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