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!