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