The Best 2 years - February 12, 2017

I am overflowing with gratitude and my heart feels like it is swelling out of my chest. Words can't describe my emotions as I come to the close of the most incredible 2 years of my life as a full-time missionary for Jesus Christ, so I'm not going to try, but I'm going to steal the words of some of my fellow brethren:

2 Timothy 4:6-7

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

2 John 1:12

Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink; but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.

I love this work, I love this place, I love these people, I love our Savior.

See you all Friday.

For the final time, 

Love Elder Cox

Love for the last time, ELDER Cox - February 12, 2017

Mom. Wow. Never did I think a computer screen would bring as much spirit and emotion as it has today. As I've been reading your and dad's emails and others and going through MyPlan has caused me a lot of reflection. And I am just overflowing with gratitude as I reflect on these amazing, spirit-filled past 2 years. I'll never forget them or the impact they have had and will have on me for the rest of my life. I'm excited, and even though I am pretty undecided about much of the future and don't know what it holds, I am excited for the transition and to see what Heavenly Father has in store for me. It's interesting that both you and dad both mentioned being in the moment. For our departing interviews president asks the departing missionaries to answer 2 questions: 1. Something we've learned that will help us the rest of our lives. 2. Something we learned from one or more of our companions. Being around President Badger for a while I've gotten to hear many of the common answers to #1: How to love people, study habits, personal prayer/relationship with Heavenly Father, how to be personable. And those are definitely all at the top of my list as well. But as I sat down last week in studies and made my list of things I have learned, 1 stuck out that I moved up in the list and that I decided to share with President Badger that surprised me: How to live in the moment, and still plan for the future. 

I realized in reflection that at the beginning of my mission, when I was being trained and experiencing the usual homesickness, that much of my homesickness was from the "disconnected" feeling. I feel like in today's world we always have so many text/snapchat/facebook conversations and other things going on that it keeps our minds from being fully invested in the task at hand. Of course as a missionary you get out of that mindset technology wise. But it teaches a very important skill of being able to be fully invested and being able to fully enjoy whatever it is that is happening. I feel like that has helped me so much these past few weeks be able to enjoy the end of my mission to the fullest because I haven't been longing for the day that I go home to come, like I have unfortunately seen some missionaries do so it was a blessing to know not to focus on that. I think President and Sister Badger think I'm in denial that I'm going home because I never talk about it but that's ok :) I love it here, I have loved every day the past 24 months and 1 day, I am going to love the next 5 days, and I'm going to love getting home and getting off that airplane on Friday. When the time comes. 

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"

"Come what may and love it"

Love you mom,

Love, for the last time, ELDER Cox

February 5, 2017 - A Marvelous Work

I'm just in awe again this week at how great missionary work is. We have a song called "A Marvelous Work" that we sing here in the IDMM at every zone conference and transfers and it's just running through my head. This week was zone conference week and so we were out on the road a lot and around lots of missionaries which is the best! It's humbling to be around so many called, set apart servants of the Lord. The Spirit is always just so strong as soon as you walk in the room. Our training that we gave was on sanctification and being clean and worthy vessels. As we have studied for this training the past few weeks I've been amazed at the blessings that are promised will come into our lives if we just strive to live worthily and obedient to the commandments.

This week we taught Joseph again and once again were humbled by his spirit and desire to follow Christ. In his prayer I counted 4 times when he asked Heavenly Father to align his (Joseph's) will with God's. He said, as he held the Book of Mormon, "If this Book is true Father, help me to know. And if it is give me the strength to keep meeting with these brothers. I pray and give you my will and my heart. Teach me truth." Wow. I will never cease to be amazed at the humility of Liberian people.

We also taught Jeremiah, a member's boyfriend, with brother Collinwood, a stud med student. Had a bomb BoM lesson and his 3 year old son was flying around everywhere in his batman costume but it was a great lesson. Jeremiah has come to church 3 times already and is noticing the difference and peace that's come into their home since they started reading the Book of Mormon together. Just gotta help them get married so he can get baptized!

We also found out this week who my replacement will be. My favorite, formerly Spanish speaking, Elder Orgill! He's a stud I'm super excited. We'll pick him up on Tuesday at the departing temple trip then he'll be in a trio with us until next week then him and Elder Jakubczak will take over.

Well got lots of pictures from this week and last week so get ready to get blown up!

Love you all hope you're all having a great time watching the Super Bowl! Go Broncos!

Love Elder Cox

After serving in Des Moines for 15 months I finally went to sculpture park

January 22, 2017 - photos

Muscatine ZTM

The dying squad at MLC

I keep forgetting my first name, need a tag like this  

The most studliest of studly districts to ever meet in that relief society room. 

Stopped at the World's Largest Truck stop on our roadtrip. That place was like a mall it was massive. Had like 8 different restaurants, a dentist office, chiropractor office, every souvenir that you could dream of.

Sharon's house. She loves missionaries.

January 29, 2017 - #Blessed

That about says it all we have been so blessed by the Lord this week and have met so many awesome people again! 

We went on exchanges twice this week again so I got to go with Elder Davis (people were calling us Davis & Cox all day and I didn't even recognize my first name). We met a super awesome man named Joseph who is from Legen. Wait for it.... LIBERIA! The happiest place on Earth. We met him on Tuesday, taught him again on Thursday, and he came to church today and met the Stake President because we had ward conference and Loved church! He's super solid he could probably be baptized before I leave honestly. His date right now is March 18th but it'll definitely get pushed up :)

We also taught this sweet family the Judge's who know Elder Davis' uncle from California so we made arrangements for Elder Davis to come on exchanges from Muscatine (3 hours away) because they requested him to be the ones to teach them. They fed us dinner and we had a lesson in their massive house. Probably biggest house I've taught a lesson in my entire mission. They were so impressed with the missionary program, seminary program, and other parts of the church that they knew about from members they knew. They are going to be baptized one day and be amazing members!

We also got back in contact with our sweet little 88 year old investigator Wilma who lives in an outlying town in our area. She as well is moving forward in her progression and is going to be baptized one day and wants her 19 year old grandson to be baptized with her so that he can hopefully be a missionary one day.

It humbled me several times this week as we were complimented many times about how amazing the missionary program of the church is. The Judge's and Wilma and Coreana, Jen, and Kay all said something about it this week. And I was able to bear my testimony that it's not us. It's not because we're super humans or angels by any means. It's because of the amazing Spirit that comes into our lives when we serve others. When we give our hearts up to Him he can mold us to be something that nobody in this world expects a 19 or 20 or 21 year old to be: A dedicated follower of Jesus Christ. 

I couldn't type enough words in this email to explain how this mission has blessed and changed me and can't wait to have some of my biggest changes happen these next few weeks.

Have a great week everybody.

Love Elder Cox

Unfortunately one thing that hasn't changed about me these past few years is that I still forget my camera almost every email session, so you'll get some good pictures next week!

What I did for the last 2 hours of 2016 and first hour of 2017

Merry 2017 everybody!
I got to spend my New Years just about as crazy as
you can as a missionary and not wearing pants...
...because I was in a hospital gown :) 

Long story short: P-day basketball injury (No regrets) got kneed real hard in the thigh and got a hematoma under my muscle that pushed against with my nerves and next thing I know I was in the ER a few days later. Almost made it my whole mission without having to put one of those silly hospital wristbands on, so close. 


Happy new year! So I need a few more details! what is going on with your leg? Did they do labs when you were in the ER? What were your platelets levels?  If not, we need to do them soon. How are you feeling? Did you tell them you have Aplastic Anemia? Why are you having the numbness? Do you have any petechiae anywhere else? Is it directly related to the injury to your leg? 
Personally,!I really could've gone the full two years without an ER visit!

We are at Kate's mission farewell, but I will keep checking my phone, to hopefully have a conversation with you about all of this. Please know you need to pay attention to this until we know where all your labs stand. You need to be very detailed about the numbness and any other bleeding?

I love you very much

Happy 2017 my sweet boy!

Hi mom :) Sorry you've probably been worried all day. I'm fine don't worry. No they didn't do labs. Yes I told them I have aplastic anemia. No petechiae or even surface bruising. 

So I don't know how much Sister Badger told you but here it is. So we were playing basketball on P-day and I got kneed really hard in the thigh. It just felt like a really hard dead leg at first but to the point that it knocked the wind out of me. Then over the next couple days it just kept getting worse and worse and more painful and stiff every step I took. Friday night I had a hard time sleeping because I couldn't sleep on either side without it hurting and if I slept straight my leg would tingle. Then all day Saturday my leg kept going numb and having weird shooting nerve sensations down to my ankle and toes. And every time I would stand up I would get light headed. Which kind of made me scared because I'm no doctor but it just seemed like symptoms of a blood clot in my leg and I know that's bad. So then we were playing games with the Badgers New Years eve night and my leg was just going numb and it felt like somebody was blowing a balloon up inside my knee joint. So that's when President said alright we're going to the ER. 

Took forever but they did a couple tests and an ultrasound and I don't have any blood clots but on the ultrasound they did see a hematoma under my thigh muscle that the doctor thinks is pushing against my nerve and causing all the weird symptoms. Said it should go away in a week or few weeks. But did offer to prescribe me pain meds which I said I didn't need I'd just do normal pain stuff but now I'm about to call and get the prescription probably because the pain has gotten quite a bit worse last night and today. I'll be getting labs done tomorrow around 1:00.

Am I ok to get the pain med prescription?

But other than that it was an awesome week! Got to talk to all the family on Christmas which was amazing! Best thing ever as a missionary. Then got to go to the Nauvoo temple on Tuesday which is always a super spiritual experience. I'm not trunky but one thing I'm really excited for coming home is being able to go to the temple a lot more than once every other month!

We also had a fantastic first new member lesson with Wes this week. We talked about Priesthood and temples, and he brought up that he is thinking about going on a mission one day. He's 18 now so he would just have to wait to be a member for 1 year. He said he didn't think it was an option since he's in the military but the Katzenbach's told him he could put his contract on hold or something like that. Once he said that Elder Jakubczak and I of course just started bombarding him with how awesome missions are, how it's the best decision we've ever made, how much we've learned, the amazing people you get to meet. The whole time we were talking about it Wes's face was just lighting up and he was just smiling. I definitely see the Spirit come into peoples faces a lot when we teach, but this was STRONG he was lit with the Spirit. I love that guy so much.

Today in Priesthood we had a lesson on goal setting and spent some time making goals in different areas of our lives for this upcoming year, as well as making plans to accomplish those goals. I especially loved it because Bro. Taylor taught about goals straight out of PMG. Which reminds me of another miracle I lost my PMG 2 weeks ago (with all of my recent convert info and notes and highlights from the past 22 months) and was super sad and have been praying everyday to find it and I found it today!

But even though new years resolutions are super cliche, it's such a good time (it's always a good time) to make a goal and figure out what we can do today, right now, to take the first step to reach that goal.  

Love Elder Cox

Wes was baptized! - December 18, 2016

Wes was baptized yesterday! He's such a stud he is our 18 year old best friend who found the church through army buddies at Basic Training. Today he helped us shovel and salt the walkways around the church and in Priesthood opening exercises he volunteered to come and help clean the church this week. What a stud! 

This week we also had our Christmas Zone conferences which were super fun we had half of the day normal meetings then for the other half we did funny BoM skits, watched the new baptism dvd, and sang Christmas songs together in our ugly sweaters. 

 And Sister Badger is amazing and made a hand-made stained-glass star ornament for everybody in the mission. And she also hand knitted the red sweater that I'm wearing in the pictures for President Badger 45 years ago when he was on his mission. She's the best.

Short lesson learned of the week: We were walking through Costco the other day and I kept catching bits and pieces of conversations around us. It seemed like every single person in the store was complaining or angry about something, a baby crying, the Costco people for moving where they put the milk, how busy the store was, their sample wasn't hot enough, their sample was too hot, it was cold outside (which is understandable, the windchill this morning was -31). 

But it got me thinking about how boring and lame and drudgy that makes every day. Then I walked past a little kid who was just pumped out of her mind at how big this 50" tall teddy bear was and I was like "that is how I want to live my life!" There is always something to be excited and grateful about. I tried to apply that this morning as we were out scraping the car, I thought to myself "atleast we're not up in the Northern part of our mission where it's -45.) 

Bad example but there is good in everything if we look for it! And if we look for it life is so much better!

Love you all here's some pics!

Birthday celebration at the Katzenbachs - Dec 9, 2016

Hey Family sorry I was so busy responding that I forgot I have to send off a big email. And now I have 4 minutes. Good thing my family has already seen dozens of pictures of me this week from Sister Katzenbach. And thank you all for the Happy Birthday's! My birthday was awesome and I'm super old now. (PS probably not a good idea to go to Buffalo Wild Wings on your 21st birthday, they try to give you too much free stuff)

Wes is getting baptized this week that's all that matters. He's awesome I'll send pics next week.

Love Elder Cox

The birthday Crew - President Badger(dad)Sister Badger(mom), Heidi(Ben and Ryan), The Elders(Emmi, Courtney and Mckay)

Isn't this amazing.  The table is set complete with "You are Special Plate"
and a beautiful military tribute tree in the background.

Family tradition of the "red Plate" was complete,
thanks to Heidi making it all happen!

Sister Badger

Sister Katzenbach(Party Planner extraordinar)

Ray(awesome party accomplice)

President Badger

  

Elders Baxter and Merrell

Elder Cox and Elder J

It's like the Fam was here!

Happy 21 Elder Cox -
Heidi got the recipe and made one of his favorite cakes-
Double chocolate Bundt with raspberries and whipped cream!

Happy Birthday week sweet boy!

What are your plans for your last week as a 20 year old?  I love you dearly and I am so grateful for you in our family.. Thank you for your 21 years of life and the example that you are ever continuing to grow and be for all of those around you.  You are incredible.   I am so excited that December also brings a Christmas skype day!  

I love that this is also the month that we celebrate the Savior.  I have just fallen in love with the new church campaign to 'Light the World!" I can imagine that as a missionary you have been introduced to it.  IF not then let me know and I will send you the list.  As a family we are challenging one another to take on the new day theme: service, worship, feed, honor parents etc. and not only DO something, but write or journal about it and we will exchange experiences for the month on Christmas!  How does that sound.. are you in? For example today's theme: Christ Worshiped His Father...so can you.   I challenged the kids to expand to how they already worship like going to church but add to it today..think deeper, look around differently etc.  I love any opportunity to become more Christlike and see individuals as Christ sees them.   

    Love, mom

For my birthday I am going out and knocking doors and finding people to baptize :) The Light the World campaign is awesome. Everybody we talk to loves it. We have hundreds of handout cards to give to people and little missionary planners with all 25 days service suggestions on them and it's awesome! I will definitely take on the challenge to journal about experiences!

Thank you so much the birthday night was awesome! I keep telling Katzenbach's I can't thank her enough and you as well thanks for loving me so much to put that together!

 The cake was awesome I'm literally eating the leftovers as I sit here emailing :)

So funny story. I didn't open your package until my birthday, So I didn't know there was breakfast in there. I opened it that morning right after some of the missionaries we were staying with made me french toast. Haha so I didn't eat them yet but they look really good!

It's been going awesome, one experience this week we had, doesn't necessarily line up with a day, but we noticed a lady with a cane that we had talked to several times in that apartment complex carrying some groceries and she was about to get to some stairs. So we hopped out of the car and rushed over and helped her in with her groceries. When we walked in there was another lady there as well as their caretaker and they were all so touched by us being willing to help unlike the other "punk teenagers around here" that even though she had rejected our offer 5 times before she finally accepted an invitation to sit down and hear the Restoration.