Also sorry this email was written late, we went fishing with the sisters and one of their investigators, so I am hoping you are not worried.
Love,
Elder Cook
Monday, April 28, 2014
April 28, 2014
This week was hard but fun. As far as missionary work goes it was not the best. It's still school holidays so heaps of people are gone and the people who were around were not interested. Those weeks happen. President and Sister Lindsay came down on Friday. It was really good to see them. It was also ANZAC day which is probably the biggest holiday in Australia and New Zealand. ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. ANZAC day is similar to veterans day, but focuses more on WWI since that was the first war Australia participated in as an independant country. Albany is also special because when those forces left they left from Albany, so for many of them this was the last place they saw of Australia. On ANZAC day there is a dawn service which starts at 5:30. Some members took us to it and we got up at 3:00 to get there before it was too packed. You would wonder if people would actually come to something like that, the answer is yes. Hundreds of people were on top of a mountain that overlooks Albany and the ocean, with people coming down from Perth just for it. This year was also special because it marks 100 years since WWI began. So we were tired when President Lindsay came down. We got back to our flat at 7 am and took a nap, woke up and went to a parade down the main street and then President and Sister Lindsay took us out to lunch and then we received training from them. So them coming down made it a good week, and hopefully as far as missionary work this week will be better.
April 21, 2014
I am loving it down here in Albany. Some missionaries do not like being in the country away from other missionaries, but I do not mind it at all, but I guess that is probably not too surprising. It is a little annoying because last transfer there were only Elders down here and heaps of the people that they were seeing are now in the Sisters' area, but oh well. The branch is good. It's weird because Albany is a tourist place so there were quite a few families from Perth there and heaps of people from Albany go up to Perth, so I still have not met the whole branch. The people I have met have been really good, but this is an older branch. Albany itself is where some people retire so it is old itself. The senior couple are really cool. They had all of us over for Easter which was really nice. It is weird for them because they report to President Lindsay, but the branch is part of the Southern River Stake so they are still trying to figure out their roles. Before they were in Port Hedland and that was easy because it is a mission branch. The branch itself enjoys the senior couple, they have had them before. They have been on missions before in Russia and Africa so they have seen different situations and cultures.
President and Sister Lindsay are coming down on Friday to give us training from the zone conference that we missed last week. I always love seeing them, especially when they visit country areas because they are more themselves and you get to know them better.
Love,
Elder Cook
The pictures are from the Gap and natural bridge. The gap is where Australia broke off from Antarctica, and the Natural bridge is just what it sounds like, a bridge in the rock created by nature
Sunday, April 13, 2014
April 14, 2014
Albany is really great, but it is so different than Karratha. I find it so funny how different they are even though the population is pretty close to being the same. Albany is pretty touristy because it has some beautiful places around it, just being here less than a week and I have already seen some beautiful places. There are heaps of hills which is fun since we share the car with the sisters. Yes I did bring my bike, and I brought all of my stuff because it was only $10 extra for another bag. There are heaps of people who retire down here. The branch is about the same size as Karratha but Karratha had heaps of young families, Albany is mostly older people. There is quite a bit of agriculture down here. The senior couple help run the branch. Elder Herr is on the Branch Presidency and Sister Herr is on the Relief Society presidency. They spend time visiting with less active members, and also do service in the community. So far I have just been trying to meet the members and investigators to learn this area quickly. I am really excited to be down here and am hoping that this is my last area.
General Conference was great as always, it was really weird though that this is my last one on my mission. It is moments like this when I realize that my time here in WA is really really short.
I love you all,
Elder Cook
April 7, 2014
So we found out transfers and I am going to Albany, which is 400km south of Perth at the bottom, so I am going country again. It is supposed to be really beautiful, all the missionaries that serve there love it. I think the branch is around 30-40 people, not too sure. My companion is Tongan but I know he spent time in either NZ or Australia. I served in the same zone with him for a while so I am excited to serve with him. There are also a pair of sisters down there and a senior couple. It will be weird being away from heaps of other missionaries, but at least there are some other missionaries unlike Karratha. The Zone Leaders also generally come down and do exchanges every transfer so I look forward to that.
This week was a good week. On Saturday we found a new investigator tracting. She invited us in but her husband was not home so we could not go in but we were able to talk to her for a while at the door. They just moved into the area and are looking for a church to go to, so it is perfect for us to knock on her door. We also had fun after that. We were in a three way for a little bit and went by a park where a guy was playing basketball and we started to play with him. Then his friend came and we started to play a real game. They thought they were going to beat us because we were in white shirts. One of my companions is not good at basketball so he sat out, but my other companion is really good and we had fun smashing these two guys. And we were able to talk to them about why we were wearing white shirts and ties and were able to show them a different side of missionaries. I learned though that playing basketball in one pair of my shoes is probably not a good idea because I got a massive blister, but it was worth it.Love,
Elder Cook
March 31, 2014
This week has been just average. The weather is cooling down which is really nice, but it has started to rain, which is not. On Saturday we got soaked, we were so wet it was incredible. But once you get wet enough you stop caring so we had fun biking in the rain, going through puddles and so forth. This week was a bit disappointing though because we were not able to see anyone. There are two referrals that we are trying to teach but one did not show up for the appointment and we have not been able to see the other one. But we will try again this week.
We had a fun experience the other week. At the university in the ward boundaries we had a day where we were contacting people through the Latter-day Saint Student Association. So we had fun being together as a district contacting people. We were warned that there might be some people who would try and bash with us, but we were expecting Christians to do it, not Muslims. There were two Muslims that came up and were bringing up some anti stuff and I was really surprised because all of the other Muslims I met were generally nice and respectful. It was also interesting because they were not trying to change our beliefs to theirs, just pull ours down. It was the strange experience for the week.
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