Sunday 24 November 2013

A favorite author of mine said, "Never give up on the things that make you happy".  A very powerful statement. Our Heavenly Father teaches us in the scriptures, "Men are that they might have Joy".   We received an awesome letter from Elder Cocker last week and it did indeed, fill my heart with joy.

It has been many months since I have updated his blog.  In the world of blogging I am marginal at this stage of things.  However this blog is not about me, it's about Elder Cocker and his wonderful experience on his two year mission.  He is 15 months along the journey and is currently in the Canberra  in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory.  His mission is huge, a small part of a very huge country!


It's a 3.5 hour drive from Sydney (apparently) and under a two hour flight. A very interesting place.  In the words of Elder Cocker, " here, ah, hey, fun fact, the word kangaroo means "i don't know" in abo. (Aboriginal) (learned form a semi reliable source in my ward, however more data may need to be gathered.)  Shux and there are sooo many kangaroos here and they're freaking all over the place. i had originally wanted to fight one, but i have recently found out they are....not safe? anyways they're freaking huge, some of them so ya probs a bad idea aye." So apparently, life in Canberra has a lot of nature and wildlife. Good to know.

Elder Cocker, has been called to be a trainer and we are grateful for the enjoyment and learning this has brought to his mission.   We received in the mail a few weeks ago a wonderful letter from the mission president who stated,

"Thank you for accepting the call to serve as a Trainer. You are a dedicated and loving person and an excellent example to other missionaries. Your great leadership skills are very much appreciated.

The responsibility of training a new missionary is one of the greatest opportunities of leadership  a missionary can have and certainly the most trusted It is a very special assignment and will  have far reaching effects on the new missionary and the Australian Sydney South Mission.  Only the most stable and able missionaries are called to train.  Your companion is Elder Jarrad Lynn Larsen from California, USA. You will be serving in the Canberra Zone.

You are a wonderful example of the teachings of the gospel, and a wonderful representative of your home. Thank you for serving with us in the Australia Sydney South Mission."


How grateful, thankful and truly appreciative we are to every person who has helped and aided and assisted Joshua to this point in his life. The primary teachers, priesthood leaders, his siblings, his aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, the Tohn-Kohn Gah, those who have prayed for him in chapels, temples, sweat lodges, prayer meetings, the silence of their cars and kitchen tables. The congregations of many different faiths who have come up to me in person in my travels here in New Zealand and home in Oklahoma who have said, "How are you? It's good to see you. We are praying for your son." Aho Dah Gkee. Thank you for your faith.


It has been a very long, and very fast fifteen months that our only son has been away. We have been blessed and have learned much about ourselves, about him and about how the Lord teaches his children.  I have loved the fun spirited nature of our son and how he sees himself in this eternal plan. He reminds us that our Heavenly Father isn't onesided, neither are his servants.  Many people have asked me, "What do missionaries do?" Elder Cocker reminded us, " everyone now knows the mormon boys, but we are having trouble getting more people to teach.  However, on the brighter side,  we have HIPS(tongan accent on 'heaps') and HIPS of service to do which, in my eyes, is just as great as teaching, because it helps people to see we aren't here just to baptise people. Sure, we do that too, but we really are just here to invite people to learn about the Saviour and what he did for us and more importantly what that means for us now AND to serve EVERYONE in every possible way.  Lol, most people don't jump at the opportunity of FREE service which blows my freaking mind; if only they knew, once they agreed to have us help, we cant say no."



The Lord's missionaries are there to serve. Serve the soul, serve the community, serve His message of eternal joy, and happiness.  I remember the missionaries coming over and helping paint the living room.  I felt like I was wasting their precious time, and the Elder said, "Sister Cocker it is a blessing for us to serve, we never feel like it's a waste of time to eat your cooking". God Bless these missionaries who give so freely of their time.  In a world where our youth face so many challenges and obstacles, they chose the path of service and faith, to try their own hearts and help those of all the men of earth, from every land and island of the sea.

Elder Cocker challenged us a few weeks ago, "Commitment for the week: is to say hi  to elders/sisters if you see them. It's nice not just to be stared at, but spoken to, also and if you need things done like yard work, spring cleaning, some ones moving what ever, it is ask the missionaries to help.  They could probs use the work out and they cant say no if you ask. It's not wrong or rude and they would be happy to do it.promise."

These are good days. Days of work. Days of gratitude to our Heavenly Father.  We want a better world, this is how we do it. A prayer at a time, An effort at a time. We fall, we get up, we try, find happiness in the day.

I like our challenge for this week he left us with..... "Commitment for the week: have EYES that SEE. have EARS that HEAR. have HANDS that DO. and have HEARTS that FEEL . If your having a bad day then your not doing it right. There is a man who like our prophet is called by god to lead us today his name is Dieter F Uchtdorf and he said " life isnt ment to be enjoyed only in retrospect"..... or something like that aka enjoy the little things. Another man a prophet in the book of mormon named Alma said "...its by small and beautiful moments that GREAT days are brought to pass..." Alma 37:6 or something like that."