Monday July 13, 2015 - Hannibal week 2

Alright so this is my first full email time in like 3 weeks so hopefully I'll actually be able to write an email that makes sense :)

It's been crazy trying to get used to this new area, I went from one of the biggest city areas in the mission straight to the boonies of Missouri so everything is super spread out and there is a lot of driving. We started teaching these awesome kids this week out in a town called Kinderhook Illinois, population 240, and they live on a HUGE corn farm! Their names are Devon, Tallie, and James. Devon is 12 and he is the smartest kid I think I've ever met. We met them on Friday and were able to teach them and Devon said "Alright so how long before we can be baptized?" He's so excited. Then I talked to him on the phone last night and asked him how praying and reading the BoM is going and he told me he read about how the Nephites taught the Lamanites the gospel and then baptized them and how excited he was to be able to do that too, and that when he was praying he felt a super peaceful feeling that made him have a big smile on his face and he didn't know why. It was the coolest phone call I've ever had I just wanted to hug him through the phone!

We also got to go up to the Nauvoo pageant this week kind of. We weren't allowed to stay to the pageant unless we went with a member because President Jensen didn't want us out driving home super late, but we got to go and walk around and talk to people during the country fair before the pageant and meet members and nonmembers. And hopefully we'll get to stay up there either this week or next week and actually be part of the pageant!

We have also been listening to the Bill Carpenter story this week in the car as we drive. (You guys should listen to it it's an awesome talk) Bill Carpenter is a guy who was studying to become a catholic priest but then became a Mormon and came on a mission here to Iowa. He has a super awesome conversion story and some super cool experiences out here in the missionfield! But one that stuck out to me was when he was teaching this lady named Lovetta. They went and taught her and she ended up being baptized. A short while after she was baptized she received her Patriarchal Blessing, and in that blessing she was told that she would have joined the church 25 years ago if the missionary who got his to that area would have gone on his mission, but he didn't accept his call. 

I always heard that the Lord prepares you for those that you will teach on your mission, but when I heard that part of his story and then as I thought back on the people that I have been privileged to teach on my mission so far, the spirit testified so strongly to me that that is true. That I have been prepared for certain people. That the missionaries around me have been prepared for certain people. That those people have been prepared for the Gospel. And most importantly that the spirit is going to lead us to those people. 

This gospel changes lives. The only source of true and lasting happiness is the gospel and the the values and principles it teaches us in this life. That's the entire purpose Heavenly Father gave us these things is so that we could learn how to live life to the fullest! How to be able to enjoy our families and the experiences of life in the best possible way and how to avoid those things that will destroy all that.,

Love you family,

Love Elder Cox

Monday July 6, 2015 - Greetings from Hannibal Missouri, home of Mark Twain!

So I have been transferred here to the Hannibal Branch the most Southern part of the mission. I can see the Mississippi River right when I walk out my front door. And the "home of Mark Twain" part is serious around here. Every single diner, hotel, gas station, pizza delivery, tourist attraction, construction company, etc., you name it, it's named after Mark Twain. Or Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer.

Missouri is sweet it's super different from Des Moines! I went from the big city to small town and now have the largest geographical area in the mission. It hasn't seemed like too much of a small town this weekend because it was Tom Sawyer Days, so everyone and they're dog was at the park across the street from our apartment partying the 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

Cool thing about our apartment. The building we live in used to be a bank, but then was remodeled into apartments. But our bedroom is the room that used to be the bank vault! So the walls are 2 foot thick cement and when you close the door it's so dark in there you can't see your hand right in front of your face.

My new companion is Elder Baetz. He's from Bountiful so we get to talk about good old Davis County. I forgot my card reader but I'll send pictures next week.

So I am actually writing this from the Quincy Illinois Library right now on our way up to Nauvoo for the evening. A sweet part about the new area I'm in is that we get to help out with the Nauvoo Pageant!! It's sweet we are going up to get trained on some of the things to do tonight and then the Pageant starts tomorrow So I'll definitely have an update on that next week and hopefully some pictures.

Love you all hope you had a great 4th!

Elder Cox

June 29, 2015 - Eunice's Baptism!

This week has definitely been one of the busiest craziest weirdest happiest weeks of my mission.

I'll start with the best news: Eunice was baptized on Saturday! It was a super happy day for her and so cool to be able to be a part of it. It was kind of bittersweet though because her kids were not able to be baptized with her. We found out the day of their interviews that their father had called that morning from Africa and told the kids that they can't get baptized. It was one of the saddest parts of my mission so far to have little 8 year old Nancy come and tell me that she can't be baptized. But we are still working with them and hopefully will be able to talk to their father and I know that one day his heart will be softened enough for them to be baptized.

Another part that added to the craziness this week was the Tornado/Thunderstorm that we had on Wednesday evening. I was on exchanges with Elder Akaka (Spanish speaking so I just sat there and nodded the whole lesson again) and we came out of a dinner appointment to a green sky with some crazy thunder. We looked at our phone and had a message from President Jensen saying there was Tornados touching down in our zone and to have all the missionaries get home and get to cover. So while we raced home in the hardest rain I've ever seen we were calling and texting everyone in our zone.

We ended up getting over 8 inches of rain overnight, which I'm pretty sure is like more that Utah has gotten in the last couple years combined. And it flooded everything. There was roads underwater and parking lots where all you could see was the roofs of cars. I'll try to attach a video I took of Fleur Drive, which is now Fleur River. And there's not supposed to be a river anywhere close to there.

And then lastly of all I got some bad news this morning. I'm being transferred this week :( It's a weird feeling I feel like I'm leaving home again. But just like when I left home I know that the Lord needs me somewhere else but it's been heartbreaking already to say goodbye to the people here. Don't know where I'm going yet but I'll let y'all know next week.

Love you all

Love Elder Cox

It wouldn't let me attach the video but here's a picture of the now like 400 foot wide river going across Fleur and the park.

Monday June 22, 2015 - Missionary Friendzone

So when I came on my mission I thought I was going be taking a 2 year break from being friendzoned. Found out this week that that assumption was false. Missionaries get friendzoned too.

We were teaching a Liberian man named Melvin and he told us that he loved having us come over and talk about the gospel, but that he didn't believe the Book of Mormon and wouldn't be baptized. He told us "We will still be best of friends. You still come over and we talk about Bible. This not end us being friends." Boom. Friendzoned as a missionary. And I'll tell you what it's a lot worse and a lot sadder being gospel friendzoned by a 40 year old man than by any girl.

But there were some awesome miracles that happened this week! 2 of them were blessings that we gave and it was super cool to see the blessings be fulfilled. We gave a blessing to Brian because he was thinking about having an eye operation. He told us that later that day, several doctors called him with the news that he could have the operation done and that it was an answer to his prayers! So Cool!

Then we also gave Michelle a blessing of healing because she was having a lot of bad things happen with her health and her depression and stuff. The next day she went into the doctor, they did some tests and were able to take her off 4 of the prescriptions that she had been having to take for years that were causing her all of those side effects and she said she felt it was a direct result of us giving her a blessing and is now super excited to be baptized!

Miracles are real. God's power is on this earth today and his hand is being outstretched by the priesthood to all that will receive it. A great and a marvelous work is happening right now!

Love you all!

Love Elder Cox

The photos of the wedding are awesome they made me so happy! The backyard looks awesome and Emmi looks like she's 2 years older than when I left! I loved the boys socks and I did spy myself in the background so that made my day as well. 

Monday June 14, 2015 - Love

Hey everyone!

This week has been fantastic! We had Zone Conference on Wednesday then Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday. So a lot of sitting but SO much good stuff! Last Monday our zone went to Easter Lake and played sand volleyball for P-day! It felt great to have the hot sand on my extremely white feet.

So zone conference we learned a lot of awesome things and ways to become better missionaries, but the overall theme for the whole thing was love. And coming from president Jensen, probably the most loving man I've ever met in my life, it was some good stuff. He brought kind of a whole new perspective to love that I had never fully thought of before. He read from Moroni 7 a lot about charity and hope and the pure love of Christ and how when we truly have that love for others is when we truly become a missionary.

"Love is messy" When we love people, we get to know them. We get to know all about their life, the good parts, the bad parts, the messy parts, and we care about them. He told us that us Elders really need to work on that part. That sisters are a lot better at it than us and then went on a super long tangent about his wife and said some cute mushy stuff. But I have always admired that about the women in my life, especially my mom. She is the perfect example to me of Christlike love. Of not worrying if she is going to get involved in the mess as she helps someone with the things they are struggling with in their lives, or maybe not even struggling but just helping them to feel loved and to take some of that burden off of their shoulders. I love you mom and thank you for being the kind of example that whenever anyone talks about Christlike love I can raise my hand and share a story of you being a living example of that love.

Love Elder Cox

Also this week I saw the first Firefly I have ever seen! Elder Petersen and I caught one and brought it into our apartment and put it in a jar it was so cool!

Monday June 8, 2015 - One Supreme Thing to Do

This week was an interesting one but another amazing one! My companion was throwing up all day Friday so we had to stay inside most the day, so I got some extra study time. I read a lot of chapters out of the Book of Mormon as I studied through Preach my Gospel and read some amazing missionary stories and my mind started pondering about the importance of missionary work. I've thought about it before but never really as deep as I did then. There's a quote by President Heber J Grant that explains it in better words than I can:

"We as a people have one supreme thing to do... It is our duty above all others to go forth and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the restoration again to the earth of the plan of life and salvation.. We have that which is of more value than all the wealth and the scientific information which the world posses. We have the plan of life and salvation."

You know when a prophet tells us that we have one SUPREME thing to do.. We better listen. It is my biggest fear that I will get to the spirit world and one of my friends or someone I knew will come up to me and say "you knew, why didn't you tell me." But at the same time how great is it going to be when we get to there and someone just runs up to us and gives us a big bear hug and says thank you. Thank you for sharing with me the truth. The plan of Salvation. For teaching me the things that got me here, or even for planting the seed. That the next time someone came to me and shared the gospel I was more willing to listen.

How great will be that day if we share the gospel with everyone! If we plant seeds wherever we go and are open and inviting to everyone around us. Family, friends, neighbors, or complete strangers, they are all our brothers and sisters.

Being on a mission is the greatest thing I have ever done because I get that opportunity all day every day and it has opened my eyes to how much I didn't do it before my mission. Our mission president challenged us to "See them in white" meaning we look at everyone and envision them in their white clothing, having accepted the gospel and made the covenants to be able to return to our Father in Heaven. It really changes your perspective in everyday life and I would challenge everyone to do the same.

I love you all

Elder Cox

"Let the Saints remember that great things depend on their individual exertion, and that they are called to be co-works with us and the Holy Spirit in accomplishing the great work of the last days." -Joseph Smith

Action shot of our new P-day sport: Frisbee Golf

June 1, 2015 - Recognizing the Lord's Hand

This week has been one of those weeks that I have been able to see the Lord's hand SO much in the work, it has been amazing!

Example A: On Wednesday we were going to stop by a guy who we set up an appointment with but as we knocked on his door. No answer. Then we heard a lady saying he's not there he went out for the day. We looked around and saw Alie 2 doors down. So we walked over and started talking to her and she told us to pull up a chair. We ended up talking to her for about an hour and teaching her a ton!

She had been to her church that Sunday and decided she didn't like what the preacher was teaching, so her and her husband had decided the morning that we met her that they were going to go "church shopping" for a new church. A church that would: Have the sacrament every week, not just have a preacher get up and talk, and did a lot of community service. Check. Check. And Check.

It was amazing she was so prepared an such a great lady. She sews and crochets things for kids with cancer all day long and her whole life and outlook on life is just service oriented! Another cool thing that happened with her was as we were leaving she asked us if we knew anyone who needed a table and chairs. She had a 6 person table and it was only her and her husband so they wanted to get rid of it. We told her we didn't know anyone but we'd keep our ears open. VERY NEXT lesson we went  to was with a recently baptized family in our ward from Liberia. We've been over there every week since I've been here but randomly this week when we asked them if there was anything we could do for them they said "Do you know anyone that has a table they aren't using?" SO COOL! We called up bishop, got a truck and got the table from Alie's to Leo's that same night. God puts us where we need to be.

Example B: Prayer is real. This morning when we were playing Disc Golf. My new found sport. I lost my brand new disc that I just bought this morning at Walmart in the trees because I am not the best at aiming the thing yet. We looked around forever and couldn't find it. We stopped and said a prayer. Not 3 seconds after saying amen, Elder Petersen found it.

Silly example, but one thing I have learned out here is that Heavenly Father really does care about every aspect of our lives, not just "churchy" stuff. We can ask him for help in any part of our lives, school, work, health, missionary work, sports, friends, finding a lost Frisbee. Anything! Heavenly Father is there to help lead and guide us. We just need to have faith and ask him, and listen to the spiritual promptings that we receive and he is waiting to pour out his blessings upon us.

I love you all. Stay on that straight and narrow path. And if you find yourself lost in the trees right now. Pray and ask Heavenly Father to help you and He will direct your path. He will help you find those truths that you may have lost.

Love Elder Cox

PS Mom, That's funny that fasting is your thought for this week because that has been my thought for a lot of this past week as well. Last week in Elder's Quorum we went over that very talk you quoted by Pres. Eyring, then we taught our 2 most progressing investigators, Eunice and her kids, and Kory and Kayla, the Tithing/fast offering lesson this week. As we talked with Kory about the power of fasting and all that it does, spiritually as well as blessing the lives of others temporally with our fast offerings, we decided that tomorrow we are going to fast for him and his girlfriend Kayla to be able to make the decision to get married and be able to set a new baptismal date with them.

I love you and I love your thoughts every week. They always leave me feeling so motivated to go out and keep helping people learn of these things and be able to feel the spiritual power that I feel come from them.

Love Elder Cox