Better Week

This was a better week. Elder Bennion is doing better and we have been hard at work. We had a less active at church who we got as a referal from Mormon.org so hopefully we will be able to work with her more to bring her back to activity. It was amazing to see the ward willing to fellowship. We had a great ward council yesterday where the high council member basically rebuked the ward and told them they need to do more to help the missionaries find people to teach. I think it was really humbling for the ward council to hear, so hopefully the rest of the ward will be willing to respond. We got two new investigators this week, and one I think has a lot of potential. It has been a little harder finding people right now, everyone is busy so lots of people just tell us to come back after Christmas. Hopefully some of these people are serious about us coming back, and not just saying it right now because they do not want to be rude. It is really weird seeing all of the Christmas decorations up but it is not cold and is getting hotter. There was one day where it got up to 38 C which is around 100 F. Luckily that day we taught a whole lot of lessons, so we were not outside as much as normal. Lately it has been a little hard because some of our investigators are being flaky and do not want to set appointments with us. And two of them that had some potential are moving to Melbourne soon, but that just means we need to find more people. In one of the training videos one of the missionaries says that they think they know a little how Heavenly Father feels when we try to get investigators to do things that will bring them happiness, but they just do not do it. It is the same with us. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and helps us so much, but we just have to act. I am glad that he has more patience with me than I have with investigators. I love you, and cannot wait to see you at Christmas.
love,
Elder Cook

week 12 New Transfer

This last week was the last week of the transfer. I am staying in Heathridge and my new companion will be Elder Bennion. He was the district leader of the other district in the zone. I get along with him fine, and he is an interesting guy.

 

This last week has been pretty amazing. We have found a bunch of people that are interested. We tracted into a young guy from Sudan who did not appear intersted when we were talking to him, but when we asked if there was another time we could come around he said he was really interested and asked if we could come back tomorrow. We had a sweet lesson with him and his cousin who was there. Then we invited him to a baptism on Saturday but he was busy but said that he would come to church. He came so that was my first investigator at church. We were not the most organized because we were not sure if he was actually coming, and we did not have a Gospel Principles class organized because investigators do not come, but that will change for next week. Also Elder Thomson was on exchanges with Elder Martin the other zone leader and taught a guy who is from New Zealand and heaps of his family are members and it was supposidly a great first lesson. This next week is going to be great also because we have a lot of appointments set up which we normally never have, so I am excited about this transfer and watch the area continue to grow. I am a little nervous about leading the area since I know it, even though I am junior companion. Also because of all the new missionaries applying our mission is going to grow from around 110 missionaries to 130, so it will be interesting to see which new areas are created in the upcoming months.

 

 

Love

Elder Cook

Week 11

I might have gained a little weight since I have been here, but not too much since my clothes do not feel any different. This week was good and disappointing at the same time. A bunch of our scheduled appointments fell through, and nobody was really home so we only taught five lessons. We have found a some more potentials, I just hope we can start teaching some of them. We did have a cool experience yesterday though that made the whole week worth it. We were visiting a potential who was not home and we started to get into the car. Then these two kids come up and ask if we are elders. We started talking to them and they said that they used to go to church and the older one was going to get baptized but they had to move to New Zealand. They told us where they live and said they wanted us to come over. The younger one who is now 8 said that he wants to go back to church. They are Maori which means that they are more likely to get baptized. We were also able to get a hold of the missionaries who were teaching them and got some information on the family. Also one of the missionaries that was teaching them went home, but is now living pretty close by and he said that he is willing to help teach them. We are going to go see them this week and hopefully start teaching them.

For P days mostly we just play sport. One of the members in another ward has a tennis court at their house and tells the missionaries to just come at any time. We do that most weeks even if it is really quick since everyone but me in the flat played tennis in high school. I have been getting better at it,but always at a disadvantage. sometimes we go to a chapel and play some sport and have lunch together. Today we are going to play capture the flag. It is really nice that most flats have washers in them so we do not have to spend time worrying about laundry.

I honestly do not know how big my area is. I think it is a medium area. It is half as big as it used to be because they split it when I came in. We have a car about half the time and I enjoy biking. You talk with more people that way, and I am not tired like I used to be when I was first here. I might like biking a bit less when it gets really hot. It is really nice having a zone leader car because they get heaps of km's that they can't use them all if they tried. It will be weird having to be carefull how I use them in the future when I do not have that luxury.

love

Elder Cook

Week 10

This week I hit my 3 month mark which is crazy because it doesn't feel like I have been here that long. This week started out lame because of the election, but got better. We had some good lessons and we have found a lot of potential investigators, I just hope this week we can turn them into investigators. I love Heathridge and it is supposed to be a lame area, so I am excited to see what other wards and areas are like. We had a really cool experience this week. We were driving to visit someone when Elder Thomson felt prompted to tract a street. The first couple of houses the people were rude, and on about the 4th house we started talking to this lady. She was interested and we told her about the Book of Mormon and a very brief Restoration. I started to tell her about the Holy Ghost and she said she knew what it felt like which was cool, and then told us she was feeling it right then. She wants us to come back, but she is busy with home renovations and getting married so she told us to come back after Christmas which we might not be here for, but she said we can call her and see how the Book of Mormon reading was going. We also have some lessons scheduled for this week which I am looking forward to. This week we also invited two people to be baptized. One is a part member family and he said he wants to, but is just lazy and doesn't want to come to church, but we will work with him. The other is an 17 year old girl who said maybe, but her mom said she could if she wanted to, so we will also work with her. It has been cool to see the area grow, and a little weird that I might be transfered in two weeks. Can't wait to see what happens then.

love 
Elder Cook

Week 9

I can't believe this transfer is half over, it is making me realize how short 2 years really is. It has been a good week. We have three new investigators, but only one is solid. She was actually an investigator that was supposed to be golden that the other missionaries gave us. We had a lesson set up my second week here, but she canceled, and we were never able to contact her after that. This week we were able to catch her and set something up for wednesday, so hopefully that goes through, and we are excited for her. We are a little sad because the lady from Peru we invited her to be baptized, and she said that she was scared of commitment, which we thought we could work out, but she has been avoiding setting up another appointment with us, but hopefully she is just busy and not trying to drop us. We also had a really cool lesson where there were three friends outside who we were talking to, and then the other missionaries came to pick us up, and started talking to them too. So we had three individual lessons going on at once with four missionaries, and I was jumping between two of them. All of them were really cool, and we just had a lot of fun. This coming week we will hopefully be able to have a good week because we have a bunch of scheduled appointments. It will also be a weird week because I will be on exchanges for most of it, but it will be good. It was also cool because lots of members had missionary experiences that they shared during testimony meeting, and Preisthood. It is cool to see the members excited about missionary work, and hopefully they will continue to be so the Heathridge ward can have some success coming from them. I love you all.

 

love

Elder Cook

Mailing things to Australia

Hi! Alex's mom here with instructions on how to mail letters and packages to Elder Cook.

Letters are the easiest to mail.  Buy a $1.05 airmail stamp, or even better - buy 5 or 10 so you can send several letters without having to go back to the post office.  Use a regular-size envelope (up to 6" x 11 1/2", not square), and fill it with letters and pictures up to 1 ounce, about 5 sheets of paper.  It will cost more if you go over the weight limit or if you include anything other than paper.  Mail letters and packages to the address listed on the left side of the blog.

Packages are such a pain to send that probably nobody but me will do it.  I'm putting the instructions here anyway, just in case.  You can bring any size box to the post office and they will tell you the cheapest way to mail it, but count on it taking forever to get there.  International priority mail is a good compromise between cheap and fast as long as you aren't sending much.  The small box (8-5/8" x 5-3/8" x 1-5/8") costs $16.95 to send and takes about 2 weeks to get there.  It's really small but the next size up is $47.95.  See how difficult this is? And it gets worse.  If you actually go to the expense of sending one of these boxes you also need to fill out a customs form: PS Form 2976.  This form is only good for the small priority mail box.  If you use another box there is a different form.  The Post Office has the forms and you can fill them out by hand, but the Post Office inside my local grocery store will only accept the online printed forms.  Everything in the package has to be itemized by description (be specific!) and weight.

If you're still determined to send a package to Australia, there are lots of restrictions on what can be sent.  Australia won't allow the following products into the country: Everything.  Just kidding, but nearly all food products are prohibited.  Candy is ok as long as it doesn't contain fruit or nuts.  I think powdered drink mixes are ok, and maybe jello and pudding mixes.  DON'T send food containing grains, meat, eggs, dairy, fruits, vegetables, seeds or nuts.  Also, don't send liquids or anything made with plant products (wood, straw, etc.).  If there is anything left that can be sent, it's probably something the missionaries aren't allowed to have.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

Week 8 - Best and Worst Week

This was such a strange week, a very emotional roller coaster. The girl we had a baptismal date with dropped us because her parents were not happy about it, but she enjoys reading from the Book of Mormon so she will be baptized some day. So that was really depressing, but then we had zone conference, which was really great. I did get to see Elder Rigby, and Sister Myers there. The conference was just what I needed, it was focused on being bold when we extend commitments, and was just really fun. We then taught an awesome lesson to a lady from Peru. She is very accepting of what we teach. We invited her to be baptized, but she said she is not ready yet. She is scared of commitment because she has been through a divorce, but she showed that she realizes that joining the Church is a big deal. I also saw my first kangaroo this week! We were riding by a nature reserve area and were going slow hoping to see some, and then we saw some, so we went in and got some good pictures. There were three adults, and one was carrying a joey in its pouch.

 

Yesterday there was also a great ward council that was focused on missionary work. We have been able to find quite a lot of people and the ward has shown their support in helping us. I do wish they would feed us more though. I also hope that as we continue to have more success the ward will help out even more, we just need to get some investigators to sacrament meeting, but we have six solid investigators so our goal is to baptize half of them before the end of the year, which will be cool because that would be half of the ward's goal of 6 for the year, and they currently have none. It has been cool to be part of building up this area, I just hope we can continue to have success.

Week 7 (First Week of Transfer)

I am no longer the newest missionary out. The last intake was just two sister missionaries, one is in my district. There were a bunch that were supposed to come, but had visa problems so got pushed back six weeks, so the next intake will be pretty big. This week was good, as every week is. We have two new investigators so our teaching pool is continuing to grow. Our investigator with a baptismal date was not able to come to church, so her baptism will have to be pushed back, which might be good just to make sure that she will be ready. Also one of our other solid investigators had to cancel, which was disappointing because I was looking forward to the lesson all week, but I am getting used to people cancelling.

 

This last week was also a little strange because of how often I was on exchanges. Normally I am on exchanges once a week so the Zone Leaders can go on exchanges with the assistants, or district leaders, or have special training. This last week it happened a lot because there was a couple of those happening that week. I guess it is good to get experience leading an area, but a little weird not working in my area some days, and missing out on lessons, but it is no big deal.

 

This week I also saw some Australian wildlife, unfortunately it was the type that could kill you. Not that I was in danger at all. When we were tracting there were some big spiders by American standards, but normal for Australia. Also we took a bike path by a lake and in the middle of the path there was a big snake. We were far away from it but could not pull out our cameras in time before it went into the grass. But do not worry about snakes or spiders, they are not a problem for missionaries. I also started driving this week, which has been pretty good. It was a little weird driving after two months of not, but I got used to it pretty fast. The two annoying things is you naturally drift toward the shoulder when you drive on the opposite side of the road, and the turning signal is on the opposite side, but I am getting used to those things.

Week 6

This week was a great week! We were able to set a baptismal date with a 22 year old girl. It was really cool, and hope it really goes through. It will also be cool to have the first baptism in Heathridge this year. There are also a couple other people we are teaching with some potential to be baptized. It has been great to see results in an area where missionaries do not like being sent. Conference was amazing like normal. Elder Hollands was amazing like normal. Look up his talk called safety for the soul from 2007 and watch the mormom message called a testimony of the Book of Mormon that is taken from the talk. It is so powerful and cool. Besides that nothing much is going on. I did learn I hate magpies here with a passion. There is a time of the year (now) where magpies get attracted to helmets, and swoop you. I think they really enjoy my helmet, because it happens to me all the time. I will be riding along and hear wings, but not see it, and then it will snap its beak right next to your head. Sometimes they hit my helmet. Good thing they cannot hurt me, but very annoying and distracting when you are riding along.

I only drove once, President Lindsay wants all new missionaries to be here one transfer before they start driving, so I might start driving more soon, but I am not the designated driver so it will not be too much. No interesting food stories either, when the members feed us it is always good. Wow sorry, I am running out of things to write about, I cannot remember too much what happened this week. Mostly conference took up the weekend. Oh yeah Elder Rigby is being transfered into my zone now, which will be really cool to see him.

I am glad to see the missionary work in Lodi is progressing. I know Sacramento used to be one of the highest baptizing missions, so it is cool to see that they are still doing well.

 love Elder Cook

Last Week of Transfer (week 5)

Wow I cannot believe the transfer is almost over. I will still be with my trainer for at least another transfer, but the time has just flown by. Mom: yes my suit pants fit, and for the kangaroo skin scripture cover I trust your judgement, but it would be cool to have. Conference is being shown this coming weekend, and learned about the big announcement at church. Nobody was expecting that. I am really excited to see how things will change out here. We have had a great week. We are continuing to find people to teach. We gained 4 new investigators this last week, which is a lot here. We are asked to try to get 3 a week to reach our mission goal of 250 baptisms for the year. We are about 100 short, but around double last year, with a quarter left, so hopefully we will continue to get more. We had an awesome day, our trainers had zone leader stuff to do, so Elder Evans and myself were in my area and we were tracting and were invited in, which never happens, and we were able to teach him and give him a Book of Mormon. Then we were talking to people on the street, and started talking to a girl in her 20's and asked if we could teach her some time, and she said right then, so we went to a park and taught her the full Restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon! Great day. Then we got a couple named Fred and Wilma (awesome name right) to our assistant ward mission leader son's baptism, which was really cool. Then to finish off the week we had an awesome lesson with a less active part member family. The spirit was so strong in the lesson. Hopefully the success will continue. Everything has been going good. Yes four of us live in the flat, and we see them quite a bit, I enjoy all of them.

 

Mom and Dad, you often say that you don't deserve any credit for how Ash and I turned out. Well that is false and I have an assignment for you. I want you to read about the army of Helaman, and write down all of their qualities. Then go back to their parents, the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's, and see how their parents decisions influenced their sons. I did it, and it is really cool. I just want to thank you for all you do, and have done in my life. You are amazing parents, and I have been truly blessed to have come into this life through you. Thank you.

 

Love Elder Cook

week 4

Yesterday was a holiday, so our P-day was moved to today. Yesterday was an amazing day. We went to visit an investigator, but he wasn't home, so we decided to visit another one. We had visited them once, but they are very Catholic so we haven't made the time to visit them again. They are an older couple, and when she answered the door she was excited, but I didn't really think about it because we had only met them once. We were talking to them, but he was sick. We were going to read from the Book of Mormon, but Elder Thomson asked if he would like a blessing instead. She was really excited, even though I don't think she really knew what it was. As we were giving him the blessing the Spirit was super strong. After the blessing we were talking to them, and she infromed us that she had been praying for her husband, and as she finished the prayer, we knocked at the door. I couldn't believe it when she told us that, that is a story that is supposed to happen in the Ensign, and did not expect it to happen to me right then. Besides that we were able to teach four other lessons, which was cool because that was more than all last week (last week nobody was home, and people canceled a lot). Also when we were heading home Elder Thomson and I wanted to take another way back home, and when we were, we started talking to a man, and we taught a lesson right there on the street, and he was really interested. Such a great day. Last week was just alright, lots of people canceling, but we still had a couple of good days. One day we were tracting for just over an hour and on one street got five potential investigators, when normally we are lucky to get one. Also we are teaching a 16 year old girl, and we had a nice lesson, and wants to come to church. She would have come last week, but had already promised her friend she would hang out with her on the beach. Hopefully she will come next week, and she already knows some of the youth, which is good. I had kangaroo for the first time this week, and it was really good. I guess often it is gamey, but what I ate was really tender. The flat is nice, I guess it is one of the nicest in the mission. Cooking has been alright, we have a rice cooker and a panini press, which are really nice. It is also nice that we have a washer in the flat, but I think most do since they are all mostly houses or duplexes, and not apartments, which is nice. This month is missionary month in the North Coast Stake, so hopefully we will be able to get the members fired up to help us find people, since the ward has 0 baptisms this year, we could really use it. I am doing good and am loving it here. 

-Elder Cook

week 3

It has been a good week. My companion got sick on Monday night and Tuesday, so we were not able to do anything then. We taught a couple of lessons, but not too many, still trying to find people. We have found a couple potential investigators, so we will see if anything comes from any of them. We finally met our main investigator who the other missionaries told us was Golden. We have been trying to set something up with her, but she either didn't answer, or was busy. She said she will be less busy later this week, so hopefully we will be able to set something up with her, I was just glad to meet her and see that she was still interested. Not too much has been happening, taught a young couple earlier this week which went well, they read the Book of Mormon, we just have to make them see how the Church is different from Catholicism, they were both raised with it, and see it as really similar. Hopefully that changes this week when we teach them the Plan of Salvation. Hopefully this week we will get some new investigators. As a mission we have a goal of three new investigators a week. We hit that last week, but this last week we had none, but we hopefully will be able to this week with the potentials we have. Besides that just lots of tracting. So far most people tell us they are not interested, no one has been too rude to us. Every now and then someone will say something as they drive by while we are biking, but members wave too, so it is all good, and I just laugh it off. I have learned though that Australia may not have too many mountains, but it does have some hills which are really not fun biking up, but they are getting easier.

 

Love Elder Cook

Week 2 in Australia

Well this was my first full week in Australia. I drove for the first time, which actually was not too bad, I just had to focus really hard on what I was doing. I love my companion Elder Thomson, he is really great. He is really tall, he plays basketball for some college in Canada. It was also nice meeting my ward finally, and meeting the members. Everyone was really nice, and I know I am really going to love this ward. This week has been pretty good, have found a couple new investigators which is good. I learned you meet some interesting people when you are out contacting, and some really nice people. This week we have just been going through the area book continuing to contact previous investigators, and hoping that they are still interested. So far it has not been too successful, but there was one guy we found who was really nice. We taught him and his girlfriend my very first First Discussion, which was cool. This week was also a little frustrating because we had scheduled a chapel tour with an investigator who is supposed to be really interested in the church. I say supposed to be because we have not met her yet. The other missionaries taught her once, but she doesn't answer her phone and doesn't call us back. Once she did answer and we set up the chapel tour and we were excited, but right after we left our flat she texted us and told us she had a dentist appointment. Just a little frustrating, but we will keep trying. Other than that we have just been doing a lot of tracting and keep going through the area book. The ward has had 0 baptisms this year, and had set a goal for 6, so the pressure is on the ward a little, to get at least one. Hopefully with such a focus on missionary work something will be able to happen. Also the area authority came a couple of months ago, and told the missionaries something big was going to be announced at General Conference, so all of the missionaries are starting to guess what it is. Some say ipads since there are some missions who have been testing them out, but we will see in a month. Also I did have a minor bike accident on Friday, but don't worry I am alright, and it wasn't bad. I did rip one of my pairs of suit pants, so I just want to know what I need to do since they were missionary mall ones. I think I just have to take a picture, but I'm not sure. Also the other missionaries in our flat heard a rumor about the US embassy in Iran being bombed, so if you could confirm or deny that rumor, it would be great to know a little about what is happening in the world. Also what is the new iphone like? Well I hope you have a good week, and hope that BYU beats Boise on Thursday, hopefully they play better. Sorry no pictures again, not sure if it is a card reader problem, or a computer problem, but I will make sure to send some next week.

Love Elder Cook

Pictures from Perth

President and Sister Lindsay sent this picture.  It's good to see Alex looking so happy after his long trip!

Here they are again with Alex's first companion.

First letter from Perth!

Well it has been a very busy but good week. President Lindsay met us at the gate when we got off, so it was really nice to have someone to tell us where to go, and not have to worry about anything. We went straight to the bike shop, and the owner was super friendly since the missionaries have been going there for a couple of years he gave us a discount. Then we just hung out at the mission home, had a great dinner and some interviews, and then crashed. It was an amazing nights sleep, probably because I hadn't slept in a bed for two days, and the bed was way better than the one at the MTC. I have actually had no jetlag, I guess if you cross enough time zones your body just gets so confused that it adapts pretty easily. I love both President and Sister Lindsay. We were their first real intake of missionaries since six weeks ago only one missionary came in, so they were really excited to have us. It is a little weird to see President Lindsay in real life, even though I didn't watch too much KSL I still place him there. Sister Lindsay is so worried about being new, but she tries so hard to learn and be the best she can. I am in the Heathridge North area in the city of Joondalup. I believe it is about 30 km from Perth, but is suburb of Perth. I am a little sad I have not seen a kangaroo yet, but I am in the middle of a town, so wasn't expecting too much. My trainer Elder Thomson said it was a couple of months before he saw one, but there are some big cemetaries that we can go too where we can see them, so we will have to do that on a pday soon. Elder Thomson is from British Columbia and has been out for a year. He is a Zone Leader with Elder Martin in our flat, who is training Elder Evans from my MTC district which is the first time the Zone Leaders have not been companions in this mission. Good to know that I am being trained by one of the best. It has been interesting because we are both new to the area. Actually the area was just split, and it is almost like opening a new area because the missionaries did not go up here that much because it was pretty far and they were on bikes. We are on bikes for the most part, but share the car with the other companionship, but they get it most of the time. It was stake conference on Sunday, so I still have not been able to meet the ward. It is a little weird driving on the left side of the road, but I am getting used to it. I just have to remember to look right then left, which is opposite of what I have been taught, but I am learning. I have actually been surprised by how subtle the Australian accent is, it really is not that thick. We will see if I pick it up, but I will definitley come back with some of their words like "heaps" and instead of just saying "sweet" or "cool" they say "sweet as" or "cool as" and don't finish the statement, just leave it like that. I haven't started saying those yet, but I will. I will probably have a slight accent but just not realize it since the assistants did, but they nor President and Sister Lindsay thought they did, but some missionaries do pick it up, so we will see. It probably just depends on how many Aussie or Kiwi companions I have.

Love you all, hope you have a G'Day (I have not actually heard this as much as I was expecting)

Elder Cook

week 2

I am loving my companion Elder Brown. He is a convert, and the only member in his family. He is really good at magic tricks, so all of us missionaries love him doing them.I love it here, but I cannot believe that I am going to be leaving in a week and a half. Elder Mariana hurt his knee playing volleyball, so he might be staying here a couple extra weeks. so now I am going to be extra careful about playing sports during gym. I am learning so much, and still have so much to learn. I do have a greater understanding of the Gospel, but mostly I am learning how to teach it to others. I still have a hard time tailoring it to other peoples needs, but I am getting better.Also something that is cool here is that the Church released a mini Preach My Gospel. I guess it is common for missionaries to make their own small ones, but it is technically illegal, so the Church just released a small one, so now everyone is buying them because they are only $3. I am going to get one after I send this to you. I also saw Nigel which was really cool. it was at dinner when he first got here, so I didn't have time to really talk with him, so I hope that I run into him again. While I have been here I have really discovered why I decided to come on a mission. I have realized just how much the Gospel and the Atonement has blessed my life, and I just really want to have it bless others lives as well. In Preach My Gospel there is a quote in the first chapter about the more that you learn about the Atonement, the more your desire to share the Gospel increases. The Atonement is always something that I enjoy teaching, and sharing with others the peace that it brings into my life. Well I think that is it, hope you have a great week

-Elder Cook

week1

 during Alex's first week in the MTC he wrote us a letter instead of an email, so it took a while for us to get, but here it is! and remember, Alex would love to hear from anyone, and its really easy to write to him with dearelder.com

 My companion is Elder Brown.  He is really cool.  He is pretty quiet and relaxed and we get along really well.  My whole district is cool.  There are 12 of us, 4 Elder companions and 2 Sister companions.  Half of us are going to Australia with 2 Elders and a Sister going to Melbourne and 3 Elders going to Perth.  I'm not sure if we are the only ones going to Australia or not.  There were 467 of us who entered the MTC together and 2700 missionaries here now.  My roommate said that earlier in the summer it hit 3100 which was the record.  I have 3 other roommates, two are companions and are learning Spanish.  This is their 7th week.  The other elder has also been here around the same time, but he is learning English but is having some back problems.  He finds out next week if he needs surgery.

I have seen lots of elders I know from BYU.  Actually I saw my Elders Quorum President at the Salt Lake airport.  I have seen both Elder Mariana and Elder Campbell, just not at the same time.

So here is an overview of my schedule.  I wake up at 6:30 and eat at 7:00.  Then I have class and personal study time until lunch.  Then more class and study time until dinner at 4:30 (yes really early dinner).  Then we have more class, or some type of workshop.  We get back to our room and have personal time until we go to bed at 10:30.  I like the classes.  They are great and do not seem that long.  The studying can go on, especially if you have it for a couple hours straight.  So far it has been great.  I am learning so much.  I have taught two lessons, one day apart.  It was amazing how much that one day was.  The first one I was worried about how well I was teaching and it didn't go well.  The second one we were focused on the investigator's (our teacher's) needs.  I am also really surprised how well you can feel the Spirit in these fake appointments.  I am also so impressed by my teachers' acting ability to create a character so well that you can forget that you are teaching your teacher.

I was really excited that they had BYU chocolate milk, and Creamery ice cream on Wednesday and Sunday.  The food has been pretty good and was a nice surprise.

Well tomorrow is Sunday and everyone said once you get to Sunday you will be good.  I haven't really been homesick so I guess that is a good sign.  There is also a saying that the days are like months and the months are like days.  I can attest to the days being like months, and just hoping the weeks go by quickly because I just want to get to Australia, but I realize I have so much to learn.  I leave in 15 days though, so that is exciting (I'm not counting Monday since I leave in the morning)!  Also, my clergy card expires August 20, 2014, so I'm guessing I will be released around then.  Well I think that is it, and you thought I wasn't going to write that much.  And I hope you don't freak out too much since you will probably get this letter the same time you get my next email.

I know that this church is true, and I can see the influence it can have just on my these last couple of days.  I cannot wait and be there to watch it completely change other people's lives.  I know that is why I am here, to help others receive the joy that I have had in my life.  I love you guys so much, and thank you for all you have done.  I know I haven't said thank you as much as I should have, but know that I love you so much for everything you have given me, especially the gospel in my life.

Love,

Elder Cook

we knew this day was coming for 19 years

well guys, yesterday morning we dropped Alex off at the airport. his flight from the Sacramento Airport left at 6:20 am so we had to get there pretty early. there were actually two other missionaries who were on his same flight that he ended up meeting up and going through security with. together they flew to salt lake and entered the missionary training center in Provo, Utah. for the next 3 weeks Alex is going to be living there, learning all he can about being a missionary before he flies to Australia. for right now, if you want to write him a letter you can send it to this address:

Elder Alexander Cook 
MTC Mailbox #235
AST-PER 0905
2005 N 900 E
Provo UT 84604-1793

another great way to write to him is to go to dearelder.com this is a great website where you can type in a letter to any missionary, and they will get it to the missionaries in the MTC on the same day if you send it in before noon in utah. click on write a letter,  then select "Provo MTC" and click write a missionary. then you just have to put in Alex's information, type your letter, and send it to him. the best part of this site is that its totally free to write letters to missionaries in the MTC, so go ahead and send Alex a letter! he would love to hear form everyone.

so for the most part this blog isnt going to have many posts like this with me writing a post to all of you, for the most part I will just be posting the letters that alex writes home, but if you have any questions about what alex is up to, or how to contact him just ask me! and if you have any questions you want me to ask him, or anything in particular you want to hear about in his letters, just leave a comment or let me know and ill make sure to pass along the message!

Alex is going to Australia!

Here is the video I had taken of Alex when He opened his mission call!

its happening!

well guys, Alex is getting his mission call on wed! he'll get the letter some time during the day, but will wait until 9:30 PM Mountain time to open it, which is 8:30 for all of you west coasters right?? if you live nearby, come and support him! we will all be in the lobby of Building 9 in Helamen Halls at BYU, and if not, watching it live, online at   http://www.ustream.tv/channel/alex-opening-his-mission-call    the website is really easy to use so watch it there! if for some reason you cant watch it, I will be taking a video of him opening his call and Ill post it here either that night or the next morning.  

a quick correction to my last post

Alex had his final interview the other day, after I posted my last post. At his interview he was told that his call will come in the mail in probably two weeks instead of one, so unless things go crazily fast, we can expect alex to be opening his mission call Wednesday, February 29th. I will be posting more information about times and stuff later. but for any of you who want to watch it, Alex will be on a youstream channel so anyone who wants to should be able to see him open it live. more information about that to come!!

The Time Has Come!

Well guys, the time is finally here. As almost anyone reading this probably knows, my family are all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and since Alex is turning 19 years old in March, he like most Mormon boys is going to go on a two year mission to teach people about the church. Alex has his final interview tomorrow which means that a week from Wednesday Alex should be getting his mission call. Missionaries dont get to choose where they go, so he has no idea where in the world he is being sent. Ive always planned on keeping a blog for him on his mission so he can send me letters and pictures to put in so that anyone who wonders how he's doing can find out, but I have decided to start it now, so I can put where he is going and write a few posts as he prepares for and leaves for his mission. I will be posting all posts made here to facebook, but if you have blogger or google reader I suggest you follow it too so I know people are actually reading it, and comment!!

So If all goes well, then in a week Alex will find out where he will be spending the next two years of his life, so where do you think hes going?? any guesses? people are almost always wrong, but its fun to guess and see what everyone thinks, so comment! let me know your predictions