And, finally, last week's letter:

Back on Track

Monday, February 17, 2014

Alright. Apologizes about last week. Turns out it wasn't food poisoning but a stomach bug that got my companion sick the next day, but we're all better and super excited about this next week. More on that later; but first a recap of 2 weeks ago: Seahawks soar, family feuds, and psychic toddlers. Is that enough for y'all? No? You want me to go in depth? Fine... 

For those of you who live under a rock and don't have awesome members like me that will give you a blow-by-blow, the Seahawks murdered the Broncos in the Superbowl. That's my boys! 

Elder Carper and I talked to a lady who has one of the most messed up family situations I have come across yet. She is still in love with her abusive husband and her 3 or 4 year old daughter, who is taking after her father and throwing things at the woman when she doesn't get her way. It made me extremely grateful for my family and the positive impact they have on my life. 

We had dinner one night with a family whose daughters are certifiably psychic. The oldest daughter and the youngest daughter both knew that they had a baby brother on the way before the mom even knew she was pregnant. The oldest kept making a bed out of blankets and pillows next to hers and kept saying it was for her baby brother. The youngest kept rubbing her mom's stomach saying, "baby, baby, baby." In both cases, the girls were very young (no more than 3 or 4 years old) and they were both right. Well, those are the highlights for 2 weeks ago. Now for this week... 

As I said before, I got sick and then my companion, but after we both were feeling better we turned our attentions on our two investigators who are going to be baptized this Saturday! Without going into too much detail, Satan is trying his best to stop them from entering the strait gate. But true to the old saying that "evil only wins when good men do nothing," Elder Carper and I have been exercising all our energies in making sure it goes on without a hitch. And the Lord is blessing us with miracles out the wazoo! I really couldn't do it without Him. I know I have shared this scripture before, but I'm going to add others with it:

     "...for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." - Moroni 7:37

     

     "But I say unto you: Mine angels shall go up before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land." - Doctrine and Covenants 103:20

 

There you go, that about sums up my week. Hopefully my season of sickness is over, and I can rest now and actually do some missionary work.

 

Love you all and hope you have an excellent a week as I am planning on having!

Elder Cox

My boy got sick again.  So letter #4 is very short due to illness (but he DID write!):

Ugh!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Everyone,

I apologize greatly for the shortness of this letter, but I may have gotten food poisoning again so I'm not feeling too hot. But had to write and let you all know that I'm still alive for now and that the baptism we were going to have this last weekend has been moved now to the first of next month. My other investigators are on track still for the 20th, so yeaaaaah! I promise an extra long letter next week.

 

Love you all and hope you have an awesome week,

Elder Cox

p.s. Happy Valentine's Day

Letter #3:

Beyond a shadow of a doubt

 

Monday, February 3, 2014

Everybody, 

Firstly, I wish to repent of not sharing a super awesome experience that is now two weeks old, but better late than never. We were eating dinner at an older couple's house that have two daughters that suffer from Downs syndrome. I use the word "suffer" very loosely because of what happens next. In the course of the conversation, we turned to the subject of Christ and were talking about him. With her eyes bright and her face beaming, the older of the two sisters stuttered, "that's my friend!" When she said these words, I felt a chill run down my spine at the surety that she uttered that statement. This woman, though destined to have a physically and mentally challenging life, knows without a shadow of a doubt the Jesus is the Christ and that he is our advocate with the Father. He is a friend to the friendless; our rock of salvation. Her testimony was so strong it was almost scary to be in the company of one who understood so much about the things that matter most. It made my testimony seem very small indeed. 

Now for this week, we have run into some baptismal barriers that has/might push their dates back. The one that we were going to have this Saturday has been moved, but just so that his uncle can come up from LA to perform the ordinance. The other has brought up some Word of Wisdom problems and he might have to wait until he gets them sorted out. But the Lord will provide a way for them to enter into the waters of baptism if it is their time. 

On that note, I also neglected to tell you all about our super awesome goal that we have set for the month of March: to have 50 convert baptisms. This will stretch us a bit, since we are averaging about 35 for the last few months. But we know that "...the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul." It's super exciting and I can't wait to tell you how many we actually get, it's going to be epic! 

Love you all and hope that you have a stupendous week,

Elder Cox

Here's letter #2, where Elder Cox wishes for some snow (wish we could send him some of ours from today!):

"It's snowing!" - said no one in Rosamond

Monday, January 27, 2014

Anyone and everyone,

Before I get the good stuff of this week, I need to go through some incidentals. I have decided that I don't like the desert winters, and I really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really wish I could have a blizzard right now to do doughnuts in. But alas, I cannot.

 

Okay, now for the good stuff. In order to appreciate the enormity of the situation though, I need to give a little back story. So we have this investigator "Amy" (names have been changed because of privacy concerns) who has a lot of health problems and has been struggling with coming to church. She and her grandson "Bob" both have baptismal dates, but neither have come to church yet and they needed to come at least 3 times before the big day, and there were only 4 weeks left. So we talked a lot to them about attending and Amy was all set to go, but Bob still had reservations. He grew up in a tough part of town and has severe trust issues with leaving his house all alone, so it looked like he wasn't going to come and was also going to back out of his baptism. So we prayed and prayed and prayed all week long to help them find the strength and courage to exercise their faith in leaving their house alone to come to church. And they came!!! We were so excited and stressed out in getting them there, but they both came and enjoyed sacrament meeting tremendously. They were only able to stay for the first hour, but baby steps! As the Doctrine and Covenants says: "For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith." I know that prayer works and that God does listen to every righteous desire of our hearts.

 

But I know that it was not only the prayer and our own efforts that got them to church. On Tuesday we had brought a member with us to the lesson with Amy and Bob who had grown up in a situation almost identical to Bob's. He had turned his life around and broken the cycle of broken families when he joined the church, and that night bore his testimony about how important going to church was to get the strength to be better than you were raised. His testimony was what really got Bob to church I feel and am so grateful for members in this area that are willing to teach with us. It reminded me of a story in the Book of Mormon actually...

 

Alma the Younger was on his mission and having some fair success. But when he got to the city of Ammonihah, they "...withstood all his words, and reviled him, and spit upon him, and caused that he should be cast out of their city." Did he give up at that point? No! He went into the city by a different way and was lead by the Spirit to his new companion, a man named Amulek. Now when Alma tried preaching to the people again they were going to cast him out again, but when Amulek also testified to what Alma said was true, the people "...began to be astonished, seeing there was more than one witness who testified of the things whereof they were accused, and also of the things which were to come, according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them." And moreover, it was a member of their own city that taught with Alma. So just how Amulek testified for Alma, so too did our member testify to Amy and Bob and touched their souls and help them come to church.

 

I love you all and hope that you are enjoying whatever version of winter you have,

Elder Cox

I've been delinquent in posting to Ethan's blog.  Sorry!!  Here's the 1st letter:

Fowl Play

Monday, January 20, 2014

Anyone and everyone!!! 

So I have received a complaint that my letters have been too short, so here is me trying to elongate my correspondence by using as ostentatious vocabulary as frequently as possible, because massive words take up a tremendous deal of space. Though I can't keep that up for too long because I don't have a thesaurus nearby, so hopefully I can think of something else to pass the time. 

Firstly, I'm staying in Rosamond and I am really glad for that. We have 3 people set with a baptismal date and they are super ready, though one might be getting cold feet so we'll be working with him to see what's up. But for 100% sure I am going to get my first convert baptism in my mission on February 8th. It is really happy to be fulfilling my purpose as a missionary to "invite people to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel" and making those saving covenants with God that will allow them to return to their Father in heaven and be with their families forever. Yeah, it make me really really really happy. We also got an investigator to church (well Stake Conference) and she enjoyed every minute of it. They talked a ton about missionary work and how the stake needs to step it up or they will get left in the dust when the rest of the Church starts gaining momentum and sharing the message of the Restoration with the whole world. They also talked about strengthening relationships with others. Well, they were really talking about marriages, but you'd be surprised how some of the same principles apply to both. 

So those were the spiritual highlights of the week, now for the not so spiritual.

Last Friday was our last district meeting of the transfer, so we all went to Jack n'the Box for lunch. While there, a "party bus" from USC stopped for gas and food next door and a large group of them came in. How could we tell that they were a party bus? Because many of them were wasted and others were quickly on their way. And they were all carrying red solo cups which is a dead give-away. But that wasn't really the best. The best was when we left, they left too and a few of them stopped to talk to us. And as we were parting ways, a drunk penguin came up and started talking to us. Well to be accurate, it was a very short man (probably 5' nothing) dressed in a penguin suit. And he was more loaded than a pair of dice! But he was funny, got a kick out of my name and said, "sorry, man I tried not to laugh. You should really change your name to Fox." made my day to have a short, drunk penguin say that my name should be Elder Fox. 

Okay I wasn't entirely truthful, here is another spiritual thought, this is part of what is known as Nephi's psalm found in 2 Nephi 4:

     "My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh. He hath confounded mine enemies, unto the causing of them to quake before me. Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the night-time. 

     And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me. And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been carried away upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.

     O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?"

 

Well that's all the time I have, hope you have a good week and enjoy the longer letter :) and watch out for penguins!

Elder Cox