Week 21 in LA--Great Week and a Fun P Day

Oi família e amigos, como vai. Eu estou indo bem.  This week has been really good, we got out of the apartment and were able to work. 

Tuesday we went out and worked and visited a bunch of people in our area, nothing really exciting happened but we still had fun. 

Wednesday we had fun and visited some more people, we walked up to a house and there was screaming and some glass broke so we walked away.

Thursday we taught Eric and his kids and we got two new investigators and they are so cool. 

Friday we had District Meeting and we went on Exchanges with the Zone Leaders, I left Redondo and headed to Compton. 

Saturday we worked in the Compton area and talked to a bunch of people and, we even heard gun shots ☺

Sunday we got to see an area brodcast with D. Todd Christopherson and some other General authorities

Today we went to the driving range and hit some balls, we went to some member house in Palos Verdes and had some good food, we now are out to eat again with Brother B an awesome guy.  I am doing great. 

Elder Cox 

PICTURES 

1 - On Exchanges with Elder Taylor

2 - Eric and his kids

3 - Dinner 

4 - Me and Elder Albuquerque

5 - Me, Elder Albuquerque and Bishop Chubbuck

6-8 - Golfing on P Day

Week 20 in LA--A Week of Sickness

This week was actually pretty boring. Elder Albuquerque has the flu so we had to stay in the apartment all week. So this email will be a spiritual message! 

I was reading in Matthew the other day when I came across the story about when Peter proclaims Jesus to be the Christ, so here it is from Matthew chapter 16, "13 ¶ When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ." 

  

I really like this story with the added from the book Jesus the Christ, this book has become one of my presonal favorites. James E Talmage writes this about this encounter, "The confession by which the apostles avowed their acceptance of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, was evidence of their actual possession of the spirit of the Holy Apostleship, by which they were made particular witnesses of their Lord. The time for a general proclamation of their testimony had not arrived, however; nor did it come until after Christ had emerged from the tomb a resurrected, immortalized Personage. For the time being they were charged “that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.” Proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah, particularly if made by the apostles who were publicly known as His most intimate disciples and associates, or open assumption of the Messianic title by Himself, would have aggravated the hostility of the rulers, which had already become a grave interference if not an actual menace to the Savior’s ministry; and seditious uprisings against the political government of Rome might easily have resulted. A yet deeper reason for the secrecy enjoined upon the Twelve appears in the fact that the Jewish nation was not prepared to accept their Lord; and to ignore Him through lack of certain knowledge involved a lesser degree of culpability than would have attached to an unpalliated rejection. The particular mission of the apostles at the time then future was to proclaim to all nations Jesus, the crucified and resurrected Christ." 

While on the mission I have come to gain a firm testimony of my savior, Jesus who is infact the Christ. He is the Prince of Peace, he is a King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. One night this week I prayed to habe my heart touched so that I could feel his love for me, it happened. I felt his love for me personaly, for my friends and family, my investigators. I was so overwelmed, it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. If you dont have a testiomony of Christ, as Moroni says in Moroni chapter 10, "3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost" 

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ my brother and savior, Amen. 

Week 19 in LA--First Week Done

Olá a todos,  how is it going.  This week has been pretty awesome. I met Elder Albuquerque and we walked to get groceries in the pouring rain. We then went to our Ward mission leaders home and had Correlation meeting and a member brought us some brazilian food, which was pretty good. We also went up to the VC and we got a whole bunch of Portuguese stuff because we have some potentials that are from Brazil. I am learning Portuguese now which is pretty cool. We had Ward Conference yesterday and it was very well done. We watched the funeral as a zone on Friday, and we are watching the announcement on Tuesday together which will be cool. Thanks for the support 

Elder Cox 

Pictures

1-2 Pictures that the Ward Mission Leader takes and puts on a bulletin board in the ward house

3 Me

4 Elder Alburquerque

Week 18 in LA--A Baptism and Transfers and More....Oh My!!

I thought the title was funny sorry... Anyway lets get going on the week! So yesterday we got transfer calls............. Redondo 2nd was fun but its going to be even more fun because I am staying another transfer! But the sad news is that Elder Halverson has to leave ☹. My new companion is Elder Albuquerque like the city. He is from Brazil so its going to be pretty cool. We also had Ivan's baptism--pictures included. We forgot to turn off the hot warter when it was time to put in the cold so the water cooled down but not enough so when we opened the curten there was steam coming out. The member baptizing said it felt like a Japanese hot spring, he is from Japan. The day after P day we played some chair soccer in the morning. I did a kick that ended up with me re- spraining my right ankle. So most of this week I have been on crutches. We haven't really gone out proslighting so there is no more updates, thanks for reading my emails.

Elder Cox

                                                                            

PICTURES 

1 & 2 Ivan's Baptism

3 & 4 Sprained Ankle

5 & 6 Me the only day we could go out prosilighting 

7 This last Sunday breaking the fast

8 & 9 Today watching some Elders shave their legs

Lost Christmas Email & Pictures

Here is the Christmas (actually day after) email that got lost in cyberspace.

This week and last have been some of the best yet. We got bikes, I sang at the visitor center and we did some things to light the world. We have been biking places a lot which makes my thighs hurt but it's worth it. This week we have been preparing a man for baptism next week. This week we also got to go to the temple I was so happy to be in and see it. Yesterday we handed out sweets to members who have been sweet to us and we had a great dinner.  Our apartments heater doesn't work very well so we got a space heater but we are ok now. Sorry this email is short due to time. Next week I'll send a better one! 

Pictures:

1-3 Singing at the Los Angeles Temple Visitors Center (he sang in the choir and in a trio)

4 Elder Halverson and Elder Cox with their bikes

5 The treat bags they put together and handed out

Week 17 in LA - Last Week of Transfer 3

This week has been pretty good. A lot of biking and some more biking. But on a happy note one of our investigators, Ivan, is getting baptized! We have been working really hard to get him to this point so I'm super excited for this Saturday. On New Years we had to be in by 6 PM so we had some time to just relax and keep ourselves entertained. On Saturday we went to a baptism for someone in one of the other wards and we took Ivan and he enjoyed it. I also went on exchanges back to R3 and Manhattan Beach with Elder Styer my last companion. We had such a great day. We also forgot to take pictures. The other days in the week have been just regular missionary days. I hope you all have a great day and thank you for all the support that I have seen and heard of it's very much appreciated. 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT: Today I thought I would share a part for a talk for Presidemt Monson. He sares a poem in his talk titled The Bridge Builder fprm October 2003, "Perhaps such a somber thought inspired the poet Will Allen Dromgoole’s classic poem entitled “The Bridge Builder.”

An old man, going a lone highway,

Came at the evening, cold and gray,

To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,

Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;

The sullen stream had no fears for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,

“You are wasting strength with building here;

Your journey will end with the ending day;

You never again must pass this way;

You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide—

Why build you the bridge at the eventide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head:

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followeth after me today

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been naught to me

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;

Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”

The message of the poem has prompted my thinking and comforted my soul, for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was the supreme architect and builder of bridges for you, for me, for all mankind. He has built the bridges over which we must cross if we are to reach our heavenly home." 

Pictures 

Me today
Zach and his bike (this one came from Facebook)

Food

Zach as a sheep (this one came from his companion's mom)
Elder Cox, Elder Halverson and Elder Styer bowling (this one also came from his companion's mom)

Week 16 in LA--Car Accident and Christmas

I didn't get a letter from Zach this week but I did get a 55 minute Skype so I'm happy with that!! This letter will be from his companion, Elder Halverson and the pictures from Tone Halverson and Sister Sizemore.

"Today was fun. We woke up and chilled and made breakfast. Then we went shopping for our weekly food. We also stopped by another store so elder Cox could by a pillow. Then I happened to see some amazing suites for sale, so I bought them. One with Santa faces all over it, and another with candy canes all over it, and other candies. Oh ya! After that we went to the Artesia building and wrote up our weeklies, and hen went and got lunch. Then we came back and emailed real quick. After that, we were going to join up with elder Styer and his companion, and also elder Whitmore and Williams. So we drove up to the science center, looked around and had fun. We also went to this weird spooky exhibit. It was about the human body, and had a giant room with a giant robot human body simulator. After doing that, we went to dinner, which we were late to. It still was great. Then we synked our ipads at the church and came home. Ya that is all. 

So today was dumb. We got up and had to leave right away. We drove to Gardena to the elders apt and picked them up. So we were going along and I wasn't paying attention and rear ended the car in front of me. We pulled over and exchanged info then went on our way. We drove slowly and got off the freeway and then went on Sapolvida the rest of the way. It was hard driving to the mission office with the other missionaries. We did interviews and then the temple session. I really tried to get some answers and prayed hard. We drove the car to Enrique shop. Well, I think my tiwi card will probably be suspended for three months, since the damage is probably over 1,000. So we took the bus back. Barely made it. Then went to the Sizemores and they took us to our dinner appointment. It was awesome to go there. They were so nice, and the husband has super gospel knowledge, so we asked him some deep questions. Then went to the Sizemores and tried to fill out the online report but realized we didn't have all the info. So we talked with them and theirrelatives. Then they took us to get our bikes, and then after that went home and ya. So ya., ya.

Today was okay. We got up and did our normal stuff. Then we waited around until elder Baldwin came and we got our bikes. Then after that we went to the Artesia building and did the accident report. Then we asked brother Sizemore to come and help us with some bike stuff. He came and took us to a bike store but they were closed on Thursdays. So we went to another one and they couldn't do the repair fast enough and didn't have the locks we we wanted, so brother Sizemore just preordered it. So funny! Then we went to our house and did some stuff with the bikes and then biked to the Chen's. They have a nice big house and they were having a party. It was great. We taught 19 people to pray. Yo that's whats up! ha, ha.  So then the Sizemores took us home, and then we waited for the zone leaders to exchange with. 

Today we got up, and I didn't know we were doing a service project, but we went and painted the inside of this guys house. I got a headache from the paint so I took a break. Then it went away. I did some more work, and then it came back. It was so bad! I had to stand outside the rest of the time because i couldn't take it anymore. So that was hard. Then we finally left. We went home and  took some ibuprofen and laid in bed. After that we did our book of Mormon reading.  Then we road our bikes to dinner and then went to the Sizmores and they gave us a ride to the Artesia building where we did weekly planing. Then we went home.

So today was okay. We woke up and laid in our beds for a little bit. Then we rode to the church and did our normal ruitine. We locked up, and then realized that the zone leaders had our keys so we waited for them to come. Then we had to wait for elder Styer. He wasn't coming, so we found some stuff to do while we were waiting. Then we went to the Vindas'es and they had allot of people over. Then we did comp inventory. 

So today was awesome. First of all we opened up our presents. Then we played with them. After that, we went home and ate lunch. Then I decided that we should put candy in bags and give them to different members, and elder Cox wanted to put cards in them. So that took a little bit. Then went and gave some members a lot of candy because our apt is overflowing. We went over to the Sizemores and had dinner and then saw our families. It was so nice. Then we went and tried to visit some more people, and went home. Merry Christmas!"

I am so grateful for the Vindas Family for taking care of Zach and his companion on Christmas Eve. What a blessing this family has been to these boys as well as to me. I love them so much!! And I am BEYOND grateful for the Sizemore's. They had Zach and Austin over on Christmas. They provided them with a nice dinner and a present. They also have been so helpful with the new bike situation. They have gone above and beyond for these boys and I love them so much!!

Pictures:
1-3 - Elder Cox and Elder Halverson
4 - Torrence North Zone
5-6 - Christmas at the Sizemore's