence day.

So this week was definitely a faster paced one because of the multiple meetings and events that we had. The missionary work among the members is slowly but surely picking up, and the members are starting to refer us to a few people they know every now and again, so that's really encouraging to see that they are starting to get the grip and vision of the work. The members don't really know the exact addresses of these people they want us to see (which I kinda find funny) so we'll be doing lots of tracting this week to find them.

Thursday was the day that President and Sister Vidmar officially arrived in the mission, so that was really cool, but sadly Friday morning President and Sister Maxwell returned home to Utah, so now they're gone and I feel lots of things are going to change, because from the way President Vidmar is, I don't really think he will have any tolerance to the least degree for disobedience or laziness, and I know that half of the mission is screaming "This is great! I can't wait for what the future holds!" and the other half is saying "Ah crap, things are going to get really tough around here". Luckily I'm with the first half. Friday we got to meet President and Sister Vidmar, and since they both did gymnastics in their early lives they're both only like 5"6", which was really different standing next to them compared to President Maxwell who's like 6'2". They're short, but they're awesome!

Elder Ching and I keepin it real with the scoreboard

Saturday the church had this MASSIVE regional basketball youth thingy between like 9 different stakes within Victoria, and it was really cool because I got to see a few of the members from Hastings and from Moe. I got to see the Winfields! Well, Liam and David weren't there which made me sad, but that's alright. And also Riley Pollard, he's the man, and the Stirling's which was cool too. It was basically an all day thing, and as missionaries our responsibility was to keep score for all of the teams all day long. It was weird paying such close attention to something not-missionary-related for an entire day. But it was still heaps of fun.

Such a happy happy day!  Love the Winfields and Elder Holt!

Sunday was a normal day of studies, church, and ward council. During the night we also had a devotional where Jason Smith, an Australian basketball player, and a guy from politics spoke, and President Vidmar spoke too. It was more of a series of motivational speeches because I don't think the first two were members, but it was great anyways. Since there were TONS of stakes there I instantly looked around for any Moe members once it ended,

and sure enough about 10 rows behind me I could see David Winfield's chrome dome reflecting my face back at me (I love him, I can say things like this about him...he doesn't mind), and they were with Elder Holt too!!! Talk about a sweet reunion! So we talked and stuff for a while and it was awesome, and I wasn't too broken up when we had to leave because hey, I'll see them again about this time next year anyways. No worries. I also talked to Elder Steele, and can I just say that he is probably one of the most optimistic and faithful missionaries I've seen on my mission? Seriously. We talked a few minutes about the Eltham area and that things aren't really picking up, and he really got me encouraged to have faith that the Lord is definitely preparing people, and he's definitely a missionary I want to aspire to be like. Not because he's the Assistant, but because he's so encouraging to be around. I look up to him in every way.

So my ponderize scripture this week. I chose it because Jesus Christ laid His life for us all, and many people would do the same. People think of "laying their life" as dying for something, but what about living for something? Many people would die for the sake or Christ, but are they willing to live the rest of their lives as an example of Him? That is the stronger version of laying down our lives means that we submit our lives to him, not necessarily die for the cause of Christ, but live for it and to spread it around. Do we do that, not only as missionaries, but as normal members of His restored church?

So that's me for the week, and this week is the last week of this transfer. I don't really care if I stay or go, but it doesn't matter because we are placed where we are needed. This week will be different because this week, we won't just be working hard: but we'll be working with the faith to find as well. I don't expect it to be a good week: I already know it's going to be, because the Lord has sent me here to find people who are prepared, not waste my time uselessly knocking doors all day. So this week, we are going to be led to those who are prepared. Love you all, and hey, Austin, good luck in the Philippines mate! Take care, love you all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

Ponderize: John 15:13

The whole view

Riley Pollard playing with a broken thumb (because he's too much of a man)

I couldn't resist.  Its 4th of July In my Country :) 

Why with the Halloween decorations lady..

Halloween in July...Why?

Successfully made orange chicken! Thanks mamma for the ingredients!