September 25, 2016 - Orange Julius and Little Caesar's

This week was awesome. I had a lot of learning and humbling experiences so I thought I'd share a couple of them. 

But first off and more important than me, update on our amazing investigators!

Elmo: Is on fire! He reads the Book of Mormon every single day and comprehends what he reads better than anyone I've ever taught. After he read Mosiah 2 he told us the story of King Benjamin perfectly and so energetically! Elder Devenport and I decided he needs to make a YouTube Channel where he just tells Book of Mormon Stories in his own words. "Now we got our boy King Benjamin over here, he's getting all old and frail and what-not and wants to talk to alls the people before he dies. So my man King Benjamin builds this STUUUPID high tower so everybody can hear him. But you know, can't no old man talk that loud so he had them write down what he said..." 

Elmo is the man!

Laura and Brownson are getting married this Wednesday then she's getting baptized the week after General Conference!!

Aaliyah, the Liberian lady we ran into, who moved from Utah right as she was about to be baptized, is doing good and her son just turned 8 a few days ago! Music to a missionary's ears :)

Alrighty now what I learned this week.  In our training that we gave at zone conference this week we trained on finding and overcoming the fear of Opening our Mouths. We used the example/parable about "Crossing the Rubicon". Basically about how when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River to march on Rome, that was his point of decision. He had made his decision and there was no going back. 

Well, we committed all the missionaries to go and buy either an Orange Julius or Little Caesar's pizza, "cuz Julius Caesar", and to look into each others' eyes as they sipped on the Orange Julius and commit to each other to talk to everyone they saw. The lesson I learned from this was that as soon as Elder Devenport and I walked out of Orange Julius we were presented with several opportunities to open our mouths that were pretty awkward. And if we hadn't have already made the decision to talk to everybody it probably would've been pretty easy to walk past the 15 year old girl who was sitting down, with earphones in, looking at her phone. But if we would've just walked by she wouldn't have referred us to her family and they wouldn't have Restoration pamphlets in their home. 

The same can be said about any gospel principle/standard. If we make up our minds that we will live the gospel, keep the commandments, keep our standards. Then when the moment of trial comes the decision is much easier. "The die has been cast."

Love you all 

Elder Cox

Took a picture this week :)

September 18, 2016 - Elmo is STUD!

First off I want to give a shoutout to my trainer and my last companion Elder Lords who got engaged this week! Less than 2 months, settin a high bar. Atta boy. 

Elder lords came back to visit and baptize Kay!

Second off let me just reemphasize: Elmo is a STUD. So he's the man last week, who I wrote about, that our Ward Mission Leader brought to Kay's baptism then church. He came to church again today, loved it. We gave him a reading assignment on Thursday for 2 Nephi 31 for our appointment tonight, he's read it 3 times so that he could know it super well for the lesson. Today in church we showed him Ezekiel 17:16-17 where it talks about the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph becoming one in our hands. Right as soon as he finished reading it before we could even explain what a "stick" was or anything, he grabbed his quad that a member gave him and said "Boom,I got it right here, here's the one stick! That's so dope!" (Yes mom he uses the word dope all the time, and Sister Katzenbach told him it was ok :) 

Elmo is so prepared it's amazing. Today in Elders' Quorum, the lesson was mainly on FHE. When they asked for experiences of FHE that had helped people in their lives Elmo was the first to raise his hand and talk about how when he was little his mom set aside 1 night a week (Wednesday) to have bible study together as a family and play a board game (and she would apply the bible scriptures to the board game, like honesty and charity in Monopoly) Then he said "I know it's not the same as in this church because ours was on Wednesdays and we didn't have the Book of Mormon, but the principle is true, we bond with our family as we spend time with them learning the gospel."

This guy needs to be baptized!!!

This photo was taken by Sister Katsenbach hile they taught Elmo in their home

 Well, anything I share after that will just be boring, so I'll leave at that for this week. Hope you're all doing great love you all!

Elder Cox

Alma 27:27 And they were among the people of Nephi, and also numbered among the people who wereof the church of God. And they were also distinguished for their zeal towards God, and 

also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in 

the faith of Christ,  even unto the end.

Have a zeal for the gospel like Elmo!

September 12, 2016 - True love

KAY WAS BAPTIZED!!!! She's my hero! Josh Lords (aka ex-Elder Lords my last companion) flew out from Idaho for her baptism and was able to baptize her yesterday, and I had the privilege of giving her the Gift of the Holy Ghost today. Both times she was so excited and so happy. I don't think I've ever had an investigator LONG for those ordinances as much as Kay. She knew the importance of them and was so happy to receive them!

I hope I don't wear out the word miracle, because I believe it's a word that can't be worn out out. I back up my boy Einstein when he said "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle"

So this week was once again packed full of miracles. So we were pretty worried about our area and our investigators. This week we were out of our area from Mon-Fri again so the only contact we had was with our really solid investigators (Mostly Kay) over call or text. And up to Saturday afternoon we had only taught 1 lesson with Kay. So we were praying hard for some people to be placed in our path.

#1 Our WML Bro Katzenbach brought a man named Elmo to Kay's baptism. They know each other from work and Elmo is probably one of the smartest guys I've taught with the biggest desire to learn I've ever seen! He came to lunch at the Katzenbach's with us after the baptism and asked tons of perfect questions "Why was Jesus Baptized?" "Are Jesus and God the same person?" "What's the Priesthood?" "Is there only Heaven and Hell?" Golden questions! Between us, the Katzenbach's and Brother Lords there, he basically got taught all 5 of the missionary lessons yesterday. And he also got a priesthood blessing for help with some decisions he is making with his life and by the end he was in tears and felt the spirit!

He came to church today with his wife and they were so happy and loved! We love Elmo and Cierra!

#2 Our last lesson Saturday night. Stopped by our Recent Convert Hannah and we taught her roommate Josephus. He's met with missionaries before and we had an awesome Restoration lesson with them and Josephus came to church today with Hannah!

#3 As we were about to go in Saturday night we had about 10 minutes, so we pulled into an apartment complex and decided we would knock a few doors. The 4th door we knocked on a lady answered the door and said she had just moved from Utah the week before and had been looking for the church. She was about to be baptized right before she left Utah and had been going to church every week for a while! You'll be hearing more about Aaliyah in the future!

We said a lot of prayers of gratitude on Saturday :) It was amazing. The Lord is preparing His people!

So the reason for my title is just a thought that has been on my mind a lot lately. And it has nothing to do with girls. I've been thinking a lot about Charity and the pure love of Christ and how I can develop more and more of it for the people around me. I read 2 Nephi 9:21 the other day and it basically says that Jesus Christ suffered for every single person. Ever. All of us. And as I've kept that in mind and looked at the people I meet everyday with that perspective, that Christ suffered for their sins and that they have the potential to become like our Heavenly Father, I've been filled with an amazing love that I can't even describe.

I love you all so much!

Elder Cox

           And went out to Davenport for ZTM. History was made at that meeting.

 

September 4, 2016 - A letter from the First Presidency

After 21 times to church,

All the missionary lessons... twice.

Learning English from the reading the Book of Mormon in prison.

Being the first in her family to convert from Buddhism to Christianity:

KAY IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!! Man words can't explain how happy I am to type those words! And Kay was so happy as well, when she found out and we set the date with her on Friday she was couldn't stop smiling. My favorite quote from her all night (remember Kay is a 60 year old, 5 foot tall, sweet sweet lady from Thailand with a strong accent) : "Oooooh God loves me so much!" I think we're all still smiling and happy from that lesson Friday night.

So I know I've told Kay's story before but here's a brief summary (I've asked her if I can share it) : Kay was in prison a few years ago because she offered to give somebody a ride from California to Texas (because she's the sweetest nicest lady every) But that person ended up smuggling marijuana so she got arrested. While in prison she found a Book of Mormon in the library, as well as bible and a church history book telling the story of Joseph Smith. She said she didn't even know English but when she started reading the Book of Mormon, she understood. Over the next several months she learned English from reading the Book of Mormon. 

After she got out of prison she was randomly media referred to the missionaries (she still doesn't know who referred her) So Elder Lords and Elder Banta came and knocked on her door and the rest is history. Now she's one of the most solid active members of the ward and she's not even baptized yet :) Kay is amazing I love her so much. She's one of those people who you read about their cool story in the Ensign or something, but this really happens! God knows his children and he knows who's ready to receive the gospel, and he provides miracles.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have had to be a small part in Kay's conversion and to be an instrument in God's hands. 

The rest of this week was great. It was transfers so had to say goodbye to some of my favorite missionaries which was super sad. But it was great to hear the testimonies of all the incoming and departing missionaries. Almost all the new missionaries talked about how right it felt to be here on their missions. The Spirit was super strong during those simple testimonies.

Love you all have fun in school..... 

August 28, 2016 - Short on time

Hey sorry ran out of time today we only got about half our normal time to email. This week was great! Went to the temple Tuesday with all the departing missionaries, all the sisters that came out with me going home so it was kind of weird. Had some awesome lessons with Chris and Tarah, and Laura. Some super sad news about Ming found out he moved to New York :( That one broke our hearts. 

Thought for the week: Moses 6:63- All things point to Christ. All the scriptures and prophets point to Christ. The fact that we are here on Earth, that we have our families, points to Christ. The fact that we can feel our Heavenly Father's love testifies the Jesus is the Christ. 

Love you all have a great week

Elder Cox