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)

Service Pt.2!

So we totally went to the Zoo but I didn't bring my camera. I feel ashamed. But it was super cool! I'm 100% sure I'm going to go again in like a few months but for now, no pics. This week I will have my camera on me like always so I'll make sure to pull it out and take some pictures. The Omaha Zoo is the number 1 zoo in the country so it was pretty sweet. Although it does not have the amount of animals as the St. Louis Zoo, the exhibits are AMAZING. There is an huge dome for the desert creatures with a basement that is a swamp. Then there is a building that is 100% an artificial rain-forest. It's super sweet! One part had bats flying alllllll around! It was so super sweet! The gorilla building was also super cool and, as other missionaries told me, usually whenever we turned our backs on one of the Silver Backed Gorillas he would charge the glass and hit it full force! But, he looked super depressed when we went there. One of the smaller ones did it 2 after like 20 minutes of trying lol. Super awesome. Plus, next summer, they are opening an Africa area so I hope to be able to at that time too.

This week we did the UNO (University of Nebraska at Omaha) Seven Days of Service twice: thursday and friday. Thursday we helped clear 2 empty house lots of trash for refugee's from Sudan and Burma to make a community garden for them to become self-sufficent. It was super fun but super sad to see all the garbage that had come just from the winter. We found like 11 big black trash bags full of them and then 9 big paper bags of yard waste. We also found a dead cat in the midst of that. Crazy. Friday, we helped a company called Good360 package shirts and diapers to be shipped to charities nation wide. Huggies diapers were packaged into much bigger packages and old nike shirts were put 25 per box into like 300 boxes. It was totally fun but kinda boring at the same time. (No, I didn't take pictures [more shame to me] but you can look up Southern Sudan on facebook and you might be able to see some pics that they took of us with other people.)

We also had a baptism! Bryan (of whom I talked about like 2 e-mails ago on week 13) was baptized! It was a super awesome experience! He had a bunch of his family there and they all enjoyed it too. You could just feel his happiness radiating and filling like the entire church building. It was amazing to see how happy he was. He knows already how much following Jesus Christ has blessed his life and he is hoping that he can help his family get those blessings too!

So, with Easter right around the corner, there is a new video that I wanna link you all to (i can even watch it and it's awesome!). It's athelives.mormon.org and I give you all the assignment to at least watch it. It's super sweet. Well, hope you all have an awesome Easter! Love you all! (no homo)

Elder Cox

I will list the people in the pictures from left to right and then give a small explanation. 

1st: Bryan's wife Claudia, Bryan, Elder Wilson, me. This was the baptism this last week.

2nd: Elder Barton, me, Bryan, Claudia, Elder Wilson, Elder Draper, Landon (at Elder Draper's feet, son of Bryan and Claudia), Sister Grubbs, Sister Kennion. Draper and Barton are the Omaha Spanish South Elders. Grubbs and Kennion are the Omaha Spanish Sisters and they cover the west part of Omaha.

3rd: Claudia, Bryan, Sister Willis, Sister Savage, me, Elder Wilson. This one is at the Mormon Trial Center at Winter Quarters. It's a big part of Mormon history when the Early Mormons were pushed out of Illinois and They stopped where Northern Omaha is now and called it Winter Quarters back then. Fun facts! The two sisters in the picture were the two that gave us the tour and such.

1st: The first 5 people are the family of Alexandra of whom I don't know all the names for, Alexandra, Elder Wilson, Me. This was the baptism that was 2 weeks ago. 

2nd: Elder Wilson, Me, Sister Kennion, Sister Grubbs. Right after doing the Seven days of Service on friday.

Service!

This week felt really short lol. Feels like today should be Friday! But it's Monday. And today, we are going to the Zoo! A bunch of missionaries are gonna be coming with us and we're gonna have an awesome time! The Omaha Zoo is like the Number 1 Zoo in the nation so I'm really excited. I'll have to tell you guys all about it next e-mail.

 

On Wednesday, we had Zone Training, which was awesome and was all about loving the people and having charity for others. It was really nice to hear what everyone thought about it too. Everyone had something to say and it helped me understand that I need to have love for everyone. One way that we can love people is by serving them. And Elder Wilson and I were able to do some service on Friday! We helped this older lady, who is a friend of a member (member's name is Brother Miranda), move a bunch of her stuff out of her apartment to her new house and to a storage unit. Her new house was a beautiful ranch house just outta Omaha. I wish I had brought my camera to take pictures. It was really awesome to be able to help someone with something like that.

 

We don't get a lot of opportunities to do service. This week, however, will have a lot of service. Brother Miranda works at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) as a Spanish professor. Like 13 years ago, he  set up a week of service every year, during UNO's spring break. He calls it 7 Days Of Service. Every morning of this week people come to the campus early to sign up and have a small breakfast and them get on buses to go to the area where they will be helping out in. They then get lunch and it's over by like 1:30. We'll be doing this like 2 or 3 times this week and it'll be awesome!

 

On Saturday, we had a baptism! Alexandra, 10 years old, got baptized and I totally didn't get a picture (I really need to work on that), but I can get it from the mom or something for next week. It was a really awesome experience because her family, her grandma, and her aunt were able to come and see. She was super excited too. She chose Elder Wilson to baptize her and it was a super spiritual experience. She was smiling so much and so was her family. I love being able to see that happiness in people's lives!

Overall, things are getting better! I feel like I still have communication problems but I'm learning. My Spanish is coming along too! I translated all of church on Sunday from Spanish to English for Bryan! I only didn't understand some of the parts so I just told him all I understood and what he was trying to accomplish by it, so I don't think I did that bad lol. Loving it here!

 

Missing you all, at least a little bit.

 

Elder Cox