So hey hi what a crazy fast week it's been. I think I've
only got like 13 P-Days left which is a weird thought thinking that I started
out with over 100.
Anyways, last week was indeed my birthday and we shot a
spoof video, so I'll be spending some
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| Awesome surprise 21 Birthday Party W/the Tuaopepe family |
approved computer time to edit it today.
It was fun, and then we had dinner over at the Tuaopepe's. They are amazing for throwing me a 21st SURPRISE Birthday!! Awesome family and tasty food! Thanks mom for
setting that up!
Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Wangaratta Elders
since Elder Knight is the District Leader. It was a ton of fun, and I went with
Elder Christensen while Van took the other two. Elder Christensen not very confident in
tracting but in our tracting adventures he was the one to give out two copies of
the Book of Mormon, and one of those people, Nathan, we'll be going back to see
tomorrow. It's pretty dang awesome. Oh, and about two weeks ago we helped some Young Single Adult aged girl with a flat tire, and then randomly last week her dad called us
with the number we gave her thanking us! So that was pretty cool.
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| Because I had to ....that's why. |
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| Elder VanWagoner & I in front of the many ads from the Church |
Wednesday was cool, nothing but driving down to Melbourne.
Took ages for us to find a place to park but we did. Holy cow are the
advertisements for the church cool!! AND THEY ARE EVERYWHERE DOWN IN SOUTHERN
CROSS!!! I MEAN THEY JUST CARPET BOMBED THE ENTIRE PLACE WITH
"MORMON" EVERYWHERE!!! And it's not just ads for the musical, I mean
the church legitimately has ads EVERYWHERE!!! So cool, I'll send photos. Kinda
stinks that our Zone gets practically NO benefit from it because we're so dang
far away from civilization, but that's the way the cookie crumbles: someone's
gotta do it! It was cool walking around (which we got permission for) because
every one of us (we were with the Echuca Elders) took a Book of Mormon to take
pictures with, and within 45 minutes we had them ALL given away! And not
because we were trying to give them away, but because people would just come up
to us and ask for one. Like what the heck that's a dream come true for this
mission! Baptisms gonna SKYROCKET!
Thursday was cool because we got to have a conference with
Elder S. Gifford Nielsen from the 70, and it was really revelatory. And his
testimony of the restoration and atonement of Jesus Christ is just, wow... I've
never seen groups of Samoans get so quite so fast. You could hear a pin drop.
It was just fantastic. And then Friday we had an Mission Leadership Council with him, where it's JUST
the Zone Leaders of the mission get to stay in a two hour meeting and
specialized training with him. He talked a lot about how to lead by example and
that we don't need permission for EVERY LITTLE THING THAT WE DO, which I feel a
lot of Zone Leaders needed to hear. President trusts us with the things that we
do,
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Photo with Elder and Sister Nielsen of the 70
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and he hasn't got time to approve of every little move we make.
Saturday was fun too because we went on exchanges with the
Assistants, Elder Howell and Bennion, but it was basically just drive around
for a while, eat spaghetti, and then have exchange review, and then went back
to Shepparton. Those two are great, but it'll be sad to see that Elder Howell's
gonna be gone in the next few days, but that's mission life and I ain't too far
behind!
Sunday we did the normal thing, but we watched the worldwide
two hour broadcast regarding the schedule change, which is now official. Two
hours of extra P-Day time, an extra half hour before studies (we still have to
get up at 6:30AM), extra night time, and it's just a bit more relaxed! I love
it because our lives are pretty full on, so this'll help. Some of the
missionaries in the Zone are up in arms about it, but they've only been out a
few months. I'm really glad for it, it gives us more flexibility to
use our schedules better. And plus more morning exercise time.
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| I LOVE the Gospel of Jesus Christ and love sharing it! |
That's it for this week, but I do want to share a spiritual
moment that we had this week. So Thursday was Australia day, which to a lot of
people here is just another reason to get drunk, and through a series of
unfortunate events we had to drive through Melbourne pretty late. I asked Elder
Van Wagoner to offer up a prayer that we could drive safely just as we were
entering the highway since I was driving, and just a few minutes after driving
we noticed something: about 200 feet in front of us was a huge cluster of cars,
and about 200 feet behind us was a huge cluster of cars. But we were the ONLY
car in between these two herds of cars: we were literally in a type of bubble
the WHOLE time on the highway, and we drove like that for nearly 45 minutes. It
was nothing short of miraculous. Prayers are amazing, and I know that the Lord
answers them. Not always as fast as you'd hope, but I know that they are
answered if we have that faith. It's amazing how the Lord works his mighty
works. Absolutely amazing. I love this church and this restored gospel, I wish
more people would just test the waters because it's so amazing.
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| OH MY GURSH IT'S EVERYWHERE!!!!!! |
That's my week, and it's strange to see that the fuse is
getting shorter and shorter. I love the mission but I'm also excited to go
home. So many missionaries see being excited to go home as a bad thing, like
"Urrhrhur you're not paying attention to the mission!" No, I am, but
faith points to the future, and crashing and burning when I get home isn't
something that shows faith, so I have to prepare now. But I love the mission
and love you all, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.
-Elder Landon Cook
Ponderize: Jacob 2:17-18
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| More ads |
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| Even on the Steps! All good stuff |
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| Sister Lambert, Sister Pope Elder Duke and me |
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| Sister Lambert, Sister Pope Elder Duke and me |
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On our way down to Melbourne to start our
massive travel adventures |
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| Awesome car we saw on our way to Melbourne |
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I don't know why but the Holden cars will randomly
put pictures of singers on the songs that don't have
cover art. It's good to see that Chris Brown likes singing
about the restoration haha
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| Elder Erickson skillfully flipping chicken nuggets for lunch |
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| Elder Rock with the missions new pass-along cards to go with the theme that the church does for advertising |
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| Mom I got your birthday package and I love it! Especially the monkey |
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Someone decided to frame their Do Not Knock sticker.
The old lady behind the door was really nice though |
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| The Mormons are coming!!! Lock the doors!!! |
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| The sunset behind the Melbourne star |
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| My Beautiful Cake |
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| Make a wish |
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| Cannot believe they thew a party for me |
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| Fun photos |
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| Love this family and my Comps |
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| Elder Van Wagoner and me eating tons of food |
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| Ahhh the mission life! |
