Honest Seeker of Truth

Monday, July 29, 2013

     This week was pretty hard, well, at least Thursday through Sunday. I got a stomach bug and was worshiping false idols via the porcelain gods. However, "I'm feeling much betta".  I just need to teach my body that food is okay again. But from that experience, I was able to gain a stronger testimony of the power of the priesthood, just like in Zeezrom's story of conversion in Alma 15. While I wasn't "harrowed up" by the memory of my sins, I was still really sick and feeling really puny. So Elder Broby and the Tehachapi Elders came and gave me a blessing, just like Alma and Amulek did. And while I didn't leap upon my feet and begin to walk and do cartwheels, I still recovered a lot faster than I thought I was going to. So it was a great blessing in that regards; but, unfortunately, we were not able to do a whole lot in terms of teaching. And I'm really not in the mood for Doritos anymore...
     When I was on exchanges with Elder Flores (one of the Tehachapi elders) on Wednesday, we street contacted a man named John, who was one of those disciples of Christ that Elder Bednar described as an "honest seeker of truth" in his talk "Converted Unto the Lord." John had been studying the scriptures for years, and actually was only recently able to read them. He listened to everything around him and pondered long and hard about things that he had learned. Many of his ideas aren't quite true doctrines, but the fact that on his own he was able to get that close to truth is incredible. So many people have truth given to them and they take it completely the wrong way. But here was a man that started with nothing and continued building upon the knowledge that he had, seeking to understand Christ and the role that he has in his [John's] life. I pray that he'll take Elder Bednar's advice and exercise "...the necessary 'particle of faith' in Jesus Christ to 'experiment upon' (Alma 32:27) and 'try the virtue of the word' (Alma 31:5), to yield 'to the enticings of the Holy Spirit' (Mosiah 3:19), and to 'awaken unto God' (see Alma 5:7)."

     Another positive note was that we had what is known as Munday-Funday where we play sports with the youth and just have an excellent time. The whole district was able to make it up, so we had 10 Elders playing dodge ball. Then we went over to a member's house and just chilled and had dinner. It was great, even though it's exhausting at the same time. We were going to have a Zone activity up here, but through some hard feelings being exchanged in the zone, that was cancelled. I won't bore you all with the drama of the mission, so we'll just leave it at that. If you really want to know, you can write me and I'll explain more.

     Other than the being sick part though, this week was great. We are on week 7 of transfers now, so transfer calls are going to be August 5. So don't anyone send letters to my "personal" address this week, or it might not make it. If you lost the Bakersfield address, here it is again:

Elder Ethan L. Cox

California Bakersfield Mission

3512 Coffee Road, Suite B

Bakersfield, CA  93308

Love you all and hope you have a most excellent week!

 

Elder Cox

"And also all they who receive this priesthood 

receive me"

Monday, July  22, 2013

     This week was fun for two reasons. The first was because I went on exchanges with Elder Bullard in Monica Ward and it was an awesome time. He has less than 30 days left, but he has the same drive as if he had just came out into the field. I learned a lot from him, especially about finishing strong. We had some little miracles during the exchange, but they all pale in comparison to the second reason this week was awesome.

     Jerry is a less active member who is going through a hard time with his family and health. So he asked us for a blessing. Before the blessing, Elder Broby asked some questions I could feel were all inspired. Then Jerry turned to me and asked if I had anything to say. I answered truthfully and said that any words that I would add would be redundant or useless to what was already said. So he asked me to give the blessing. I started out with the words that needed to be said then waited for a prompting to know what was next. What followed was nothing short of a miracle. All the words that I was prompted to say were exactly what he needed to hear, including an almost direct quote from his patriarchal blessing. The spirit was so strong, and reminded me so much of when I confirmed my best friend a member of the church. I am so thankful for that opportunity to help one of God's sons with the challenges in his life by being the mouthpiece for the Spirit. And this leads me to the biggest lesson that I learned this week: that when I have the chance to use the priesthood, those are the times that I feel the closest to my father in heaven (outside of the temple).  Because when I do, I know that I am on the Lord's errand, and that blesses the lives of those around me just as Jesus Christ did. Maybe not with the same magnitude as Christ, but it still is special for those people.

     I am so grateful for this knowledge that I have that the authority of the priesthood has been restored upon the Earth. I love the many ways that it blesses my life, and how I know that it will continually bless my life. "For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies." (D&C 84:33)

I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Elder Cox

I'm way late posting this!  I got to go to Beehive Girl's Camp (which I absolutely LOVED) and am now just getting to this.  Enjoy!

I Believe In Murikels!

Monday, July 15, 2013

 

     It was another beautiful week in the mountains of Tehachapi, all the more so because of miracles.
     The first major miracle came when we went on exchanges with the Monica 1st missionaries on Wednesday.  Elder Walker and I were in Bakersfield, and Elder Broby and Fernandez were in Bear Valley. The day was a little dreary.  It looked like it was going to rain but it was only muggy. Elder Walker and I just trucked along and were knocking on some doors, ignoring the weather, and having a great time. We then knocked on this door and a man in his late 50s opens the door. We greet him and introduce who we are and he asks, "You got any single women in your church?" We said yes, that there were; and he seemed interested in coming to church at that point. When we asked for his name as we were leaving, he said it was Julian. All of a sudden, Elder Walker's eyes started from his head and his jaw dropped a little bit; but I didn't say anything about it until we left the porch. When I asked him about it, he said, "During the second week of this transfer, I woke up one morning with a name in my head.  Ever since, I've been looking for someone named... Julian." It was really cool for me to be involved with something so profound as that; just as it speaks in Jeremiah 23:25 - "I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed."
     The next miracle that came to me was at church, when we had three less-active/part-member families attend church.  The part-member family came so they could hear Elder Broby give a talk. Afterwards, when we talked to them about it and how they felt, the non-member said that listening to Elder Broby's talk made her feel all fuzzy inside. This just reinforces the importance of everyone attending church, because the chapel is a consecrated building that invites the spirit - "...where two or three are gathered together in my name, as touching one thing, behold, there will I be in the midst of them even so am I in the midst of you." (D&C 6:32)

     But the best thing happened on Friday during District meeting. We started out and it was good; but all of a sudden during our "War Council" (where we talk about investigators that we are struggling with and seeking help from the other Elders), someone had the idea to write all our investigator's names down and have it be a District Prayer Roll. Then, someone said, "Why stop at investigators?  This sister in our ward is in poor health, can we pray for her too?" After that, family members got on the list too. When we were done, we had about 25 names of people that we personally knew that were struggling in the gospel, with health, finances, etc. It really strengthened us as a district to know that we are praying for each other and those that we care about. I don't know how everyone did, but I know that my testimony was strengthened. It brings to mind the story of Alma the Younger and when he was struggling with the gospel.  His father and many members of the church prayed that his heart might change (see Mosiah 27). The power of prayer is real, I see it work everyday out here, and I know that you all can too.

Love you lots and lots,

Elder Ethan Cox

Welcome to the California Bakersfield Mission

Monday, July 8, 2013

To All,

     Well, it was the first week in the new mission; and believe it or not, there is not too many things different. Except for the fact that President Wilson is really cool and laid back. When we met him on Wednesday, he said that all the spoken rules for the Ventura mission are gone, and that the only rules are those in the White Handbook and "Preach My Gospel". He said that the only reason a new rule will be needed is if a missionary does something stupid. So he said, "Elders... DON'T BE STUPID! I don't want to make more rules!" I got the message, so hopefully everyone else did. There were also some wardrobe changes, but I won't bore you all with that. Other than that, the week was really slow. The 4th was kinda lame because we couldn't see any fireworks and had a curfew of 8 o'clock. And Elder Broby got sick so we had to take it really easy the last half of the week. But there were still spiritually learning experiences, good and bad.
     The good first: on Sunday, a less-active member that was reactivated through the efforts of the missionaries blessed his twin baby girls. It was the first use of his Melchizedek priesthood, so he fumbled the syntax of the blessing a little. But the love that he had for his girls was clearly evident, and the simplicity of his blessing only added to Spirit already so strong in that meeting. During the prayer, I was reminded of when I took out my endowments and the love that I felt, and the testimony that was borne to me about eternal families. It was a very good Fast Sunday, to say the least.
     However, there was an issue that came to light yesterday regarding a member and an investigator. Last week, some members had brought their friend to church and were sharing the gospel in a loving and careful manner. All seemed to be going good, until another member (with the best of intentions) kind of "scared" the investigator off with their zeal in introducing them to us. Now the investigator is not interested at all in the church, and I felt like it was our fault in some way, or that the investigator was not sincere enough in their curiosity of the church. Thankfully, as I pondered this, I was able to correct my thinking. Because even after all we do as missionaries, people still have their agency, and are able to make their own choices, even if they are poor ones. I was also reminded of the story of Jonah, and how he wrongly judged the depth of the people of Nineveh's dedication to change. So while I wish I could chastise the member for "scaring off" the investigator, it is not my place to do so. All I can do is my best and invite people to change (like Jonah), and the Lord will make up the rest and send those who are ready and won't be scared off by me so that they can received their ordinances.

     Oh the joys of missionary work - having all the answers to the test, but no one believes that you do. But the work goes on and is accelerating. Soon there will be a set a missionaries assigned to each of the three wards up here, so that is exciting. Hopefully, I'm not on the bike area with hills like San Francisco. 

 

I love you all and hope that you have a good week.

Elder Cox

"Who then is that faithful and wise steward?"

Monday, July 1, 2013

Hello All -

     This past week was a lot of ministering again (so mostly service), but I am happy to tell you about some investigators that will be baptized here at the end of the month. 

     Will and David, who are set with a baptism date of July 27th, are really excited to become members of the church. They were a referral from a member, and for the longest time we were unable to contact them, mostly because they live on top of the mountain so going up there to see them is a little out of the way. And when we tried calling their mom to set up an appointment, she kept blocking us and keeping us from seeing her sons. That went on for several weeks, until out of the blue she called us and set up a dinner appointment; during which we extended the invitation of baptism to Will and David and they accepted. Come to find out, the mom wasn't really enthusiastic about her sons joining a church she had stopped going to (she's a less-active member); but when she started going back to church, she realized that she couldn't keep her sons from it.  After talking with them and realizing that they wanted to be baptized, she called us. Now mom and sons are on the road to full activity, and I have faith that dad will soon follow suit. It was a great testimony builder for me about the power of the Holy Ghost in conversion. Just like when the sons of Mosiah taught and the Holy Ghost changed the hearts of the Lamanite kings, so too the Holy Ghost had changed the heart of this mother and now two more of God's sons are making covenants with him and will be tremendous instruments in his hands.

     I have also had the privilege this week in doing a great deal of soul searching about "who is Elder Cox?" When I first came out on my mission, it was rough. Elder Broby wasn't doing things the way I thought that they should be done, or even in a manner I thought was contrary to the way we were taught. But at the end of the 2nd week, he shared something with me that I will not soon forget, "you need to learn how to be Elder Cox, not just elder." I thought about that and realized that I was being mechanical, and had no personality in my dealings with members, investigators, or even other elders. Once I found out that I could be myself and have fun, and still maintain the level of spirituality required for missionary work, things got a lot easier and Elder Broby and I finally became friends. The reason I bring this up is because now there is another new elder in our district who has not figured this out, and I think never will. I am just so thankful for the knowledge that I have in that although the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to change our hearts, it doesn't really change who we are.  It only makes better what is already there. 

Love you all and hope that you have an excellent week!

Elder Cox from the California Bakersfield Mission