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

First of all sorry for not getting to you yesterday: it was Labor Day around these parts and all the libraries were closed. But we had our District P-Day yesterday which was a ton of fun, but I'll have to tell you about that next week. This week's been a bit interesting because as much work as we've done, there's not really much to talk about during the majority of the week. Seriously, just kinda going around doing this and that. But Wednesday was interviews with President Vidmar, and I just love him to death because he's just so encouraging. He basically told me that chances are I'll be staying in Patterson Lakes, and that makes me happy because holy ridiculousness I do not want to move right when I feel like I'm staying. I'd rip my eyes out if that happened. I want my next area to be Las Vegas, Nevada, and nothing else in between if at all possible. But it seems like that won't be a problem, and chances are that I'll be with a new companion next transfer too since Elder Theurer's been in this Stake for over a year, and that's just too long. I'll be honest I'll miss him a lot: he's a highly skilled missionary and I've realized just how much I've really learned from him this transfer.

Saturday was pretty cool because we did a lot of street contacting and a bit of tracting. Personally I still find tracting more effective than street contacting, but Elder Theurer's trainer Elder Steele was BIG into street contacting, so now he'd much rather do that. Oh well, I still don't mind it much. But we went tracting on Saturday and met a guy named Brian in his early 60's or so. He was pretty open with us because he remembers when he was a little kid almost 50 years ago his parents would have the Mormon missionaries over to their house and teach them, and he even recognized the Book of Mormon in our hands. He said he's never seen missionaries around since then, and long story short we're going to meet up with him sometime soon, hopefully. And guess what? We literally met him because I wanted to tract his street: Landon Place. I've seen streets and places with my last name every now and again, but my first name? AND the correct spelling? I've never seen anything like it before, so there wasn't any way I was going to pass that opportunity up.

We've still got a lot of investigators under our belt, and even though we try to meet with them they're just so busy. We'll keep trying, but man life sure does seem to get in the way sometimes.

So in my studies I've come across a few questions that I have, and it's interesting how simple this gospel is and yet, how the questions always keep multiplying. The question that I've been kinda wondering is, why is the Sword of Laban of such great importance? I mean, let’s be honest, it was passed down from generation to generation to the greatest prophets and kings in the American continent, and was passed down all the way to the hands of Joseph Smith in this last dispensation, and in the Journal of Discourses 19:38-39 Brigham Young says some really interesting things about the Sword of Laban, and I was just thinking "What is the eternal significance to it all? Why the Sword of Laban? Is there something here that'll strengthen my faith?" It's pretty interesting some of the things of this Gospel, but it's awesome. Still looking for an answer to that though, but hey it'll come.

I've also realized how absolutely blessed we are to have a prophet on earth. It's insane! We don't have to flounder around these stormy waters on a piece of floating plywood trying to survive with whatever we can scrape together: we have a ship! A seriously sturdy one that we can stay on as long as we are willing to keep the commandments and abide by the law of that ship. Sure we can abandon ship and go out on a lifeboat and try to look for another way, but to what? Just for the storm to eventually destroy that boat into floating plywood as well, and then we're begging back on that ship. I know that Jesus Christ is at the helm of this vessel, steering us to shore, the prophet is acting as co-captain, and all we need to do is obey the orders to man the sails of this ship. If we can pull our weight on this boat of the Gospel, we can look forward to eventually landing on that shore which is the Promised Land. Either until He comes again or calls me home, He can count on me to pull whatever ropes he needs me to or man whatever sails that need to be manned. To have a prophet of God giving orders that are perfect and in return promises our safety is a lifelong advantage to have that many others don't have, and similarly, I've found that many people will reject the safety of the ship on this stormy sea because they don't want to man the sails. It's sad to see my brothers and sisters bob up and down until eventually they never come back up, but we're looking for the ones who want back on that ship. If you aren't yet on the perfect ship built by the Lord, I would highly suggest it: and to do it hastily.

I love each and every one of you, and for those of you who email me and I don't get the chance or time to respond, just know that I really appreciate it and love it. Love all y'all's, and as always God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook