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