I've attached some pictures of the baptism we had last weekend!  Well, I guess technically the baptism counted for the other missionaries.  Well, I guess the baptism really counted for God.  Details details.  In any case, the Garcia family finally got baptized!  It.  Was.  Amazing.  I had the opportunity to baptize Jose and Andrea, and Elder Wilcox came from Mesa (where he got transferred) and baptized the two kids.  After the baptismal service, I got to hear the sweet sweet testimonies of the new converts.  Let me tell you:  Nothing is more amazing than hearing the testimony of a new convert.  Especially when you helped that new convert to find that testimony.  It is so amazing to see the fruits of our labors and it all really pays off!  During Jose's testimony, he essentially said that he covenants with God that he will always be active in the church.  What was really amazing is that he said that he wanted his grandkids to be able to grow up with the Gospel entirely throughout their life so that they wouldn't have to know what it's like to live without it.  Holy cow!  So powerful.  So humbling.  Helps me really understand how much of a blessing it is to be able to have been born into the gospel.  Thanks Mom and Dad! :)

We went on the Rez a couple days last week!  I thought Central Phoenix was an iffy place.  Central Phoenix ain't got nothin' on the Rez.  Just kidding, it's actually pretty much the same.  We haven't really been able to do a whole lot of damage on the Rez, because it's so far in the south part of our area.  Much like the Laveen part of Capitol ward was way far south.  We did manage to find a couple young teenage boys to teach.  Looking at them, you really wouldn't think that they'd be interested at all about talking about Jesus Christ.  But, we just approached them anyway and started talking to them.  We invited them to pray in between our next visit.  We scheduled another appointment and in my head I was thinking "there's no way they're going to show up for this appointment."  Tsk tsk Elder Cox, how dare you lost faith?!  But, we went back and lo and behold, they were there.  Even more, they actually did what we asked them to do!  They live a pretty sad life and they're both dropped out of school, but when we talked about baptism and how we could have all our mistakes washed away, they seemed to really take interest in the message we have to share.  We asked them if they'd prepare for baptism, and they told us yes!

We also found this other guy named Taylor.  Taylor lives in a group home for crazy people (to put it ever so tactfully) but he's actually really sincere.  He was a referral from the Sister missionaries who met him when he was pounding on the doors of the church saying that he needed to be saved, and he needed to join a church.  While he sounds crazy, he's really teachable, and he really understands the message that we have to share!  Taylor already really loves the Book of Mormon and he carries it around with him everywhere so that he can read it every day.  How cool is that?!  We haven't met with him for a couple days because he says he "accidentally" hitchhiked to Flagstaff, which is like two hours away.  He's got a little bit of different wiring, but I firmly believe that Taylor will be baptized.

I forgot to mention our living conditions!  Remember Trailside?  This is smaller than Trailside.  In Trailside we had a fridge and some kitchen appliances in our room as well as an attached bathroom so we never had to leave the room.  Not only that, but our Trailside room had its own front door.  This housing situation, we just share the house with the members.  We have a tiny tiny room with a single desk and two beds.  Our bathroom is down the hall, and we share the kitchen with the members.  While it might sound like I'm complaining, in reality I'm just stating facts!  It's really altogether a good move.  We're right in the middle of our area, and logistically everything is just way better!  Brother Bezold even is so nice that he insisted to do our laundry every P-day.  Hey, I can't complain about that!  While it's really awkward that he's going to be washing my underwear, the lazy part of me just accepts the fact and moves on.  Even more of a bonus, apparently Brother Bezold is a renown pie baker.  We haven't had the opportunity yet to taste one of his famous pies, but I'm sure the time is soon approaching!  The Bezolds are way awesome and really, it's not as bad as you might think it is.

Hmm.  Well I didn't remember to write down anything else fantastic that happened this week, so I guess that will have to do!

Love y'all!

-Elder Cox

HPIM1139.JPG

So... turns out I'm not in Maryvale ward after all!  We were pretty confused at the situation wondering what they'd do with us, because it wouldn't make sense to be in Gila River ward -- the ward in Laveen that just absorbed the southern Capitol ward members -- because we still live in Phoenix and we'd have to commute every day and waste like 20 miles (which is a lot of miles), and so we figured we'd be in Maryvale ward and just keep working in the northerly part of what used to be Capitol Ward up here in Phoenix.  The other thing was that there's already a District Leader in the Maryvale ward.  So it didn't really make a ton of sense to have two District Leaders in the same ward that cover different districts.  Even with that though, I figured it would make more sense to stay working in Phoenix because we live in Phoenix, right?

WRONG!

Come transfer day, we find out that we're "white-washing" into Gila River ward!  There were previously Sisters in this ward that were covering the Laveen Ward and the Gila River ward.  Now that Gila River just got more or less all of the active Capitol Ward members, they decided that it's best to have a new set of missionaries cover the Gila River ward.  So, thus far we've been commuting every day all the way down there and burning up miles.  But the good (and bad) news is that we're moving!

I heard nightmares about the house we are moving to, mainly just the fact that they don't use their AC in the summer.  Uh... WHAT?  Elder Francis told me before that it was consistently in the upper 80 degrees inside the house... at night.  So, needless to say I really didn't want to live there, but I figured we should sacrifice so that we don't have to waste God's gas.  Or His miles. :)

We should be moving in tomorrow, so any further mail should probably be sent to that address.  Unless you don't want me to get it.  In that case, send it to Africa.  They could probably use whatever it is.  As a weapon.  To hunt.

So that's that!  We're working in Gila River ward.  The bishop is super legit, and I already know like half the members because of the ones coming in from Capitol ward, and it looks like member dinners for this area are at an A-okay level!  I'm super excited for this area.  We also have an Indian Reservation!  I've always wanted to go on a rez ever since I came to Arizona.  I'm going to do everything I can to be inducted as an honorary member of a Native tribe.  Even if I have to go through some crazy right of passage and track and slay a bear and drink its blood... I'll do it.  More importantly,  I will baptize all of them.  After I baptize myself in bear blood.

Enough of that gruesome imagery.  My new companion!  My Trainee!  My greenie!  His name is Elder Phillips.  He's a short, brown-haired "military brat" that is from Sumpter South Carolina.  I wish I could say that he has a southern accent, but he's moved around a lot so he's not really from the south.  He's a really good Elder though!  I'm definitely excited for the change, and I look forward to working with him!

To answer some questions:

We'll still work with Karen.  She's down in Laveen and I thought I'd be in Maryvale, so I thought we weren't working with her any more.  We still will though!  The change has affected our teaching pool.  The Frias family is up in Phoenix and is now in the Maryvale ward, so we won't be seeing them much anymore.  The last I heard they got married on Saturday and we're still planning on going to their baptism this coming Saturday!  So everything is looking good for them.  We'll definitely come back when they're sealed too.  They definitely will be, because they're super legit!  Brian also lives up in Phoenix, so we are giving him to the Maryvale Elders as well.  Brian put himself back on date for the 15th, but he still has to overcome a lot of his issues before then. I have faith though!  I'm sure he'll make it.  He's just had such a hard life that I can't even imagine.

Oh yeah!  The Gilbert Temple dedication happened yesterday.  Sadly enough, that was my first dedication!  It was really cool though, and definitely an awesome experience!  The Spirit was very strong there, and I was even able to see some people there that we had taught previously, such as Grandma Hinkle  (you probably forgot who that is, but that's okay).

Welp, that's all I got for y'all this week!  The church is true, the Book of Mormon is true, tithing works, missionary work brings joy, do temple work for our ancestors please, pray for missionary opportunities, and have a great week!  

Love you!

-Elder Cox

 New address for Elder Cox

5334 W Coles Road
Laveen, AZ
85339

Choo choo!
That's the sound that a train makes.

Because I'm training.

Also got an assignment as District leader.

So... that sucks.

Just kidding, :) it should be really fun!  I'm definitely and completely under-qualified for both of these assignments, but I guess a lot of "assignments" that were given to people over the ages were given to those that weren't necessarily "qualified".  I guess I'm seeing the principle that the Lord calls the "weak and simple" to do his work, and that he qualifies those whom he calls.  I guess we'll see how that goes!  I'm probably not feeling any different than Moses did when God called him as a prophet and he's wondering how the heck he's going to do it.  Later on down the road Moses parted the Red Sea though, so I guess that's something I should keep in mind!

I forgot to mention last week that the Bishop told us that four wards would be meeting for Sacrament meeting next week (meaning yesterday) for a special announcement.  No one would tell us what the "special announcement" was, but absolutely everyone knew that it was going to be a boundary change.  They were right.  Remember me talking about the demographic of Capitol ward?  Probably not.  I'll remind you.  So there's really two areas in the ward, which are the southerly Laveen part, and the Northerly Phoenix part (they're about 15 minutes apart).  Not only are they far away from each other, but the demographic of both areas is completely different, where the people in Laveen (wheremost the active members are, and all the ward leadership) are more middle-class people, and the Phoenicians are all pretty poor.  Like really poor.  Not only that, but the area is cut in half by a band of industrial land that stretches like 6 miles down to Laveen.  People down in Laveen complain that they have to drive 15 minutes to church and they don't like missionary work because in the past the missionaries have only worked in Phoenix, because they didn't have a car, and the Laveeners don't want to have to give rides for people every single week.  I don't really blame them.

Confused yet?

So BOUNDARY changes!  Happened yesterday.  Capitol ward doesn't exist anymore.  They completely dissolved it.  The southerly Laveen part was absorbed into two different wards down in Laveen.

To answer your question, I will be staying in this area.  But the Phoenix part of Capitol ward was absorbed into... *drum roll*... MARYVALE WARD!  Maryvale ward is the first ward that I was in!  It's all come full circle.  SO, I will still be working in what was the "Phoenix part" of Capitol ward, but we now meet at the Maryvale building with the Maryvale ward!  Pretty neat right?  

None of that probably made any sense.

In any case, I'll find out on Wednesday who my trainee is and everything like that.  So stay tuned!  As of now though, my address is still the same.

Investigator Report!:

Jose Garcia:

So this whole time I've called them the "Frias" family, but that's really Andrea's last name, and so I guess when they get married this weekend (WOOO!) they'll be called the "Garcia" family.  So I guess from this point onward, I'll try to refer to them as the Garcia family.  Anyway, Jose is still legit.  He literally shares the gospel with everyone.  He's a better missionary than I am, and I have the name-tag on.  He has some less-active in-laws, and he totally calls them out on it.  He says that they're only "half-Mormons" because they never go to church.  Not only does he call his less-active family to repentance, but he invites his nonmember family members to church and everything too!  I'm pretty certain that his sister will be inviting the missionaries over really soon!  Not only his sister, but his Mom as well.  Like I say, he just invites everyone to be Mormon.  I can not wait to take him out with us to do missionary work.  We were talking about the temple too, and he is so eager to do his family history work and do baptisms for the dead.  I can't wait to see them go through the temple a year from now!

Karen:

Last night we had dinner with Karen and her nonmember husband Mike.  First of all, the dinner itself:  Pork ribs, marinated in a barbecue sauce and pineapple juice (the pineapple juice not only makes it taste good, but apparently it tenderizes the meat) for 24 hours, then SMOKED for 5 hours.  Need I say more?  I will anyway:  Mac and cheese, potato salad, green beans, baked beans, corn, and if you want to mix up the way you eat the pork, they had a pulled pork sandwich option.  Ohhhh yeah.

I had a heart attack last night.

Not really though.

On the missionary side of things though, we found out that Karen has cervical cancer.  What theheck?!  So we gave her a blessing and I'm sure everything will be fine.  Karen is also really really good at being a missionary, and she also invites her less-active friends to come back to church, and she is even visiting one of her friends just for the sole purpose of sharing her testimony and telling "her story".  Karen is super legit.  Unfortunately, she's in the Laveen part of town, so I won't be seeing her anymore! :(

That's pretty much all the news there is this week!  Quite a bit of hefty news!  The Gilbert Temple dedication is this Sunday as well, so I'm super excited to see how that goes!  I'm sure it'll be way awesome.

Welp, the church is true.  Missionary work is super legit, and I love you all!

-Elder Cox

Gilbert Temple

Jose and Andrea Frias, with us in front of the Temple

Gilbert Temple

The Vigils with me and my companion

         Karen and her husband Mike and their two kids

News for the week, Karen and Lindsey got baptized!  Lindsey asked me to do the confirmation on Sunday, which is usually not preferable because I'm not someone who's going to be in her life for a long time, whereas a member of the ward would be around for a while and she'd be able to say, "Hey, that's the guy that confirmed me."  She did have a member baptize her though, so that is still good.  Don't get me wrong, I was honored to do the confirmation, and it was a really cool experience!  

We kind-of had a "falling out" with one of our investigators.  His fiance, who is a member and that's what sparked his interest in the first place, broke up with him.  He was super sad about her breaking up with him, and he hasn't met with us since.  We've gone by a couple of times but he would just say "tonight is not a good night" and close the door.  It's super sad, especially because of the amazing progress he had made!  We helped him quit smoking, drinking coffee, and all sorts of things.  I'm sure we can still get him in the water, but I guess it's just on a different timetable than we thought originally.  Shucks!

Oh yeah!  Mom, you asked about the Gilbert Temple open house last week, and I forgot to mention anything about it.  We actually had the opportunity to go to the open house with the Frias family and it was super sweet!  Originally they didn't want us going to the open house at all, then they said we can go if we have a really good reason, then they said that we really need to do anything we can to go.  So we managed to scrounge up a caravan and went down there with the Frias'.  They basically committed themselves to be sealed a year from their baptism which was really cool!  You could tell that they felt the Spirit.  The building was way awesome too.  It was probably the coolest temple I've seen thus far!  

Speaking of the temple, one of our investigators went to the open house as well with a member of the ward.  She texted us about her experience and said: "I cried the whole time!  My chest was filled with warmth and I didn't know what that feeling was!"  We then told her that it was nothing at all, and that she should just shake off that feeling because it doesn't mean anything.  JUST KIDDING.  We taught her that it was the Spirit that she felt, and that through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost she could have that feeling all the time.  She said "That would be amazing!"  There are some other complications that are keeping her from being baptized, but we'll figure those out!  She's progressing so much faster than I would've ever thought.

I dunno if I ever mentioned, but I was reading through the New Testament and I finally finished!  It was awesome to read it through on my own, because I don't think I had ever done that before.  Even more, President Toone challenged us to read the Book of Mormon by the end of next transfer, so that should be a really cool experience!  Maybe the family could take the challenge too and read the Book of Mormon in the next 7 weeks?  Could be cool!

I logged on to family search the other day.  For whatever reason, I have the most fiery burning desire to do family history lately!  I noticed that there are names that are ready to request temple ordinances... just sitting there!  So, get it done!  It's either now, or during the Millennium.  :)

In less-spiritual news, I got to play racquetball last P-day, which was way super fun!  We found a court and went and played.  I probably mentioned, but in the first apartment I was in there were 2 rackets just chilling in there, so I took them and have been carrying them around with me this whole time.  Finally got to use them!

We met a lady who is from Haiti, and she barely speaks English.  She speaks French and Creole, which I hadn't even heard of until I got here on the mission.  We had a lesson with her and her husband who speaka da English and it was really interesting!  We would teach and he would translate everything that we said.  We're just randomly asking members of the ward if they speak French or Creole, but we haven't had any luck yet :)

Welp, that's all there is to report on this week folks.   I love you all!

-Elder Cox

Si!  Tres Bautismo's coming up this weekend!  SWEET!  Here's my investigator report for this week:

Our super golden solid investigator was interviewed last week and literally one of the first things that the Elder said about her interview was, "Dude... she's so solid."  I'm just like, "uh, yeah.  I know!"  That's what you get when members refer people to you.  People get baptized and you get lasting conversion!  Great stuff!  Last week during one of our lessons, she said to us, "So I think I rushed into things a little bit..."  Of course my first thought is "oh crap.  She's about to drop us.  Our super solid golden investigator is going to drop us."  Then, she tells us, "I've been so excited about my baptism that I kind of told all of my friends that it was going to happen on the 15th, and I know we talked about that date but I wasn't sure if that was officially it."  Hahaha it was such a relief.  We just told her that it's absolutely not a problem that she invites a bunch of her friends to her baptism.  

Our guy that has smoked for the past 41 years, doesn't smoke any more.  Miracle?  Yes.  Can anything be done through Jesus Christ?  Absolutely.  He is turning out to be more solid that I thought he was?  Yes.  I am so amazed, he's the most rough-around-the-edges guy I've met ever, including Dad (hehe).  It's like if you take Dad, but he grew up in New York, never met Mom or was Mormon ever, smoked since he was 11, and swore like a sailor...  Well... I guess he already does swear like a sailor :)  He is amazing though.  He really has the gentlest heart and such sincerity.  He's so grateful for us coming into his life.  So amazing.  Once again?  He was a member referral.  Go figure that all the member referrals are getting baptized!\

I've mentioned before the investigators where the couple that-- like a month ago -- prayed for us to come over and then we stopped by the next day.  We put her on date for February 15th over a month ago.  Then, I'm not sure if I mentioned or not, she ran off.  She left her husband and just took off.  We honestly had never expected to see her again.  But, lo and behold,Saturday night look who decides to show up!  And look who is still preparing for baptism on the 15th... aaannd look who just gave us all her cigarettes and coffee so that she can be baptized.  Yeah... Miracles abound!

So I went on exchanges with Elder Murphey, one of the zone leaders, this week.  Elder Murphey is one of those missionaries that I definitely want to hang around after the mission.  Super cool guy.  But, since he's a Spanish missionary, I decided I needed to make more headway in my Spanish.  So this time, we were at an investigator's house and Elder Murphey asked if I would like to pray in Spanish.  So I just went for it, and I sewed a grandiloquent tapestry of praises to God in Spanish that made all in the room weep with joy.  Okay, not really that, but pretty close.  I said, "Padre Celestial, muchos gracias por" and then said something in English.  Then I said "gracias por" and then something in English.  And then, when i was done, I said "en el nombre de JesuCristo, amen."  Super cool!  Prayed in Spanish, sorta.

So it's orange season 'roun' her' and we made our own orange juice.  It was by far the best orange juice I've ever had.  We have received boxes and boxes of oranges from people that give them to us.  Pretty awesome!

So I met this deaf lady.  She was on our list and we had tried to see her for a while.  We had no idea she was deaf until we met her.  The experience I had was really cool.  She got a pen and paper and the first thing she wrote was "I am elect.  Am interested in church."  Holy cow!  I wish everyone could just hold up a sign that says "I'm elect, baptize me!"  Alas, we can't teach her because... well... she's deaf.  Kind of hard.  Maybe I'll just put my hands on her ears and command that they be unstopped.  Jesus did it, why can't I?

Welp, that's pretty much all the news for this week, other than I'm eating healthy(ish) and running tons every day.  I'm going to get jacked out of my mind.  Also, I'm continuing to get jacked in my testimony.  The church is true, Jesus Christ really is our Savior, Heavenly Father loves us, and this work is the most important work there is!

Love you!

-Elder Cox