Week of the Interview *dun dun DUN*

So, this week was the week where I had my first interview with the Mission President, who's name is President Micheal Weston (just like in burn notice, the USA channel t.v. show). He's a pretty tough cookie. It was an awesome first and last interview with him. He is leaving in June I think and will be replaced by someone else. Apparently, he went easy on like everyone this time around (I wasn't the only person getting interviewed; every missionary in the mission had interviews this last 2 weeks). It was awesome to get to talk to the person that is literally Called by God to be my leader and the leader of all the missionaries in this mission. He's a pretty busy guy so I don't get to see him often or talk to him face to face. It's mainly just the weekly e-mail he sends all the missionaries and through our missionary leaders in our district and zone. One thing I am going to start doing to accomplish my goal of becoming more healthy is to cut back (majorly) on my sugar intake and to exercise more diligently every morning for 30 minutes. It's something that he suggested to me to do and it's something that me and Elder Jensen want to work on. 

In other news, I got to Skype my family! 2 times a year, Missionaries get the opportunity to call or Skype their parents. This happens on Mother's Day, which was yesterday, and on Christmas. It was super cool to see my parents, one of my 2 brothers, my sister, and my dog. It is awesome! 

!Cool story! We were visiting this member who is having a lot of problems and that we want to help. We weren't able to talk with her long but when we returned to our car, some drunk guy across the street called us over. He told us that he had stopped someone from stealing our car when we were talking to the member. He also asked us the differences between his religion (he is a baptist) and our religion. I gave him a Book of Mormon so he could read it and find the differences. He said it was hot to the touch, which was super weird. We then said goodbye and went on our way. It was such a miracle to have some random guy stop someone from stealing our car! (especially a drunk guy!) 

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Cox

A Week in LA! (not really lol)

So, I say a week in LA because LA means Less Active. A less active family is one that hasn't been to church in a while. We were asked by to go to a lot of houses of Less Active members to see if they still live there. And there have been a lot of them (and a lot more to go!). We spent about all week trying to do this among the rest of our missionary work (we work with less active families but not like this otherwise). We have like 30 house to try and we have confirmed with like 13 that the person no longer lives there. It happens a lot because the people are basically all Hispanic, and they have to move a lot to find jobs (just a fact of life sadly). So there are a lot of addresses that are incorrect for the people and we have no idea how to find them. Pretty difficult situation. But, through doing this, we have found quite a few people who are interested in having us teach them who live at the house of the person we were looking for. It's really awesome to see that by doing one part of missionary work, another part was helped. 

Otherwise, this week was pretty normal. Been pretty fun because Elder Jensen (my companion) is super awesome and we are always having fun together. It's just been super great out here. Never have to worry much about food, we have a car to drive around the city, the people here are really awesome.

What I can tell you about was the Cinco de Mayo Celebration that was going on. There is a street called 24th street that is about the center of the Hispanic population of Omaha. They have a section about 6 blocks long (which is half a mile) that is entirely Hispanic stores. Names like La Unica (dress shop), El Conocritto (restaurant), El Rey (restaurant), International Panaderia (bakery), etc.and it looks like a little slice of Mexico in Omaha. For Cinco de Mayo, they blocked off this part for cars and had a carnival that ran for 3 days (not in the nights though). It had rides, performances by like local mariachi bands, people selling stuff at like every corner, IT WAS CRAZY. Tons of people there. We went there to try and pass out stuff but it wasn't successful. People didn't want to talk to us sadly. But it was cool to see just how many people there were and how much of a cultrual even there was. It was super cool to see. There was a bunch of members of out ward that went too but we didn't see them there when we were there.  (P.S. I didn't have my camera neither could I have taken pictures while I was there sadly. If it was running today, I'd go and take pictures)

Well that about sums up the week. Hope you all have a good one!

Elder Cox

A Pretty Sick Week

This week was literally sick. Like, I was sick for 3 days (tues, wed, thurs). I had some type of stomach flu and just had diarrhea for forever. It was terrible. So there isn't a whole lot to talk about. I'm feeling superb now but I was feeling just awful before. My throat is a bit sore but that's only getting better so this week will be awesome. umm. what now. 

I'll tell something that happened this week. On Friday, we visited this older couple named Artemio and Blanca. Blanca hasn't been to church in forever and Artemio isn't a member. So we were talking, you know, getting to know them. Then we start teaching a little bit. And we start having difficulty explaining something cuz Spanish is flipping hard sometimes. Blanca then basically says "Well you guys should go with someone who is experienced in Spanish and then come back and teach us." Pretty rude, right? Well yeah but it's kinda funny looking back. Because right after that, Artemio says something to like this, "No, it's like when I try to explain stuff in English. When I start trying, it's hard. But there is always like one key word that I say that helps them understand. It's the same for you guys and it's good that you are trying to learn my language." It's really kinda funny that they do that because that's basically the 2 types of people that we find: Those that kind of judge us cuz we kinda suck at Spanish and those who try to help us speak Spanish better. The latter is most of the people we find. They find it funny when we speak sometimes and try to help us with better ways to say it and better words to use. Spanish people are usually the nicest people ever, I swear. 

Hispanics are also super nice because they are always willing to give us food. There is almost not a day that passes when we don't have a dinner with a member. Tonight is the first night that we have to get our own dinner within the past 4 weeks I think. But we have leftovers that we need to eat XD. It's a huge blessing to have such a willing ward. I think that sometimes they fight over who gets to feed us on certain nights. I know that sometimes they sign up a week in advance. It's crazy how awesome the people here are. So if anyone asks how i'm doing, one thing you can say is that I never go hungry in Omaha. In fact, just this past week, we have had like 4 pizzas given to us for dinner. It's almost annoying XD but pizza is the best so it's not annoying. The food is also always super delicious. food from mexico, Ecuador once or twice, El Salvador once. It's all super good.

Anyways, this next week is gonna be boss. Tata for now!

Elder Cox

Fun Week!

Monday, April 21, 2015

This is one day late because yesterday (and earlier today), I was pretty sick. Had a bad headache, back and legs hurting, stomach not the best. It got slowly got better and better one thing at a time. But even though I was sick, I still went to the Zoo! It was super fun. A bunch of missionaries from Sioux City, Iowa came down to Omaha to go to the zoo so we went with them. I actually have pictures this time! I didn't get any with the whole group on my camera but the one that has the picture will send it to me. I'll send a few to you guys. It'll be in separate e-mails mostly. It's the number 1 zoo in the country, mostly because it is only $15 to get in and it has a bunch of super awesome exhibits like the dome that has a simulated desert, a simulated swamp, and a simulated rainforest. It's super intense.

In terms of last week, it's been super awesome! It's been kinda hard sometimes, cuz we have a lot of people that we need to visit but we don't know what time they will be home. But we've seen some miracles because we have tried. Even something as simple as meeting them and confirming their phone number is a miracle for us.

I'm still doing great out here. Me and Elder Jensen are like good friends already and are getting along really well. It's really fun having a new area to be in with a lot of new people to see. I hope all of you are doing well! Missing you all!

Elder Cox

Pictures at the Omaha Zoo

Cool link for missionaries

http://preparetoserve.com/nebraska-omaha-mission/

New Experiences and New Companion!

Monday, April 13, 2015

This week has been very exciting! I have had a few new experiences and it's been super fun. The biggest experience was Elder Wilson leaving. It was sad to see him go but it was his time. It was an awesome experience to be his companion. He was super experienced and it helped me see how I could be in the future. 

The next experience I had was being in a trio of Elders, which is actually difficult to do. You get unfocused kind of easily and it often is a 2 on 1 deal, where one person is being kinda left out of just doesn't have anything to do for a little while. A lot of the work we do is done very well with 2 people but having 3 around sometimes leaves nothing for 1 person to do. But it was awesome.

Next, came the unexpected experience of helping the other 2 elders pack their bags and clean their apartment, because they closed the Omaha South area and combined it with my area, Omaha North. We had to deep clean the apartment and car and pack all the elder's stuff into their suit cases. It was a crazy day.

Lastly, I have my new companion! Elder Jensen! (selfie with he and I at the end) Basic rundown: Short, hilarious, hardworking, funny, tired (for now lol), tells lots of jokes, and loves a lot of the same kind of music, video games, movies, etc. that I love! It's just awesome being with him. He is a hit with all the members too because he is so short and genuine when he talks. It's just awesome to have him here. 

It's been a week of a lot of changes but it's all going awesome! We get to meet a ton of new people in South Omaha and we will be super busy all day everyday! There are a lot more Spanish speakers in South Omaha too so Elder Jensen and I get to speak Spanish much more often! It's all going to be super awesome! EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. I'm excited, if y'all can't tell :P

Have a nice week everyone!

Elder Cox

Irregular Week

Week Break-Down: This week felt super weird. We went Ice-Skating on Monday again, which was sweet! (2 pictures below of the missionaries that were there) I'm getting pretty good at Ice-Skating and it's super fun. We then went and helped a member start to pack up everything in his house. Tuesday was ALL DAY at that member's house (Brother Galeno) helping him get the U-Haul and start packing it up.

Wednesday was Exchanges with my zone leader (Elder Gardner), which was awesome because I got to drive.

Thursday, we had a guy that we haven't been able to talk to like ever call us for help cuz he crashed his car into someone's fence and then we went back to Brother Galeno's to help him finish packing (he was supposed to leave on Wednesday but got like super sick. He left Friday morning).

Friday was a competition between the Spanish Elders and Sisters to see who could contact and give letters to a lot of people that haven't been to church in a while.

And then Saturday and Sunday was filled with General Conference (in our church, in april and October, we have broadcasts from the leaders of our church giving the church as a whole guidance, cautions, instruction, etc. It's always a really good experience and helps guide people with current problems in the world or problems that may be in the future).

 

Not a whole lot more to say about this week, Other than the fact that Elder Wilson will be going home tomorrow and I'll be with the other Elders until Friday when I get my new companion who I don't know who will be. Lots of unknowns about this week but it makes it all the more interesting and exciting! I know that even though I don't quite feel ready to be left to a new companion, I know that the strength of the Lord will be with us as we are following his commandments. I just hope he's nice (jk, every missionary I've met here is like super nice). 

 

So, since Easter just passed, I wanna let everyone know that I know that Easter is more than just eggs and the Easter Bunny. Easter is the Day that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, rose triumphant from death and was resurrected. This has eternal significance for us all. Because he rose from death, we too will be resurrected at the Great and Last Judgment Day and we will be able to live forever with our Father in Heaven, if we keep his commandments and do all that we can to be worthy to return and live with him. I know this and it gives me a crazy amount of hope. I know that because Christ was resurrected, we need not fear death. Death is swallowed up in the victory of Christ.

 

Elder Cox

People are listed from left to right

 

1st: Ice-Skating: Sister Grubbs, Sister Kennion, Sister Wilding, Sister Henderson, Elder Wilson, Elder Maradiaga, Elder Benetez, Me (with my terrible smile), Elder Lott, Elder Andersen, Elder Draper, Elder Barton

 

2nd: (side note, these are all Spanish speaking elders in the City of Omaha and out lying cities): Elder Wilson, Elder Andersen, Elder Me, Elder Barton, Elder Maradiaga (or Diggity as we call him)