Sup. So this week was actually a really eventful week. We continue to try to find new investigators and to make sure that Ozzi and Rawry are still being the two little bosses they are (which they are doing without a sweat). A lot has happened this week, but at the same time I feel like this week has been stretching on for a good while.

Oh No!

Again, like last week's P-Day though, we didn't really do much at all. There's not much to do around here for fun, and plus Elder Casil's favorite pass time seems to be taking naps in the flatt. I hate taking naps because they just make me more tired once I wake up, so usually when he sleeps I just kinda walk around the flatt bored out of my mind. It's fun though. Well, not really, but I tell myself that hoping that one day I'll believe it.

So Tuesday we had District Meeting over the phone using a conference call setting, and that was really complicated getting it all set up, and it's really echo-y too, so I'm not in all favor with the idea. The reason we do it is because there are Elders that live about three hours east of us, and the problem is that they are always having to spend basically the entire day in travel just to get to and from District Meetings. I think this week we're going to have another DM over the phone. Blech.

Wednesday night was pretty different. We met with an investigator named Paige who has the best

my left arm alone had about 60 mosquito bites

little red headed three year old son in the world! You would think being a red head would mean that he's got a crazy temper or attitude, but he's just the opposite: like when we came to meet with them, he answered the door, gave each of us a hug, and then gently and sincerely kissed the back of our hands: IT'S SO FETCHING ADORABLE!!!! Anyways, we met with Paige during the night so that her young kids were asleep and that we could teach properly. We brought Bazil along with us, and we sat outside and taught the Restoration. It was a really good lesson, and she understands that when the Holy Ghost gives her confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true, it means that she needs to be baptized, so she agreed to have March 12th as a goal for her baptism. But at about 9:00PM during the lesson, just as we were wrapping up and the spirit was strong, we started getting completely bombarded with mosquitoes, and they were attacking my feet and left arm pretty badly, and they were after Bazil as well. When we got home from the lesson I

Mosquito bites FOR DAYS!!! (This picture was

taken this morning. Looks like I got the stinkin' bubonic plague)

immediately took my shoes and socks off and saw that my feet and ankles were literally covered in about 100 bites, and my left arm alone had about 60. All of those bites were in a matter of about 15 minutes... Without a doubt those little demons were sent by Satan himself to disrupt us, which he did pretty successfully.

Thursday night we were FINALLY able to meet up with the Horvaths for another lesson. It was really good and the spirit was completely wasted on them. Brother Horvath and his wife had an interview with President Pollard about their activity and how they can get to the temple, and now their goal is not for the family to be baptized, but for them to be sealed into the temple as a family! They've been taught by missionaries for ages, and them FINALLY coming to church that one week really gave them the spiritual boost to keep progressing, and they agreed to work for a baptismal goal for March 19th. Brother Dwight Sterling, the Elders Quorum President, was there with us during the lesson, and he was astonished at how strong the spirit was during the lesson. It was a pretty awesome night.

I had to get a big pot and fill it up with cold water 

and put my feet in it so that the pain would calm down

So, Friday. We sat in the flatt and did nothing. And that was because my feet were screaming with so much itchyness. Literally that night my feet were itching so badly that in the middle of the night I had to get a big pot and fill it up with cold water and put my feet in it so that the pain would calm down, and I had to spend the rest of the night sleeping at my study desk so I could keep my feet in the water. Yeah, so all of Friday I had to just keep my feet in that water; I mean I couldn't even put socks on, let alone dress shoes and go walking around! It sucked pretty bad because of how bored we were (and hot because the flatt has no AC and the fan is starting to die because we use it so much). But luckily it only lasted for a day.

Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference. For the past 5 weeks Elder Casil and I have been going to the chapel in Cranbourne, which is about an hour and a half away, for Stake Choir practice. We have been practicing really well, and today was the day to prove ourselves as a Stake Choir! President Manny Valdez, the Stake President, was there, President and Sister Maxwell were there, and Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy was there too, so this was a pretty big day for us! We sang our hearts out, and Sister Pollard, the conductor, was really stressing that we do out best and use the spirit because Elder Pearson was there, and we did really well I feel. Elder Pearson though, I mean he is just nothing short of the man! He gave such great advice to the members, and luckily we were able to have Julie come to Stake Conference as well! That was the first church meeting she's been to, and for her to have been there for when a member of the Seventy was there to give an absolutely amazing talk!, wow, just a huge miracle. I hope that she felt the spirit with it, and I'm sure that she did because it was an amazing meeting. Ozzi and Rawry weren't able to make it because they get really car sick, and the meeting was about an hour and a half away from Moe, so that's completely understandable.

A lot of other stuff has happened throughout the week, but it's not worth the time it takes to email it, so I'll just have to tell you in April of next year. And hey! I hit my 10 month mark next P-Day! It's so crazy to think how fast time goes when you're out here serving the Lord. I always think about how fast it goes, and I know that once I get off my mission life will cease to slow down. Crazy to think about it. Anywho, I love all y'all's, catch ya layda mate, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

Ponderize: Romans 10:14-15

This thing was hanging outside the Zone Leaders 

flatt and hit Elder Steele in the face and scared the daylights out of him

Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

Faith Winfield helping me out in the kitchen
while I make dinner for the Winfield family

Quality morning missionary workouts

Ozzi and Rawry Porter, with Elder Vaiouga in his baptismal clothing. It was a fantasic night

Elder Casil, Ozzi, Rawry, and I (from left to right)

SO!!! This has been a ridiculously stressful week for us! Well, mostly me, because we had to plan Ozzi's baptism like six times over, and that really got my nerves grinding. So Tuesday afternoon we got a call from the District Leader saying that he talked to the Zone Leaders and to President Maxwell, and he said that even though Rawry only came to sacrament meeting once, if we feel that he will be an active member of the church then we can go ahead and baptize him with his brother Ozzi. I was really surprised at this, because I thought it was basically protocol that they have to come to church at LEAST twice before they are baptized. Well, I honestly think that both of them would be fantastic members of the church and stay active (they are both very reverent during sacrament meeting and they love primary), so we adjusted the plans to have them both baptized on the 6th this month. We have been meeting with them almost every day this week to make sure that they were prepared, and everything that we taught them they just ate it up! When Elder Johnson, the District Leader, came to do the baptismal interview with them, he finished and told Elder Casil and I "Man, these two are more than prepared: they'll be awesome members!".

  

But the week, before we get to the weekend, was full of a lot, a LOT of disappointments and discouragements. Teds friend who lives with cussed us out REALLY bad for coming over so often, when that day our only intention was to pop by to say hello to him, that's it. So sadly I think that's the end of Ted, but no worries, because it happens. We also had a part member family we can only see once a week cancel on us the third time in a row, so that was hard. The week in general has just been pretty disappointing when it comes to missionary work, but the only thing that kept us sane was to look forward to Ozzi and Rawry's baptism that we have been planning and scheduling mostly all week. This is a very spiritual moment for them, and we needed it to go smoothly so it was something special and memorable for them.

Zone lunch at Zone Conference, w/Elder Eyring 

on the far right (& yes, that's President Henry B. Eyring's 

grandson). He's one of the Assistants to the President

Saturday evening comes, and we had Zone Conference in Cranbourne, which is about an hour and a half's drive out from Moe, and by the time we got back it was about 6:00PM, and the baptism was at 7:00PM. Luckily Bishop had already filled the font with heated water, and that's the most important thing to make sure of before the baptism. We got everything ready, including their baptismal clothes and towels, and we just waited for everything to come into place. Ozzi and Rawry were there about 15 minutes early, and we were able to get some pictures with them before the service started. About 50 members came which was awesome, along with their inactive dad Wayne. Ozzi's the man because he brought his friend with his friends mom and sister as well! The service went well, and Elder Vaiouga was the one to baptize him on their request, so that was really cool, and the ward was all excited to see him again.

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, and the meeting went great. Ozzi and Rawry showed up a few minutes late, and since they were set to be confirmed that day, when 10:00AM rolled around and church started I was nervous and scared as heck that they wouldn't show up! But they did just a few minutes later, and they brought their friend who came to the baptism, Sebastian, with them. Wayne said he wouldn't be able to come because he had to pick something up in Morwell, which is about 20 minutes away from Moe. As the testimony meeting started a family that we didn't expect to see: THE HORVATHS!!! The whole ward was happy to see them and welcomed them warmly with open arms because they haven't been to church in AGES!!! If you remember my email from a few weeks ago, the Horvaths are a family that want to be baptized, and the dad is the only member, but they never come to church, but today they did! And it was a fantastic testimony meeting too, the spirit was ridiculously strong. It was a great day to have so many people come to church, and hopefully things continue to progress from here.

But with Ozzi and Rawry baptized, we don't really have too many other investigators we can meet with on a regular basis, so now what do we do? I'll tell you what we do: we go back to finding more people! It's kinda tough when your most progressing investigators get baptized in a way, because now that they're baptized, it feels like you have to kinda restart when it comes to the work. But that's okay, because there are so many more people out there who are prepared, even though sometimes we tend to have a hard time finding them.

That's my email for the week, and oh what a crazy and amazing week it has been! I love you all and I'm glad that things are still going good. Stay safe, and keep praying for me and the success of those I talk to with whoever my companion is. I know that this church is true, because there is no way to prove it false. You can't! No one can! And that's what makes it stand. I love this gospel and I love this church. Love you all, love you all HEAPS, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

-Elder Landon Cook

Ponderize: Romans 6:16

PS. I hate how fast this mission is passing. It flippin' stinks!!!! But I'm glad that I still have a lot longer left to go, I love the heck out of it here :)  

Me with Ozzi and Rawry, with their friend Sebastian in the background.

It was a fantastic night!

                                                                 

Elder Casil and I agree that Australia is pretty awesome.

Elder Casil my companion

Happy Australia day mate! (which was on Jan. 26th, 

but this was on sale last week for $3.00, so I had to buy it)

Elder Summa shining his own shoes using Elder Swenson 

as a proxy for him in preparation for Zone Conference

What happens when you're at a members house and you
microwave the cheesecake for two seconds too long.

We keep getting these massive bugs in our flatt, and they're loud and they fly

More bugs!!!

So it has been a really eventful week this week, as always. But at the same time, it's been pretty stressful because of all the planning out we've been having to do. So all the baptisms we've had set up, none of them have gone through. YET!!! BUT!!! Ozzi and Rawry Porter are still set to be baptized. Those two have been our main concerns right now, so we've been making sure to put a lot of focus on them and in teaching them and increasing their faith in Jesus Christ and in the restored gospel.

We have recently taught about following the prophet, and how Thomas S. Monson is the current prophet today. After explaining what a prophet is and how they are called of God, etc., I said "So it's pretty important that we make sure to follow the Prophet and his guidance", and Ozzi, the 10 year old, said " 'Pretty' important? It's VERY important Elder Cook!", and his little brother was right on board. So yeah, they are solid. The only reason their baptism was postponed was because they were on vacation the past few weeks and haven't gone to church, and they each need to come to church at least twice before they are baptized. Ozzi came to church yesterday, which makes two, so he's ready to get baptized this weekend, but Rawry was sick, and because Stake Conference is next week, we'll have to put it off until the 21st I'm afraid. But both are very solid and excited to be baptized. My biggest fear for them was that their mother would agree to them being baptized and then go back on her word last second, but that fear has recently been put to rest, and this is why: Last week when we went to go teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, little Rawry gave the closing prayer, to which Mary, their mother, was present. After we left Elder Casil admitted to me that he had his eyes open during the prayer, but that Mary had a huge smile on her face the whole time. Also, when Mary got news that Rawry didn't go to church yesterday, she was like "What!? Why didn't he go!?", and when she found out he was sick with a slight cough she was like "Psh, he could've gone". So yeah, we are really excited for them!!! A lot of the ward is very excited for them as well, because this ward hasn't had a convert baptism in over two years!

Me and some of the kids at the BBQ

So here's a funny story! Saturday we had a ward BBQ at Blue Rock Dam, and it is a beautiful place to have a BBQ...usually. It started at 10:00AM, but when we got there half an hour early it was cold, cloudy, windy, and it just looked like such a depressing day to have a BBQ. It's summer! It's supposed to be hot!!! Within the first hour of the BBQ it was so cold, and only Dean Smith and his two sons showed up, so I was thinking "Gosh dang it! This was supposed to be an awesome ward activity hosted by the missionaries, and now look at it", so it was looking pretty dim. Literally, within the span of about ten minutes, the clouds cleared, the sun came out, the temperature warmed up, and about 40 people from the ward all showed up, including a few less-active families! What a miracle! It turned out to be a fantastic missionary opportunity, and as the day went on the BBQ only got better and better, with the young men throwing an American Football around to each other (a REAL one, not a football theme Rugby ball), the mothers and sisters in the ward all sitting and laughing out on the grass, the youth and primary children out playing and running around, and yeah, it was just how I had it imagined in my mind.

Basil Kickin' and throwin' the football around

As we were BBQing, some guy with a few young kids just walked up and started talking to the members, and the 1st councilor quickly notified me of him. Him and I started talking, and we talked for about 20 minutes or so just one on one getting to know each other. His name is Emlyn, and he said he saw the BBQ and thought  "This is either a JW thing or a Mormon thing, but when I saw the two young men in the church clothes I knew it was a Mormon thing". He said he used to be a member, but his wife is a Catholic and he converted for her, and as we talked he actually volunteered his contact information to me and said "Give me a call when you're in the area and we'll set something up"! What a miracle!

That's it for now I think. I'm sure more has happened throughout the week that I can't remember, but that's okay because right now Ozzi and Rawry are the highlights and our main focus. A lot is happening here in Moe, and we can feel the Spirit of God like a fire is burning. I love you all, catch ya later mate, and as always, God be with you till we meet again.

Remember the girl Adrianna Bianconi who drew
me as a koala named Blinky Bill? Well here's a
photo of me reenacting it, just because we have
nothing to do on P-Days

-Elder Landon Cook

Ponderize: Romans 1:16

Blinky Bill the Koala

Trying my hand a cricket (I still think baseball is better and easier understood)...

Missionary BBQ picnic

Elder Casil trying his hand at cricket

Beautiful view of the lake

Basil and Elder Casil taking a cat nap in the sun at the BBQ.

Basil and Elder Casil

Dede Perry after eating a handful of dirt and sorta missing her mouth

It's freezing cold outside and Basil Rawiri will 

ONLY wear the hood of his jumper, nothing else

More people playing football

Me at my finest

Elder Casil and I using the bull whip last P-Day..

Elder Summa using my bull whip, and he actually knows how to use it

I haven't used this thing in a while and it tried to kill me

Elder Casil is a tiny Philippino ninja and can 

do like a four round-off-back-hand-springs 

in a row and finish with a landing backflip

Elder Casil and I dorking around at this place 

called M-Mart, which I'm sure is just the 

Australia rip off of Wal-Mart.

Elder Casil