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

Weeks 78-80 - NEW ZEALAND

Goodbye Elder Murray, Hello Elder Tawha

My Mission Lineage

 Yikes!

Las Vegas!

Pulperias are like small stores, I got someone to name theirs after me, haha!

These past couple of weeks have been busy!  I will stay in the same area and serve as the district leader. Elder Murray finished his training and I am training a new companion, Elder Tawha.  He is from New Zealand and has had no exposure to Spanish prior to the MTC so we are going to get to work!

We have been doing a lot of teaching, but there is a lot of opposition, so people get scared and won't talk to us.  

The scriptures say that trials of faith are more precious than gold.  That's true

but, it all depends on how we respond to them.

Peter 1:7  “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”