Happy Thanksgiving, I'm dying!

So, in mission lingo, when a missionary "dies" it means they go home. so that's me! 

Also, in mission lingo, a "trunky" missionary is a missionary who is packing or thinking about home too much. That's also me! Lol. I am already packed, that's why.

This week was great. Thanksgiving was packed full of food. We had a lunch with our bishop at 2 (in which I ate 2 plates). Then we ate with another family in the ward at 5 (1 plate). Lastly, we ate with yet another family (1 plate). Then!!!!! On Saturday, We had a second Thanksgiving day. We ate with Robin and her family (2 plates) and with another family who don't come to church too often (2 plates). Fridaymorning and Sunday all day I was not feeling too well. Probably because I ate WAY to much. So that was bad. I still feel kinda woosy today but that's not bad at all.

I can't wait to talk to all y'all through facebook soon!

Elder Cox

Editor's Note: The below photo was taken in December 2014 just before Elder Cox left for his mission.

The COLD!

It is cold now. It's been like less than 20 degrees every morning now. My hands are getting really cold if I don't have gloves on. But I have nice gloves. It snowed like 4 inches on Friday. And we were supposed to drive an hour south to Sioux City to pick up supplies but that didn't happen at all. We made it like 8 minutes south but we were slipping quite a bit so we stopped and turned around. That was scary.

Otherwise, this week was really good. We had the opportunity to talk to quite a few new people. They all seem pretty interested. We had quite an interesting experience with one of those new people. She literally invited us in "to argue and debate religious beliefs". So that was kinda not pleasant. But it went well. Then we went back on Saturday and she had printed 2 5-page documents against our church. So we had VERY LONG discussion with her and she came to terms with our beliefs and just opposes like 2 of them because we couldn't "prove it from the bible". So yeah. She is not really willing to change her mind and open her heart, so that was interesting.

I am still enjoying my mission! It is sad though, because now I have less than 10 days until I have to leave my mission and move on. It will be cool to move on and get to life, but i want my mission to be longer!

Love y'all!

Elder Cox

The Long E-mail

I told y'all that I would make up for last week's short e-mail. Here I go!

On Monday, after I e-mailed last time, we did a jam session with an investigator of ours named Mark. Elder Clark and he jammed on guitar and I just messed around on a nearby keyboard. It was awesome though. Mark then took us to Burger King and we were just talking and stuff. I asked him where he had lived and he said that he lived in Benson, AZ, which is where my family lived like 9 years ago now. So that was awesome.

On Tuesday, We helped this old lady, whose house is like full to the ceiling with junk and also super useful stuff, begin to clear her living room. There were literally so many boxes of stuff that we didn't know that there was a couch and 2 chairs underneath all this stuff. Then we went to Marshall, MN, to work up there all that day. It's like almost 2 hours north east of Sioux Falls, SD. It was cool up there. I was with Elder Sandberg, who is new to the mission. They have a lot of different cultured people that are going to school in the College up there. It's cool to see all the culture.

On Wednesday, we went to Brookings, SD for a meeting and then I stayed there the rest of the day with Elder Larsen, who is training a new missionary. He is funny. We had an awesome day. Someone bought us pizza, so that was the best. Brookings is another college town and it is pretty packed with cars during class time. We could barely park the car!

On Thursday, we returned to Sioux Falls and had a meeting with all the local missionary leaders and our Mission President and his assistants. It was awesome. Then I was with one of the assistants to the President for the day! His name was Elder Karl. We used the Spirit a lot to help us while trying to find people to teach and found a huge birthday party of Hispanics and then a rehearsal of a Hispanic kids group getting ready to sing for a Hispanic church with their families! We tried to get in there to talk to people but couldn't get far. We got like 3 peoples information to talk to their families. And then their neighbors were Hispanic too! it was great. They were pretty anti other churches too. But it was awesome. I love Hispanics!

On Friday, we had an awesome time. We taught Mercedes' soon-to-be-Step-Father, Myron, and he really liked it! We had dinner with an awesome family and had Robin and her family over as well and taught her about fasting. Then we saw Hirut, the lady from ethiopia. She has been to church like almost everyweek recently! it's awesome! Then, we saw a family who haven't been to church for a while called the Makinson family and we had someone who was baptized like a few months ago come with us. They hit it off immediately! They are both native american, they both shave their heads, they both like football, they have like everything in common! It was super cool!

Hirut, Myron, and the Makinson family all came to church!!!! It was sick!!! We had a great week.

I hope this find y'all well!

Elder Cox

Baptism!

This week was awesome! Mercedes Klein was baptized on Saturday! She was so happy! She was just like "I feel so clean!" So yeah.

Otherwise, this week was kind of boring. Most of the week was spent getting ready for the baptism and teaching her the rest of what she needed to know. We taught Robin and her family but she was not able to come to church, because she woke up with a migraine on Sunday. So that is really sad.  But I really like it up here still. Fall is really beautiful.

This e-mail is kind of short today, but I'll make next week's email extra long to make up for it, ok?

Love y'all!

Elder Cox

Festivals, sickness, and...a Cruze?

So this week was good for some and not so good for others.

The Good: So our investigator Mercedes is going to get baptized this week! We are so stoked!!! We met with her mom for the first time and they all came to church together this week. Mercedes would usually come with a different family because hers was unable to come but now they are all together! It's awesome. She is super ready and super excited. I'm super excited too! 

Not so Good: Robin and her family were all sick this last week so they won't be able to be baptized on the 12th (because they didn't come to church) but that's ok. They are still on track to be baptized in a few weeks. Now we have time to talk to every part of the family individually and work with them to help them progress! It'll be good.

Cruze? I just put that in there because we have a different car for the week. There is a car that needs to be driven to Omaha tomorrow so we swapped with those missionaries for the week. We normally drive a Chevy Equinox but this week we had a Chevy Cruze. So yeah.

This week we had a Spooky Dinner with a member of the ward. I have pictures. And last week we had a Rainbow dinner with them and I have pictures of that too! I will send them.

I'm doing good up here overall. My companion already wishes that I was gone (but I think he is being sarcastic...He is always sarcastic). But yeah, it is good. Time is ticking down, and that is making me nervous but I'm not too worried.

Love Y'all!

Elder Cox

Spooky Dinner

Rainbow Dinner

Dessert for the Halloween dinner

Also, we had a sweet Halloween Festival and I was a pumpkin. My companion was an Asian man.

Mission Map

Transfers are done! IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!

I wasn't transferred. I am staying here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota until the end of my mission. And it is awesome.

So this week was amazing. We had a great week. So, I told you vaguely about a family who really wants to get baptized. Now I will tell more. The Berg Family: the mom is named Robin. The kids are Ashtyn (14), Kate (12), and Micheal (10). They are awesome. They investigated in the past and really liked the church. They lived about an hour away from Sioux Falls and were going to a small congregation. She really liked having that church family feeling and really wanted to be baptized! But she was unable to because her husband was strongly against it. So, she didn't get baptized then. Now, they are living in Baltic, South Dakota (which is a small town about 25 miles north of Sioux Falls) and Robin is divorced. She and the kids live out there in a house that they just bought. The reason we even knew about her was because she requested for missionaries to come to her house and to teach her family! She said that she was feeling lost, so she called one of the former missionaries that taught her before and asked how she can get missionaries over to her house again. So we came! We saw them like 4 times this week lol. On Tuesday, we took a member over there to put some doors into her house (we just stood around and watched him do his work).Friday, we went and taught the family with a member who just got home from his mission. Saturday, she and her daughters came to the church to have a church tour. Sunday, she (alone) came to church because her kids were scared of being judged (Ashtyn has short, dyed hair). But, after church, she got the kids and we went to our Ward Mission Leader's house to have lunch and to watch the movie "Meet the Mormons". It was great! They all loved it!Tonight, we are going to go out to a member's farm and have a hayride and a spiritual message with treats with the family too! They are loving everything! It's awesome! They really want to be baptized on the 12 of this month!

Not much else happened this week. Merecedes is going to be baptized on the 5th of November and we have worked with her this week too. But the Berg Family is our like major focus. 

Love y'all! I hope you have a good week!

Elder Cox

This week has been great!

So that person that I said before requested online for us to come is awesome! We met with their family 3 times this week and they reallllllyyy want to be baptized! They are set to be baptized on the 12 November! So they are really excited! They also thought it would be hard to get baptized. We said "You need to live the commandments, desire to be baptized, and come to church 3 Sundays in a row." She said "That's all?" That's the first time I've ever had anyone respond that way! Also, she asked if she could see her dogs in heaven. We responded "Yes." She celebrated! HAHA. She just loves everything that she hears about our church. It's great.

Also, another person who is set for baptism for the 5th of November came to church this Sunday with her whole family! Normally we have to find her a ride and her mom doesn't want to come. But they all came; Merecedes (which is the one set for baptism), Tina (her mom), her 2 siblings, and TIna's fiancee! It was awesome! 

It has been an awesome week! So yeah. That's about it I guess. 

Transfers are in 2 days! I hope that I don't leave! But it's been a great 2 transfers up here in Sioux Falls. I will let you know what happens!

Love y'all!

Elder Cox