So this is just a quick update email for every week that I've missed emailing all of you! So my new companion, Elder Bangal, and I are hitting the streets hard. We go knocking doors anywhere from 2-8 hours a day, and we are seeing so much success from it! This guy seriously knows how to work! We have a lot of people lined up for baptism, and I am so excited for all of them!

So we've been teaching these two guys named Tony and Luis. They are really good investigators, very humble and very poor as well (as typical here in Irosin). Their problem is they just wanna be rich. That's it. Nothing else. And every time we teach them, we ask them to read the Book of Mormon on their own, and pray on their own, and to do all of these things, which they are actually very willing to do. But then they ask how that will make them rich. They expect that by reading the Book of Mormon and by following God's commandments, they will become rich. We say "But how do you feel when you read the Book of Mormon, or how do you feel when you pray?" Then they say, "Oh we feel happy and enlightened and very peaceful... Now how do I become rich?" They don't understand that the point of this gospel, the point of the Book of Mormon, the point to following God's commandments is not that so that we will become rich. It's so that we will find happiness in this life and the life to come.

I've been a first hand witness of that here on the mission, especially with Elder Bangal. We live, obey, preach, and teach the gospel all day every day, and I've seen so many blessings come from it, especially my own happiness. I just wish that everyone would understand that if they want happiness, they need to follow god's commandments. It makes me sad every now and then thinking of my friends and family back home who aren't a part of this gospel. They are missing out on so much happiness and peace in their lives.

But I hope you all have a good week! I love you all and will email in another short 7 days!
Elder Austin Cook