Man, the Holiday!

So nothing is special about today for us missionaries except that we can't e-mail from the Library because it's closed. But our church has a family history library! So that's cool. It works out pretty well. But it isn't open for much longer so this will be a bit short of an email. 

This week was pretty awesome. It's hotter, which isn't too much fun but it's not the worst thing ever. I can deal with it. We met with some awesome people this week and have helped them come closer to Christ. We have also had a few people tell us to stop coming over and others that we have stopped going over. It's the rough time but Summer is optimal for Hispanics. They don't like the cold and they kinda get sad during winter but Summer is the prime time, so my hopes are high. Otherwise, I've been taking more pictures while driving so I'm going to send some. (first one and second one are from the car. The last one is from our window in the Castle, which is our apartment building).

Yeah, It's kinda the same old same old but it's a good same old same old, ya know? I love being out here and being with Elder Jensen again. He's still awesome but now he has to make a lot of different decisions because he's about to go out into the real world so in our free time we talk about that a lot. He's gonna be a lifelong friend for me. But yeah, we are just out here working, sweating, and preaching, so don't be worried about me everyone. I am missing you guys but I'm serving and doing what I've grown to love, so yeah. 

Love y'all! 

Elder Cox

P.S. we discovered that the "community room" in the basement of the Castle now has a piano! I'm gonna try to learn how to use both hands while playing the piano. We have a chance to go down there every once in a while.

Andy-my missionary selfie

The view from the Castle (apartment)

Sioux City from the road

The week I went North.

So, this week I traveled a bit on Thursday. We had a conference with a lot of Missionaries and our leaders in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It's kinda like Sioux City but bigger, cleaner, and more north. It was a super awesome conference. We were instructed on how we must better use the Holy Ghost in our teachings and how we must always avoid when the Devil tries to lie to us. It was super insightful and I got some plans from that to be a better missionary. 

Some other Elders in Sioux City called us and asked for our help with someone moving. They were told that someone needed help moving a washer and a dryer. So we were ready to move just that. But it was a bit more than that. This lady had a bedroom set, some lawn stuff, 3 WASHERS, and 2 DRYERS for us to move. It was a lot of stuff! It took like 4 hours to get it loaded and then unloaded. Yeah. Lots of work for that day. 

Then on Wednesday, I spent the day in Vermillion, South Dakota which is like not that far from Sioux City. It was a sweet day and we met this awesome family who haven't come to church in a while. The reason they haven't really come to church is because the mom of the family had a dream that told her that religion can't save her: only Jesus Christ can save her. And that is true. Only Jesus Christ can save us from our sins and from death. But he has set his Authority in his one true church so that we can access him. Without the Authority that God has given to man, we cannot be fully saved. To be fully saved, we must be baptized by someone who has God's Authority. That's why God chooses to work through a church so that we can be fully saved in His Kingdom after death. She saw that and decided that she will ask God again to see if she needs a religion in her life. We are going to see her this week and we are very excited to meet with her! 

I hope you all have a great week!

With love,

Elder Cox

This week went by FASSSSSSTTTTTTT.

Yeah this week didn't really feel like a week. I barely remember what happened too! It's weird how that is. You would think that if a week went by fast I would remember more. Nope. 

Anyways, to start the week off, we did Zone Training! It was good. We only forgot to mention 1 thing but it was a small thing that everyone will see in their e-mails so we did pretty good! It was super tiring as I mentioned last week in preparation for it but I feel like I've recovered from that.

It was a pretty hard week. We weren't able to find any new families to teach and we found out that one of the member families is having a big struggle right now, so it makes me kinda discouraged. But, luckily, I know that this is God's work. Nothing can stop it from progressing. Aka I'm not actually discouraged, so don't worry about me.

One event that happened occurred on Saturday. We brought one of our members, Brother Walker to a lesson with us at like 6:00 p.m. He is a white guy but speaks Spanish because he served a mission like I am currently but in Spain. The people we teach are a family. The wife is Maria and the husband is Santos. We get there and Maria is making pork ribs and chicken. So she gives us some as some of her friends come over too. One of her friends leaves in a hurry for some reason and then Santos doesn't wanna come outside because he "doesn't want to come to chruch". So that's sad. But it was just dinner! and a lesson of course. We had an awesome discussion in the which our member testified of how his 7 year old son was scared at a park because he was going down a big ladder off of a big slide. After getting down, he went a bit away and knelled down. Brother Walker asked him what he did after he got back. The 7 year old just said "I was thanking God for helping me down the ladder."   Brother Walker then simply said that if he wasn't a member of this church, his son would not have known that God helped him at that point. It struck Maria and it struck me. And I'm just thankful that I have parents that raised me to know that God loves me, will help me, and that I should give thanks to him for what he does for me every day.

I hope you all have a good week!

With Love,

Elder Cox

This week was sooooo tiring.

So I wasn't transferred. I'm still in the Sioux City with Elder Jensen. I'll be his last companion and I'll spend at least 9 months here. That's a long time for 1 area. I've already been here longer than I was in Norfolk and longer than I was in Omaha. It's a long time. 

This week was sooooooo tiring because I have a LOT on my plate. So transfers are always a big thing. I gotta make sure people know where to go and get there on time. I have to wake up earlier than usual on the day itself to get the people that are getting moved around out of my apartment on time to get to Omaha by 8 am (it's a 2 hour drive). And then, because it is the beginning of the month, We went down to Omaha on Friday for Mission Leadership Council. That entails that this week we have Zone Training, where the whole zone gets trained by the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders. And we were asked to give talks on Sunday. So have had many things to prepare and not a lot of time to prepare those things, because we still have to go out and teach people. It's pretty stressful. Luckily, I had some melatonin to help me stay asleep, so now I'm back up to my normal energy level. Gotta love vitamins!

Otherwise, we are still teaching english to the man from Puerta Rico and he is doing great. He loves our classes and likes when we teach from the Book of Mormon too! He didn't come to church but we will work with him on that one. 

I'm doing good out here. Just trucking along. Tomorrow is my 17 month mark, so I have 7 months left. That's exciting! I'm not yet ready to leave so I'm glad I have 7 months left still. 

Love y'all!

Elder Cox

Elder Cox and Elder Jenson

this week tho

It was so cold this week. I was so tired of the rain too. Ugh. It rained all of Friday, Saturday, and Part of Sunday. So bad.

The good things tho: We started teaching this nice man from Puerto Rico. His Name is Adolfo. He is awesome and in our second meeting we were just talk a bit after the lesson and he said: "Ok, now you are my friends" and gave us some bottled water. It was sick. And now we are teaching him English! He and his sister are our only students right now (she just joined yesterday) and they are doing great! He is also reading the Book of Mormon, in Spanish and now (starting yesterday) in English! He is just soaking it all up! It's great! Sadly, he works at a company called CF industries. It's sad because they work 13 days in a row and then 1 day off, a Sunday luckily. so he can only have the possibility of coming to church every other week. But he can still be baptized if he comes every week! Next week is his Sunday off so he can come and be awesome!

The Service: We helped out the Red Cross by going door to door and offering to install fire alarms in peoples' houses for free! It was like tracting (going door to door to do missionary work is tracting) and it was in the rain. FOR 4 HOURS!!!!!!!!!! It wasn't very enjoyable but it wasn't that bad. 

This week is transfer week but both Elder Jensen and I strongly believe that we will stay the same. It's gonna be great!

Love you all!

Elder Cox

Esta Semana Era Buena

Esta vez, voy a enviar mi correo electronico en espanol. Veremos lo que pase. Voy a hacer lo posible para que ustedes entiendan y que ustedes pueden traducirlo mediante Google. 

Pues, mucho paso durante este semana. Tuvimos que manejar a Council Bluffs, Iowa el martes y esto tomo mucho tiempo. Pasamos como 5 horas en el carro y estabamos muy consados despues. Pero, fuimos a un partido de futbol para ver unos de los ninos de una familia que ensenamos jugar para su escuela. Fue muy bien. Eso paso el martes. el miercoles, manejamos hacia Norfolk, Nebraska para una reunion con otros misioneros y manejamos de vuelta con dos de los misioneros de Norfolk. Tuvimos un buen tiempo haciendo la obra con ellos y ellos regresaron a Norfolk y los otros dos misioneros de Norfolk ( los de ingles ) fueron con nosotros aqui. Sucedio muy bien. 

Tambien, anoche, encontramos unas personas! Se los llaman Melonie, Jason, Mayla, y Margeret. Son Nativos Americanos, entonces no los ensenaremos mas sino los otros elderes les ensenaran. Pero, son una familia de adictivos que estan recuperando. Han estado sin drogas por 9 meses, y tienen mucho fe in Jesucristo. Era awesome que los encontremos y que esten muy listos de orar y leer juntos como una familia. 

Pues, ojala que ustedes tuvieran una semana muy linda y que esta semana tambien sea muy buena!

Con Amor,

Elder Cox

Translation (mostly by Google Translate)

This week was good

This time, I will send my email in Spanish. We'll see what happens. I will do everything possible so that you understand and that you can translate it with Google.

Well, a lot happened during this week. We had to drive to Council Bluffs, Iowa on Tuesday and it took a long time. We spent about five hours in the car and we were very tired ​​later. But, we went to a football game to see one of the children of a family we teach play for their school. It was very good. That happened on Tuesday. Wednesday, we drove to Norfolk, Nebraska for a meeting with other missionaries and drove back with two of the Norfolk missionaries. We had a good time doing the work with them and they returned to Norfolk and two missionaries from Norfolk (those of English) were with us here. It went very well.

Also, last night, we found some people! They are called Melonie, Jason, Mayla, and Margeret. They are Native Americans, but we will not teach them, the other elders will teach them. But, they are a family of recovering addicts. They have been without drugs for 9 months, and have a lot of faith in Jesus Christ. It was awesome we found them and they are very ready to pray and read together as a family.

Well, hopefully you had a very nice week and this week also very good!

With love,

Elder Cox

HEEEEEYYYOOO!

I hope you all enjoyed that little video! I was wearing a onesie thing that someone left in the apartment. I wear it to bed when I have exchanges with other missionaries, just to see what their reaction is. It's usually funny XD.

Anyways, on to this week. We had a fun experience this week! There is a kid named Rey. He got baptized back in October of last year. He is awesome. And he is 10. We were gonna see him and teach him a bit more but he was outside playing with some friends. So, we asked him: "Would any of your friends like to hear a message?" He just turns around and yells, "Hey! You guys wanna hear something?" THEY CAME RUNNING XD. and that's how I taught like 9 fifth grades at the same time. It was fun! They were kinda distracted during it but they did a great job paying attention overall. It was pretty cool to see that too. We are gonna see some of their families later this week, which is awesome! 

Otherwise, I went back down to Omaha for a day and did an exchange with the Assistants to the Mission President (my 2nd time). It was awesome. I was with Elder Smith. He reeeaaallllllyyy likes Pokemon so when he saw my Pokemon wallet (which I still used) he was very excited XD. It was a great time in Omaha. 

Otherwise, we have been able to do some good things with the members of our little congregation. We got basically a little calendar of when they are available to help us out and we've started to really coordinate with them more for their help. We like to get the help of our members while we teach because it's about the biggest thing that can help the people we teach. They can have a friend to call on in a time of need or if they have questions and that friend stays for a lot longer than any missionary will stay. It's a great thing! 

I hope you all have a great week! Que se cuiden! (take care)

Elder Cox

P.S. Here is a beautiful sunset we saw last week.