December 9, 2013

This week was alright. Mostly just trying to find people to teach. We tried tracting, tried visiting former investigators, and tried a district blitz, but so far nothing has worked. My goal is to smash finding the next two weeks, especially this week because the closer it gets to Christmas the harder it will be. Last year it was hard because around Christmas everyone was nicer to us, but they were less interested because they were busy. Funny how the true meaning of Christmas can be so easily lost with the business of the holidays. I really hope that we find some people or else it is going to be a really boring transfer. The packages should get here in time, most of your letters take about 10 days to get here. We have a couple people offer for skype, but have not set up a time. When would work best for you? Mom when you said Christmas Eve, was that Christmas Eve for you or for me? Wow this whole different day thing really makes it hard. I think the morning here will be the best, maybe around 10 but let me know because I can work around you.

 

Love,

Elder Cook

Baptism and Transfers (December 2, 2013)

This has been a really good week. It feels like it has gone by so fast. Our investigator and her family got baptized on Saturday. It was an exhausting day, but it was such a cool experience. I have never met a family on my mission that I love so much and have learned so much from. On Saturday it did not feel real until I got in the water with Jerome. We also enjoyed Thanksgiving with them yesterday after their confirmation and it was Louise's birthday which was cool. It is weird to think that 3 months ago we talked to her and she said that she was happy with her own church. If someone had said that she was going to be baptized the next transfer I would have laughed at them. Then getting kicked out of the caravan park led to us teaching in her house and having her and her son feel the Spirit. Watching her and her family transform before our eyes has been such a great blessing. There have been times when I wondered if I would ever be able to see someone I taught get baptized. So many times it felt close, then nothing would come of it. If I have learned anything in this area is to never give up, and that God is real. This would never have happened if He was not. When I teach the kids, the words to the primary song "A Child's Prayer" always come to my mind. That is how it really started, teaching a child to pray and have him feel the Spirit and his mum to watch it. I have never been so happy to get kicked out of a caravan park.

Now for transfer news. I will be staying here. I forgot my new companion's name. He is from Tahiti. I have seen him once and he is a good missionary. I think he has been out about 9 months, but I am not sure. I am glad I am staying here because Christmas will be this transfer so I already know everyone in the ward.

I love you all, and am so grateful for everything that everyone has done for me. You all inspire me and help me do better.

love,

Elder Cook

Better Week (November 25, 2013)

This week has been better. We have been kept pretty busy in the evenings, it is just the morning and afternoons that are hard to fill. This last week the other missionaries' investigator and her family had their baptismal interviews and that went well, so they are being baptized this Saturday which will be really cool. Also because there are four of them and four missionaries they asked each of us to baptize one of them which will make it even cooler. It is also cool because Elder M has not had a baptism so he will have one on the last weekend of his mission, so he is excited about that. We are still struggling to find people to teach. We meet some really nice people, but unfortanatley they are not interested. We also had a fun experience. We were walking back to our flat in an area with no footpaths. I was actually walking on the street when I heard a car coming behind us so I stepped off the road. A couple seconds later they drove by fast trying to see how close they could get to us. We were really surprised, and then they turned around and drove by slower so they could yell at us. It is funny because I actually kind of enjoy when people do things like that, it makes me feel like a real missionary. And it keeps the days interesting. I know this week will be good, so I am excited.

 

Love,

Elder Cook

Another Week (November 18, 2013)

This week went by surprisingly fast. We have done heaps of service which has been good. A recent convert had us help her clean up a house for some people that she met. It was really cool doing service for them because we were really able to help them, and it was also good for them to see us in a different light than just knocking on doors. It was also good to stay busy, it makes the week go by faster. But we are still trying and still going. Hopefully this week will be better.

Love you all

Elder Cook

Another Week (November 11, 2013)

This week was alright. We were able to get a new investigator. It was a former that we visited and had a quick lesson with. She did not sound super solid, but at least it is someone for us to teach, and you never know, maybe this time she will be interested. The family the other missionaries are teaching are doing so well. It has been amazing to see. It has been really cool to see how the mum has changed, how now she is just soaking everything up, it reminds me why I am a missionary. We had a cool experience the other day when we were helping teach them. We were teaching one of the sons and he said a prayer. The prayer was so simple, but it was so full of faith. It reminded me of the words the song: "A Child's Prayer" It was such a cool experience.

Other than that the week has been pretty boring. Other missionaries in the district got their bikes stolen so Elder M gave them his bike since he goes home in 3 weeks. So now we are walking everywhere. It is a good thing that I have really good shoes. 

The one thing I do not like about Western Australia is the flies. Flies in the US will run away from you, but flies here keep landing on you. It will get worse during summer. Last year it was not too bad because I was on the coast, but now I am not that lucky. They always wait for your hands to be busy and they go for your face so you cannot swat them.

Love,

Elder Cook

Another Week (November 4, 2013)

This has just been an alright week. We biked up a massive hill this week to get up and see the investigators in the other missionaries' area. I almost died going up it, but I think we are going to do it again this week. That family is doing really well. They came to church the last two weeks. The three children all wanted to be baptized and had dates set. This week the mum has said that she knows that it is true and knows she needs to be baptized. It is really cool to see the changes that she has made. She has been prepared. About three months ago she started going to her own church and made some big changes that were really preparing her for this. Hopefully they will be baptized at the end of the month. Even though we are not the missionaries teaching them we still see them at church, and try to get up there once a week so we can teach the recent convert there as well. It is also cool because they all are like a sponge, just wanting to know more and willing to act on it. The kids still need to make some changes, but they are young and have that desire.

We also had a zone conference on Friday. It was good to be able to see heaps of missionaries I have not seen in a while. It was also cool to be able to learn from President Lindsay. This zone conference was different than the ones in the past. Normally they have an obvious theme that President Lindsay tries to push, but this one was not like that, I could not pick out a real theme. I kind of liked it though because it allowed all of us to take from it what we needed to get from it.

Love,

Elder Cook

Another Good Week (October 28, 2013)

This week started off good, but then the new missionaries came to the area and took over teaching the investigators. They are really cool missionaries and will be really good for that family. Actually it has worked out well for them since they are neighbours. I am pretty sure they have taught them every day since they have come into the area. The entire family came to church which was really good to see. The Mum thought it was different from her church but I think she liked it. The kids had a good time. They set a baptismal date with the oldest son which is really cool. Hopefully all of the family will be able to be baptized eventually. We also had some cool experiences earlier in the week. We were at a less-active's house when we got a call from a member in another ward to visit one of their family members. He used to be anti, but after some real challenges in his life he is now very humble and very receptive. It was cool to teach him and see how the Gospel could really help him. The next day we had a call to go to the hospital and give a lady a blessing. She has been fighting cancer and was probably not going to live that long. It was a little sad, but a cool experience at the same time. You could tell she and her family were really appreciative of us going to help them out. Besides that the week really slowed down now that we do not have any investigators, but we will continue to try our best to find people to teach.

Love,

Elder Cook

Transfers (October 21, 2013)

Well it is the end of the transfer. I am staying and so is Elder M which will be good. Since he goes home at the end of the transfer I will probably be staying in the area for two more transfers. 

This week was by far the best week in this area. To make sure that you fully understand it I am going to have to explain some stuff I have told you the last couple of weeks. So we have a recent convert who we are teaching and her son, and they live in a caravan park. The manager of the caravan park does not like Mormons so told us not to come around, and also told the same thing to the Bishop. We were frustrated and so was she, and she was complaining to her sister in law about it. Her sister in law knows missionaries and was taught in the past and said that we could have lessons over there. One of the conditions was that we teach her and her kids as well. On Tuesday we had a lesson with the kids about prophets and prayer. It was a hard lesson, lots of kids and they were not focusing too much. At the end we asked the oldest kid who it 10 to say the prayer. After he said it he was crying. The next day he was acting different, instead of being a pain to his mum he was trying to help her since she was going through a hard time. He then had a conversation with her. He told her that he now believes in God. He talked to her about the church asking if she was going to join it. She said she does not know at the moment. He then asked if he could be baptized. She said that he could when he learns more and wants to. We were excited about this and had a good lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation. It was new to her and she was not too sure what to think, but we told her to pray about it. Also the kid came to church on Sunday because he asked his aunt if he could come. It has been cool to see the change in him in just a week. We know that the Lord is in this. At first we were very annoyed about the caravan park manager, but now looking back it has been a huge blessing that we could not have imagined at the time. The only bad news is that they are splitting the area, and they live in the other area, so we will lose pretty much the only investigators we have. But we will hopefully still be able to see them occasionally and the missionary we know is going there is a good one so they will be in good hands. Also some bad news is we will probably lose the car to the other area, but I do not mind too much, I really enjoy biking. I also had my first American moment while driving. I turned into the wrong lane, but Elder M could tell I was going to so he checked to make sure there were no cars coming so it was not bad, luckily. That is about it. I hope everyone has a good week.

Love,

Elder Cook

Good Week (October 14, 2013)

This week was better, mostly because we were busy. I was scared about getting a mini missionary because I didn't just want to tract the whole day with him, but we were really blessed with being really busy. We actually did not have much time for tracting, we could only do it for about half an hour because of all of the service we were doing. We also found out that getting kicked out of the caravan park ended up being a good thing. Now we are teaching the recent convert at her friend's house. Her friend was an investigator but told us she was not interested when we first got to the area. We had a short lesson last week with her and she said that we can teach at her house as long as she gets a lesson as well. We are pretty happy to be doing that. It was also good to be able to make her a new investigator because she is the first of this transfer. She also has one kid that is 10 and we think two others that are over 8 so we hopefully will be able to get them as investigators as well, which will be pretty sweet. It is funny how the Lord works in mysterious ways, but really cool to see that He is in control of everything.

I also really loved conference. I really liked Elder Ballard's talk and the other 70 who played football at BYU. I did not just like them because they talked about missionary work, but they put it really simply how to do it. Just inviting to an activity, or praying for someone, those are things that almost anyone can do. I also liked the praying for the missionaries by name as well as their investigators. There is a quote by President Hinckley about not just praying for missionaries world wide, but for the ones serving in your ward, as well as praying for ways you can help them. I also agree with what the mission president there said about missionaries being the teachers, and members being the finders. Missionaries are really good at teaching, that is what we love to do and practice every day. But we are horrible finders. Most people will not change their life because two men dressed weird knocked on their door. Some do and they are amazing, but most won't unless they have a friend introduce it to them.

I hope everyone has a good week, and I hope that I will finish off the transfer strong.

Love,

Elder Cook

Better Week (October 7, 2013)

This week has been better, mostly because we have been kept busy. P-day was really good being able to go to the temple. I realized it was 10 months since I was able to go, so it was really nice and hopefully we will be able to go at Christmas again this year.

We did have an interesting experience on Friday. We have been visiting a recent convert almost every day to visit her son since he is turning 8 soon. We are giving him the lessons because he does not have that Primary background. She lives at a caravan park. The first time we visited we could tell the manager did not really like us. Then on Friday he came up to us and told us that Mormon Elders are not welcome and told us not to come back. We were just in shock and didn't know what to say, and he walked off. I probably would have said something if there were not other people around, but mostly I was just stunned. A Christian group owns the camp, and I was thinking that it was not a very Christian thing to do, and I am pretty sure it is illegal. I would have understood if we were proselyting there, but we were just teaching this kid. It was even weirder because we were wearing normal clothes because we had service right after it. I am used to people being rude at the door, or yelling out as they drive past, but that was the first time that I have been told not to go somewhere because of my religion. It felt so strange.

Also on Saturday we got a mini missionary. He is with us for five days so we drop him off on Wednesday. One of the stakes did it and it was really cool to see so many do it. It seems like almost half the mission has a mini missionary, which was cool to be able to see missionaries I haven't seen for a while, and meet new ones. There are so many missionaries that I have not met, it is really weird. It is also weird when I am with large groups of missionaries because I do not know many of them and I am still not used to being around so many missionaries. Karratha made me socially awkward. It was weird when I first came in because there were only 4 missionaries that I knew in the zone, but now I know them all better.

I think that is all for this week. This next week should hopefully be busy, and hopefully we will be able to find some people to teach.

Love,
Elder Cook

Another Week (October 3, 2013)

We dropped off Elder F at the mission office last week, so now it is just the two of us, and we do not know this area at all. Good thing Elder M has a GPS so we can at least find our way around. Mom thank you for that email, I really needed it this week. The last couple of weeks I have struggled a little in this area. I think I am just a little tired of being transferred into slow areas. I loved Karratha but it was slow by the nature of the town. The area before that was slow, and now this one is too. But we plan on changing that. President Lindsay introduced a new thing we are going to do with members that will hopefully help us. We haven't had a chance to try it yet, so next week I will let you know more about it and the results. I think one of the hardest parts of being in a slow area is the fact that the mission is the most successful it has been, perhaps ever. Last month we had 27 baptisms which is the highest in a month in the last couple of years at least, if not ever in this mission. It is cool to see the success of others, but it would be even better to see some of that success ourselves. But I know that it is the Lord's work not mine and he is in control. In the last week I did learn a lot about faith. I know that God is all powerful so he can do anything, but at times I realize I doubt if he will do something. I have learned that faith is not knowing that God can do something, but knowing that he will, in his own way and time. It has been a good lesson, and I hope that I can begin to increase my faith and know that God will send us miracles as we do all we can. 

Love you all, hopefully this coming week will be more eventful. Also sorry about the weird timing, it is because this p-day we are able to go to the temple.

Love,

Elder Cook

OK Week (September 23, 2013)

This week was just ok. The area is really slow at the moment. This week should be busy because everyone in the ward wants an opportunity to say goodbye to Elder F before he goes. He served here for 3 months, got transferred, and now is back, so he is pretty close to people in the ward. We are trying to take advantage of that and get to know as many members as we can before he leaves. It is also good because Elder M is really good at getting to know the members. The ward is good so far. I enjoy heaps of the members, but it is a slow ward for missionary work. They had a baptism not too long ago, but before that it was about 3 years since they had a convert baptism. And we do not have a ward mission leader at the moment. But the good thing is that last zone meeting we had training by the Stake President which was so good. He talked about how he knows that most wards struggle with missionary work, but we need to go out and keep trying, they will get better. Also a ward cannot stop the work from progressing, nothing can stop the Lord's work, it is just who wants the blessings by being a part of it. It was really helpful. That is one of the struggles of being a missionary. After the Work of Salvation broadcast I was so excited to do missionary work, especially working with members. One of the hard parts is I feel like I had all of the excitement, but none of the members did, and nothing has seemed to change. That has made it a bit hard, but it is not my work, or the ward's work, but the Lord's work. This week I have also started a journal to record every miracle I see in my life. It has been cool to see small miracles that I would have forgotten about, or not recognized. It has helped me build my faith that the Lord is with us in the work. 

Love,
Elder Cook

Slow First Week (September 16, 2013)

This week was a bit slow. Elder F leaves in less than two weeks so we are trying learn this area the best we can before he leaves. It was really weird being in a ward again, so many people I do not know. Elder F is from England and Elder M is from Australia, so it is weird mixture of three different accents. I am hoping with Elder M I will begin to pick up an Aussie accent.

This week was a bit slow, there is not much going on in this area, and we are visiting members and less actives to try to get to know them and most of the work has been with less actives, and there are a couple of families that have started to come back to church, so hopefully we will be able to help them. This week we are probably going to buckle down on finding because we do not have many solid investigators.

This is also probably the coldest I have been on my mission. Funny because it is around 20 C (sorry I am not sure of the conversion) which is not too cold, but it is 10-15C difference than Karratha. I also miss the blue sky because most of the time it has been raining, but we have a car, so that is an advantage. It is always weird flying as a missionary. It was weird when my companions picked me up at the airport because it was close to exactly a year after I got to Australia, and the weather was exactly the same. It is nice having my stuff, but I am still waiting on my bedding from the AP's, so I am using some that was in the flat. It is also weird because I am senior companion even though Elder F goes home in two weeks, and Elder M goes home in three months. It is really weird being senior and not knowing the area, and also being the one with the least experience. I am sure it will be good to help me learn and grow and step up, but it has been really weird the first week.

That is it for now, hopefully this next week will be a little more busy

love,

Elder Cook

Transfers (September 9, 2013)

I am getting transferred, but I do not know where yet. The Zone leaders just told me I am going south of where I am. I could have guessed that myself without a call. Hopefully they call back soon with more information. I am sad to be leaving Karratha, but at the same time I know it is time for me to go back to the city. I think I have forgotten what it feels like to be around other missionaries. 

So the Zone Leaders just called and said that I am going to be in Forrestfield in Southern River stake. It is funny because that is where my companion just came from. I will have two companions for a couple of weeks because one of them is going home in the middle of the transfer.

I am really going to miss Karratha, for what I learned up here about myself and about being a missionary. The weirdest part about leaving will be the fact that I may never see this part of Australia and the people again. Down in Perth when I leave an area I can always serve close to it again, but there is really no way I can serve around here again. 

This week has been good. We were able to see that couple we saw last week again. It was an ok lesson, he was asking lots of questions, but it was hard to transition it into a lesson. But it was good because the Spirit was there, and his questions were really good. We also had other good lessons with our solid investigators with members. The other investigators we were not able to see. It is the first time having only member present lessons during a week, which was good because members make a big difference while teaching. But it was also annoying because that means there was a lot of time we were trying people but they were not home.

I cannot wait to tell you about my new area and companions next week

love,

Elder Cook

Amazing Week (September 2, 2013)

This has been such an amazing week. First I fixed my bike problems, so that in itself is miracle. Then a not so amazing experience but funny was we were teaching one of our investigators and he happened to be drunk when we turned up. And normally it is hard for him to focused but today he was falling asleep when we were teaching him. We tried to leave when he realized he was drunk but he didn't want us to, so we started to teach him. When my companion was talking he actually fell asleep. We thought about just leaving, but we woke him up and said a prayer and left. We teach some of the most interesting people sometimes. Then we have had a couple of really cool experiences. A former investigator called our branch mission leader asking for some help because his name is still in the phone book as the Branch President. He started to talk to her and she said that missionaries used to come by in the past and he invited her to come to church. She was not able to come because she was feeling sick, but we stopped by after church to meet her and she was really keen to learn about what we believe. Then we went to that less active's house who came to church and wanted us to help her come back to church. It was late so we were expecting to just set an appointment with them, but they invited us in and had a good talk. We set up expectations because she is a member and we wanted to know where she was at, but her partner is not a member and we needed to know how to help each of them. He has a basic belief in God but is not religious, but said that he is more open now than in the past. She wants to come back to church 100%. Then his mum is visiting and started to listen to the conversation. We gave him a restoration pamphlet to prepare him for next time, and the mum asked for one too, which was a big surprise. Then the Port Headland missionaries came down and are spending the P-day with us. This next week should be really good as well. 

Oh yeah and we had a great lesson with our 18 year old investigator. He opened up a lot more to us and we can see the progress he has made. Right now he says he just wants to make sure that he can live the commandments, but we can see that he is trying and it looks like he will be baptized. We talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and how great the Gift of the Holy Ghost is. He says that he wants it in his life, and we had a lesson on Priesthood in Gospel Principles.

Transfers are next week and I am really sad. I love serving in Karratha and with my companion. The last couple of missionaries serving here have only been here 3 transfers, so there is a good chance I will leave next week. I will be happy to stay or leave. The Port Headland missionaries said that President Lindsay might start having missionaries stay up here less time because he doesn't like missionaries being so far from him for so long, but that might just be a rumor. Either way I will be happy.

Love,

Elder Cook

Bike Problems (August 26, 2013)

This was a good week, but we were plagued with bike problems. Monday I got a flat tire, and I fixed it that night. Tuesday my companion got a flat tire. He was able to keep pumping it up every now and then. Wednesday he fixed it and right after I got a flat in the same tire I had just fixed. We had an appointment we had to get to and so I would pump it up and ride really fast. After the appointment I pumped it up, but a couple seconds later it was flat so we had to walk back to our flat which took about 2 hours. It has been ages since I walked that far. Then the part on my bike that connects the pedal to the gears has been coming loose and almost falling off and I cannot get it to stay on, or get one of the ones from one of our spare bikes off to replace it. Very annoying. Besides that it has been an alright week.

We had more member present lessons again, but unfortunately our normal lessons were very low, but this week should be better. The 18 year old is good. He still has questions about whether the Book of Mormon is the word of God. He also feels like he needs to know more. He comes to church every week and has been opening up more to us. In church he was asked to give a prayer in Priesthood and it was really good. You could tell he was a little nervous, but he used some phrases that members generally use, and it was good to think about how much he has progressed. Someone asked him if he was going to join the church and he said he was not sure, still deciding. This week we are going to talk about the Holy Ghost with him and talk to him about baptism to just see where he is at. Hopefully that lesson goes well. 

My companion also did a good job on the primary program, even though he only saw one song the day before. We are excited because next week the Port Hedland missionaries will be coming down, so it will be really nice to see some other missionaries.

I hope everyone back home is doing good.

Love,

Elder Cook

Good Week (August 19, 2013)

This transfer has been flying by. I cannot believe that it is already half way through it. It seems every transfer the first three weeks go by really fast, but this one especially has gone by fast. It is a little sad because I know there is a good chance I will be leaving Karratha at the end of the transfer. At the end of last transfer I was a little tired of Karratha, but now I am enjoying it and am a little sad at the thought of leaving it. 

This week not much has happened, but it was good because we had more member present lessons. Our ward mission leader started to bug the members to have us over for dinner because it was pretty much the same people feeding us. So it has been good to go to different members houses, and they started inviting over our investigators. It has been cool to see the difference that a member present lesson can have. It is really just a better environment to teach a lesson in. Through the first year of my mission I have struggled to get members at lessons because most of the people we teach do not set appointments, we just have to drop by. And it is a pain to set it up and then have the investigator cancel or not be there. So the really nice thing has been the members setting up the appointments for us, and we are getting fed more, so teaching more and eating more is always a good combination.

I did not do too much special for my year mark, we just went to KFC for dinner. Also we are a little sad because all of the young men are going to Port Hedland this weekend for a combined thing since that is the closest branch and we were hoping to tag along and go on exchanges with the missionaries there, but they do not have room for us. The good thing is they are planning on coming here at the end of the transfer because it will be a new month so the will have the km's to do it. It will be good to see other missionaries.

We also had a cool experience at church yesterday. We were in the chapel before church started and a deacon came and told us there were two people in the carpark that wanted to talk to us. It was a lady who is a member but hasn't been to church in ages and her partner who is not a member. I think she wants to start coming back to church, but she wants to meet with us this week, so that will be good.

I think that is it for this week, hopefully this coming week will be more exciting.

Love,

Elder Cook

One Year (August 12, 2013)

I hit my year mark this week, and it feels so weird. nothing much happened this week, so I thought I would share with you what I have learned in each area I have served in.

MTC- I learned some of the missionary basics. I realized how well I knew the doctrines of the lessons, but was not capable of teaching them at all.

Heathridge North- I learned how to be a missionary. I learned the basics of how to find and teach people. I also learned the importance of working hard. When you work hard you are happy, but when there are times that it is hard to work (i.e. Christmas when everyone is busy) it is hard to stay focused and you are not really happy. I also learned patience, in myself and my area. It was hard at times when the missionaries we were living with had a great and flourishing area, while we were put in a new area with an almost non-existent teaching pool.

Butler- I learned how great it is when you are finding people to teach. I also learned that finding is only part of it, you also need to help those people keep commitments so you can help them progress in the Gospel. I also learned the importance of working with the ward council effectively. I learned how to deal with adversity. When I was finding the most people, and teaching the most lessons, we had one week that was the most disappointing on my mission. I learned how bad discouragement can be and how you cannot let it stop you.

Mindarie- Here I learned the importance of the ward mission leader. We had a good ward mission leader, but then we got an amazing one. He magnified his calling so many ways by not doing what was required, but doing what was needed. I was sad to only be with him for a couple of weeks, but in the last couple of months there have been heaps of baptisms in that ward and I know not a small part of that was the ward mission leader.

Greenwood- Here I learned the importance of working where you are placed. I was not originally supposed to serve in this area but I was willing to when I was called upon. But I also learned that it is easy to get over an area and feel that it is not yours. Also I learned that success does not come from me, but the Lord. This was my hardest area to find and teach people, and it made it hard. I had thought that I was the one who was finding and teaching, but I quickly learned that it was not me at all, but the Lord and people's agency.

 

Karratha- Here I learned the most about myself. I learned how to really pray here. A prayer is not just  saying words, but takes real effort. I also learned the importance of getting revelation, especially when you are trying to help others. You do not always know what someone needs, but the Lord always does. I have also learned about relationships. I was not with a companion for more than one transfer since I was trained until I served with Elder Shin. Before it was easy to just live with things, you can live with anyone for 6 weeks, but not 3 months. I learned you have to talk about problems and misunderstandings, and not just hold them in until the end of the transfer. I have also learned about leadership in the last two weeks leading the area and being senior companion. In this area I have also learned heaps about community service. It is a great way to get involved and to have people see you in a different light than just knocking on your door.

Now what I have learned but cannot place in a specific area. At different times it has been hard not to compare yourself to different areas, different missionaries, or different missions. Success is not measured in baptisms. While everyone loves baptisms, there are more important things. One is that person, and not just helping them get baptized, but keeping them active and really help them become converted. President Hinckley said that there is no use baptizing people if you cannot hang on to them. Also yourself is important. It is funny because on a mission you put so much focus on other people, but by doing that you allow yourself to grow so much. At the end of the day it does not actually matter what you did on a mission, but what you learned. A mission is more than converting others, but also converting yourself. I also learned the importance of the Spirit. It is what helps you do everything. If you do not have the spirit with you, you will struggle to do anything related to missionary work. In 2 Nephi 32:3 it says that the words of Christ or scriptures will tell us what we should do, but in verse 5 it says the Holy Ghost will show us what to do. I was excited when I found this last week. While the scriptures are important because they give us direction, they only tell us what to do, but not how to do it. But the Spirit tells us how. I know what to teach because of Preach My Gospel, but how to teach it to make it relevant to others, that part comes from the Spirit.

I hope you enjoy these thoughts and observations.

I love you all. Thank you for everything you have done, are doing, and will do

Love,

Elder Cook

Another Week (August 5, 2013)

My new companion is the man. He came out 3 transfers after me so has been out around 8 months. It is actually really funny because in so many ways we are really similar. Sometimes it is hard to get along with people that are similar to you, but so far it has been really easy. 

This week it started to heat up a little. Saturday it hit 33 C which is around 90 degrees, and it is the middle of winter. The last couple of weeks I could feel it starting to heat up just a little, but was not expecting it to get this warm. My companion thought it was really funny because the day before he came up he was using a heater in Perth, and now he is using the air con. Hopefully it will cool down a little, and I am starting to be really glad that I probably will not be up here for summer. 

It was really funny because this weekend was a big festival up her called FeNaClNG (Feenacleing). It is like the Pilbara version of a county fair. Fe is the element symbol of Iron, NaCl is the chemical formula of salt and the NG is for natural gas.  Those are the three main sources of income up here. It has been the only thing people could talk about for the last couple of weeks. We went for a little to check it out and we spent most of the time with one of our investigators. I thought I was going to be disappointed because Karratha is pretty small. I was really surprised that it was about the same size as the Grape Festival at home. 

It is really weird to think that my year mark is coming up. It is also really weird because I am at the same place lots of the missionaries I served around when I first came in were at, but I feel like they knew so much more than I do now. It has gone quick and slow at the same time. But it is really weird that the sisters that came in with me are leaving in 4 transfers and then I only have 4 transfers after that. This week I have been looking back and it is cool to see what I have learned over the last year. Each area I have served in has had its challenges and rewards, and because of that I have learned a lot from them. Also I might actually see other missionaries this transfer. Port Headland, which is 3 hours away is having a combined youth and ysa conference with Karratha, and the other elders are trying to get us there as well. We will see what President Lindsay says. 

I am doing good and am looking forward for this transfer

Love,

Elder Cook

Transfers (July 29, 2013)

Wow it has already been two transfers here in Karratha. It is probably the weirdest two transfers because it feels like one long transfer. Normally even if you stay with your same companion there are missionaries around you that move so you feel the difference. Up here the only difference is that you use a new planner. My companion is going to Butler, one of my old areas. My new companion is from Tahiti, but I have never served around him. We actually thought that we were going to stay together for another transfer because we did not get emails about plane tickets, but the Zone Leaders called and told us. But we have no idea about the ticket.

We actually thought that sisters might be coming up here because when President Lindsay was here a couple of people brought it up. Our Branch President made a couple of jokes about us being transferred and his in-laws are a senior couple in the mission office, so we thought that he might actually know.

This week has been good. Our investigator did not get baptized, he feels like he needs a little more time. But the good thing is we are pretty sure he will get baptized, it is just a matter of when. The good thing is we have three investigators like that, I just hope that they are baptized while I am still here. I guess the only annoying thing is we do have a couple of other investigators, but not many and right now they are not very solid. But the work of salvation will go on, we just have to keep inviting people. At times this week it has started to feel really warm. I kind of hope I am not up here for another 3 months when it starts to get really hot. 

Love

Elder Cook

Another Good Week (July 22, 2013)

So this has been a pretty good week. Last P-day we actually did something. We went hiking in the hills close by and we both enjoyed it. It was good to get out of town. It is also cool because an aboriginal tribe used to live up there and there are heaps of rock carvings. It is also no wonder why mining is so big up here. Elder Shin would hit the rocks with his ring and it sounded like metal. I knew they were iron because they were red from the oxidation, but I did not realize they would sound like iron as well. Today we are going fishing in a neighboring town with our investigator who is getting baptized. We are not sure if it will be this week because he does not feel like he is ready so today we are going to talk to him about it and try to help him. We would like to have the baptism this week so it can be in this transfer, but we need to make sure that he is ready. It was really cool because we have been praying for him to help him know if he should be baptized now and feel prepared. All of church was an answer to that. All of the lessons and talks were exactly what he needed and it was so cool to see that Heavenly Father is helping us and him. 

It was also cool because we were helping a less active member with some service and she wanted us to start to teach her 9 year old daughter. The mum is deaf. The girl is really bright and the primary is trying to get the girls to come to church. They have come before and it will be good to work with the branch with them. Those are pretty much the main people we have been focusing on this week. Hopefully we will be able to continue to find people and help them. Also yesterday the branch watched the Work of Salvation Broadcast. I think that was my third time watching it and I've listened to it twice, but every time I watch it I learn something more and get excited. There were not too many members that were there to watch it but most of the branch council was there which was good. I just hope that we will be able to continue to work together and find more people that are prepared to receive the Gospel.

love,

Elder Cook

Good Week (July 15, 2013)

Well this was a really good week. On Tuesday it started out great when we saw the 18 year old we have been teaching and set a baptism date with him for the 27th of July. So we should be really busy the next couple of weeks helping him be prepared, but it is good to be busy. It has been cool to see how his faith is beginning to grow. We were also able to watch the special broadcast. I found the MP3's on Monday so we were able to listen to it, and then on Tuesday the mission office mailed up a DVD of it, and I have to say it is way better to watch it than listen to it. So that has really helped motivate us and get us excited. Also the Branch is going to watch it next week, so that should be really good for everyone. I know our Branch President was excited after he watched it. 

I also have a funny story from Thursday.  During our personal study we got a call from our branch mission leader that he needed our help. An older lady we visit with had a dog that had died. She called him asking if he could bury it for her. He was working and about 3 hours away so he called us and asked if we could do it. We finished our personal study and left. When we got to her house the dog was wrapped in blankets sitting on her table outside her house. And the eyes were open and the tongue was sticking out a little. She asked if we could dig a hole in her backyard. The first couple of inches were easy, but after that we hit clay and the shovel she had was flat not pointed, so it was hard to dig deep enough. Finally we were able to dig a hole after some effort. Good thing it was a small dog, but I was really missing the sand in Perth. We had been switching off digging and Elder Shin had finished it, so I was standing behind him. The lady picked the dog off the table and went to put it in the grave, and then looked at Elder Shin and said "I don't know if I can do it, I have back problems." So he took the dog from her and laid it in the grave. That was my fear that she was going to have us put the dog in the grave, so as the great companion I was I wanted to let Elder Shin show his charity and when she had picked up the dog I slowly was backing up so she wouldn't ask me to do it. When the dog was in the grave she almost lost it, so we quickly buried it and left before she completely lost it. The entire time I was thinking that this was the one time I wish that Elder Nelson had not said "Ask the missionaries, they can help you." It was a really interesting experience and I will remember it. 

We were a little sad on Friday we thought we were going to be able to listen in to Zone Conference, but nobody ever called us. So it goes when you are serving 1800 km from the city. It was good though because we saw President and Sister Lindsay the next day so they were able to review some of the things that the mission has been trained on. It was really good to see President and Sister Lindsay. It was really cool to have time with them just to ourselves. Normally we do not have much of a chance to be able to spend much time with them, just talk to them quickly, so it was really cool to be able to get to know them better. It was a really busy weekend, I forgot what it is like to have so many planned activities and appointments. Saturday we had no time to fill, training from President Lindsay in the morning, Branch picnic at noon, community garden right after that, and then devotional after that. Sunday was also a really good meeting, but it was sad to see the Lindsay's go knowing it will probably be a couple of months before I see them again. It will be weird going back to Perth and having so many missionaries around me. It will also be weird because there will be so many that I do not know. The last couple of groups of missionaries have been big, and the next one could be. President said that right now 2 have visas, but up to 18 could come. I  do not envy President Lindsay and trying to figure out transfers, especially when he never knows how many missionaries he will have. He also said he does not have any news about using the internet. He has just received one email about it. But he did say that we will get it while I am on my mission. So that is good. It is funny that others also know about the announcement. It was on the front page of the West Australian and it said that we will not do any tracting, not quite true, but I was surprised when other people started to talk to us about it. I hope our mission gets it soon, but we will see.

Also to end a great week yesterday we set another baptism date with the schizophrenic man. I am not sure if he will be baptized, or can be baptized, his understanding is very limited, but we do have a clear goal we will work towards when before we never had a clear goal for him. 

Hopefully this week will also be good.

I love you all and thank you for all you do for me.

love,

Elder Cook 

Another Alright Week (July 8, 2013)

This week was a little disappointing. I am not sure what it was, just a hard week. I started out the week really excited for missionary work. I was thinking of all of the announcements in the last year about missionary work. First was the lowering of the ages and the increase of missionaries, which is continuing to grow and is supposed to be close to 100,000 by the end of the year. Then 58 new missions have been created to hold the increase of missionaries. And now the new broadcast is going to help all of the new missionaries be more effective and also asks a little more of members to assist the missionaries. 

So I was excited about thinking of all of that. I'm not sure but maybe in my mind I thought all of a sudden missionary work was going to magically get easier, well I learned it has not. More than normal people were not interested, and it has been hard to set up appointments with our more promising investigators. Hopefully we will do better this week with this. 

This coming week should be better though. We have zone conference some time that we will listen in through a conference call. Then President and Sister Lindsay with the rest of the mission presidency will be coming up this weekend for branch conference. It will be really good to see him and to receive some training, and I always feel inspired every time I hear him speak. It will be a little weird to see someone else wearing a name tag though. Last week all of the missionaries went to the temple except the country areas, but we learned that when we serve in one of the city zones we will be able to attend, which will be nice.

I love you all. Remember that the Lord is hastening his work for a reason. That means that there are more people than ever that are ready to receive the Gospel. We just have to recognize them. One of my favorite scriptures is D&C 84:88: "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

I love this because of the imagery. God is going before us to personally prepare his children for us. If that wasn't enough he will be there right next to us. Then he will give us one of his most precious gifts, the Holy Ghost to help us know what to say. And if that was not enough Angels will be surrounding us to protect us and help us. How can we fear at all when we have this heavenly battalion around us?

Love,

Elder Cook

Alright Week (July 1, 2013)

So it rained last week, and it was crazy. Normally it does not rain here during the winter, only the summer when a cyclone comes. It has been the wettest June on record here. It is funny because some people blame me because it started when I came up. Last week was especially bad. It rained a lot, but was also constant all day. In the pictures you can see a red dirt waterfall, and where all the water was going. If you look at that picture you can see bundled rocks to keep the water contained. Well the next day we were biking by and the water was so strong it pushed one of the bundles off and rolled it about 10 meters. And in the last picture you can see the lake forming outside our flat. I went to check the mail right after that in flip flops and the water was past my ankle. We were actually lucky because the flat next to us had even more water and it started to go inside. Also one of the windows was leaking in one of the upstairs rooms. Luckily it was not in the room we sleep in or one of the beds would have been soaked. Someone said it rained 28 cm but I'm not sure if it was in that day or month. Just to put it in perspective 28 cm is around a foot, so lots of rain.

Last week I was able to watch Elder Holland's and Elder Perry's talks at the library, but it was a little hard because I had to have the volume really low to not disturb others. It is really exciting to see how the new changes will happen, and how they will help. In this area I can see how they will help because we have a couple people we see that do not have phones, so the only way to get a hold of them is to knock on the door. If we had facebook or email it would be easy to just send them a message, and build relationships with them even when we cannot see them. I was excited because it shows that you can read the talks, but when I click on the link it doesn't work, so hopefully next week I will be able to read them. I am a little surprised that President Lindsay hasn't told us anything about it, but zone conferences are happening soon so it might be part of that. And he comes up here in two weeks which will be nice to see him and Sister Lindsay. We also got good news this week that the girl that almost got baptized two weeks ago moved up here, so hopefully we will be able to start teaching her this week. Besides that this week has been a little slow, but hopefully it will be able to pick up.

Love Elder Cook

Another Week (June 24, 2013)

It was an alright week this week, but looking back I cannot remember what really happened. We only taught three lessons. One was to the Schizophrenic guy. We are going to have to drop him because his mental capacity does not really allow him to fully understand the Gospel. We had a hard time teaching him about Joseph Smith, he could not really comprehend who he was. A little sad, but we know that he will accept the Gospel in the next life because of the steps he has already taken now. We also taught the woman who was excited about the Book of Mormon. She had not read it, so we read 3 Nephi 11 with her, and it was really good. She really enjoyed reading from it and she says she already knows it is true. That is good that she says that, but many times when investigators say that, because to really come converted they need to pray to receive that strong spiritual witness. She said she was going to come to church, but cancelled Sunday morning. We will hopefully catch them early this week be able to teach her more, and hopefully get the husband more interested. Our highlight of the week was when an eternal investigator came to church and brought a friend along. She used to come quite often, and had a baptismal date, so we are working with her slowly to see how we can help her. We are continuing to work and last week we were able to find heaps of potential investigators, so hopefully this week we will be able to turn them into investigators.

I also gave my second talk on my mission yesterday. This one was a 20 minute one and I was surprised it actually turned out alright. I can see that my public speaking is improving which surprised me a bit since I haven't given many talks, but I guess I am talking all day so I guess it would naturally improve.

So I did find the ocean, but it is really weird. There is no beach, just dirt and then plants growing in the water, which really confuses me. I also find it weird how there is a road, on one side is Karratha, and the other is the bush where nobody lives. 

Love,

Elder Cook

Transfers and Happy Fathers Day (June 17, 2013)

So I am staying in Karratha and so is Elder Shin. It will be nice to stay in an area longer than a transfer. This also means that I will probably be here for at least two more transfers, one more with him and one more with a new companion. When I first came up here I had the feeling I would be here for six months, so we will see. At the moment I would love to stay here for a while. In the last little bit I have fallen in love with Australia even more than before. Something about the openness and knowing that I can look out and not see a person for hundreds if not thousands of km is fascinating. While I do not think I could live here permanently, I am enjoying it. It wasn't until this week I realized why I love it so much up here. Perth is not that big as far as cities go, and there is not much to do in Perth. Also it is pretty common to a US city. I did not realize that until talking to some French backpackers and they pointed it out. In Europe the cities are different because of all of the history there, but that is not the case in Australia and the US. Up here though it is the Australia you think of and in remoteness would only be comparable to Alaska. 

This week has also been really hectic. The first part of this week I felt like our area was dropping. Many of our investigators we have not been able to teach for a while. Also the 18 year old we are teaching was busy this week so we were unable to teach him. Then our area got a huge boost. On Thursday night our branch president called asking if we wanted a baptism on Saturday. A recent convert had his girlfriend visiting and is super keen but wants him to baptize her. So we were rushing trying to figure out if it could happen, and what we would need to teach her. But then something happened with where she is living so while she was already thinking about moving up here, she is not planning on it and is going to wait until she moves up here in a couple weeks. Lets just say I have never been so stressed out in my life, trying to figure out what she needs to know, how we are going to teach it in 48 hours, and then keeping everyone involved in what is going on. Then we met the 18 year old on the street and were able to talk to him and realized just how solid he is. Then on Saturday we were able to find a couple of potential investigators who we have been struggling on finding, and then we found a new investigator. It was also really cool how we found her. We were tracting and this guy said to visit this house because he needs saving. So it was kind of a referral  but a really dodgy one. We might have ignored it but we saw him walking and he told us to not forget to go there. I knew it would either be a super keen person or a person who would not want us there at all. So we went and the husband and wife were really cool. they came out and talked with us and brought chairs out. The husband is Aussie, and the wife aboriginal. I started to talk to him and Elder Shin was talking to the wife. I was talking to him about his beliefs and then I heard Elder Shin start to teach the Restoration to her. He was really nice but not super religious, but she became really interested when we were talking about the Book of Mormon taking place in the Americas. She started to think about her culture and how it would make sense that their could have been prophets among the Aboriginal people. They both said that they would read from the Book of Mormon. We also talked to her about baptism and she said that she wants to be baptized. I loved it because it gave me insight on how to use the Book of Mormon when teaching Aboriginal people. The last couple of days is really what this area needed. We were also able to get the schizophrenic person to church again, and it was cool because he got a white shirt and tie from his brother in law. We have also been helping him cut back on smoking, and this last week it has been cool to see him step up more.

I am excited for this area because we have a goal for two baptisms this transfer and we see it happening with four or five investigators we can see getting baptized. It has been cool to see the excitement we have really boosted when we needed it.

I love all of you, and especially dad on Fathers day.

Love,

Elder Cook

Short But Great Week (June 10, 2013)

This has been a good week, mostly because of that 18 year old we taught. We taught him again on Friday and he had read what we asked him, which is cool because it seems that most of the people we begin teaching never read what we ask them to. Then we had a really good lesson on faith and Jesus Christ with him, and we can see how his faith has increased already. Every Friday we have volleyball at the chapel and we invited him to that. Then it was cancelled because it might rain, but we forgot to text him and he showed up. It wasn't too bad because we were staying there and having a BBQ so we were able to have a good chat with him and gave him a chapel tour. By the way it is really weird giving someone a chapel tour in a small building. Just walk down the hall and the tour is over, but it was still really good. We invited him to church and he came. He actually came an hour and a half early because he forgot the time, so the Branch President told him the correct time. He stayed for all three hours of church and enjoyed himself. Hopefully we will be able to help him learn and increase his faith. 

We also had another cool experience this week. We had just finished knocking the doors of a street and I saw this young man walking towards us. I felt like I needed to contact him, but Elder Shin had started to bike away. He was still too far away to contact him so I started to put on my helmet and get ready to follow. Then he called out and asked if we were from the Mormon Church. We started to talk to him and he was a less active member. He had seen us riding around and wanted to come to church  but he did not know where the church was. The timing had to be perfect because we had knocked on his house, but another person had answered the door and said he was not interested, and this young man was not home yet. When we had finished I'm not sure if he saw us when he pulled up, or if the person inside had said that we had come. But before that when we were picking a street we went to two streets and Elder Shin realized when we got to them that he had already done them. If we had gone straight to that street we would have missed him. It is cool to see how this all works out and the Lord is with us.

Also our teaching has really improved in the last couple of weeks, and it is cool to see how it has helped us. We just wait for the Lord to help us know what questions to ask and what to teach. It is really easy to slip into a pattern of how I teach. I never memorized anything, but you teach it and it is easy to say the same types of things each time. I was giving a rote presentation without realizing it. But now we have focused on turning to the Lord in our lessons to help us know what to teach, what to focus on, and what questions to ask. When we do this we learn a lot more about the people we teach, love them more, and are able to better help them. 

On some not so happy news I had my bike stolen on Friday. It was my stupid lapse of judgement. I normally lock my bike, but because we were going to be playing volleyball and have lots of people outside close to the bikes I thought it would be safe. But then volleyball was cancelled so there was not anybody around. It was good when we were outside, but we went inside to clean the chapel because it was a little dirty. So we were inside for about 10 minutes and in that time somebody stole it. We have back up bikes here but they are around 3 years old which is forever for a missionary bike. I told the mission office and because it was a mission bike I might have to pay for it, which will be fun, but they are going to call me back and let me know.

One thing I really like about Karratha is that it is so small there is hardly any light pollution, so you can see the stars really well. Unfortunately from our flat we only have a view of the Southern sky, and I only recognize a few of the constellations. In the northern sky there are constellations that are in our southern sky, but oh well, I will continue to enjoy the stars while I am up here.

I love you all

Elder Cook

Good Week (June 5, 2013)

This has been a weird week because P-day got moved. It has really just thrown off my week. But it has been a good week. We had a really good district conference call on Thursday that really motivated us and helped us focus on finding, which is something we have struggled with recently. We left our flat after that and found a couple potential investigators, and later found a new investigator. Sunday was good because we were surprised when our Korean investigator came to church. We have been struggling to teach him and he does not get much out of sacrament meeting because of the language barrier, so we are going to try and get him to come just to Sunday school if he is only going to stay for an hour. He said he couldn't because he had something to do, so we thought he wasn't going to come to church at all, but then he showed up, which is good because there is something that gets him coming back. Then on Sunday I got a real boomerang from a returning aboriginal less active. He looks for artifacts before they put in a mine site, and makes his own stuff in his spare time, so he gave us a boomerang each. He told us before that he could sell them for $300 as a pair, so I am really glad to get them for free. Also I learned that there are different types of boomerangs, and that these ones are for fighting and not hunting. Now I am really interested in learning more about aboriginal culture.

We also had a cool lesson yesterday. It was one of the potentials we had found last week, we were able to have a really good lesson with him. It is an 18 year old who wasn't sure if there was a God, but was interested in finding out if there was one. It was cool seeing his face that he was feeling the spirit. It was a little awkward at the end because we had taught him how to pray and we asked him if he could say a prayer, but we forgot to ask him to give a vocal prayer, so he started reading silently. We didn't know how to react, but it was cool because we were able to talk to him a little about how he felt, and he said he felt a peace, so we talked to him a little about that. Also he had started to read the Book of Mormon before we even could tell him we were leaving. It was really cool to see him feel the Spirit and cannot wait to teach him later this week to see what he thought of the Book of Mormon.

I love you all

love,

Elder Cook

Another Week (May 27, 2013)

I am just realizing how big this mission is, and how far away I am from others. This week the only time we talked to another missionary was our district leader last night for our reporting. And I do not actually know who our zone leaders are, and not 100% what zone I am in. Weird. I realized how big it was when I was on the stake directory in lds.org and you can see all of the missionaries out and see their mission boundaries. Mine was the only one that showed an entire continent to show the boundaries. This was just an alright week. The same investigators came to church again, but this time only stayed for sacrament meeting. We are a little disappointed about them because one has a smoking problem and could not go long without a cigarette. And the Korean one did not seem to keen to learn. We tried to teach him this week but he canceled both the appointments we set. It is good that he came to church, but when we taught him a little before church he didn't look too interested. Patience is definitely needed. 

I think that is the weird thing is not only how small and remote Karratha is, but it is also that it has the biggest population in the Pilbara. I also realized just how much money everyone has here. We were walking down the street and across the street we saw an old guy just come out of the bar stumbling a bit. He looked over and saw us and crossed the street and dug out all the change he had in his pocket, and dropped $10 in our hands, and walked away not letting us talk to him. Australia is like Europe where it has one and 2 dollar coins instead of normal money ( I would call it paper money, but in Australia it is more plastic, really hard to explain). We also saw a guy busking outside the shops and in about 10 minutes had made around $15- $20. Unfortunately for him the manager came out and told him to leave, but it still surprised me how much he was making. 

I am not sure if I have told you this before, but as a mission we started reading the Book of Mormon together. We are doing 5 pages a day, so will take us about 3 months. We are using new unmarked copies of the Book of Mormon, and are highlighting every verse that talks about Christ. I was surprised at how many verses there are. In some chapters almost every verse is highlighted. It has been really cool. Pretty much all of 3rd Nephi is going to be highlighted. I have learned a lot from it, and am excited to keep learning. We started the Isaiah chapters yesterday, but this focus on Christ has really helped me because so many of Isaiah's prophecies are about Christ, so I am understanding them better, and at least paying attention to what I am reading. 

I love you all, thanks for everything you do for me

love,

Elder Cook

Karratha Branch (May 20, 2013)

So it seems everyone is interested in this new area and the branch. This week there were quite a few people missing so there were only around 30 members there. This is a mission branch so President Lindsay is the district president and comes up here every three months. It is really weird because the branch has a lot more members, they just live hours away. There are around 8 young men, most of which come from one family. There are no young women, so we are under assignment from the Branch President to baptize a family with a young woman. It is weird being in a branch because the building is really cozy and there are not that many members. It was funny because we had two investigators at church which was really good and we were giving one a tour of the chapel before church. Probably the shortest chapel tour ever because there is only the hall, kitchen/library, clerks office/classroom, Branch Presidents office and the chapel. It was good to have investigators at church. One has schizophrenia which is interesting to teach, but it has been good for his mental health to listen to us and to come to church. The other is from Korea and is pretty keen. Good thing I have a Korean companion because his English is good until we start talking about religion. Elder Shin had to translate for him during Sacrament meeting. It is also weird to think that this mining region called the Pilbara (but the first a is silent) has less people than Lodi. I do like the small branch though because I already know lots of the members when normally it takes me about two transfers to know all the members by name. I am excited for this area and how unique it will be, but also fun. I also learned that Karratha only has two seasons, hot and cool. It has been raining quite a bit which is really rare, so I am enjoying it while it lasts. And I am going to go to Utah and freeze in the winter if I am used to weather like this.

love,

Elder Cook

If the date and time are set right on Alex's camera, this was taken the day he left his previous area, in the morning.  I don't know where all the root beer came from (Australian's don't drink root beer) but I hope Alex didn't drink it all by himself! 

Also, here's the email he sent just to me answering some of my questions:

It made us laugh that we have a referral in a place called Exmouth, which is in the branch boundaries, but is 5 hours away by car. The referral secretary was asking us if we would be able to get there, because she thought we had a car. Even with a car it would be an entire day driving. She told us to talk with the Branch President and see if he has any ideas because I believe it is a less active who needs some help from the branch. Even people in Western Australia do not realize the distances. Many people think that Perth is Western Australia (I did until this transfer). Some people who have lived here in Karratha all their lives have a strong sense of community, but most people do not stay here too long. It is mostly young families and single men that live here because it is not the best place to raise a family once the kids get older, and it is too expensive to live if you are not working for the mines. It is a mission branch so President Lindsay is over it. President Lindsay visits about every three months, and is coming up next month. It is really narrow town, and I think there is a hill between us and the ocean. There is also a marsh close which looks like the ocean, but there are big hills on the other side so it was really confusing when I got here. 

Mother's Day Phone Call (May 13, 2013)

Alex got to call us on our Mother's Day, which was Monday for him.  It's a little challenging to coordinate our schedules on those two days a year when he can call us because he is 15 hours ahead of us.  It was great to hear his voice and know that he is happy and healthy.  Here are some of the highlights of our conversation:

On May 7 Alex was transferred to Karratha, a small town on the northern coast of Western Australia.  It is almost 1000 miles from Perth so he flew 2 1/2 hours to get there.  Because it was a domestic flight he could only take one suitcase.  His other suitcase with half his belongings and his bike are being stored in Perth until he returns.  He and his companion are the only missionaries in the town.  The nearest missionaries are 2 1/2 hours away by car, but they don't have cars so they won't be visiting each other. The branch of the Church in Karratha has about 50 to 60 members.

Karratha is a very expensive place to live.  The rent on their 2-bedroom townhouse is about $750 a week.  Alex said it is pretty nice except for the cockroaches in the kitchen and he planned to try to take care of that problem.  The $300 a month he gets for food and personal expenses had been more than enough in Perth but he expects to use it all in Karratha.  (While I was checking out Karratha on Google Maps, I noticed a Comfort Inn and checked the prices online -- rooms start at almost $400 a night!)

The ground is mostly red dirt, and Alex was told that his white shirts will never be white again after his time in Karratha.  He is very lucky to be there during Australia's winter.  He's already had some heat and some rain but it looks like the next few months should be mostly warm (not hot) and not too rainy with highs around 80 degrees F and lows around 60.  Summers there get really hot.

Because of the distance from the rest of the mission, Alex and his companion will have their zone conferences by conference call.  He doesn't know how long he will stay there, but probably more than one 6-week transfer because of the travel expense, and not more than 4 transfers (6-months) because that's the longest the missionaries stay in the remote areas.  The mission president wants them back in civilization and with other missionaries before too long.

Our conversation was longer than that but that covers the biggest news.  He is doing well, working hard, and enjoying himself in Australia.