The atonement is a real thing, and I can feel it working in my life constantly while here and I know that, if I keep prayer and study up and sharing the gospel, then I will feel the same when I get home.

Hey howdy hey y'all I finally hit that 700 day mark, which means that I've sad to say I've only got about 40 or so days to go before this blessed experience is gone and gone. But I got my new companion Elder Carroll and he's from Sydney here in Aussie land. He's a pretty cool guy but because he's Samoan there's obviously a lot of different cultural differences that makes it a bit tougher to get along. Not saying that we argue, but there is DEFINITELY a lot less things that I can relate to than with my past two companions Elder Theurer and Elder Van Wagoner. But with the atonement we can get along, it's just about recognizing the huge cultural differences and getting with it.

Elder Theurer, me and my new companion, Elder Carroll

But this week was pretty good. Elder Theurer stayed with us until Friday instead of just leaving on Tuesday because he was just going to fly down Wednesday morning to Tasmania and then fly back up Thursday night for the Zone Leader meeting and then just fly back down Friday night. No need for the waste, so they just decided to keep him here with us in our companionship in a trio. It was good to have him there for those extra couple of days to help me with the blow of having a totally new companion with a lot of differences, and I'm grateful for that. Now I've gotta help him get used to being a new Zone Leader and taking charge of the area, and at least we KNOW that he'll be doing that because we know where my next area is…… Vegas.

we got these lays made of candy, but I wont eat it

because it's hard candy and apparently it takes like

two weeks to make a single one, so I'll just wear it

home triumphantly instead

So something interesting that happened this week was that we went over about an hour and a half away to see one of Elder Carroll's friends come back from his mission from the Philippines. It was a HUGE Samoan party with a TON of loud, hard-beat music, and to be pretty honest.. I really DID NOT like it. It was probably one of the lowest spiritual settings I've ever been in as a missionary, and to be honest I just wasn't really happy at all while I was there. It would've been fun had I not been on a mission, but I just couldn't really enjoy it much. And to be honest, I don't think Elder Carroll's friend did either, even though he was Samoan as well. But it made me realize how much I really DON'T want to waste the last six weeks I have left, and I plan entirely on going full out as hard as I can for this last transfer. Elder Carroll and I had a really long, heartfelt talk about what needs to be done this transfer, so I can really feel that he and I are going to be great friends by the time this transfer ends.

Huge Samoan party... Look at all that food and decor!

Well I love you all, and sorry for the email not being very long. Busy day today, I've only got a couple of P-Days left so each and every one will probably be filled with a LOT of things to do before I fly home. But I'm so grateful to have been able to have had this chance to be on my mission. I love it a lot, and I'm really glad for how it has changed me. I want to serve as hard as I can while still here on the mission, but I'm also really excited to get home and get life rolling again. The atonement is a real thing, and I can feel it working in my life constantly while here and I know that, if I keep prayer and study up and sharing the gospel, then I will feel the same when I get home. Love you all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook