The week in which there was no snow

So yesterday, we were supposed to have like 1-5 inches of snow. We didn't have any inches. It was great! 

Otherwise, this week was pretty great. Rodolfo, who we have been teaching a lot, is doing really good! He is reading from the Book of Mormon and praying to see if it is true! He has been to church the past 2 weeks and that means that he is well on his way to being baptized on the 27th of February! It's awesome! 

We also found a really awesome new person to teach this week! Her name is Joanna. She is the grand niece of a family who is in the congregation. The family is really old and has health problems so they don't come to church but we visit with them and Joanna was there this week! She said that she really wants to go to a church and to help her children grow up in a church with good values and knowing God. It's awesome! She is striving to be baptized next month already, even though we've only taught her this week! She is going to feel God's love as she begins to pray to him more often (daily) and as she reads his word. She has already prayed with us and she asked God for help as she prepares to be baptized next month. It was awesome! 

So yeah, we are seeing some great work go on here! And the missionaries in our zone are doing amazing! There is success happening everywhere! It's amazing!

I hope you are all having success in your daily lives!

Elder Cox

The Biggest Storm Up Here Since 1994 (-ish)

So, this week was very interesting. First and foremost, I was not transferred. I am in the same area and am with the same companion. I can't say that for the rest of our zone. Out of 10 areas, 8 were changed. Lots of changes. But they are all awesome. It's gonna be great. 

Second and not so foremost, We had a huge storm! We had 16 inches of snow! It was way to much snow. The worst part: the truck we usually have was in Omaha for the week. 2 elders who were ending their missions drove it there and we were stuck with a Chevy Cruze. Luckily, the Cruze is surprisingly good in snow weather. We only have to shovel our car out and put wood planks under the tires twice. The other times, we were just pushed out. Only like 3 or 4 times, which is better than I thought. 

The storm started on Tuesday and was a white out blizzard. despite it being a blizzard, Elder Peters and I walked about 1 mile to an investigators' house at 10 a.m. When we were there, we found out we were suggested to not leave our apartments unless we had an appointment. Gotta tell you, it was REALLY FUN to walk in snow that you could barely look into >.<  we walked and got back to our apartment and decided it would be best to stay in, as it was actually really hard to walk through the amount of snow that was already on the ground (the snow had been falling since 12 a.m.). So we clean a lot and studied some. And that was our day. Pretty terrible. The next day, we were gonna do a lot of stuff but the Transmission the car (of the other set of elders in Sioux city) died. It was just ruined. so we helped them out getting to someone who could drive and then had to drive down to Norfolk to interview someone who was about to be baptized. With usual drive of an hour and a half, it took us 2 and a half hours to drive there and 2 hours to drive back. There went that day. That was a pretty annoying 2 days. 

But the rest of the week was awesome. (except for when we had to leave our apartment building because all of the fire alarms were going off. That was pretty annoying too). We weren't really able to see many people but we still had a great time with those that we did see. The storm really messed up our week. And we have one happening today! But it is not as bad, so i'm not worried. 

I hope you all have a great week! I'll have more to say about the people I teach next week so be ready for that!

Elder Cox

This week wasn't even that cold! TRANSFER WEEK! 11th Transfer

This week was like mostly above 30! But, tomorrow or tonight, we have a great chance of getting much snow like 8 inches of snow! This is exciting too because we have a Chevy Cruze instead of the Chevy Colorado truck that we usually have. the mission needed it for when new missionaries will come up here this week, because this week is the week when things change! 

TRANSFER WEEK! Every 6 weeks (or in this case and the case for next transfer, 7) we have changes around the mission! I could get changed (although it is not likely)! So yeah, it's an exciting week. 

This last week was pretty sweet. First off, Angel (the one I talked about last time) decided to be baptized in Tijuana, Mexico where he is going to move in like 2 weeks. Kinda sad that I won't be able to see it but that's ok. There, he will be able to have his dad support him through the things that he will do, so that' s awesome. Hopefully, his dad will want to be baptized too!

Otherwise, this week we are starting an awesome project. So, to preface this project, I need to tell you some facts. So, every member of our church has a responsibility to help other people get closer to Jesus Christ. We call this Missionary Work, which is what I do "full-time" during my mission. the work of the "Full-Time" missionaries is really hard to do alone. It is much more effective and simple when the full time missionaries work with the members of the local congregation to do this "work". So, we saw that we were not able to work very well with the members of our congregation, since most of them only recently join the church. so, we starting a project to train them how to help us, just as we were trained on how they should help us. We have started to form a plan to visit the members of our church and help them know how they can help us do our work and also how we can effective work with them to help them in their responsibility to help their friends and family come closer to Jesus Christ. So yeah. It's gonna be really awesome. It's a long project, but it will really help everyone involved. 

Anyway, that's about it for this week. Love you all!

Elder Cox

The Week where I don't know what to say

This week was awesome! Some of the highlights:

One of our investigators, named Angel, recently told us that he can get baptized soon! One of the conditions for baptism that he couldn't meet but now can is to be off of parole. His parole will end in the beginning of February so he can get baptized shortly after that! I'll happen on the 20th of February (which is my birthday!) It's gonna be an awesome happy day! He's been waiting for like 9 months now to have his parole end. And now he can be baptized! It's an awesome occasion! 

We found some awesome new investigators named Walter and Victor. They are from the Dominican Republic. They are awesome! The accent they have is very different for the accent that most people. It's really awesome. Walter is super excited about everything that we say. Victor is much more laid back and like cautious but they both have super good questions. They seem like they are really ready to accept the Gospel. 

Other than talking to 2 people this week that realllllllyyyy love the bible and are kinda hard to talk to because of it that's really about it for this week. 1 of the people that loves the Bible, named Gil, is super open and really awesome to talk to. The other person, not so much. I, personally, do try to keep my mind open as possible, and talking to Gil has really opened up my understanding of the Bible and has deepened my testimony of modern prophets, because there are things that are in the Bible that have meanings that have been revealed to God's prophets that are on the earth nowadays. The truth that is revealed through modern prophets really helped me understand more. It's awesome!

I hope everyone stays warm and dry out there!!!

Elder Cox

P.S. Shout out to my Brother's birthday next week!

The Week of: THE COLD! DUN DUN DUN!!!

So yeah, it was cold this week. The highest day got to like 35 degrees Fahrenheit, so that was exciting. The coldest it got was on Sunday. It was like -10 with a -25 wind chill, so that was fun. It wasn't actually that bad, because we had appointments to be at. If we didn't have any appointments, we were allowed to just stay inside and study instead of go door to door or things like that. I studied about how to teach better, so that was good. 

Otherwise, I went to Omaha for a day! It was awesome to be able to return there a bit. We did an exchange with the missionaries who are assistants to the Mission President. They are like the leaders of the Zone Leaders. It was awesome. We just did the same work that missionaries do anywhere else. But, it was in part of the same area that I was in during the beginning of my mission (North Omaha) so it was awesome! I didn't see anyone that I knew but that's ok. We taught 3 lessons outside! Luckily, that was the day it was 35 ish, so that wasn't that bad. 

This week has been awesome though. We are still teaching Rodolfo, who I mentioned in my Christmas letter, and he is preparing to get baptized for next Saturday! He still isn't 100% sure that this is what he wants to do, but he is still seeking for his answer from God. Like everyone we teach, we want him to know that baptism is the right thing for him. We want him to really believe that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ before they make a commitment like baptism. So, we always invite everyone to ask God if the things we teach are true. It's something that we can all do. We do that through prayer (which is simply talking to God). I know that I should be out here in Iowa not because my mom said to do it or my church leaders said it would be a good idea. I know that I need to be here because God told me that I should go on a mission. And that is why I'm here. And I love it!!!! I love it out here! I love being a missionary, because I know that this is right and I know that I am helping people to come closer to Jesus Christ! And I love that!!!! Just so you all know, I really enjoyed being at home, but being out here is where I knew i should have been for little while. Being out here is so fulfilling! That's why I love it! I feel like I am really getting closer to my Savior personally, as well as helping others do the same. And I do feel very close to God, because I live his gospel as restored to the earth through his modern day prophet. That gospel is what brings us the close to God. We can come the closest to God only through his restored gospel. I want to help everyone see that and then do it! I want all of you guys to do that too! Because you are all children of God that God loves. Just know that.

Have a great week!

Elder Cox

Coldest Week Ever?

It wasn't the coldest week ever but it was SUPER COLD this last weekend. It was like a solid 2 degrees with a windchill of like -15 degrees. It was mostly awful. The work this week was really good though. We got to see a lot of people and they are all doing really good! It's a really positive experience! Except for Saturday and Sunday. But even though like 5 appointments cancelled that day, we were still able to get work done! It was awesome. 

So this week, I went to a little town close by Sioux City called Le Mars. It's like 30 minutes from Sioux City and it is a town of like 5,000 people. Fun Fact: It's apparently the Ice Cream Capital of the World (it's what the sign said). It is home to the Blue Bunny Headquarters, so maybe that is true. Anyways, we visited this lady who live on a farm outside of Le Mars and we were just going to introduce ourselves, because she used to be an investigator of some missionaries who both had to leave their area, so now it is covered by other missionaries. Drove up and just saw chickens. Like 25 chickens all around her door. That's when we realized it was a real farm. We knocked on the door and a the man of the house like shooed us away through the screen door. His little son came to the screen door and so we asked him to get his mom, since she was the one that met with the missionaries before hand. After talking to her for a bit about her chickens we were able to get inside her house and talk some more. The man left when we came in, saying he had some chores to do. We offered to help but he refused the help. He shortly after came back in and said that the goats were getting ready to give birth! (they didn't when we were there) But then he accepted our help. We helped him out around the farm and he talked forever about his animals. It was really awesome. I was also given the opportunity to collect chicken eggs! And then they gave us them to take home! It was awesome. And, we saw this guy go from not at all wanting us to be there to offering us to come back and help some more. It  was an awesome chance to see somebody open up to us. 

Otherwise, we had a great week. We were able to find some new people to teach that are ready to take action and come unto Christ! It really exciting. 

I hope you all had a great week!

Elder Cox

This week tho.

So this week was super awesome. We had some awesome times that I'mma tell y'all about. 

So, first and foremost, I had an awesome experience when someone wasn't there. So we were trying to see this family that hasn't been to church in quite a while. They weren't there. We then tried one of their neighbors. This 17 year-old kid answered the door and said we could try back tomorrow. We did that. He let us in the next day and we taught him. The house was pretty hectic tho. Like 2 minutes after we came in, his parents came home and his brother and sister woke up. People were talking loudly to each other and it was quite the scene for a little while. But we kept teaching this young man (named Dayton). He was really cool. He didn't really believe in God, because he hadn't really seen much of God in his life. We shared with him that God created him and loves him, which God did and does for all of us. As we went on, his brother was in and out of the room and had a few interesting questions. We helped him understand the answers and he liked it. At the end of the lesson, after sharing about Joseph Smith and his calling as a prophet, we asked Dayton what it would mean to him if these things were true. He said this very true statement, "It would mean a complete and utter change in my understanding and perception." It shocked me that he completely understood what this means for each of us. If Joseph Smith was called as a prophet, that means that God again has prophets on the earth that can give us current direction, straight from God himself. We can have all the answers to every question God is ready to answer right now through that prophet and We can all participate in ordinances such as baptism by the proper authority, God's authority which he gives to prophets. and I know that this is true. I have asked the only being that knows everything if this is true. And He, God himself, has made it manifest to me through his Holy Spirit. This is the Spirit of God that I know has helped my family make right choices throughout their life and the Spirit that brought me out here to Nebraska (and part of Iowa now) and has helped me become the man I am today. This knowledge has shaped who I am, my very being, and I am forever grateful for that.

That might be a lot for someone to understand, but if anyone is confused about what I just said, ask me about it. I'd be happy to explain it more. 

Otherwise, this week was also awesome because there were a lot of people at church! There was still space for more people but there were more people than I've ever seen before! It was a great start to a great new year! 

This week was just so awesome! I'm really fired up for this last year of my mission and I'm ready to help everyone to come to Christ! I hope this year everyone can focus themselves on coming closer to Christ and receiving the joy that only he can give. It's something that I've seen so much in my life and really want to share with all of you.

Have a great week!

Elder Cox