Good week! We get this feeling that our area is just about to explode. I'm not sure why we think that, but we get the feeling that we're soon going to have more to do than we have time for. Buckle up!

I had the opportunity last week to lead out my area on exchanges with one of the assistants to the President. It was a really good learning experience, and we had a ton of fun! He says I'll likely stay in this ward for a little while, and that he's excited for me to see what it's like when school rolls around at ASU. We still don't have a super big teaching pool, but we've really been putting effort into the personal mission plans with our members and hopefully they will pay off in the coming weeks!

I've found a new favorite scripture, found in Alma chapter 11. It's when Zeezrom is trying to convince Amulek that there is no God, and tries to get him to deny the faith, etc. I love Amulek's response: "Oh thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?" While it's pretty bold and kind of funny, it actually helps a lot.
When I think, "Maybe I can just sleep in for five more minutes..."
Oh thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?
When we see very good-looking, scantily clad daughters of God or get caught in the middle of an "Undie Run" on ASU campus...
Oh thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?
When members offer me chocolate brownies, smothered in chocolate with chocolate chips and chocolate ice cream
Oh thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?
Okay, so maybe not quite so harsh, but you get the picture. It's super effective! So, any time you feel yourself getting discouraged, angry, tempted, or the like, just think: Oh thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?

So last week sometime, we were walking around an apartment complex and this guy yells to us, "Hey, my Elders!" We look over to see a tall black guy with dred-locks and Tom and Jerry tattooed on his left and right arms, respectively. We had no idea who this guy was, as we'd never seen him at church. He tells us that his name is Andre, and that he used to go to church but hasn't been active for a long time. We invited him to FHE last week. He came. We invited him to church. He came. We had a lesson with him the other night and he said that he's never received the priesthood, but that he would like to progress toward it. Super cool! Just goes to show that God will put people in our path when we're following the Spirit. He texted us after church and thanked us for the "open arms", and that he wants to start listening to better music and hanging out with better influences. Really neat!

Welp, not much else to say. Glad to hear that everyone's still well. Hope you have a fantastic week!

-Elder Cox