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