First Week of the Transfer (Feb. 24, 2013)

It has been a great first week in the new area. My companion is great. Lots of the members were confused when I had moved to the other area in the ward. The first day was really great. We had some really good lessons and got two new investigators. I am really excited about the area, there is so much potential here. One lady has a baptismal date. There are also a couple others we hope to set a date with this coming week. I am also really
excited about the new investigators we got this week. One is a lady who is friends with some of our investigators. We were able to go and teach her, and the spirit was so strong. Her son used to be taught by missionaries in the
past, so I am sure we can start teaching him as well. The other new investigator we were able to teach at a park. Then we were able to help him with his car because one of his hands doesn't work properly. We were able to teach him the Restoration and he says he believes it and we invited him to be baptized. He said he wants to, but wants to wait for his wife, who does not believe in God. He did say though that she seems to be changing a bit and read a little from the Book of Mormon we left him and took a Bible to work one day. Tomorrow we have an
appointment with him and his wife, so hopefully we will be able to start teaching her. The only problem with him is that he works as a mechanic in the mines and works away 4 weeks and back at home 1 week. But we will work with him. 

Besides that nothing else is new. It is almost March, so hopefully it will start cooling off soon.

Love,
Elder Cook

Transfers (Feb. 18, 2013)

Sorry I was unable to email yesterday, we got on the computers and we were unable to get onto our emails, so we got permission to do it today.

Transfer Calls were yesterday. I am being transferred to the Mindarie area, which is the other area in the ward. The members are going to be so confused. My new companion is from Samoa. He is a really good missionary, and I am excited to learn from him. This week was good. We were not able to set any baptismal dates, none of
our investigators were quite ready, and we were unable to see a couple of them. We were able to continue to find more, we just need to get them to progress. Well I guess I won't really be a part of it. This was supposed to be a quiet transfer because of all of our goals for March, and next one is going to be crazy, but all of the companions in the zone except two are being affected. I'm not sure if I told you, but next transfer is going to be crazy because there is a large intake coming in, and most of them are sisters. I think the intake is around 20, with around 15 of them sisters. Sister Lindsay has no idea what they are going to do with them since normally they stay the night at the mission home, but it cannot hold that many. The other problem is having enough sister trainers, and the areas to put the new missionaries. We are excited because hopefully more country areas will be opened. While country areas are generally hard, I want to be in one of those areas for just a little bit because it will be such a unique experience.

I am hoping to be able to get my first baptism in Mindarie because they have set two dates, and have a couple really good investigators. Hopefully we will be able to find more and meet our area goal of two baptisms and contribute to our district and zone goals.

This week we were able to talk with someone who just returned from his mission in Hawaii. It was interesting to see how different the missions are. They baptize about 1,000 people a year and the highest they did in a month is 130, which is close to our yearly baptisms which was a high water mark for our mission. It took me by surprise
because I would not have picked Hawaii to be a high baptizing mission. I find it interesting because our mission is so much larger as far as land area goes, and has twice as many people, but they have twice the number of
missionaries and 5x the baptisms. I guess it could be discouraging, but it just motivates me to work harder.

Love,
Elder Cook

Great Week (Feb. 11, 2013)

This was a good week. We are continuing to find new people to teach. The baptism date we set had to drop because she did not come to church, but we will reset it when we meet with her this week. We just need to have another lesson with her, she is hard to get a hold of and we have not been able to catch her at home. But we will see her this week and teach her again. We were able to commit one of our investigators to baptism this week, but he did not want to set a date. We were able to find a couple new investigators, one was a former, and the other two we found. We also found a potential investigator who I am excited about. Good things are happening, and we will continue to work hard and find success. I know there are more people we need to find, and baptize. 

I really hope that I stay here next transfer. This coming week is the last week of the transfer and it has just gone by. I can't believe that in 4 days I have been out for 6 months. That is a quarter of my mission gone, so fast. Everyone says the second year goes by the fastest, but I cannot imagine it going by any faster, it just shows how I need to put in everything I have or else it will just slip by.

Sorry I know I need to take more pictures. This is right in front of a members house. I have to say that people in Perth are so lucky because nobody is that far from the beach. They do not really build out, just up, especially where I am. In this area everyone is within a 10 minute bike ride from the beach.

Great Week (Feb. 4, 2013)

This has been a great week. Elder Pearson really got all of the missionaries motivated. This week we were able to get a couple solid investigators. On Friday we had a really good zone meeting that was really motivating. We decided that we are going to create a new high water mark for baptisms in a month. Currently it is 6, and we are going to get 11. Elder Pearson taught us a lot about "trying." He quoted Yoda and then gave us an example of someone picking up a book. They cannot try to pick it up, they either do or do not. Often when we say we will try it means that we will put in some effort, but we admit that we will not do it. So that is why we are going to get 11 baptisms in March, not try to, but actually achieve it. We all have the faith to, and we will continue to work for this goal, and do everything we possibly can to achieve it. In this area we are going to get at least 2 baptisms in March. We are off to a good start. On Saturday we were able to teach a 24 year old girl for the first time, and committed her to baptism. She is getting baptized on Feb. 23. Elder Pearson promised us that the people we will baptize in March are people we have not met yet. We are going to focus on finding people, and have the faith to know we will be led to those that are looking for the truth. We are so excited, it is hard to explain. There is not a doubt in my mind we will set a new high water mark, and that I will get 2 baptisms in march (if I stay in this area). We have so much faith right now, and this week we will set more baptism dates. We were also able to get 2 investigators at church. Ever since Elder Pearson came we know we will have success, and it has happened. Now we just need to keep it up through March, and there is no reason it should not continue for the rest of my mission.

 

 

love,

Elder Cook

A Week of Highs and Lows (Jan. 28, 2013)

This was probably one of the hardest weeks of my mission. We had 14 teaching opportunities fall through and only taught 2 lessons. There were good peaks like we were able to have a good lesson with that potential I was looking forward to, it just happened a couple days after it was supposed to. There is also a less active from Heathridge that moved into our area. We showed up to a dinner appointment and this less active was there. She was in the other missionaries area but I had met her a couple of times. She has been trying to get back to church, but she did not have a car and had to rely on her partner who is not a member. Hopefully now that she is living with members she will be able to come back to church. She also has a 9-year old son who is not baptized who we will hopefully be able to start teaching. 

We had zone conference yesterday and Elder Pearson of the area  presidency was there. It was really good and the Spirit was really strong. He was able to help us realize that this mission does have great potential. Often we make excuses because it is a harder mission, but we need the attitude and faith to know that it can become a great mission. He told us that the Church does not build temples in places that only have a couple small stakes. If Perth was not supposed to grow, then a temple would not be here. What keeps us from seeing miracles is our faith. It was a really humbling experience, but everyone wanted to get better as missionaries. It set off a new determination in me to make sure that I do improve. While last week was hard, it will only get better if I believe it will, and act like it will. It was really good to hear. One of the biggest helps for me was he taught us what finding really is. Everyone has a testimony of the Gospel. They accepted it or else they would not be here. The veil keeps them from remembering, but it is still there. We do not build someone's testimony, we help them remember it. That sounds so much easier than starting from scratch. I know that I will become a better missionary because of yesterday, and every day continue to improve.

 

 

love

Elder Cook

Another Week (Jan. 21, 2013)

I just realized that my subject titles are never really exciting, but I never know what would make a good title.  That was always my least favorite part at writing papers in school, was coming up with the title. This has been a pretty good week. We have three new investigators this week which was nice to be able to start teaching more people. The good thing is that all of them have families and hopefully we will be able to start teaching them as well. We have a lot of investigators, we just need them to start keeping the commitments we leave with them. A lot of them say they are going to come to church, but a nobody has shown up so far.

 

The ward is really good, and is supposed to be one of the best wards in the mission, so I hope that I will be able to stay here for a while. The ward is very supportive of the missionaries and tries to find people for us to teach. It is way bigger than Heathridge, so it has been harder to get to know the members, but I am starting to, and it took me a while in Heathridge.

 

I am excited about tonight because we have an appointment with a potential investigator. She has been going through a really hard time and really needs the Gospel in her life. She also has a really bright little girl who is interested in religion. I can just see how she has been prepared, so I really hope that she will be home, and that she will accept what we teach.

 

We just need to catch up with some of our investigators because there are some that I have not been able to meet because they are never home when we drop by. So hopefully this week we will be able to catch them at home and be able to teach them again.

 

Not much is new, just trying to learn the area. We went on exchanges earlier this week so I had to find my way around. I was surprised that I only got lost once, and that was because a street name was not on the map so there was no way for me to find it. I am doing well, and am excited for the potential that is in this area. 

I hope everything at home is going well.

 

love,

Elder Cook

New Area

So I love the Butler area so far. It is weird not knowing the area or anyone in the ward. The area covers 3 suburbs, Butler is the main one, and then Yanchep is about 10-15 kms away, and then Two Rocks is even farther than that. We mostly bike around Butler because it is small and we have limited km's. We also can talk to a lot more people if we are biking around. We use the car for appointments if we are running late, or to go up to Yanchep. Butler is also nice because it is pretty flat, especially compared to parts of Heathridge. There are so many Kiwi's (New Zealanders) in this area. There were not that many in Heathridge, but most of the ward is Kiwi here. The good thing is that we do not baptize that many Australians, most of them are immigrants, especially Kiwi's. The Church is so big in New Zealand that everyone there has some connection to the Church. 

 

The area is also great because we have a lot of people to teach. In Heathridge we struggled to find people to teach, so it is nice to have a lot of people for a change. I did receive some bad news this morning, our investigator from Heathridge said that she is not going to get baptized because she does not want to give up smoking for 6 months to a year. 

 

I heard a little about the heat wave, but it did not affect us too much. It was hot here, but only around 100 F. It is normally worse in the East because the weather comes from here and travels across the desert where it heats up before hitting the East. It is only really bad here when the weather comes from East to West. I did not hear anything about fires, so there were none near by. 

The economy in Perth is booming. So many jobs in the mines, almost anyone who wants a job can get one. Some YSA can make over $100,000 a year working in the mines. They do this while living at home and they have almost no bills to pay. Unfortunately lots of the jobs are fly in, fly out workers so they are away for a couple of weeks and home for one. It amazes me how families can function like that. Well I guess the answer is that some do, while many cannot. Luckily in the Church most make it work. 

My new companion is from New Zealand but his family is from Tonga. He is great. It is a little weird being with just my companion and not in a 4 man flat. It is a lot quieter  now. Both of us are a little quiet so in the mornings and evenings it can get quiet because if we had anything to say, we would have said it during the day. But it is really good.  

 

Love,

Elder Cook