Transferred to IOWA. And also, I'm a ZONE LEADER!

So I got transferred. I was only in Norfolk, Nebraska for 4 1/2 Months and then they moved me. I'm now in a place called Sioux City, Iowa. I'm one of currently 7 Missionaries in the area. There are 3 Girl missionaries (sisters) and 2 sets of Guys missionaries (elders) here in our Spanish congregation. And I'm now something called a Zone Leader. 

So, as far as leadership in the mission, it's like this:

Mission President (Not a normal 20ish year old missionary; older person lol)

Assistants to the President (1 Companionship of Normal missionaries)

Zone Leaders (1 Companionship per zone; our mission has about 11 Zones)

District Leaders (1 companionship; 3 or 4 of these per zone)

Senior Companion (every companionship has one)

So, every missionary is under the direct stewardship of the Mission President. The Mission President delegates responsibilities down the chain of leadership all the way down to normal missionaries. He trains the Assistants and Zone Leaders, we pass it on to the district leaders and all other missionaries, then the District leaders basically see if what the Zone Leaders taught is being used. It's pretty cool how it works out. We report directly to the Mission President on the things that the missionaries in our zone are doing and ask him for help to help them be better missionaries. It's all for helping them teach better, find more people to teach, have better studies, etc. 

So that's a lot of info and I haven't even talked about the area yet! So I've been to Sioux City before. It's a biggish city that is mostly in Iowa but also partly in Nebraska. It's here that we had a few meetings that I had to go to when I was in Norfolk. It's a city of like 100,000 or more people, and there are TONS of Hispanics. Like, TONS. Especially in South Sioux City (which is the part in Nebraska). And it seems like it's gonna be a really awesome time here. I am really enjoying it so far. The work is gonna be like Omaha was, because we have a Spanish congregation. It's pretty exciting.

I'm really sad to have left Norfolk, but I really like it here so far. The Spanish congregation is really awesome and full of people that are super funny. Also, I am in the same ward as 2 people that I was before with in omaha, that being a sister missionary named Sister Grubbs and Elder Jensen (previous companion). It's pretty cool. 

My companion's name is Elder Ferry. The scary part of all of this is that I only have 4 weeks to learn how to run our zone (in terms of like "administrating" [like managing how many miles people get for their cars, when to go and serve with them, etc]) and learn the area (in terms of like teaching) because he goes home December 14th. I'll have to run it when he leaves. It's a scary thought.

Man, that was a pretty long e-mail. Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Cox

So we live in a castle. We are on the top floor and either have to go up like 3-6 flights of stairs or use an elevator. It's called Castle on a Hill Apartments and was formerly a high school. It's really awesome. No flies get into the apartment since it is a long way in lol. Also, I got a leather jacket. It's warm lol

A Week of the Same

This week was awesome. And that's what I mean by "the same" in the title. It just seems like the weeks are generally improving and almost going slower. One thing that I always hear from missionaries is that they wish the time would go slower or that their mission went by so fast. Well, for me right now, time is going pretty slow. Before, It was going so fast that I couldn't even believe it. I'm still pretty astonished whenever Friday comes around (that's when we plan for the next week; we basically count that as the start of the week lol) but otherwise, everyday seems to be filling up pretty well. It's been every since 2 Thursdays ago when I receive instruction on how to help people better, specifically by planning lessons that are specific and detailed to meet the needs of the people that we see. It's been just being straight up better from that time on until now, and it's gonna keep being good.

In other news, I might be leaving the current area that I am in this Friday but I won't know until Thursday. Hope you are all on the edge of you seats! I know I am. I don't really wanna leave this area yet. It's been really great here and I really wanna spend more time here and see the people here progress, but If I am called to another place, that's aight. I'll do it.

Anyways, there was a lot of good things that happened this week that I could tell you guys about. I don't even know which one to choose. This one. So, on Saturday, we went to go see some people early in the day and they were like "come back at night." So we did, with a member of our congregation. We went there it's this couple named Filipe and Caridad (Philip and Charity if you translate it.) They are from Cuba, and this is only the second time that we have seen them ever talke to them. Filipe is really kind and humble. He is the one that we are mainly teaching. But he read the part of the Book of Mormon that we asked him to read and he already believes that it is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet! And It's only been two visits. It was awesome. Although he smokes a ton and he didn't go to church yesterday, I still think that he will be able to be baptized soon. He already said that he wanted to quit smoking (or at least that he has struggled with smoking his whole life, which kinda implies that he wants to stop.)

So yeah, that was like the best of the week and how I am doing. If there is anything you guys would like to know more about what I basically do just ask me and I'll start including it in here. I kinda realize that I don't have your perspectives so I don't always know what to include so yeah. I'm up for improving what I send to you guys. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Cox  

This was Halloween! And an extra hour!

so yeah, my companion is from Arizona and they don't have Daylight Savings Time in Arizona, so yesterday, he said "THIS DAY IS SO LONG! When will it end?!" It was funny.

Halloween! We didn't do anything Halloween night because we were told not to go out after 6, so yeah. We just stayed in and planned for the next week. But, on Friday, our church did a trunk or treat and we had some awesome Chili and Cinnamon Rolls (a strange Nebraska tradition which tastes really good actually). And for that trunk or treat, we decorated our car! I'll attach a picture of that. And I'm in my costume, which is just one of the other english missionaries. 

Yeah, this week has been pretty solid. We've had a lot of people tell us that they don't want us to visit and only a few people that we found to teach, which is overall pretty normal. One thing that we did yesterday was get a church member to come out with us to go teaching. The only sad part about that is that we went to like 5 peoples houses and they were all either busy or not there, so I was pretty frustrated about that. But then, after the member went home, we knocked on 1 persons door and it was this women named Ana. When she was younger, she said that her mom had her talk with missionaries so she knew who we were. But she said that she didn't really want to have God in her life right now. I asked why. She told us that her heart was just so full of hate that she didn't think that she could have God in her life. She felt that what she did before in her life was so much that she could not be forgiven and that she could not return to God. I told her the simple truth: We are never to lost to God. There is always a way that we can be forgiven and have God's influence back in our life. God loves us so much that he sent Jesus Christ to be our way back to live with God. And the only way that we are lost is by our unwillingness to change ourselves. We must be ready and willing to do the things that God has asked us to do. That's how we can get rid of all the guilt that we feel. That's is how we change ourselves. She felt that it was impossible, and I know that it is possible. We're gonna be go back and talk to her again on Friday and I hope to be able to help her see that she is not lost and that God wants her back on his side. He loves her, just as He loves me and all of you.

So yeah, I'm really glad I'm out here doing God's work. I know that it wasn't a coincidence that we found Ana. God sent us to her specifically yesterday. And God will help her, if she lets him.

Hope you all enjoy the fall weather! I know I am. I got a oldish leather jacket for free so I'm set for now until winter is over (for my top half at least.) From what I hear about the winters here in Norfolk, I'm gonna need to buy me some thermals for my legs (probably gonna get one or two today lol). 

Love you all!

Elder Cox 

Who cares?

So there is this one 8 year old kid in our church here that we saw yesterday. His brother said that he lies a lot, so we said "You know lying is against the commandments, right?" His response was, "Oh, who cares?" It was reallllllyyyy hilarious for us, but it is a good question to ask. Who does care if we disobey God's commandments? The answer is kinda obvious, but God cares. He cares about everyone, because he set his commandments as a barrier to protect us from the pain and misery that disobeying the commandments brings. If we obey God's commandments, we will be happy. I promise it.

Anyways, about me XD. I'm doing good. They feed us well here so I'm full everyday, unless I choose not to be (but why would I choose not to be? I always choose to be full lol). It's getting kinda cold 'round these parts but it just means I can break out my sweater that I got on clearance a few months back #preparation. I am loving here in good ol' Norfolk. It's really a pleasure to be here and I know that I am doing what God wants me to do by being here. 

This week was rather awesome. So as missionaries, we invite people to come unto Jesus Christ. We have been focused on inviting people through baptism, which is an essential part of coming unto Jesus. And so we have been doing that A LOT. And most people say no. It's sad, but it just happens that way. But we have had 2 people say yes! And this is what happened. So one of them is Almarosa (i've mentioned her before) and she wanted to meet with us. Well, we can't go inside someone's house if there is not another male there who is 16 years or older. So, if her husband was home, we could have come over. But he wasn't. We were calling some of our members to see if someone could come but we couldn't find anyone. She then said that she could invite one of her friends to come over so we were like "Perfecto!" So we went over there and talked to them. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation, which is where we came from (We came from God cuz he made us), why are we here (to try to live good lives to return to God after), and where we go after this life (we wait until judgement and then we are judged and those who are obey God's commandments will go and live with him). One of God's commandments is baptism, so we told them about that and asked them if they wanted to be baptized. They were concerned how much it would cost, which shocked us. They told us that in their church, for any of their kids to be baptized, you had to pay, which is rather foreign concept to Elder Wiltbank and I because we our church doesn't ever charge for baptism and stuff. So they decided that they would work towards being baptized on Dec 5th, and it was awesome. Amen.

Love you all!

Elder Cox

A not terrible week!

This week was actually super awesome. It's been a blast out here. By a blast, I mean that not only am I having fun doing missionary work, we are having quite a bit of success. I'll tell you how. 

So, I'll tell you of my best day this week and how it is like the most productive day I've ever had in terms of number of lessons. Overall, numbers aren't overly important, but they help us get a physical representation of how effective we are being. So, it was Friday. An investigator named Almarosa (translation: Pink Soul) invited us over for breakfast and we taught her and her husband a lesson. That's 1. Then we finished our studies and had lunch. Then, as we do on every Friday, we planned out what we are going to teach to all the people that we are currently teaching and make goals for the numbers we want to get. This takes us up to about 5 o'clock. We then went to our appointment that we had. They weren't there. We then had a big string of events that went like this: tried next door and had a lesson (2) ; went to the next street over to see a previous investigator and had a lesson (3) ; tried next door and had a lesson (4) ; went to a different part of town to knock doors and saw someone who we have been trying to find, so we stopped and had a lesson (5) ; got to that other part of town and had 1 lesson from knocking doors (6) ; went to the car to plan what next to do and saw someone pull up to their house so we knocked on their door, turns out they are members and had a lesson with them and gave the wife of that family a blessing of healing (7) ; went and tried someone who said they weren't gonna be home until super late and he was there so we had a lesson (8) ;  went home and ate dinner. That day was crazy!!!!!!! To put it in perspective, a day where we have 4 lessons is a really good day but we had 8! The biggest about all of this day was that we didn't really know for ourselves where we wanted to go originally. It was pretty different from the day that we had originally planned to have, but we felt like we needed to go to other places so we did. #effectivemissionarywork

Other than that, the rest of the week was good too. On Saturday, we were able to have Jasmin, the person that we baptized, go to the temple in Omaha and do baptisms for the dead. Baptisms for the dead is something that we do in our temples. We believe that baptism is essential to go to heaven. We also believe that everyone will have the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ after they die. But, without baptism, even if they accept Jesus Christ, they can't go to heaven. So, we believe that it is our responsibility as living members of our church to be baptized in place of those who have passed on. And we got to help in that work on saturday. It was awesome. 

So yeah, I'm doing freaking epic out here.

Love you all! 

Elder Cox

so there was this beautiful sunset so we took some pics. here is my favorite one

This week tho.

The title states it all. This week feels like it just flew right on by. I barely even remember what all we've done! I actually do remember most of it but it's all just a blur for the most part. There is not a whole lot to say about it. Well, there is some to say. So, I don't think I've mentioned this specific person we were teaching before but there is this big Cuban man named Dunieski (the s is silent too) and we were just knocking doors and found him. He wasn't like 100% into our lessons but enjoyed having us come over and teach him. He had been gone on vacation for a while so we hadn't seen him, but we set him for a day to be baptized and he accepted. Also, I was with Elder Jones (English speaking missionary serving in the same town), so I was the only Spanish missionary there. And Dunieski told me that he was never going to go to church or be baptized. This is a kinda common thing to hear but he then went off for 20 minutes about how all churches, whether baptist, Mormon, catholic, etc. were corrupt and just to get money. I told him that our church isn't like that and that I, as a missionary, wasn't paid. I explained that we do a lot of community/worldwide disaster service, etc. but he didn't believe me. I was really sad. Like this has been weighing me down since that day. But I did what I could. I can't make him believe my words, even if they are true. He has to choose for himself. It's just a bit depressing overall. 

Otherwise, the last 2 days were really hot. It hasn't been this hot at this late in the year in Nebraska since 1955. That's pretty crazy. It was like 95 degrees. I'm really happy that I don't have to wear a suit coat all the time. But we had some good times. We were invited to the birthday party of a young man in the area named Angel. He's super cool and really fun to be around. And, as is customary, there was a cake. And his face was partly pushed into it by his aunt XD. It's a tradition for many Latino families. And then we got a pic together. It was great. 

So yeah, things are really going good here, other than the story I told. I am really liking it here. I definitely have to come back and visit after I leave. But that's not for a while. lol.

Love you all! (no homo)

Elder Cox

Transfer Week! #8

Not moving! Yay! 

Still in Norfolk. Another 6 weeks has come and gone and I don't know how I really feel about how fast this is going. Sometimes, I feel like one week has been like 1 month. Other times, one day feels like a week. Most of the time, it feels like It's been maybe been 3 days when it's been a full week. AAHHHHH! Time is so annoying. But I'm still living "The Good Life" here in Nebraska. I really like the people who are here and I like how nice they are. 

So this weekend was something called "General Conference" for our church. It's where the Prophet and the Apostles and other men and women who are called to lead our church get to talk to us and give us advice, teach us things that are important to know in this day and age, and warn us of things to come. It's really amazing. I feel that it is like Christmas for me, cuz we get to hear the words of God through his servants! I wore Christmas ties during it :P. It had some awesome advice in it this time. It happens twice a year, every year. This time was the 185th time that it has happened, since we are coming up on our church's 200 year anniversary. (that's really young for a world wide church). Anyways, I'll share some insights that I had from this year's conference in e-mails in the following weeks, as I re-listen to them. 

This week has been sweet. Saturday, we had dinner with the Cartela Family. They invite over friends of their who has been asking questions about our church. We were able to have Chili with Cinnamon Rolls (which is a weird Nebraska tradition, but it's good too) and answer their questions about our church. Then, yesterday, we taught her the first lesson st the Cartela's house and they wants to keep learning more! They are super cool and I'll be able to tell you guys more about them next week. 

That's about it! I got at least 6 more weeks here in Norfolk, if not more! I'm excited for every single one of them! Have a great week everyone! 

Elder Cox