June 12, 2016 - Justins Baptism

Hey family sorry I'm getting on a little late today, we had a baptism today after Stake Conference for Justin! 

The baptism was great Justin is a 12 year old kid who is just a straight stud. His mom is from Liberia and got baptized a few years ago. We finally got permission from Justin's step dad and real dad and got him baptized and confirmed today. He's a pretty quiet and reserved kid but he had a big smile on his face all day today and was just super happy. 

This week we had Stake Conference, and although I missed the last half of the session today filling up the font for Justin's baptism (totally worth it) I got a ton out of it. We had Elder Scott of the Seventy here and he gave a really great talk in the adult session last night. He gave some great insight about the brethren's focus on the Sabbath day lately. I can't remember which Apostle he was quoting but this is a part of that quote that was given by an Apostle to the Seventy: "The world is going south in every possible way. Our calling as prophets, seers, and revelators is to see 5-10 years into the future and teach the members of the church what will best protect them from the upcoming temptations and evils." 

Woah. I gained a strong testimony of revelation and the Sabbath Day. And I don't know what the world is going to do in a few years from now to try to wreck the Sabbath (more than it's already trying), but I know that if we follow the repeated counsel to keep it holy now we will be safe.

Also last night at the adult session there was an international choir since there's so many Africans here in Des Moines. So they got approved by the Stake President to have drums in the chapel and sang a few African hymns (Give me Jesus, Jesus is real to me, etc.) and then ended with Israel, Israel God is Calling (African/drum version) It was so cool!

Other than that this week was just crazy busy with transfers. I got to meet Zach Seljaas, the BYU basketball player who just came to our mission. He's 6'8 so it was really easy to pick him out coming down the escalator at the airport. I also had to say goodbye to Elder Banta though and that was sad. He was only my 2nd companion to go home so far.. even though he was only my comp for 2 weeks. Love ya Stetson.

Love you all have a great week! 

June 5, 2016--Baptisms and Temple Trip

Heather, Ayden, and Prentice got baptized!! It was so great they are such an amazing family. Seeing a family be completed in the gospel is one of the most rewarding things I have ever taken part in! Chad (the member) had the biggest smile on his face the entire time even though he was crying. I'm so happy for all of them.

This week we also got to go to the Nauvoo temple with all the 10 departing missionaries and
President and Sister Jensen! 

Going to the temple is such a testimony building experience every time I never walk away from there with the slightest doubt in my heart that this is true, this is where I'm supposed to be, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that His gospel IS happiness. It's all fact carved in solid stone. I love it.

After the session President and Sister Jensen had one of the temple workers bring us all up into the tower of the temple right under angel Moroni's feet. President then talked briefly about the early saints and their sacrifice to build the Nauvoo temple and the faith that they had. Then we all sang "Come, Come, ye Saints", which was apparently written down the road from the Nauvoo temple. The spirit was so strong and all the missionaries going home (and Sister Jensen of course) just broke down in tears.

Not too much eventful or exciting the rest of the week. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we sat in the mission home with President and Sister Jensen and transfer planned from 11:00-6:00 everyday. Man I never thought sitting could be so exhausting. But it was amazing to see how much President and Sister Jensen know about every single individual missionary and how much they care for each of them. Sometimes we would spend an hour just talking about a single missionary, his needs, his challenges, and what would be best for him, which companion would he serve together well with. Who could he/she strengthen? Who could strengthen them? It was humbling. 

President and Sister Jensen go home in less than a month and President Badger comes in so this was their last transfer planning. So this transfer is going to be jam packed full of zone conferences and tons of other things so I should have plenty to write about and plenty of pictures for a while!

Love you all and Happy Birthday shout out to Courtney!

Elder Cox

Attempted picture of the new ride.
No more creeper van now we drive an F-150!

May 29, 2016

Marissa got baptized this week! Our mission president always says it takes 17 miracles to get someone baptized. Marissa took 18. But even after being antied by her family and friends around her she knew it was right and did it! She has a little social anxiety so she was nervous about being baptized in front of people, and especially nervous about being confirmed in front of the whole congregation. But she said that the Holy Ghost comforted her and took away her anxiety. And after both her baptism and confirmation she was super happy and felt so comfortable around the people. Even the "over-touchy women members of the church" who wanted to just hug her to pieces with congratulations.

We also had a really great experience with the converting power of the Book of Mormon. We were teaching a lady named April the 2nd lesson (BoM). Since our first lesson she had been told by her pastor to throw away the Book of Mormon and pamphlet that we gave her because it was apostate and adding to the bible. So she was very hesitant and refused to even hold a BoM at first. But after several (30) minutes of trying to explain to her that the Book of Mormon was scripture and talked about Jesus Christ I finally just asked her if we could read a couple verses with her. We read 2 Nephi 31. We started off each reading 2 verses. I read 1-2, Elder Chase read 3-4, and she read 5-6, but before she could even finish reading verse 6 she stopped and said "How could I reject this!! This is amazing it talks about Jesus Christ and you can just feel the spirit in the words of this prophet Nefi!" She had a total change of heart and accepted the BoM after reading just 6 verses. 

My mom shared with me some thoughts from sacrament meeting last week about the hymns and the spiritual power of them. She asked me to share some of my favorites. I have grown to love hymns so much more on my mission and have several favorites, but I'll share 3.

319-Ye Elders of Israel. I love this one because of the power and unity I feel when I sing it in a priesthood quorum. (And it's the opening hymn at priesthood opening exercises every other week it seems like) I also love the lines "O Babylon, O Babylon we bid thee farewell" 

136- I know that my Redeemer Lives 

So I learned something cool about this one a while ago. In the bible in Job 19, Job is talking about all the trials and everything that he's been but through, the worst health trials, family and friends betrayed him, all these terrible things but then in verses 23-25 he says "Oh that my words were now written.. That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know the my redeemer liveth"

So everytime I sing that song I think like Job, that by singing those words I'm testifying of my Savior as strongly as if I'm writing it with an Iron pen.

270- I'll go where you want me to go - Nuff said.

Also I got transferred again so I will be serving in the Easter Lake ward again! And I will be in a trio with Elder Banta and Elder Lords for a few weeks. So from here on out I will be emailing on Sundays instead of Mondays. Also you can just send any mail to the mission office: 

8515 Douglas Ave st. 19 

Urbandale, IA 50322

May 23, 2016

I still haven't decided the best format to put my letters in. So I'll break it down this week:

Spiritual highlights:

1. Taught Gita an entire lesson about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. When going over the Baptismal interview questions she it "feels good" when she prays about Jesus being our Savior (she was formerly muslim) but she doesn't know for sure. So all we did was go through the BoM and read different prophets testimonies of Jesus Christ: Nephi, Abinadi, Alma, Amulek, Helaman, Jesus Christ HIMSELF. She loved it. At the end of the lesson we gave her a list of 20 more references in the BoM and Bible where it testifies of Jesus Christ. She loves reading she reads like 20 chapters of the BoM a week so she was very excited to look them up and in her closing prayer, she thanked Heavenly Father for sending His Son for us. That doesn't sound like much but that was a BREAKTHROUGH for her!

2. We got a referral for a Liberian family who moved from Utah a few months ago but didn't know where the church was. It was a single mother with 8 children under the age of 14! All the kids were so excited when we knocked on the door we heard tons of little voices yelling "the missionaries are here!!" They all came to church this week and filled up half of the back section. And they were really excited to see that there were about 7 other Liberian families in the ward! Their story was amazing and they have a 9 year old who hasn't been baptized! Unfortunately it was about 20 feet outside of our area. They should've moved to the other side of the road. But we handed them over to the sisters and  Muwato is going to be baptized in a few weeks!

3. Elder Chase and I were asked to give talks at a 7-8 year old baptism prep class on Saturday. Only one 7 year old showed up. So he definitely got a lot of attention and a whole program put on just for him! It was great to think that the ordinance of baptism is so important that 9 adults spent an hour on Saturday morning plus preparation time, just to teach this one 7 year old about baptism. It's a great reminder that Jesus Christ not only suffered for all of us, He suffered for EACH of us.

Comedic highlight:Squirrel gang fight.

Walking into a lesson we saw 5 squirrels gaining up against this one poor little squirrel with half a tail. I don't know what he did but they were biting him and he was bleeding and it was nuts! I got a video of it on my camera but the computer won't let me send videos. But then one squirrel came flying out of no where and started protecting the half-tail squirrel. They both ran up a tree and the other 5 squirrels followed and they started fighting in the tree. (And this whole time Elder Chase and I are just videoing and crying because we're laughing so hard) Then the protector squirrel just goes nuts and starts throwing squirrels out of the tree! So a squirrel fell like 30 feet and landed right in front of us. I don't know how it didn't die but it just got up and ran away like nothing happened.

Love you all

"Trust that whatever weaknesses we have been given, we have been given them because the Lord intends on making them into strengths."

Elder Cox

May 16, 2016 - The week!

Well this was one of those weeks that was so full of missionary work I don't even know where to start or what stood out. We taught lots, found lots of new people and bought lots of people herbal tea so they can be keeping the word of wisdom!

Heather, Ayden and Prentice all came to church this week and are super pumped for their baptism! We taught them all about the temple and being sealed together as a family this week and they set that as a goal they want to have in a year from now. Chad (Heather's husband) is a member. He was baptized when he was 14 but has been inactive since he was 16, now 40. Their story is pretty amazing. They were super close to getting divorced when they sat down one night and Heather told him that she knew what they needed to do. They needed to go to church. His church. Because in all the ups and downs she knew that his testimony in the Book of Mormon was the only thing that had remained constant and untouched in his crazy life. So they did it. They took the leap of faith, called the missionaries, now in 2 weeks they will all be baptized, they have a much happier family and relationship, and one day will be sealed together. 

It's amazing that in the midst of all that, Heather had the faith to know what they needed to do. The Book of Mormon is amazing and the truth found in it truly changes who we are if we let it. Only the pure gospel of Jesus Christ can do that.

Sorry it's short this week and I have bad news. Sister Petersen and Sister Anderson stole my camera all week for splits, so I have no pictures to send home. sorry 

Love, Elder Cox

Monday May 9, 2016 - Mother's Day and Book of Mormon Play!

Hey Family! It was so great to talk to you yesterday! 

This week was great. I took lots of pictures mom. 

So this week the Book of Mormon play came to Des Moines. The Book of Mormon play is basically an anti-Mormon play from Broadway. And we got the lucky assignment to stand outside the doors and hand out copies of the Book of Mormon as people came out the doors. The first night was BRUTAL. I have never been laughed at, criticized, made fun of, had so many crude things yelled at me in such a short period of time in my whole life. But there's a quote by Jeffrey R. Holland that explains better than I can how I felt during those few nights:

In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil, and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike--and they will--you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham's seed.”

Through all the laughs and vulgar language, we handed out 120 copies of the Book of Mormon. Whether or not any of those turn into people we are able to teach and baptize, I don't know. But I do KNOW that someone's life will be blessed by having a Book of Mormon in their home. And if only 1 person comes to a knowledge of the truth through our efforts this week it will be well worth it!

Not too many other exciting things happened this week, a few meetings. Teaching lots of people here in Des Moines. There was one really cool experience that happened with Heather, Ayden, and Prentice, A part-member family. Ayden, the 9 year old, was saying a prayer at the end of the lesson and he said: "We are grateful for the Elders for being worthy to teach us"

I always get hit super hard with the spirit when little children talk, and this was another one of those moments where those few simple words opened up revelation  to my mind of the importance of being worthy to bear the Spirit. Living the gospel in such a way that no matter where we are, who we're with, what we're doing, we do it worthily to have the Spirit with us.

Love you all hope you had a great Mother's day!

Love Elder Cox

Weird Art in Des Moines

Monday May 2, 2016 - Back to the BIg City!

Alright sorry for the short, not very informative email last week. No promises this one will be better but I'll try.

This week was crazy and there was some sad points but it ended with a miracle filled Sunday! We had a mission-wide fast on Sunday and SO many miracles came from it!

Start off with Gita. She is awesome she is from Turkey and is Muslim but has been learning and reading the BoM for 3 weeks now and LOVES it. She's read from the beginning through Alma 11 in 3 weeks. But on Thursday we found out we're not allowed to teach Muslim people until they've been interviewed by our mission president to make sure their lives won't be in danger if they convert to Christianity, which she told us she would be so we had to stop teaching her. BUT then President Jensen came to our sacrament and interviewed her and we can continue teaching her and she's on date to be baptized on May 28th!!

Then we are also working with Marissa. She's a 17 year old girl and she was scheduled to be baptized May 7th, passed her baptismal interview with flying colors, but her aunts and uncles antied her the day after. So she told us Saturday that she didn't want to be baptized and didn't want to meet with us or see us again. BUT we went back on Sunday, because we're missionaries and we don't give up that easy, and we had a super great lesson with her, answered all of her questions that her family put in her head, and most of all helped her recognize the spirit. She said when people told her those things she felt bad and sad, but whenever we came over she always felt really happy afterward.

Yesterday when she started talking to us she wouldn't look at us and gave us 1 word answers, but by the end of the lesson (and a 17 year old girl vent session) she prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for helping her realize that this really is the path she should take to be most happy in life. It was the greatest feeling ever.

Alright now the pictures I'll attach them in a thread and explain each one individually. Most of them are people I said goodbye to in Cedar Rapids, and they all have amazing stories.

Christie  and Bro Hogan- Hilarious people always pulling pranks on us but
Christie' getting baptized in 3 weeks!!

Austin  & Merry& Amy- Austin couldn't get baptized because
his dad wouldn't give him permission.

The Manirakiza's- Pierre's family but Pierre was at work. I've told their story tons of times they're amazing! He's a stud and he wrote me a song on his guitar that he got for Christmas and I helped him string and tune it. I'm getting the lyrics from his mom it almost made me cry.

The Beste's- She's a recent convert and Ayden is crazy, and they were one of my favorite families