WEEK 99 - DRENCHED

 In front of the Soccer Stadium

 Dining at Denny's, for the last time!

 San Pedro Sula

 We had divisions with the Zone Leaders last week in my old area. We were fortunate to teach this sister.  Super awesome!!

District Meeting

Our week was great.  All is going well here in the work and in general.  It has been super rainy, and we have been totally drenched.  When we leave the house in the afternoon it's super hot, and then out of nowhere, it rains cats and dogs.

All is well here, have a great week and we'll see you all next week!  Love, Elder Cox

WEEK 97 - CATHEDRALS

Sunsets in Honduras

The work is going well here.  We have many investigators coming to church and progressing. I don't know that I'll see any baptisms in my time here, but we have some awesome people we're teaching. 

The other day we had a family who we are teaching ask tons of questions. We started to talk about the eternal nature of families, and the husband's countenance changed. He told us at the end of the lesson that he knew what we had taught was true. The lesson was super powerful and just strengthened my testimony of the importance of eternal families.

Love you, have a great week!

WEEK 96 – LAST TRANSFER

My new companion is Elder Rodas.  He has 3 months in the mission and is from Guatemala City, Guatemala.

We had 6 investigators go with us to church yesterday. This is a lot, considering we had 0 just recently.  The work is progressing super fast, we have found tons of people and I'm excited!

We have 4 in our district.  There shouldn't be any issues.  We had our first district meeting last week and things went well.

I think the idea of not letting off the gas is important.  It's been exciting to get here and see the fast turnaround in the area. 

Keep on keepin’ on, and I'll do the same. Have a good week, thanks for letter and thoughts. 

Love you, have a great week.

WEEK 95 - MOTHER'S DAY

Mother's Day Call

WEEK 95 – May 14

It was really great to speak with you and the family and definitely good to see your faces and see how you're all doing.  It was short but it's fine because I'll be home soon enough.

I will give it my all these last 6 weeks.  The great thing is that there is always something more to learn.

I know that I am going to stay here and be a district leader.  My time as zone leader is over.  I am really excited about my new assignment.  I just won't know who will be my companion, but I'm prepared for anything.

I won't write a ton right now (we have only a little time to write), but just know that I love you and our family and it was great to talk to you yesterday!

WEEK 94 - BAPTISM & HERBIE IN HONDURAS

 Baptism!

Herbie In Honduras

Week 94 – May 7^th

I am spending 2 weeks in another area to help with the overall missionary effort there.  The area is called San Jorge (Saint George).  I did get to go back to my other area for a baptism.  It was great.  The girl we had been teaching read the entire BOM this last week.  She is super awesome.  "Everybody happy happy happy." 

I have been focused on us as missionaries and how we can help each other as well as the vision we have for Honduras.  There are some goals that have to be met to get a temple here and we are trying to help. 

Thanks for all the love and support.  Sorry my emails are crazy short lately.  I love you.

WEEK 93 - BIRD'S NEST

 New Trio

The Book of Mormon is available in 89 languages. This Book of Mormon is in a Mayan language (Yucatec).  They are still in the process of a full translation.

Week 93 - April 30^th

     We are doing well.  We have a baptism this week, zone conference, MLC, and a meeting with the stake president and mission president. We will be pretty busy.  We are working and trying to find people continually, but we're doing well.

     This week, I have felt a tiny bit homesick.  Every time someone asks how much time I have in the mission, they always say "you are basically done!"  Now, I figure I will just tell everyone I have a little less than a year left.  Haha.

WEEK 92- BAPTISM

We had an awesome baptism this week!

 Honduras!

 Divisions with the Elders from Santa Barbara

 Honeysuckles! 

(So impressed he remembers this from when he was little.)

Pictures from divisions with the AP's

This guy was on my towel this morning!

Trio Time

Lunch in San Pedro Sula

Week 92 – April 23

All is well here in SPS.  We had lunch today in town.  We had a baptism this last week.  It was really exciting.  A brother who was baptized a few months back was able to baptize his daughters.  

This week was a hectic week. We had divisions 3 times with other missionaries and I am in a trio companionship again.  

I felt really tired at the end of this week.  Today for Pday, we went to the mission offices.  From there, we went to San Pedro Sula and I actually saw some people from my old area.  We ate lunch at a place called Mega Bites.  I bought a pair of drum sticks ($2) and we headed on back.  

We should be having a baptism this week.  We've seen a huge change in her from the time we started teaching her.  She's really shown what it means to go through the repentance process. We are excited for her to take the step to be baptized.

I think that a key for me will be to use the mission as a stepping stone to continue doing the small things.  Sometimes, I worry about how life will be after the mission, but I know that as I continue to do the small things, I'll be blessed and continue to progress in the Gospel. 

The Gospel is simple and true.  God doesn't expect us to be reading the scriptures and praying 24/7.  He knows we have things to do.  However, he does expect us to uphold our standards and keep the commandments.  As long as we do that, he will bless us with the Spirit to guide us and help us make correct decisions. 

WEEKS 90-91 THE JUNGLE

                                     Bought a straw hat, why not?

                                                          Go Utes!

 Waiting at the Immigration Office to renew our residency cards

Mission Leader Conference

In the jungle on exchanges!

Week 91 – April 16

I have felt well this week other than being super tired.  Luckily we don't succumb! Yes, I get sunburned a lot.  I use SPF 50, but I sweat it off in like 10 minutes. 

We found a TON of new investigators this week.  We had divisions with some missionaries and found tons of new people to teach. Our zone has been doing better too, so we're happy for that.  For our p-day this week, we had an activity with 3 zones. We played hacky sack and hoops and President Bush brought food.  Good times!

I am sorry I don't have a ton of time to write. I will try to be more detailed next week (or when I get home!)

Love you muchoooo!!

My New Comp - Elder Rodriguez

WEEK 90 –April 9

     I am feeling better this week.  I was given meds and they vacuumed out my ears because they were plugged.   They told me I had a sinus infection.  My last companion is home now in Chile.  He might visit the States in August so hopefully we can see each other.  My new companion is from Tijuana and his name is Elder Rodriguez. He has 14 months in the mission and is 20 years old.  He loves hoops!

     I am just really focusing on Elder Oaks talk of doing the little things, I've been thinking a lot about who I want to be when I get home and who I want to be in life. I just need to keep the good habits that I've developed here and apply them, not forgetting what I've done for the last 21 months.

      There has been a quote that I am meditating on that says, “Pray as if everything you did depended on the Lord and work as if everything you did depended on yourself."  In other words, rely on the Lord always, but do your part and work hard.  I think that motto has worked well for me.

     I am doing well.  I'm just trying to stay focused and work until the end.  I just want to hit the ground running when I get home and stay focused having the Gospel first in my life!

WEEKS 88-89 DEEP THOUGHTS

We helped dig this hole by hand

Our Stake Patriarch, he reminds me of Grandpa Rex

Week 88 - March 26 

      It has been very hot and humid.  I am still with Elder Valenzuela from Chile.  He is a good example because he finishes in a week, but he still wants to work hard.  I appreciate him for his hard work. 

     We had a multi-zone p-day with Zona Villanueva and we had a great time.  I talked to Elder Tawha  at the activity and found out that some of the people that we had found when I was there got baptized.  I am really excited about it. 

     Besides the heat, all is going really well.  We have an investigator that is 23 years old and she will probably get baptized next week.

     We are looking forward to watching conference.  I want to continue to study to reinforce what I know and feel of the truthfulness of the Gospel through the Spirit.  Many people are inactive because they try to look beyond the mark.  For all of us, those who don't complicate things are blessed when they stay true to the principles. Conference is a spiritual recharge for missionaries and the closest thing to what could be called, "a break".  We will have to hit a session of conference in October!

Week 89 - April 2

     I really enjoyed conference.  I liked Elder Durrant's talk a lot.  The talks gave me a lot of advice for when I get home.  I am doing well except I have a cold with a ton of mucus!  We have a baptism this week and we are excited about it.  Elder Valenzuela is a great missionary, it is too bad this is his last week.  It has been a little tough for me seeing him get ready to go home while I have 3 more months but I will get over it. 

WEEKS 84-86 VILLAS DEL RIO

 Ana’s Baptism 

 Elder Valenzuela

I am doing well.  I had changes on Wednesday.  I have a new companion and a new area.  My companion is Elder Valenzuela, and we are in a trio with another Elder named Elder Herrera. Valenzuela is from Chile and Herrera from Guatemala.  Valenzuela finishes the mission this change and Herrera finishes with me.

Geographically, all my areas on the mission have been within an hour of each other.  Right now, I am between my first and second area.  This area is called Villas Del Rio.  We are the zone leaders.  This area is developed and there's good attendance.  This week, we had a baptism of a sister named Ana.  We have been working and have put some more dates for the weeks to follow, but overall the work goes very smoothly here in this area.

We are covering 2 areas as of right now, so we do a lot of divisions with the Elders Quorum and it has been effective.  I was in divisions and my companion that day (Elder Johnson) and I both felt the impression to contact a certain house. 

It turned out that the family had been inactive for many years and had wanted nothing to do with the church.  For some reason, we showed up and the Spirit touched their hearts.  We are helping them to reactivate and we will soon baptize the members of the family who aren't baptized.  The family thought someone from the ward had sent us, but when we explained, they were impressed that it must have been the Spirit.   It is a reminder that the Lord directs this work!

We played soccer as a zone today.  It was pretty sweet because I had 2 goals.  Next week, we are organizing a huge b-ball tourney between the zones.

It's crazy to think there's so little time left, but we'll just have to make every second count.  I'm excited for the rest of my time here in Honduras!

Love,

Elder Cox

WEEKS 81-83

Our New District Shirts

 Eating sugar cane (you bite and suck on it, it's pretty good!)

 Saw this in San Pedro (Chuck Norris Peed Here)

Zone Conference

  Zone Conference Dinner

 Out On Splits

 Just Monkeying Around

It Rained