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

So for this week's email I only want to talk a little about what I actually did, and spend more time on what I learned.

So this week was pretty good, and it's fun being DL over a full sized District instead of just another area. I get to go on exchanges every week with missionaries and that's pretty great. ALL of the Elders in the District are top notch and obedient, so that means I don't have to deal with any problem children anymore which is pretty sweet biscuits. We spent most of last P-Day just cleaning the flatt because the missionary before me was pretty nastay, but all good because Cuenca's a clean missionary. Throughout the week not much has happened, but there are a few people we are going to start working with throughout this week. And I think this week we'll have a LOT of service going on: with members and non-members.

Elder Wheeler's and mine's exchange (made some gnarly

burgers for dinner, I did. God bless America).

Friday/Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Wheeler, the Zone Leader who's in our District. We
had a good exchange but I don't think he likes me very much. Oh well, not a big deal since our other ZL is Elder Swenson whom I knew back in Moe.

So as far as what I learned, and it only took 500 days to learn it (I literally had this revelatory study on day 500 on my mission). So I was reading in Alma 24, and the study of the life changing conversion of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies has been the core of my study for the past week, and I tell you what it has been amazing to study everything that they gave up in order to not only accept the gospel into their lives but to become stronger followers of Christ and avoid sin at all cost. But as I studied I pondered the kind of person that my mission has molded me into, and even though my awesome personality is still the same, there has been a lot of dirt and grit refined out of me through a stronger application of the gospel, and for the past 16 months I've been loving it. I thought about the kind of person I was back home, wondering what I would do to keep this kind of spiritual strength that I've had on my mission and continuously build upon it. Because there are many missionaries who go out in the field, work valiantly, change themselves entirely, and then return home and are quickly swept back into old habits, I want to avoid that trend. I don't want that to happen to me because I love who I've become. I wondered on not only the person I was back home in whom I will avoid entirely, but WHY I was that person and exactly WHAT was it that caused me to behave in such a way.

I kid you not and exaggerate nothing when I say that the windows of heaven were opened to me and the Lord revealed to me the answer. And to my parents who read this I am sure that this revelation, almost a vision, has been an answer to many of your prayers. But let me get back to what I studied. These Anti-Nephi-Lehite converts buried their weapons of war. Why? They USED to be a kind of people amongst the Lamanites who desired in bloodshed, then left that group to pursue the Gospel. When the Lamanites, who were only once their brothers and friends, took up arms against them and they were going to go to war, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies went and buried their weapons of war to prevent them from shedding further blood. They would not even come close to RISKING killing lest they again find desire and joy in bloodshed. Would defending themselves against the wicked be considered wrong? Of course not: the Nephites did it all the time and the Lord blessed them! But they buried their weapons of war so they could accept physical death, but retain for themselves eternal life in the life to come. They knew fully of the Plan of Salvation, and would not risk coming close to spoiling their chances of the atonement, especially since they've already been forgiven one of all their murders.

So where am I going with this? I'll explain my own personal weapons of war which caused me to desire in my own spiritual bloodshed that I NEED to get rid of. Like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies my weapons are not necessarily bad when used correctly and with control, but they didn't want to risk going back to old ways. And neither do I. It was literally revealed to me that my own weapons of spiritual death back home are electronic games, computer games, and some TV shows. Those are weapons of spiritual warfare that are not all necessarily bad, but I know that if I were to pick them up again after my mission, I will undoubtedly revert back to old ways and old habits of unchristlike characteristics that I have recently come to hate. I can't risk that. I just have to get rid of them. They didn't put their weapons of war on the shelf for a "just in case" moment, but they got rid of them to an extent that even if they DID want to use them, they wouldn't be able to, so instead of just keeping them in my closet for a "just in case" moment, I'm going to sell them when I get home.

I've learned that I must get rid of those video games once and for all and never pick them up again. Ever. The risk to lose everything that the mission has made me to become is too great. I want to secure for myself a happy and successful marriage, more time for scripture and secular study, skills and talents, time for a developing family, and all around success in all that I do. Video games, even in a small proportion, will strongly prohibit me from those things. I can't risk it, and I won't. The eternities are so much of a greater reward.

Elder Cuenca and I have a car, AND bikes!

Nothing in the world did I think could separate me from video and electronic games. I loved them back home and always looked forward to getting reacquainted with them again, but recently, like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, I've found something that's much greater. I don't want to sound all "Born-Again Christian", but dang what that chapter of the Book of Mormon, literally that one chapter, has completely changed the direction of my life. I love this Gospel so much. Love you all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

Ponderize: Alma 24: 16-17

PS: Mom and dad, don't get too happy with my email and sell all my stuff underneath my nose, because in order for this to work entirely I need to sell my stuff myself when I get home. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies didn't have someone else bury their weapons: they did it themselves.