Elder Cox Needs a Slice of Humble Pie

Monday, May 27, 2013

     Tehachapi has way...too...much...flipping...wind!!! Three out of the four Elders stationed up here have gotten the worst case of hay fever I have seen in a while. Poor Elder Garrett basically has the flu, it's so bad. I just wish the wind would stop, then the area would be pretty much perfect.
     This week was a little slow as far as teaching was concerned, however. Our schedule got thrown out the window because we needed to accommodate Elder Broby's new responsibilities as District Leader. Poor guy!  Not only is he a trainer of a missionary fresh out of the MTC, but he also has to be DL in the middle of a transfer. But we are adjusting well (because I don't need that much training), and were able to do a lot of service this past week in Bear Valley Ward. One of the projects we did was help a single sister (non-member) put in some fencing to help keep her dogs in. As payment, she's willing to have a gospel discussion and we're hoping that will go well and we can continue to teach her.
     There was an awesome experience on Thursday when we had to go down to Bakersfield for Elder Broby's training. I got to go on exchanges with Elder Alvarez, and I learned a valuable lesson from that: we visited an older sister that the missionaries have been visiting for a while, but only really as a "good will" kind of thing. She's very faithful to her religion, but still cordial to the Elders and they share scriptures and uplift each other. When we went over (Elder Alvarez and myself), she shared many experiences in her life where the Lord has blessed her with miracles. Then she asked me to share some experiences, and I'm ashamed to say that I couldn't think of any specific events in my life. But I was only looking for large miracles, such as a life-saving prompt from the Holy Ghost or an impossible priesthood healing. At the time, it had never occurred to me to think of the little things in my life that the Lord has blessed me with.
     I learned this later when we were tracting, we met two wonderful people, Daniel and Cindy; the first gave us some water when we were really parched; the second was "coincidentally" walking by on the trail when we were passing by and stopped to listen to our message, and was touched deeply by our knowledge that we can have eternal families (she had lost her son last year). Both cases, Elder Alvarez identified them as miracles, that the Lord would place those people in our path at just the right time. It was then that I realized that I had been failing to recognize the small miracles in my life, spoken of in Alma 37: 6-7 saying, "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." I was thinking myself very wise indeed and that I was an awesome teacher (hence, I had no lessons this week), so I am grateful in the opportunity the Lord gave me to humble myself. Every day now, I strive to identify the small miracles in my life and thank the Lord when I do find them.

     That was about it for spiritual stuff this week. I have also been thinking a lot about Memorial Day; and, when you get at chance, I want you all to read Alma 56-58 and to think about not only soldiers fighting and have fallen in wars past and present, but also how the story pertains to missionary work. I love you all, and want to leave you with this quote from the Bible Dictionary entry on Miracles: "Miracles are a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If miracles cease it is because faith has ceased." SO KEEP THE FAITH!

Love,
Elder Cox

"Whether it is by the my voice or by the voice of my servants it is the same"

Monday, May 20, 2013

To All,

     This week was really good. We had Elder Robbins from the Quorum of the Seventy come and talk to us.  We also got to hear from his wife, and President and Sister Castro. I'm just going to share some of the highlights of what they said:

     President Castro: The results of my labors does not measure the level of my success, but the intent and effort I put into the work determines whether I am a successful missionary or not.

     Sister Robbins: We must sacrifice our lives metaphorically (see Matt 19:27-30) and sometimes literally (see John 15:13) if we are to be devoted servants to our God and to our fellow man.

     Elder Robbins: The thing that stuck out the most with his remarks was a movie analogy (of course), that the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray is the story of repentance - only when we are trying to be better men and not selfish ones are we blessed. But it takes a long time. He also shared a quote by Winston Churchill to drive home this point: "Success is going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm." I have found this very true, especially this week when I have had good lessons and bad ones.

      The good lesson happened that night, when Elder Broby and I were still on our "spiritual high." We were able to teach a Latino mother and daughter through a translator (who is a member). The spirit was amazingly strong, and they even committed to baptism as they continue to learn that what we teach is true. Sweet!

      The bad lesson was a few days later. We have been working with a single mother who hasn't really been progressing in the lessons, so Elder Broby and I agreed that it's make-it-or-break-it time. She said that she's not ready for baptism, and that she doesn't know what she wants from us anymore. It's really disheartening; but a testimony nonetheless to me about the power of agency and how we, as missionaries, have to allow people to "choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil." I hope that our follow-up lesson we are able to help her understand what it is we are trying to give to her.
     Those were the most spiritual things that happened this week. I smashed my thumb while moving a cabinet and that felt really good.  We were able to set a new convert apart as an Elder on Sunday so that he and his wife can go and be sealed in the temple. He's really cool, and reminds me a lot of John Ratzenberger, the actor who plays Cliff Clavin on Cheers. Except this guy has huge arms!!!! His biceps are as big as my thighs - it's incredible!

     That's about all. Really jealous of all the civilians who are watching Iron Man and Star Trek, but I know that the Lord is going to bless me for these sacrifices that I am making.

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Cox

First Week in the Field

Monday, May 13, 2013

     Whoa! Talk about shattering every preconception I have ever had about missionary work. But more about that later.
     Since my last letter, I shipped out last Monday (May 6th) at 6am. My Zone leaders and companion all helped me with my luggage and saw me off, which was nice of them. I wish them all the best in Tempe, AZ and Edmonton, CAN.

     We flew from Salt Lake to Denver (which makes no sense in my brain to go East in order to go West) and then to Santa Barbara airport where President and Sister Castro met us with the Senior Elders companionship and the assistants. When we went outside, there was a really unique smell in the air (I think it was lilac and the ocean) and when I asked one of the assistants, he sniffed and said, "that's just Cali for ya." Great, I'm stuck with a bunch of camodians.  :)

     We then drove for about an hour and a half to Ventura, where we split into elders and sisters and traded off having dinner and doing interviews with the President. I got to have Panda Express twice in one day - it was awesome! After that, we had a short devotional and then split into temporary companionships and slept over at members' homes. My companion was Elder Trujillo (an Ecuadorian Canadian) and we stayed with the Cox's, and I'm pretty sure that we are related somehow.

     The next morning we headed out and went to transfer meeting were I met my trainer Elder Broby from Gilbert, AZ. He's okay. I replaced his best friend of a companion so things were a little awkward at first, but I guess we're doing better. We don't have too much in common except the Gospel and an allergy to melons, but that's all you really need, right? We then drove to my first area called Tehachapi, a little area outside of Bakersfield in the mountains that reminds me of home, just with more sand.
     I swear, there is so much sand in this state! I thought that it would be mostly confined to the coast, but I was soon proved wrong.

     And that's where I stand. Most of the area is gated communities where we can't tract, so the work out here is mostly service and reactivation. Which is still enough to keep us busy, but is a little galling to someone fresh out of the MTC who wants to be out baptizing nations. I guess the Lord just wants me to be patient and learn the logistics of record keeping first before he has me running around.

     Hope everyone is doing good, and I'll leave you with one of the scriptures that the mission is memorizing: John 9:4 ("I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work").

Love you all!

     **Additional information from my Mother's Day call:  since the missionaries don't tract, they do a lot of service.  Elder Cox had the privilege of moving a grand piano one day last week!  They put it on a dolly and loaded it up into the moving van.  That was the easy part.  When he and his companion got to the new house for the piano, they unloaded it from the van, pushed/pulled it down a dirt path, went over a retaining wall, up 6 stairs, up a 4" lip of a sliding glass door, and placed it where it belonged in the home.  I asked him if the piano made it okay, and he told me "yes".  Allowing young men to move a grand piano takes a lot of faith!

     Elder Cox also said he's in a driving mission right now.  And because they have so many mountainous dirt roads to traverse, they have a 4x4 truck.  He doesn't know if he'll stay in Tehachapi for his 12 week training or if he'll get transferred on June 18th.  Wherever he is on June 18th will determine which mission he'll be in on July 1st - remain in the Ventura mission or be in the newly created Bakersfield mission.  Exciting times of growth!

MTC Update

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Hey everyone,

     Just wanted to check in and let everyone know how I´m doing. The MTC is great, the spirit here is so infectious (though not always the most reverent). My district is the best and we are bonding so well. It almost feels like we are old friends instead of meeting just last week. My companion Elder Thornton is awesome and reminds me so much of Trevor Seegmiller that there was really no awkward ´´getting to know you´´ period. Out of the 5 other Elders and 4 Sisters, none of them are going to Ventura (the Elders are going to Tempe, AZ and the Sisters are going to Edmonton, Canada). I was getting really bummed out, thinking that I would be the only missionary going to Ventura, when I found a whole other district going. I WAS SO HAPPY!!!! I don´t feel so alone anymore.

     We caught BYU right as it was changing semesters; and since the majority of teachers are RM's going to the Y, we have had 4 different schedules and 5 of them were wrong. It was a mess. But I've been learning lots and have been strengthen so much in the gospel already. Especially when we gave our whole zone blessings because they were feeling a little homesick. The power and spirit that was present in the room was so strong, we felt ready to take on the world! The teachers have been awesome, especially when they do role playing to help us practice the principles that we learn to teach. One of them, Brother Yack, basically has schizophrenia.  Whenever the tie is off, he is Anthony, but when the tie is on, he´s Brother Yack. Even my mock investigator (played by Brother Makahilahila) was very different than the teacher. But it is a real learning experience to teach the gospel in a safe and controlled environment, to help build confidence, especially when extending the invitation to baptism in the first lesson (which really freaked us all out to try and do).

     Other than that the work has been going great. I love my zone/district and as district leader, it doesn't feel that weird helping them out with their issues. No homesickness (thank goodness) because there is plenty to go around with the younger missionaries without me adding to it. Somebody was telling us that although our schedules are messed up, we still caught it at the best time because come June/July, there are going to be so many young missionaries running around and missing home, the teachers and staff are going to have their hands full.

     That´s about it. Not counting down the day to come home, only the day til I´m in the field, but it is going to be amazing, just as the BoM says in Mosiah chapter 2, verses 20 thru 22:

20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—

21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. 
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

Love you all.

Elder Cox

CA VEN

P.S. - My next email will be in the field 2 Mondays from now. I get to fly out at 8 in the morning of which I am very grateful for (my district is flying out at 3am on Tues.).