Transfered to Fremantle with New Companion...

7-29-2012

So the last two weeks I haven’t been able to get a message to you because I took too long recording them and they wouldn’t send over the email so this one will be pretty fast.

First off I’m transferred. I got moved up to Fremantle. It’s the main dock where things come into Perth. I’m a lot closer to the city and I can see it every night. I got a new companion. His name is Elder Bennion. He’s from Holladay, UT. He’s pretty cool. IF he’s done on the phone out there we’ll go and he can say hello for a little bit. Something cool about Elder Bennion is that his grandparents are buried here and has a connection to Heath Ledger and a story about his ashes. It’s pretty sweet.  He also has a laugh just like Jeremy’s its pretty cool. He’s our district leader like Keers. It’s pretty cool because I get to go on heaps of exchanges and learn from a lot of different missionaries. 

Here’s Elder Bennion: “Hey Elder Cook’s family, this is Elder Bennion. It’s a pleasure to talk to you right now. Elder Cook is an awesome elder and I love serving with him. We’ve only been together for a few days but I already feel like him and I are already good friends and we’ve known each other for a long time. He’s awesome. We’re here in Melbol. Oh Fremantle, Fair enough it works. I’m from Salt Lake City, Holliday Utah. Did you already tell them that? Oh well I guess you already knew that. I went to Skyline High school and I love your son and family member. Elder Cook is awesome and makes super good food. He must have learned that from his mother; Right? Awesome well it’s an honor to serve with your son, he’s a cool guy. I love him and I love you as well family. I hope you’re doing well.”

Well there was Elder Bennion, he’s a stud.  

My trainer Keers left a voice mail that I wanted you to hear but it was too long too so another time. 

The thing about this ward is that there are a lot of older people and a lot of YSA (young single adults). I miss my old area Rockingham. We had a dinner appointment tonight with the Bishops family and teaching a really cool Australian family. I miss the islander families and just pigging out with your fingers and hands. It was even rude not to. Here we use a knife and fork and stuff but this is where the Lord wants me. 

This area right now is pretty dead. We worked so hard to get things going in Rockingham that it’s a challenge to get this place going but its all right; More contacting to do. 

We did run into a former investigator. We talk a little bit about part of the restoration but he was drunk as so we looked at each other and knew it wasn’t going anywhere so we set up another time with him to talk to him. He does some different art style; you can look it up on Facebook if you want.  

The best blessing here though is that I got a new bed and it doesn’t squeak. The showers are warm in the morning but there is a cold vent right above the shower so every time I pull my head out of the warm water it gets really cold from the vent. That’s one of my trials I have to go through every morning. 

Something pretty cool about here is that there are black swans. It’s the only place they’re found. I’ll have to get some pictures of them. 

Well this message is definitely going to send because it’s a short one. 

Love you. We’ll see ya later; bye.

Elder Cook

To Yearn After the Salvation of Souls...

7-8-2012

A few things I want to talk to you about. This week was the American celebration of July 4^th. Elder Keers and I both had pride in our hearts since we happened to both be American. That’s convenient. We opened our companionship study with the Star Spangled Banner representing those 50 stars on our flag. I had the biggest pride in my heart for it. 

There are some things that I studied this week that I figured the Lord doesn’t need to keep re-teaching me and that is humility. I’m studying Christ-like attributes and found some mean scriptures and I believe I’m going to be a more humble man. I’ve put my past transgressions behind me and I’m moving forward. “Yearn after salvation” was the next note that I made. To “yearn after salvation”… what I meant when I put that is that I didn’t realize or at least I didn’t have it until about two weeks ago. I wasn’t yearning after the salvation of souls. It’s amazing when you start to look at each person you pass on the street as another potential person that you can better their life by the message you can share with them.  That made it all the better because when you look in someone’s eyes and tell them how they can feel happiness they can feel it from the bottom of their hearts. Ahh it’s amazing and so sensible. I’m just so grateful that I have finally grown to the point where I am yearning after people’s salvations where I almost want it more than my own. But that’s a whole other step entirely. 

We started teaching a Tongan this week. He has a dad that lives in Newzeland that’s a preacher for a different church. He is so tall and huge. I’m huge here and he could squash me.  This guy has the most kind heart that I’ve ever met. We were able to teach him at his relative’s house. He moved into his relative’s home and they are members. It’s called cousie bros here. Really it doesn’t matter how it happened but he’s here and we are able to teach him. We got to teach him the first lesson and you should have seen this guy. We showed him the Book of Mormon and the restoration and he was flipping through the book and asking all these questions. I loved it. He was a spiritual bomb! But his concern is that if he were to find out that this is the true church he would be hesitant to join because family is important and he doesn’t know how his dad would take it. I found that interesting. 

So down the street there is a circus this week. It’s an old school circus with the tents and everything. We are probably going to be playing touch-football tomorrow though so we most likely won’t be going to the circus. I like touch though. 

So something interesting here: at Petrol stations, or gas stations, they fill up their car before they pay for their gas. I think it’s kind of weird because people could just steal it. 

So there is this family that fed us dinner the other night. I’ve told you about this family before. The food was so good. The mom owns a floral shop and she reminds me of Mom so badly. Her roast was so good it reminded me of home. I got a little teary eyed. NO, I was not home sick. 

It got me thinking though, conversions have to be up to date. How is definitely by testifying of what you know to be true. I don’t like to use the word testify when I tell people what I know but when you look someone in the eye and tell them exactly what you know and how Christ has impacted your life they can feel the change in you and they can almost see the person you’ve become. I don’t know how to explain it. Conversions always have to be up to date although it is always good to remember that witness and how you got that witness of the truthfulness of this church but that can easily be forgotten. IF you’re not always trying to “up-to-date” your testimony you’ll soon forget how much Christ has done for you. I’m ashamed how easily I’ve forgotten even being out here on my mission. I don’t know what I was thinking or what I really meaning when I wrote this I wrote “Testimonies should always testify of Christ.” I think it does speak for itself but I believe there is some deeper meaning to that. I’m not quite sure what it is but hopefully someone out there is listening or reading this with real intent and that statement will give them an answer and influence their lives for the better. Real intent is being willing to act on the answer you get. 

Anyways, I’m always talking about fishing. At least a couple days a week I’m talking about fishing with an Australian out here. They love fishing out here and its good to be able to make that connection with them.  I’ve heard somewhere that fishing is God’s sport. Applying it to missionary work it truly is. I’ve found that you truly can slack off if you want to. You can be in your flat and not out there doing the work. Even when fishing is tough and it’s not going well, it’s your time in the water that counts. If you don’t have your fly isn’t in the water and you’re not looking for that fish, your chances of catching it decrease. That’s how I relate it to missionary work and how I’m constantly trying to inspire myself to have my fly in the water. I haven’t caught my fish yet but I will. The Lord will guide.

So something exciting, we got a little mini missionary from up north in Armadale. He came down to experience missionary life with Elder kears and me. His name is Zachery Scott. I’ll have him talk to you a little bit.

“Hi, this is Brother Scott from Perth with Your son, grandson, brother… him and his companion. I’ve been here five days or so in the mission field. So far it’s been interesting. It’s very interesting on bikes and with members and non-members. Maybe he’ll tell you about some experiences he had with some lady in my ward. So far he hasn’t been out very long but has taught me very much. Talk to you laters.”

He’s a stud. Yes we did have a very interesting experience that I’m not going to share at this time but I hope you all are doing well there and know that we are doing well here. 

Know that we are striving to have our fly in the water as much as possible. Please keep us in your prayers. The search for souls is great. Keep the faith – 

Elder Cook

I didn’t know I could care about somebody so much who I barely even knew.

7-1-2012

Hey! Let’s dive into this and get the bad news out of the way first because I’m tired of being depressed. Today honestly had one second that was horrible so I’m going to just talk about it and get it out of the way so I can move on and be happy.  Basically one of the ladies we have been teaching dropped us. It stunk so badly. We were just biking and getting visiting some people before church and she just texted us. She said she wasn’t ready to join a church and stuff. Basically she’s not interested in taking more lessons. Wow. I have never felt my heart drop so fast. I can’t even explain how bad it hurts when somebody drops you like that. Man, It was the worst. I didn’t know I could care about somebody so much who I barely even knew. We had been only teaching her for one week but man the spirit was there in every lesson. She was just so keen. You just start blaming yourself and your inadequacies. Maybe something happened; we’ll go talk to her this week and see how she’s doing. Ok, from now on I’m going to be happy and put that behind me. It’s going to turn out ok.

 So what’s pretty awesome here is the steak is really cheap here so sometimes we buy steak, grill it up and have a nice steak and vegetable meal. 

There is this guy in our ward here. It’s amazing because he collects or is just interested in American change. I’ve given him about two dollars in change now that I’ve randomly found. I bring them to church for him and he gets stoked.  It’s awesome when I can give him a new quarter and tell him it’s from “Indiana,” or wherever.

We have been teaching another girl but she’s been really dodgy. She is in a part-member family and really easy going. She just called her and asked if we could come and do a family home evening with them.

Another person we are teaching is a guy who believes in a fourth dimensional being in area 51 that can flatten us just to create more space in the atmosphere. I don’t know, it’s kind of crazy. He seems normal though.

There is this other guy that we just happen to see everywhere we go. I was on exchanges and my bike got a flat so we were walking our bikes to the shop. We came out of the store and he was walking down the store. He always likes to get into political talks and refers to the movies quite a bit. He gets into deep discussions. He’s a pretty big guy and talks like a general. He was very interesting the first time talking to him. You just have to know the guy. He’s a pure English man…. There’s really not a way I can explain his personality.

Last week we had so many sit down lessons fall through. It stunk. Every day it happens.

So since my birthday is coming up I am making a birthday list for my birthday package. I figured you guys would want to send me something or a package, I don’t know. I mean if you love me it’s a good way to show it. Ya know what Jesus Christ asked for. He asks for us to go to church and read our scriptures. He asks us to act on the faith that we do love him. I don’t know. If you guys want to act on it that’s fine, it’s your choice if you want to act on it that’s your choice. That’s what agency is about. 

OK - Answers to your questions - 

 

Thus far the most spiritual experience was teaching the restoration to one of our investigators G. She had this witness when we shared the first vision. You could see it and she started to cry. I wish she would remember that feeling because we can forget it if we don’t act. 

The person that has had the most impact on my life in the mission has got to President. When you sit down with the guy you can just feel his love for you. President Lindsey actually showed up yesterday. Its pretty exciting to get a new President. We get to meet him on Wednesday so we’re pretty excited. 

What I love most about Australia has got to be that the people are really easy going. They are nice and have no worries. Some are still rude but… just kidding. They are really nice, just not interested.

Favorite Preparation Day activity has got to be rugby. It’s probably the most fun thing to do on a P-day. I would also love to take a nap. Haven’t been able to do that yet but I would love to. 

The experience that has made my testimony grow the most would have to be…. There are heaps of little ones. I’d have to look in my journal for a specific one but to be honest I’m too lazy to get up and go look for it.

My greatest challenge has been the people. Not the people in general but contacting door to door. Looking for people to teach and then having them drop you or cancel appointments and not giving you the time of day in the rudest way. Ah man, it’s so tough but it’s also not. We make heaps of appointments and then every time I think there is a for sure appointment it falls through. But we just picked up a less active that stopped going at age 17. He’s been in-active for about a year. He’s definitely not interested in coming back right now but he is the nicest guy. We are going to be teaching and working with that family. They are really nice and will be giving us dinner next week. 

It’s been good talking to you. I’m sending all the love I can gather and sending it to you now. Hopefully you are thinking that guy, that son, that friend, that person I’ve never looked up to… is good. 

We’ll see ya,

Elder Cook

So I’ve been thinking… If I’m related to Captain Cook that would do a lot of good for me:)

June 17, 2012

Tonight we’ve been in our flat listening to a church talk; obviously after we planned for tomorrow. It was so good.

The weather this week hasn’t been that great. We had to walk a couple days this week too because the pedals fell off my bike so I had to take it in and get it fixed. To entertain us we sang a lot of hymns; probably all the ones I know. Think about how funny that must look to see two missionaries walking down the street singing the whole time. It was fun and we made fun with it. We talked too about all different doctrine.

I get in the habit about talking about random things and I take up too much time. Then my recording don’t email because they are too long so I’m trying to fix that habit. Emails… talk about trials, wow. Am I right? Ha.

So since last week there has been another cyclone or what they call “Tornado Ally”. Imagine this: Its like on The Other Side of Heaven where the cyclone, or Tornado Ally, goes through the village and wrecks everything. Of course there are better structures now but still the trees; there are tipped over trees everywhere.

So some of my experiences this week: Steve – I need someone to write me or remind me to write Steve a letter in two years. I’ve got his address but I need to be reminded to write him. So basically I’ll commit you to reminding me. Those true friends that love me will remind me, ha. So he’s an ex-marine who at first didn’t like us. He basically swore at us and told us the neighbors didn’t want to talk to us. So we went over and chatted with him for a bit. He’s a great guy. We’ll talk to him when we’re in the neighborhood.

Talking to people has become a lot easier. I am able to connect to others because of my interests from back home but when you’re guided by the spirit it makes it so much easier to connect and open up. The spirit can really help you ask the right questions.

There is this guy out here that raises pigeons. I think it’s the coolest thing ever and when I get back home I really want to raise white ones and then open them at weddings. The cool thing is they fly home because they are homing pigeons.

There is another lady we’ve taught who really isn’t that interested in our message but she is the sweetest kindest lady that wanted to give us $120… a lot of money. We couldn’t accept it and then she started to cry and it made us feel even worse. We felt so bad but we put it in the fast offerings in the end.

Mom – Thanks for the Ensign you sent and the faith talk. I almost forgot to send that to you and I’m sorry.  Anyway, I’ve been reading and the talks are so great. The faith talk is amazing and I’ve been studying it in personal study because that’s what I first built my testimony on. I love to talk to others about it. It really is what you have to apply… you have to apply faith to get more. You have to act of faith and continue that until it becomes knowledge.

Alma 56:48 talks about the stripling warriors. It says “We didn’t doubt because our mothers knew it.” Growing up at first I relied on it. My mother knew it so I knew it.  I really never doubted the truthfulness of this religion. Then you get into your teenage years and really have to find out for yourself. I’m glad I had a lot of good example in my life to show me how to find out for myself and do that.

I don’t have a lot of time but I also wanted to talk about D&C 101:7-8. It’s an awesome thought that I love to share with others and it even rebukes me but I love it.

We’ve been passing out Book of Mormons this week. I love explaining the book and the history behind it and the prophets and the other side of the world. One book I passed out was to these two people. One of which was very open. This woman I think just felt really comfortable around me and told me about her friend who just got diagnosed with cancer and some trials she is going through. I was excited to tell her about the Book of Mormon. We talked about prayer and assigned her reading. The other person is part of a part member family and he is awesome.

Understanding Grace – This is one of the most awesome things. We are saved by grace. When people say this of course its true but their understanding is a little confused but it is the gospel nonetheless. Its amazing when you truly understand that grace. I have so many experiences about grace that I don’t even realize until I stop and think about them. I love talking about it. During our class today I was able to share about an experience I’ve had and talk about the sacrament. We should all be learning about the sacrament and grace.

I love teaching people about this gospel. No matter what the question is. There are no dumb questions that any person can ask. I love answering them. 

I really miss Patches, Sage and the family. 

As always, keep the faith – 

Elder Cook

Its so rare to have a family like mine... I'm grateful for it

June 10^th, 2012

Hey so sorry you haven’t gotten the last two voice recording because they were too long. I started teaching and preaching to you so they were about 20 minutes each and my email couldn’t send. 

So I’m just going to buzz through today and tell you what’s going on. There was a cyclone today. The power is out right now and there are a bunch of trees everywhere. We came out of the church and there were trees lying in the streets and power lines down. Probably not as crazy as you’re imagining in your minds right now but yeah there were trees in the streets. The power is out right now in our apartment and its really dark and making me tired… I’m excited to go to bed.

So on the voice recording I know you can hear my bed squeaking; Yeah so it squeaks.

We are teaching three people right now. One just got out of prison and is looking for a change in life. We had a good discussion with her. Another is a favorite because she is just so excited about living the gospel. She is like a sponge and really listens and grasps the things we are teaching. The last one is awesome. He’s the one that keeps me up on American basketball because he loves it. 

I’ve been able to develop a lot of gratitude for my family. Here there are a lot of broken homes. President Flambert came to our flat this last week and I was able to have an awesome talk with him. He is such a loving mission president. He told me to carry a picture of my family with me. It is so rare to have a family so well put together and so involved in the gospel. Its good and I’m so grateful for it. I really love my family. What I really want is more family pictures.  It’s crazy also that I’m getting a new president when I just fell in love with this one. 

I want to tell you all how Priesthood power is so real. I didn’t know the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood until I was able to give a priesthood blessing and see results the next day. 

We go beach contacting sometimes. We’ll go in the mornings or at sunset and talk to people. We aren’t really on the beach but the sidewalk or boardwalk next to the beach. It was hard at first and because I got sick this week but it was easier after a while. I am feeling better though. Thanks Mom for the cold medicine.

We work like crazy here on Sundays. It is the longest day of the week because it’s so hectic.

Appointments here fall through a lot. It’s frustrating that appointment after appointment falls through. Sometimes I just want to cry but I have faith still. 

This week it’s been raining like crazy. When it rains here it pours. We get soaking wet and when its 16 degrees Celsius it stinks.

Nights end early here in Australia. After 7 o’clock they don’t even want you in your home and they are going to bed. It’s kind of weird.

There is a brother here in our ward that is 91 years old. During the summers he still goes swimming in the ocean every morning.

Islander food tastes really good and I’ve been learning how to cook it. My secrets are my own J

So I don’t really want to rush this letter. Tell me how Sage is doing. I had a horrible dream about her and I worry about that dog. I miss her so much.

Wow Caitlin is going on Heritage Tours next month. I am just so envious of her right now. I want to go on Heritage Tours again. If I had gone with the spirit that I have now it would have been way better.

Rugby is huge here, I love it. We play it almost every preparation day…. basically every p-day.

I need you guys to write questions for me. When I say “you guys” I mean anyone who cares and loves me and wants to prove that you love me.  You will send at least two questions. That’s how I feel loved.

-Elder Cook

RANDOM FACTS

There are tons of smokers here…. A crazy amount

I think that Aussie’s work just so they can relax. They will go out and work in the yard so afterward they can have a good cold one.

Driving on the left side of the road here is weird.

Everyone drinks here… even 10 year old kids. It’s sad as.

Elder Rigby – “Hello cook family – You’ve raised a great son. He’s a good missionary and will bring many unto Christ.”  (He was in my MTC district from Boise ID)

Elder Sambro – “Elder Cook is the man, he’s a great son.”  (He’s Tongan but is from NZ and Queensland)