Found out today that in 3 weeks they will be splitting the Des Moines Stake and creating a new "Mount Pisgah" Stake. When they announced it in sacrament everyone looked around like whaaaaaaat. Especially since we're one of the wards on the edge closer to Mt. Pisgah so we'll probably be part of the new stake!
And since the zones and districts are aligned with the stakes usually, that means our mission is probably going to be opening up a new zone or something so that will be fun :) If anybody is a wizard at Excel spreadsheets and formulas feel free to give me some pointers.
This week we got to go to meetings in Quincy (Promised land), Fairfield (Meditator capital of the world), and Ankeny (basically Utah). While we were down in Quincy I got to stop by one of my favorite family's of all time the Voelkels! The meetings were awesome I learned so much about The Book of Mormon and it's importance in missionary work and it's importance in the the the world! It literally changed history it's amazing. I've had the Spirit witness to me so many times on my mission that the Book of Mormon is true. I tell people on the doorstep all the time "This Book is the reason I am here in Iowa right now". Because if people know that the Book of Mormon is true: they know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that the Church and Gospel are restored and we have a prophet here on the Earth today! I love how simple it is.
Hope you all have a great week this week!
Love Elder Cox
By: Emily Cox
My Greatest Accomplishment
As I waited on stage for the show to start, I could feel my heart beating in my chest and the humid air around me, as everyone was nervous about starting in front of a crowd. When it was the song before Maddi and I were supposed to go on, we were both very nervous and very hot as we read over our lines again and again. The song before us ends and we walk onto the stage.
As we walked on stage, Maddi and I tried to be calm because we didn't want to mess up our parts. We start to say our speaking parts before the song starts and it is very hard to speak with a tasty gummy worm in your mouth and with the feeling of butterflies in your stomach, but when I saw my parents, friends and family, I felt a little better and didn't mess up once on my lines. Then the music started to begin, and the butterflies started to come back. It seems like there are billions of people in the crowd now and that the lights are even brighter. As Maddi starts to sing her Timone parts, then it is my turn to say my parts. As I sing the slow part at the first of the song I can feel the squishy pillow in my costume to make me look fat like Pumbaa, and I start to lose the scared sensation because I am kind of laughing at myself now. Then Maddi says her part, "When he was a young wart hog!" And then right at that moment I built up all of my energy and strength in my vocal cords so that I could sing my loudest and burst out, "WHEN I WAS A YOUNG WART HOOOOOGGGGG!" I had just sang the loudest I had ever sung in my entire life! I was so proud of myself and the crowd laughed more then they had the whole entire show. The rest of the show went great because of that one moment that I was brave enough to show what I could do and I even made people laugh about it too. If I wouldn't have done that any louder than I had, I would have felt bad that I let the crowd down first of all and it made me feel great about all of the other different parts that I would sing in the rest of the show!
I had the time of my life as Maddi and I lead the little kids around the stage during the instrumental part of Akuna Mata ta and we both totally forgot that we were in front of a huge crowd of people and just had fun with it like we had at practice. Maddi and I were kind of sad that the song ended, but we both knew that it wouldn't be the last time that we sang that song together. And it also wouldn't be the last time I would sing that loud either.
I do not know what made all of the weird, scary, stressed feelings go away at just the right moment. It might have been because the looks on my friends and family's faces, maybe something else that I don’t' remember, or just my own self confidence, but, I am glad that I had done what made me memorable and the fun person. It was one of my greatest accomplishments.
Dear Davis,
I wanted to send this story about "My Greatest Accomplishment" because it taught me a lot more about how you can do great things when you are brave enough to do them and Christ and Heavenly Father help a lot when it comes to these kinds of things. The other day as I said my personal prayer at night, the questions popped into my head. "What would I do without going to church?" and "What would I do if I didn't know about the Plan of Salvation?" I am very glad that our parents had us grow up in the church, because without it things would be pretty hard, I think. The Gospel and the power of prayer have helped our family through so many hard things in life. And with church at the begining of every week, it keeps me going throughout the week and helps me keep Christ in my mind. And I am also very glad that we know when our loved ones pass on to the next life, that we will be able to see them again. This also ties into missionary work too! I am glad that you get to teach the people of Iowa so that they can get to know about the Gospel and they won't have to live without this wonderful gift that we already have.
I love you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo(times never ending) much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you have a great Sunday!
Love,
Emmi
Hey Emmi!
That's an awesome story! Do I get to see a picture of you dressed up as Pumba? Sounds like you killed it and thanks for your testimony at the end too that was awesome! Those same questions that popped into your head the other night are the same questions that people all around the world have all the time, and questions that I've had. I love how in the Gospel and in the restored church there's an answer to every question we have here on Earth, and most importantly about Heavenly Father's plan for us.
Love you little sister thanks for being a great example to me of happiness!
Love Elder Cox
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